A Book Review

Our heroes tend to be larger than life individuals who by some awesome luck achieved amazing feats that inspire ups to live up to their image. Malcolm X for me is one of those people. A lot of my life philosophies can be drawn from Malcolm; his life has been a constant wellspring of inspiration for me. So, when I saw this book in the middle of 2011 I was excited to pick it up.

Upon, its release “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” took a lot of criticism for revealing too much about Malcolm’s life. Many said that this book was out to demonize Malcolm and knock him off his pedestal. Having read the book I can say this is not true, for me to read and understand Malcolm’s own faults made me respect him more because I now understand that he was not a flawless person he had problems that are common to most of us, he had struggles that many of us face daily, and to finally see the “human” side of Malcolm did not knock him off any pedestal in fact it placed him higher.

I fully recommend this book to all.

Throwing Capitalism/Imperialism at a problem won't work.

US Aid as it currently situated is broken. It doesn’t work. Dumping tons of rice on a population does nothing but create a cycle of dependence. Because what happens to the local rice economy when free rice is dumped on people, the local rice seller/grower now has nothing, his/her lively hood is now destroyed because how can he compete with free? So, in the end he/she will eventually give up and wait on a handout. US Aid must be used to build up local industries not by giving contacts to US corporations and food drops but by training locals to tackle their environment and develop industries best suited to their world.

And that brings me to the Invisible Children mission. So, they pretty much want the US to play police of the world and go and give advice to the Ugandan army to catch Kony. Now, tell me how well did the US advice go over in Afghanistan in the 1980’s? I remember a certain guy with a beard was given all the US advice and weapons to get the Russians. Point two the campaign is set up as a doomsday scenario, if they don’t catch Kony by December 31, 2012 its all over are they going to abandon Uganda (boy am I glad the civil rights movement didn’t have an expiration date), this part alone seems like a ploy to sell their hipster action kits to well meaning but well removed first world citizens who have a lot of bourgeoisie guilt (or white guilt if you must but I am not a racialist I believe divisions are more prevalent along class lines). If you want to use arms to catch Kony, I say arm the masses, not the army not special forces but the masses who were affected by Kony. Because only the masses can set themselves free, no outside power can do that (Big ups to Tunisia and Egypt Masses).

And for those who really feel they must give money to help whatever cause, make sure you do your research (don’t just listen to a cute 5 year old) and give to groups that actually give more than 31% to helping.

It’s time for a different approach to foreign crisis’. Throwing Capitalism/Imperialism at the problem has never worked and will continue to fail.

Comrade Richie

A Book Review

Yesterday, I finished reading “Mao: The Unknown Story” by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. I have read some biased bio’s in my time but this by far has to be the worst. From the get go she just bashes Mao through 616 pages injecting her own personal feelings into the book. The best bio’s are ones that present the facts and allow the user to draw their own conclusions. I was impressed by the amount of research put into the book, but warning bells should have gone off when I saw that G.HW Bush was an interview source. A better title for this book would have been “Mao and why I hate him”. Well I have another bio on Mao which according to reviews is more objective. I also have 3 books of Mao’s writings and philosophies.

Back in Action for A Just Russia

First I must apologize for not keeping this blog up to date as I have been busy tending to life matters. But hopefully now I will have time to keep this blog current.

Well, I'm back in time for the Russian elections and while most are predicting a Putin win, I must throw my support (spiritual as it may be) behind the A Just Russia party. Why? A Just Russia and not the CP? Well because A Just Russia has announced that they want "A Just Russia's main values are fairness, freedom and solidarity. The party platform calls for a welfare state where all citizens are equal, the cliff between rich and poor is small, and individual rights are guaranteed. The state should be responsible for the well-being of the citizens, while citizens should be responsible for the effectiveness of the state. The party defines its ideology as "New Socialism of the 21st century", but emphasises that it does not wish to return to "Soviet bureaucratic socialism". In the party platform, New Socialism is defined as the antithesis of "barbarous, oligarchic capitalism". The ideology does not eliminate the market but transfers power over the market from the oligarchs to the people. For New Socialism, the individual is of central value." And the CP has only maintained the old line of the bureaucracy that plagued post Lenin/Trotsky Russia.

Now let me say one thing for certain. I am an unashamed Communist along the Marxist/Leninist/Trotskyist line. And we must remember that Communism was not intended to be dogma. It is a living breathing idea that must be changed and adapted to territory and time while keeping the central core values. It is this reason why I must support A Just Russia in the March 4th elections. Because if they would win they would be the secure path back to Socialism and Communism. And hopefully able to spread it throughout the oppressed world.

Where in the world are the Socialists...

With the recent uprisings in North Africa and parts of the Middle East, I am just wondering where are my fellow socialists and communists? Here we have a chance at a starting point for a permanent worldwide revolution and all I hear is silence. China to me is not a revolutionary communist country, what they have morphed into is a super-capitalist nation with faux-communists in charge. Who will lead the charge for a new socialist revolution? Because without it I believe the world will become a graveyard for workers and the poor alike. The United States with its vocal right wing appears to be on the road to Fascism, just look at the francoist parties during the Spanish Civil war, some of their beliefs are awfully close to tea party and other conservative beliefs. Unions being denigrated workers being cheated... what will it really take...

Where can the socialist movement turn to... from south america all we have is a bag a talk no real ideology, everyone is concerned about having socialism in there own country while living in a capitalist trade market. Socialism cannot exist in such a way. There must be a worldwide fire that brings it to all people otherwise it will just continue to deteriorate until the collapse of said government.

How can a movement be started on a worldwide basis? We should look to North Africa and the Middle East for inspiration and also as a region where the permanent revolution can begin.

So will the real socialists please stand up.

North African Revolution

North Africa is once again showing the world what must be done in the face of tyranny and oppression. This time Egyptians are marching 20,000 brave soldiers for revolution took to the streets to demand the end of 30 years of corruption. As a response the government blocked social networking sites in an effort to disrupt the peoples right. Don't back down brothers and sisters.

To Tunisia keep on pressing, no break, no rest drive corruption to the sea. Algeria keep the fire burning.

This revolution has the most chance of going regional. But when will the rest of the world wake up?

Round of applause

I just want to congratulate the people of Tunisia for taking to the streets and making their voices heard and forcing their government to "re-shuffle". And I am glad to see as of writing this they are still protesting the fact that there are too many of the old corrupt officials left in the government. Keep on fighting brothers and sisters until all the corrupt elements have been driven into the sea.

I must also cheer on my brothers and sisters in Algeria, keep on fighting keep them on their toes!!