Sista Lauryn Hill- Back, Black, Beautiful and Powerfilled!

Sista Lauren Hill Jammin Reggae Style on Ex-Factor in NYC on November 27, 2013

By Aisha Harris

With her legal troubles seemingly behind her, Lauryn Hill has gotten back to touring, and the reviews have been glowing. Yesterday, the singer shared an electrifying performance from one of the recent concerts: a rousing rendition of "Ex-Factor," with a heavy reggae accompaniment in place of the original, more subdued R&B arrangement.

The nearly 12-minute peformance is worth every second, rising to an intense, emotional finale and proving that when it comes to performing, Hill has still got it.

Aisha Harris is a Slate culture blogger for Brow Beat. Follow her on Twitter.

 NSA Lie on 60 Minutes Exposed!

Posted by Clay Claiborne

16 december, 2013-- On CBS 60 Minutes last night, NSA officials made the fearful claim that a "BIOS plot" to "to destroy computers" from an unnamed foreign government could be "catastrophic for the United States." NSA's Debora Plunkett told 60 Minutes that such an attack could turn every computer in the country into "a brick" and that the results of such a cyberattack "could literally take down the US economy."

This is pretty frightening stuff! Good thing we have the NSA on the job, snooping into all our computers and protecting us from such catastrophes. Maybe we should stop complaining and give the NSA even more powers.

Except this is a complete lie.

When told that such "a program that can destroy every computer in the world," 60 Minute's John Miller said "It sounds almost unbelievable." Actually it is completely unbelievable.

Almost all modern computers now contain a backup BIOS designed to protect us from such cyberattacks and the more ordinary problem of a BIOS update that goes wrong. This is certainly the case with any computer sold by my company, Cosmos Engineering Company.

I have been in the computer business since the early 1970's and have been building computers as Cosmos Engineering for 30 years. I remember a time when what the NSA is trying to peddle was true, a time when a corrupt BIOS or a failed attempt to reprogram the BIOS did brick it and the computer or at least its main board would have to go back to the manufacture for repair before it could be used again, but starting about ten years ago, most computer makers solved that little problem with something often called "Dual BIOS" that provided a backup to the operating BIOS. Now when the computer BIOS gets wiped, either by malware or error, it is simply a matter of switching over to the backup BIOS and restarting. Then with the computer running, the original corrupted BIOS can be replaced and the computer made whole again.

Here is a description of dual BIOS from the Computer Hope website:

A dual BIOS is a computer motherboard that contains two BIOS chips, a main BIOS and a backup BIOS. This motherboard setup helps a motherboard recover from any issues that may happen during a BIOS update, helps protect the BIOS from any potential virus, and helps with any other issues that may arise with the BIOS.

Here is a link to a discussion of dual BIOS on the highly respected Tom's Hardware websites. One commenter describes it simply as "like carrying a spare tire in your car." Now I have to wonder if the NSA has the good sense to carry spare tires in their cars or would a flat tire be "catastrophic" for them.

Either, the NSA is unaware of this decade old technology, or they are lying through their teeth and fearmongering when they tell such stories to us via the highly trusted 60 Minutes news show. Since they hire very smart computer people like Edward Snowden, I don't think they are unaware.

Knowing that they lied to us about this "BIOS plot," it would be foolish to believe their story about how Snowden cheated on his NSA exam or anything else they told us in the 60 Minutes interview.

Here is a transcript of the 60 Minutes segment:
One they did see coming was called the BIOS Plot. It could have been catastrophic for the United States. While the NSA would not name the country behind it, cyber security experts briefed on the operation told us it was China. Debora Plunkett directs cyber defense for the NSA and for the first time, discusses the agency’s role in discovering the plot.

Debora Plunkett: One of our analysts actually saw that the nation state had the intention to develop and to deliver, to actually use this capability-- to destroy computers.

John Miller: To destroy computers.

Debora Plunkett: To destroy computers. So the BIOS is a basic input, output system. It's, like, the foundational component firmware of a computer. You start your computer up. The BIOS kicks in. It activates hardware. It activates the operating system. It turns on the computer.

This is the BIOS system which starts most computers. The attack would have been disguised as a request for a software update. If the user agreed, the virus would’ve infected the computer.

John Miller: So, this basically would have gone into the system that starts up the computer, runs the systems, tells it what to do.

Debora Plunkett: That's right.

John Miller: --and basically turned it into a cinderblock.

Debora Plunkett: A brick.

John Miller: And after that, there wouldn't be much you could do with that computer.

Debora Plunkett: That's right. Think about the impact of that across the entire globe. It could literally take down the U.S. economy.

John Miller: I don't mean to be flip about this. But it has a kind of a little Dr. Evil quality-- to it that, "I'm going to develop a program that can destroy every computer in the world." It sounds almost unbelievable.

Debora Plunkett: Don't be fooled. There are absolutely nation states who have the capability and the intentions to do just that.

John Miller: And based on what you learned here at NSA. Would it have worked?

Debora Plunkett: We believe it would have. Yes.

John Miller: Is this anything that's been talked about publicly before?

Debora Plunkett: No, not-- not to this extent. This is the first time.

If they can't tell better lies, they must not be very good spies!

Mos Def Tries to Go thru Guantanamo Force Feeding

Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) force-fed under standard Guantánamo Bay procedure

As Ramadan began, more than 100 hunger-strikers in Guantánamo Bay continue their protest. More than 40 of them are being force-fed. A leaked document sets out the military instructions, or standard operating procedure, for force-feeding detainees. In this four-minute film made by Human Rights organisation Reprieve and Bafta award-winning director Asif Kapadia, US actor and rapper Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), experiences the procedure

Pacifica radio Getting Whiter and Whiter

The ethnic cleansing of broadcasters from Pacifica continues nationally: Jared Ball speaks

December 13, 2013- http://sfbayview.com

by The People’s Minister of Information JR Valrey

The ethnic cleansing of Black and Brown broadcasters off the airwaves this year claimed not only the careers of Luke Stewart, formerly of Washington, D.C.’s WPFW, Weyland Southon, formerly of the Bay Area’s KPFA, and myself, formerly of KPFA, but it also claimed one of its most talented producers, Dr. Jared Ball of WPFW.

Jared Ball 

His offense, which was very similar to my alleged offense against Pacifica, was that he made “disparaging remarks” against the station and network management, and it was determined that he would be suspended indefinitely from the airwaves of his Mid-Day Jazz and Justice weekly show. Known in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area as one of the most relevant and radical interviewers on the dial and for bringing on people and experts who are seldom if ever acknowledged for their contribution towards the self-determination of African people, Jared Ball will be missed on the airwaves of the DMV.

No matter what you do in the future, I salute you, Jared Ball, for your enormous contribution to our understanding of issues in our communities worldwide and to our understanding of how media can work in our interest or against us. The Block Report will continue to support you in your future endeavors that involve revolutionary media work.

Here is Jared Ball in his own words explaining his recent dismissal from WPFW, the D.C.-based Pacifica radio station.

M.O.I. JR: Can you tell people how you became interested in and later got into radio? When and where was this?
Jared Ball: I first became interested in radio while in college. I started and briefly worked with the sports “department” of our campus radio station. But before long I realized how difficult it is in settings like that to address political issues, so I moved on pretty fast. It wasn’t until I was coming home from graduate school in 2001 that I really began to think about the importance of radio and started to get involved in some local low-power radio projects in Washington, D.C.
I also still count the mixtape radio project we started, FreeMix Radio, that was meant to circumvent an absence on the dial of real Black radical thought and music. That was part of what I understood to be – potentially – the important function radio can still play in advancing elements of our struggle. Eventually, as part of a now defunct organizational effort, I got more involved in WPFW there and soon became a regular programmer.
M.O.I. JR: For out of towners, what is the history of WPFW in the DMV area? How long have you been with WPFW? How long have you been doing your Mid-Day Jazz and Justice show?
Jared Ball: I am far from an expert on the history of WPFW, but I can at least say that it has been on air in more or less its current form since 1977. It has been largely known as a jazz and broadly speaking a “Black music” station with a diverse and mostly “Left” programming body.
I, perhaps mistakenly, always associated with particular programming over the years, like that of Tom Porter, Bob Daughtry and later Damu Smith, so I always took the station to be a Black community and progressive station. That is not to say I was unaware or disinterested in other programming, but this was my focus and what always drew me to that station. I began doing partial production and small news reporting pieces for various programs somewhere around 2002-2003 and became more of a full-time regular programmer around late 2004-2005.
I was first on Decipher, the station’s nightly hip-hop block that many of us had pushed for for years; our show was The Blackademics. I then moved to early morning jazz once a week and eventually Mid-Day Jazz and Justice before finally settling on The Super Funky Soul Power Hour once I took over one of the time slots vacated by the late Ambrose Lane.
M.O.I. JR: When and what reason were you given about why you were recently dismissed from your show?
Jared Ball: Shortly after my show aired Friday, Dec. 6, 2013, I was called and told of my indefinite suspension by general manager Michelle Price, the interim program director Tony Bates, and Gloria Minott who I think at the time was the public affairs director. Officially, Ms. Price indicated that I had broken the zero tolerance policy on publicly criticizing the station and network management.
Though I’ve never been told precisely what I said that broke that policy, I am assuming it was during a 10-minute segment of the show in which I engaged in a “debate” with a friend over whether to keep my show on the air at WPFW given the decisions being made and the treatment I had received from the old and new management. I said that I have serious questions and concerns about all of Pacifica’s national public affairs programming being White, mostly male and mostly over 50 years of age. Those interested can hear the show here and reach their own conclusions as to the legitimacy of the decision.

Officially, Ms. Price indicated that I had broken the zero tolerance policy on publicly criticizing the station and network management.

Unofficially there seems to be a continued move to purge the station of those who have been openly critical – on or off air – of management and network decision-making. Off-air, I had asked Ms. Price how the station and network arrived at these decisions, why other programmers – and yes, I included myself – were not selected, encouraged or supported in developing their shows to meet whatever the standards were or are.
I asked how could it be possible that a network claiming itself to be an alternative – one that will sell Malcolm X, John Henrik Clarke, the Black Panther Party and more during pledge-drives! – could not somehow find any representatives of the world’s majority population to serve as national public affairs programmers. Again, those interested can see here my comments to station management and my final statement on my time at WPFW and move toward developing their own conclusions.
M.O.I. JR: What has been going on recently at WPFW? How has that affected the whole Pacifica network?

Dr. Jared Ball, associate professor of communication studies at Morgan State University, is the author of “I Mix What I Like: The Mixtape Manifesto” and co-author of “A Lie of Reinvention: Correcting Manning Marable’s Malcolm X.” Learn more at IMixWhatILike.org. 

Jared Ball: I cannot speak to everything that has been going on; I was never the most involved member of the station. However, over the last two years or so there has been a struggle over the financial, managerial and programmatic direction of the station. Program grid changes were imposed, well-respected programmers like Tom Porter were removed, the former interim program director, Bob Daughtry, was removed, they just fired another brilliant young Black engineer and musician, Luke Stewart – whose latest “offense” was letting air an imperfectly edited speech by Fred Hampton during an on-air commemoration of the great man – and many other issues that have led to terrible in-fighting, divisiveness and, speaking for myself, a sense of hostility and unease in the studio space itself. How this has affected all of Pacifica I cannot say. It seems part of a process that impacted you and many other programmers, particularly at WBAI in New York. I would say, though, that this affects Pacifica in weakening further its D.C. affiliate, one that should be among the loudest, most diverse and highly political but one that has, as others have noted, been more interested in Black music than Black thought.
I also think this weakens the network, which I still contend would be better served by reducing more of the extravagant salaries executives and managers earn at the network and redistributing those funds throughout the network in order to develop more programming, investigative and radical journalism – all of which I think would increase our audience and impact on those audiences.
This is the only way I see to save the network: Get more radical, more diverse and more involved in producing news.
M.O.I. JR: Ethnically cleansing the airwaves seems to be a trend every few years at Pacifica. What do you think? What are some of the reasons being said behind closed doors for the recent dismissal of Black broadcasters on Pacifica like you and myself?
Jared Ball: I think this is part of a long-standing struggle with White liberalism. From Hubert Henry Harrison to Claudia Jones, to DuBois, King, Malcolm X and Kwame Ture, all – and more – have noted the shortcomings of the White “Left” in dealing with Black people and Black liberation. I also think this is an issue of ideology and politics.
The Black hired hands who carry out management policy at WPFW are there for their commercial and corporate capabilities, not their interest or ability to program the most forward, critically thinking and stylish content. I listen to all their favorites too: I learn a lot from Amy Goodman, Richard Wolff and Doug Henwood, Project Censored and Counterspin – I do appreciate their work.

I asked how could it be possible that a network claiming itself to be an alternative – one that will sell Malcolm X, John Henrik Clarke, the Black Panther Party and more during pledge-drives! – could not somehow find any representatives of the world’s majority population to serve as national public affairs programmers.

But as I have long argued – and demonstrated – they do not have strong track records of including Black, Brown, Indigenous thought, worldviews, perspectives or concerns. And as I have said to our management, I think my show was better than theirs. I think there are plenty of other – and far better than me – world’s majority programmers who could be cultivated into strong national public affairs hosts.
The issue is that Pacifica feels that only these and those like them are worthy of an audience, of network support and of real promotion. So there is simply not a lot of room for people critical of their dominance of public affairs and national slots or critical of the limitations of their perspectives and analyses.
Or if the goal, as it once was at WPFW, is to bring NPR and NPR-like programming and to think that mirroring that kind of programming will improve the economic state of the network, then it stands to reason that those critical of that approach will not find themselves welcomed – certainly not those of us who have publicly equated NPR with Fanon’s description of Radio Alger in colonial Algeria.
Those of us who prefer an approach born of what can broadly be described as the Black radical tradition, including those of us who bring music and particularly hip-hop from that perspective, are less likely to be welcomed. But really, it is just offensive to suggest that WPFW could not find one Black or Brown programmer to promote for the national grid or to air as prime drive time evening public affairs.
M.O.I. JR: How do you look at what just happened in your situation and relate it to emancipatory journalism? What does this incident say about the state of the unfiltered political Black male voice in the media?
Jared Ball: I, too need to be reminded that my initial interest in emancipatory journalism – a philosophy of journalism that presupposes an on-going colonialism and need for bottom-up, organizationally based journalistic practice – and it being applied to the tradition of the hip-hop mixtape, all derived from an assessment of our media environment that there is no other more viable outlet, on or offline, for that kind of work or expression.
Pacifica and the rest of the so-called “Left” or “alternative” media world have proven themselves in this regard – and long before my removal – to be insufficient at best. I have to also be reminded that the political function of media is to prevent unsanctioned change, which means that, prior to any revolutionary change, there will never be unfiltered Black – or otherwise – women or men in prominent spaces. I think we have to again conclude – or should have long concluded – that the “Left” has not produced such space either and begin again to move accordingly.

Those of us who prefer an approach born of what can broadly be described as the Black radical tradition, including those of us who bring music and particularly hip-hop from that perspective, are less likely to be welcomed.

M.O.I. JR: What is next for you? How do people stay up with your podcasts?
Jared Ball: I don’t know exactly what is next for me. All I know is that I will continue to produce interview and discussion segments – and more – for anyone to use in their media work and that can all be found at IMIXWHATILIKE.ORG.

A Bit of Black History: 
The African Origin of the Banjo

By Vincent Carroll   
The Denver Post  12/13/2013


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It’s been a month of news about race, racial epithets and racial heroes — from the sublime in Nelson Mandela to the ridiculous in Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin.

Mandela’s death reminds us that the overthrow of institutional white supremacy, whether in its Jim Crow or apartheid forms, was one of the towering achievements of the 20th century.

The Incognito fiasco cautions us that even after decades of incessant warnings about the malignant power of speech rooted in bigotry, some people still don’t appreciate that the N-word is best avoided — whatever your ethnicity.

Now, race can be a tiresome subject for some whites, especially when it is used to leverage social advantage or to silence political adversaries under the guise of perceived slights. But race will never be something we entirely leave behind. It’s so central to our history — even odd strands of history most of us rarely have reason to notice.

That reality was brought home to me with special force some months ago when I began dabbling in 19th century banjo music — I’ve been playing the instrument for several years — and particularly the repertoire of the early minstrels. Anyone who doubts the full ugly history of the N-word and its message of condescension or contempt need only cast an eye over the playbills and broadsides for minstrel shows, or the sheet music of the time. The word is scattered liberally throughout, as are caricatures of plantation life and black dialect and entertainment.

White entertainers even performed in blackface, with the disturbing images captured in some cases by early photographers.

As Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman write in “America’s instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century,” many minstrels “were recent Irish immigrants who melded the music of their home with the music of the plantation South.”

“Such exaggerated clothing and overall appearance,” the authors explain, “characterized minstrel shows on both sides of the Atlantic and presumably allowed working class whites to think of themselves as superior to the African Americans against whom they often competed for jobs, particularly in the urban Northeast.”

The banjo may be distinctively American, but its origins go back to the lute-like instruments of West Africa that were brought to the Western Hemisphere in the slave trade. In America, these folk instruments typically were made with gourds.

“The instrument proper to the [slaves] is the Banjar, which they brought hither from Africa,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1781.

Whites like Virginia’s Joel Walker Sweeney mastered and refined the instrument in the 1830s and 1840s, and its popularity took off.

“Sweeney somehow offered a connection to the instrument that African-Americans, denied access to public venues such as theaters and circuses, had been previously unable to provide the greater public,” writes Bob Carlin (a great banjoist in his own right) in “The Birth of the Banjo.”

“From our vantage point 150 years later, it is impossible to know whether it was his interpretations of black playing styles, the sonic improvements made by himself or others to his instrument, his charismatic stage presence, or simply his white skin that sold America on the banjo.”

Eventually the banjo moved into the mainstream, performers dropped the blackface and the African influence receded in public memory.

So why play early banjo music at all given its baggage? Because they’re great tunes, because the past is never as pretty as we might like, and because it’s important to remember the instrument’s origins.

When the old-time string band Carolina Chocolate Drops played at Denver Botanic Gardens last summer, it confronted the blackface phenomenon head-on, but that didn’t stop the black group from playing “Briggs Corn Shucking Jig” and “Camptown Hornpipe,” right out of the early minstrel playbook.

Perhaps the band realizes that knowledge of the past is not an invitation to racism; if you’ve got any sort of moral compass, such knowledge should inoculate you against it.

A SOUTH AFRICAN BLACK REAWAKENING

The September National Imbizo (SNI)

SNI & The People’s Manifesto – FAQs

What is the September National Imbizo?

The September National Imbizo (SNI) is a PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT. It is a national voluntary movement of like minded people who wish to bring about a new society where all are taken care of for real. This means the SNI  is not a political party, but a revolutionary movement that wants total change for our people in all areas of life, from how we are governed (politics), to the use of our natural resources and wealth (economy) to relations amongst people (social).  This change must put BLACKS FIRST and not benefit a new political elite and white capital

A movement for total liberation?  Didn’t 1994 do this?

We note that 1994 only extended apartheid under new management by the ANC.  We note that blacks continue to suffer and therefore there is need for a BLACK centred movement in society and the SNI has come to represent this possibility. What happened post 1994 was NOT the deepening of democracy;   rather, people and a political party that claims to represent the people came into political power. But for them, the people they were to serve were not us, the majority, but themselves and their families and those already privileged by colonialism and apartheid.  The people for them include big businesses (e.g. the mining houses and the banks) that were central to maintaining colonialism and apartheid and that continue to deepen inequality and anti black racism today.

Don’t we have alternative political parties?

Political parties in general serve politicians and elites in society, revolutionary movements, like the SNI seek to end elite power and bring about a peoples democracy, where the people make decisions for themselves all the time.

It will soon be 20 years of ANC rule and bad politics which promote elite interests. The politics and policies of the ANC and DA are not meant to change the conditions of blacks. That is why all the main political parties are agreed on the inferior apartheid-like services they give blacks, from RDP houses to toilets without walls. The people’s movement is an opportunity to build a massive movement which can hold all politicians accountable and to struggle for real freedom. The SNI seeks to transform politicians and public servants to be servants for the people.

Why the SNI?

After 18 years of ANC rule and DA opposition politics it is clear that these parties do not care for the interests of the black majority. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Think about what happens if we don’t build an alternative movement? What is going to happen to our country? Another 20 years of ANC elite rule and DA lies? The solutions to our problems are political. Let the politicians respect and fear the people – let’s build the PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT.

For change to happen there is a need for a massive, radical and Black-centered movement in society, which would be able to mobilise against injustice waged by politicians. For this to work there is need to overhaul the existing nature of politics and economic systems.

Can this be done? How do we achieve the new society?

It can be done. The SNI stands for the total transformation of our society by any means necessary! The people’s movement desires to build a happy secured society, where all have access to equality not just as a right in a the constitution but experienced by the people in real life. Building a happy secured society means simply that democracy works for the people not for the leaders and public servants.

The first act is to question. The people’s movement wants to help our society to ask the question: is this how we should be governed? Until our people have asked this question honestly we can’t build a new society. So the SNI seeks to build a critical consciousness by asking these questions in society.

Is that kind of democracy practical?

It is only impractical because politicians don’t want real democracy, the result is that we have the anomaly were 400 parliamentarians rule over 50 million people! This is not democracy, this is surrendering power to an elite. That is why they abuse the mandate to govern and give each other perks and legalise corruption through the Ministerial Handbook. Children learn under trees but this handbook says a minister can buy two cars worth R1.1 million each.

We need to build new people’s democracy to serve the people. Technology makes a people’s democracy real, have you considered the possibility of voting on all major issues, such as tenders, e-toll, salaries of politicians and civil servants, laws and what the national budget should be used for?  Just at the click of a button we could have fired the Minister of Education for the text book fiasco. Cell phone technology for democracy is already used in countries such as Estonia.

What ideas and philosophy inspire SNI?

The People’s Movement is inspired by the ideas of liberation symbolised by the giants of the liberation movement against white supremacy and colonialism: ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE (Radical Pan Africanism), STEVE BIKO (Radical Black Consciousness) and THOMAS SANKARA (exercising power to serve the people first!).  The SNI is therefore committed to philosophy and ideology of Radical Pan Africanism and Black Consciousness and the Sankarist practice of power! Dr Chinweizu best describes this philosophy as Black Power Pan Africanism.

 What is the Structure of the SNI?

Branch:

The SNI is based on branch structures. Every 20 people who join in an area can form themselves into an SNI branch with a branch coordination committee. The SNI doesn’t have portfolios such as Chairman or Secretary etc. All those elected to the coordinating committee are coordinators and may have be given specific, non permanent tasks which must be reviewed upon reasonable periods. A branch can further divide into study circles of about five people each.

Regions:

Two or more branches in an area can form a region.

Provinces:

Each province has a provincial coordinating committee and there is a national coordination committee as well. The national coordinating committee has five sub committees where any members can participate upon being asked to do.
All meetings of the structures of the SNI-the people’s movement are open to the membership.

A national Coordination Committee

The NCC is elected at the National Imbizo comprising provincial representative and five directly elected coordinators. The NCC is the highest decision making body between national imbizos and it has the mandate of implementing and interpreting the resolutions of the SNI.

Who can join?

The SNI is inspired by Black Consciousness and Radical Pan Africanism. Therefore Membership is open ONLY to BLACK PEOPLE.

Why Blacks only?

South Africa is an anti black white supremacist country managed by the ANC in the interests of white people. Only blacks can liberate themselves.

Who are blacks?

Black people are those people who define themselves as blacks who may come from the African communities, the so-called Coloured communities and so-called Indian communities. The SNI is aware of animosities within these oppressed communities. We are also aware that some do not want to identify themselves as black because of tribal feelings. This movement works to unite the excluded on a common platform. Steve Biko and his comrades managed to unite the oppressed before; also in the 1980s the oppressed acted as one. We must work for unity in action for a new society.

What does that mean? Is SNI just concerned about black oppression in South Africa?

The SNI – people’s movement is against all forms of oppressions. We struggle against white supremacy, which is a driven by capitalism, imperialism and neo-colonialism. Through our campaigns (like the People’s Manifesto) we are able to arrive at the first important building block of a revolutionary new perspective not only in this country but in the whole of Afrika. We are a movement that builds resistance to the many ways blacks are destroyed.

We are in solidarity with our brothers and sisters everywhere on earth who continue to face a hostile anti black world and are inspired by the struggles from 1804 Haiti Slave Revolt to the Black Panthers!

 And other forms of oppression?

Also the SNI is against, oppression of women and other gendered persons. We are against patriarchy, sexism, and homophobia. We are also against tribalism, religious and cultural intolerance. We oppose any cultural or religious practices that promote the oppression of anyone and women in particular.

Our objective is to take power and usher in a black socialist system capable of responding to the total needs of blacks. We simply cannot afford to leave this racist capitalist system intact thereby enabling it to continue crushing the spirits and destroying the bodies of blacks. We are compelled to radically transform this society and the world.

How far will SNI go to achieve this?

The SNI believes in the guide to action provided by Malcolm X that we shall struggle for liberation by “ANY MEANS NECESSARY”. This means that no method or approach is discarded before hand; everything must be used, from protest to insurrection, so long as such actions are guided by a clear perspective of liberation that put blacks first! All actions must be contemplated and tried so long as they don’t compromise the revolutionary line of our movement. (Please see guide to action).

We need to study closely what the most effective method of engagement at any given time dictated to by the reality on the ground is. All action must help our people to develop a critical consciousness and confidence in their own power. We shall not compromise with those agents of white supremacy more specifically the ANC and DA. In situations where we find ourselves in the same trenches with them, we shall maintain a revolutionary hostile posture and raise our voices against their treacherous politics!

FAQs -The People’s Manifesto (PM)

What of The Peoples Manifesto?

The manifesto demands that all politicians and civil servants (themselves, children and all people under their care) are compelled by law to use public services. It would be a criminal offense punishable with ten years imprisonment without the option of parole if found guilty.

Why the PM?

The people’s movement is undertaking campaigns to build the movement. Our key campaign rights now is the PEOPLE’S MANIFESTO, which demands that politicians and public servants and their families must be compelled by law to use public services. It’s only when Jacob Zuma and Hellen Zille are to use the same hospitals, schools, transport and houses that the public uses that they would improve the quality of public service.

But will politicians allow such a law?

The Manifesto attempts to inspire engagement on the philosophical-ideological and political-strategic thinking regarding the necessity and basis for, and the means for bringing into being a system that ‘Puts Blacks First’! It’s only when people demand real freedom that such would materialize! The people themselves have to fight to realize the promise of the people’s manifesto! We want economic freedom now! Social Freedom now! We want political Freedom Cultural Freedom Now! We say: We promise the politicians nothing! We want everything!

What is the approach of the PM?

By indicating a Sankarist approach to politics, it is thoroughly anti-imperialist, thoroughly democratic (new democracy) and unreservedly in the interests of Blacks. In line with this new perspective the PM appropriates the human rights ideology in the interests of blacks to play a mobilising role in our struggle against imperialism and compradorial classes and their state. Via the PM we are therefore able to distance ourselves openly from imperialist ideology of human rights at the international level and cultural-chauvinist/developmentalist ideology of the compradorial classes at the national level. What is being suggested by this new perspective via the PM is an ideological and theoretical break with the dominant discourse on human rights as indicated for example in the freedom charter and other liberal manifestos and declarations.

 Is the People’s Manifesto black Socialism?

This People’s Manifesto is intended to inspire a basic model, and fundamental principles and guidelines, for the nature and functioning of a radically different society and government than the one that now exists. The Manifesto suggests a black socialist state which would personify, institutionalize and promote radically different relations and values among people; an anti capitalist state whose final and fundamental aim would be the final abolition of all exploitative and oppressive relations among human beings and the destructive antagonistic contradictions to which these relations give rise. These endeavors would be guided by a commitment to the principle of BLACKS FIRST!

What can you do to help build the SNI?

1. Get any information you can on the SNI, its resolutions and campaigns
2. Join the SNI as an active member who is committed to building a culture of liberation, meaning culture must serve the interest of  all the people, ensuring equality is achieved for all. Oppression is not culture!
3. You may not want to join but support the campaigns of the SNI. Dot not hesitate to call SNI to a meeting in your area.
4. For further info, email us on: info@septembernationalimbizo.org

Slumming Without the Slummers- South African Style

"PostRacial/PostApartheid" Capitalism Knows No Bounds: Slumming Without The "Slummers"!


Fake slum for wealthy tourists: the most tasteless and offensive tourism idea ever?

by Siji Jabbar

thisisafrica.me

If you thought the idea of rich tourists on holiday taking time out for a walking (or riding) tour through a slum in order to stare at slum inhabitants like they’re animals at a safari was tasteless, insensitive and offensive, the people at Emoya Luxury Hotel & Spa in Bloemfontein, South Africa, have found a way to offer something even more tasteless.

In case you haven’t heard, the Emoya people have built a fake shanty town consisting of “shacks” so that guests can experience what it’s like to stay in a shanty town. For R850 (€60; $82) - about half the average monthly salary in South Africa - you and three friends, family members or colleagues can spend a night in a shack made of corrugated iron sheets. They “shanty town” has room for 52 guests. I kid you not.

 
“Shanty town”, luxury style, by Emoya

It’s not known how many takers Emoya have had for this service, but it is clear they have no idea what it is like to have to live in a shanty town, or why someone who does not have to live in one cannot ever “experience” what it is like. Even if you spend a month living in a real shanty town, you still can’t know what it is like.

 
The “Shanty town” from above

A shanty town, according to Wikipedia, is ‘a slum settlement of plywood, corrugated metal, sheets of plastic, and cardboard boxes. They are usually found on the periphery of cities, public parks, or near railroad tracks, rivers, lagoons or city trash dump sites. Sometimes called a squatter, informal or spontaneous settlement, shanty towns often lack proper sanitation, safe water supply, electricity, hygienic streets, or other basic human necessities.’ 

Some of the problems experienced by people living in shanty towns are:

- Overcrowding - shanty towns tend to have a population density.
- Fires - fires can spread quickly in shanty towns, and shacks burn very quickly.
- Overpopulation - resources insufficient to support the population.
- High competition for jobs, because they’re in short supply
- Disease - poor sanitation and limited health care can lead to the spread of disease.
- Infrastructure - services are poor, public transport is limited and connections to the electricity supply can be limited and sometimes dangerous.

 
Here’s what a real shack looks like. 
(Source: Demotix - Daily life in South African township – Khayelitsha)

 
And here’s what a real shanty town looks like 
(Source: Demotix - Daily life in South African township – Khayelitsha)

I apologise if this comes across as didactic, but it appears there are still some people on this planet who have no idea of what it means to live in a slum/shanty town.

There are one billion people worldwide living in slums, and I'll hazard a guess that not one of this billion would continue to do so if they had a choice. Choice is the reason why the idea of “experiencing” what it is like is complete nonsense.

If you have to live in a shack built from cardboard and corrugated metal sheets, you are, relatively speaking, poor, and poverty is about not having choices. by accident of birth, you find yourself growing up and living in a shack in a shanty town. It’s not a moral failing, though some people appear to see it as such, but to the person living in a shack it can feel like failure, mainly because that’s the message society transmits.

Poverty is about having limited prospects and battling uphill with both hands tied behind your back. It’s about people treating you like an idiot and not listening to you when you speak, simply because they had the good fortune to have been born under circumstances more favourable than yours. It’s about fighting every day to hang on to your dignity, while others, knowingly or inadvertently, try to strip you of it. It’s about constant worry: will you have enough to eat tomorrow? Next week? Can you afford to get ill, and what happens if you do? Will your shack be demolished tomorrow morning because it was built "illegally', rendering you homeless? You can’t experience any of that unless you actually are poor, and you can’t walk away from poverty, or from your shack, overnight or in a week or when you've had enough of the "experience". So all any guest in one of these “shack” will experience is a night or more of camping. 

But this is camping in style, so “Shanty Town's” shacks have the following amenities:

Under floor heating               Long-drop effect toilets
Donkey geysers                      Electricity
Electrical geysers                   Bathroom with shower
Braai facilities on request      

They even have Wi-Fi! Exactly like regular shacks, then.

    
The End of U.S. Capitalism
An interview with Seattle's new socialist councilmember, Kshama Sawant.

Kshama Sawant- Salon / AP/Ted S. Warren,

Josh Eidelson
November 18, 2013
Salon

Spoiler Alert! Let's be clear from the outset: Kshama Sawant's- an avowed socialist -victory is a positive move for those of us who are fighting to bring socialism to the US. We applaud Ms Sawant's victory and will work to publicize and support her City Council work.

However, in this long interview, not one word is mentioned about racism/white supremacy, the racial inequities that capitalism rest upon. Somehow, the struggle for social justice and democracy- according to Ms Sawant- is centered in... "All the advances that have been made in women’s rights and LGBT rights — a lot of this is well within the vision of what I would consider a really humane society in the future, and what I consider socialism … The gains that we have today are very consistent with our vision for a socialist society, and also they came about because a lot of these movements were headed by socialists." Both the interviewer and Ms Sawant have conveniently dismissed the white elephant in the room: racism. 

I guess racism/white supremacy gets automatically erased with the transformation of capitalism into socialism. It appears that Ms Sawant's version of being a socialist is one that classically states that the Class Struggle is just about class and white supremacy is a minor aberration that is not central to capitalism's structure of dominance, profit maximization and exploitation.

We need to find ways to have a serious talk with Ms Sawant about the importance of racism/white supremacy in the functions of capitalism-- especially in a city like Seattle that is deeply affected by various forms of deep racial discrimination in housing, education, jobs and healthcare.
     ------------------------------

On November 5, Seattle voters made Occupy activist and economics professor Kshama Sawant the first avowed socialist city council member in their city’s history – and the country’s first big city socialist council member in decades. In an interview Thursday – one day before her vote count lead spurred her opponent to concede the race – Sawant slammed Obama economics, suggested she could live to see the end of U.S. capitalism, and offered a socialist vision for transforming Boeing. A condensed version of our conversation follows.

It appears you’re on the cusp of winning a major city’s council race as a socialist. How did that happen?

I think the basis for everything that’s happening in Seattle, and everywhere else, is the fallout of the economic crisis … In Seattle, we are seeing a city that is very wealthy but is very unequal, and has become unaffordable for the vast majority of people …

Along with our [state Legislature] campaign last year and [city council] this year, we’ve seen a movement towards $15 an hour through the fast food movement … workers have courageously gone out on one-day strikes … The workers of [nearby airport city] SeaTac and the labor movement, they put a $15 an hour minimum wage initiative on the ballot for SeaTac city, and that is now leading …

All of this is happening in the cauldron of the economic crisis and the burden placed on the shoulders of working people … The conditions that shape people’s consciousness in Seattle are not different from anywhere else. And in fact, there is a deep frustration and disgust with the political system … This is the background in which our campaign has had a resounding echo.

After the 2008 financial crash, were you disappointed that there wasn’t more of a left turn in U.S. policy at the national level?

I think it’s been it’s been demoralizing for the left for a while. But at the same time, I think what we’re seeing is a slow but steady change, and the Occupy movement was a really significant expression of the disenchantment from the system that we knew that everybody was feeling…

In the absence of movements, especially mass movements, people tend to feel atomized, and everybody is privately thinking that “the system is not working for me.” The Occupy movement, what it did was it ended that silence and people were more openly talking about the economic crisis, the fact that the banks got bailed out and the rest of us were left with unemployment, low-wage jobs, and an epidemic of foreclosures and evictions. So I think, contrary to what people thought…It’s really been a period where newer, small but new movements are starting to rise up. There’s been the Occupy Homes campaign in Minnesota, which has actually prevented several foreclosures…And there’s been sort of initial eruptions of the environmental movement.

…Now, what [the] Left has to do is to recognize that there is an opening here, there is a hunger among people in the United States, especially young people, young working people…In reality, what has become a dirty word is capitalism. Young people can see that the system does not offer any solutions. They can see that a two-party system is not working for them. But what is the alternative? We have to provide the alternative…

Boeing workers…rejected this contract that has been forced on them by Boeing executives [who are] holding the state hostage to their demands…Every few years Boeing demands a massive corporate giveaway from the state, and the state each time gives into it – and this is a Democratic governor of the state who was leading this effort. For Boeing workers, it’s very clear that neither of the two parties is going to stand by them. And so the signal that it sends to the labor movement is that we have to have our own political organization.

So what is the most likely path in your view to making the United States more socialist?

I wouldn’t call it “more socialist,” in the sense that it doesn’t make sense: It can be either capitalism or socialism. But what we can do, in the journey toward making the economy into something that works for everybody: We have to fight for major reforms under capitalism … We are going to be pushing forward for $15 an hour minimum wage in Seattle in 2014 …

The only way we can get that any of these demands to be fulfilled is if we have mass movements of workers and young people coming together in an organized way and demanding these reforms …

But we also have to be honest … That’s not going to be enough. Because the system itself is a system of crises … Capitalism does not have the ability to generate the kind of living wage jobs that will be necessary in order to sustain a decent standard of living for the majority … So we have to have a strategy where we not only fight for every reform that we can get, including single payer healthcare, but … It can’t be in isolation from also thinking about fundamental shift in society …

In all this discussion, we cannot ignore the questions about climate change that are looming large in terms of this. And capitalism has shown itself completely incapable of addressing this crisis. And in some ways that’s as compelling a reason as any to think about a fundamental shift.

Do you believe that capitalism can or will end in the United States in your lifetime?

I can’t give a definitive answer to that because it will depend on what role we play – you know, we as in working people, young people, older people, people who have a stake in changing society, you know – it’s in our hands … We have to point the way forward, and that is the responsibility of the left, and we’re trying to do that. But we need other forces to step in.

We need the labor movement to play a huge role in this. And you know, one of the things that the labor movement can do is it can join hands with the environmental movement … The other thing the labor movement needs to do is run their own candidates, independent of the two parties, independent of corporate money, and show that it’s possible.

I mean, our campaign has shown that you don’t have to obey the rules.

In the best case scenario for you, the day that capitalism ended in the United States — how would that happen, what form would that transition take?

It would be difficult for me to lay out a blueprint of that. But … we can think about what it will require …

Capitalism is a system where it’s extremely productive, and productivity rates are at an all-time high, but the gains of the productivity are delivered almost exclusively to a very tiny elite at the top …

Boeing has an enormous factory, [as well as] all the auto factories that are lying defunct right now in the U.S. — they all have enormous capacity for production. And there’s any number of workers with the skills, and people who have the potential of learning those skills. And instead we have a situation where, because we don’t have a say in the production, either the machines are lying idle, or the machines are being used to produce destructive machines like drones.

So what we need to do is to take the machines and the factories into democratic, say, democratic ownership — and the workers can contribute rail cars or buses, something like that, something that is beneficial to society. And that’s something that creates jobs — it will create living wage jobs …

That’s the kind of system that we need, where the decisions on what to do with resources, and what to produce, how much of it to produce, that is made in accordance with democratic principles, and in accordance with what human society needs, not because the Wal-Mart CEO needs to make 2 percentage points more profits this quarter.

Under that vision of socialism, would there still be a Seattle City Council?

Absolutely. There has to be elected representation. There would still be unions. There has to be accountability.

What will change is how democracy actually functions. I mean, today we have a certain level of democracy — I mean, when you look at the vote, that’s true. And we are running within the system. But it’s a very limited form of democracy. You know, in order to get your message across, if you are a campaign with loads of corporate money, it’s easier for you. If you’re going against the status quo, it’s harder … And voters themselves are disenfranchised in so many ways …

Democracy is nonetheless absolutely the bedrock of socialism. In fact, I would say that democracy is absolutely critical for this vision to come alive. And in fact democracy is antithetical in many ways to capitalism. And in fact this democracy that we have is something that allows us to do a little bit within the system, but that’s not what the capitalist class want. I mean, they do not want us to fight for $15 an hour, they don’t want to give that. But we’re able to fight for it within the system. But that’s despite capitalism, not because of capitalism.

President Obama told the Business Roundtable – speaking of “the capitalist class” – in his first term that he’s an “ardent believer in the free market,” and that he sees three roles for government: to create rules for a level playing field; to provide things that individuals can’t do for themselves; and to provide a social safety net. What do you make of that kind of politics?

First of all, I think Obama is being quite honest … he believes in capitalism. And so for people to have the faith that he is going to really fight against those ideas … there is no basis in reality for that …

I would say that the “free market” is basically free for the super-wealthy, and extremely un-free for the rest of us. Because they dictate the terms. And so this idea that the free market can generate conditions where social programs can thrive and a level playing field can be created — it is an oxymoron. Because what the capitalist market does – and that’s what they call the “free market” – is that if you are a big player, like one of the oil companies, then you are in the best position to consolidate your wealth even further … One of the systematic, statistical realities under capitalism is intergenerational transmission of wealth and intergenerational transmissions of poverty …

I often ask my students, “What do you think is the best way of making money under capitalism?” They often give me interesting answers, like maybe [creating] an app for an iPhone … I tell them, “Look, the best way of making money under capitalism is to have money in the first place” …

You also hear people saying, well, it’s “crony capitalism” or it’s “disaster capitalism” or some other capitalism. Well, the fact is, you know, they’re all dancing around [that] this is capitalism … It’s not built into the system that the goal is to ensure that socially responsible life is possible. The goal is to maximize profits for those who already have wealth …

The reality is that capitalism rewards the biggest corporations and it tends toward monopoly. That is what capitalism is.

If you end up on the city council, how different is your agenda on the council and your voting record going to be from the liberal Democrats on the Seattle City Council?

Most of them are typical, homogenous block of more pro-Big Business conservative advocates, although in name they’re all Democrats … Seattle, like most major cities of the United States, is ruled by the Democratic Party establishment. And all of the problems that we see here, you know, crisis of affordable housing, low-wage jobs and all of those things, lie at the doorstep of the Democratic Party …

One [example] was a vote on whether the city should allow regulated homeless encampments … a very necessary stopgap measure to protect families from the ravages of homelessness. And my opponent … was the fifth vote that crushed it …

Another example — this is also politically really instructive — is the paid sick leave for Seattle workers  … That was possible because rank-and-file workers and the labor movement took it on themselves — I mean, they were the ones who championed it. They were out on the streets demonstrating and demanding that the council pass a paid sick leave initiative … That, in combination with the fact that there are one or two more progressive voices on City Council who took that on and pushed for it, ensured that basically the issue was passed … My opponent [cast the] sole vote against it. That one thing should be enough for people to not elect him again, because that was a completely unconscionable thing to do…

When we launched our campaign, and it was early this year, no one else was talking about $15 an hour except for us and the fast food workers, and all the corporate candidates — including the mayoral candidates — were very, very carefully avoiding it … Ultimately, it was impossible for the corporate candidates to ignore, and toward the end of the campaign you had both of the mayoral candidates putting on paper that they support $15 an hour …

What I can do on the City Council as one socialist is really far more than what people imagine it to be. Because it won’t just be my voice … to talk to other council members, but it’s also going to be to continue to really encourage and to invite public pressure into it. Which is how this camp succeeded.

Are there countries that you look to as good examples of socialism?

There is no real full example … but there are elements of what we are talking about in our vision for a future society …

In the United States, the creation of the welfare program in the first place. The creation of Social Security. All the advances that have been made in women’s rights and LGBT rights — a lot of this is well within the vision of what I would consider a really humane society in the future, and what I consider socialism … The gains that we have today are very consistent with our vision for a socialist society, and also they came about because a lot of these movements were headed by socialists.

And there are elements of socialism or socialist society in many other countries as well. So if you look at Finland and the funding for public education, how strong the teachers’ unions are, the full funding for healthcare in Cuba, also education. These are all elements that we would want to see put in place in a future society.

But at the end of the day, it’s not possible to have socialism in one country … If resources are organized globally along capitalist lines, it’s just not possible to provide that really high standard of living that some people have to everybody else  …

[A] small section of the working class has attained a really good standard of living. But first of all, that was not delivered to the vast majority. And secondly, and more importantly, those kinds of living are starting to disappear … It’s a politics of austerity in Europe, and all of these programs are under major assault. And so that shows you that you can’t have socialism in one country, and you can’t stop at social democracy. You can’t stop at having reforms … We have to have a fundamental shift.

In the past few decades, has the United States been moving closer toward that ideal of socialism, or further away from it?

As far as what has been happening broadly in the economy, no, it hasn’t been moving closer to socialism. And in fact what’s been happening is that some of the gains of the post-Second World War era, the creation of the middle class, for example, the funding for public education, a lot of these things are under attack … You don’t have to be a socialist economist for someone to admit that the middle class is fast disappearing. You know, Paul Krugman talks about it. So that’s going in the wrong direction.

What it shows is that, you know, when there is a major crisis in capitalism, the people who are going to be squeezed are working people.

When did you become a socialist and what brought you to socialism?

Consciously, I became a socialist when I came to Seattle, and I just happened to attend a meeting where somebody from Socialist Alternative gave a speech. And for me, there was — that was exactly what I was looking for. And I haven’t looked back since then.

But I would say more accurately that I have always been a socialist, but less consciously. From my very childhood, it was just the experience of growing up in Mumbai, India, and seeing just the ocean of poverty and misery all around me. And for me, it was not simply a question of outrage or fellow-feeling. Of course that’s the starting point, but for me it’s a logical question as well. Which is: How is it possible that there is so much wealth in society, and you can see that there are so many wealthy people who are just wealthy beyond measure, and you have such unimaginable poverty and misery, and just absolute horrendous conditions that human beings are living in …

It just seemed very, just unacceptable to me logically that that situation was a natural one. I mean, I could see that it had nothing to do with resources or productivity. It was clearly a political obstacle to eliminating poverty.

A History of Slavery and Genocide Is Hidden in Modern DNA

Black Out: Children of Guinea Struggle to Seek Light to Study By

The Struggle to Pass Exams Taken to a New Height in Guinea: 

Finding Light at Night

Every day during exam season, as the sun sets over Conakry, Guinea, hundreds of school children begin a nightly pilgrimage to the airport, petrol stations and wealthy parts of the city, searching for light. Black Out is an evocative documentary that tells the story of these children's inspiring struggle for education in the face of the country's own fight for change.

Originally from Germany, Eva Weber is a London-based filmmaker working in both documentary and fiction. Her award-winning films have screened at numerous international film festivals, broadcast on UK and international television, and shown at art exhibitions and museums.

Black Out received its world premiere in 2012 at IDFA, and won the award for Best Short Documentary at the FIFE Environmental Film Festival in Paris and the Jury Award at the Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival. Weber is currently in development with a number of feature projects, including the fiction feature Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name based on the novel by Vendela Vida.

Soul Food is Plantation Food: You Is What You Eat

Published on Oct 23, 2013

This 10-minute video is an excerpt from a talk given by Milton Mills MD at the Meals For Health graduation, which we ran at Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in East Berkeley, California this past June.

In this excerpt, Dr. Mills discusses the troubling connection between slavery and soul food.For more info about Meals For Health, visit http://www.EarthSave.org

HipHop Goes Green With Environmental Justice Video

Global WarNing - Earth Amplified featuring stic.man from Dead Prez 

Starring Seasunz and J. Bless from Earth Amplified, feat. Stic.Man from Dead Prez

-
After world leaders met in Rio to talk about sustainable development and the global green economy, we want to make sure there is continued pressure to discuss what a real green economy looks like. "Global WarNing" exposes greenwashing by corporate polluters—and calls for an end to handouts for the fossil fuel industry. Want to help? Join the world's largest twitter storm: Tweet #endfossilfuelsubsidies and go to http://endfossilfuelsubsidies.org/twi... to find out more.

The Free Download of Earth Amplified Mixtape Vol 1http://earthamplified.bandcamp.com/ was mixed by DMC Bay Area Regional Champion, DJ Sol Rising, and features political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, Stic.man from Dead Prez, Zumbi from Zion I, Wisdom, DJ Max Powa, Vandana Shiva, and Earth Amplified members, Travis De Leon Porter, Seneca Schachter, Ambessa Cantave, J.Bless, DJ Tuffist, and AshEL Seasunz.

Lyrics -

Seasunz: 

where's the bailout for this?
 swim out the metropolis cuz ice get melt like sun kissed icarus when lake chad is drier than bagdhad
your numbers don't add just the greenhouse gas appalachian coalminer fisherman from bangladesh
uncle sam making bets write his name by the ex-xon valdeez
probably asthma's next little johnny got a funny knob in his neck
so what the problem with that?

you just a corporate exec who extract that oil from the backs of nigerians
gimme that pass out techs like refs do to mavericks offset politrix copenhagen
no debating need the reparations

and while you waiting another 600 acres gone in the congo and amazon by the end of this song

Chorus: 

On it, on it, we're so on it Gotta be on it if we ain't on it we're a goner
Who?
Me, you, everyone and their mama

It's our world, so defending it with honor On it, on it, we're so on it
If you ain't on it, this a warning Take a look at the world around Cuz the temperature is rising, the time is now

stic.man: 

Look... Look..Look..

Go green, Go solar, Go agriculture,
fya burn Mac Donalds and Coca Cola

All corporate vultures should burn in the toxic sulfur they emit for every dollar the get
They exploit the culture
And take resources
control the media
and censor the voice of the voiceless
sitting back fat in they office

they dont see people, just profits and losses
the seed wanna grow, but its deep in darkness

the hood gotta learn how to turn the garbage into healthy soil
we could help the world, but we running out of time, like they running out oil

Chorus... 

On it, on it, we're so on it Gotta be on it if we ain't on it we're a goner
Who?
Me, you, everyone and their mama

It's our world, so defending it with honor On it, on it, we're so on it
If you ain't on it, this a warning Take a look at the world around Cuz the temperature is rising, the time is now

J.Bless: 

it's hotter than july, right?
feel the sunlight but it's only april
somethin don't feel right and yeah it's true we all live under the sun but what we doin got us all living under the gun cuz the science is real
but the politics are dominant without action the outlook is ominous

but on the nuts of the governments
the lobbyists and they get dat dough to keep the stat quo
freeze that cash flow and scorch the natural pale white horse coming directly at you

took a whole lot of troops to topple a statue
but just one katrina put a tree in your bathroom

cuz we don't live in a vacuum things you put out in the world will come back and get at you like a boomerang don't care who threw it how you gon' explain to a hurricane that you didn't do it