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15 Oct, 4 tweets, 2 min read
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded on this day in 1966.

Below are threads highlighting key lessons and insights from three lesser-known ex-Panthers who put their lives on the line for systems change:

• Donald Cox

• Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin

• Kuwasi Balagoon An old Black Panther Party ...
#DonaldCox

#LorenzoKomboaErvin

#KuwasiBalagoon

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More from @BlackSocialists

Black Socialists in America Profile picture
30 Oct
Don’t stop talking about Armenia.
Armenians feel alone in this moment.

Kurds felt alone this time last year.

For them, the common enemy is the Turkish nation-state.

For oppressed folks worldwide, there are even more common enemies.

That’s why our fight must begin with global poor and working-class solidarity.
We *need* to build a new, militant, internationalist force that is united in a politics of transcendence.

A force united in moving to transcend capitalist relations.

A force united in moving to transcend the nation-state model.

A force united in moving to transcend patriarchy.
Read 4 tweets
Black Socialists in America Profile picture
23 Oct
Politicians claiming to be “Left” should be ditching the political theater, uniting to meet poor and working-class people where they’re at, and developing bottom-up, municipalist strategies with communities (in communities) in the lead-up to an international, #DualPower movement.
Entryism is not working. The inherent structure of the Democratic Party does not allow for anyone elected to be held accountable. New political vehicles and forums must be created, but they must be grounded in community and direct (or “liquid”) democracy.

blacksocialists.us/news/jackson-p…
Instead of just coloring inside the lines of the terms “representative democracy” has set for the present, “Left” politicians should instead be looking around and working in coalitions to plant grassroots seeds for the direct democracy of the future.

Anything less is Liberalism.
Read 6 tweets
Black Socialists in America Profile picture
2 Oct
Gestures like these illustrate clearly that, despite whatever Bernie & similar forces may have done to “shift the Overton window,” “progressive” politicians lack the radical imagination & boldness necessary to help poor & working-class people confront fascism & build a new world.
Instead of leveraging the *millions* of dollars & access that he’s cultivated for economic counter-institution-building that can sustain new political power while *also* sustaining communities in meeting material needs (#DualPower), he & others accept Neoliberal limits & placate!
Bernie Sanders & other “progressive” politicians accept Neoliberal limits on strategy & placate instead of trying to think outside of the traditional “electoral politics” box & embracing a municipalist strategy, even with fascism right on our doorstep! Truly bizarre beyond words.
Read 12 tweets
Black Socialists in America Profile picture
21 Sep
“All who strive to oppress & exploit the working class, & gain power for themselves, whether [on] the right or the left, will always be threatened by Anarchism.... because Anarchists hold that all authority & coercion must be struggled against.”

– Ervin

twitter.com/i/events/13080…
“Anarchists & Anarchism have historically been misrepresented... The popular impression of an Anarchist as an uncontrollably emotional, violent person [...] only interested in destruction for its own sake, & [...] opposed to all forms of organization, still persists to this day.“
“Further, the mistaken belief that Anarchy is chaos & confusion, a reign of rape, murder & [mindless/total] disorder & insanity is widely believed by the general public.”
Read 8 tweets
Black Socialists in America Profile picture
21 Sep
Like many times before within the last 200 years, Anarchist comrades in specific are being confronted with intensified political repression.

State *and* non-state.

“Left” *and* right.

The common thread between these combative forces?

An affinity for hierarchy and state power.
Anarchists are (and have historically been) sticklers when it comes to contesting coercive power and/or imposed authority, and so there has almost always been consensus amongst Liberals, Conservatives, authoritarian “Leftists,” and fascists in trying to stifle Anarchist activity.
What authoritarian forces want is for power vacuums to emerge and to be exploited in a contest for centralized domination.

And no matter how few in numbers these forces may be compared to the general population, they are extremely determined to use discontent to their advantage.
Read 4 tweets
Black Socialists in America Profile picture
19 Sep
No time, nor energy.

This is by design.

This is why it’s on those of us who do take the extra time to build focus on building alternative economic institutions and meeting people where they’re at, both materially and in dialogue.
Read 4 tweets

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