by Lorenzo Komboa Ervin
"How do we raise a new revolutionary consciousness against a
system programmed against our old methods? We must use a new approach and
revolutionize the Black Central City Commune, and slowly provide the people
with the incentive to fight by allowing them to create programs, which will
meet all their social, political, and economic, needs. We must fill the vacuums
left by the established order. In return, we must teach them the benefits of
our revolutionary ideals. We must build a subsistence economy and a
sociopolitical infrastructure so that we can become an example for all
revolutionary people." - George Jackson, in
his book Blood in my Eye
The idea behind
a ‘Black-Commune’ is to create a dual power structure as a counter to the underdevelopment, decline, and marginalization of Black communities due to economic globalization and the political neglect from federal, state, and local
government. This means that Black people must form and unify their own
organizations of struggle to take control of the existing Black communities and
all the institutions within them for the purpose of progressive re-development.
The realization of this aim means that we can build inner city Black-Communes which
will be centers of Black power and social revolutionary culture against
the white political power structures and elected Black neo-colonial officials
in majority Black cities of the United States. Once they assume hegemony such
Black-Communes would be an actual alternative to the State and serve as a force to
revolutionize Black people - it would serve as a living example of
self-determination.
There's
a tremendous fighting power of potential in the Black community but it is not
organized in a structured revolutionary way to effectively struggle and take
what is due. The white Capitalist ruling class recognizes this, which is why it
pushes the fraud of "Black Capitalism" and Black politicians and
other such "responsible leaders. These fakes and sellout artists lead us
to the dead-end road of voting and praying for that which we must really be
willing to fight for!
The Black-Commune
is a staging ground for Black struggle for the struggle of political
self-determination and economic self-reliance. This communal staging ground
will be governed by community councils who make policy decisions, administer affairs, and develop the capacities of the Black community. These councils would be democratic
neighborhood assemblies composed of representative elected by Black workers in
various community institutions-factories, hospitals, schools-as well as
delegates elected on a block basis.
As Black people due to our accute socioeconomic crisis we can no longer afford to depend on Black Mayors, other
politicians, or government bureaucrats; we must reject them in order to struggle 'for real' community power. Therefore we must take up the political responsibility to gain community control of all the institutions of the Black
community instead of just letting the State decide what is good for us! We need full control over our communities because it is not only our right to benefit from our resources and dollars but also the
residents of a community have a true understanding of its needs and desires.
The local council
would then be federated - joined together on a local level to create a city-wide
group of councils who would run affairs in that community. The councils and
other neighborhoods collectives organized for a variety of reasons would make a
mass commune. This commune would be in turn federated at the regional and
national level the aim being to create a national federation of Black-Communes,
which would meet periodically in one or a number of mass assembly meetings.
This federation would be composed of elected or appointed delegates
representing their local commune or council.
Such a national
federation of Black-Communes would allow Black community councils from all over North America
to work out common policies and speak with one voice on all matters affecting
their communities or regions. It would thus have far more power than any single
community council could. However, to prevent this national federation from
bureaucratic usurpation of power by political factions or opportunistic
leaders, elections should be held regularly and delegates would be subject to
recall at any time for misconduct, so that they remain under the control of the
local communities they represent
The Black
community councils are really a type of grassroots movement made up of all the
social formations of our people: the block and neighborhood committees, Labor,
student and youth groups, (even the church, to a limited degree), social
activist groups, and others to unite the various protest actions around a common
program of struggle for this period. These community councils represent direct
democracy instead of the type of phony American "representative democracy,”
which is really nothing but control by politicians and businessmen. The
councils are especially important because they provide embryonic self- rule and
the beginnings of an alternative to the dependency-deprivation reliance on the American government.
The Black-Commune also represents a Black revolutionary counterculture - it is the embryo of the new Black
revolutionary society in the body of the old sick, dying one. It is the new
lifestyle in microcosm that contains the new Black social values and the new
communal organizations, and institutions, which will become the sociopolitical
infrastructure of the new Black cooperative society. Our objective is to teach new Black social
values of unity and struggle against the negative effects of a greedy materialistic - consumeristic white Capitalist
society and culture. To do that we must build the Black-Commune into a Black
Consciousness movement to build race pride and respect.
This Black
communalism would be both a repository of the best in Black culture and ideology. We need
to change both our lives and our lifestyles in order to deal with the many
interpersonal contradictions and conflicts that exist in our community. We must examine the
Black family, Black male/female relationships, the mental health of the Black
community, relations between the community and the white establishment, non-Blacks, and
among Black people themselves. We would hold Black consciousness raising
sessions in schools, community centers, prisons and in Black communities all
over North America that would teach Black history and culture; new liberating
social ideas and values to children and adults, as well as relevant counseling and
therapy techniques to resolve family and marital problems, all the while giving
a Black revolutionary perspective to the issues of the day. Our people must be
made to see that the self-hatred, disunity, distrust, internecine violence, and
oppressive social conditions among Black people are the result of the legacy of
African slavery and the present day effects of Capitalist greed.
Finally the
main objective of Black revolutionary culture is to agitate and organize Black
people to struggle for their freedom. As Steve Biko, the murdered South African
revolutionary stated:
"The call for Black consciousness is the most positive call
to come from ally group in the Black world for a long time. It is more than
just a reactionary rejection of whites by Blacks. At the heart of this kind
of thinking is the realization by Blacks that the most potent weapon in the
hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Once the latter has been so
effectively manipulated and controlled by the oppressor as to make the
oppressed believe that he is a liability to the white man, then there is
nothing the oppressed can do that will really scare the powerful masters. The
philosophy of Black consciousness, therefore expresses group pride and the determination
by Blacks to rise up and attain the envisaged self. "
By the
"envisaged self," Biko refers to the Black self as a liberated psyche.
It is that which we want to rescue with such a Black consciousness movement
here in America. We need to counter Black self-hatred, defeatism, fatalism, and
frivolous survival ’party mentality’. We also want to end the social
degradation of our community - rid it of drug addiction, prostitution,
Black-on-Black crime, and other social evils that destroys the moral fiber of
the Black community. These negative social values, the so-called
"dog-eat-dog" philosophy of capitalist greed teaches Black people to
be individualists of the worst sort; willing to commit any kind of crime
against each other, and to take advantage of each other. This oppressive
culture is what we are fighting against and as long as it exists it will be hard to unify
Black people around a revolutionary self-determined political program.
Building a
Black Survival Program.
The racial oppression of Black people is glaringly manifested in economic deprivation: massive unemployment and poverty. Therefore we must
address economic survival in addition to providing
new cultural role models. It is in the area of socioeconomic development where the Black-Commune, a network of community
organizations and institutions assumes its greatest importance.
We must build
a political socioeconomic infrastructure to intervene in every area of Black life: food
and housing cooperatives, Black Liberation schools, people's banks and
community mutual aid funds, medical clinics and hospitals, rodent control and
pest extermination programs, cooperative factories, community cultural and
entertainment centers, the establishment of an intercommunal electronic
communications network, land and building reclamation projects, public works
volunteer brigades to rebuild the cities, youth projects, drug clinics, and many other
such programs.
by Kenny Anderson
Michigan’s state colonial mandate imposition ‘Public Act 4’ has been a major disaster for majority Black cities - an ‘economic tsunami’ massively washing away jobs and municipal assets. Colonialism is the forced establishment, maintenance, acquisition, and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory.
Public Act 4 is a policy whereby the state claims sovereign authority over the city-colony; and the social structure, government, and economics of the city- colony are dominated by colonizers from Lansing through their Emergency Managers.
Several majority Black cities in Michigan suffering from disaster capitalism deindustrialization are currently subjected to colonial administrative Emergency Managers appointed by Republican governor Rick Snyder. Superseding elected officials and legislature, the emergency manager under Public Act 4 can autocratically eliminate programs, lay off workers, void contracts, including those made with labor unions, privatize services, and sell off assets.
The cities and one school district under the control of an Emergency Manager are Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Flint, Pontiac, and the Detroit Public Schools. This is the second time around for Ecorse which was in State receivership for 13 years. This is also the second time for Flint, which had an ‘Emergency Financial Manager’ from 2002-2006. The cities of Detroit and Inkster and Benton Harbor Public Schools could soon be added to this list. If Detroit is appointed an Emergency Manager, half of African-Americans in Michigan will be living in cities run by EMs.
As Blacks it is important to recognize the history of this state’s colonial intervention financial emergency policies like Public Act 4 have developed over many decades. In December 1986, the Wayne County Circuit Court issued a court order appointing Louis Schimmel receiver for the bankrupt City of Ecorse devastated by deindustrialization two square miles just south of Detroit. On August 1, 1999 Schimmel's autocratic reign including being the official ‘monitor’ ended in Ecorse; Schimmel is the current Emergency Manager over the City of Pontiac.
The current situation of majority Black cities being under an autocratic Emergency Manager began over 25 years ago is rooted in massive auto plant closings. This deindustrialization process began in Pontiac in 1979 when over 30,000 auto jobs were loss; a loss of over 100,000 jobs in Flint; and the loss of over 250,000 jobs in Detroit, Highland Park, and Ecorse – majority Black cities – resulting in a rippling effect of municipal deficits and de-population. When a city loses industry, businesses, and people, it loses revenue – becomes deficit-ridden.
Right wing conservative legislators understood the de-industrialization producing economic plight on these majority Black cities, and formulated a plan – a policy to repress, exploit, and destroy. Racist policy-makers and politicians here in Michigan understood due to globalization that majority Black cities would not rebound economically nor were they going to assist these cities mired in economic downturns.
By 1987, the Michigan Legislature started to write up a method of exercising state power over distressed majority Black cities and the bill that would become Public Act 101 of 1988 was brought to the State Senate floor, spearheaded by the future Governor and Lieutenant Governor duo: John Engler and Dick Posthumus. This bill set up a state colonial intervention process personified by the Emergency Financial Manager position, which was modeled after Schimmel’s receivership in Ecorse. Moreover this bill ideologically represented a continuation of the white conservative backlash against Black civil rights under the guise of the State’s Treasury Department.
For years the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy has urged reforms to Michigan law giving more power and protection to Emergency Financial Managers, state-appointed officials who parachute into ailing post industrial majority Black cities with a colonial austerity mandate. In January 2005, Mackinac published four recommendations by Louis Schimmel an adjunct scholar with the Center to make changes to Public Act 72. Including granting emergency managers the power to override elected officials (such as a mayor or school board member) and toss out union contracts. All four ended up in Snyder's Public Act 4 legislation.
Schimmel’s amendments to Public Act 72 were as follows:
1. Under current law, the EFM can be sued personally. Given that actions by an EFM will almost certainly be controversial, and harassing lawsuits are likely, it is essential that an EFM’s personal assets be protected. Making the EFM an employee of the state treasury department with access to the legal staff of the attorney general would make the present lack of indemnification for an EFM largely moot. Harassing lawsuits by local bargaining units or other affected entities or individuals would be defended by the state — an entity that has the depth of financial resources to discourage the filing of frivolous lawsuits.
2. The present Act lists the powers of an EFM, which are extensive but are not all-inclusive. This can allow the governing body to impede the overall effort of the EFM to deal with the municipality’s fiscal crisis. The Act should state that the EFM replaces and takes on the powers of the governing body (mayor and council or school board.)
3. Charter provisions, especially in old charters, can prevent or make it difficult for an EFM to make necessary structural changes to address financial problems. The EFM should have the power to review charter provisions that frustrate the process of cleaning up and streamlining a municipality’s financial functions.
4. Presently, most labor contracts provide for mandatory continuation of an expired contract until a new one is negotiated. This means municipalities have no opportunity to take advantage of lower-cost service providers. Additionally, in the case of public safety unions, municipalities must adhere to the provisions of Act 312, which mandates that when a municipality and union cannot agree on the terms of a new contract they must go to binding arbitration. In most cases, it takes nearly two years or longer to complete the process, and the legal costs are substantial. Furthermore, municipalities rarely reduce costs by going through the Act 312 process but rather, at best, limit the amount of increased expenses. Act 312 should be repealed in its entirety.
So you see, Schimmel is the originator - ‘god-father’ of the Emergency Manager. You see folks, Public Act 101, Public Act 72, and Public Act 4 were never designed to save economically troubled majority Black cities. These Public Acts were developed to seize and sell, that is why these Acts are under the Michigan Treasury Department!
I want to end by highlighting some points:
Black folks as I mentioned earlier the evolution of the Emergency Manager Public Act bills are rooted in de-industrialization, the massive plant closings that took place in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. Ecorse went bankrupt because Great Lakes Steel closed down large sections of its Plant and laid off large numbers of workers.
Here in Pontiac, GM shut down 90 percent of its plants, there were 11 plants here – now only one (the Power train) there are no cars and trucks produced in Pontiac. These plant closing resulted in a huge loss of revenues to this City, with no jobs individuals and families left in large numbers – depopulation. When families left, their children left the Pontiac School District.
Coupled with Charter Schools and Schools of Choice, have cause a deficit ridden School District; deficit ridden school districts in deficit ridden majority Black cities are also being placed under Emergency Managers. Case in point is the Detroit Public Schools where over 100 schools have been closed.
Highlighting depopulation, according to the 2010 census data – Detroit’s population is 714,000 people. It has less people than Charlotte, North Carolina. Detroit has lost over 200,000 people the last decade alone.
Folks De-industrialization, De-population, and Deficits – the 3 Big D’s are a result of Globalization, the global impact on the American economy. Majority Black cities in Michigan are being punished by being placed under Emergency Managers due to an economic crisis that we did not create nor can we control!
Black folks in Michigan are being punished for Disaster Capitalism –deindustrialization. No different than Blacks in New Orleans were punished for the “Disaster” of Hurricane Katrina.
by Kenny Anderson
It has been almost three years (March 2009) that the City of Pontiac has had an imposed Emergency Financial Manger and Emergency Manager: the first autocrat was Leeb, the second was Stampfler, and now Schimmel.
What is glaring about the autocratic rule here, is that many Pontiac residents claim to prize democracy, yet there has been no unified – massive protest to tell the County, the State, the Country, and the World that this imposed autocracy is unacceptable and the citizens here are outraged. This united expression of outrage has not manifested. Why Not? Simple Answer – Pontiac is a House Divided!
Autocratic rule here in Pontiac did not have to use a strategy of divide and conquer, all it had to do was impose and conquer because the lack of unity – division was already here. For some time, community and local politics in Pontiac has been divided; generally no unity, at times superficial unity that has been ineffective.
Starting in the Black community, over the years most Black neighborhoods in Pontiac have been beset by many critical socioeconomic problems; ranging from poor education, no jobs, no businesses, neglect, and violence – but no effective unity to address these problems. Black churches are not effectively unified.
There is no real unity between Blacks, Whites, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Hmong here in Pontiac. City workers have been divided; police and firemen were glaringly divided; each falsely believing at one point that they were too important to be laid off or eliminated. Indeed, Pontiac has been divided by many self-serving self-interests.
Under autocratic emergency managers, these self-interests mean nothing! These divided self-interests are autocratically conquered now, resulting in apathy, complaining, superficial responses, and appealing for outside intervention. One of the reasons why there has not been an effective unified response to autocratic Emergency Manager rule here in Pontiac, is citizens are in ‘denial’ that Pontiac is a house divided!
Once we stop denying and accept there is no real unity, then if we are serious and committed, we can initiate a genuine call to build a principled coalition - an effective, collective response to autocratic rule. This coalition must have an alternative democratic vision for Pontiac; realistic goals, a plan for capacity building, resource-development, and resoluteness.
Very importantly, this coalition must place emphasis on entrepreneurship, creating neighborhood businesses and jobs. Plant jobs, city jobs, and school district jobs are increasingly being eliminated. Besides getting beyond ‘division denial’, Pontiac residents have to accept change – new realities and responsibilities, embracing change and uncertainty. In order to deal effectively with these new realities and responsibilities, we as citizens must have a new ‘mind-set’ that consists of the following:
*Uniting, getting together for mutual aid!
*Focus on solutions!
*Stop gossiping and complaining. Do something!
*Stop playing the waiting game, autocracy is here and the challenge is now!
*Turn adversity – Emergency Manager rule, into a struggle to build grassroots political power!
*Stop looking for a president, elected officials, and the courts to be our saviors; SOS–Save Our Selves - be Self-determined!
Finally, we must have confidence and faith that we as citizens unified can initiate and create alternative democracy in Pontiac. However, for this unity to occur and progress to proceed we have to have some ‘frank-talks’ to address our divisiveness and a serious commitment to overcome what divides us.
Until we accept ‘together we stand and divided we fall’, Pontiac will continue to be a ‘House Divided’ that is crumbling’ even further under Emergency Manager rule.
by Kenny Anderson
Hopefully, what is obvious and known now in Pontiac is this City is under the autocratic control of an ‘Emergency Manager’. Autocratic means the non-elective rule by one person, in the case of Pontiac the one-person ruler is Louis Schimmel, whose power was granted by the State of Michigan through Public Act 4, signed into law by the new Republican Governor, Rich Snyder.
Section ‘EE’ of the Act highlights autocratic power, it reads: “Take any other action or exercise any power or authority of any officer, employee, department, board, commission, or other similar entity of the local government. The power of the Emergency Manager shall be superior to and supersede the power of any of the fore-going entities.”
So it has been written into law, the power of the Emergency Manager here in Pontiac is supreme and its supremacy is omnipotent for the time being. So it should be clear now that Pontiac is a non-democratic colonized City with no political and economic control; a Mayor and City Council stripped of salaries, reduced to mere symbolism; a City that’s under occupational law enforcement – the Oakland County Sheriff Department.
It should also be clear that residents of Pontiac have a choice, accept undemocratic democracy, or accept the responsibility of building an alternative movement for self-determined democracy. What’s clear to me is that some residents for whatever reasons will accept undemocratic democracy – autocracy; others will challenge the Emergency Manager’s rule through a court process; a waiting game of legal dependency; a process ultimately determined by ‘State’ and ‘Federal’ Supreme Courts dominated by Republicans.
For those citizens in Pontiac that believe in ‘democracy’and uphold ‘democracy’, they must take a Bold Stand against the legitimacy of an autocratic Emergency Manager rule of government, it’s ‘legal’ but it’s 'un-democratic'. Just as racist Jim Crow and segregation was the ‘law - legal’ in the South, it was ‘immoral’; Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Black Civil Rights movement took a ‘Bold Stand’ against it. Indeed, taking a ‘Bold Stand’ for alternative self-determined democracy here in Pontiac requires us to go beyond our fears and lack of confidence to take the initiative – responsibility and make the sacrifices change requires.
We must take a ‘Bold’ self-determined stand away from City Hall! The new decentralized City Hall must be our Homes, Churches, and Meeting Places. We must take a ‘Bold’ self-determined stand to create a new leadership structure comprised of a coalition of Black Block Clubs, Associations, Churches, and Community-based Organizations. We must take a ‘Bold’ self-determined stand to become Problem-Solvers, engaging in Resource Management and Development.
We must take a ‘Bold’ self-determined stand to provide education awareness empowerment communication to raise citizen consciousness. We must utilize alternative means of communication, such as web-conferencing, conference calls, email blasts, newsletters, and community forums. I believe sooner than later the Emergency Manager is going to pull the plug on televised City Council meetings.
As residents of Pontiac we must understand that democracy means much - much more that just casting a vote. Currently, just casting a vote will not change Emergency Manager autocracy in Pontiac because under Public Act 4 local elected officials have no power. However, a struggle for democratic self-determination can develop alternative citizen community power.
Through the process of democratic self-determination and activist-citizenry, democracy will be more capable and stronger on the other side of an Emergency Financial Manager.
