Who Are New Afrikan Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War

1. Who are New Afrikan Political
Prisoners and Prisoners of War?
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play Ruchell Magee Assata Shakur’s Documentary
Who are New Afrikan Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?

2. Who are Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War:
Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War are not in prison for committing social "crimes", nor
are they criminals. Different PP/POWs participated in progressive and revolutionary
movements in varying levels. Some in educational and community organizing, others in
clandestine armed and offensive people's armies. All are in prison as a result of conscious
political action, for building resistance, building and leading movements and revolution... for
making change. Many of us in some way or another are part of these very movements, part of
that resistance that PP/POWs helped to build. As people continuing to struggle for change, we
are obligated and it is our duty to support those people who are in prison as a result of
struggling to make change. Though some have a wider definition of Political Prisoners, we
maintain that even if the definition of a Political Prisoner was expanded and widely accepted to
include social prisoners of conscience, it needs to be clear that those prisoners who went to
prison as a result of political action taken on the street would still demand our priority support.
For movements to support other prisoners before we support the prisoners who have gone to
prison for building the very movements we now participate in is backwards and criminal. From:
http://www.abcf.net/index.htm
Q: What is the Black Liberation Army (BLA)?
A: The year was 1971. The FBI, CIA, and local police department's Counter-Intelligence
Program planted degenerative seeds to increase tensions and factionalism within the Black
Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP). Their efforts culminated in the split between Huey P.
Newton and Eldridge Cleaver. While Newton continued leadership of the broken BPP, Cleaver
went on to lead what came to be known as the Black Liberation Army (BLA), which had
previously existed as the underground faction and "fighting apparatus" of the BPP. The BLA is
notorious for allegedly waging war against local police department oppressors through police
car bombings.
Who are New Afrikan Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?

3. Q: What are the principles of the Black Liberation Army?
A: The BLA, as a result of realizing the economical nature of the system under which we are
forced to live, maintains the following principles:
1. That we are anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist, and anti-sexist.
2. That we must of necessity strive for the abolishment of these systems and for the
institution of Socialistic relationships in which Black people have total and absolute
control over their own destiny as a people.
3. That in order to abolish our systems of oppression, we must utilize the science of
class struggle, develop this science as it relates to our unique national condition.
Q: Where can I find out more about the Black Liberation Army?
A: The Talking Drum
Black Militancy: Notes from the Underground
Retrieved from Bad Subjects: Issue #71, December 2004 Text written by Rashad Shabazz
If one were to examine, closely, the hegemonic discourses of black American history, one
would be surprised to find a long history of militant armed struggle. Slave rebellions, urban
"guerilla" insurgencies, rural defense leagues, are all part of a tapestry of black militant
rebellion to subjugation. The most recent icon of black armed struggle, the Black Panther
Party, is a linchpin in understanding the development of this phenomenon in the late 1960s,
which saw its high point in the 1970s. But it was not the only organization that used or opening
advocated the use of force against the state. Others did exist. They did not exist in the public
or "aboveground" as the Panthers did between the years of 1966 and 1974. Other factions of
the organization existed outside the public eye—clandestinely. Not coincidently, this history
exists clandestinely. Clandestine is also a fitting way to describe some of the writers of this
history. It is fitting because they, like the histories of armed struggle in U.S., don’t exist in the
open, but they exist nonetheless.
Many of those who (clandestinely) trace the historical trajectories of armed struggle are (or
were) prisoners of the state. Assata Shakur, George Jackson, Kuwasi Balagoon, and
Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt, all participated in armed struggle. Branded by the state as criminals,
underground black radicals, as well as white underground radicals were part of a network of
militant "paramilitary" insurgencies. By several accounts this movement lasted from the late
1960’s until the beginning of the 1980’s. Today, imprisoned underground activists continue to
write of this subjugated history from the cells that hold them.
http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/
Who are New Afrikan Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?

4. The birth of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in 1966 in
Oakland, California, marked a significant transition away
from the non-violent tactics of the Civil Rights Movement.
Black women and men dressed in black leather jackets,
sometimes armed, are the most popular and iconic images
of the Party. The BPPs well know leadership including Huey
Newton, Bobby Seale, and Kathleen Cleaver are also
representative images. In many respects, they have and
continue to play critical roles in tracing the historical
trajectory of Black armed struggle. The BPP, although the
public face of the black militant rebellion, was not the only
organization committed to the tactic of armed struggle. In
many respects, the Party, itself, had several faces. One of
them being an "above-ground" organization that ran the
day-to-day operations of the Party, protested, and
organized Black communities. This is the public face of
the Party. There is literature which suggests the BPP has
another history, another form of organizing. This formation
would exist as the clandestine wing; a wing that was
committed to armed struggle.
Recently, several re-readings and re-conceptualization of
the BPP have made it abundantly clear that from the
Party’s inception there existed another formation of the
Party, "underground" armed paramilitary group committed
to urban guerrilla campaigns. To the extent that there were competing personalities involved,
the underground faction was more associated with Eldridge Cleaver. The tensions between
Cleaver and Newton on the subject of armed struggle and the direction of the Party (Newton
favored community-based organizing and building a strong public force, Cleaver did not share
this vision), had strained, and by 1971 a full-on split was in place.
The black underground movement, which was associated with Cleaver, was not by any means
homogenous. Although Cleaver was an advocate for armed struggle, no one individual
controlled it. They were ideologically unified, but autonomous in terms of their actions. They
went by several names: the New World Liberation Front, New African Independence
Movement, the Black Underground, National Black Liberation Front. However, it is know mostly
by the name Black Liberation Army (BLA).
In her memoirs, exiled BLA member Assata Shakur suggests that the BLA, though not a
cohesive organization, is a "concept," an analysis, a people’s movement, and idea:
The idea of the Black Liberation Army emerged from conditions in Black communities:
conditions of poverty, indecent housing, massive unemployment, poor medical care, and
inferior education. The idea came about because Black people are not free or equal in this
country…The BLA arose because of the political, social, and economic oppression of Black
people in this country. And where there is oppression there will be resistance.
The clandestine nature of the BLA does not mean it was marginal or fringe. Nothing could be
further from the truth, according to some, throughout the 1970’s — its highpoint of activity —
the BLA was involved in numerous clandestine actions. Heavily influenced by Marxist-Leninist
Who are New Afrikan Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?

5. philosophies and Fanonian readings of the world situation, the black underground movement
saw "revolutionary violence" against the state as a necessary response to what many deemed
an imperialist nation fixed on exclusivity and racism. White radicals were also involved in
clandestine activity, in many cases collaborating with black radicals. The best-known group of
this era, the Weather Underground, actively participated on the side of black activists.
Philosophically, Marx, Lenin and Fanon also influenced them.
Many of those involved in the black underground were jailed for their activities. After the
decimation of the BPP, the underground movement was left without aboveground assistance.
Those brought to trail for their actions have been critical of the legal process. Many of them
see it as nothing more than a means to maintain class and racial domination. This can also be
said to be the case for several "aboveground" activists. In their most clearly articulated political
and philosophical statement, "Message to the Black Movement: a political statement from the
black underground", the BLA made their thoughts and ideas on revolution in North America
public. They speak about numerous topics including the black bourgeoisie, Marx’s dialectical
movement of history, law, and capitalist society. They write, "We must begin to determine our
livers by creating community institutions of revolutionary justice outside the structure of
capitalist law."
When arrested for their activities they stood before the court and denounced the charges
against them. Many of them like Kuwasi Balagoon and Ray Luc Levasseur (a white Canadian
and member of a underground faction named the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson unit) used
their opening statements to show why they thought the state had neither the moral or legal
authority of hold them in violation. In the opening statement of his trial Levasseur states:
In 21 years of political activity I’ve never done anything for personal gain or profit. Nothing.
That his been part of my motivation and intent. The government wants to charge that bombing
the office of the South African government is an act of racketeering? A bombing that was done
in response to the massacre in South Africa and to support the struggle for freedom there. No,
it’s an expression of the support for liberation. It is that simple.
Trial statements were used in a similar fashion in several cases where underground activists
were involved. These statements were used to voice opposition to court procedures, condemn
state actions in places like South America and South Asia. They used their statement to
educate, and to save their own lives. Although I speak of this phenomenon in terms of
underground activists, it is also applicable to those in the public eye.
Although they were tried as criminals, many have argued that the cases of those who "fight" as
members of underground factions transcend the boundaries of domestic legal discourse.
Prison intellectuals like Marilyn Buck maintain that domestic law is not applicable in cases of
those involved in armed struggle with the state.
It is from cells located across this country, the charting and unearthing of this history is done. It
is an imprisoned history. The literature of incarcerated activists like Jalil Muntaqim, Marilyn
Buck, and George Jackson is not only thought-provoking explication of the sordid uses of the
prison system or mere polemics against the state. To read the literature of incarcerated
activists in the black underground is to read the histories of the black underground movement.
These histories are found in an assemblage of literature: opening trial statements, closing and
Who are New Afrikan Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?

6. sentence statements, personal letters, poetry, and paintings. They can be found in a myriad of
dispatches from general population, secured housing unites, and death rows.
We should not be surprised that the histories of armed struggle in the U.S. escape the purview
of hegemonic discourse, particularly histories of black resistance. Armed struggle in the United
States, particularly against the state is not supposed to happen, because, for all intents and
purposes, the U.S. holds itself up as the bastion of democracy and freedom. It claims to be a
symbol of prosperity, dignity, and technological superiority. Given these longstanding
assumptions about the U.S. are increasingly coming into question by many around the world,
what do we make of armed struggle? This question takes on a new meaning given the daily
reality of Iraq. How should we think about it, as well as its history, and what does the legacy of
armed struggle within the U.S. suggest about our current political situation?
If nothing else, the histories of armed struggle in this country help us think more deeply about
the gap between what is professed and what is practiced. As Shakur suggests, the black
underground movement was born out of conditions of existence. For a generation of young
activists, the reality of war, imperialism, racism and the growing fragility of democratic
liberalism was too much to handle. Force became a means to wrestle with this tension. As the
discourse of a "country torn" finds its way into mainstream political analyses (for many the
deep divisions in this country are not a new political reality), we should reflect on the writings of
political dissidents and radicals. We should recognize the diversity of political analysis that is
very much alive. The histories of armed struggle, if taken seriously, provide us with a means to
think more critically about the center, and complicate its claims of moral and political right.
“FREE EM ALL”
Who are New Afrikan Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?

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Who are New Afrikan Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?