LUMPENPROLETARIAT—[Friday, 5 MAR 2021]  Today is Day 45 of Biden’s Presidency. Mr. Biden seems to have abandoned all of his campaign promises, except for the one where he promised to buy at least 150 million doses of experimental and untested anti-COVID-19 drugs with which to inject Americans on behalf of drug companies. And we cannot call these untested drugs “vaccines” because they don’t provide immunization, like a true vaccine provides.

Of course, we recall true vaccines, like the polio vaccine or the smallpox vaccine, provide immunization, unlike flu shots or covid shots, which mainly seem to provide profits for big pharma.

It’s March 2021 now. It’s been almost a full year now, since many of us were laid off and have been home on lockdown—no travel, no socializing, no concerts, no gatherings, just police state proto-fascism. I see many people adapting to this new, bleaker form of police state proto-fascism. We told everyone back in March 2020: The state is telling us lockdown will last a few weeks. But we know they will simply extend, and keep extending. We didn’t trust the state. We still don’t.

For many of us brown and black people, ever since we read Orwell, Huxley, Bradbury, et al. in high school, we looked around and saw fascist policing from day one. Life in the working class and the underclass means you are, literally, the nation’s sociopolitical canary in the goldmine. America must realize that when its most vulnerable are under attack, so, too, is this most fragile of edifices we call democracy. Of course, we don’t have true democracy. We have a republic; which means we just outgrew monarchies. But we still don’t have true democracy, which sincerely reflects the will of the people. For example, most Americans want health care for all. But the two-party political cartel in power, engaging in class warfare from above, cannot afford to give up any ideological ground. So, they refuse to budge on their anti-working class positions.

It is hubristic for White America to think that the fascist corporate state will stop dehumanizing its population when it’s done with red, black, and brown people. It will move on to further oppress the working classes, of all ethnicities, even the good white people, until the state has morphed into a bleak cyberpunk neofeudalism. Think Blade Runner. Then, think worse.

How do we avoid this bleak future of a dystopian nightmare? Well, the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. So, past patriarchal behavior has evidently not served us so well. So, we seek to mature beyond patriarchal social relations. And March is Women’s History Month. We have been learning about women’s history all week on Pacifica Radio. Yesterday, on Pacifica Radio’s #UMustLearn (WPFW), we heard from young black women scholars researching the American women of the freedom struggles. One young academic said she was in graduate school and looking for her dissertation contribution and wanted to write about the women of the Civil Rights movements and the struggle for freedom for black people. We should inform younger people and other folks that when one is in grad school, after college, one engages in research. After college, one often seeks to make a contribution to the literature of one’s field of study by writing a big thesis paper in a Masters program to earn a Masters degree. Similarly, doctoral candidates, students pursuing a Ph.D., must write a doctoral dissertation, which is like a book, which makes an original contribution. So, doctoral candidates are expected to review the literature of their field, see what’s lacking, and determine what original ideas or information they can contribute.

Our protagonist’s doctoral committee told her that the task she was pursuing would be impossible, not because of a lack of funding, but because of a lack of women organizers and mobilizers in the actual history of the Civil Rights movements. What are you going to write about, they asked, the wives of the Civil Rights movements?

Something didn’t seem right. So, she persevered. She sought the help of her local librarian; and explained she was interested in learning about the women of the Civil Rights movements. The librarian said, okay. Give me a few days; and then come back. When I came back, she said, the librarian had a stack of books for me, which included women in the Black Panthers. Then, she became interested in the great Elaine Brown. And the rest is history. Our young scholar even got help setting up some interviews with surviving members of the Black Panther Party and others from that time period. And that’s how our next generation of young scholars is raising up the truth of the black struggle for freedom in America, and by solidarity all people of color, and all people, who value “racial” (i.e., ethnic) egalitarianism.

White scholars and others are also holding up our ancestors in the struggle for freedom. We’ve been vibin’ lately on this one YouTube channel called Epoch Philosophy, which is hosted by a white bloke from Canada, it seems. We just watched a video this morning, “Martin Luther King Jr – Postmodern Revisionism and Hyperreality“, by Epoch Philosophy, which expanded our view of Dr. King by acknowledging that Dr. King is one of our greatest leaders in U.S. history. Yet, the deep state assassinated Dr. King.

Brown and black people also recognize the value and importance of the greatest leaders of American history, including Elaine Brown, Pam Afrika, Angela Davis, and other great women leaders.

But, since we heard mention of the wives of the movement on the Pacifica Radio discussion yesterday on #UMustLearn, this morning, we’re especially thinking of Coretta Scott King. She was Dr. King’s partner, who helped him develop his sociopolitical philosophy through the most important conversations of our society, the intimate ones, as Professor Richard Wolff recently reminded us on Pacifica Radio. Those are the conversations, which happen over the dinner table and especially before bed in the bedroom. These conversations, said Prof. Wolff, shape what we call social formation.

We imagine Coretta Scott King worked very hard to preserve Dr. King’s true legacy against impossible odds, after his assassination. As a result, we may now all learn the true legacy of Dr. King. In fact, it’s what has informed the Black Lives Matter movement. We recently heard Bay Area Black Lives Matter organizer Kat Brooks (co-host, UpFront, KPFA, Pacifica Radio). She described how they would play Dr. King speeches before going out to do an action or demonstration.

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Marvel movie, Panther, and now Judas and the Black Messiah, in the wake of all of this, we, Americans are finally learning the truth about Dr. King’s true legacy, after being gaslit and narcissistically abused by our government’s postmodern revisionism and pursuit of hyperreality.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was completely obliterated from history in terms of the degree to which historical revisionism has plagued his true legacy.

Dr. King challenged everyone to his left and right in his 1967 speech, “Where Do We Go From Here?”, in which he critiqued romantic revolutionaries, with an almost suicidal longing, who fail to discern realistic material conditions for revolution. Dr. King also challenged Dr. Marx for forgetting Hegelian idealism and overemphasizing Feuerbach’s theses in the development of historical materialism.  Dr. King admitted to having “read The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital long ago.” Most interestingly, Dr. King challenged a corrupted Nietzschean Will to Power philosophy, embraced by the German and American ruling classes, on the right with a compelling philosophical argument.  America, we must catch up to its greatest teacher, healer, and prophet, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today’s salient observations:

• Max Blumenthal debunked the US/NATO imperialist narrative of Chinese labor camps, among other state disinformation, on WBAI’s On the Ground: Voices of Resistance from the Nation’s Capital.
• This week, for the first time ever, we heard compelling critiques against communism (from people we trust and/or respect). One was from Dr. King’s 1967 speech, “Where Do We Go From Here?” The other came from a 2012 Marc Maron interview of journalist and author Chris Hedges, wherein he recommended we all read Vassily Grossman’s book, Life and Fate, which discusses, Hedges said, “the twin evils of fascism and communism.”
• DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR:  “Well, it depends on the level we are talking here because I think we have to make a distinction between the people, who are absolutely and genuinely committed in the white community on the question of racial equality.  And I must confess that I think they are a very small minority. I think the vast majority of white Americans, uh, will go but so far.  It’s a kind of installment plan for equality.  And they are always looking for an excuse to go but so far.”

Solidarity.

@LumpenProles, updated at 04:36 PST, 10 MAR 2021.

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Notes from a working class left perspective…

Download the Pacifica Radio Network app to easily tune in to the live broadcasts of the terrestrial radio signals across the free speech radio network.

04:00 PST,

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“Chris Hedges – ‘It Is Certain that a Popular Revolt is Coming’ – 23 FEB 2021” by Michabo Sustainable Harmony, 28 FEB 2021.

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05:00 PST,

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“Martin Luther King Jr – Postmodern Revisionism and Hyperreality” by Epoch Philosophy, 15 OCT 2020.

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07:00 PST,

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Give It All You Got (Dub Mix) by Afro-Rican, 1987.

This was easily one of our favorite wreckids from 1987, a staple of late ’80s Bay Area radio and working class house parties… My people remember this…

“Give It All You Got (Doggy Style)” by Afro-Rican, 1987.

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08:00 PST,

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“Friedrich Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy” by Epoch Philosophy, 19 NOV 2020.

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09:00 PST,

Revolutionary Theory by Epoch Philosophy

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Cyberpunk?, 20 DEC 2020.

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10:00 PST,

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Zizek , 2 JAN 2021.

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“Friedrich Engels: Socialism: Utopian and Scientific” by Epoch Philosophy, 18 JAN 2021.

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12:00 PST, KPFA > News with Mericle [TW] | ‘wage hike nixxed?’ | ‘the 6th’ | Feb 22 Rochester police incident’ > CS brings more Ram Dass(sp?), 12:09, first clip, ‘seeing past distraction and illusion’ […] ‘Einstein claimed use of his mind beyond rational thought, intuition.’ Whoa! This corroborated what we’ve learned from Professor John Vervaeke from his Awakening From the Meaning Crisis YouTube lecture series. The Shaman mindset disrupts the usual framing of reality. […] 12:15 PST, Okay, CS. After years of hearing Ram Dass, including a few documentaries, I’m finally sold on Ram Dass. We want that 7-CD set. Get yours today. […] 12:21 PST, THIS IS A FUND DRIVE BROADCAST. PLEASE SUPPORT FREE SPEECH RADIO KPFA. PLEASE DONATE TODAY. Call KPFA to donate at 1.800-439-5732. […] 12:27 PST, next clip: ‘old age often brings distressing role changes’ […] ‘conscious aging has to do with letting go’ […] 12:33 PST, ‘our western youth-biased perspective’ […] 1247, next clip. […] As we’ve commented before, regarding the nature and purposes of Against the Grain airing the wisdom of Ram Daas(sp?), this philosophy makes sense at the interpersonal level, but we weren’t sure how or why this would be relevant to inter-group relations. But we are starting to see the value, or as Epoch Philosophy has noted, our focus on value is an outdated Enlightenment notion, which, they argue, like the labor theory of value, keeps us locked in capitalist social relations. Dr. King and X were leading us to new revolutionary values. The inner work helps us attain higher spirituality or inner integration, which is what is needed in a challenging struggle between good and evil. Evil is narcissistic abuse. Racist abuse presents similar or identical behavioral traits as narcissistic abuse. […] [TW] 1330 Arsenio Hall clip

13:00 PST, WPFW > On The Ground: Voices of Resistance from the Nation’s Capital > […] Max Blumenthal. 1341, Pierre Omidyar, ‘Was the Intercept created to bury the Assange/WikiLeaks documents?’ […] 1348, On The Ground: Voices of Resistance from the Nation’s Capital [TW] This was an excellent broadcast, which deserves to be amplified and shared widely.

14:00 PST, KPFA > Economic Update with Richard Wolff | […] 14:10 PST, France and Macron are blaming USA for infecting them with the “ideology of Black Lives Matter? BLM is NOT an ideology. It represents human values, not factional ideology. […] Mitch Jeserich fundraising for KPFA. THIS IS A FUND DRIVE BROADCAST. PLEASE SUPPORT FREE SPEECH RADIO KPFA. PLEASE DONATE TODAY. | Prof. Wolff interview on Puerto Rico, suffering under neoliberal oppression. […] 14:30 PST,

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17:00 PST, KPFK > Background Briefing with Ian Masters | [TW] 6th loyalists, etc. […] Guest acknowledged “Pizza Gate”, which was ‘gaining traction in 2015 and 2016’, she said. But, then, she just dismissed it. Yet, most people agree that Mr. Epstein did not kill himself. Was the whole Epstein narrative debunked? Didn’t Bill Clinton just catch recent scandals for being shown to have attended Epstein’s pleasure island and whatnot? […] 17:14 PST, This guest seems naive. She seems to need to talk to Abby Martin or Max Blumenthal or Noam Chomsky. She spoke dismissively of “false flag” attacks. Yet, history is replete with such events, including January 6th. “Don’t go down the rabbit hole,” she said. “Look at the political efficacy.” Indeed. Then, she cited “deligitimizing Joe Biden”, as if Mr. Biden had any legitimacy. Guest and host are beside themselves, aghast at the antidemocratic, proto-fascist nature of the Cult of Trump. Yet, they seem to fail to perceive the futility of expecting justice from a two-party dictatorship. Both corporatist political parties gaslight America. Do they not? […] Ian seems to treat this evidently Democrat partisan, Nicole H., author of Messengers of the Right. CNN article, “How the Party of Lincoln Became the Party of Alex Jones.” Oh? What’s the difference? Lincoln was a racist, only to a lesser degree than Alex Jones. But both supported the white supremacist project. […] 17:24 PST, next interview. Mark Perry on ‘the Pentagon’, ‘Major William Walker testified’ on the Siege of the 6th. […] 17:26, guest: ‘It’s likely the Pentagon dragged their feet intentionally’ to not provide backup, as requested by Capitol Police. […] 17:40 Matthew Rothschild(sp?) […] 17:48 PST, We are monitoring, searching for the best analysis for the benefit of the working classes. We notice that this conversation is light on theory, perhaps devoid of critical theory. Do well-meaning liberals spin their wheels because they lack theory? Ian Masters is resorting to name-calling (e.g., “moron”, “idiot”). ‘Ron Johnson(sp?)’ Earlier, the guest was guessing unemployment may have been intended to keep wages down. […] 17:55 PST, ‘filibuster antics of Ron Johnson(sp?)’ Why is this filibuster rule still allowed? It’s obstructionism. But Ian Masters solely blames GOP for obstructionism. But Dems obstruct all political alternatives to their left. Dems create a two-party cartel, bruh. Quote Ralph Nader, Ian: ‘It’s a two-party dictatorship.’

8 dems join GOP vote?! | Manchen compromise? | APRIL 1st, limited police state recreational activities | x | repub abbott blames Biden of bringing immigrants and COVID-19 | Virginia Equal Rights Amendment? | 1803, joe manchen(sp?) ‘Senate Vote-arama’ ‘Sen. Sanders says its absurd the unelected parliamentarian is given the responsibility of political decision-making, which is the job of elected representatives.’ Pandemic Relief bill may fail, if only one Democrat defects. | 18:09 PST, Missouri news | 18:11 PST, Mark Mericle fundraising. THIS IS A FUND DRIVE BROADCAST. PLEASE SUPPORT FREE SPEECH RADIO KPFA. PLEASE DONATE TODAY. | 18:13 PST, White House study says masks help; dine-in restaurants harm.’ This news report by Jailin Herdman(sp?), et al was disappointing. She reported on “vaccination”, but anti-COVID-19 drugs are NOT vaccines because they do not provide immunization in the way smallpox or polio vaccines do. Without assurance of immunization, how can we call a drug, vaccine? | California schools are being incentivised by cash for offering in-person learning. 18:23 PST,

19:00 PST,

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20:00 PST,

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“Marc Maron Interviews Chris Hedges” by Reflection of Passion, 5 MAR 2021.

(c. 1:15) CHRIS HEDGES: ‘Everyone should pick up Vasily Grossman‘s [book] Life and Fate.  One of the great books of Russian literature. And he writes about the twin evils of communism and fascism.’

But, wait, then Hedges said Vassily Grossman’s family suffered first under fascism, then under Stalinism, not communism. Is Stalinism equivalent to comnunism? Is Maoism equivalent to communism? Is Stalinism equivalent to Maoism? It seems we suffer from false equivalencies. It seems the common denominator is authoritarianism, not communism.

Now, see, there’s a problem in Chris Hedges’ rhetoric here.  Are we conflating Stalinism with communism?  Are the two synonymous?  Or is there a difference, ideologically?  Stalinism was left-wing authoritarianism.  Nazism was right-wing authoritarianism.  Both were authoritarian. The problem, then, seems to be authoritarianism, not communism.   Theoretically, although it depends on human nature or conditioning, but theoretically we could have libertarian communism or libertarian socialism, rather than authoritarian communism or socialism. (cf. Second Thought: America’s Stunted Political Spectrum; 24 APR 2020.)

Chris Hedges critiqued blind faith in systems.

But system or no system, we are all subject to individual psychology within a fabric of group psychology. History has shown that groups can be manipulated into destruction, toxicity, and evil.  But group psychology can also bond around humane values.

It seems this is the true struggle of our times.  It’s a struggle for hearts and minds.  Perhaps, this was always the struggle.  This struggle was, perhaps, veiled by the trending ideology of a given time and place.

Whoa. Until recently, hearing Dr. King deliver a compelling critique of communism as too extreme in its devaluation of the individual. He also critiqued capitalism as having outlived his usefulness, in a letter to hia spouse, Coretta Scott King. And, now, also hearing Chris Hedges offer more compelling critique of communism is very eye-opening. Until now, I’ve never heard anyone sincere or whom I respect speak ill of communism. Perhaps, young people attracted to the romantic nature of The Communist Manifesto are blinded by the romanticism of the total vanquishment of capitalist modes of production to the point of being blinded to, perhaps, certain evils of communism, if communism proves to manifest itself as another form of fascism. Fascism is truly evil. But we’ll have to read Vassily Grossman’s Life and Fate to learn more about why he described communism as evil, too.

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Thank you for reading Lumpenproletariat.org.  Also find us at Lumpen.org!  Solidarity.  All power to the people!  What’s the call?  Free ’em all!

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[5 MAR 2021]

[Last modified on 6 FEB 2021 at 07:07 PST]

[TW = Transcript Worthy, transcription pending volunteer labor. These are segments of radio, which would make excellent short-length, easily-searchable videos to share and, hopefully, make viral news and information from a working class left perspective.]