Angela Davis and Bobby Seale At The Activist Assembly

Angela Davis and Bobby Seale At The Activist Assembly

Entering to thundering applause and a standing ovation entered Bobby Seale and Angela Davis.

 This is an expaned version of my article in Excalibur from a few months back.

Speaking first was Seale with a standing ovation. Seale spoke of his early childhood, his work in the Air Force, and the Hi Tek industry and his studies. In the midst of all this he read a book by an anthropologist that connected him with his roots. Bobby learned about slave revolts and all the wars that African American had fought in for America all of this influenced him. 

Seale would be influenced by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. He would go on to create a grassroots jobs based tutorial program for youth in the community. 

After founding the Black Panther Party (BPP) with Huey Newton and others, Seale still focused on programs like BPP’s 10 point plan and Breakfast Program for youth. Seale said that communist and capitalist imperialism were two opposite extremes for him.  Seale spoke about how the goals for his programs was about putting the money back in the community while at the same time educating youth and giving them skills.

 Seale spoke about wanting all power to all the people and changing how black people were underrepresented in the system, by doing things like voter registration and getting more black politicians, jurors and community leaders. He spoke of empowering women in the BPP teaching them self-defense. BPP’s guns were for self-defense according to Seale. BPP wanted to empower black and brown people to be in politics, and be judged by more black and brown jurors, and have a say in their communities. An example was endorsing Shirley Chisholm an African American woman who ran for president. BPP also did voter registration. But the police and the FBI did not look at it that way they would see the BPP as a threat. An FBI program called COINTELPRO would be directed against the BPP and among many African American leaders. Seale spoke of a time when the local police would collaborate with the KKK. Even the BPP’s children’s breakfast program would be seen as a threat by the Director of the FBI J Edgar Hoover.

When asked about holding politicians accountable, Seale said you vote them out if they don’t do their job, and protest to try to unseat them. Seale said that even if most of them don’t keep their promises having a few good politicians who do keep their promises is better than none. Seale stated it was important to work with politicians, and that it was more important that they fight for their promises not weather they succeed. 

When asked about his advice to young activists: Seale said try understand your ideas beliefs as much as possible and that they correspond to reality, he or she who assume without investigation 9/10 is wrong so learn to investigate.

 

Next up was Angela Davis . Davis approached the podium with a standing ovation, Davis started by speaking about education stating “Public universities weather in Canada or the US are no longer public Education has become a commodity”  going to say “People strove for education because it had a connection to freedom and liberation”. Davis began talking about when she grew up it was not possible for majority of Black people to vote including her parents who were teachers

Davis went on to state “just as the black struggle in the US was a struggle acknowledged by people all over the world, the 1980’s  especially the eyes of the world were focused on South Africa” she said now “the eyes of the world should be focused Palestine”.

But she cautioned about the environment and the dangers of fossil fuels saying “No struggle can be successful if we cannot manage to guarantee that there will be a habitable environment “

Davis spoke of the need to globalize struggles against racism. How she came to see prison as it functions as tool for racism. Davis then spoke of the soaring prison population in Canada, especially among Aboriginals and a sharp increase in Aboriginal women according to Howard Sapers report. Davis went on to highlight that one of the fastest growing sections of the prison population globally is women. 

When discussing the Michel Brown another case in long line of police killings, she stated that we rarely hear about African American women who are killed or a are victims violence. 

Davis discussed police and security militarization and its intersections with anti–Muslims racism and Islamophobia. She highlighted the Islamophobia directed against Muslim women referencing the headscarf bans and veil bans.  

Davis went on speak of the militarization of the police in America with aid of the Israeli government, and spoke of the continuous assault on Occupied Palestine. 

Davis also said there is a need for a 50^th anniversary commemorating the founding of the Black Panther Party. And She went on to state how the Black Panther Party's 10 Point Plan was still relevant.

  

Davis when talking about South Africa said that although wonderful things are happening in South Africa there are also things like the prison system. Davis then went on to talk about the influence private security corporations and that also own private prisons around the globe. Davis stated that women were the most consistent target of violence in the world. 

When asked about holding politicians accountable, Davis emphasized the importance of protesting saying that even with progressive politicians you shouldn’t stop protesting so that you push them to go further and keep more of their promises than they normally would have. Saying “so a lot of these responsibilities are our responsibilities”

Davis ended with discussing alternatives to prison system for justice.

IMAN - In One Year's Time

A great example of Muslims in America

What Draws Youth To Political Violence?

Expanded and somewhat more revised version of my post on Loonwatch
*Side note I also clarified some thing like the definitions I was using and expanded on other things I wanted to highlight but could not due to space

The following article is an expanded version of a feature article titled “What draws youth to political violence? that Razainc. wrote for York University’s newspaper, Excalibur. Razainc. will expand upon it here at LoonWatch in more depth over the coming weeks.

Guest post by Razainc.
Terrorism involves spectacular and often unexpected killings in order to destabilize the social order and promote a greater cause, and as professor Scott Atran describes it, publicity is the oxygen of terrorism.(1)
But what drives youth who turn to political violence?
Is it religion? The Qur’an? Do they hate “Western” freedoms? Do they just want to die?
Noam Chomsky, when asked by Excalibur about the role Islam plays in political violence says,

“It [Islam] plays a role, but there are [other] reasons. Tribal cultures, the extreme Islamophobia in the West, and the many direct attacks on the Muslim world. It’s [political violence] by no means unique to Islam.”

The evidence from experts like Scott Atran (a French and American anthropologist), Robert Pape (an American political scientist), Graham E. Fuller (Former CIA Station chief), and Marc Sageman (former CIA Operations Officer) backs him up.
How terror cells form has a lot to do with how humans form bonds and groups. It’s important to discard the notion that because of the horrible things they did they are different from us. Terrorists are human. This may come as an uncomfortable realization but is an accurate and necessary one.

“A sense of moral outrage at apparent crimes against Muslims both globally and locally is a common theme among the terrorist. The outrage is interpreted in a specific way, namely that this moral violation is part of a larger war against Islam. The ideology appeals to certain people it resonates with their own personal experience of discrimination, making them feel they are also victims of this wider war. A few individuals are then mobilized through networks both face to face and now commonly online to become terrorists” Sageman wrote in Leaderless Jihad.

Sageman emphasizes the need to look at terrorists humanely. He points to the example of the sexual frustration theory, which suggests suicide bombers want to die to have sex in paradise, a common theory that’s floated around but has no evidence.
Religious commitment alone is not enough to determine whether you will join a violent group but rather the dynamics with friends or family, “given religious commitment then action-oriented group participation is the best predictor of who will actually make costly sacrifices for their beliefs” says Atran in an interview with Excalibur.

“What inspires the most lethal terrorists in the world today is not so much the Qur’an or religious teachings as a thrilling cause and call to action that promises glory and esteem in the eyes of friends. Jihad is an egalitarian, equal-opportunity employer: fraternal, fast-breaking, glorious and cool … Western volunteers for ISIS are mostly youth in transitional stages in their lives. For the most part, they have no traditional religious education and are ‘born again’ to religion. They are self-seekers who have found their way to jihad in myriad ways,” says Atran.

Professor Atran in an interview about ISIS told me that the “first wave of foreign fighters was tightly linked to a humanitarian concern.” But now, Atran continued

Continue reading ....

Imams Jamil Al-Amin, Ayyub Abdul-Alim and Ayyub Abdul-Alim

Imam Jamil Al Amin, Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, and Ayyub Abdul-Alim are just some examples as to why #Ferguson , #EricGarner , #TamirRice  #MikeBrown police brutality & the two-tier US justice system is our issue a Muslim issue and we can't ignore it

What draws youth to political violence?

Excalibur gets answers from Noam Chomsky and other professionals regarding sociological and religious theories behind extremism

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Mohamud Mohamed, a York student with a seemingly promising future, left to join ISIS.

Although we can’t know for certain the circumstances Mohamed found himself in, we can try to create a profile as to what makes young men turn to political violence.

Terrorism involves spectacular and often unexpected killings in order to destabilize the social order and promote a greater cause.(1)

But what would drive these youths, why do they turn to political violence?

Is it religion? The Qur’an? Do they hate Western freedom? Do they just want to die?

Noam Chomsky, when asked by Excalibur about the role Islam plays in political violence says, “It [Islam] plays a role, but there are [other] reasons. Tribal cultures, the extreme Islamophobia in the West, and the many direct attacks on the Muslim world. It’s [political violence] by no means unique to Islam.”

The evidence from experts like Scott Atran (a French and American anthropologist), Robert Pape (an American political scientist), and Marc Sageman (former CIA Operations Officer) backs him up.continue reading...

1-Here I am using professor Atran's definition from his book Talking To The Enemy. Although other definitions exist.  [11/22/2014]

My latest article on the Rosetta mission

Rosetta mission proves to be a grand success

York professor Paul Delaney comments on the Rosetta mission, giving insight into the importance of this scientific marvel

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The Rosetta mission of the European Space Agency has made it, landing successfully on Comet 67P.

The Rosetta spacecraft deployed the Philae lander on Comet 67P on November 12. Philae is the small orbital spacecraft carried by Rosetta. 

This marks the first successful landing on a comet by a man-made craft. The ESA first launched Rosetta in 2004.

“It chased the comet down and Rosetta itself has gone into orbit around the nucleus of this comet,” says Paul Delaney, senior lecturer of physics and astronomy professor at York. 

“Rosetta is designed to monitor this nucleolus as it literally wakes up from its deep cold sleep.” 

He says many aspects of the comet’s anatomy will be analyzed. These include items such as the comet’s plasma and magnetic field environments, and surface condition.

Delaney says the importance of studying the comet is beyond trying to understand the universe as a whole.continue reading... 

 

My latest article in Excalibur on Angela Davis and Bobby Seale

My latest article in Excalibur on Angela Davis and Bobby Seale highlighting the YFS Activist Assembly at YorkU

The York Federation of Students recently held an activist assembly event, which reportedly led to thundering applause and a standing ovation for the guest speakers.

The event, which took place on October 29, featured Bobby Seale and Angela Davis.

Speaking first was Seale, a founder of the Black Panther Party, a black nationalist and socialist party that was active in the United States from 1966 to 1982.

Seale spoke about his influences from books that connected him with his roots, learning about slave revolts, and all the wars African-Americans had fought in, along with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

Seale created a grassroots jobs tutorial program for youth in the community. Seale’s goals for his programs were putting money back in the community, while educating youth and giving them practical skills.

Seale wanted to change the fact that black people were being under-represented in the system, by doing voter registration and getting more black politicians, jurors, and community leaders. continue reading...