Dear Charles
I found the words of Elaine Brown to be very powerful and dialectical lying unapologetic. It is interesting to read that some English slave ships carrying kidnapped Africans to the Americas – reported that on occasion a captive would escape his or her chains (made in Sheffield as I was taught in school in the UK) and jump overboard into the sea. Although some were rescued, many others deliberately swam away from the ships and drowned in the choppy water – preferring death to a life of misery and enslavement.
Your comments about cult-related “suicide” made me think about the Huey Newton situation – and it took sometime for me to get to the root of his thinking. According to his family – and the Dr Huey Newton Foundation (there are lots of fake groups and associations out there misrepresenting the Black Panthers) – Huey got his idea of “Revolutionary Suicide” from this historical example. It is a last-ditch act of self-sacrifice to prevent a greater suffering. Obviously, this is not a call to mindless suicide, or the exploitative taking of life for some type of delusional (be it political or religious) gain.
The sheer weight of White exploitation cannot be ignored in any of its guises (slave masters or cult leaders). Similarly, the habit of the White Establishment playing-down the weight of the power it possesses is yet another problem. When at school in 1970s UK, we were taught (even then) about the so-called “Golden Triangle”. We were told that British workmen constructed huge trading ships that sailed the world. Furthermore, British sailors manned these ships and brought great riches to our island nation. More than this, these same ships “visited” Africa and “acquired” slaves which were secured in the hold by chains made in Sheffield (the Sheffield factories employed tens of thousands).
The chains were made in vast quantities and in many different sizes – even for babies, children and pregnant women! The chains for adult men were stronger. The African people were stacked (logically) we were told – in rows like loaves on a shelf – and held there for months (defecating and urinating on one another). The ships returned from the West Indies with money (acquired from selling slaves) and goods (made through slave-labour) to the UK – where new chains were purchased. The cleaned and empty ships then sailed to Africa to pick-up more slaves – and around the process went for around 400-years. This is the context of Huey Newton’s “Revolutionary Suicide” as far as I can tell.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 