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White Canada has a Black History

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    This episode of It's the End of the World
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    as We Know it and I Feel Fine
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    was made possible by contributions from
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    slaves like you.
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    Spank you very much!
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    We have to maintain law and order
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    or we might as well be back in the jungle
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    Daws.... the ghetto is a jungle
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    always has been
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    understand? You cannot cage people
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    like animals and not expect them
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    to fight back some day.
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    It has always been an army occupation
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    here... with police, badges and uniforms.
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    You and me... a cop and a social worker?
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    We are keepers of this goddamned zoo.
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    Streets have to be safe.
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    Safe for who?
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    You're here to protect property,
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    not lives.
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    Well that's what it's all about
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    isn't it?
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    You worked hard to get what you got,
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    didn't ya?
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    And you wanna keep it
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    just like I do.
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    Bullshit!
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    Listen. You think because you got a badge
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    and I got a couple of degrees
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    that makes a difference?
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    Do you know what white folks
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    call people like you and me in private?
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    Niggers, Daws.
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    Niggers.
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    Gooooooooooood morning slaves,
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    and welcome to another sedition of
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    It's the End of the World as We Know it
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    and I Feel Fine,
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    the show that believes in showing
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    proper respect for the dead.
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    Into CNN to bring you
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    some very sad breaking news
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    on the death of US Supreme Court
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    Justice Antonin Scalia
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    He died in his sleep, of natural causes
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    overnight.
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    I am your host the Stimulator,
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    and I gotta say me and my subMedia slaves
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    have had a fucking hoot sifting through
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    the mountains of hate mail we received
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    from ancaps and Bernie Sanders
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    supporters, pissed off by our
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    last two shows...
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    Well, you got egg on my face!
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    Buuuuuuuuuuut
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    while it's tempting to take yet
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    another swipe at a low-hanging fruit,
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    this week there’s more pressing
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    matters at hand.
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    Namely... actual motherfuckin resistance!
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    So, with that in mind,
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    we turn first to Hong Kong,
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    where on February 9th,
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    residents of the scrappy,
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    working-class neighbourhood of Mong Kok,
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    decided to ring in the Lunar New Year
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    by getting into a giant fucking
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    street brawl with the mothafuckin pigs.
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    Shit kicked off when the po-po moved in
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    to try and clear out illegal vendors,
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    hawking food
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    and assorted New Years trinkets.
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    In the heavy clashes that followed,
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    militants hurled bricks, garbage
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    and other random debris,
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    and beat cops the fuck down,
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    with sticks, poles
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    and motherfuckin street signs,
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    injuring nearly 90 of them!
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    Mong Kok
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    was the site of some of the
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    fiercest resistance during last year's
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    Umbrella Revolution,
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    when for two months,
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    pro-democracy activists set up
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    occupations and barricaded major streets
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    across the city.
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    The crushing of this movement
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    only increased the palpable animosity
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    many Hong Kong residents feel
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    towards the totalitarian regime in Beijing
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    and in the year that has followed,
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    tensions have continued to build.
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    Despite being technically ruled
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    by jack-booted Commies,
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    Hong Kong is a major artery
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    of global capitalism,
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    with some of the highest levels
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    of inequality found anywhere in the world
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    The city boasts over
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    200,000 fucking millionaires,
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    while 20 percent of its population
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    lives in poverty,
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    and over 50,000 of its residents
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    live in literal fucking cages.
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    As this powder keg of social contradiction
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    develops, hopefully Hong Kong's proles
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    will be able to avoid the lure
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    of right-wing nationalism,
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    and begin to join forces
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    with the insurgent workers and peasants
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    kicking shit off in mainland China.
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    I think there's been a massacre
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    of workers rights
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    for pensions.
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    People will die, and they will never
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    get a pension.
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    That's why there is mass resistance
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    against this policy.
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    Meanwhile, on February 4th,
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    workers in Greece
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    staged their third general strike
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    in four months,
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    with 40,000 peeps taking to the streets
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    to protest looming pension reforms,
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    which have been demanded
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    by the motherfuckin vampires
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    of the so-called Troika,
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    as a precondition to the latest
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    injection of cash into Greece's
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    cash-starved economy.
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    Once the demonstrations reached Parliament
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    Anarchists threw down hard,
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    lobbing rocks and molotov cocktails
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    at Athens riot pigs,
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    who responded with tear gas
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    and flash grenades
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    in what has by now become
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    an almost ritualistic display
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    of mutual fucking hatred.
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    Never gets old.
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    Anyway...
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    by now the Greek left's love affair
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    with Syriza,
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    and its weaselly fuck of a leader,
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    Alexis Tsipris, is long fucking over.
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    Despite this, Tsipiris is still trying to
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    play shit off like he's cool in the gang,
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    expressing his support for the strikes
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    being carried out against the very
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    policies that his government
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    has been ramming down peeps' throats.
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    Buuuuuuuut the Greek people
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    aren't fucking stupid, and they
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    are well aware that they're being fleeced.
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    Syriza's latest capitulation
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    to the country's insatiable creditors
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    comes in the form of a steep hike
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    to taxes and social security contributions
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    which will have many Greeks
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    poneying up to three-quarters
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    of their wages
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    towards paying off the country's debt.
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    Farmers in Greece
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    have been protesting these reforms now
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    for weeks,
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    blockading major highways,
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    and sealing off the country's borders
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    with Turkey and Macedonia.
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    On February 12th, a convoy of
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    pissed off farmers descended
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    onto the streets of Athens,
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    and attempted to storm the
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    Ministry of Agriculture,
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    leading to yet more clashes with the cops.
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    Check this shit out!
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    As the situation continues to get
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    even more fucking dire in Greece,
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    and with no solution to the country's
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    economic clusterfuck in sight,
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    it’s a safe fucking bet that
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    the footage of flaming riot cops
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    that the country has become
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    world famous for
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    won’t be stopping anytime soon.
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    Here in the United Snakes and Klanada,
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    February is celebrated as
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    Black History Month,
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    where for one month of the year,
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    tens of thousands of white elementary
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    and high school teachers
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    present awkward, obligatory,
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    and kinda fuckin racist lessons
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    for their students,
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    on historical Black figures,
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    such as Frederick Douglas
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    and Martin Luther King…
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    Who invented the air conditioner?
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    A Black man.
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    and then explain how George Washington
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    Carver invented peanut butter.
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    Well Doctor Carver's
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    two dinner guests...
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    Edward "Skippy" Williamson
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    and Frederick "Jiff" Armstrong
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    -- two white men.
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    Stole George Washington Carver's
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    recipe for peanut butter,
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    copyrighted it, and reaped
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    untold fortunes from it.
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    Given the tense state of racial dynamics
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    in the post-Ferguson United Snakes,
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    this year's Black History Month
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    has been more political than most.
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    All around the country,
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    Black peeps are rising up,
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    reconnecting with past histories
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    of struggle, and publicly challenging
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    the racist status fucking quo.
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    Even the holy grail of American spectacles
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    -- the motherfuckin Super Bowl,
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    featured a half-time lesson
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    on Black history,
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    compliments of none other than
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    Mrs. Black Bill Gates in the making
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    herself, Beyonce,
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    who performed alongside dozens of
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    back-up dancers
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    dressed in Black Panthers regalia.
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    It was really outrageous...
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    that she used it as a platform
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    to attack police officers.
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    Oh fuck! Fuck me in the dick!
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    Buuuuuuuuuut
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    while the right-wing corporate media
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    endlessly debates
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    whether Beyonce’s performance was racist
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    and the nuanced difference
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    between the Panthers and the KKK….
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    another story is going largely
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    under-reported…
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    Climatologists are saying
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    that this past year's El Niño
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    was the strongest on record,
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    and it's having devastating effects
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    on weather patterns across the globe.
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    Whereas in southern California,
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    it has led to heavy rains
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    that have replaced the region's
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    long-standing drought
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    with widespread flooding,
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    in Haiti, on the other hand,
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    it has exacerbated an existing drought,
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    leading to widespread crop failures
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    and food shortages,
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    which have put millions of people
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    at risk of starvation.
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    Every day is getting worse.
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    It is difficult to grow crops,
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    because of lack of water.
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    Many are malnourished
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    and they don't have food.
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    And the scale of the problem
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    is even more fucking dire
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    in South-eastern Africa…
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    where El Niño, combined with the
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    pre-existing effects
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    of global climate change,
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    have set the stage for a looming famine
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    of biblical fucking proportions,
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    with up to 14 million people
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    already suffering from food and/or
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    water shortages,
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    and some experts predicting
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    that up to 49 million people
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    are ultimately at risk of starvation.
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    Just let those numbers sink in for a second.
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    Everyone is in hardship.
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    We all have so little to eat
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    because there was no harvest this season.
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    Scorching hot temperatures,
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    combined with an almost complete lack
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    of rainfall,
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    has turned large areas of the region
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    into a parched wasteland,
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    decimating agriculture in South Africa,
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    Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique,
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    Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi,
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    and Ethiopia,
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    where upwards of 8.5 million people
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    are facing food shortages,
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    and 1 million children
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    are struggling with acute malnutrition.
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    This tragic situation
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    is a bleak fucking reminder
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    of the ways in which white supremacy
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    is interwoven into the very fabric
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    of globalized capitalism.
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    While rich fucking countries in the west
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    throw out an unconscionable amount
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    of perfectly good food
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    every fucking day,
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    large areas of the world are
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    starving to death
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    in front of our very eyes.
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    Capitalism is a man-made fucking disaster,
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    which makes it that much harder
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    for poorer countries to cope
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    with changes in weather patterns,
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    which are only going to get worse
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    as climate change continues
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    to do its thing.
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    While the scale and scope
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    of these problems can be hard
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    to wrap one's head around,
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    they are ultimately connected
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    to resistance to white supremacy
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    and capitalism here at home,
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    as they represent the global consequences
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    of these hierarchal systems,
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    projected abroad via imperialism
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    and neo-colonial trade policies.
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    So...
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    to learn more about some of the
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    local struggles against white supremacy
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    here in Klanada,
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    and how they’re connected to
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    the bigger picture,
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    I recently caught up with Ajamu Nangwaya,
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    an anarchist, educator and writer
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    from Toronto,
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    and an organizer with the Network
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    for the Elimination of Police Violence.
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    Hey Ajamu, how the fuck are ya?
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    I'm pretty good.
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    Just battling a cold....
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    but I'm getting better.
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    So... it’s February,
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    which means it’s Black History Month.
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    In the past, you've been critical
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    of this term, and the way it's
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    framed by the media, government officials
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    and social justice advocates alike.
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    Why is that?
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    It's a cultural celebration... and it
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    is not focused on the need for
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    social emancipation.
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    Therefore, it is a time for us to
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    engage in a name change - but
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    beyond the name change is the need
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    to focus on political ideology,
  • 12:14 - 12:17
    political organizing... for us to expose
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    the fact that there's still a need for us
  • 12:20 - 12:22
    to fight against capitalism, racism,
  • 12:22 - 12:25
    homophobia... in the present time
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    and.. we haven't achieved emancipation,
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    which history kind of focuses on the past,
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    and not the present and the future.
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    You were an early member of
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    the Black Action Defense Committee,
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    or BADC,
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    a Toronto-based organization
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    active in struggles against racist
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    police terror in the 1980s and 1990s.
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    For viewers who might not be familiar
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    with this group or its history,
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    can you give us a quick run-down?
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    Yes.. the Black Action Defense Committee
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    was created in August 1988.
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    It was a response to the killing
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    of an elderly African man
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    with mental health issues.
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    Well, a number of activists came together
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    and said "we need an organizational
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    response to the act of police violence."
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    And that led to BADC. And it is is
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    in the late 80s and 1990s,
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    the most prominent group in Ontario
  • 13:16 - 13:19
    that was pushing for police accountability
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    that was organizing against
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    police violence.
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    Up here in Klanada,
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    most of the news and analysis that we hear
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    about police brutality comes from the US.
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    How is the operation of white supremacy,
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    as it relates to state violence,
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    different in both countries,
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    and in what ways is it the same?
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    I would say, fundamentally,
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    there's no real difference between
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    police violence in the United States
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    and Canada.
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    Because we experienced slavery
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    in Canada. And the police, as always
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    are the coercive element in society.
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    That is, the police, the military
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    has always worked against African people.
  • 13:55 - 13:58
    In the US and also in Canada.
  • 13:58 - 14:00
    So our relationship with
  • 14:00 - 14:03
    law enforcement, as well as the judicial
  • 14:03 - 14:05
    system and prison system, has always
  • 14:05 - 14:08
    been a negative, oppositional one.
  • 14:08 - 14:09
    On a similar note,
  • 14:09 - 14:12
    many peeps in this country are generally
  • 14:12 - 14:13
    familiar with the history of
  • 14:13 - 14:14
    the Civil Rights
  • 14:14 - 14:16
    and Black Liberation movements in the US,
  • 14:16 - 14:18
    and more recent historical examples,
  • 14:18 - 14:20
    such as the LA Riots of 1992...
  • 14:20 - 14:24
    buuuuuuuut are often less familiar
  • 14:24 - 14:25
    with the history of struggles against
  • 14:25 - 14:27
    anti-Black racism here at home.
  • 14:27 - 14:29
    How do you think this affects
  • 14:29 - 14:31
    the perspective of revolutionaries
  • 14:31 - 14:31
    here in Klanada,
  • 14:31 - 14:33
    and are there specific movements
  • 14:33 - 14:34
    and events that you think peeps
  • 14:34 - 14:36
    here would benefit
  • 14:36 - 14:37
    from learning more about?
  • 14:37 - 14:41
    The media dominates our perception
  • 14:41 - 14:42
    of reality.
  • 14:42 - 14:44
    And African Americans are living in
  • 14:44 - 14:47
    the centre of world imperialism - the
  • 14:47 - 14:47
    United States.
  • 14:47 - 14:51
    So, whatever they do gets projected
  • 14:51 - 14:53
    across the world. In Africa,
  • 14:53 - 14:54
    in Latin America...
  • 14:54 - 14:57
    a lot of us end up using African Americans
  • 14:57 - 14:58
    as our reference point.
  • 14:58 - 15:01
    So, whatever African Americans do,
  • 15:01 - 15:03
    we tend to pick it up
  • 15:03 - 15:04
    in our own spaces.
  • 15:04 - 15:06
    But we also, here in Canada,
  • 15:06 - 15:09
    have a history of struggle and
  • 15:09 - 15:11
    resistance, which is documented
  • 15:11 - 15:13
    but it's not as widely known
  • 15:13 - 15:14
    as in the United States.
  • 15:14 - 15:16
    For example, we know about
  • 15:16 - 15:19
    the LA rebellion, or the Rodney King
  • 15:19 - 15:22
    rebellion in April-May 1992.
  • 15:22 - 15:24
    But we're not aware of the Yonge Street
  • 15:24 - 15:26
    Rebellion that took place around
  • 15:26 - 15:28
    the same time.
  • 15:28 - 15:28
    A march took place
  • 15:28 - 15:30
    and it was a solidarity march
  • 15:30 - 15:33
    with what's going on in LA at the time...
  • 15:33 - 15:35
    but it was also a march to protest
  • 15:35 - 15:36
    the police killing of a young
  • 15:36 - 15:38
    African man, you know, during the
  • 15:38 - 15:39
    same time.
  • 15:39 - 15:41
    But we had a rebellion here.
  • 15:41 - 15:42
    It's not as widely known
  • 15:42 - 15:44
    outside of Canada
  • 15:44 - 15:45
    -- even inside of Canada.
  • 15:45 - 15:46
    Over the past couple of years,
  • 15:46 - 15:48
    Black Lives Matter has burst
  • 15:48 - 15:49
    onto the political scene,
  • 15:49 - 15:51
    and as a popular rallying cry
  • 15:51 - 15:53
    for racial equality in the United Snakes.
  • 15:53 - 15:55
    There's also an active chapter
  • 15:55 - 15:57
    in Toronto, which has employed tactics
  • 15:57 - 15:59
    similar to their US counterparts,
  • 15:59 - 16:01
    such as highway blockades,
  • 16:01 - 16:03
    to protest police killings.
  • 16:03 - 16:04
    What is your take on Black Lives Matter,
  • 16:04 - 16:06
    and what role do you see them
  • 16:06 - 16:07
    playing as struggles against
  • 16:07 - 16:09
    white supremacy intensify?
  • 16:09 - 16:11
    Initially when the movement came out
  • 16:11 - 16:14
    on the scene, I was more openly critical
  • 16:14 - 16:15
    of it.
  • 16:15 - 16:17
    But at the same time, in terms of its
  • 16:17 - 16:20
    ideological direction, it's emphasis
  • 16:20 - 16:22
    on more mobilizing people in the
  • 16:22 - 16:24
    street, and not necessarily
  • 16:24 - 16:27
    organizing people who live in
  • 16:27 - 16:29
    communities - whether it's working-class,
  • 16:29 - 16:32
    highly segregated communities in the US,
  • 16:32 - 16:34
    where we work with people to build their
  • 16:34 - 16:36
    independent organization to struggle...
  • 16:36 - 16:40
    But I've kind of, tempered my critique
  • 16:40 - 16:43
    of the group, because a lot of folks
  • 16:43 - 16:45
    who are drawn into it are young people.
  • 16:45 - 16:47
    They're becoming involved
  • 16:47 - 16:48
    in an organizational context
  • 16:48 - 16:50
    for the first time... and
  • 16:50 - 16:52
    we have to remember that young people
  • 16:52 - 16:53
    are going to make mistakes.
  • 16:53 - 16:55
    No doubt you’ve seen the clips
  • 16:55 - 16:57
    of Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance
  • 16:57 - 16:58
    by now.
  • 16:58 - 16:59
    Generally speaking,
  • 16:59 - 16:59
    what are your thoughts
  • 16:59 - 17:01
    on the role that Black celebrities
  • 17:01 - 17:03
    can play in helping to frame
  • 17:03 - 17:04
    popular dialogues on race?
  • 17:04 - 17:06
    To me, it's not so much
  • 17:06 - 17:08
    "Black celebrities", but to me, it's
  • 17:08 - 17:11
    the role that African artists
  • 17:11 - 17:12
    and artists in general
  • 17:12 - 17:14
    must play in the struggle for
  • 17:14 - 17:16
    liberation. Especially if you're
  • 17:16 - 17:18
    from an oppressed community.
  • 17:18 - 17:22
    You have an obligation to use
  • 17:22 - 17:25
    your work to advance the stuggle.
  • 17:25 - 17:27
    To raise questions in the minds of the people.
  • 17:27 - 17:30
    But, the thing that's very clear to me
  • 17:30 - 17:34
    is that artists, in a lot of ways,
  • 17:34 - 17:37
    cup what's going on around them.
  • 17:37 - 17:40
    So you notice in the 60's, even people
  • 17:40 - 17:43
    were doing like pop music,
  • 17:43 - 17:45
    they were reflecting themes
  • 17:45 - 17:47
    of the movement around them.
  • 17:47 - 17:50
    So, what we see recently,
  • 17:50 - 17:52
    with Lamar performing about the
  • 17:52 - 17:54
    Prison Industrial Complex,
  • 17:54 - 17:58
    referencing Africa as a place of origin...
  • 17:58 - 18:01
    or Beyonce... Beyonce like exposing
  • 18:01 - 18:03
    young people to the presence
  • 18:03 - 18:05
    of the Black Panther Party,
  • 18:05 - 18:07
    with this year being the 50th
  • 18:07 - 18:08
    anniversary of it's founding....
  • 18:08 - 18:10
    These things are happening
  • 18:10 - 18:12
    because there's like a rumbling
  • 18:12 - 18:14
    on the ground, or there's a
  • 18:14 - 18:16
    conscientized section of the African
  • 18:16 - 18:17
    population in the US
  • 18:17 - 18:20
    that are pushing... politically.
  • 18:20 - 18:21
    And these people are
  • 18:21 - 18:22
    picking these things up.
  • 18:22 - 18:24
    Anything else you wanna add?
  • 18:24 - 18:27
    As anarchists, we need to
  • 18:27 - 18:29
    organize with, and among the people.
  • 18:29 - 18:32
    Anarchism is the solution
  • 18:32 - 18:35
    to oppression in society,
  • 18:35 - 18:38
    but we need to be among the people.
  • 18:38 - 18:41
    You know, we need to approach them
  • 18:41 - 18:43
    in a pragmatic way, that we may not even
  • 18:43 - 18:46
    tell them that anarchism is the solution,
  • 18:46 - 18:48
    but if we're working with the people,
  • 18:48 - 18:50
    and we're looking at "how do we
  • 18:50 - 18:52
    organize?" and you start to propose
  • 18:52 - 18:56
    a program of broad participation,
  • 18:56 - 18:58
    so we can introduce anarchist
  • 18:58 - 19:00
    principles to the people,
  • 19:00 - 19:02
    and then later on... as they become more
  • 19:02 - 19:05
    politically developed, or they come to our
  • 19:05 - 19:07
    meetings, they'll realize that
  • 19:07 - 19:09
    my God... we've been practicing
  • 19:09 - 19:12
    anarchism for so long we didn't know
  • 19:12 - 19:14
    that's what we were doing.
  • 19:14 - 19:17
    So I believe that we need to be strategic,
  • 19:17 - 19:20
    tactical in introducing anarchism
  • 19:20 - 19:21
    to the people.
  • 19:21 - 19:21
    Thanks Ajamu.
  • 19:21 - 19:23
    And that about does it for this sedition
  • 19:23 - 19:25
    of It’s the End of the World as we Know it
  • 19:25 - 19:26
    and I Feel Fine.
  • 19:26 - 19:28
    As it happens with most guests,
  • 19:28 - 19:30
    it breaks my fucking heart
  • 19:30 - 19:32
    to edit the interview down
  • 19:32 - 19:33
    to fit the format.
  • 19:33 - 19:35
    I really recommend that y'all listen
  • 19:35 - 19:37
    to my entire conversation with Ajamu.
  • 19:37 - 19:39
    His insight into movement and
  • 19:39 - 19:40
    power building are super solid.
  • 19:40 - 19:43
    To do so, just visit my fuckin website:
  • 19:45 - 19:47
    With that said, building this show
  • 19:47 - 19:49
    over the past 9 years is possible
  • 19:49 - 19:50
    through a lot of hard fuckin work
  • 19:50 - 19:52
    but also through small donations
  • 19:52 - 19:54
    from wage slaves like you.
  • 19:54 - 19:56
    So this week I want to give a shout out to
  • 19:56 - 19:58
    Laura, Justin, Robin, Guillaume,
  • 19:58 - 20:00
    Ranko, Hansen, Roman, Raul,
  • 20:00 - 20:02
    Max, Stephen, Karlis, Blade, Steve,
  • 20:02 - 20:04
    Jonathan, Jan, Jane, Samantha, Andrew,
  • 20:04 - 20:06
    Per, Flyn, Michael, Bear,
  • 20:06 - 20:08
    Leandre, Jesse, Agatha, Inca,
  • 20:08 - 20:10
    Scott, and Daniel
  • 20:10 - 20:11
    Empanadas
  • 20:11 - 20:13
    I also want to give a warm welcome
  • 20:13 - 20:16
    to the newest members of the taconspiracy
  • 20:16 - 20:18
    Sebastian and Anonymous
  • 20:18 - 20:19
    Stay tuned to this space
  • 20:19 - 20:21
    for more insurrectionary news
  • 20:21 - 20:23
    from the global muthafuckin resistance.
  • 20:23 - 20:24
    See you next time suckers.
Title:
White Canada has a Black History
Description:

Goood morning slaves!

This week we bring you, “White Canada has a Black History”

In this sedition of ITEOTWAWKIAIFF we look at the growing class unrest in Hong Kong that kicked off a massive rebellion in the lunar new year. Also street battles in Athens, where anarchists and farmers stormed the Greek capital in reaction to Syriza’s structural adjustment policies.

On the music break we drop the now classic Dead Prez track: Malcolm Garvey Huey.

We continue with an examination on how white supremacy plays a role in the mass starvation of people in the African continent and we wrap things up with Ajamu Nangwaya, an anarchist, educator and writer from Toronto, who spoke to us about black history in so called “Canada”, the similarities of black struggles between peeps down in the US, and the role of celebrities in visibilizing radical politics.

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
20:42

English subtitles

Revisions