No subject

notion.

For while black political leadership has surely been a source of
pride, they have not been a source of black political power.

That's because as agents of the States, they must defend the
interests of the State, even when this conflicts with the interests
of their people.

For example, let's look at the experience of Mayor Stokes.

Shortly after taking office, Stokes appointed former U.S. Army
Lt.-General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. as his public safety director (a
kind of super police chief). Gen. Davis, fresh from the rigors of
Vietnam, ordered 30,000 rounds of hollow point (or dum-dum) bullets,
items in violation of the laws of war.

The object of his ire? The Cleveland branch of the Black Panther
Party, and a local office of the National Committee to Combat
Fascism, a Panther support group.

In Aug. 1970, Gen. Davis resigned from the post, and criticized Mayor
Stokes for not giving him sufficient support in his battle against
radicals (like the Panthers).

Stokes, the more politically adroit of the two, made Davis look bad
for ordering ammo which violated the Geneva Conventions, but Stokes'
personal papers revealed meetings between the two men, and their
agreement on dum-dums as appropriate arms to be used against
Panthers.

Just because he was a Black mayor, didn't mean he wasn't dedicated to
destroying a Black organization. Indeed, in times of Black uprising
and mass discontent, Black mayors seem the perfect instrument of
repression, for they dispel charges of racism.

If Barack Obama wins the White House, it will be a considerable
political achievement. It will be made possible only by the votes of
millions of whites, most especially younger voters.

This does not diminish such an achievement, it just sharpens the
nature of it.

But Black faces in high places does not freedom make.

Power is far more than presence. It is the ability to meet people's
political objectives of freedom, independence and material
well-being.

We are as far from those objectives as we were in 1967.

--(c) '08 maj

[Source: Nissim-Sabat, Ryan, "Panthers Set Up Shop in Cleveland,"
p.111; from Judson L. Jeffries, ed., COMRADES: Local History of the
Black Panther Party (Blomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University
Press, 2007), pp. 89-144.]

Le Monde diplomatique

-----------------------------------------------------

August 2008
Obama
by Serge Halimi

Barack Obama is a lucky man: young, of mixed race, thought
likely to make it to the White House, to succeed one of the
most unpopular presidents in US history. He appears better
equipped than anyone else to "renew American leadership in
the world" (1) - restore the US image and win acceptance
and support for US action abroad, rendering it more
effective.

That includes military action, notably in Afghanistan:=20
"I will build a 21st-century military and 21st-century
partnerships as strong as the anticommunist alliance that
won the cold war to stay on the offensive everywhere from
Djibouti to Kandahar" (2). To anyone who still supposes a
multicultural president with a Kenyan father would signal
the start of a new era with everyone holding hands, the
Democratic candidate has already said that, with all
respect to Pink Floyd and George McGovern, his foreign
policy is actually a return to the "traditional bipartisan
realistic policy of George Bush's father, of John F
Kennedy, of, in some ways, Ronald Reagan" (3).

Multilateralism is not on the agenda, but imperialism will
be softer, subtler, more inclusive and perhaps not quite so
murderous. But the eight-year embargo imposed by President
Bill Clinton killed a lot of Iraqis.

Barack Obama is talented. His book, The Audacity of Hope,
shows a mixture of historical acumen, cunning, political
empathy with his opponents - he says he "understands their
motives and recognises that they have values which he
shares" - carefully balanced statements that say very
little but go down well with almost everyone, humour, and
conviction. Conviction tempered with a disturbing respect
for Clinton who, he said, "had wrung out of the Democratic
Party some of the excesses that had kept it from winning
elections" (4). What excesses? Opposing the death penalty?
Supporting welfare? Defending civil rights? Redistributing
incomes?

Barack Obama is ambitious. But where will the legitimate
ambition to win elections take him? The evidence of recent
months suggests to the right. Not so far as to be
interchangeable with Republican candidate, John McCain, or
justify the jibe "six of one and half a dozen of the
other". But far enough from his progressive pronouncements
early in the campaign and even further from what his most
idealistic supporters thought he meant by them.=20

"Yes we can" has become yes, we can criticise an extremely
conservative Supreme Court when it prohibits the execution
of rapists not found guilty of murder; yes, we can give a
speech to the pro-Israel lobby, supporting the most
inflexible positions taken by Ehud Olmert's government;
yes, we can automatically associate creativity with the
private sector, complete Clinton's and Tony Blair's mission
to redefine "progressive" and promote a class alliance in
which managers and executives are the key players.

It gets worse. Emboldened by the massive contributions to
his campaign fund, Obama has just dealt a serious, possibly
fatal, blow to the system of public funding for election
campaigns, announcing that he would be the first
presidential candidate since Watergate to waive the fixed
state payment ($84.1m in 2008) allocated to all the main
contenders in return for an undertaking to limit their
expenses to that amount. The role of money in politics is a
major problem in the United States and yet Obama has
indicated that he is not about to solve it. Elsewhere there
is still some chance that he will not prove to be a
disappointment and that the true friends of the American
people can retain the audacity of hope.
________________________________________________________

(1) Barack Obama, "Renewing American Leadership", Foreign
Affairs, New York, July 2007.

(2) Ibid. This will mean increasing the defence budget and
adding "65,000 soldiers to the army and 27,000 marines".

(3) Speech at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, 28 March 2008.

(4) Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, Crown, New York,
2006.

Translated by Barbara Wilson
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GUARDIAN
How to blow it
by Micheal Moore

It's the most winnable presidential election in American history -
but the Democrats are old hands at losing. Michael Moore offers some
helpful hints on how they might gift it all to the Republicans.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/09/michael.moore.us.elections.bara=
ck.obama


PRENSA LATINA SUMMARY OF MICHEAL MOORE COMMENTARY:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/89651























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     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para=C3=ADso bajo el bloqueo"
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