Update: Bobby Seale Campus Visit

MSU-YDS

Update: Bobby Seale Visit

(Pictures and Video to come soon!)

MSU YDS, in collaboration with the W.E.B. DuBois Society, another MSU student group dedicated to racial, social, and sexual justice, recently hosted a visit by Bobby Seale, co-founder and former chairman of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Mr. Seale arrived at MSU on January 14 and left on the morning of January 16, with the main events taking place on the fifteenth. The day consisted of two “mixers,” the main speaking event, and a dinner with various DuBois Society and YDS members, along with some of our campus sponsors. At the “mixers,” Mr. Seale interacted and talked with students from two of MSU’s residential colleges: James Madison College, and the Residential College for the Arts and Humanities. The main event took place at the Kellog Hotel and Conference Center at 5:00 P.M. and consisted of a lecture by Mr. Seale on “The State of Black Politics in the Twenty-First Century.” The main event was very well attended with only standing room left in the auditorium due to an audience of over 300 MSU students and East Lansing community members. After their departure, Grace Rutledge, who accompanied Mr. Seale on his visit, told us that Mr. Seale had nothing but good things to say about his stay at MSU.

Significance

We, the members of MSU YDS, believe that this event was of great importance in encouraging dialogue within the MSU-East Lansing community both about the implications of the recent election of America’s first black president, and also about the current financial crisis. Mr. Seale addressed President Obama’s recent election and it’s relation to the ongoing struggle for civil rights in the United States, in which the Black Panthers were, of course, played a major part. He also discussed the importance of community organizing and support in times of need like the current crisis, using his own experiences with the Black Panther Party as examples of such activities. The event was, unfortunately, especially relevant in the context of the recent shootings of black youth by police officers. We hope, however, that Bobby Seale’s visit will help to promote dialogue pertaining to these ongoing assaults against minority communities, the structural problems behind them, and what actions might be taken to address these problems.

Follow-up

In the wake of this event, MSU YDS has seen an increase in membership and in interest in the group. We are hoping to ride this momentum and continue dialogue on MSU’s campus about the need for socialism during this vital time in American history.
On the 12th of February, MSU YDS will be hosting a panel discussion about the need for viable alternatives to the capitalist system if we are ever to emerge from this economic crisis, and socialism as one of these alternatives. The panel will include both faculty and student panelists and the event will be titled “Finding a Way Out”. The date for the event is February 12th, and the event will take place at 6 pm. Some members of MSU YDS are also planning on attending the YDS National Conference in New York.

oh my god

people who attempt to regurgigate arguments in favor of this are stupid motherfuckers

statement of Anarchist Federation (UK) on Gaza

Statement produced by the Sheffield and Manchester Anarchist Federation group's on the conflict in Gaza, in solidarity with the victims of the conflict, and for internationalism.

One thing is absolutely clear about the current situation in Gaza: the Israeli state is committing atrocities which must end immediately. With hundreds dead and thousands wounded, it has become increasingly clear that the aim of the military operation, which has been in the planning stages since the signing of the original ceasefire in June, is to break Hamas completely. The attack follows the crippling blockade throughout the supposed ‘ceasefire’, which has destroyed the livelihoods of Gazans, ruined the civilian infrastructure and created a humanitarian disaster which anyone with an ounce of humanity would seek an end to.

But that's not all there is to say about the situation. On both sides of the conflict, the idea that opposing Israel has to mean supporting Hamas and its ‘resistance’ movement is worryingly common. We totally reject this argument. Just like any other set of rulers, Hamas, like all the other major Palestinian factions, are happy and willing to sacrifice ordinary Palestinians to increase their power. This isn’t some vague theoretical point – for a period recently most deaths in Gaza were a result of fighting between Hamas and Fatah. The ‘choices’ offered to ordinary Palestinian people are between Islamist gangsters (Hamas, Islamic Jihad) or nationalist gangsters (Fatah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs brigades). These groups have shown their willingness to attack working class attempts to improve their living conditions, seizing union offices, kidnapping prominent trade unionists, and breaking strikes. One spectacular example is the attack on Palestine Workers Radio by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, for “stoking internal conflicts”. Clearly, a “free Palestine” under the control of any of these groups would be nothing of the sort.

As anarchists, we are internationalists, opposing the idea that the rulers and ruled within a nation have any interests in common. Therefore, anarchists reject Palestinian nationalism just as we reject Israeli nationalism (Zionism). Ethnicity does not grant “rights” to lands, which require the state to enforce them. People, on the other hand, have a right to having their human needs met, and should be able to live where they choose, freely.

Therefore, against the divisions and false choices set up by nationalism, we fully support the ordinary inhabitants of Gaza and Israel against state warfare – not because of their nationality, ethnicity, or religion, but simply because they're real living, feeling, thinking, suffering, struggling human beings. And this support has to mean total hostility to all those who would oppress and exploit them –the Israeli state and the Western governments and corporations that supply it with weapons, but also any other capitalist factions who seek to use ordinary working-class Palestinians as pawns in their power struggles. The only real solution is one which is collective, based on the fact that as a class, globally, we ultimately have nothing but our ability to work for others, and everything to gain in ending this system – capitalism – and the states and wars it needs .

That this seems like a “difficult” solution does not stop it from being the right one. Any “solution” that means endless cycles of conflict, which is what nationalism represents, is no solution at all. And if that is the case, the fact that it is “easier” is irrelevant. There are sectors of Palestinian society which are not dominated by the would-be rulers – protests organised by village committees in the West Bank for instance. These deserve our support. As do those in Israel who refuse to fight, and who resist the war. But not the groups who call on Palestinians to be slaughtered on their behalf by one of the most advanced armies in the world, and who wilfully attack civilians on the other side of the border.

YDS Participation in Bobby Seal Events

YDSers,

We are jointly hosting Bobby Seal's Jan 14-16 stay (Wednesday -Friday first week of school) and, as the DuBois society's sister chapter there is an expectation we participate. Even with the great work the DuBois society and many YDS members have already accomplished, there are many areas of such an event needs warm bodies and bright minds to do.

The main event is THURSDAY JAN 15
Kellogg Auditorium
Doors at 4:45, Lecture 5
"The State of Black Politics in the 21st Century"

We have the privilege of attending two "mixers" and a dinner
(details on this to come, I can't find the info but its on the way)


IT IS IMPERATIVE WE PITCH IN TO HELP MAKE THIS INTO THE GREAT EVENT IT IS SHAPING UP TO BE.

An email will be distributed regarding a pre-semester meeting (or two or three) to discuss MSUYDS participation for the event. Please contact vogleson@msu.edu and let us know your best time for a meeting so we can get as many people as possible in on this.
Tentatively it will be Sunday, at any time, place tbd.

Spread the word about the event, comrades. It's important.