The Largest Minority

June 26th, 2008 by Sam

Is Ralph Nader “starting to talk white supremacist [sic]?” According to John Aravosis he is.

In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Nader noted that Obama has not addressed issues fundamental to African-Americans, namely the need to crack down on “economic exploitation in ghettos,” including “Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, [and] lead.” Nader, pointing out the obvious, says that Obama is attempting to assuage white fear by “talking white” and avoiding the stigma of being “another politically threatening African-American politician.” Nader goes on, “Basically he’s coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it’s corporate or whether it’s simply oligarchic.”

So let’s try and follow Aravosis’s logic here: a) Candidate A points out that Candidate B is avoiding discussion of issues pertaining to the oppression of blacks in America so as to assuage white voters. b) Pointing this out is tantamount to being a white supremacist, or “talking white supremacist,” therefore c) Candidate A is a white supremacist.

If we apply Aravosis’s logic elsewhere, we also must conclude that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are white supremacists, or “talking ‘white supremacist.’” After all, earlier this year Jackson accused Obama of “acting like he’s white,” and Sharpton criticized Obama for trying “to grandstand in front of white people.” Jackson also pointed out that he felt John Edwards was “the only candidate addressing African-American problems.” Now, I’ve heard Jackson and Sharpton called a lot of things, but I don’t recall “white supremacist” being among them, though if the premises of Aravosis’s argument are true, then it would seem that this would be the only appropriate conclusion.

(H/T Curt Meinhold)

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May 28th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

As Crooks and Liars points out, Kiffiyehs are worn by nearly everybody in the middle east, even Western troops, to protect them from the sun and sandstorms. Hell, they’re even popular amongst Israeli Jews (and Meghan McCain it turns out). Affiliating such a common article of clothing with terrorism is like saying that shoes are terrorist-related apparel because bombers happen to wear them too.

The kind of proud ignorance which allows Malkin to publicly state that “Palestinian = terrorist” must finally be confronted in this country rather than catered to, and Dunkin’ Donuts should be held responsible for vindicating such vitriolic hatred and bigotry.

If the most important meal of the day for you is a deep-fried ring of dough and sugar, then please consider boycotting Dunkin’ Donuts and frequenting another doughnut place. Hell, maybe even find yourself a healthier breakfast alternative, like a bag of chips and a smoke.

May 23rd, 2008 by Manila Ryce

When Nixon was running against Kennedy, he acknowledged that much of his support was due to the anti-Catholic prejudices of Protestant fundamentalists, and denounced this bigotry. Nixon stated that he did not want the vote of anyone who was making their decision based on religious prejudices.

Hillary Clinton has done the opposite, showing that she has even less integrity than Nixon. Rather than denounce the attitudes of Americans who will not vote for Obama because he is black, she has given a nod and a wink to her “broader base” of “whites who had not completed college”, allowing them to vote their prejudices – prejudices amplified by the continuous spin of ratings-driven content.

“When ratings is the end-all, be-all of the corporate media, how can it be anything but a mad dash to a mass echo chamber, where ignorance is multiplied into mega ignorance, and wars become inevitable through rumor?”

May 20th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

This commemoration post is a day late. That seems to be the trend lately.

Brother Malcolm’s birthday was yesterday. He would’ve been 83 years old. Following an introduction by Howard Zinn, from his book A People’s History of the United States, Mos Def reads Malcolm X’s “Message to the Grass Roots”. This was recorded in November of 2006.

May 12th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Divide and conquer is a strategy essential to the success of imperialist powers throughout world history. You can give this policy a new name, such as “neo-conservative” or “neo-liberal” (which are essentially the same thing), and excuse it as a necessity for fighting communism and now terror, but it’s still the same shit.

The US is financially supporting division in Iraq, has managed to split the West Bank and Gaza between the parties of Fatah and Hamas, has planned to fracture Venezuela with the help of the Colombian military, and has also sparked division in Bolivia by appealing to the overtly racist white oligarchs which are trying to enact an unconstitutional autonomy referendum in the rich province of Santa Cruz. Pepe Escobar of The Real News gives us the truth about this referendum, which was not sanctioned by the National Electoral Court or the Bolivian Congress.

As Bolivian Minister of Foreign Relations David Choquehuanca has said, the US-backed separatist movement is “a true conspiracy against a democratically elected government.” This autonomy referendum isn’t just illegal; its foreign-funded terrorism against the poor indigenous population to keep what is rightfully theirs concentrated in the hands of white landowners.

In another video on the subject, Pepe notes that Evo’s government has “nationalized gas. They have called for a constituent assembly to re-found the country. They have invested in social programs. And the major taboo: they have transferred hundreds of thousands of hectares of land from big landowners to poor campesinos—peasants. No wonder the elite in Bolivia wants to bring this government down. And, yes, this is a war of whites against Indians, a war of rich against the poor. And it’s also part of a huge, ambitious plan B: break up Bolivia and have a gas-rich independent state in the eastern part of the country—a dagger in the heart of South American integration. Now, guess whom the Bush administration, the State Department, and the CIA is supporting?”

May 11th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Yeah, this just about sums everything up.

Every four years, Americans get to participate in their “democratic” system by choosing between two people they don’t like to make their decisions for the next four years. SNL inadvertently does something funny by summing up the character of Hillary Clinton, a candidate ruthlessly vying to be one of those two people.

May 9th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Hasan Elahi has been able to turn lemons into lemonade by exploiting autocratic repression in a fairly brilliant way. By showing the world through his website that the Feds are constantly watching him, the watcher then becomes the real subject of observation. Elahi further explains how he’s flooding the market with his personal information to reduce the value of this commodity to nothing.

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May 3rd, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Moyers discusses the racist double standard in the corporate press which has led to the lynching of Reverend Wright. Sorry Keith, but Bill Moyers is the real Edward R. Murrow of our generation.