PALESTINIAN MAN TELLS BANKSY TO "GO HOME"

Banksy also records on his website how an old Palestinian man said his painting made the wall look beautiful. Banksy thanked him, only to be told:

'We don't want it to be beautiful, we hate this wall. Go home.'

[Btw, Sons of Malcolm salutes Banksy as a revolutionary propaganda artist, but considers the Palestinian voice incomparably more important than Banksy]

MUSIC: 'F**K DA GOVERNMENT' - SONS OF MALCOLM SALUTES THE FRENCH, AND WONDERS IF THE ENGLISH WILL EVER LEARN?

Bashy:

Dem Rich Cats

Dey Ain't Neva Bin 2 Da Manor

I Reckon It's About Princess Diana

I No In France She Died In A Banger

But If I Crashed And Died They Wouldn't Giv A Damn About Me

So Fuck Dem N Deyre Family

Stop Talkin About Dem On Da Tv Cz

Dey're Familys Got Millions

? Fuck Dem N Prince William

I Roll Wiv Da Cash N Carry Da Strap

And I Jus Wana Merk Prince Harry

Dat Lil Prat Needz A Beatin

Man Shud Of Eat Him

Wen He Went Eaton

Wen I Werent Eatin

Fuck Tony Blair

I Shud Grab Da Prime Minister Up By His Hair

Slap Cherie Blair

Hahaha Jus For Da Silly Clothes Dat She Wears

Bruza:

It's Us Against Dem

So Wer Gonna Rush Dese Men N Crush Dese Men

Tym 2 Crunch Dese Corruptive Men

Form Stunts To Bun Dese Men And Stun Dem

Unexpected Lyk Da Twins

I'm A Soak Up Da Realness

In Dis Lyf I'm In

Cause Dey Lyk 2 Win Get Me Get Me

[Chorus]

Fuck Da Government

Sum1 Blow Up Parliment

I Ain't Keen On Bin Larden But

Fuck Da Government X2

Bashy:

Eh Bruza

Dey Cnt Tel Us 2 Shush

Sum1 Plz Put 2 In Goerges Bush

His Ancestors Wer Cush

Colin Powell Luks Lyk Animorph

I Dnt Wanna Cuss Da Queen N Commit Treason

But Da Bitch Is Gettin Money 4 No Reson

Da Royal Family We Dnt Need Dem

Da Only Reason We Need Dem Is 2 Attract Tourist In Evry Season

Put Prescot In A Hed Lok Den Piss In His Eggnog

Den Roll Wiv Da Chrome N Buss Shots Outside Of Livingstons Home

Bruza:

It's Us Against Dem

So Wer Gonna Rush Dese Men N Crush Dese Men

Tym 2 Crunch Dese Corruptive Men

Form Stunts To Bun Dese Men And Stun Dem

Unexpected Lyk Da Twins

I'm A Soak Up Da Realness

In Dis Lyf I'm In

Cause Dey Lyk 2 Win Get Me Get Me

[Chorus]

Fuck Da Government

Sum1 Blow Up Parliment

I Ain't Keen On Bin Larden But

MALCOLM X - MARTIN LUTHER KING - MORE UNITED THAN SOME THINK

NEW TRACK FROM LOWKEY/AKALA/BLACK THE RIPPER

# .. This is the equality of all,

versus the supremacy of some ..#

JASIRI X PUTS IT DOWN ON THE WHITE SUPREMACY OF THE TEA PARTY

What if the tea party was black

Holding guns like the Black Panther Party was back

If Al was Rush Limbaugh and Jesse was Sean Hannity

And Tavis was Glenn Beck would they harm they families

If Sarah Palin was suddenly Sistah Soaljah

Would they leave it with the votes or go and get the soldiers

Yall know if the tea party was black

The government would have been had the army attack

VIDEO: 'HIP-HOP HISTORY' EVENT ORGANISED BY WEST LONDON YOUTH FEAT: AKALA, LOWKEY, PURPLE, KATE TEMPEST AND MANY MORE

Hip Hop History part 1 of 4 from crazie productions on Vimeo.

Hip Hop History part2 of 4 from crazie productions on Vimeo.

Hip Hop History part 3 of 4 from crazie productions on Vimeo.

Hip Hop History part 4 of 4 from crazie productions on Vimeo.

VIDEO: SONS OF MALCOLM SALUTES MC LOGIC

KWAME NKRUMAH's BIRTHDAY: PAN-AFRICAN REVOLUTIONARY LEADER AND FREEDOM FIGHTER

[Kwame Nkrumah peaks in Harlem, with Malcolm X listening and looking on

(bottom right of the frame)]

Kwame Nkrumah speech:

I Speak of Freedom (excerpt)

1961

For centuries, Europeans dominated the African continent. The white

man arrogated to himself the right to rule and to be obeyed by the

non-white; his mission, he claimed, was to "civilise" Africa. Under

this cloak, the Europeans robbed the continent of vast riches and

inflicted unimaginable suffering on the African people.

All this makes a sad story, but now we must be prepared to bury the

past with its unpleasant memories and look to the future. All we ask

of the former colonial powers is their goodwill and co-operation to

remedy past mistakes and injustices and to grant independence to the

colonies in Africa?

It is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems,

and that this can only be found in African unity. Divided we are

weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good

in the world.

Although most Africans are poor, our continent is potentially

extremely rich. Our mineral resources, which are being exploited with

foreign capital only to enrich foreign investors, range from gold and

diamonds to uranium and petroleum. Our forests contain some of the

finest woods to be grown anywhere. Our cash crops include cocoa,

coffee, rubber, tobacco and cotton. As for power, which is an

important factor in any economic development, Africa contains over

40% of the potential water power of the world, as compared with about

10% in Europe and 13% in North America. Yet so far, less than 1% has

been developed. This is one of the reasons why we have in Africa the

paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty, and scarcity in the midst

of abundance.

Never before have a people had within their grasp so great an

opportunity for developing a continent endowed with so much wealth.

Individually, the independent states of Africa, some of them

potentially rich, others poor, can do little for their people.

Together, by mutual help, they can achieve much. But the economic

development of the continent must be planned and pursued as a whole.

A loose confederation designed only for economic co-operation would

not provide the necessary unity of purpose. Only a strong political

union can bring about full and effective development of our natural

resources for the benefit of our people.

The political situation in Africa today is heartening and at the same

time disturbing. It is heartening to see so many new flags hoisted in

place of the old; it is disturbing to see so many countries of

varying sizes and at different levels of development, weak and, in

some cases, almost helpless. If this terrible state of fragmentation

is allowed to continue it may well be disastrous for us all.

There are at present some 28 states in Africa, excluding the Union of

South Africa, and those countries not yet free. No less than nine of

these states have a population of less than three million. Can we

seriously believe that the colonial powers meant these countries to

be independent, viable states? The example of South America, which

has as much wealth, if not more than North America, and yet remains

weak and dependent on outside interests, is one which every African

would do well to study.

Critics of African unity often refer to the wide differences in

culture, language and ideas in various parts of Africa. This is true,

but the essential fact remains that we are all Africans, and have a

common interest in the independence of Africa. The difficulties

presented by questions of language, culture and different political

systems are not insuperable. If the need for political union is

agreed by us all, then the will to create it is born; and where

there's a will there's a way.

The present leaders of Africa have already shown a remarkable

willingness to consult and seek advice among themselves. Africans

have, indeed, begun to think continentally. They realise that they

have much in common, both in their past history, in their present

problems and in their future hopes. To suggest that the time is not

yet ripe for considering a political union of Africa is to evade the

facts and ignore realities in Africa today.

The greatest contribution that Africa can make to the peace of the

world is to avoid all the dangers inherent in disunity, by creating a

political union which will also by its success, stand as an example

to a divided world. A Union of African states will project more

effectively the African personality. It will command respect from a

world that has regard only for size and influence. The scant

attention paid to African opposition to the French atomic tests in

the Sahara, and the ignominious spectacle of the U.N. in the Congo

quibbling about constitutional niceties while the Republic was

tottering into anarchy, are evidence of the callous disregard of

African Independence by the Great Powers.

We have to prove that greatness is not to be measured in stockpiles

of atom bombs. I believe strongly and sincerely that with the

deep-rooted wisdom and dignity, the innate respect for human lives,

the intense humanity that is our heritage, the African race, united

under one federal government, will emerge not as just another world

bloc to flaunt its wealth and strength, but as a Great Power whose

greatness is indestructible because it is built not on fear, envy and

suspicion, nor won at the expense of others, but founded on hope,

trust, friendship and directed to the good of all mankind.

The emergence of such a mighty stabilising force in this strife-worn

world should be regarded not as the shadowy dream of a visionary, but

as a practical proposition, which the peoples of Africa can, and

should, translate into reality. There is a tide in the affairs of

every people when the moment strikes for political action. Such was

the moment in the history of the United States of America when the

Founding Fathers saw beyond the petty wranglings of the separate

states and created a Union. This is our chance. We must act now.

Tomorrow may be too late and the opportunity will have passed, and

with it the hope of free Africa's survival.

NEW DOC-FILM ABOUT THE POLYNESIAN PANTHERS

Sons of Malcolm sends a Black Power salute to our brothers and sisters who were involved in this struggle, and a major thank you to the filmmakers.

See the film online HERE

INCREDIBLE HIP-HOP MIXTAPE, FROM THE BEST OF BRITISH HIP-HOP

Terry Hooligan Presents Dj Mutiny "Summer Beat Tape" by Atomic Hooligan on Mixcloud

WHAT IF THIS WAS DIRECTED NOT AT KIDS KILLING EACH OTHER, BUT TARGETING BRIT WAR CRIMINALS AND THE EDL/BNP ETC?

SONS OF MALCOLM REMEMBERS VICTOR JARA - WE REMEMBER YOU AND AMANDA

Learn more about Victor Jara here.

A beautiful version by Italian group Daniele Sepe:

Te recuerdo, Amanda,

la calle mojada,

corriendo a la fábrica

donde trabajaba Manuel.

La sonrisa ancha,

la lluvia en el pelo,

no importaba nada,

ibas a encontrarte con él,

con él, con él,

con él, con él.

Son cinco minutos,

la vida es eterna

en cinco minutos.

Suena la sirena

de vuelta al trabajo,

y tú caminando,

lo iluminas todo.

Los cincos minutos

te hacen florecer.

Te recuerdo, Amanda,

la calle mojada,

corriendo a la fábrica

donde trabajaba Manuel.

La sonrisa ancha,

la lluvia en el pelo,

no importaba nada,

ibas a encontrarte con él,

con él, con él,

con él, con él,

que partió a la sierra,

que nunca hizo daño,

que partió a la sierra

y en cinco minutos

quedó destrozado.

Suena la sirena

de vuelta al trajabo.

Muchos no volvieron.

Tampoco Manuel.

Te recuerdo, Amanda,

la calle mojada

corriendo a la fábrica

donde trabajaba Manuel.

[English translation]

I remember you Amanda

when the streets were wet,

running to the factory

where Manuel was working.

With your wide smile

and the rain in your hair,

nothing else mattered:

you were going to meet him.

Five minutes only,

all of your life

in five minutes.

The siren is sounding.

Time to go back to work.

And, as you walk,

you light up everything.

Those five minutes

have made you flower.

I remember you Amanda

when the streets were wet,

running to the factory

where Manuel was working.

With your wide smile

and the rain in your hair,

nothing else mattered:

you were going to meet him.

And he took to the mountains to fight.

He had never hurt a fly

but he took to the mountains

and in five minutes

it was all wiped out.

The siren is sounding.

Time to go back to work.

Many will not go back.

One of them is Manuel.

I remember you Amanda

when the streets were wet,

running to the factory

where Manuel was working.

TUPAC SHAKUR HAD A DEEP AND PROFOUND LOVE FOR OUR SISTAS BEFORE FALLING IN WITH PROFOUND FOOLS

Tupac Shakur with his mother, Afeni Shakur

Keep Ya Head Up

Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice

I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots

I give a holler to my sisters on welfare

Tupac cares, and don't nobody else care

And uhh, I know they like to beat ya down a lot

When you come around the block brothas clown a lot

But please don't cry, dry your eyes, never let up

Forgive but don't forget, girl keep your head up

And when he tells you you ain't nuttin don't believe him

And if he can't learn to love you you should leave him

Cause sista you don't need him

And I ain't tryin to gas ya up, I just call em how I see em

You know it makes me unhappy (what's that)

When brothas make babies, and leave a young mother to be a pappy

And since we all came from a woman

Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman

I wonder why we take from our women

Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?

I think it's time to kill for our women

Time to heal our women, be real to our women

And if we don't we'll have a race of babies

That will hate the ladies, that make the babies

And since a man can't make one

He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one

So will the real men get up

I know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up

SONS OF MALCOLM SENDING LOVE TO BROTHER TUPAC SHAKUR, SLAIN TODAY IN 1996

"Changes"

[1]

Come on come on

I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself

is life worth living should I blast myself?

I'm tired of bein' poor & even worse I'm black

my stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch

Cops give a damn about a negro

pull the trigger kill a nigga he's a hero

Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares

one less hungry mouth on the welfare

First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers

give 'em guns step back watch 'em kill each other

It's time to fight back that's what Huey said

2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead

I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere

unless we share with each other

We gotta start makin' changes

learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers

and that's how it's supposed to be

How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?

I'd love to go back to when we played as kids

but things changed, and that's the way it is

Come on come on

That's just the way it is

Things'll never be the same

That's just the way it is

aww yeah

[Repeat]

[2]

I see no changes all I see is racist faces

misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

We under I wonder what it takes to make this

one better place, let's erase the wasted

Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right

'cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight

and only time we chill is when we kill each other

it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other

And although it seems heaven sent

We ain't ready, to see a black President, uhh

It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact

the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks

But some things will never change

try to show another way but you stayin' in the dope game

Now tell me what's a mother to do

bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you

You gotta operate the easy way

"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way

sellin' crack to the kid. " I gotta get paid,"

Well hey, well that's the way it is

We gotta make a change...

It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.

Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live

and let's change the way we treat each other.

You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do

what we gotta do, to survive.

[3]

And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace

It's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East

Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs

so the police can bother me

And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do

But now I'm back with the facts givin' it back to you

Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up,

crack you up and pimp smack you up

You gotta learn to hold ya own

they get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone

But tell the cops they can't touch this

I don't trust this when they try to rush I bust this

That's the sound of my tool you say it ain't cool

my mama didn't raise no fool

And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped

& I never get to lay back

'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs

some punk that I roughed up way back

comin' back after all these years

rat-tat-tat-tat-tat that's the way it is uhh

Some things will never change

SALUTING BLACK POWER LEADER - STEVE BIKO, MARTYRED TODAY IN 1977 FIGHTING APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

VIDEO AND REVIEW OF BANGING NEW LOWKEY TRACK - 'TERRORIST?'

Review by Beat Knowledge

Lowkey is on a serious roll at the moment – everything he is putting out is lyrically, musically and politically on point. The latest video from his forthcoming (and much-anticipated) album ‘Soundtrack to the Struggle’ is called ‘Terrorist?’, and it explores the true meanings of the concepts ‘terror’ and ‘terrorism’.

Lowkey starts off by quoting the dictionary definitions as follows:

Terrorist: the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coersion.

Terror: violent or destructive acts such as bombing, committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands.

He proceeds to compare some of the people that are labeled in the media as ‘terrorists’ (ie. Iraqis and others using primitive explosives against colonial domination) with the powerful states and corporations that are terrorising millions on a daily basis.

What’s the bigger threat to human society,
BAE Systems or home-made IEDs?
Remote controlled drones killing off human lives
Or man with home-made bomb committing suicide?

Although the ‘terrorist’ label has primarily been used to describe Muslims, particularly since the twin towers attack, Lowkey points out that resistance to imperialism isn’t limited to any one religion or racial group, and that all oppressed people are united by their opposition to the empire.

This is very basic
One nation in the world has over a thousand military bases.
They say it’s religion, when clearly it isn’t
It’s not just Muslims that oppose your imperialism.
Is Hugo Chavez a Muslim? Nah, I didn’t think so.
Is Castro a Muslim? Nah, I didn’t think so.

He brilliantly exposes the hypocrisy of western colonisers describing anybody as terrorists:

Lumumbah was democracy
Mossadeq was democracy
Allende was democracy
Hypocrisy, it bothers me
Call you terrorist if you don’t wanna be a colony
Refuse to bow down to a policy of robbery

The song is summed up by its beautiful, haunting chorus:

They’re calling me a terrorist
Like they don’t know who the terror is
When they put it on me I tell them this
I’m all about peace and love.

They’re calling me a terrorist
Like they don’t know who the terror is
Insulting my intelligence
Oh how these people judge

All in all, another very powerful track from Lowkey, with excellent production by the ever-reliable Red Skull and a highly professional, innovative video by Global Faction. Please spread the word!

FLASHBACK RAP: WHEN SISTERS STOOD UP - WEE PAPA GIRL RAPPERS 'RULE'

BLACK PANTHER ARTIST - EMORY DOUGLAS - IN NEW ZEALAND

Power of the Panther

NZ Herald, 22 Aug, 2010

One of the first things Emory Douglas had to do in his new

job in January 1967 was to draw the pig. "Huey and Bobby

would come over after organising in the evenings and they

would talk about the pig - how they defined the police as

pigs."

That's Huey Newton and Bobby Seale who had just founded the

Black Panther Party in October 1966 in Oakland, California.

Douglas, then a 23-year-old commercial art student, was

doing his best to take the idea on board. "This is all new

to me. I'm a new kid on the block. This is on-the-job

learning. I'm listening and trying to figure out how I

could express in art form what was requested of me. My

whole experience was interpreting what was being projected

and articulated verbally."

When he talks it's a mix of street and artspeak. Cool. Very

down. What was being projected was point No 7 of the Black

Panther's Ten Point Programme - "an immediate end to police

brutality and murder of black people." It was a programme

born out of socialist and communist doctrines mixed with

black nationalism, militant posture and plenty of

provocative rhetoric.

The party's uniform was blue shirts, black pants, black

leather jackets, black berets, shades and loaded shotguns -

for self defence. The party had reclaimed the American

constitutional right to bear arms - only in this case,

blacks were protecting themselves from the police.

Organised neighbourhood patrols were common - perfectly

legal under Californian law which allowed carrying a loaded

rifle or shotgun in public, as long as it was publicly

displayed and pointed at no one.

This was the new wild west of social change and a tactic

that promoted two very different tellings of history. One

is the story of the Black Panthers as hoodlums and

gun-toting gangsters who terrorised their communities. The

other is the Black Panthers as a legitimate social protest

movement - dedicated young blacks serving the people while

heroically defending themselves against unprovoked attacks

by the racist police.

At the time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover called them "the

greatest threat to the internal security of the country"

and ordered via its counter intelligence programme

'COINTELPRO' extensive covert and illegal methods to

"expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise

neutralise" the party's activities.

It's a legacy that lives on. "Even at our 40th anniversary

people were trying to say we were terrorists and that we

were hoodlums and thugs and criminals," says Douglas who is

here as the Elam International Artist in Residence at the

University of Auckland. "Thousands of people came from all

over the world to the 40th celebrations - they showed

different. They tried to say we were racists. The

progressive whites and activists came forward and they

refuted all of that."

The year 1967, when he offered his commercial art skills to

help produce the fledgling Black Panther newspaper, was the

beginning of Douglas' party politicisation. Already a

member of San Francisco City College's Black Student Union

and involved in the Bay area Black Arts movement, he was a

fast learner. He knew about youth correctional facilities

too. "The fact that you understood the bigotry and

hypocrisy of the authorities first hand, those experiences

kind of shaped what I did."

His pig-in-uniform drawings were crude and provocative -

the pig was always fat bellied, with exaggerated snout and

usually with insects swarming around the head. "That came

from seeing pigs and the slime they're eating and they have

the flies flying around them. In American culture that was

a grotesque thing."

The captions were provocative too: "A low-natured beast

that has no regard for law, justice or the rights of

people, a creature that bites the hand that feeds it, a

foul, depraved traducer, usually found masquerading as the

victim of an unprovoked attack."

Newton and Seale liked what they saw and before long

Douglas had a job title like no other - Revolutionary

Artist and Minister of Culture - and a free hand to draw as

he saw fit. "When I first started working, Bobby and Huey

made sure I understood the politics of what the party was

about. Once they saw that I understood that, and could

articulate it in my artwork, I was given the green light."

The green light - the back page of the weekly Black Panther

newspaper published from 1967 through to 1980 - unleashed

Douglas' pent-up talent and a style of drawing that he'd

tried before, but which had been rejected at commercial art

school. At its peak, from 1968-72, the Black Panther sold

about 100,000 copies a week on street corners and college

campuses across the United States.

Douglas' back-page poster image was often reprinted and

pasted on the walls of the street. In tribute to his visit

here, a run of his posters have been plastered around

Symonds St. "It reminds me of what we used to say - our

gallery is the community," says Douglas.

His style began with cartoon-like, thick black outline

drawings which developed to include collage and patterns

from Format, a less expensive version of Letraset. He liked

woodcuts, but found them too time-consuming for the demands

of a weekly deadline. "I tried to mimic woodcuts by using

markers and hard ballpoint pen lines, then using the

prefabricated textured material that you could cut out to

get the tones and the contrasts."

There are three phases that come and go and resurface in

Douglas' drawings. "The pig drawings are the earlier work.

Then there were the self defence drawings, then the ones

that dealt with social programmes."

The comic book style self defence images are the most

confronting - guns in the hands of defiant black men and

women in response to the oppressor that seem like a call to

arms, to rise up and fight. The captions reinforce the

idea: "All power to the people. Death to the pigs." Douglas

says they were about empowering and fighting for freedom.

And effecting change. "It was making them heroes. People

begin to see themselves in the images and they become the

heroes on the stage. They can identify with that."

But while the style is evidence of propaganda and a visual

mythology to give power to the people, it's easy to see how

some might be fearful of such images. Douglas is staunch:

"Those who were frightened were frightened. Those who

admired them weren't."

The social programme drawings, borne out of the Panther's

Ten Point Programme demands for decent housing, education

and employment, are softer, but more confronting in terms

of the predicament and emotion expressed. Here, Douglas

shows the conditions that made the revolution seem

necessary. In one, a woman fights off rats (landlords)

attacking her in her home. "I was trying to show a person

trying to overcome the conditions - exaggerating the

housing situation - but at the same time showing a person

who had politics in their life. Even though they were

struggling they were still concerned with the issues of

that time."

Animals - pigs, rats and vultures - feature often as

representations of not just the police and authority, but

also the entire capitalist military/industrial system. In

one image relating to the New Haven Black Panther trials in

1970 when Seale was imprisoned, the caption reads: "If the

fascist pigs attempt to murder chairman Bobby Seale and the

Connecticut Panthers in the electric chair, there won't be

any lights for days."

They were meant to be provocative, says Douglas. "And some

were meant to be humorous. So this was just saying the

blood sucking vulture is the US Government being choked by

the extension cord and hit on the head with the light

bulb."

Point six in the party's programme was "all black men to be

exempt from military service." Douglas' images relating to

the issue were often about the Vietnam War and the effects

it had on those returning, such as drug addiction. It was

important, he says, to have authentic detail. "There were

people in the party who had been ex-drug addicts. When I

did this drawing [an addict shooting up] I had one brother

pose for me. But I also asked what kind of syringes and

stuff they used and that's there - what they use out on the

street."

Douglas was very aware of other revolutionary propaganda

art of the time. "We were getting posters from Africa,

Latin America, out of Palestine and Vietnam and seeing

Chinese and Russian, plus the American art protest work. I

was mostly inspired by the work that came out of Cuba."

He says those who went there with the Venceremos Brigades

to show solidarity for the Cuban Revolution often came back

saying his drawings had come from there. Douglas insists it

was the other way round. "It was amazing, they remixed some

of my images." It's amazing too how the party's message

spread around the world, including to New Zealand's

Polynesian Panthers.

The party also got considerable support from white America

including the Honkies for Huey campaign and composer

Leonard Bernstein and friends who held fundraising parties.

The latter was lampooned by journalist Tom Wolfe in 1970 as

"radical chic" - the social elite endorsing radical causes

to assuage white guilt.

As Douglas sees it, Wolfe was buying into the

disinformation campaign. "People donate if they want to."

Did it feel like a revolution in America? "We were hopeful.

We had a swagger about ourselves believing that we could

achieve what we set out to achieve. That was overcoming the

obstacles of transforming society. And we were doing that.

It was the ideal that we were changing the mindset of

people."

Douglas, like other Black Panthers, has obtained the file

the FBI had on him showing the level of surveillance that

was going on - the tracking of his travel, his bank account

(which had $64 in it at the time) and the questioning of

his mother and aunt.

He's yet to get his file from Operation CHAOS, the code

name for the domestic espionage project conducted by the

CIA. But the picture emerging as the information becomes

declassified shows the extraordinary measures that were

taken by the authorities to discredit the party - including

letters on forged Black Panther letterhead threatening to

kill donors to the party if they didn't give more. Douglas

agreed there were problems within the party itself that led

to its dissolution in the early 1980s - Newton getting

caught up in drugs and substance abuse and in-fighting

among party factions. But he says the Government's

discrediting campaign also played a big part.

"The fact is what we did is still something people are

inspired by. There is the solidarity and coalition

politics. That's the legacy of what the Black Panther Party

left - kind of like a blueprint that people could be

inspired by."

===========

EXHIBITION

What: Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture, Black Panther

Party exhibition Where and when: Gus Fisher Gallery, 74

Shortland St, October 3 On the web:

www.gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nz Public events: Emory

Douglas and the Art of Revolution - lecture University of

Auckland Engineering Building Monday August 24, 6:30pm; MC5

and the White Panthers - Gus Fisher Gallery, August 29, 1pm

SHADIA MANSOUR AGGRESSED BY zIONIST GUNMEN AT bEN gURION AIRPORT

British Born Palestinian Hip Hop Artist
Shadia Mansour Surrounded by 8 Gunmen
in Israeli Airport

British-born Palestinian Hip Hop artist, Shadia Mansour was surrounded by airport security and "intelligence officers" armed with guns on Saturday, September 4, 2010, in Ben Gurion Airport, Israel. .

Ms. Mansour was told to return to her luggage after a usual baggage xray and multiple searches, when eight agents ran towards her, weapons drawn and pointed, they aggressively kicked away her bags and surrounded her.

The eight agents had their guns pointed at Ms. Mansour while having her stand in the same position for one hour in suspicion of a bomb being planted in her microphone which they had in their possession for ten minutes already.

Ms. Mansour assured the agents the microphone was used for recording music and was then asked by an officer to sing her lyrics to him, they screamed at her and asked "who she worked for, who bought the microphone, what does she sing about" and as the agents and officers shouted over one another she was also told, "we have found something planted in the microphone" all this transpiring while airport goers observed the entire ordeal.

Although standard for Palestinians to be strip searched upon departure of Israel, Ms Mansour was made to lay down on her back as female agents pushed aggressively into her joints and neck.

Once the female agents finished searching her the microphone was returned and Ms. Mansour was directed to her flight en route to London as though nothing had happened.

Ms. Mansour told us "For a few minutes I really thought they were going to take my life, the way they handled the situation literally made me feel like I was an attempted suicide bomber that had just been captured or something".

No legal action has yet been taken.

Please contact: Nancy Leigh at Shadiamanagement@gmail.com

VIDEO: NEW FILM ON PALESTINE WITH SHADIA MANSOUR AND RAMALLAH UNDERGROUND ON SOUNDTRACK