Fake Symbolism vs The Reality of Change

Published in Issue 348 of The Black Commentator on October 29, 2009

By Larry Pinkney

Hope is meaningless unless it is actualized (i.e. acted upon). So too, change means nothing if it is not substantive and real. Symbolism is not real change.

Having been among the very few writers who, well over a year ago, repeatedly cautioned and warned against being duped by the fake corporate Obama brand of “yes we can hope and change;” the correctness of those warnings is sadly, now coming to fruition. Despite its nebulous progressive sounding rhetoric, the Democratic Party has consistently and historically demonstrated that it is the graveyard of real, substantive change and progressive movements by and for the masses of people; and of course the Republican Party as ever, remains blatantly in opposition to such real and substantive change. The Democratic Party foxes and the Republican Party wolves have yet again spun their web of deceit and manipulation, around the peoples of this nation and world as their cyclical prey. Thus, the Democratic and Republican Parties are jointly nothing more than Republicrats, political pimps of the people.

This is not merely about the crucial issue of single payer universal health care, which assuming that any such legislation passes at all, will fundamentally not be what the people of this nation get from our trickster chief executive and Republicrat legislators. However, this is also about ongoing and increasing U.S. militarism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere – actual corporate domination and control – rising unemployment – homelessness – worsening global climate change – political repression in this nation – increased de facto racism – and last but certainly not least, the widening economic gap between rich and poor of all colors in this nation. These are incredibly serious matters that are not being honestly, forthrightly nor substantively addressed and corrected by the Democrats and Republicans (i.e. the Republicrats). These are matters that will only be substantively addressed by bringing about real systemic change, not by window dressing and meaningless, rhetoric.

The corporate slicksters, banksters, and robber barons (both Democrats and Republicans alike) know only too well that their blood sucking system of global capitalism is in deep crisis presently. Thus, their cunning, almost total support, of almost a year ago, for the corporate Obama brand of manipulation of the masses in the name of some cloudy progress, [non-actualized] “hope, and [fake] change.” It was, and no doubt still is, the objective of the ruling elite of this nation for the chameleon corporate Obama brand of manipulation to continue to provide them (i.e. the corporate and military elite) with enough breathing room / time to stifle and neutralize any serious and organized mass movement by every day people in this nation. Be clear about this: This nation does not need a symbol of change. It needs real change on behalf of every day common people.

Real, substantive, systemic change, on behalf of every day people, will never be brought about by the Democratic or Republican Parties (i.e. the Republicrats). Such a thing is in direct opposition to their vested corporate interests of the U.S. Empire. Only an organized, mass grassroots movement – from the bottom up – can and will accomplish this.

Moreover, it is no coincidence that the massive corporate self-described U.S.“news” media is overwhelmingly silent about, for example, the horrors re the ongoing and increasing U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere on the globe. It is no mere coincidence that this same corporate so-called “news” media is also overwhelmingly silent about the fact that a whopping 70% (or more) of the people in this nation want genuine [not fake] single payer universal health care. The omission, misinformation, and disinformation by said corporate media continues at full throttle.

The time is here to open our eyes and use our common sense! The pro apartheid Zionist, pro corporate, and pro militarism – Obama / Biden / Rahm Emanuel administration – will never bring about real systemic change for the peoples of this nation or earth, nor was it ever intended to.

We, the masses of every day people are the only ones who can and must educate, organize, and actualize our hopes in order to bring about real systemic change. Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr. understood this. Thus, in the words of the late activist Joe Hill: “Don’t Mourn. ORGANIZE!”

Onward sisters and brothers! Onward!

Larry Pinkney is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and more recently on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones Show. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, San Francisco BayView newspaper, Black Commentator, Intrepid Report, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), 107 Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania/South Africa). He is in the archives of Dr. Huey P. Newton (Stanford University, CA), cofounder of the Black Panther Party. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book.)