The need for a sustained People’s Consciousness Movement

Published in Intrepid Report on January 21, 2013
By Larry Pinkney
Republished in 107cowgate.com (Ireland and Scotland) on January 22, 2013

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”
—Steve Biko

Today, more than at any period in recent history, there is a need for a genuine Everyday People’s Consciousness Movement in the United States. This movement must embrace people of goodwill of all colors, and be based upon firm principles that reflect an understanding of the words of Malcolm X wherein he described the inevitable “clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation.”

The 21^st century in the United States is witnessing an intensified concerted effort on the part of the corporate U.S. power elite to divert attention away from, and simultaneously mask, the massive economic and social inequities within U.S. society. This formidable but relatively tiny bloodsucking elite is well aware of the fact that the only sure way to remain in power is to control the minds, i. e., theconsciousness, of ordinary everyday people.

The late people’s historian Howard Zinn described it this way when he said, “If those in charge of our society—politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television—can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power.”

When the minds of the masses of ordinary people are sufficiently controlled—the people themselves are controlled. This of course is precisely what the martyred South African activist Steve Biko meant when decades earlier he had plainly stated, “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”

Perhaps the single most devastating mental blow by the U.S. corporate elite, thus far this century, to the developing consciousness of everyday people of all colors was the grooming and subsequent installment of the corporate/military Trojan Horse—Barack Obama—as the ‘colored’ face of the continuing U.S. Empire. This single well planned action by the U.S. power elite, sufficiently ensnared, confused, blinded, and divided many millions of ordinary people of goodwill—and has kept this avaricious elite “secure in their power.” This was yet another hideous coup d’état by the U.S. power elite against the everyday ordinary people of this nation and world.

A critically-thinking, well informed U.S. populace is one whose consciousness represents an enormous threat to those whose objective it is to “continue the system of exploitation” and thereby remain “secure in their power.” On the other hand, a confused, blinded, divided, and relatively unconscious U.S. populace is easily controlled, cowed, and manipulated by “those in charge of our society.”

One of the first steps in developing an effective Everyday People’s Consciousness Movement is to recognize that NOTHING of substance can be believed that comes from the corporate-controlled White House, politicians, corporate executives, the corporate media (which is anything BUT ‘mainstream’), or the so-called ‘educational’ institutions that represent their ideas and their distorted narrative of events—both past and present. Stop allowing the bloodsuckers and their systemic gatekeepers to dominate our ideas!

Another important step in developing an effective Everyday People’s Consciousness Movement is to quickly build and continually tweak a collective people’s narrative of events in plain, simple language that reflects the daily realities of everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this nation.

In this context, perhaps an unintended consequence of the corporate/military elite’s successful installation of the warmongering, double-talking, corporate-owned Barack Obama is that it is now (or should be by now) quite obvious that a person’s color or gender has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a person will openly and forthrightly serve the legitimate needs of everyday ordinary people. If nothing else, Barack Obama and his Democrat and Republican accomplices have proven that bloodsuckers are bloodsuckers—warmongers are warmongers—exploiters are exploiters—mass murderers are mass murderers—and liars are liars NO MATTER WHAT THEIR COLOR OR GENDER!

Barack Obama and his ilk have given new and even more loathsome meanings to the words subterfuge and deceit. Moreover, the historical insight of Malcolm X, when he spoke of the “clash” between the exploited and the exploiters not being based “on the color of the skin” has been proven to be correct. The treachery of the corporate-controlled U.S. political system against everyday people of all colors knows no bounds. We must know no bounds in our determination to collectively change this rotten, filthy, corrupt system.

The need for a sustained Everyday People’s Consciousness Movement in this nation is self-evident. Only we, the struggling ordinary people, can and will bring this People’s Consciousness Movement to fruition. A conscious people cannot be misled or manipulated.

We cannot claim innocence due to being politically unconscious. We must accept responsibility for Barack Obama’s ‘Kill List,’ for his NDAA corporate Orwellian police-state, for his drone missile international murders, and for his abrogation of international law and the U.S. Constitution. Accepting responsibility means we must build a People’s Consciousness Movement and hold the Wall Street owned puppet politicians responsible for what they have done and are doing to this nation’s populace and to the rest of the people on our precious Mother Earth.

The time for systemic change is NOW! Systemic change will only be brought about by CONSCIOUS people! Time is running out and this nation and Mother Earth are in great peril. We’ve no time for the slimy systemic gatekeepers, be they Democratic Party ‘foxes’ or Republican Party ‘wolves.’

We must collectively build an Everyday People’s Consciousness Movement nationally. Think about it—and then take the necessary actions to do something about it!

Remember: Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my 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.)