When I heard that Albert
Woodfox had just been released from 43 years of solitary confinement in
‘Angola’, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, I expected to see a broken wreck of
a man emerge. What I saw, as I watched
Albert Woodfox’s first interview after regaining his freedom, was a man who
emanated an incredible strength, clarity and wisdom. Forty three years in a 6 foot by 9 foot cell
– that’s approximately 2m x 3m. Twenty
three hours a day with one hour for exercise, alone.
It’s very hard not to see
the State of Louisiana as a fascist state when you look into the case of the
‘Angola 3’ - black men framed for a
murder because they dared to organize a chapter of the Black Panther Party to
struggle for basic Human Rights within ‘Angola’, a vast former cotton
plantation where thousands of black slaves from Africa were tortured and worked
to death.
What sustained Albert
during 43 years of cruel and unusual punishment, or ‘torture’ as the UN defined his treatment? What shines through in the interview
is an easily-available but little used form of power – revolutionary zeal. Albert
spent his time reading politics and history and developing a revolutionary
consciousness – which is what any lover of democracy and justice can
potentially do, only most of us never do so unless our back is against the
wall.
The Black Panther Party
was formed as a reaction to police-brutality and murder in the USA. Taking inspiration from anti-colonialist and
revolutionary liberation movements the world over, the Panthers also
specialized in free-breakfast clubs for ghetto kids. Many BPP members were murdered by police,
many more still languish in jail decades later.
Formed to protect the African-American people from state-violence, the
Panthers are needed now more than ever, as police-murder in the USA is spiralling out of
control, evinced by the genesis of the Black Lives Matter movement. Back in the late sixties, slogans such as 'Self-Defence is No
Offence' and 'Power to the People' were not just an expression of radical defiance by the black community in the face of overwhelming state-oppression; they were an expression of the fundamental values of the American Democracy, which, when we pause to recollect our history, was a democracy founded on the principals of Revolutionary Liberty.
Part 2 of the Albert
Woodfox interview:
A list of 19 ‘Justifiable Homicides’ of Black Panthers by Amerikan police:
A 'FREE ALBERT WOODFOX' poster made in Cornwall, UK, 2015, plus a documentary on the state-murder of Fred Hampton:
http://savetheholyheadland.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/free-albert-woodfox.html
The Panther Paradox by Don.A Schanche:
Professor Longhair –
Junco Partner
Florida ‘Justice’ - Darren Rainey
- Murdered by the State - Scalded to Death in an Amerikan prison:
Police-murder continues in Amerika:
Fight Back - FBI attacking
Worker’s Rights in USSA - Walmart
hires Joint ‘Terrorism’ Task Force from the Feral Bureau of Instigation to
sabotage workers rightful efforts to Organize workplace. Story and
petition for Judicial Investigation of FBI here:
Guthrie
Versus Chump:
Oppose Totalitarianism - Support
the vital work of ROOTS ACTION:
CHEN GUANGCHENG -
Human Rights in China: Please listen to this amazing story that will help you understand the harrowing reality of life in China:
Human Rights in China: Please listen to this amazing story that will help you understand the harrowing reality of life in China:
Petition to save Tibetan
from torture in Chinese prison:
Support the Brythonek language of the Ancient British Kelts: Sign the Petition for Cornish Language Radio:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/bbc-kernow-1 Ober da!
Penzance Mayor ordered to stop
being reactionary throwback:
Badgers before stadia:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/takeaction/108/026/396/?z00m=27355767&redirectID=1938506837
All Power To The People
All Power To The People
