> Our open letter to Barack Obama

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Crimson East

Here is a wonderful track by the hiphop group Rebel Diaz, titled “An open letter to Barack Obama”:

I think it strikes a nice balance between criticizing Obama for selling out to the corporate establishment, and at the same time, admitting how far he’s politicized a new generation.

Here are some selections from the lyrics: some of the most hard-hitting bits of criticism (I typed them up as I listened to the song, so forgive me for any mistakes):

…

But I have to ask a question, and I hope you can address it,
I hope you can express it in a return message.
When you diss Reverend Wright, please tell me you don’t mean it
Because if you really think he’s harming us, that’s our first disagreement!

…
And I hate to be so graphic but sometimes the truth hurts,
We need more than Hope, because this system doesn’t work!

…

What about the situation of my peeps in Palestine?
You support Israel: they are not a friend of mine!

And when I watched the debate, you and McCain sounded the same,
But I guess this is politics and you gotta play it safe.

Can there ever be change in a two-party system?
Will a black president mean less blacks in prison?

You had three different chances to address the bail-out,
But what I wanted to hear never came out your mouth!

You even talked about war, and going after Bin Laden,
when the war at home has become the real problem.

When it comes to immigrants, I heard you voted for the Fence,
Your dad was born in Kenya, man, you’re not making sense!

See, this is just a criticism, and I hope that you make it,
Cuz if not, we’re one heart-beat away from Sarah Palin!

I just hope that you acknowledge that we’re out here starving
And you’re bailing out the ones that corruped the markets!

…

Filed under: Exploitation, Imperialism, International Politics, Music, Struggle

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  • Uncle Ho:

    There were political terms difficult to understand in this thesis. But by dint of reading it again and again, finally I could grasp the main part of it. What emotion, enthusiasm, clear-sightedness and confidence it instilled into me! I was overjoyed to tears. Though sitting alone in my room, I shouted out aloud as if addressing large crowds: “Dear martyrs, compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation!”

    (Ho Chi Minh, in “The path that led me to Leninism”)

  • Ghassan Kanafani:

    "Imperialism has laid its body over the world : the head in Eastern Asia, the heart in the Middle East, its arteries reaching Africa and Latin America. Wherever you strike it, you damage it, and you serve the World Revolution."

    (Ghassan Kanafani, editor of Al Hadaf, published weekly by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine)

    PFLP fighters 1

  • Omar Khayyam:

    گر بر فلکم دست بدی چون یزدان

    بر داشتمی من این فلک را ز ميان

    وز نو فلکی دگر چنان ساختمی

    کازاده بکام دل رسيدی آسان

    Ah Love! could you and I with Him conspire, to grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire? Would we not shatter it to bits - and then, re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

    (Omar Khayyam, talking sense even though he’s had a bit too much to drink)

  • The Chairman:

    Hence, imperialism and all reactionaries, looked at in essence, from a long-term point of view, from a strategic point of view, must be seen for what they are - paper tigers. On this we should build our strategic thinking. On the other hand, they are also living tigers, iron tigers, real tigers which can devour people. On this we should build our tactical thinking.

    (Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. IV, pp. 98-99)

    iraqi-resistance-5.jpg

  • El Che:

    We must carry out a general task with the tactical purpose of getting the enemy out of its natural environment, forcing him to fight in regions where his own life and habits will clash with the existing reality. We must not underrate our adversary; the U.S. soldier has technical capacity and is backed by weapons and resources of such magnitude that render him frightful. He lacks the essential ideological motivation which his bitterest enemies of today have in the highest degree. We will only be able to overcome that army by undermining their morale — and this is accomplished by defeating it and causing it repeated sufferings.

    (Ernesto "Che" Guevara, in “Message to the Tricontinental”)

    iraqi-resistance-8.jpg

  • Faiz:

    Look! for in the blacksmith’s shop, the flame burns wild, the iron glows red. The locks open their jaws and every chain begins to break!

    (Faiz Ahmed Faiz)

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  • Lenin:

    The more capitalism is developed, the more strongly the shortage of raw materials is felt, the more intense the competition and the hunt for sources of raw materials throughout the whole world, the more desperate is the struggle for the acquisition of colonies. …................................................................................... The description of "British imperialism" in Schulze-Gaevernitz's book reveals the same parasitical traits. The national income of Great Britain approximately doubled from 1865 to 1898, while the income "from abroad" increased ninefold in the same period. While the "merit" of imperialism is that it "trains the Negro to habits of industry" (not without coercion, of course ...), the "danger" of imperialism lies in that "Europe will shift the burden of physical toil --first agricultural and mining, then the rougher work in industry--on to the colored races, and itself be content with the role of rentier, and in this way, perhaps, pave the way for the economic, and later, the political emancipation of the colored races." ..........................................................................................

    (Vladimir Lenin, in "Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism", 1916)