Wednesday, April 04, 2007

MIM on Churchill's latest appearance with Lynne Stewart

The jolly folks at the Maoist Internationalist Movement have a sketchy account of Ward Churchill's appearance with terrorist-abetting (ex) lawyer Lynne Stewart in New York last week at a rally in support of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.

After noting that Stewart said she was "pleasantly surprised that her sentence was only 28 months for conviction by a jury that saw oversized posters of Osama Bin Laden linked to her," MIM moves on to Churchill, who
was also noticeably upbeat despite the University of Colorado's attempts to fire him. He autographed his books after the speech. He pointed to the history of slaughter of indigenous people including in New York City going back to the 1600s. Yet he also pointed out that the federal government became more significant and repressive in the last century. . . .
In other words, ancient material. MIM adds a slight gloss:
From the 1600s to 1800s, Euro-Amerikans themselves could still advance even as they killed other peoples. They learned farming from natives for example as Ward Churchill pointed out. According to Lenin's theory, with the onset of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, decay and parasitism set in as the principal characteristics of the economic system. So we have a huge central government that specializes in war and policing--nothing that really advances society. As Ward Churchill answered one question, we already live in a police state and our responses must be according to that condition.
In other words, snore. MIM concludes by noting that:

The radio station WBAI 99.5 FM sponsored the event. The moderator for the talk said he started out hanging out with the Black Panthers in his community and, "I used to think that a requirement for being a member of the Black Panthers was to be paranoid," but he added that he soon learned the FBI really is there. Black Panthers provided security for Ward Churchill and speakers emphasized the reality of the existence of the state. Ward Churchill pointed out that COINTELPRO continues to exist just under new names and it has new technology at its disposal.

More interesting is MIM's announcement of rallies around the country in support of Ward Churchill on April 16-17.

Stop the Witch-Hunt against Ward Churchill!

Oust University of Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano!

Prosecute civil rights violators!

(h/t Snaps)

Update: Oops, the MIM page I cited for the rallies is from 2005. No rallies. Rats.

Update II: The Rocky is as dumb as I are (and later).

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