International Coalition Building Mission: Starting From The Beginning

Imperialism, colonialism, and neo colonialism have been very popular words used in the Portland liberal left but few people really understand what these words mean unless they have lived with these afflictions. Some folks will speak of England and India when they speak of colonialism and not even realize that the United Snakes of Amerikkka has its own colonies like Guam, USVI, American Samoa, Mariana Islands, FS of Micronesia and my home Boriken (Puerto Rico). There is a need and a desire that people voting in the US and think they are doing something radical know about US citizens that do not have that right or any power other than the power of the masses. So I will start my mission where I came from.

After much discussion and advice from my comrades in AAPRP and PCHRP, I have been able to make a more solid plan for this project. I have decided to start by making a trip to Boriken and reconnect with old friends, family, new comrades and most importantly my grandmother. In cooperation with KBOO I will be writing on the capitalist colonial crisis on the island. I will be be writing about Afrikan and indigenous identity,racism,militarization of the police,cuts in government spending, the fiscal board, Amerikkkan occupation, gentrification, resistance and organizing. I will be talking with with the proletariat and local organizations. I will be traveling around the island getting people's view on the relationship with the United Snakes and how they see this coming election. I will start working on writing a personal but true story of our struggle.

The plan is to raise funds For the next few weeks through the GoFundMe website and with the help of comrade Amru who is hosting a Zumba in the Park Fundraiser on june 17th. KBOO has taken interest and will get me exposure while giving me a platform to share our story.

I would traveling on July 1st just in time for the Fourth of the Lie and seeing how my people celebrate or not celebrate this Amerikkkan holiday. I would be staying out there until November tenth so i can cover the Puerto Rico elections on the 8th of November 2016.
Between that time I will be moving around the island and the outer islands getting people's stories and views and reaching out to local organizations for interviews and perspective.

Remember The Fallen

442nd Regiment 

On this Memorial Day of 2016 let us remember all those that stood up against Imperialism. Let us remember the people of Vietnam that fell at the hands of French and Amerikan guns and at misguided socialist brothers and sisters. Let us remember Filipinos that fought the Spanish and Amerikkkans back to back for their islands. Let us remember the Afghans that perished resisting Europeans, Russians and Amerikkkans. Let us remember the Filibertos and Campos of Boriken. Let us remember the Tainos and their Indigenous cousins whose children still are in resistance. Let us remember all the kidnapped Afrikans that died under slavery and built the economies of the Amerikkka's. Let us not forget the Afrikans on the continent that are crushed and killed for the profits of corporations. Let us think of all that were forced into camps or shot in the street for resisting Fascist Imperialist in Europe. Let us remember the Hawaiians and all people of the pacific that fell to preserve the autonomy of their children. Let us remember women from all over the world, mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and best of comrades that have been raped and killed while escaping, hiding or fighting Imperialist forces. Let us remember all the youth that were drafted or forced to enlist for economic reasons and told lies and empty promises. Let us remember the youth that are given worthless medals in exchange for the arms , legs and general well being they had taken from them during years of service. Let us not celebrate imperialist wars, let us reflect on what they have taken from all people and how we will organize to stop it.

5 Years, Still Not Dead

April 2011

Today is the five year anniversary of my arrival in Portland. I woke up early the day I left and had breakfast with a Norwegian dance student and a ninja. They drove me neighbor to the airport and stayed with me till my turn at TSA came up. My friend that bought the ticket had given me the title of professor. The TSA agent asked me what I taught and I blurted “Art History”.

My neighbor in the seat next to me was a green beret on his way back to the mainland. He had my same name but in french. We ended up getting delayed in Atlanta because of rain. He and I explored the Atlanta airport for some kind of food. We instead found sleep after a long game of monopoly on a tablet. The airline ticket clerk had told us it would be eleven hours before we could get another flight. We woke up after four hours and found a new clerk with more optimistic news. We had 15mins to say our goodbyes and go our separate ways.

Showing of in the woods

As I traveled west I was stunned by the endless patchwork of farms for hours.

When I landed in Denver I met another variant of Stephanos. He too was on his way to Portland. I never heard from him again, he did tell me about the natural wonders of Oregon.

The last stretch to Portland i spent drawing and trying not to think too hard about the choice that was already made. Anything could happen, I could easily die here just as i could have back home in Boriken.

It was raining when I landed. It was 1126 AM when I stepped into the garage with my friend. We slept in a fancy basement and ate popsicles. We had lunch at would become my job for five years. We went to the Goodfoot and someone wanted to take my picture.

It would a long five years but I safe and fed. I got stronger physically and spiritually. I have biked myself into unfamiliar bear country. I Have driven up into the Rockies. I have taught English to internationals. Today I prepare to leave for Oakland to celebrate Afrikan Liberation Day with comrades. It will be my first time in California. I hope I get to see some redwoods. No matter what, I will be seeing unfamiliar geography.

AAPRP rocking May Day 2016

What the next five years will bring will be revolutionary.

PALANTE,SIEMPRE PALANTE!

Work and Resistance

Are you working? Because I see you dedicate your time to protest. What about your stuff? Rent, bills, utilities, food, clothes, etc. etc.? While you protest who pays your bills?

That is the question I and many other radicals in resistance have confronted for a long time. It is tiresome but it is challenge given to us from our family, coworkers, critiques and often passerby at actions. “Liberals with no jobs just whining and complaining about the world only to make the rest of us late for work.”

I make time and try to organize my life around resistance and study. I try to be available to help others.I defy capitalism by my time to defeating it. I still need to buy minimal security from capitalism and all its ills. I pay rent, buy food and transportation. I hardly make enough to live but I do make more than some of my cousins back home for the same job.

Capitalism doesn't accommodate people in resisting it, you must accommodate yourself to resistance. We may have different priorities when it comes to free time, we may very well have different needs, Still, assuming that someone in protest and is organized, focused and hard working for liberation of others as well as themselves does not have a job is insulting. Or is it?

I try to take it as a call for help. The message for me is more like. “ I am envious that you can be out here fighting against the system that crushes us both, but how do I know you are real? How can you even make a living and fight capitalism? Are you rich or something, or on a trust fund, to leach off of social services. I want what you have. I want your freedom. How dare you flaunt it in front of me when I  can not afford it.”

The answer for me is that i steal time and my agency.  I am poor so I do not have much bills anyways,because I can not afford to have much in the first place. I do every thing I can to fix things that break so not buy it new. I pan my day out and organize around my work schedule. If I need things I ask my comrades  and friends. I also try to volunteer my time and labor to those that need it. I try to prioritize the people, things and projects I care about and even those I don't know.. Some folks take vacations, some people go out drinking, some stay home to stream movies or tv shows. I don't have a car so i can not go very far, i try not to drink and I think i have seen a everything in my queue. Mostly, I chose to help people the best I can and feed my mind. I enjoy long car rides when they are possible, I like spending time with folks, or just reading.

I like to be spending my time on what i think is an emergency. Boriken is being sold of bit by bit and so are the people, Afrika as a continent is being stolen by imperialist and capitalist forces, people in the philippines that need rice get bullets instead, children in Palestine for being too close to a wall, friends near me suffer from depression and are in danger just because people think their genitals matter, the environment is being destroyed to feed the trust funds of the elites, I am living in a crisis. I can numb myself or I can fight it but I can not ignore it, I refuse to ignore it all. I do what i do because standing by and watching hurts me. I resist because I have agency and will not work the fields only to end up feeding the fields for the benefit of a master.

You can get mad, you can curse out, flip off or just ignore some one that says that to you. Or, if possible, you can tell them that you work and it is because you work you feel the urgency to fight against the system that exploits you for your labor. You can tell them it is hard, maybe even harder than your square job because you make no money but run many risk. Working against capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism has required me to study, take notes, wake up early, stay up late, interact with hostile people, clean, serve food, plan projects write emails, run fundraisers, provide security, plan systems, write articles, my resume gets fuller and fuller every month.

As a radical worker I have to take some emotional abuse, do conflict resolution, check my own behavior and words, work with people I don't like, and get harassed by crappy people in authority. The only difference between my square job and my activist work is that I as an activist i chose my projects and production level. I chose without being threatened  with hunger and homelessness.. I feel I must do the work because I love the people in my life and want them to live a decent life without being exploited.

You owe nobody an explanation but try to take the opportunity as one for learning and relationship building. Do not appease to the person's logic but to their values. If their values are escaping or numbing themselves from capitalized all its ills then just let them. But maybe just maybe some of those folks are scared and want an alternative. Capitalism trains us to be in competition with each other, against each other. Capitalism teaches us to distrust not just others but ourselves. Capitalism clouds our minds with easy to understand lies and small empty gestures. Not all of us are awake and resisting, some of us are just awake but don't care. All of us started asleep or scared, some of us still are.

Don't be ashamed to work a square job, don't be ashamed if you are unemployed. Take pride in your acts of resistance and share power with people. Demonstrate if you find you can not convince people. Sometimes someone needs to see what you are doing and why you do it.

Resisting capitalism an organized way is hard work. Helping people around you is work. It can be very hazardous the more effective you are in dismantling a system of oppression. It scares some and makes other envious. Capitalism, keeps you late for work, capitalism threatens you with poverty, hunger and illness. Capitalism steals your tax dollars, ruins your schools and wrecks the environment. Capitalism keeps you depressed and unhealthy. Capitalism will dispose of you when you can not produce and eat your children. Resist capitalism in your free time. Do it on lunch, on breaks, before work after work, Friday to Sunday Monday to Friday.

PALANTE,SIEMPRE PALANTE!

EUROPEANS DISMANTLING WHITE SUPREMACY

Marilyn Buck 

I would like to share my love of the Marilyn Buck Abolitionist Collective (MBAC).  This organization of white accomplices model named themselves after the activist and former political prisoner Marilyn Buck. They work to dismantle and fight white supremacy and bring an end to modern slavery. MBAC was established in order to have European-AmeriKKKan folk do the work of educating other Europeans. MBAC is a multiracial organization that works for its European members to hold themselves accountable for their white privilege.  MBAC is not a bunch of Europeans just deciding what's right for people of color.  MBAC works in close cooperation with the AAPRP.

I built up my confidence working in MBAC. I became comfortable with educating and/or confronting European folks about their internalized racism. MBAC, through study, provided me with the words I needed to express my experiance with white supremacy, colonialism, bigotry and what my comrades call “white fuckery”.  I fell MBCA will  have much potential in waking up white settler europeans and organizing them toward the efforts to bring down capitalism. I left MBAC only because I felt there is only so much I can do and learn by organizing with mostly European folk. I sort of transfered to the All Afrikan People’s Revolutionary Party in order to grow as person in resistance and to take on bigger challenges that I knew I could overcome through hard work and cooperation. Few Europeans will listen to me and the ones that will are already part of the way awoke. Numerous times today I had to witness people deal with cis white normy racist microaggressions. Even I spoke up about it I faced apathy or defensiveness. I get it, you don't deal with it, you don't see it, how do you know it is real. This is my struggle with internalized misogyny and patriarchy. Still, i am learning to listen and consider the facts that i live in a world where people without masculine privilege have to be extra careful and the least amount of assertiveness can make them a target. Europeans ought to wonder why they are so safe and everyone else is not. Investigate, why you do not see what we are telling you we are experiencing, because you can not deny the body count. You can not just ignore a corpse.

This is not a cookie for my European comrades in MBAC. This is more for all you Europeans not doing work to dismantle white supremacy. This those of you that are too busy to stand up to racist, to scared to confront your family and friends. It can be done, it must be done, MBAC should not be the exception. Down with Capitalism! Long Live International Solidarity!

Europeans that want to learn more about MBAC check out their event at PSU this Thursday.

https://www.facebook.com/events/231413970570889/

Support the International Coalition Building Mission by clicking below!

PALANTE,SIEMPRE PALANTE!

What I Learned This Week 23/05/16

This week I learned that getting a passport same day is very complicated. Have proof of travel and make sure your company card is not expired. Other than that you should be fine as long as you are cis. The US has a lot of work to do in its agencies procedures and documentation. I won't go into details because this is not my story. I do want  cis people to remember that the work for trans rights and equity has only just begun. Reform is not enough. Creating new laws is not enough to make the system work for marginalized people.

I also learned that creating a document that expresses the points of unity of an organization can take along time and that grammar and etymology helps. It helps to have everything defined explicitly. It is also a learning opportunity for everyone involved. Did you know there was a difference between colonialism and neocolonialism, or imperialism and colonialism? I'll have to write another blog post to explore that so keep an eye open.

I learned that fundraising is hard work but you get what you put into it. It is also not just working hard but working smart. Use every medium possible to bring attention to your fundraiser but do not be afraid to talk to people. The more you talk about it the better you understand your mission and and can explain it to others. Do not forget to keep on top of updating your audience. Keep everyone involved, you are not doing this alone. Ask friends to share links, what people can not donate in funds they can give with exposure.

I have learned that the more I write the more I can write. Writing is a matter of practice, self critique and accepting critique. Read, reread and if you are not in a rush ask someone to read it and always read your work out loud. You never know if someone is reading your work out loud to an audience.

A friend of mine advised me to go low tech in my writing when I go on this mission and to have back ups of any digital material. Great advice since I may be far from any urban areas till I get to Iraq and Ghana.

My blog hit 700 views this month. Thank you all for sharing and reading, I hope I am having a positive impact like you all have on me. I was shopping for tickets and have found some for under $1000 round trip to the Philippines. That is only 10% of the current goal. Let us try to meet that goal for the first of June. Remember, If everyone gives a dollar and shares the campaign we can meet the goal in no time.

Palante! Siempre Palante!

Through My Own Eyes Update 22/5/2016

Map of US bases in the RP. There more but its a CNN map so what ever.

After one we week we were able to raise $85 in online funds, plus another $200 from a friend that covered a large expense. Thank you everyone that has contributed and promoted this project.

The plan so far

We still need $2000 to cover the flight cost from The US to the Philippines. I will spending 6-12 months working with and learning from marginalized communities through the nation. Lets aim for June 15th.

In preparation I am learning about the history of the Philippines and its geography. I Am also maintaining up to date on current events in the Philippines. It is better to be going informed so not to make my comrades take up time getting me up to date.

Why the Philippines are so important

There are over 10 million filipinos living abroad as workers with over 6000 leaving every day.

We have heard of this before. Boriken (Puerto Rico) is having a similar crisis. The Philippines, also a former colony of the Spain and the USA, has been used as a staging ground for US imperialist operations. It also has been exploited for its resources. People are also being exploited for cheap labor both in the philippines and abroad in manufacturing, child care, elderly care and the logistics industry.

Any resistance and protest has been met with bullets especially the Lumad of Mindanao. Local police, the military and Investment Defence Forces all have been involved in the rape and brutalization of civilians. All this for profit, profits that the people do not benefit from.

What We Are Doing And How You Can Help

The media is great about writing about the troubles of the Philippines but what do we know of how the people are working together to preserve themselves and the land? How does this affect family life? What impact does the situation in the Philippines have on the youth? What can outsiders do to help marginalized people in the Philippines? How does their struggle connect with other peoples struggle. These are questions we hope to answer with this project.

By bringing attention to these issues and working with the Philippine people we can create the foundation of an international coalition. We can also focus on updating folks abroad on events that affect the people and call for resources from international comrades.

If you you want to help with this project please donate or share the link below.

PALANTE! SIEMPRE PALANTE!

Tips and Tricks for Forest Grove High School Students Rally

Hi folks. The students will be having a manifestation this weekend. Many of you may want to come and be ready to fight white supremacy. Please try to do the following while you are there helping:

1. This is not centered on, it is centered on the students and their struggle.
2. Do not agitate, this is not centered on you. You may have a big heart and a short fuse and a grand desire to fight cops. Do not. The pigs are better equipped and trained and you endanger the students without their consent.
3. Do not put students in danger. Allow them to chose their means of resistance. They will dictate we shall support.
4. Be disciplined and compassionate.
5. No transphobia, homophobia, ableism, racism, zionism ,classism and other shit.
6. Be in an organization or start one.
7. Be organized.
8. Be accountable.
9. Do not endanger students.
10. Do Not panic or cause panic.
11. Be honest but calm.

Be safe and be early,bring water and friends.

PALANTE, SIEMPRE PALANTE!

When we say white feminist and white anarchist, we are talking about the person to the right.It is not the same as saying anarchist and feminist that are white.

When we say white feminist and white anarchist, we are talking about the person to the right.It is not the same as saying anarchist and feminist that are white.

Participate, Not Just Spectate

Organize. It is a word that can scare people and cause some paralyzing self criticism. It is a word that, when turned into action, creates great strides and builds much strength. Without organizing an individual eventually finds theirself without direction, inundated with complications and eventually abandoning their cause in despair. I am not saying one person isn't able to to have an impact.

An individual can actually come into a situation and alter it completely, we see this with comedians and snipers. What I am saying is that both comedians and snipers have an entire network of people they rely on and organize with to accomplish one single impacting task, the big laugh or the long shot. I use these two examples because they are represented as solo operators. Richard Pryor had help from Paul Mooney for writing jokes. Richard Pryor, like other comedians also had people he went to for developing material and finding gigs. Pryor was organized and had a network even if he was in competition with other comedians. A sniper may  go out to the field alone on a mission but they train to work with a partner. Even on their own a sniper still has an entire network of intelligence and support they are connected to in order for them to complete a mission. Without a support network and piers to work with one is limited in what they can achieve.

An individual in a  group can strengthen the group but not nearly as much as a group can expand the capacity of an individual. Huey Newton,Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, Marilyn Buck, all are people that have accomplished things because they were organized and they organized with others. That sounds like a tall order and you may think you could not be like any of those folks. Consider the following. The KKK, Neo Nazis, Nazi Classic, ISIS, North West Front, Hammerskins, are all organizations, and they are very organized indeed. How else could they be so big ,scary , and powerful?

It is popular practice to show up to actions and protest and call it being organized. This is far from the truth. Actions alone tend to have no real follow up or debrief. The participants talk about how they were there as if it was a concert. There is no study, or follow up action, no political education or community development, only disruption. Disruption is an effective and valuable tool but it is a tactic not a strategy. If individuals join organizations or start new ones they have the capacity to plan and build up strength to carry out more complex strategies. I can promise you that when the police, white supremacist groups, ISIS, Criminals In Action and GOP make a disruption it comes from weeks if not months of organizing and coordinating. No one just shows up for a church burning or lynching. Our enemies are well read and they put in the work. We must surpass them in every way. Unfortunately, individuals organizing is just one part of the work to be done.

There is a form of organizing with other groups with common goals that is the equivalent to forming a Megazoid. That is coalition building. Coalition building does to an organization what an organization does for the individual. Each organization with intersecting ideology and goals can bring specialized task and skills that make a coalition as powerful as a small corporation or government. Ideally, a coalition is more democratic and with the members holding the power. Kwame Nkrumah even points out the importance of coalition building. In Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare, they mentioned how organizations throughout Afrika would eventually join together and form one party. Coalition building is the next step to take after organizing to avoid falling into tribalism. You want to be a revolutionary organization, not a country club.

This piece is only really possible because of help from the organizations I have been part of. It has been inspired by the coalition's I see my comrades forming. Being in an organization has emboldened me and given me a chance to develop skills and talents I did not even know I had. My strength comes from the power my comrades lend me. It has not been easy.  As I take on more task and responsibilities it gets more demanding. I am able to take on these challenges because i i have the support and mentorship of my colleges. Organizing is currently providing me with an education in political ideology and theory, writing , leadership, team building, project management, fundraising, public speaking, first aid, networking,security, history and public relations. It has also left me hungry to learn more.

There are many people that share in the struggle against imperialism and capitalism. Many of these folks are organizing in conditions that are more challenging than what one finds in Portland, Oregon. People in the Philippines are shot rather than given rice they need in a time of famine because they live on rich mineral deposits. Women in Kurdistan defend direct democracy for Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and other people from ISIS and the Turkish military. Cuba has been able to develop its medical system in spite of the US embargo. Afrikans throughout the continent and abroad struggle to unite the people and resist neocolonial powers that use drones, mercenaries and money to maintain their dominance. Indigenous people around the world are being persecuted yet they still stand together forming coalitions and resisting. There exist international solidarity between Afrikans, Irish, Indigenous, Asian and South Pacific people. Thanks to organizing I have the ability and confidence to study and work with these mighty people and strengthen a gestating global coalition. I am grateful for this moment and will help carry it into the future.

If you want to get involved please click on this link and share it or contribute. Every bit helps and if every one we knew just gave one dollar we would be able to acquire knowledge to share with the world about organizing, resistance and global events while building an international coalition. Also, get involved in an organization if you are not in one or start one around an issue you care about. Capitalism will not accommodate you for organizing so you may have to use some of your free time. The investment of time and work is very rewarding and empowering.

Palante, Siempre Palante!

Through My Own Eyes

I am a poet, writer and story teller. My name is Stevie Elepan and I am from Puerto Rico ( Boriken) and I have lived in the USA for five years. In my time here in the the Pacific Northwest I have learned much about community organizing. I have learned that without study, hard work and organization one is much more limited in what they can achieve. There are many people around the world that have been able to organize in their communities with little dependence on large corporations or colonial powers. The USA is a vast country with many resources but little community organization. Although it is a world power it falls behind in areas of public health, food safety and education, compared to small countries with limited resource, like Cuba.

I would like to go around the globe to write about and get involved in some of these communities. The experiences I will have and the things I learn will be recorded and shared with the world in the form of blog reports and zees. I intend to start my research in the Philippines, a former colony of Spain and the US and learn how indigenous people work together to sustain themselves on the islands. Then to Iraq to investigate how folks have pulled together to rebuild after war and survive the current conflict in the country. I would then continue to Afrika and learn how different communities have developed after colonialism. From Africa I would cross over to Cuba and Puerto Rico to do a comparison of community organization under a socialist model vs a capitalist model.

Resources will go primarily to transportation and a daily meal. I intend to share surplus resources with my host communities. I will not just be documenting and interviewing folks, I will be involved in the day to day work. My contribution to these host could anything such as teaching English to harvesting crops to cleaning latrines.

Many books are written through a very Eurocentric gaze and it may be time that another person of color form a colony contribute to the literature and research currently available. It is important that stories about people of color be written by people of color for people of color.

This project is important to me because my island is in a crisis and we need hope, we need an example of the things we can achieve. We also need to see that we are not alone in our struggle and that by developing international solidarity we can all overcome the global economic crisis before disaster strikes.

The only way I can repay the world and all of you that will be contributing is by producing detailed, honest and thoughtful  educational pieces about the world we live in and the people we share it with.

To help click on the link below.

LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY! PALANTE,SIEMPRE PALANTE!

Borikuas 1ro de Mayo 2016 Portland Oregon

Wake up folks. The United Snakes is a regime of slavers and thieves slowly consuming all working poor people. There is no reform only revolution. Do not put your faith in a new president. Change will come from you and yours. The people must seize the means of production. 

Hijos De Boriken Come Out For International Workers Day 2016 PORTLAND

The following is a transcript of the speech given by the Children of Boriken on May 1st 2016:

Buenas Tardes,Naimbag a malem, My name is Stevie Elepan. For decades,we the children of Boriken have had to leave our island to find work. In 1898 The Imperialist Amerikkkan capitalist regime seized not just our resources but our people as well . We pay tribute in blood and money but we have no voice, here,in the United Snakes of Amerikkka. This empire is pushing our minimum wage down to 4.25 an hour yet they expect us to pay a 72 billion dollars  debt,a debt that they created in the first place. Many of us can not afford to live on the land we were born on.Our families are broken up. In 2000 we were 4million, we have lost 500,000 since then Who knows how many will ever come back. Our youth are forced to enlist in the army and border patrol and help expand the very empire that exploits us.We lose one doctor a day because not even they can make a living. This Capitalist Empire of slavers and thieves will never give us freedom , never give us equity. We must organize,we must study and we must  fight for it. Gather your cousins, care for our neighbors. Free Afrika, Free Palestine, Free Hawaii and all indigenous people. Down with capitalism. Boriken Libre.  Palante Siempre Palante!Ni patras para coger impulso!