1ncs
Greater Horn of Africa The reduction of military presence is the uidity of white policing. The US grand strategy will withdraw troops from ________ only to give the signal of a enign authority! all to have those troops replaced y air stri"es and private contractors and then sent to the lac"est of their enemies #emen and Somalia. Smith$1%
(Ashley smith, Smith is a long time contributor to many subversive sources. Smith has written for the ISR in their 2012 issue “ rayvon rayvon !artin an" the #ew $im crow%. he following following can be foun" foun" here& htt'&isreview htt'&isreview.orgissue)*obamas+new .orgissue)*obamas+new++ im'erialist+strategy
-ace" with the growing rivalry with hina an" America/s "iminishe" 'ower in the !i""le ast, the &ama adminis adm inistra tration tion has been com'elle" to ad'ust the grand strategy of gloal domina dom inatio tion n. bama still intends for the United Unit ed States to e, in his wor"s, “the in"is'ensable nation,% the world$s police man. 3e will therefore continue to pro'ect American power into its tra"itional s'heres of in4uence li5e 6atin America, as well as e7'an" its activity into other areas such as Africa, for e7am'le, through A()*+&,. +ontrary +ontrar y to lieral lie ral self-delusio sel f-delusion n! &ama is not really cutting the military udget . As he "eclare" at the 8entagon announcement announcement of his new 9ui"ance, ver the ne7t ten years, the growth in the defense udget will slow! ut the fact of the matter is this& it will still grow , because we have global res'onsibilities that "eman" our lea"ershi'. In fact, the "efense bu"get will still be larger than it was towar" the en" of the :ush a"ministration.; ashingto ashi ngton n is simply simp ly recalirating recalir ating its it s military milit ary hardware hardw are ! 'ersonnel, an" "e'loyment to uestionable results of its Ira> an" Afghanistan wars, it involves moving away from direct military invasions an" occupations! and putting a stronger emphasis on the use of counterterrorist tactics that rely on Special (orces and drone stri"es , as well as on on /pro0 pr o0y y mil milit itar ary y force for ces s. o o carry this shift through, the bama a"ministration is cutting the si?e of the Army! Army! and increasing s'en"ing on the #avy, Air -orce, S'ecial 'erations -orces, an" high-tech weaponry. bama has also aban"one" the 8entagon/s longtime 'lan to have the ca'acity to an" Afghanistan. -or future o'erations bama wants to use American air powe po werr and and a local pro0y army to conduct any regime changes. As the Fall Street $ournal re'orts, !any bama a"ministration oGcials see last year/s international military intervention in 2iya as a model for future conicts , with the @nite" States using its air 'ower u' front while also relying on its allies, an" on local force to
The s3ualing over things li"e removal removal of troops is ut a distraction mechanism from the dispossession of the lac" o'ect. US imperialism and anti-imperialism are ased in antilac"ness. The discussion of the A(( crowds out the analysis of slavery and anti-lac"ness. Se0ton$45 (Race, #ation, an" m'ire in a :lac5ene" Forl", $are" Se7ton, 200B, $are" Se7ton is a 'rofessor at al Irvine
ln the consternate" delierations of national security , oGcial an" unoGcial, from the foun"ing of the repulic to the trum'eting of the new world order , the social control an" la c" popula po pulation tion has h as always 6gured 6gu red central cent rally ly! even or crisis management of the the lac" especially especi ally when matters of emanci'ation or racial e3uality have by no means me ans the focus foc us of o f deate de ate . Across the swee' of @.S. history, 'olicing the color line has re>uire" no cre"ible threat of
invasion, no evi"ence of insurrectionary "esign, no 'roven stoc5'ile of illi cit chemical agents or ra"ioactive material, no 'articular breach of "omestic or international law, no sensational moral or ethical transgression (though all of these items, real or imagine", have factore" in the relevant "iscourses, 'ublic an" 'rivate. It has only re>uire" the 'resence+within the 'olity, economy, culture, an" society+of a so+calle" 'roblem 'eo'le, "welling as the absence of human 'resence. Fe can note further that the institution of transatlantic racial slavery+whose 'olitical an" economic relations constitute , 'resent tense, the social faric of estern modernity in general , of the Americas in 'articular, an" of the @nite" States most acutely+cannot e e0plained (away by the ac>uisition of <7e" ca'ital, the minimimtion of variable d ictates of gunoat guno at diplomacy diplom acy ! the ca'ital, or the ma7imi?ation of 'ro
e0pansion e0pansi on of strategic strateg ic overseas military installations! or the idiosyncrasies idiosync rasies of the hite House . It may seem so at times, but only insofar as contemporary oservers , or our historical counter'arts, fundamentally misrecogni7e the nature of racial slavery & as a brutal regime of labor e7'loitation as the atrocious ad'unct to land lan d co con3 n3ues uestt and the e0termination, containment! and or forced assimilation of indigenous peoples or as an en"eavor functional to, rather than in e7cess of an" at times at o""s wi th, the a"vent an" maturation of urocentric ca'italism. &f course! all of these procedures have een important to the history of racial slavery 8and vice versa9! ut none is essential to its origins! its development and! aove all! its pernicious afterlife. J )ather! enslavement+the inaugural enter'rise for the age of uro'e, the 'recon"ition for the American century an" its covete" se>uel+ is enaled y an" "e'en"ent on the most basic of o'erations& symbolic an" material immobili?ation, the asolute divestment of sovereignty at the site of the lac" ody & its free"om of movement, its con"itions of labor, its 'hysical an" emotional sustenance, its social an" se7ual re'ro"uction, its 'olitical an" cultural re'resentation. render ing of the lac" l ac" as the o'ect o 'ect of disposses dis possession sion :eyon" its economic utility, this rendering 'ar e7cellence+ob=ect of accumulation, 'rototy'ical commo"ity, ca'tive 4esh+ structures in"elibly the historical histori cal proliferation prolife ration of modem conceptions of sovereignty that now "ominate 'olitical an" legal "iscourse globally an" provide the crucial frames of intelligiility for oth imperialism and anti-imperialism! empire and its discontents . Fith blac5s barre" by "e
of slavery have the e0clusive and positive capacity to deate aout soverei sov ereignty gnty : to t o triviali7e its importance and rationali7e its violation or to struggle in its defense! to name and lament its loss! and wage war for its recovery. :lac5s, then, suDer a 'eculiar relation to the @.S. em'ire in the historic instance& neither its sub=ects
(certainly not its authors or bene
ca'ital of military hero+ ism, etc.+all com'onents of the ty'ical criti>ue of the racism internal to the arme" forces but were also "iDerentiate" by the enemies of the @.S. military invasion an" occu'ation. Racially targete" 'ro'agan"a a''eale" to the cruel ironies of blac5 military service (ironies alrea"y well 5nown an" articulate" by mi"+century an" oDere" i"eological su''ort to the struggle for free"om, =ustice, an" e>uality that was, at the time, intensifying an" mutating statesi"e as it raise" the galvani?ing cry of :lac5 8ower.
*mperialism is a reproduction of anti-lac" racism. *mperialism as a system pits minorities against each other and forces individuals to assimilate into the white system of lac" policing. Any promotion of the imperial system should e re'ected as unethical. ;lac"fo00$1< (:lac5fo77 is an avi" twitter writer about race an" racism. :lac5 fo77 has 'ut together some of the most forwar" statements about anti+blac5ness an" the way it is 'romote" through the American system.
I 5now everything I nee" to 5now when 'eo'le are tal5ing about anti-lac" racism , 'articularly reasons “why its not so simple % an" why its not as im'ortant or "evastating as we ma5e it out to be, but they only tal" aout it in reference to ;lac" people in the United States. So what aout the world full of ;lac" people you continue to dehumani7e L hat lets me 5now whether its anti+blac5ness you are intereste" in, or "o"ging accountability an" resisting changing your anti+ blac5 behavior. :ecause using a straw man of @.S. im'erialism that structurally we have nothing to "o with (I/m not tal5ing about a small minority of blac5 ''l who sli' through the crac5s, in or"er to e7cuse antiblac5 racism can only 4y in 1. a @.S. conte7t an" 2.an anti+blac5 one. Allow me to e7'lain. I wont re'eat all of the things I/ve tal5e" about earlier this wee5M.:ut Again, to understand systems of power , we loo" at framewor"s not at e0ceptions . An" if you want to get really realMIf you want to ta5e a wal5 through the 8entagon an" the State Ce'artment. I have been through bothM Asi"e from all the white 'eo'le, Nou will ue to :lac5 'eo'le an" it is not a''ro'riate to bring u' when "iscussinge7cusing your anti+blac5 racism. There will always e a minority of poc present , but those are things that nee" to be un"erstoo" in the broa"er conte7t of a large SR@@R. his is why you never see me 'ointing to them. It means little to nothing in the broa"er conte7t of Im'erialism an" what that means. THAT *S HAT *,=>)*A2*S, ?+&2&@*A2*S, *S. hat part of *mperialism is limiting options for poc, ripping them from the conte7t of their culture! removing options !
indoctrinating them with its own messages in the asence of all those things! providing its own options! and then churning those people in the cogs of the machine. As casualties ! means of production , 'ieces of the 'rison+ in"ustrial, com'le7, an" a small minority as the faces and agents of imperialism , etc. 8art of how it operates! while an" after it destroys everything , is selecting a small minority of
'eo'le to carry out its agen"a. I also "ont mean to say its com'letely unim'ortant within the 'ro'er conte7t, but for the 'ur'ose of "iscussing anti+blac5 racism or blaming a collective grou' without that access, its irrelevant. I t is intellectually "ishonest to loo5 at this minority of 'eo'le chosen, s'eci
people need to reali7e that they are so heavily invested in antilac" racism! in order to truly really see the lengths that they are going . grou's. I thin5
8eo'le nee" to reali?e that investment an" start to challenge an" "econstruct it before anything will be accom'lishe". Nou shoul" start to won"er not “hey are always bellyaching, 3ow ba" are those blac5 'eo'le RA66NL% an" start to won"er “Fhy am i so investe"L% an" follow that stream of thought to its conclusions. This is antilac"ness in its est form . An" 'eo'le will get u'set at :lac5 Americans all "ay long as an e7cuse. ,eanwhile there is an entire world of ;lac" people! of which we are a
very small minority! that is eing su'ected to your anti-lac" racism. ;ut you are silent aout them . :ut :lac5 Americans are 'articularly goo" about calling 'eo'le on their
shit, because we have ha" to "evelo' an intimate un"erstan"ing of the matri7 of o''ression, as a means of survival in the belly of the beast. Fe have "evelo'e" a very s'eci
don$t li"e the ;lac" fol"s who tal" ac". And that ma"es you an anti-lac" racist motherfuc"er. And * say this with love M. I will love an" 5iss all my fellow 'oc after I say it. :lac5fo77 is always "ro''ing 5nowle"ge. It really can/t be stresse" enough but anti-lac"ness is the fulcrum of white supremacy and any 'oc that forget that are anti-lac" and need to shut the entire fuc" up .
*@S>)T ABCA@TAG> 2*@D H>)>E
hiteness perpetuates a system of ause of the lac". The normativity of whiteness creates a hyper visiility for lac"s. The result of this hyper visiility is eing received as a ody that is already mar"ed and already dead. The perception of eing already dead legitimi7es the slaughter of lac" esh. #ancy$1<
(9eorge Nancy is 8rofessor of 8hiloso'hy at Cu>uesne @niversity an" oor"inator of the ritical Race heory S'ea5er Series. 3e is the author of :lac5 :o"ies, Fhite 9a?es& he ontinuing Signiuesne @niversity 8resi"ential Awar" for 7cellence in Scholarshi' htt'&o'inionator.blogs.nytimes.com201*0K01wal5ing+ while+blac5+in+the+white+ga?eL'h'TtrueUty'eTblogsUrT0Vmore+1W)W;) Ces'ite the ringing tones of bama/s 6incoln !emorial s'eech, I
thin"ing aout someone who might e considered old news already: Trayvon ,artin . In his now much+>uote" Fhite 3ouse brie
in this country "now what it is li"e to e followed while shopping and how lac" men have had the e0perience of /wal"ing across the street and hearing the loc"s clic" on the doors of cars . * have had this e0perience on many occasions as whites catch sight of me wal"ing past their cars: +lic"! clic"! clic"! clic". Those clic"s can e deafening. There are times when * want to ecome their oogeyman. * want to pull open the car d oor and shout: /Surprise #ou$ve 'ust een car-'ac"ed y a fantasy of your own creation. @ow get out of the car. The president$s words , 'erha's consigne" to a long+ago news cycle now, remain 'owerful& they validate e0periences that lac"s have undergone in their everyday lives . bama/s voice resonates with those 'hiloso'hical voices (-rant? -anon, for e7am'le that have long attem'te" to "escribe the live" interiority of racial e7'eriences. 3e has also "e'loye" the 'ower of narrative autobiogra'hy, which is a signi
as they are stereotyped and pro6led within the conte0t of 3uotidian social spaces. III. Cavi" 3ume claime" that to e lac" was to e /li"e a parrot who spea"s a few words plainly .% An" Immanuel Eant maintaine" that to be “blac5 from hea" to foot% was “clear
'roof% that what any blac5 'erson says is stu'i". In his “#otes on Pirginia,% homas $eDerson wrote& “In imagination they X#egroesY are "ull, tasteless an" anomalous,% an" inferior. *n the 6rst American >dition of
the >ncyclopaedia ;ritannica 81IJ9! the term /@egro was de6ned as someone who is cruel! impudent! revengeful! treacherous! nasty! idle! dishonest! a liar and given to stealing. !y point here is to say that the white ga7e is gloal and historically moile . An" its origins! while from uro'e, are deeply seated in the ma"ing of America. ;lac" odies in America continue to e reduced to their surfaces and to stereotypes that are constricting and false, that often force those blac5 bo"ies to move through social s'aces in ways that 'ut whi te 'eo'le at ease.
Fe fear that our blac5 bo"ies incite an accusation. Fe move in ways that hel' us to survive the 'rocrustean ga?es of white 'eo'le. Fe "rea" that those who see us might feel the irrational fear to stan" their groun" rather than “uestions of race have faile" to 'ro"uce a critical an" historically conscious "iscourse that she"s light on what it means to be blac5 in an anti+blac5 America. If historical 'rece"ent says anything, this failure will only continue. Trayvon ,artin! li5e so many blac5 boys an" men, was under surveillance (etymologically, “to 5ee' watch%. 2ittle did he "now that on -eb. 2B, 2012, that he would enter a space of social control and odily policing ! a 5in" of :enthamian 'ano'tic nightmare that woul" truncate his being as sus'icious a s'ace where he was, 'ara"o7ically, both invisible an" ye t hy'ervisible. R6AC !ore -rom he Stone Rea" 'revious contributions to this series. “I am invisible, un"erstan", sim'ly because 'eo'le Xin this case white 'eo'leY refuse to see me.% rayvon was invisible to Oimmerman, he was not seen as the blac5 chil" that he was, trying to ma5e it bac5 home with S5ittles an" an ice" tea. 3e was not seen as having "one nothing wrong, as one who "reams an" ho'es. As
lac"! Trayvon was already "nown and rendered invisile . His childhood and humanity were already criminali7ed as part of a white racist narrative aout lac" male odies . rayvon nee"e" no intro"uction& “6oo5, the blac5 the criminalZ% IP. !any have argue" that the site of violence occurred upon the confrontation etween Trayvon and Kimmerman. Net, the violence egan with Kimmerman$s nonemergency dispatch call , a call that was racially assaultive in its discourse, one that use" the tro'es of anti+blac5 racism. #ote, Oimmerman sai", “here/s a real sus'icious guy.% 3e also sai", “his guy loo5s li5e he/s u' to no goo" or he/s on "rugs or something.% Fhen as5e" by the "is'atcher, he sai", within secon"s, that, “3e loo5s blac5.% As5e" what he is wearing, Oimmerman says, “A "ar5 hoo"ie, li5e a gray hoo"ie.% 6ater, Oimmerman sai" that “now he/s coming towar" me. 3e/s got his han"s in his waist ban".% An" then, “An" he/s a blac5 male.% :ut what "oes it mean to be “a real sus'icious guy%L Fhat "oes it mean to loo5 li5e one is “u' to no goo"%L Oimmerman "oes not give any "etails, nothing to buttress the vali"ity of his narration. Eee' in min" that Oimmerman is in his vehicle as he 'rovi"es his narration to the "is'atcher. As “the loo5er,% it is not
Oimmerman who is in "anger rather, it is rayvon !artin, “the loo5e" at,% who is the target of sus'icion an" 'ossible violence. After all, it is rayvon !artin who is wearing the hoo"ie, a 'iece of “raciali?e"% attire that a''arently signi
simply eing L 8erha's the religious stu"ies scholar :ill 3art is correct& “To e a lac" man is to e mar"ed for death.% r as the 'olitical 'hiloso'her $oy $ames argues, “:lac5ness as evil XisY "estine"
for era"ication.% 8erha's this is why when writing about the "eath of his young blac5 son, the social theorist F..:. Cu :ois sai", “All that "ay an" all that night there sat an awful gla"ness in my heart nay, blame me not if I see the worl" thus "ar5ly through the Peil an" my soul whis'ers ever to me saying, [#ot "ea", not "ea", but esca'e" not bon", but free./ % rayvon !artin was 5ille" wal5ing while blac5. As the 'rotector of all things “gate",% of all things stan"ing on the 'reci'ice of being en"angere" by blac5 male bo"ies, Oimmerman create" the con"itions u'on which he ha" no groun"s to stan" on. In"ee", through his racist stereoty'es an" his 'ursuit of rayvon, he created the conditions that elied the applicaility of the stand your ground law and created a situation where Trayvon was "illed . his is the narrative that ought to have been tol" by the attorneys for the family of rayvon !artin. It is 'art of the narrative that bama brilliantly tol", one of blac5 bo"ies being racially 'olice" an" having suDere" a uni>ue history of racist vitriol in this country. Net it is one that is 'erha's too late, one alrea"y ren"ere" mute an" inconse>uential by the ver"ict of “not guilty.%
Thus the Alt M )e'ect the aN as an continued adherence to revolutionary suicide. )evolutionary suicide is an idealism to re'ect the ause that lac" esh is su'ected to. *t is standing up for the downtrodden! it is freedom to decide what happens to the lac" community *t is an outcry for the relief of police rutality. @ewton$<
(#ewton, 3uey 8., 3uey was the foun"er of the :lac5 8anther 'arty in the late B0/s early H0/s. Revolutionary Suici"e. Revise"7'an"e" e". #ew Nor5& 3arcourt :race $ovanovich, 1KH*. 8rint. 8g. 11B his is the 'rogram we wrote "own& :R 1KBB :6AE 8A#3R 8ARN 86A-R! A#C 8R9RA! F3A F FA# F3A F :6IPam on 'a'er+ hat the alternative loo"s li"e 8resente" as the !anifesto to the :lac5 8anthers. 1. e want freedom . e want power to determine the destiny of our ;lac" +ommunity. Fe believe that :lac5 'eo'le will not be free until we are able to "etermine our "estiny. 2. Fe want full em'loyment for our 'eo'le. Fe believe that the fe"eral government is res'onsible an" obligate" to give every man em'loyment or a guarantee" income. Fe believe that if the white American businessmen will not give full em'loyment, then the means of production should e
ta"en from the usinessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organi7e and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living . *. Fe want an end to the roery by the ca'italist of our ;lac" community . Fe believe that this racist government has robbe" us an" now we are "eman"ing the over"ue "ebt of forty acres an" t wo mules. -orty acres an" two mules were 'romise" 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor a n" mass mur"er of :lac5 'eo'le. Fe will acce't the 'ayment in currency which will be "istribute" to our many communities. he 9ermans are now ai"ing the $ews in Israel for the genoci"e of the $ewish
'eo'le. he 9ermans mur"ere" si7 million $ews. he American racist has ta5en 'art in the slaughter of over
does not have "nowledge of himself and his position in society and the world! then he has little chance to relate to anything else . B. Fe want all :lac5 men
to be e7em't from military service. Fe believe that :lac5 'eo'le shoul" not be force" to ;)UTA2*T# and ,U)B>) of ;lac" people . Fe believe we can end police rutality in our ;lac" community y organi7ing
;lac" self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our ;lac" community from racist police oppression and rutality . he Secon" Amen"ment to the onstitution of the @nite" States gives a right to bear arms. Fe therefore believe that all ;lac" people should arm themselves for self-defense. ). Fe want free"om for all :lac5 men hel" in fe"eral,
state, county an" city 'risons an" =ails. Fe believe that all :lac5 'eo'le shoul" be release" from the many =ails an" 'risons because they have not receive" a fair an" im'artial trial . K. Fe want all :lac5 'eo'le when brought to trial to be trie" in court by a =ury of their 'eer grou' or 'eo'le from their :lac5 communities, as "e
events! it ecomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political ands which have connected them with another , an" to assume, among the 'owers of
the earth, the se'arate an" e>ual station to which the laws of nature an" nature/s 9o" entitle them, a "ecent res'ect to the o'inions of man5in" re>uires that they shoul" "eclare the causes which im'el them to the se'aration. Fe hol" these truths to be self+evi"ent, that all men are create" e>ual that they are en"owe" by their reator with certain un alienable rights that among these are life, liberty, an" the 'ursuit of ha''iness. hat, to
secure these rights! government s are instituted among men! deriving their 'ust powers from the consent of the governedO that! whenever any form of government ecomes destructive of these ends! it is the right of the people to alter or to aolish it, an" to institute a new government, laying its foun"ation on
such 'rinci'les, an" organi?ing its 'owers in such form, as to them shall seem most li5ely to eDect their safety an" ha''iness. 8ru"ence, in"ee", will "ictate that governments long establishe" shoul" not be change" for light an" transient causes an", accor"ingly, all e7'erience hath shown, that man5in" are more "is'ose" to suDer, while evils are suDerable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustome". :ut, when a long train of auses an" usur'ations, 'ursuing invariably the same ob=ect, evinces a design to reduce them under asolute despotism! it is their right, it is their duty! to throw oN such government! and to provide new guards for their future security . Fith the 'rogram on 'a'er, we set u' the structure of our organi?ation.
To do anything while the lac" esh is still fungile is to ta"e part in an unethical world. Solving the antagonism of the antilac" esh is a 1st priority issue when attempting to create good scholarship. ilderson$14
(-ran5. :. Fil"erson, Re" Fhite an" blac5, 2010. 8g. BH+B) -ran5 :. Fil"erson is a tenure" 'rofessor at the @niversity of alifornia Irvine. 3e has atten"e" the @niversity of olombia where he got a "egree in 'sychology. &ntological incapacity , I have inferre" an" here state forthright, is the constituent element of ethics . 8ut another way, one cannot emody capacity and e ! simultaneously, ethical. here there are Slaves it is unethical to e free. he Settler?,aster$s capacity , I have argue", is a function of e0ploitation and alienation O and the Slave$s incapacity is elaorated y accumulation and fungiility. :ut the /Savage is positioned! structurally! y su'ective capacity an" Re", Fhite, U :lac5& inema an" the Structure of @.S. Antagonisms B) ob=ective inca'acity, by sovereignty an" genoci"e, res'ectively. *t is the *ndian$s liminal status in political economy! the manner in which her?his positionality shuttles etween the incapacity of a genocided o'ect and the capacity of a sovereign su'ect! coupled with the fact that )edness does not overdetermine the /thanatology 8Pudy JI! IQ9 of liidinal economyRthis liminal capacity within political economy and complete freedom from incapacity within liidinal economyRwhich raises serious douts aout the status of /Savage ethicality vis+\+vis the triangulate" structure (Re", Fhite, an" :lac5 of antagonisms. learly, the coherence of hiteness as a structural position in modernity depends on the capacity to e free from genocide! not! perhaps! as an historical e0perience! ut at least as a positioning modality .
Ara States of the =ersian Gulf The A(( is a continuation of United States imperialism. The ANs reduction in military presence is 'ust a part of the larger grand strategy to ma"e the system of American domination and policing continue. Buec"$1F
(olin Cuec5, Cr. olin Cuec5 is a Senior -ellow of the -8RI an" an associate 'rofessor in the School of 8olicy, 9overnment, an" International ADairs at 9eorge !ason, htt'&www.isn.eth?.chCigital+6ibraryArticlesCetailLlngTenUi"T1K02*0 &ver the past decade or more, lea"ing aca"emic foreign policy realists have argued for US strategic retrenchment . Retrenchment is a strategy designed to reduce a countryJs international an" military costs an" commitments. X1Y his can be done y cutting defense spending! withdrawing from certain alliance obligations, scaling ac" on deployments aroad, or re"ucing international e7'en"itures. )etrenchment "oes not necessarily involve the avoidance of all strategic commitments. :ut the "esire" "irection with retrenchment is one of
lowere" cost an" re"uce" commitment. ne es'ecially star5 version of strategic retrenchment, cham'ione" by 'olitical scientists such as $ohn !earsheimer, Ste'hen Falt, Robert 8a'e, an" hristo'her 6ayne, is the conce't of oDshore balancing. X2Y Accor"ing to its lea"ing a"vocates, a strategy of oNshore alancing
would still try to ensure that no one ma'or power dominates >urope! @ortheast Asia! or the =ersian Gulf. :ut it woul" ma5e others assume the main bur"en, an" rely on local 'owers to balance one another, while stationing US military forces over the hori7on, either oDshore or within the @nite" States. An oDshore balancing strategy woul" embrace shar'
re"uctions in the si?e of the @S Army an" !arines, avoi" counterinsurgency o'erations altogether, an" abstain from international 'ro=ects involving the military occu'ation or governance of "evelo'ing countries. -or the most 'art, it woul" avoi" foreign wars. American forces woul" come onshore only if local powers proved unale to maintain regional balance of powers on their own . ith the threat chec"ed! US troops would then e0it and go ac" over the hori7on . Accor"ing to !earsheimer, oDshore balancing woul" allow the @nite" States to "isban" e7isting alliance commitments in uro'e an" ast Asia, an" cut "efense s'en"ing to about 2 'ercent of AmericaJs 9ross Comestic 8ro"uct (9C8. he scale"+bac5 @S military 'resence overseas woul" further un"ercut su''ort for anti+American terrorism, an" re"uce the nee" for other 'owers to "evelo' their own wea'ons of mass "estruction. At least,
these are some of the ene6ts claimed for oNshore alancing y its proponents. X*Y Retrenchment este" he bama years 'rovi"e an interesting test case for the conse>uences of an incremental an" 'artial strategic retrenchment. o be sure, American gran" strategy un"er bama has multi'le as'ects, an" sometimes contains assertive elements. After all, this is the 'resi"ent who hunte" "own sama :in 6a"en, announce" a @S 'ivot to A sia, an" escalate" the use of unmanne" "rone stri5es against Al ]ae"a an" its aGliates. #o r has bama a"o'te" anything li5e a 'ure strategy of oDshore balancing. A"vocates of oDshore balancing woul" have neither surge" into Afghanistan in 200K+2010, nor to''le" ]a""a<, nor maintaine" in the en" so much of the 9eorge F. :ush institutional legacy in counter+terrorism. he @nite" States to"ay still o'erates a worl"wi"e alliance system far beyon" what oDshore balancers woul" want. Still! a modest
form of strategic retrenchment has een a ma'or component and aspiration of American grand strategy under &ama! even in cases where the US asserts itself rhetorically or temporarily! and on this the =resident has repeatedly made his priorities very clear. he move towar" retrenchment in recent
years is visible for e7am'le in 'atterns of @S military s'en"ing, force 'osture, an" security strategy. he :u"get ontrol Act of 2011 in 'articular, together w ith subse>uent se>uestration, resulte" in roughly ^1 trillion in "efense cuts over a ten+year 'erio" currently un"erway. his was on to' of 'revious cuts from bamaJs
8resi"ent. In terms of e7'licit security strategy, the 2012 Cefense Strategic 9ui"ance hel'e" clarify 5ey assum'tions of retrenchment, aban"oning the 'retense that the @nite" States be able to
counterinsurgency or ground campaigns! stating that the US armed forces would no longer e si7ed to conduct large-scale prolonged staility operations. The call instead was for innovative! low-cost and smallfootprint approaches . X;Y ne lea"ing scholarly a"vocate of oDshore balancing, hristo'her 6ayne of the 9eorge 3.F. :ush School at e7as AU!, rightly note" that the 2012 Strategic 9ui"ance re'resente" a signi
The s3ualing over things li"e removal of troops is ut a distraction mechanism from the dispossession of the lac" o'ect. US imperialism and anti-imperialism are ased in antilac"ness. The discussion of the A(( crowds out the analysis of slavery and anti-lac"ness. Se0ton$45 (Race, #ation, an" m'ire in a :lac5ene" Forl", $are" Se7ton, 200B, $are" Se7ton is a 'rofessor at al Irvine ln the consternate" delierations of national security , oGcial an" unoGcial, from the foun"ing of the repulic to the trum'eting of the new world order , the social control an" crisis management of the lac" population has always 6gured centrally ! even or especially when matters of emanci'ation or racial e3uality have by no means the focus of deate . Across the swee' of @.S. history, 'olicing the color line has re>uire" no cre"ible threat of
invasion, no evi"ence of insurrectionary "esign, no 'roven stoc5'ile of illi cit chemical agents or ra"ioactive material, no 'articular breach of "omestic or international law, no sensational moral or ethical transgression (though all of these items, real or imagine", have factore" in the relevant "iscourses, 'ublic an" 'rivate. It has only re>uire" the 'resence+within the 'olity, economy, culture, an" society+of a so+calle" 'roblem 'eo'le, "welling as the absence of human 'resence. Fe can note further that the institution of transatlantic racial slavery+whose 'olitical an" economic relations constitute , 'resent tense, the social faric of estern modernity in general , of the Americas in 'articular, an" of the @nite" States most acutely+cannot e e0plained (away by the ac>uisition of <7e" ca'ital, the minimimtion of variable ca'ital, or the ma7imi?ation of 'ro
e0pansion of strategic overseas military installations! or the idiosyncrasies of the hite House . It may seem so at times, but only insofar as contemporary oservers , or our historical counter'arts, fundamentally misrecogni7e the nature of racial slavery & as a brutal regime of labor e7'loitation as the atrocious ad'unct to land con3uest and the e0termination, containment! and or forced assimilation of indigenous peoples or as an en"eavor functional to, rather than in e7cess of an" at times at o""s wi th, the a"vent an" maturation of urocentric ca'italism. &f course! all of these procedures have een important to the history of racial slavery 8and vice versa9! ut none is essential to its origins! its development and! aove all! its pernicious afterlife. J )ather! enslavement+the inaugural enter'rise for the age of uro'e, the 'recon"ition for the American century an" its covete" se>uel+ is enaled y an" "e'en"ent on the most basic of o'erations& symbolic an" material immobili?ation, the asolute divestment of sovereignty at the site of the lac" ody & its free"om of movement, its con"itions of labor, its 'hysical an" emotional sustenance, its social an" se7ual re'ro"uction, its 'olitical an" cultural re'resentation. :eyon" its economic utility, this rendering of the lac" as the o'ect of dispossession 'ar e7cellence+ob=ect of accumulation, 'rototy'ical commo"ity, ca'tive 4esh+ structures in"elibly the
historical proliferation of modem conceptions of sovereignty that now "ominate 'olitical an" legal "iscourse globally an" provide the crucial frames of intelligiility for oth imperialism and anti-imperialism! empire and its discontents . Fith blac5s barre" by "e
of slavery have the e0clusive and positive capacity to deate aout sovereignty : to triviali7e its importance and rationali7e its violation or to struggle in its defense! to name and lament its loss! and wage war for its recovery. :lac5s, then, suDer a 'eculiar relation to the @.S. em'ire in the historic instance& neither its sub=ects
(certainly not its authors or beneue of the racism internal to the arme" forces but were also "iDerentiate" by the enemies of the @.S. military invasion an" occu'ation. Racially targete" 'ro'agan"a a''eale" to the cruel ironies of blac5 military service (ironies alrea"y well 5nown an" articulate" by mi"+century an" oDere" i"eological su''ort to the struggle for free"om, =ustice, an" e>uality that was, at the time, intensifying an" mutating statesi"e as it raise" the galvani?ing cry of :lac5 8ower.
*mperialism is a reproduction of anti-lac" racism. *mperialism as a system pits minorities against each other and forces individuals to assimilate into the white system of lac" policing. Any promotion of the imperial system should e re'ected as unethical. ;lac"fo00 $1< (:lac5fo77 is an avi" twitter writer about race an" racism. :lac5 fo77 has 'ut together some of the most forwar" statements about anti+blac5ness an" the way it is 'romote" through the American system.
I 5now everything I nee" to 5now when 'eo'le are tal5ing about anti-lac" racism , 'articularly reasons “why its not so simple % an" why its not as im'ortant or "evastating as we ma5e it out to be, but they only tal" aout it in reference to ;lac" people in the United States. So what aout the world full of ;lac" people you continue to dehumani7e L hat lets me 5now whether its anti+blac5ness you are intereste" in, or "o"ging accountability an" resisting changing your anti+ blac5 behavior. :ecause using a straw man of @.S. im'erialism that structurally we have nothing to "o with (I/m not tal5ing about a small minority of blac5 ''l who sli' through the crac5s, in or"er to e7cuse antiblac5 racism can only 4y in 1. a @.S. conte7t an" 2.an anti+blac5 one. Allow me to e7'lain. I wont re'eat all of the things I/ve tal5e" about earlier this wee5M.:ut Again, to understand systems of power , we loo" at framewor"s not at e0ceptions . An" if you want to get really realMIf you want to ta5e a wal5 through the 8entagon an" the State Ce'artment. I have been through bothM Asi"e from all the white 'eo'le, Nou will ue to :lac5 'eo'le an" it is not a''ro'riate to bring u' when "iscussinge7cusing your anti+blac5 racism. There will always e a minority of poc present , but those are things that nee" to be un"erstoo" in the broa"er conte7t of a large SR@@R. his is why you never see me 'ointing to them. It means little to nothing in the broa"er conte7t of Im'erialism an" what that means. THAT *S HAT *,=>)*A2*S, ?+&2&@*A2*S, *S. hat part of *mperialism is limiting options for poc, ripping them from the conte7t of their culture! removing options !
indoctrinating them with its own messages in the asence of all those things! providing its own options! and then churning those people in the cogs of the machine. As casualties ! means of production , 'ieces of the 'rison+ in"ustrial, com'le7, an" a small minority as the faces and agents of imperialism , etc. 8art of how it operates! while an" after it destroys everything , is selecting a small minority of 'eo'le to carry out its agen"a. I also "ont mean to say its com'letely unim'ortant within the 'ro'er conte7t, but for the 'ur'ose of "iscussing anti+blac5 racism or blaming a collective grou' without that access, its irrelevant. I t is
intellectually "ishonest to loo5 at this minority of 'eo'le chosen, s'eci
very small minority! that is eing su'ected to your anti-lac" racism. ;ut you are silent aout them . :ut :lac5 Americans are 'articularly goo" about calling 'eo'le on their
shit, because we have ha" to "evelo' an intimate un"erstan"ing of the matri7 of o''ression, as a means of survival in the belly of the beast. Fe have "evelo'e" a very s'eci
don$t li"e the ;lac" fol"s who tal" ac". And that ma"es you an anti-lac" racist motherfuc"er. And * say this with love M. I will love an" 5iss all my fellow 'oc after I say it. :lac5fo77 is always "ro''ing 5nowle"ge. It really can/t be stresse" enough but anti-lac"ness is the fulcrum of white supremacy and any 'oc that forget that are anti-lac" and need to shut the entire fuc" up .
*@S>)T ABCA@TAG> 2*@D H>)>E hiteness perpetuates a system of ause of the lac". The normativity of whiteness creates a hyper visiility for lac"s. The result of this hyper visiility is eing received as a ody that is already mar"ed and already dead. The perception of eing already dead legitimi7es the slaughter of lac" esh. #ancy$1<
(9eorge Nancy is 8rofessor of 8hiloso'hy at Cu>uesne @niversity an" oor"inator of the ritical Race heory S'ea5er Series. 3e is the author of :lac5 :o"ies, Fhite 9a?es& he ontinuing Signiuesne @niversity 8resi"ential Awar" for 7cellence in Scholarshi', htt'&o'inionator.blogs.nytimes.com201*0K01wal5ing+ while+blac5+in+the+white+ga?eL'h'TtrueUty'eTblogsUrT0Vmore+1W)W;) Ces'ite the ringing tones of bama/s 6incoln !emorial s'eech, I
thin"ing aout someone who might e considered old news already:
Trayvon ,artin . In his now much+>uote" Fhite 3ouse brie
in this country "now what it is li"e to e followed while shopping and how lac" men have had the e0perience of /wal"ing across the street and hearing the loc"s clic" on the doors of cars . * have had this e0perience on many occasions as whites catch sight of me wal"ing past their cars: +lic"! clic"! clic"! clic". Those clic"s can e deafening. There are times when * want to ecome their oogeyman. * want to pull open the car d oor and shout: /Surprise #ou$ve 'ust een car-'ac"ed y a fantasy of your own creation. @ow get out of the car. The president$s words , 'erha's consigne" to a long+ago news cycle now, remain 'owerful& they validate e0periences that lac"s have undergone in their everyday lives . bama/s voice resonates with those 'hiloso'hical voices (-rant? -anon, for e7am'le that have long attem'te" to "escribe the live" interiority of racial e7'eriences. 3e has also "e'loye" the 'ower of narrative autobiogra'hy, which is a signi
as they are stereotyped and pro6led within the conte0t of 3uotidian social spaces. III. Cavi" 3ume claime" that to e lac" was to e /li"e a parrot who spea"s a few words plainly .% An" Immanuel Eant maintaine" that to be “blac5 from hea" to foot% was “clear
'roof% that what any blac5 'erson says is stu'i". In his “#otes on Pirginia,% homas $eDerson wrote& “In imagination they X#egroesY are "ull, tasteless an" anomalous,% an" inferior. *n the 6rst American >dition of
the >ncyclopaedia ;ritannica 81IJ9! the term /@egro was de6ned as someone who is cruel! impudent! revengeful! treacherous! nasty! idle! dishonest! a liar and given to stealing. !y point here is to say that the white ga7e is gloal and historically moile . An" its origins! while from uro'e, are deeply seated in the ma"ing of America. ;lac" odies in America continue to e reduced to their surfaces and to stereotypes that are constricting and false, that often force those blac5 bo"ies to move through social s'aces in ways that 'ut whi te 'eo'le at ease.
Fe fear that our blac5 bo"ies incite an accusation. Fe move in ways that hel' us to survive the 'rocrustean ga?es of white 'eo'le. Fe "rea" that those who see us might feel the irrational fear to stan" their groun" rather than “uestions of race have faile" to 'ro"uce a critical an" historically conscious "iscourse that she"s light on what it means to be blac5 in an anti+blac5 America. If historical 'rece"ent says anything, this failure will only continue. Trayvon ,artin! li5e so many blac5 boys an" men, was under surveillance (etymologically, “to 5ee' watch%. 2ittle did he "now that on -eb. 2B, 2012, that he would enter a space of social control and odily policing ! a 5in" of :enthamian 'ano'tic nightmare that woul" truncate his being as sus'icious a s'ace where he was, 'ara"o7ically, both invisible an" ye t hy'ervisible. R6AC !ore -rom he Stone Rea" 'revious contributions to this series. “I am invisible, un"erstan", sim'ly because 'eo'le Xin this case white 'eo'leY refuse to see me.% rayvon was invisible to Oimmerman, he was not seen as the blac5 chil" that he was, trying to ma5e it bac5 home with S5ittles an" an ice" tea. 3e was not seen as having "one nothing wrong, as one who "reams an" ho'es. As
lac"! Trayvon was already "nown and rendered invisile . His childhood and humanity were already criminali7ed as part of a white racist narrative aout lac" male odies . rayvon nee"e" no intro"uction& “6oo5, the blac5 the criminalZ% IP. !any
have argue" that the site of violence occurred upon the confrontation etween Trayvon and Kimmerman. Net, the violence egan with Kimmerman$s nonemergency dispatch call , a call that was racially assaultive in its discourse, one that use" the tro'es of anti+blac5 racism. #ote, Oimmerman sai", “here/s a real sus'icious guy.% 3e also sai", “his guy loo5s li5e he/s u' to no goo" or he/s on "rugs or something.% Fhen as5e" by the "is'atcher, he sai", within secon"s, that, “3e loo5s blac5.% As5e" what he is wearing, Oimmerman says, “A "ar5 hoo"ie, li5e a gray hoo"ie.% 6ater, Oimmerman sai" that “now he/s coming towar" me. 3e/s got his han"s in his waist ban".% An" then, “An" he/s a blac5 male.% :ut what "oes it mean to be “a real sus'icious guy%L Fhat "oes it mean to loo5 li5e one is “u' to no goo"%L Oimmerman "oes not give any "etails, nothing to buttress the vali"ity of his narration. Eee' in min" that Oimmerman is in his vehicle as he 'rovi"es his narration to the "is'atcher. As “the loo5er,% it is not Oimmerman who is in "anger rather, it is rayvon !artin, “the loo5e" at,% who is the target of sus'icion an" 'ossible violence. After all, it is rayvon !artin who is wearing the hoo"ie, a 'iece of “raciali?e"% attire that a''arently signi
simply eing L 8erha's the religious stu"ies scholar :ill 3art is correct& “To e a lac" man is to e mar"ed for death.% r as the 'olitical 'hiloso'her $oy $ames argues, “:lac5ness as evil XisY "estine"
for era"ication.% 8erha's this is why when writing about the "eath of his young blac5 son, the social theorist F..:. Cu :ois sai", “All that "ay an" all that night there sat an awful gla"ness in my heart nay, blame me not if I see the worl" thus "ar5ly through the Peil an" my soul whis'ers ever to me saying, [#ot "ea", not "ea", but esca'e" not bon", but free./ % rayvon !artin was 5ille" wal5ing while blac5. As the 'rotector of all things “gate",% of all things stan"ing on the 'reci'ice of being en"angere" by blac5 male bo"ies, Oimmerman create" the con"itions u'on which he ha" no groun"s to stan" on. In"ee", through his racist stereoty'es an" his 'ursuit of rayvon, he created the conditions that elied the applicaility of the stand your ground law and created a situation where Trayvon was "illed . his is the narrative that ought to have been tol" by the attorneys for the family of rayvon !artin. It is 'art of the narrative that bama brilliantly tol", one of blac5 bo"ies being racially 'olice" an" having suDere" a uni>ue history of racist vitriol in this country. Net it is one that is 'erha's too late, one alrea"y ren"ere" mute an" inconse>uential by the ver"ict of “not guilty.%
Thus the Alt M )e'ect the aN as an continued adherence to revolutionary suicide. )evolutionary suicide is an idealism to re'ect the ause that lac" esh is su'ected to. *t is standing up for the downtrodden! it is freedom to decide what happens to the lac" community *t is an outcry for the relief of police rutality. @ewton$<
(#ewton, 3uey 8., 3uey was the foun"er of the :lac5 8anther 'arty in the late B0/s early H0/s. Revolutionary Suici"e. Revise"7'an"e" e". #ew Nor5& 3arcourt :race $ovanovich, 1KH*. 8rint. 8g. 11B his is the 'rogram we wrote "own& :R 1KBB :6AE 8A#3R 8ARN 86A-R! A#C 8R9RA! F3A F FA# F3A F :6IPam on 'a'er+ hat the alternative loo"s li"e 8resente" as the !anifesto to the :lac5 8anthers. 1. e want freedom . e want power to determine the destiny of our ;lac" +ommunity. Fe believe that :lac5 'eo'le will not be free until we are able to
"etermine our "estiny. 2. Fe want full em'loyment for our 'eo'le. Fe believe that the fe"eral government is res'onsible an" obligate" to give every man em'loyment or a guarantee" income. Fe believe that if the white American businessmen will not give full em'loyment, then the means of production should e
ta"en from the usinessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organi7e and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living . *. Fe want an end to the roery by the ca'italist of our ;lac" community . Fe believe that this racist government has robbe" us an" now we are "eman"ing
the over"ue "ebt of forty acres an" t wo mules. -orty acres an" two mules were 'romise" 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor a n" mass mur"er of :lac5 'eo'le. Fe will acce't the 'ayment in currency which will be "istribute" to our many communities. he 9ermans are now ai"ing the $ews in Israel for the genoci"e of the $ewish 'eo'le. he 9ermans mur"ere" si7 million $ews. he American racist has ta5en 'art in the slaughter of over
does not have "nowledge of himself and his position in society and the world! then he has little chance to relate to anything else . B. Fe want all :lac5 men
to be e7em't from military service. Fe believe that :lac5 'eo'le shoul" not be force" to ;)UTA2*T# and ,U)B>) of ;lac" people . Fe believe we can end police rutality in our ;lac" community y organi7ing
;lac" self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our ;lac" community from racist police oppression and rutality . he Secon" Amen"ment to the onstitution of the @nite" States gives a right to bear arms. Fe therefore believe that all ;lac" people should arm themselves for self-defense. ). Fe want free"om for all :lac5 men hel" in fe"eral,
state, county an" city 'risons an" =ails. Fe believe that all :lac5 'eo'le shoul" be release" from the many =ails an" 'risons because they have not receive" a fair an" im'artial trial . K. Fe want all :lac5 'eo'le when brought to trial to be trie" in court by a =ury of their 'eer grou' or 'eo'le from their :lac5 communities, as "e
events! it ecomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political ands which have connected them with another , an" to assume, among the 'owers of
the earth, the se'arate an" e>ual station to which the laws of nature an" nature/s 9o" entitle them, a "ecent res'ect to the o'inions of man5in" re>uires that they shoul" "eclare the causes which im'el them to the se'aration. Fe hol" these truths to be self+evi"ent, that all men are create" e>ual that they are en"owe" by their reator with certain un alienable rights that among these are life, liberty, an" the 'ursuit of ha''iness. hat, to
secure these rights! government s are instituted among men! deriving their 'ust powers from the consent of the governedO that! whenever any form of government ecomes destructive of these ends! it is the right of the people to alter or to aolish it, an" to institute a new government, laying its foun"ation on
such 'rinci'les, an" organi?ing its 'owers in such form, as to them shall seem most li5ely to eDect their safety an" ha''iness. 8ru"ence, in"ee", will "ictate that governments long establishe" shoul" not be change" for light an" transient causes an", accor"ingly, all e7'erience hath shown, that man5in" are more "is'ose" to suDer, while evils are suDerable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustome". :ut, when a long train of auses an" usur'ations, 'ursuing invariably the same ob=ect, evinces a design to reduce them under asolute despotism! it is their right, it is their duty! to throw
oN such government! and to provide new guards for their future security . Fith the 'rogram on 'a'er, we set u' the structure of our organi?ation.
To do anything while the lac" esh is still fungile is to ta"e part in an unethical world. Solving the antagonism of the antilac" esh is a 1st priority issue when attempting to create good scholarship. ilderson$14 (-ran5. :. Fil"erson, Re" Fhite an" blac5, 2010. 8g. BH+B) -ran5 :. Fil"erson is a tenure" 'rofessor at the @niversity of alifornia Irvine. 3e has atten"e" the @niversity of olombia where he got a "egree in 'sychology.
&ntological incapacity , I have inferre" an" here state forthright, is the constituent element of ethics . 8ut another way, one cannot emody capacity and e ! simultaneously, ethical. here there are Slaves it is unethical to e free. he Settler?,aster$s capacity , I have argue", is a function of e0ploitation and alienation O and the Slave$s incapacity is elaorated y accumulation and fungiility. :ut the /Savage is positioned! structurally! y su'ective capacity an" Re", Fhite, U :lac5& inema an" the Structure of @.S. Antagonisms B) ob=ective inca'acity, by sovereignty an" genoci"e, res'ectively. *t is the *ndian$s liminal status in political economy! the manner in which her?his positionality shuttles etween the incapacity of a genocided o'ect and the capacity of a sovereign su'ect! coupled with the fact that )edness does not overdetermine the /thanatology 8Pudy JI! IQ9 of liidinal economyRthis liminal capacity within political economy and complete freedom from incapacity within liidinal economyRwhich raises serious douts aout the status of /Savage ethicality vis+\+vis the triangulate" structure (Re", Fhite, an" :lac5 of antagonisms. learly, the coherence of hiteness as a structural position in modernity depends on the capacity to e free from genocide! not! perhaps! as an historical e0perience! ut at least as a positioning modality .
@ortheast Asia The reduction of military presence is the uidity of white policing. The US grand strategy will withdraw troops from ________ only to give the signal of a enign authority! all to have those troops replaced y air stri"es and private contractors and then sent to the lac"est of their enemies #emen and Somalia. Smith$1%
(Ashley smith, Smith is a long time contributor to many suberversive sources. Smith has written for the ISR in their 2012 issue “ rayvon !artin an" the #ew $im crow%. he following can be foun" here& htt'&isreview.orgissue)*obamas+new+ im'erialist+strategy -ace" with the growing rivalry with hina an" America/s "iminishe" 'ower in the !i""le ast, the &ama administration has been com'elle" to ad'ust the grand strategy of gloal domination. bama still intends for the United States to e, in his wor"s, “the in"is'ensable nation,% the world$s police man. 3e will therefore continue to pro'ect American power into its tra"itional s'heres of in4uence li5e 6atin America, as well as e7'an" its activity into other areas such as Africa, for e7am'le, through A()*+&,. +ontrary to lieral self-delusion! &ama is not really cutting the military udget . As he "eclare" at the 8entagon announcement of his new 9ui"ance, ver the ne7t ten years, the growth in the defense udget will slow! ut the fact of the matter is this& it will still grow , because we have global res'onsibilities that "eman" our lea"ershi'. In fact, the "efense bu"get will still be larger than it was towar" the en" of the :ush a"ministration.; ashington is simply recalirating its military hardware ! 'ersonnel, an" "e'loyment to uestionable results of its Ira> an" Afghanistan wars, it involves moving away from direct military invasions an" occupations! and putting a stronger emphasis on the use of counterterrorist tactics that rely on Special (orces and drone stri"es , as well as on /pro0y military forces. o carry this shift through, the bama a"ministration is cutting the si?e of the Army! and increasing s'en"ing on the #avy, Air -orce, S'ecial 'erations -orces, an" high-tech weaponry. bama has also aban"one" the 8entagon/s longtime 'lan to have the ca'acity to an" Afghanistan. -or future o'erations bama wants to use American air power and a local pro0y army to conduct any regime changes. As the Fall Street $ournal re'orts, !any bama a"ministration oGcials see last year/s international military intervention in 2iya as a model for future conicts , with the @nite" States using its air 'ower u' front while also relying on its allies, an" on local force to
The s3ualing over things li"e removal of troops is ut a distraction mechanism from the dispossession of the lac" o'ect. US imperialism and anti-imperialism are ased in antilac"ness. The discussion of the A(( crowds out the analysis of slavery and anti-lac"ness. Se0ton$45 (Race, #ation, an" m'ire in a :lac5ene" Forl", $are" Se7ton, 200B, $are" Se7ton is a 'rofessor at al Irvine ln the consternate" delierations of national security , oGcial an" unoGcial, from the foun"ing of the repulic to the trum'eting of the new world order , the social control an" crisis management of the lac" population has always 6gured centrally ! even or especially when matters of emanci'ation or racial e3uality have by no means the focus of deate . Across the swee' of @.S. history, 'olicing the color line has re>uire" no cre"ible threat of
invasion, no evi"ence of insurrectionary "esign, no 'roven stoc5'ile of illi cit chemical agents or ra"ioactive material, no 'articular breach of "omestic or international law, no sensational moral or ethical transgression (though all of these items, real or imagine", have factore" in the relevant "iscourses, 'ublic an" 'rivate. It has only re>uire" the 'resence+within the 'olity, economy, culture, an" society+of a so+calle" 'roblem 'eo'le, "welling as the absence of human 'resence. Fe can note further that the institution of transatlantic racial slavery+whose 'olitical an" economic relations constitute , 'resent tense, the social faric of estern modernity in general , of the Americas in 'articular, an" of the @nite" States most acutely+cannot e e0plained (away by the ac>uisition of <7e" ca'ital, the minimimtion of variable ca'ital, or the ma7imi?ation of 'ro
e0pansion of strategic overseas military installations! or the idiosyncrasies of the hite House . It may seem so at times, but only insofar as contemporary oservers , or our historical counter'arts, fundamentally misrecogni7e the nature of racial slavery & as a brutal regime of labor e7'loitation as the atrocious ad'unct to land con3uest and the e0termination, containment! and or forced assimilation of indigenous peoples or as an en"eavor functional to, rather than in e7cess of an" at times at o""s wi th, the a"vent an" maturation of urocentric ca'italism. &f course! all of these procedures have een important to the history of racial slavery 8and vice versa9! ut none is essential to its origins! its development and! aove all! its pernicious afterlife. J )ather! enslavement+the inaugural enter'rise for the age of uro'e, the 'recon"ition for the American century an" its covete" se>uel+ is enaled y an" "e'en"ent on the most basic of o'erations& symbolic an" material immobili?ation, the asolute divestment of sovereignty at the site of the lac" ody & its free"om of movement, its con"itions of labor, its 'hysical an" emotional sustenance, its social an" se7ual re'ro"uction, its 'olitical an" cultural re'resentation. :eyon" its economic utility, this rendering of the lac" as the o'ect of dispossession 'ar e7cellence+ob=ect of accumulation, 'rototy'ical commo"ity, ca'tive 4esh+ structures in"elibly the historical proliferation of modem conceptions of sovereignty that now "ominate 'olitical an" legal "iscourse globally an" provide the crucial frames of intelligiility for oth imperialism and anti-imperialism! empire and its discontents . Fith blac5s barre" by "e
of slavery have the e0clusive and positive capacity to deate aout sovereignty : to triviali7e its importance and rationali7e its violation or to struggle in its defense! to name and lament its loss! and wage war for its recovery. :lac5s, then, suDer a 'eculiar relation to the @.S. em'ire in the historic instance& neither its sub=ects
(certainly not its authors or bene
ca'ital of military hero+ ism, etc.+all com'onents of the ty'ical criti>ue of the racism internal to the arme" forces but were also "iDerentiate" by the enemies of the @.S. military invasion an" occu'ation. Racially targete" 'ro'agan"a a''eale" to the cruel ironies of blac5 military service (ironies alrea"y well 5nown an" articulate" by mi"+century an" oDere" i"eological su''ort to the struggle for free"om, =ustice, an" e>uality that was, at the time, intensifying an" mutating statesi"e as it raise" the galvani?ing cry of :lac5 8ower.
*mperialism is a reproduction of anti-lac" racism. *mperialism as a system pits minorities against each other and forces individuals to assimilate into the white system of lac" policing. Any promotion of the imperial system should e re'ected as unethical. ;lac"fo00$1< (:lac5fo77 is an avi" twitter writer about race an" racism. :lac5 fo77 has 'ut together some of the most forwar" statements about anti+blac5ness an" the way it is 'romote" through the American system.
I 5now everything I nee" to 5now when 'eo'le are tal5ing about anti-lac" racism , 'articularly reasons “why its not so simple % an" why its not as im'ortant or "evastating as we ma5e it out to be, but they only tal" aout it in reference to ;lac" people in the United States. So what aout the world full of ;lac" people you continue to dehumani7e L hat lets me 5now whether its anti+blac5ness you are intereste" in, or "o"ging accountability an" resisting changing your anti+ blac5 behavior. :ecause using a straw man of @.S. im'erialism that structurally we have nothing to "o with (I/m not tal5ing about a small minority of blac5 ''l who sli' through the crac5s, in or"er to e7cuse antiblac5 racism can only 4y in 1. a @.S. conte7t an" 2.an anti+blac5 one. Allow me to e7'lain. I wont re'eat all of the things I/ve tal5e" about earlier this wee5M.:ut Again, to understand systems of power , we loo" at framewor"s not at e0ceptions . An" if you want to get really realMIf you want to ta5e a wal5 through the 8entagon an" the State Ce'artment. I have been through bothM Asi"e from all the white 'eo'le, Nou will ue to :lac5 'eo'le an" it is not a''ro'riate to bring u' when "iscussinge7cusing your anti+blac5 racism. There will always e a minority of poc present , but those are things that nee" to be un"erstoo" in the broa"er conte7t of a large SR@@R. his is why you never see me 'ointing to them. It means little to nothing in the broa"er conte7t of Im'erialism an" what that means. THAT *S HAT *,=>)*A2*S, ?+&2&@*A2*S, *S. hat part of *mperialism is limiting options for poc, ripping them from the conte7t of their culture! removing options !
indoctrinating them with its own messages in the asence of all those things! providing its own options! and then churning those people in the cogs of the machine. As casualties ! means of production , 'ieces of the 'rison+ in"ustrial, com'le7, an" a small minority as the faces and agents of imperialism , etc. 8art of how it operates! while an" after it destroys everything , is selecting a small minority of
'eo'le to carry out its agen"a. I also "ont mean to say its com'letely unim'ortant within the 'ro'er conte7t, but for the 'ur'ose of "iscussing anti+blac5 racism or blaming a collective grou' without that access, its irrelevant. I t is intellectually "ishonest to loo5 at this minority of 'eo'le chosen, s'eci
lac" racism! in order to truly really see the lengths that they are going .
8eo'le nee" to reali?e that investment an" start to challenge an" "econstruct it before anything will be accom'lishe". Nou shoul" start to won"er not “hey are always bellyaching, 3ow ba" are those blac5 'eo'le RA66NL% an" start to won"er “Fhy am i so investe"L% an" follow that stream of thought to its conclusions. This is antilac"ness in its est form . An" 'eo'le will get u'set at :lac5 Americans all "ay long as an e7cuse. ,eanwhile there is an entire world of ;lac" people! of which we are a
very small minority! that is eing su'ected to your anti-lac" racism. ;ut you are silent aout them . :ut :lac5 Americans are 'articularly goo" about calling 'eo'le on their
shit, because we have ha" to "evelo' an intimate un"erstan"ing of the matri7 of o''ression, as a means of survival in the belly of the beast. Fe have "evelo'e" a very s'eci
don$t li"e the ;lac" fol"s who tal" ac". And that ma"es you an anti-lac" racist motherfuc"er. And * say this with love M. I will love an" 5iss all my fellow 'oc after I say it. :lac5fo77 is always "ro''ing 5nowle"ge. It really can/t be stresse" enough but anti-lac"ness is the fulcrum of white supremacy and any 'oc that forget that are anti-lac" and need to shut the entire fuc" up .
*@S>)T ABCA@TAG> 2*@D H>)>E hiteness perpetuates a system of ause of the lac". The normativity of whiteness creates a hyper visiility for lac"s. The result of this hyper visiility is eing received as a ody that is already mar"ed and already dead. The perception of eing already dead legitimi7es the slaughter of lac" esh. #ancy$1<
(9eorge Nancy is 8rofessor of 8hiloso'hy at Cu>uesne @niversity an" oor"inator of the ritical Race heory S'ea5er Series. 3e is the author of :lac5 :o"ies, Fhite 9a?es& he ontinuing Signiuesne @niversity 8resi"ential Awar" for 7cellence in Scholarshi', htt'&o'inionator.blogs.nytimes.com201*0K01wal5ing+ while+blac5+in+the+white+ga?eL'h'TtrueUty'eTblogsUrT0Vmore+1W)W;) Ces'ite the ringing tones of bama/s 6incoln !emorial s'eech, I
thin"ing aout someone who might e considered old news already: Trayvon ,artin . In his now much+>uote" Fhite 3ouse brie
in this country "now what it is li"e to e followed while shopping and how lac" men have had the e0perience of /wal"ing across the street and hearing the loc"s clic" on the doors of cars . * have had this e0perience on
many occasions as whites catch sight of me wal"ing past their cars: +lic"! clic"! clic"! clic". Those clic"s can e deafening. There are times when * want to ecome their oogeyman. * want to pull open the car d oor and shout: /Surprise #ou$ve 'ust een car-'ac"ed y a fantasy of your own creation. @ow get out of the car. The president$s words , 'erha's consigne" to a long+ago news cycle now, remain 'owerful& they validate e0periences that lac"s have undergone in their everyday lives . bama/s voice resonates with those 'hiloso'hical voices
(-rant? -anon, for e7am'le that have long attem'te" to "escribe the live" interiority of racial e7'eriences. 3e has also "e'loye" the 'ower of narrative autobiogra'hy, which is a signi
as they are stereotyped and pro6led within the conte0t of 3uotidian social spaces. III. Cavi" 3ume claime" that to e lac" was to e /li"e a parrot who spea"s a few words plainly .% An" Immanuel Eant maintaine" that to be “blac5 from hea" to foot% was “clear
'roof% that what any blac5 'erson says is stu'i". In his “#otes on Pirginia,% homas $eDerson wrote& “In imagination they X#egroesY are "ull, tasteless an" anomalous,% an" inferior. *n the 6rst American >dition of
the >ncyclopaedia ;ritannica 81IJ9! the term /@egro was de6ned as someone who is cruel! impudent! revengeful! treacherous! nasty! idle! dishonest! a liar and given to stealing. !y point here is to say that the white ga7e is gloal and historically moile . An" its origins! while from uro'e, are deeply seated in the ma"ing of America. ;lac" odies in America continue to e reduced to their surfaces and to stereotypes that are constricting and false, that often force those blac5 bo"ies to move through social s'aces in ways that 'ut whi te 'eo'le at ease.
Fe fear that our blac5 bo"ies incite an accusation. Fe move in ways that hel' us to survive the 'rocrustean ga?es of white 'eo'le. Fe "rea" that those who see us might feel the irrational fear to stan" their groun" rather than “uestions of race have faile" to 'ro"uce a critical an" historically conscious "iscourse that she"s light on what it means to be blac5 in an anti+blac5 America. If historical 'rece"ent says anything, this failure will only continue. Trayvon ,artin! li5e so many blac5 boys an" men, was under surveillance (etymologically, “to 5ee' watch%. 2ittle did he "now that on -eb. 2B, 2012, that he would enter a space of social control and odily policing ! a 5in" of :enthamian 'ano'tic nightmare that woul" truncate his being as sus'icious a s'ace where he was, 'ara"o7ically, both invisible an" ye t hy'ervisible. R6AC !ore -rom he Stone Rea" 'revious contributions to this series. “I am invisible, un"erstan", sim'ly because 'eo'le Xin this case white 'eo'leY refuse to see me.% rayvon was invisible to Oimmerman, he was not seen as the blac5 chil" that he was, trying to ma5e it bac5 home with S5ittles an" an ice" tea. 3e was not seen as having "one nothing wrong, as one who "reams an" ho'es. As
lac"! Trayvon was already "nown and rendered invisile . His childhood and humanity were already criminali7ed as part of a white racist narrative aout lac" male odies . rayvon nee"e" no intro"uction& “6oo5, the blac5 the criminalZ% IP. !any have argue" that the site of violence occurred upon the confrontation etween Trayvon and Kimmerman. Net, the violence egan with Kimmerman$s nonemergency dispatch call , a call that was racially assaultive in its discourse, one that use" the tro'es of anti+blac5 racism. #ote, Oimmerman sai", “here/s a real sus'icious guy.% 3e also sai", “his guy loo5s li5e he/s u' to no goo" or he/s on "rugs or something.% Fhen as5e" by the "is'atcher, he sai", within secon"s, that, “3e loo5s blac5.% As5e" what he is wearing, Oimmerman says, “A "ar5 hoo"ie, li5e a gray hoo"ie.% 6ater, Oimmerman sai" that “now he/s coming towar" me. 3e/s got his han"s in his waist ban".% An" then, “An" he/s a blac5 male.% :ut what "oes it mean to be “a real sus'icious guy%L Fhat "oes it mean to loo5 li5e one is “u' to no goo"%L Oimmerman "oes not give any "etails, nothing to buttress the vali"ity of his narration. Eee' in min" that Oimmerman is in his vehicle as he 'rovi"es his narration to the "is'atcher. As “the loo5er,% it is not Oimmerman who is in "anger rather, it is rayvon !artin, “the loo5e" at,% who is the target of sus'icion an" 'ossible violence. After all, it is rayvon !artin who is wearing the hoo"ie, a 'iece of “raciali?e"% attire that a''arently signi
blac5 young male with “something% in his han"s, wearing a hoo"ie, loo5ing sus'icious, an" 'erha's on "rugs, an" there being “something wrong with him,% is a racist narrative of fear an" fren?y. The history of white supremacy underwrites this interpretation. Fithin this conte7t of "iscursive violence, Oimmerman was guilty of an act of aggression against rayvon !artin, even efore the trigger was pulled . :efore his 'hysical "eath, Trayvon ,artin was rendered /socially dead under the weight of Kimmerman$s racist stereotypes . Oimmerman/s aggression was enacte" through his ga?e, through the act of 'ro
simply eing L 8erha's the religious stu"ies scholar :ill 3art is correct& “To e a lac" man is to e mar"ed for death.% r as the 'olitical 'hiloso'her $oy $ames argues, “:lac5ness as evil XisY "estine"
for era"ication.% 8erha's this is why when writing about the "eath of his young blac5 son, the social theorist F..:. Cu :ois sai", “All that "ay an" all that night there sat an awful gla"ness in my heart nay, blame me not if I see the worl" thus "ar5ly through the Peil an" my soul whis'ers ever to me saying, [#ot "ea", not "ea", but esca'e" not bon", but free./ % rayvon !artin was 5ille" wal5ing while blac5. As the 'rotector of all things “gate",% of all things stan"ing on the 'reci'ice of being en"angere" by blac5 male bo"ies, Oimmerman create" the con"itions u'on which he ha" no groun"s to stan" on. In"ee", through his racist stereoty'es an" his 'ursuit of rayvon, he created the conditions that elied the applicaility of the stand your ground law and created a situation where Trayvon was "illed . his is the narrative that ought to have been tol" by the attorneys for the family of rayvon !artin. It is 'art of the narrative that bama brilliantly tol", one of blac5 bo"ies being racially 'olice" an" having suDere" a uni>ue history of racist vitriol in this country. Net it is one that is 'erha's too late, one alrea"y ren"ere" mute an" inconse>uential by the ver"ict of “not guilty.%
Thus the Alt M )e'ect the aN as an continued adherence to revolutionary suicide. )evolutionary suicide is an idealism to re'ect the ause that lac" esh is su'ected to. *t is standing up for the downtrodden! it is freedom to decide what happens to the lac" community *t is an outcry for the relief of police rutality. @ewton$<
(#ewton, 3uey 8., 3uey was the foun"er of the :lac5 8anther 'arty in the late B0/s early H0/s. Revolutionary Suici"e. Revise"7'an"e" e". #ew Nor5& 3arcourt :race $ovanovich, 1KH*. 8rint. 8g. 11B his is the 'rogram we wrote "own& :R 1KBB :6AE 8A#3R 8ARN 86A-R! A#C 8R9RA! F3A F FA# F3A F :6IPam on 'a'er+ hat the alternative loo"s li"e 8resente" as the !anifesto to the :lac5 8anthers. 1. e want freedom . e want power to determine the destiny of our ;lac" +ommunity. Fe believe that :lac5 'eo'le will not be free until we are able to "etermine our "estiny. 2. Fe want full em'loyment for our 'eo'le. Fe believe that the fe"eral government is res'onsible an" obligate" to give every man em'loyment or a guarantee" income. Fe believe that if the white American businessmen will not give full em'loyment, then the means of production should e
ta"en from the usinessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organi7e and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living . *. Fe want an end to the roery by the ca'italist of our ;lac" community . Fe believe that this racist government has robbe" us an" now we are "eman"ing the over"ue "ebt of forty acres an" t wo mules. -orty acres an" two mules were 'romise" 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor a n" mass mur"er of :lac5 'eo'le. Fe will acce't the 'ayment in currency which will be "istribute" to our many communities. he 9ermans are now ai"ing the $ews in Israel for the genoci"e of the $ewish 'eo'le. he 9ermans mur"ere" si7 million $ews. he American racist has ta5en 'art in the slaughter of over
education for our people that e0poses the true nature of this decadent American society. Fe want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the presentday society. Fe believe in an e"ucational system that will give to our 'eo'le a 5nowle"ge of self. *f a man does not have "nowledge of himself and his position in society and the world! then he has little chance to relate to anything else . B. Fe want all :lac5 men government ai", can buil" an" ma5e "ecent housing for its 'eo'le. ;. Fe want
to be e7em't from military service. Fe believe that :lac5 'eo'le shoul" not be force" to ;)UTA2*T# and ,U)B>) of ;lac" people . Fe believe we can end police rutality in our ;lac" community y organi7ing
;lac" self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our ;lac" community from racist police oppression and rutality . he Secon" Amen"ment to the onstitution of the @nite" States gives a right to bear arms. Fe therefore believe that all ;lac" people should arm themselves for self-defense. ). Fe want free"om for all :lac5 men hel" in fe"eral,
state, county an" city 'risons an" =ails. Fe believe that all :lac5 'eo'le shoul" be release" from the many =ails an" 'risons because they have not receive" a fair an" im'artial trial . K. Fe want all :lac5 'eo'le when brought to trial to be trie" in court by a =ury of their 'eer grou' or 'eo'le from their :lac5 communities, as "e
events! it ecomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political ands which have connected them with another , an" to assume, among the 'owers of
the earth, the se'arate an" e>ual station to which the laws of nature an" nature/s 9o" entitle them, a "ecent res'ect to the o'inions of man5in" re>uires that they shoul" "eclare the causes which im'el them to the se'aration. Fe hol" these truths to be self+evi"ent, that all men are create" e>ual that they are en"owe" by their reator with certain un alienable rights that among these are life, liberty, an" the 'ursuit of ha''iness. hat, to
secure these rights! government s are instituted among men! deriving their 'ust powers from the consent of the governedO that! whenever any form of government ecomes destructive of these ends! it is the right of the people to alter or to aolish it, an" to institute a new government, laying its foun"ation on
such 'rinci'les, an" organi?ing its 'owers in such form, as to them shall seem most li5ely to eDect their safety an" ha''iness. 8ru"ence, in"ee", will "ictate that governments long establishe" shoul" not be change" for light an" transient causes an", accor"ingly, all e7'erience hath shown, that man5in" are more "is'ose" to suDer, while evils are suDerable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustome". :ut, when a long train of auses an" usur'ations, 'ursuing invariably the same ob=ect, evinces a design to reduce them under asolute despotism! it is their right, it is their duty! to throw oN such government! and to provide new guards for their future security . Fith the 'rogram on 'a'er, we set u' the structure of our organi?ation.
To do anything while the lac" esh is still fungile is to ta"e part in an unethical world. Solving the antagonism of the antilac" esh is a 1st priority issue when attempting to create good scholarship. ilderson$14 (-ran5. :. Fil"erson, Re" Fhite an" blac5, 2010. 8g. BH+B) -ran5 :. Fil"erson is a tenure" 'rofessor at the @niversity of alifornia Irvine. 3e has atten"e" the @niversity of olombia where he got a "egree in 'sychology.
&ntological incapacity , I have inferre" an" here state forthright, is the constituent element of ethics . 8ut another way, one cannot emody capacity and e ! simultaneously, ethical. here there are Slaves it is unethical to e free. he Settler?,aster$s capacity , I have argue", is a function of e0ploitation and alienation O and the Slave$s incapacity is elaorated y accumulation and fungiility. :ut the /Savage is positioned! structurally! y su'ective capacity an" Re", Fhite, U :lac5& inema an" the Structure of @.S. Antagonisms B) ob=ective inca'acity, by sovereignty an" genoci"e, res'ectively. *t is the *ndian$s liminal status in political economy! the manner in which her?his positionality shuttles etween the incapacity of a genocided o'ect and the capacity of a sovereign su'ect! coupled with the fact that )edness does not overdetermine the /thanatology 8Pudy JI! IQ9 of liidinal economyRthis liminal capacity within political economy and complete freedom from incapacity within liidinal economyRwhich raises serious douts aout the status of /Savage ethicality vis+\+vis the triangulate" structure (Re", Fhite, an" :lac5 of antagonisms. learly, the coherence of hiteness as a structural position in modernity depends on the capacity to e free from genocide ! not! perhaps! as an historical e0perience! ut at least as a positioning modality .
(ramewor" The )&;: The )ole of the ;allot should e to determine who est interrupts and re'ects the racist power structure +ounter- *nterpretation: The armative must 'ustify their ontology efore they get to weigh the aN. Standards: Ground MThe armative team must defend the entirety of the 1A+! not 'ust select parts. *t$s a 3uestion of the plan action as well as the advantages and epistemology?ontology that 'usti6es it. @egative ground is only to prove that the armative is not desirale. )eps M the A(( has the urden of proof to 'ustify the representations that they put fourth ,ust e ale to test the assumptions of the 1A+ M they have structural adv. @o impact to your framewor" argument M this is a predictale literature ase situated around the 3uestion of society which is etter education than plan-focus education ecause the concepts of concept and interactions that undergird the rest of the deates. They say the focus on the macro matters - ut the detached stance of the policy ma"er in deate divorces us from true advocacy and is one of the most deilitating failures of contemporary education. Such as stance is lin"ed to normative practices used to produce and maintain multiple networ"s of oppression. )eid-;rin"ley! %44J (Shanara,_3 3ARS3 RA6IIS - “AI#9 :6AE%& 3F A-RIA#+A!RIA# 86IN C:ARS #9IA R8RS#AI# 3R@93 RAIA6 8R-R!A# A#C SN6,_ 'g. 11)+120
!itchell observes that the
stance of the policyma"er in deate comes with a /sense of detachment associated with the spectator posture .% In other wor"s, its participants are ale to engage in deates where they are ale to distance themselves from the events that are the su'ects of deates . Beaters can throw around terms li"e torture! terrorism! genocide and nuclear war without lin"ing . Cebate simulations can only serve to distance the deaters from real world participation in the political conte0ts they deate aout . As Filliam Shanahan remar5s& Mthe topic estalished a relationship through interpellation that inhere" irres'ective of what the 'articular 'olitical aGnities of the "ebaters were. The relationship was oth political and ethical ! and needed to e deated as such. hen we lithely call for United States (ederal Government policyma"ing! we are not immune to the colonialist legacy that estalishes our place on this continent. e cannot wish away the horri6c atrocities perpetrated everyday in our name simply y refusing to ac"nowledge these implications (em'hasis in original. he “ob=ective% stance of the policyma"er is an impersonal or imperialist persona. he 'olicyma5er relies upon /acceptale forms of evidence ! engaging in logical discussion! producing rational thoughts. As Shanahan, an" the 6ouisville "ebaters/ note, such a stance is integrally lin"ed to the normative! historical and contemporary practices of power that produce and maintain varying networ"s of oppression. In other wor"s, the discursive practices of policy-oriented deate are developed within! through and from systems of power and privilege. Thus! these practices are critically implicated in the maintenance of hegemony . So, rather than seeing themselves as government or state actors, $ ones an" 9reen choose to 'erform themselves in "ebate, violating the more “ob=ective% stance of the “'olicyma5er% an" re>uire their o''onents to "o the same. $ones an" 9reen argue that "ebaters shoul" groun" their agency in what they are able to "o as “in"ivi"uals.% #ote the following statement from 9reen in the 2# against mory/s A llen an" 9reenstein (ran5e" in the “sweet si7teen%& “An" then, another main "iDerence is that our a"vocacy is groun"e" in our agency as in"ivi"uals. heir agency is groun"e" in what the @S fe"eral government, what the state shoul" "o.%11H iting !itchell, 9reen argues further& Fe tal5 about, "ea" 're?, tal5s about how the system a in/t gone change, unless we ma5e it change. Fe/re tal5in/ about what we as in"ivi"uals shoul" "o. hat/s why 9or"on !itchell tal5e" about how when we lose our argumentative agency.
hen we give our agency to someone else! we egin spea"ing of what the United States (ederal Government should do! rather than what we do! that cause us to e spectators. *ts one of the most deilitating failures of contemporary education. As 'art of their commitment to the "evelo'ment of agency, each of the 6ouisville "ebaters engages in recognition of their 'rivilege, in an attem't to ma5e their social locations visible an" relevant to their rhetorical stance.
2in"s
=olicy
Top-Shelf Africa The reduction of military presence is the uidity of white policing. The US grand strategy will withdraw troops from ________ only to give the signal of a enign authority! all to have those troops replaced y air stri"es and private contractors and then sent to the lac"est of their enemies #emen and Somalia. Smith$1%
(Ashley smith, Smith is a long time contributor to many suberversive sources. Smith has written for the ISR in their 2012 issue “ rayvon !artin an" the #ew $im crow%. he following can be foun" here& htt'&isreview.orgissue)*obamas+new+ im'erialist+strategy -ace" with the growing rivalry with hina an" America/s "iminishe" 'ower in the !i""le ast, the &ama administration has been com'elle" to ad'ust the grand strategy of gloal domination. bama still intends for the United States to e, in his wor"s, “the in"is'ensable nation,% the world$s police man. 3e will therefore continue to pro'ect American power into its tra"itional s'heres of in4uence li5e 6atin America, as well as e7'an" its activity into other areas such as Africa, for e7am'le, through A()*+&,. +ontrary to lieral self-delusion! &ama is not really cutting the military udget . As he "eclare" at the 8entagon announcement of his new 9ui"ance, ver the ne7t ten years, the growth in the defense udget will slow! ut the fact of the matter is this& it will still grow , because we have global res'onsibilities that "eman" our lea"ershi'. In fact, the "efense bu"get will still be larger than it was towar" the en" of the :ush a"ministration.; ashington is simply recalirating its military hardware ! 'ersonnel, an" "e'loyment to uestionable results of its Ira> an" Afghanistan wars, it involves moving away from direct military invasions an" occupations! and putting a stronger emphasis on the use of counterterrorist tactics that rely on Special (orces and drone stri"es , as well as on /pro0y military forces. o carry this shift through, the bama a"ministration is cutting the si?e of the Army! and increasing s'en"ing on the #avy, Air -orce, S'ecial 'erations -orces, an" high-tech weaponry. bama has also aban"one" the 8entagon/s longtime 'lan to have the ca'acity to an" Afghanistan. -or future o'erations bama wants to use American air power and a local pro0y army to conduct any regime changes. As the Fall Street $ournal re'orts, !any bama a"ministration oGcials see last year/s international military intervention in 2iya as a model for future conicts , with the @nite" States using its air 'ower u' front while also relying on its allies, an" on local force to
Generic
The A(( is a continuation of United States imperialism. The ANs reduction in military presence is 'ust a part of the 2arger grand strategy to ma"e the system of American domination and policing continue. Buec"$1F (olin Cuec5, Cr. olin Cuec5 is a Senior -ellow of the -8RI an" an associate 'rofessor in the School of 8olicy, 9overnment, an" International ADairs at 9eorge !ason, htt'&www.isn.eth?.chCigital+6ibraryArticlesCetailLlngTenUi"T1K02*0
&ver the past decade or more, lea"ing aca"emic foreign policy realists have argued for US strategic retrenchment . Retrenchment is a strategy designed to reduce a countryJs international an" military costs an" commitments. X1Y his can be done y cutting defense spending! withdrawing from certain alliance obligations, scaling ac" on deployments aroad, or re"ucing international e7'en"itures. )etrenchment "oes not necessarily involve the avoidance of all strategic commitments. :ut the "esire" "irection with retrenchment is one of
lowere" cost an" re"uce" commitment. ne es'ecially star5 version of strategic retrenchment, cham'ione" by 'olitical scientists such as $ohn !earsheimer, Ste'hen Falt, Robert 8a'e, an" hristo'her 6ayne, is the conce't of oDshore balancing. X2Y Accor"ing to its lea"ing a"vocates, a strategy of oNshore alancing
would still try to ensure that no one ma'or power dominates >urope! @ortheast Asia! or the =ersian Gulf. :ut it woul" ma5e others assume the main bur"en, an" rely on local 'owers to balance one another, while stationing US military forces over the hori7on, either oDshore or within the @nite" States. An oDshore balancing strategy woul" embrace shar'
re"uctions in the si?e of the @S Army an" !arines, avoi" counterinsurgency o'erations altogether, an" abstain from international 'ro=ects involving the military occu'ation or governance of "evelo'ing countries. -or the most 'art, it woul" avoi" foreign wars. American forces woul" come onshore only if local powers proved unale to maintain regional balance of powers on their own . ith the threat chec"ed! US troops would then e0it and go ac" over the hori7on . Accor"ing to !earsheimer, oDshore balancing woul" allow the @nite" States to "isban" e7isting alliance commitments in uro'e an" ast Asia, an" cut "efense s'en"ing to about 2 'ercent of AmericaJs 9ross Comestic 8ro"uct (9C8. he scale"+bac5 @S military 'resence overseas woul" further un"ercut su''ort for anti+American terrorism, an" re"uce the nee" for other 'owers to "evelo' their own wea'ons of mass "estruction. At least,
these are some of the ene6ts claimed for oNshore alancing y its proponents. X*Y Retrenchment este" he bama years 'rovi"e an interesting test case for the conse>uences of an incremental an" 'artial strategic retrenchment. o be sure, American gran" strategy un"er bama has multi'le as'ects, an" sometimes contains assertive elements. After all, this is the 'resi"ent who hunte" "own sama :in 6a"en, announce" a @S 'ivot to A sia, an" escalate" the use of unmanne" "rone stri5es against Al ]ae"a an" its aGliates. #o r has bama a"o'te" anything li5e a 'ure strategy of oDshore balancing. A"vocates of oDshore balancing woul" have neither surge" into Afghanistan in 200K+2010, nor to''le" ]a""a<, nor maintaine" in the en" so much of the 9eorge F. :ush institutional legacy in counter+terrorism. he @nite" States to"ay still o'erates a worl"wi"e alliance system far beyon" what oDshore balancers woul" want. Still! a modest
form of strategic retrenchment has een a ma'or component and aspiration of American grand strategy under &ama! even in cases where the US asserts itself rhetorically or temporarily! and on this the =resident has repeatedly made his priorities very clear. he move towar" retrenchment in recent
years is visible for e7am'le in 'atterns of @S military s'en"ing, force 'osture, an" security strategy. he :u"get ontrol Act of 2011 in 'articular, together w ith subse>uent se>uestration, resulte" in roughly ^1 trillion in "efense cuts over a ten+year 'erio" currently un"erway. his was on to' of 'revious cuts from bamaJs
counterinsurgency or ground campaigns! stating that the US armed forces
would no longer e si7ed to conduct large-scale prolonged staility operations. The call instead was for innovative! low-cost and smallfootprint approaches . X;Y ne lea"ing scholarly a"vocate of oDshore balancing, hristo'her 6ayne of
the 9eorge 3.F. :ush School at e7as AU!, rightly note" that the 2012 Strategic 9ui"ance re'resente" a signi
Analogy ,oments of analogy etween lac" esh and others only oscure the violence felt y those trapped in o'ecthood. The violence suNered y lac"ened populations is contingent ut the violence that is felt y truly lac" people is one that cannot e so easily dealt with. Se0ton$14
($are" Se7ton, is a 'rofessor at al Irvine. 8eo'le of olor+blin"ness, #otes on the afterlife of slavery, 'g. W*+WW In this light, we might augment the 'ost+K11 criti>ue of the racial state regar"ing the ;ush administration$s initiation of the ongoing war on terror , the passage of the =AT)*&T Acts, the formation of the Bepartment of Homeland Security! the /anti-terrorist roundups of %441! the torture of /enemy comatants at U.S. military prisons! and so on .;) his redacted commentary might productively shift the prevailing conceptuali7ation of American empire and especially the use of imprisonment and police pro6ling as tropes of the raciali7ed political oppression it engenders! oth nationally and internationally. Fe are in a position now to see how the deployment of this rhetorical device (for e7am'le, “-lying Fhile :rown% is li5e “Criving Fhile :lac5% the Immigrant For5ers -ree"om Ri"e “ uilds on the history of the noble @S civil rights movement % the prisoner ause at Au Ghrai is reminiscent of the lynching of lac" s;K is made possile y a misrecognition of the lived e0perience of the lac" . his point is developed y ilderson with reference to the distinction etween political conict
Social e7t 8ublishe" by Cu5e @niversity 8ress W W Se7ton ` #otes on the Afterlife of Slavery (involving a "eman" that can be satis
cannot e satis6ed through a transfer of ownership or organi7ation of land and laor or, in relate" fashion, etween contingent forms of suNering (state violence incurre" by breaching the mo"ality of hegemony and structural forms of suNering (state violence e7'erience" as gratuitous, a "irect relation of force.B0 The former designation in each case encompasses a wide range of e0ploitation and e0clusion , inclu"ing coloni?ation, occu'ation, an" even e7termination, while the latter indicates the singularity of racial slavery and its afterlife! the lasting parado0 of a sentient and sapient eing /sealed into crushing o'ecthood .%B1
+ivil Society?State Seemingly inclusive political movements recreate fungiility. They give the allusion that freedom for the lac" is the end sought when truly the master$s interests are what is in mind. ;lac" esh has always een the face of popular revolutions. *t is y de6ning itself as something similar to ut not the same as the lac" that movements li"e the armative have gained traction for their movement. This type of use of the lac" recreates a state of politics where the lac" is fungile. ilderson$14 (-ran5. :. Fil"erson, Re" Fhite an" blac5, 2010. 8g. *0 -ran5 :. Fil"erson is a tenure" 'rofessor at the @niversity of alifornia Irvine. 3e has atten"e" the @niversity of olombia where he got a "egree in 'sychology.
>ltis suggests that there was indeed massive deate which ultimately led to ;ritain ta"ing the lead in the aolition of slavery , but he remin"s us that that "ebate "i" not have its roots in the late !i""le Ages, the 'ost+olumbian 'erio" of the 1;00s or the Pirginia olony 'erio" of the 1B00s. It was, he asserts, an outgrowth of the mi"+ to late1)th century emancipatory thrust intra+3uman "is'utes such as the -rench an" American Revolutions that swept through >urope . :ut ltis "oes not ta5e his analysis further than this. herefore, it is important that we not e
swayed y his optimism aout the >nlightenment and its suse3uent aolitionist discourses . It is highly conceivable that the "iscourse that elaborates the 'usti6cation for freeing the slave is not the product of the Human eing having suddenly and miraculously recogni7ed the slave. )ather , as Sai"iya 3artman argues, emancipatory discourses present themselves to us as further evidence of the Slave$s fungiility : “XYhe uestions of 3umanism were elaborate" in contra"istinction to the human voi", to the African+>ua+chattel (the 1200s to the en" of the 1Hth century. hen, as the presence of ;lac" chattel in the midst of e0ploited and un-e0ploited Humans (wor5ers an" bosses, res'ectively ecame a fact of the world , e7'loite" Humans 8in the throes of class conict with un-e0ploited Humans9 sei7e d the image of the slave as an enaling vehicle that Re", Fhite, U :lac5& inema an" the Structure of @.S. Antagonisms *1 animate" the evolving discourses of their emancipation , 'ust as un-e0ploited Humans had sei7ed the esh of the Slave to increase their pro6ts . Fithout this gratuitous violence, a violence that mar5s everyone e7'erientially until the late !i""le Ages when it starts to mar5 the :lac5 ontologically, the so-called great emancipatory discourses of modernity R
mar0ism! feminism! postcolonialism! se0ual lieration! and the ecology movementRpolitical discourses predicated on grammars of suNering and whose constituent elements are e0ploitation and alienation ! might not have developed.7i hattel slavery "i" not sim'ly reterritoriali?e the ontology of the African. It also created the Human out of culturally disparate entities from uro'e to the ast.
>0tinction )hetoric Their emphasis on spectacles of violence the e0amples here are__________________ is a strategic ploy of false threat construction to conceal and not reveal everyday forms of violence causing a failure to eNectively challenge structural violence and white supremacy ,artinot Se0ton %44<
XSteve U $are", Steve is a lecturer at San -rancisco State @niversity in the enter for Inter"isci'linary 8rograms $are" is Associate 8rofessor African American Stu"ies School of 3umanities Associate 8rofessor, -ilm U !e"ia Stu"ies School of 3umanities at @ Irvine 8h.C., @niversity of alifornia, :er5eley, om'arative thnic Stu"ies, “he Avant+9ar"e of Fhite Su'remacy, Social I"entities, Polume K, #umber 2, 200* '.1H1+1H2Y ,ost theories of white supremacy see5 to 'lumb the "e'ths of its e7cessiveness, beyon" the or"inary they miss the fact that racism is a mundane aNair . he fun"amental e7cess of the paradigm of policing which infuses this culture is wholly anal . hose theories overloo" that fact in favor of e0tant e0travagance! spectacle! or the ["ee' 'sychology/ of rogue elements and ecome complicit in perpetuating white supremacy . he reality is an invidious ethos of e0cess that , instea",
constitutes the surface of everything in this society. -or some time now, the intellectual >uest for racism/s su''ose"ly hi""en meaning has aDor"e" a refuge from confrontations with this banality, even its 'ossible ac5nowle"gement. he most egregious as'ect of this banality is our tacit ac>uiescence to the rules of race an" 'ower, to the legitimacy white su'remacy says it has, regar"less of their total violation of reason an" com'rehensibility. &ur tacit ac3uiescence is the real silent source of white supremacist tenacity and power . As Filliam . 3arris, II wrote in the aftermath of yisha !iller/s mur"er by the 'olice& It is heartbrea5ing to be an American citi?en an" have to say this, but I "o have to say this. Fe have almost, an" I stress almost, become accustome" to 'olice shooting innocent, unarme", young, blac5 males. hat in itself is ba" enough, an" one was at one time incline" to thin5 it coul"nJt get any worse, but it gets worseM. #ow we have 'olice 5illing our young blac5 females. It canJt get any worse than that. 3arris is right yet he also sells himself out because he ac>uiesces in the 'rocess of "ecrying ac>uiescence. 3e "oes not "raw the line between res'ect for 'ersons an" im'unity. 3e continues& _ven if she grabbe" a gun, was it necessary to shoot at her twenty+seven timesL I 5now it/s less than W1, but thatJs still too many times to shoot at a slee'ing female blac5, brown, yellow or white_ (em'hasis a""e". Fhy isn/t one bullet too many times to shoot anybo"yL *t is the 'o of the spectacular (an" sensational re'orts about the subtle to draw attention away from the anality of 'olice mur"er as stan"ar" o'erating 'roce"ure. Spectacle is a form of camouage . It "oes not conceal anything it sim'ly renders it unrecogni7ale . ne loo5s at it an" "oes not see it. It a''ears in "isguise. 3arris, for e7am'le, loo5s at ac>uiescence an" cannot see it. amou4age is a relationshi' between the one "issimulating their a''earance an" the one who is foole", who loo5s an" cannot see. 6i5e raciali?ation as a system of meanings assigne" to the bo"y, 'olice s'ectacle is itself the form of a''earance of this banality. heir en"less assault re4ects the i"ea that race is a social envelo'e, a system of social categori?ation "ro''e" over the hea"s of 'eo'le li5e clothes. 8olice im'unity serves to "istinguish between the racial uniform itself an" the elsewhere that man"ates it. hey constitute the "istinction between those whose human being is 'ut 'ermanently in >uestion an" those for whom it goes without saying. 8olice s'ectacle is not the eDect of the racial uniform rather, it is the 'olice uniform that is 'ro"ucing re+raciali?ation. #othing better e7em'li
statements ut modes of aggression . They e0press a structure of power and domination ! a hierarchy that conte0tuali7es them and gives them their force. As gestures of assault they reect their users status as a memer of the dominant group . he "erogatory term does more than spea"O it silences . hat ability to silence "eriv es from the fact that, in turning its hegemonic 'osition to account, it turns the raciali?e" other into a language for whiteness itself. hose situate" lower on the hierarchy have no v iable means of "efen"ing themselves. his, in eDect, ren"ers the "erogation unanswerable in its own terms. he "erogatory term
otrudes with a small daily violence whose form is gratuitous , without motivation in the
situation in which it is use", an" whose content is to ren"er that situation "ominate" by white su'remacy. If it sits at the heart of the language of racism it is because it is banal an" every"ay even while symboli?ing racism/s utmost violence, the verbal form of its genoci"al tra=ectory. hose who use "erogatory terms re'eate"ly are 'utting themselves in a continual state of aggression turning their ob=ective com'licity with a structure" relation of white su'remacist "ominance into an active investment or aGrmation. Such mo"es of assault "emonstrate a s'eciuestion. he 'revalence of "erogatory terms in @S conversation goes unnotice", seen sim'ly on the margin of common sense, as o''ose" to an in"e7 of white su'remacy. It is a small matter, when set against such things as, for instance, the legal co"es of $im row or the government/s assassination of -re" 3am'ton. Net derogation comes in many "iDerent formsas stories, a'horisms, "iscourses, legal statutes! political practices, etc. he re'etition of "erogation becomes the 'erformance of white su'remacist i"entity, over an" over again. he "erogatory term occu'ies the very center of the structure of white su'remacy. he gratuitousness of its re'etition bestows u'on white su'remacy an inherent "iscontinuity. It stops and starts selfreferentially! at whim . To theori7e some political! economic! or psychological necessity for its repetition! its unending return to violence , its nee" to 5ill is to lose a gras' on that gratuitousness by thin5ing its 'erformance is re'resentable. An" therein it hi"es. If the hegemony of white supremacy is alrea"y (an" only e0cessive! its acts of repetition are its access to unrepresentailityO they
dissolve its e0cessiveness into invisiility as
simply daily occurrence . Fe can, for e7am'le, name the fact of Albert Foo"fo7/s nearly *0+year
solitary con
contentless logicO it is! in fact! nothing ut its very practices .
*mperialism =romotion of American *mperialism promotes anti-lac" terror. The e0ploitation of the negro is a necessary condition for US imperialism. US *mperialism is uilt upon terrori7ing lac"s and e0tracting ma0imum pro6ts from ma0imum pain. Saa @o Bate V1I5
(8aul Saba, Saba has gotten a bachelors "egree from Ari?ona state @niversity, an" a !asters "egree from !ichigan @niversity Ann 3arbor. he following is an e7cer't from the !ar7ist+6eninist ]uarterly, Pol. I, #o. 2, htt's&www.mar7ists.orghistoryerol'erio"icalsml>+usone+2+1.htm )acism and the economic supere0ploitation of the @egro people made possile by racism are 'illars vital to the su''ort of @.S. ca'italism their "estruction woul" constitute a blow of incalculable force against the economic an" political viaility of @.S. ca'italism an" therefore against the structure of world imperialism . he tremen"ous accumulation of 'ro
otherwise would e.
*mperialism is inherently anti-lac". @otions of imperialism function to continue to su'ugate lac" odies and legitimi7e their oppression in the face oN the white overclass. ;rown $11
(Oa5 :rown is the e"itor an" a"ministrator of Anti+im'eralism.com. Anti+ im'eralism.com is one of the foremost sites regar"ing American im'erialism an" the im'act it has on o''resse" 'eo'le.htt'&anti+im'erialism.com201*1011on+ the+worl"+blac5+revolution
he wor5 has largely been "ismisse" by the !ar7ist+6eninist community for a number of reasons. #otably, it challenges the traditional understanding of the class struggle 'resente" by !ar7ism+ 6eninism. 3owever, I feel that the [Forl" :lac5 Revolution/ oDers a very critical insight into the relationshi' between race an" class something $. Sa5ai has terme" an [electrically charge"/. It is for this reason I have "eci"e" to highlight 5ey i"eas an" analysis 'ut forth in this 'am'hlet because there is "e
consi"ere" an en"orsement of this form of [:lac5 Internationalism/ as A hma" terms it rather, my thoughts re4ect a "esire to e7ten" the un"erstan"ing an" theory of !ar7ism+6eninism+!aoism to 'ro'erly a""ress the >ualitative changes in im'erialist+ca'italism an" the 'owerful relationshi' between race an" class. -irst, let us e7amine the 'rimary thesis of the [Forl" :lac5 Revolution/ from which all of Ahma"/s theory grows. 3e begins by aGrming the
the principal contradiction in the world! etween imperialism and the oppressed people s. 3e i"enti
international line of most !6! organi?ations. It is un"erstoo" by many contem'orary ommunist organi?ations (inclu"ing 'arties that im'erialism (usually the @S at the front an" the o''resse" 'eo'les of the worl" form the 'rinci'al contra"iction in our worl". 3owever, Ahma" "oes not sto' here. 3e goes on to analy?e what he calls the “primary and /secondary manifestations of this principal contradiction. The primary manifestation is what he calls caste struggle! the racial struggle
etween the non-white oppressed nations and the white oppressor nations. he secon"ary manifestation is the class struggle, the more ortho"o7 struggle between the :lac5
@n"erclass (the global 'roletariat, 'easantry, an" national bourgeoisie of o''resse" nations an" the Fhite verclass (the uro'ean+American bourgeoisie, labor aristocracy, an" 'resumably large 'ortions of the white wor5ing class. So here we see an interesting "uality of the 'rinci'al contra"iction. Ahmad argues that
ecause the caste system is used to maintain the class system the caste struggle assumes the primary manifestation of the principal contradiction and thus where we should devote our struggle to .
=olicy +reation =olicy is the violent destruction of the planning that is needed to lierate the lac" community. =olicy wor"s to 60 and ma"e "nown the secrets of everything thus roing lac" lieration of the possiility of planning and its necessary fugitvity. ,oten and Harney $1<
(-re" !otenJs
who survive the rutality of mere survival are said y policy to lac" vision! to e stuc" in an essentialist way of life! and! in the most e0treme cases! to e without interests , on the one han", an" inca'able of "isintereste"ness, on the other. >very utterance of policy! no matter its intent or content! is 6rst and foremost a demonstration of one$s aility to e close to the top in the hierarchy of the post-fordist economy . As an o'eration from above designed to rea" up the means of social reproduction and ma"e them directly productive for capital ! 'olicy
must uiet moment, every sun"own, every moment of militant 'reservation, to 'lan together, to launch, to com'ose (in its surreal time. It is "iGcult for 'olicy to "eny these 'lans "irectly, to ignore these o'erations, to 're+ ten" that those who stay in motion nee" to sto' an" get a vision, to conten" that base communities for esca'e nee" to believe in esca'e. An" if this is "iGcult for 'olicy then so too is the ne7t an" crucial ste', instilling the value of ra"ical contingency, instructing 'artici'ation in change from above. f course, some 'lans can be "ismisse" by 'olicy 'lans hatche" "ar5er than blue, on the criminal si"e, out of love. :ut most will instea" re>uire another a''roach to comman". 8la##i#9 a#" 8liy HH So how "oes policy attempt to rea" this means, this militant preservation ! all this planningL After the diagnosis that something is "ee'ly wrong with the 'lanners comes the prescription& hel' an" correction. =olicy will help . 8olicy will hel' with the 'lan an", even more, policy will correct the planners . 8olicy will "iscover what is not
yet theo+ ri?e", what is not yet fully contingent, an" most im'ortantly what is not yet legible. =olicy is correction, forcing itself with mechanical violence upon the incorrect , the uncorrecte", the ones who "o not 5now to see5 their own correction. =olicy distinguishes itself from
planning y distinguishing those who dwell in policy and 60 things from those who dwell in planning and must e 60ed . his is the 6rst rule of policy. *t 60es others. In an e7tension of !ichel -oucault/s wor5 we might say of this
concern is with goo" government, with how to < 7 others in a 'osition of e>uilibrium, even if to"ay this re>uires constant recalibration. :ut the ob=ects of this con+ stant a"=ustment 'rovo5e this attention because they =ust "on/t want to govern, let alone be governe", at all. o brea5 these means of 'lan+ ning, an" so to "etermine them in recombine" an" 'rivati?e" ways, is the necessary goal an" instrumentality of 'olicy as comman". It wants to smash all forms of militant preservation! to rea" the movement of social rest in which the ne7t 'lan always remains 'otential with a "ream of settle" 'otency. his is now what change means, what 'olicy is for, as it inva"es the social re'ro"uctive realm where, as 6eo'al"ina -ortunati note" three "eca"es ago, the struggle rages. An" because such 'olicy emerges materiall y from 'ost+for"ist o'+ 'ortunism, 'olicy must o'timally allow for each 'olicy "e'uty to ta5e a"vantage of his o''ortunity an" <7 others as others, as those who have not =ust ma"e an error i n 'lanning (or in"ee" an error by 'lan+ ning but who are themselves in error. An" from the 'ers'ective of 'olicy, of this 'ost+for"ist o''ortunism, there is in"ee" something wrong with those who 'lan together. hey are out of =oint instea" of constantly 'ositing their 'osition in contingency, they see5 soli"ity in a mobile 'lace from which to 'lan, some hol" in which to imagine, some l ove on which to count. Again, this is not =ust a 'olitical 'roblem from the 'oint of view of 'olicy, but an ontological one. :rush+ ing the groun" beneath their feet ,
policy it is too dar" in there! in the lac" heart of the undercommons! to see. Nou can hear something, can feel something 'resent at i ts own ma5ing. :ut the "e'uties can bring ho'e, an" ho'e can lift 'lanners an" their 'lans, the means of social re'ro"uction, above groun" into the light, out of the sha"ows, away from these "ar5 senses. Beputies 60 others , not in an im'osition u'on but in the im'osition of selves, as ob=ects of control an" comman", whether one is 'osite" as being ca'able of self+ hoo" or not. hether they lac" consciousness or politics , uto'ianism or common sense, ho'e has arrive". 3aving been brought to light an" into their own new vision, planners will ecome
participants. And participants will e taught to re'ect essence for contingency! as if planning and improvisation! e0iil- ity and 60ity! and comple0ity and simplicity! were opposed within an im'osition there is no choice but to
inhabit, as some e7ilic home where 'olicy se>uesters its own imagination, so they can be safe from one another. It is crucial that 'lanners choose to 'artici'ate. =olicy is a mass eNort. *ntellectuals will write articles in the news'a'ers, 8la##i#9 a#" 8liy HK 'hiloso'hers will hol" conferences on new uto'ias,
loggers will de- ate! and politicians will compromise here! where change is policy$s only constant. =articipating in change is the second rule of policy. 9overnance shoul" not be confuse" with government or governmentality. 9overnance is most im'ortantly a new form of e7'ro'riation. It is the 'rovocation of a certain 5in" of "is'lay, a "is'lay of interests as "isintereste"ness, a "is'lay of convertibility, a "is'lay of legibility. 9overnance is an instrumentalisation of 'olicy, a set of 'rotocols of "e'utation, where one simultaneously auctions an" bi"s on oneself, where the 'ublic an" the 'rivate submit themselves to 'ost+for"ist 'ro"uction. 9overnance is the harvesting of the means of social re+ 'ro"uction but it a''ears as the acts of will, an" therefore as the "eath "rive, of the harveste". As ca'ital cannot 5now "irectly the aDect, thought, sociality, an" imagination that ma5e u' the un"ercommon means of social re'ro"uction, it must instea" 'ros'ect for these in or"er to e7tract an" abstract them as labor. hat 'ros'ecting, which is the real bio+ 'ros'ecting, see5s to brea5 an integrity that has been militantly 'reserve". 9overnance, the voluntary but "issociative oDering u' of interests, wi lling 'artici'ation in the general 'rivacy an" 'ublic 'rivation, grants ca'ital this 5nowle"ge, this weal th+ma5ing ca'acity. 8olicy emits this oDering, violently manifest as a moral 'rovocation. he ones who woul" correct an" the ones who woul" be correcte" converge aroun" this im'erative of submission that is 'laye" out constantly not only in that range of correctional facilities that -oucault analy?e" the 'risons, the hos'itals, the asylums but also in cor'orations, universities an" #9s. hat convergence is given )0
he @n"ercommons not only in the structures an" aDects of en"less war but but also in the brutal 'rocesses an" 'er'etual 'rocessing of 'eace. 9overnance, "es'ite its own ho'es for a universality of e7clusion, is for the in"ucte", for those who 5now how to articulate interests "isintereste"ly, those who vote an" 5now why they vote (not because someone is blac5 or female but because he or she is smart, who have o'inions an" want to be ta5en seriously by serious 'eo'le. In the mean time, 'ol+ icy must still 'ursue the >uoti"ian s'here of o'en secret 'lans.
=olicy posits curriculum against study! child development against play! play! human capital against wor". It 'osits having a voice against hearing voices, net+ wor 5e" frien"ing
against contractual frien"shi'. 8olicy 'osits the 'ublic s'here, or the counter+'ublic s'here, or the blac5 'ublic s'here, against the illegal occu'ation of the illegitimately 'rivati?e". 8olicy is not the one against the many, the cynical against the roman+ tic, or the 'ragmatic against the 'rinci'le". It is sim'ly baseless vi+ sion, woven into settler/s fabric. It is against all conservation, all rest, all gathering, coo5ing, "rin5ing an" smo5ing if they lea" to =olicy$ s vision is to t o rea" it up then t hen 60 it ! move it along alo ng y 60ing marron+ age. =olicy$s
it! manufacture manufac ture amition amit ion and give it to your children chil dren . =olicy$s hope is that there will e more mo re policy ! more participation parti cipation!! more change. change . ;ut ther th ere e is is also a danger in all this participation! a danger of crisis.
)eformism They A(( perpetuates a world of lac" su'ugation. The political and academic discourses of individual prolems! oscure and legitimi7e the structural antagonism of antilac"ness. ilderson$14
(-ran5. :. Fil"erson, Re" Fhite an" blac5, 2010. -ran5 :. Fil"erson is a tenure" 'rofessor at the @niversity of alifornia Irvine. 3e has atten"e" the @niversity of olombia where he got a "egree in 'sychology.'g. 1*
he distance etween the protester and the police has narrowed consideraly. he eNect of this upon the academy is that intellectual protocols protocol s tend to privilege two of the three domains of su'ectivity , namely preconscious interests (as evidenced in the wor5 of social science around /politi /po litical cal unity un ity ! /socia /s ociall attitud att itudes! es! /civic / civic participa p articipation tion! and /divers / diversity ity ,% the humanities$ postmodern an" unconscious i"enti
the Structure of @.S. Antagonisms 1* 'lay, an" the com'osite eDect of cinematic an" 'olitical "iscourse since the 1K)0s, ten" to hide rather than ma"e e0plicit
the grammar of suNering which underwrites the US and its foundational antagonisms. This state of aDairs e0aceratesor, more 'recisely, mysti
In"ians an" :lac5s.
D-A((S
(eminism (eminism wor"s to continue the destruction of lac" feminity. The topics and the places of emphasis for feminism can only e0ist in their constant negation to lac" feminity. ilderson$14 (-ran5. :. Fil"erson, Re" Fhite an" blac5, 2010. -ran5 :. Fil"erson is a tenure" 'rofessor at the @niversity of alifornia Irvine. 3e has atten"e" the @niversity of olombia where he got a "egree in 'sychology. 'ages 1HK+1)0. I want to re+locate
the destruction of her wom spatially at the symolic plentitude of the hite woman$s wom , an" locate it temporally at hite femininity$s moment of possiility . his rich semantic uiesce to hurch "octrines of se7uality or proclaim /our odies! ourselves %++for all such conicts to have coherence ,
distriution of concerns ! emphasis! the ounding of deate within acceptale limits! and the propensity for the aNective intensity of no more than every"ay life liian aNective intensity that may e saddened y the spectacle of ghetto life in its own ac" yard! yet 6nds no 'oy at the thought of four dead cops. very"ay life, which is the bac5"ro', the hum, the private and 3uotidian of civil society, can only have coherence y way of the imaginative laor which genocided and anished the o'ect it constructed as /Savage to the
reservations of Fhite ethics an" by way of a simultaneous imaginative labor that 5ee's the gratuity of :lac5 genital accumulation an" "estruction from occurring between Fhite legs.
(oucalt?Governmentality Govern mentality is reproduced y the political criti3ues of the state. Articulating that we have to watch ourselves is e0actly what the government wants so that it can watch you watch yourself. This form of politics oscures the way that the government will continue to ause those lac" odies that can never e tas"ed with watching themselves. ,oten and Harney$1<
(-re" !otenJs
is not aout government! and (oucault might have got it right. ;ut how could he "now if he could not 6nd the priority of what he "new in @orth Africa L Governance is the wit of the colonial ocial! the +*A woman! the @G& man. ill we e in on the 'o"e now that we all "now governmentality so well L e can all read it li"e a oo". @othing goes on ehind the ac"s of the new cynicism 8e0cept we need to remind =aolo Cirno of what always went on eyond cynicism ! what was always without home and shelter , was always outnumbere" an" outgunne". ill we e in on the 'o"e of religion, of white trash, or the =o5e of development, of ,ar0ismL Fhen 9ayatri S'iva5 refuses to laugh, she is tol" she wants to "eny the wor 5ers their ca''uccini. She hol"s out for re"uction against the insi"er tra"ing of "omination, she hol"s out for a re"uction against the coercion that e7'loits what it cannot re"uce to an invitation to governance. ;*:la5#SS a#" 9vr#a# Still the invitations arrive through the smir" of governmentality by all, or on the severe an" serious row of democratisation. +riti3ue and policy . #o won"er Rose thought governance was about government. Forse still some say that governance is merely a management neologism, a 'iece of ol"+fashione" i"eology. thers thin5 governance is sim'ly a retreat to liberalism from the mar5et fun"amentalism of neoliberalism. :ut we want to re"uce it u' to a 5in" of [ state-thought !$ a form of thought which for 9illes Celeu?e an" -eli7 9uattari su''orte" the ren"ering an" hor"ing of social wealth. A thought that thin5s away the 'rivate before the 'ublic an" the 'rivate, but not e7actly before, rather a ste' ahea". State+thought says “they urnt down their own neighourhood. @ot theirs! efore theirs. ;ut
then noody writes aout the state any more ! ecause governance is too clever for that! governance invites us to laugh at the state ! to loo" ac" at it! its political immaturity in the face of governmentality y all! its dangerous ehaviour! its la7iness! its lac"ness . hich means really the
e0haustion of lac"ness thought y the state and the new way to steal from the stolen! who refuse to give up the secret of thieving with their theft! the secret of their thieving of their theft. *n the newest language of the social sciences we might say that governance is generated y a refusal among iopolitical populations. r 'erha's by the self+activity of immaterial labor. :ut maybe we woul" li"e to say it is provo"ed y the communicaility of unmanageale racial and se0ual diNerence! insisting on a now unfathomale det of wealth. 12. 9overnance is a strategy for the 'rivati?ation of social re'ro"uctive labor, a strategy 'rovo5e" by this communicability, infecte" by it, hosting an" hostile. As oni #egri says “the new face of 'ro"uctive labor (intellectual, relational, linguistic, an" aDective, rather than 'hysical, in"ivi"ual, muscular, instrumental "oes not un"erstate but accentuates the cor'orality an" materiality of labor.% :ut accumulating collective cognitive an" aDective labor from these highly communicable ;W he @n"ercommons "iDerences is not the same a s accumulating bio'olitical bo"ies that labor. CiDerences here matter not for or"er, but or"er matters for "iDerences. he or"er that collects "iDerences, the or"er that collects what !ar7 calle" labor still o b=ectifying itself, is the or"er of governance. 1*. :ut governance collects li"e a drill oring for samples. Governance is a
form of prospecting for this immaterial laor. *mmaterial laor is opa3ue to state-thought until it ecomes laor-power! e0changeale potentiality. *mmaterial laor could easily e mista"en for life! which is why the iopolitical must ta"e a new form. A form that provo"es life to give up this new potential. +orporate social responsiility is sincere . The invitation to governmentality is made y way of transfer of responsiility! an" immaterial labor
is "istinguishe" from the vitality of life, from its vessel, by the ta5ing u' of res'onsibility, an" life is now "istinguishe" by its overt irres'onsibility. Since neither the state nor ca'ital 5now where to
Governance operates through the apparent auto-generation of these interests. Unli"e previous regimes of sovereignty! there is no predetermined interest (no nation, no constitution, no language ;;:la5#SS a#" 9vr#a# to e reali7ed collectively . Rather interests are solicited! oNered up! and accumulated. :ut this is a moment so close to life, to vitality, to the bo"y, so close to no interests, that the imposition of self-management ecomes imperative . That im'osition is governance. 1;. Governance then ecomes the management of selfmanagement. he generation of interests a''ears as wealth, 'lentitu"e, 'otential. It hi"es the waste of the
raw immaterial an" its re'ro"uction in the 4urry of its conferences, consultations, an" outreach. In"ee" within the uality, "esign, "isci'line, an" communication. :ut with the im'losion of the time an" s'ace in the uacious an" in"ustrial labor was mute. 9overnance 'o'ulations are gregarious. 9regariousness is the e7change form of immaterial labor+'ower, a labor+'ower summone" by interests from a communicability without interest, a viral communicability, a beat. he com'ulsion to tell us how you feel is the com'ulsion of labor, not citi?enshi', e7'loitation not "omination, an" it is whiteness. Fhiteness is why 6a??arato "oes not hear in"ustrial labor. Fhiteness is nothing but a relationshi' to blac5ness as we have trie" to "escribe ;B he @n"ercommons it here, but in 'articular a relationshi' to blac5ness in its relationshi' to ca'ital, which is to say the movement from muteness to "umb insolence which may be by way of bringing the noise. :ut the noise of tal5, white noise, the information+ rich environment of the gregarious, comes from sub=ectivities forme" of ob=ecti
Governance is the e0tension of whiteness on a gloal scale . immaterial labor.
The su'ugation of the lac" female not the notion of iopolitics is what shapes the relation of the world. (ocusing on the notion of io-politics oth oscures and participates in the system of ause against lac"s. *t participates in the system y giving a paradigmatic analysis that elides the condition of those that have een raced and su'ugated not legally nor normatively ut ontologically. Se0ton$14 ($are" Se7ton, is a 'rofessor at al Irvine. 8eo'le of olor+blin"ness, #otes on the afterlife of slavery, 'g. *2+**
Fhat is this 6ctionL It is not only the presumed identity etween the human (?oe and the citi7en (biosthe conceptual 6ssure that ma"es possile the modern production of are life an" that between nativity an" nationalitythe conceptual distinction that ma"es possile the reciprocal naturali7ation of propagation and property in the name of race. *t is also the conation of the ruler (or ruling class with sovereignty itself , the tautological claim that the law (logos is ontologically prior to the estalishment of its 'urisdictional 6eld, a space de6ned y relations of purely formal oedience. he state of e7ce'tion woul" seem to betray the mystical foun"ation of
authority because the sovereign 'ower o'erates in sus'ension of 'ositive law, enforcing the law 'ara"o7ically insofar as it is ina''licable at the time an" 'lace of its enforcement. 3owever, the "ynamic stability of that foun"ationthe s'ace of obe"ienceis "emonstrate" by the terrible fact that the state of e7ce'tion has been materiali?e" re'eate"ly within a whole array of 'olitical formations across the 'rece"ing century an" in the 'articular form of the cam'. ith the irth of the camp ! the e0ception ecomes the rule ! consolidating a 6eld of oedience in e0tremis Rin place of rule y law! a paradigm of governance y the administration of the asence of order .; 3owever, if for Agamben the cam' is
“the new bio'olitical nomos of the 'lanet,% its novelty "oes not esca'e a certain conce'tual belate"ness with res'ect to those “re'resse" to'ogra'hies of cruelty% that Achille !bembe has i"entiuarter of the twentieth century% in connection with “the wars of the globali?ation era.%H @ecropolitics is important for the historicist pro'ect of provinciali7ing Agamen$s paradigmatic analysis! especially as it articulates the logic of race as something far more gloal than a con4ict internal to uro'e (or even
urasia. In"ee", !bembe initially "escribes racial slavery in the Atlantic worl" as “one of the
of e7ce'tion in “the very structure of the 'lantation system an" its aftermath.%) !bembe aban"ons too >uic5ly this me"itation on the 'eculiar institution in 'ursuit of the 'ro'er focus of his theoretical 'ro=ect& the formation of colonial sovereignty. In the 'rocess, he loses trac5 of the fact, set forth in the o'ening 'ages of 3artman/s stu"y, that the crucial aspects of /the peculiar terror formation % that !bembe attributes to the emergence of Social e7t 8ublishe" by Cu5e @niversity 8ress ocial e7t 10* Summer 2010 * * colonial rule are already institutionali7ed, 'erha's more fun"amentally, in an" as the political-'uridical structure of slavery .K !ore speci6cally! it is the legal and political status of the captive female that is paradigmatic for the /8re9production of enslavement! in which /the normativity of se0ual violence Xi.e., the virtual
absence of 'rohibitions or limitations in the "etermination of socially tolerable an" necessary violenceY estalishes an ine0tricale lin" etween racial formation and se0ual su'ection .%10 This is why for 3artman resistance is 6gured through the lac" female$s se0ual self-defense ! as e0empli6ed y the 1JFF circuit court case State of ,issouri v. +elia! a Slave! in which the defendant was sentenced to death y hanging on the charge of m urder for responding with deadly force to the se0ual assault and attempted rape y a white male slaveholder
,ilitari7ation ,ilitari7ation *s a reproduction of violence onto the lac". The moment of militari7ation 6nds coherence in the authority that is ased up on the su'ugation of lac"ness. *t is this centrali7ation of authority that recreates a structure where the lac"s are created as static malicious enemies thus legitimi7ing their slaughter. (anon$4J (-rant? -anon, -rant? mar -anon was a !artini>ue+born Afro+aribbean 'sychiatrist, 'hiloso'her, revolutionary, an" writer whose wor5s are in4uential in the
3ere, however, the evi"ence is going to be 'articularly com'licate". In uro'e the family re'resents in eDect a certain fashion in which the worl" 'resents itself to the chil". There are close connections etween the structure of the family and the structure of the nation . ,ilitari7ation
and the centrali7ation of authority in a country automatically entail a resurgence of the authority of the father . In uro'e an" in every country characteri?e" as civili?e" or civili?ing, the family is a miniature of the nation . As the chil" emerges from the
sha"ow of his 'arents, he ue, for instance, convinces us of that although with every wor" one is aware of the nee" to hristiani?e the savage #egro soul, the boo5/s "escri'tion of the whole culturethe con"itions of worshi', the 'ersistence of rites, the survival of mythshas nothing of the arti
the authority of the family y which he was shaped in his childhood.
@ltimately the in"ivi"ual assimilates all the authorities that he meets to the authority of the 'arents& 3e 'erceives the 'resent in terms of the 'ast. 6i5e all other human con"uct, ehavior toward authority is something! learned . An" it is learne" in the heart of a family that can be "escribe", from the 'sychological 'oint of view, by the form of organi?ation 'eculiar to itthat is, by the way in which its authority is "istribute" an" e7ercise".W :utan" this is a most im'ortant 'ointwe observe the o''osite in the man of color. A normal @egro chil", having grown u' within a normal family, will ecome anormal on the slightest contact with the white world . his statement may not be imme"iately un"erstan"able. herefore let us 'rocee" by going bac5war". 8aying tribute to Cr. :reuer, -reu" wrote& In almost every case, we coul" see that the sym'toms were, so to s'ea5, li5e resi"ues of emotional e7'eriences, to which for this reason we later gave the name of 'sychic traumas. heir in"ivi"ual characters were lin5e" to the traumatic scenes that ha" 'rovo5e" them. Accor"ing to the classic terminology, the sym'toms were "etermine" by “scenes% of which they were the mnemic resi"ues, an" it was no longer necessary to regar" them as arbitrary an" enigmatic eDects of the neurosis. In contrast, however, to what was e7'ecte", it was not always a single event that was the cause of the sym'tom most often, on the contrary, it arose out of multi'le traumas, fre>uently analogous an" re'eate". As a result, it became necessary to re'ro"uce chronologically this whole series of 'athogenic memories, but in reverse or"er& the latest at the beginning an" the earliest at the en" it was im'ossible to ma5e one/s way bac5 to the < rst trauma, which is often the most forceful, if one s5i''e" any of its successors. It coul" not be state" more 'ositively every neurosis has its origins in s'eci< c rlebnisse. 6ater -reu" a""e"& his trauma, it is true, has been >uite e7'elle" from the consciousness an" the memory of the 'atient an" as a result he has a''arently been save" from a great mass of suDering, but the re'resse" "esire continues to e7ist in the unconscious it is on watch constantly for an o''ortunity to ma5e itself 5nown an" it soon comes bac5 into consciousness, but in a "isguise that
ma5es it im'ossible to recogni?e in other wor"s, the re'resse" thought is re'lace" in consciousness by another that acts as its surrogate, its rsat?, an" that soon surroun"s itself with all those feelings of morbi"ity that ha" been su''ose"ly averte" by the re'ression. hese rlebnisse are re'resse" in the unconscious. Fhat "o we see in the case of the blac5 manL @nless we ma5e use of that frightening 'ostulatewhich so "estroys our balance oDere" by $ung, the collective unconscious, we can un"erstan" absolutely nothing. A drama is enacted every day in coloni7ed countries . 3ow is one to e7'lain, for e7am'le, that a #egro who has 'asse" his baccalaureate an" has gone to the Sorbonne to stu"y to become a teacher of 'hiloso'hy is alrea"y on guar" before any con4 ictual elements have coalesce" roun" himL Ren !nil accounte" for this reaction in 3egelian terms. In his view it was “ the conse3uence of the replacement of the repressed VAfricanW
spirit in the consciousness of the slave y an authority symol representing the ,aster! a symol implanted in the susoil of the collective group and charged with maintaining order in it as a garrison controls a con3uered city .%;2
Alt
)evolutionary suicide
1nc Thus the Alt M )e'ect the aN as an continued adherence to revolutionary suicide. )evolutionary suicide is an idealism to re'ect the ause that lac" esh is su'ected to. *t is standing up for the downtrodden! it is freedom to decide what happens to the lac" community *t is an outcry for the relief of police rutality. @ewton$<
(#ewton, 3uey 8., 3uey was the foun"er of the :lac5 8anther 'arty in the late B0/s early H0/s. Revolutionary Suici"e. Revise"7'an"e" e". #ew Nor5& 3arcourt :race $ovanovich, 1KH*. 8rint. 8g. 11B his is the 'rogram we wrote "own& :R 1KBB :6AE 8A#3R 8ARN 86A-R! A#C 8R9RA! F3A F FA# F3A F :6IPam on 'a'er+ hat the alternative loo"s li"e 8resente" as the !anifesto to the :lac5 8anthers. 1. e want freedom . e want power to determine the destiny of our ;lac" +ommunity. Fe believe that :lac5 'eo'le will not be free until we are able to "etermine our "estiny. 2. Fe want full em'loyment for our 'eo'le. Fe believe that the fe"eral government is res'onsible an" obligate" to give every man em'loyment or a guarantee" income. Fe believe that if the white American businessmen will not give full em'loyment, then the means of production should e
ta"en from the usinessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organi7e and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living . *. Fe want an end to the roery by the ca'italist of our ;lac" community . Fe believe that this racist government has robbe" us an" now we are "eman"ing
the over"ue "ebt of forty acres an" t wo mules. -orty acres an" two mules were 'romise" 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor a n" mass mur"er of :lac5 'eo'le. Fe will acce't the 'ayment in currency which will be "istribute" to our many communities. he 9ermans are now ai"ing the $ews in Israel for the genoci"e of the $ewish 'eo'le. he 9ermans mur"ere" si7 million $ews. he American racist has ta5en 'art in the slaughter of over
does not have "nowledge of himself and his position in society and the world! then he has little chance to relate to anything else . B. Fe want all :lac5 men
to be e7em't from military service. Fe believe that :lac5 'eo'le shoul" not be force" to ;)UTA2*T# and ,U)B>) of ;lac" people . Fe believe we can end police rutality in our ;lac" community y organi7ing
;lac" self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our ;lac" community from racist police oppression and rutality . he Secon" Amen"ment to the onstitution of the @nite" States gives a right to bear arms. Fe therefore believe that all ;lac" people should arm themselves for self-defense. ). Fe want free"om for all :lac5 men hel" in fe"eral, state, county an" city 'risons an" =ails. Fe believe that all :lac5 'eo'le shoul" be release" from the many =ails an" 'risons because they have not receive" a fair an" im'artial trial . K. Fe want all :lac5 'eo'le when brought to trial to be trie" in court by a =ury of their 'eer grou' or 'eo'le from their :lac5 communities, as "e
onstitution of the @nite" States. Fe believe that the courts shoul" follow the @nite" States onstitution so that :lac5 'eo'le will receive fair trials. he -ourteenth Amen"ment of the @.S. onstitution gives a man a right to be trie" by his 'eer grou'. A 'eer is a 'erson from a similar economic, social, religious, geogra'hical, environmental, historical, an" racial bac5groun". o "o this the court will be force" to select a =ury from the :lac5 community from which the :lac5 "efen"ant came. Fe have been an" are being trie" by all+white =uries that have no un"erstan"ing of the “average reasoning man% of the :lac5 community. 10. Fe want lan", brea", housing, e"ucation, clothing, =ustice, an" 'eace. An" as our ma=or 'olitical ob=ective, a @nite" #ations+su'ervise" 'lebiscite to be hel" throughout the :lac5 colony in which only :lac5 colonial sub=ects will be allowe" to 'artici'ate, for the 'ur'ose of "etermining the will of :lac5 'eo'le as to their national "estiny. Fhen, in the course of human
events! it ecomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political ands which have connected them with another , an" to assume, among the 'owers of
the earth, the se'arate an" e>ual station to which the laws of nature an" nature/s 9o" entitle them, a "ecent res'ect to the o'inions of man5in" re>uires that they shoul" "eclare the causes which im'el them to the se'aration. Fe hol" these truths to be self+evi"ent, that all men are create" e>ual that they are en"owe" by their reator with certain un alienable rights that among these are life, liberty, an" the 'ursuit of ha''iness. hat, to
secure these rights! government s are instituted among men! deriving their 'ust powers from the consent of the governedO that! whenever any form of government ecomes destructive of these ends! it is the right of the people to alter or to aolish it, an" to institute a new government, laying its foun"ation on
such 'rinci'les, an" organi?ing its 'owers in such form, as to them shall seem most li5ely to eDect their safety an" ha''iness. 8ru"ence, in"ee", will "ictate that governments long establishe" shoul" not be change" for light an" transient causes an", accor"ingly, all e7'erience hath shown, that man5in" are more "is'ose" to suDer, while evils are suDerable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustome". :ut, when a long train of auses an" usur'ations, 'ursuing invariably the same ob=ect, evinces a design to reduce them under asolute despotism! it is their right, it is their duty! to throw oN such government! and to provide new guards for their future security . Fith the 'rogram on 'a'er, we set u' the structure of our organi?ation.
%nc Alt- ;lac" women The view of ;lac" women in the status 3ou is violent. Historically when their have een movements that uild the lac" community li"e the alternative it has een ale to change this perception and create a more positive perception of lac" women. Goie and +arter$II (Pe"nita arter, 7ecutive Cirector of :rea5ing -ree, an" velina, 7ecutive Cirector of the ommercial Se7ual 7'loitation Resource Institute, Finter 1KKK, 8rostitution an" 8ornogra'hy& 8hiloso'hical Cebate about the Se7 In"ustry “Cuet& 8rostitution, Racism an" -eminist Ciscourse,%.20+21
&ne must understand the past efore one can understand the present. *t is often very painful for African-Americans to loo" ac" in history . !ost portrayals of ;lac" women , in visual images or writing, have een negative . :lac5 women have been "e'icte" in ways that one woul" thin5 coul" only be
fol5sJ chil"ren, even to the 'oint of suc5ling mil5 from her breasts so she "oes not have enough mil5 for her own chil".W e have seen her as a slave! valued only for her reeding capacity! and we have seen her children ta"en from her .; 8ornogra'hy 'ortrays her as a wil" animal that is always rea"y for any 5in" of se7, at any time, at any 'lace, with anybo"y.B Today se0-oriented
usinesses are typically 7oned in ;lac" neighorhoods. =oor! ;lac" communities have ecome de facto comat 7ones where street prostitution is highly visile and readily availale. The implicit message to white men is that it is all right to solicit ;lac" women and girls for se0! that we are all prostitutes. ) n almost any night, you can see them slowly cruising our
neighborhoo"s, rolling "own their win"ows, calling out to women an" girl s. he message to :lac5 women is e>ually clear& this is how it is, this is who we are, this is what weJre for. Fith all the negative images an" labels ascribe" to :lac5 women, it is no sur'rise that many of us remain confuse" about who we really are an" who we want to be. Around the late 1I F4s Hid 1I54F our image was eginning to change . Fhen our country was immerse" in the civil rights movement+African+ Americans ban"e" together. J Fe ha" very 'owerful lea"ers, many of whom were subse>uently 5ille"._ -or a moment in history, however, _ ;lac" =ower was our rallying cry a-nd ;lac" is ;eautiful was how we identi6ed ourselves. _ It is what we believe" about who we were Jai" what we were ca'able of. hen the civil rights
movement waned ! the identity we were eginning to create for ourselves vanished with it . nce again we became caught u' in white societyJs "enigrate" image of who we are.J* ur ancestors "i" not feel this lac5 of self+worth. :efore the invasion of Africa by the white man, Africans were a "igni
=erm
=erm ,ust )>AB The permutation functions as a form of white violence. The permutation assumes similarity etween o'ects and su'ects. This assumption only legitimi7es the ause of lac"s y erasing the historical relations of lac"ness. Hartman and ilderson$4<
(Sai"iya 3artman, Sai"iya 3artman is a 'rofessor at olumbia @niversity s'eciali?ing in African American literature an" history. She grew u' in :roo5lyn an" receive" her :.A. from Fesleyan @niversity an" 8h.C. from Nale @niversity, -ran5 :. Fil"erson III, -ran5 :. Fil"erson is a tenure" 'rofessor at the @niversity of alifornia :er5eley. 3e has atten"e" the @niversity of olombia where he got a "egree in 'sychology. he 'osition of @nthought interview 8g. 1)K+1K0 -.F. + NouJve =ust thrown something into crisis, which is very much on the table to"ay& the notion of allies . Fhat youJve sai" (an" IJm so ha''y that someone has come along to say itZ is that the ally is not a stale category . hereJs a structural prohiition (rather than merely a willful refusal against whites eing the allies of lac"s , due to this + to borrow from -anonJs he Fretche" of the arth again + _ species division between what it means to e a su'ect and what it means to e an o'ect: a structural antagonism . ;ut everything in the academy on race wor5s oD of the >uestion, _ How do we help white alliesL_ :lac5 academics assume that there is enough of a structural commonality etween the lac" and the white 8wor"ing class9 position their mantra eing: e are oth e0ploited su'ects - for one to emar" upon a political pedagogy that will somehow help whites ecome aware of this commonality. hite writers posit the presence of something they call white s"in privilege! and the possiility of giving that up! as their gesture of eing in solidarity with lac"s. ;ut what oth gestures disavow is that su'ects 'ust canXt ma"e common cause with o'ects . They can only
become ob=ects, say in the case of $ohn :rown or !arilyn :uc5, or further
instantiate their su'ectivity through modalities of violence 8lynching and the prison industrial com'le7, or through modalities of empathy . *n other words! the essential essence of the white?lac" relation is that of the master?slave - regardless of its historical or geographic speci6city. And masters and slaves. even todav. are never allies
=erm +oalitions The coalition is parasitic on those odies mar"ed y anti lac"ness. This parasitism ta"es the energy away from the lac" ody and diverts it ac" to the hands of the oppressive system of anti lac"ness. ilderson$1Q
( -ran5 :. Fil"erson III, -ran5 :. Fil"erson is a tenure" 'rofessor at the @niversity of alifornia Irvine . 3e has atten"e" the @niversity of olombia where he got a "egree in 'sychology. his is a transci'tion of an ra"io interview with -ran5 :. Fil"erson, III ta'e" in ctober of 201W, in the mi"st of the ongoing anti+'olice struggles ta5ing 'lace in -erguson, !. Fil"erson is in conversation with I!IQF3AI6IE hosts $are" :all, o"" Steven :urroughs an" Cr. 3ate. An au"io recor"ing of the interview can be foun" un"er the title “Irreconcilable Anti+:lac5ness an" 8olice Piolence% on the show/s website& htt'&imi7whatili5e.org201W1001fran5wil"ersonan"antiblac5ness+2 ranscri'tion an" ?ine layout by Ill Fill "itions, #ovember 201W. !inor e"its have been ma"e for length an" rea"ability. he following is from 'gs.20 * had a moment li"e this myself . Nou 5now, you loo" to go 'oin up with the *S& XInternational Socialist rgani?ationY or some other white radical group , or rainbow grou', an" you start to feel it happening . So many people have had this e0perience of organi7ing with white radicals. ;ut here you add Aras and =alestinians! and here you$re going to (a''ro'riately send shivers up some spines. An" I fully agree with what you/re saying, but can you hel' me
res'on" to fol5s who won/t right awayL -F& ne of the things that they/re gonna say to you even if it/s not in these wor"s, it remains the framewor5 through which they try to "isci'line :lac5 'eo'le, e.g. Sartre sai" it to the #egritu"e movement an" to -anon is& [you 5now, this whole thing aout ;lac"ness! is really narrow! and it$s not allowing you to see the igger picture . An" so we egin to feel ad! ecause we don$t want to e narrow or people who don$t see the igger picture . That$s what politics an" struggle is all about, i.e. developing a theory of struggle that can e generali7ed . #ow, it ta5es some
wor5, an" the wor5 at an intellectual level is har", but it/s 'robably more "iGcult to "eal with it at an emotional level, one of the things I woul" say to respond to this person is& [how is the paradigm of colonialism! or the paradigm of ,ar0ism more essential than the paradigm of anti-;lac"ness and social death L/ his is very "iGcult for American activists, because American activists "on/t rea", they =ust go out an" say, ["o we brea5 Starbuc5s win"ows, or "o we not brea5 Starbuc5s win"owsL/, that/s the e7tent an" level of their intellectual 'olitics. So, here I/m shifting the weight from me to the other 'erson, to actually e7'lain to me their theoretical a''aratus. #ot =ust e7'lain to me what this action in this moment is going to "o. An" normally, when it comes "own to it, you 6nd that their theoretical apparatus wor"s along aout four diNerent vectors . ne woul" be the 'ost+colonial vector& [my theoretical a''aratus is that coloni?ation has "one 7, y an" ?/ or 20 else, [ca'italism at the site of the wage relation e7'loits everyone universally/ or, [ecologically, we will have no worl" if 7, y or ? ha''ens/ or, [we are all suDering un"er 'atriarchy/. ;ut then if you as" them! Yhow did ;lac" people
ecome part of the e L/, a rea"down occurs here, since the structure of their desire is formulated on a conception of community that is a priori anti-;lac" . So that they/re not actually thin5ing in terms of the ways in which we suDer. An" in fact! their political pro'ects will lierate one terrain! and intensify our suNering more y eing parasitic on our inaility to spea" and on the ;lac" energy that we lend to their 3uestions and which crowd out an analysis .
=erm Uses the 2aw The 2aw is a death sentence for lac"s. The spectacular uses of the law serve to reinforce the paradigm of policing that functions to murder lac" odies. *t does not matter if the law is used as ma"ing or ta"ing a law! as long as the authority of the law e0ists Beath with will e impact for lac"s. Tis and oods$4J
(ryon 8. Foo"s is a 'rofessor at Sonoma State @niversity Conal" -. ibbs is a 'rofessor at Cre7el arle !ac5 School of 6aw ctober 1, 200) Seattle $ournal for Social In=ustice, Pol. H, #o. 1, 200) he $ena Si7 an" :lac5 8unishment& 6aw an" Raw 6ife in the Comain of #one7istence )eviewing the history of the lac" e0perience efore the law clearly demonstrates that the Pena Si0 case is anything ut unprecedented. @.S. history features a consistent storyline regarding lac"s and the law , largely undeviated from one which historian !ary -rances :erry referre" to as “ lac" resistance VtoW white law. %W1 :erry reminds us that /VwWhether its policy was action or inaction ! the national government has used the +onstitution in such a way as to ma"e law the instrument for maintaining a racist status 3uo . %W2 he $ena Si7 case =oins this long history of constitutional s'ectacles moments where the law is revealed not as the protector of minority rights ! as lieral historiographers and philosophers would have us elieveQ
everyday practice of criminal law and its endorsement y white civil society throughout the nation. hen it comes to everyday life! the secret of the law! hidden in plain sight! is that there is no recourse to the disruption of lac" life y the mundane violence of living in a white supremacist society. he annals of contem'orary legali?e" violence against blac5 bo"ies are in"ee"
s'ectacular, an" the rea"ily available e7am'les merely hint at the terror "e
numerous lac" men e0onerated y B@A evidence and freed from prison through the *nnocence =ro'ect! the prosecutors and Bistrict Attorneys who
steadfastly maintain these men$s guilt despite the irrefutale scienti6c evidence! and the numerous anonymous men and women condemned prior to the recent era of technological advances in forensic criminologyRthese are the signs of raw life in the domain of none0istence. ;W To focus on any one of these spectacles is to deploy! and therey rearm! the logic of the law itself . Cocumenting the law/s e7cesses, in an attem't to e7'lain the 'ara"igm of white su'remacist violence, merely ren"ers it non'ara"igmatic, an" re"uces it to the frau"ulent ethics on which the law bases its ongoing hegemony. hat ma"es the spectacle /spectacular is precisely that the
essential logic of the law remains unsha"en. Such discrete e0amples cannot represent the spectrum in which this paradigm manifests todayR what might e called the /paradigm of policingFFRfrom the e0plicit violence of police homicides to the more sutle violence of the Pena Si0 case and the faceless millions held captive y the prison industrial comple0. This violence against the lac" ody is structural and foundational to U.S. societyRnot contingent or e0cessiveR and it is this anal ut essential 3uality to racism that the spectacular e0amples render unrecogni7ale .
A%
All you tal" aout is lac" people The invocation of lac" hierarchical positioning recreates white supremacy. Se0ton$4J (Se7ton, $are", Amalgamation Schemes Antiblac5ness an" the riti>ue of !ultiracacialism, !innea'olis& @ of !innesota. 200). $are" Se7ton is a 'rofessor at al Irvine. 8g. 10H
Stephens is suggesting that in >uestioning the motive force an" 'olit+ ical tra=ectory of multiracialism, lac"s now enforce the same /&ne Brop rule that whites once a"here" toa hun"re"
years agobut have since collectively aban"one". hat is, we are witnessing the emergence of a new system of o''ression, “the construction of the [racial/ out of the "enial of the [interracial,/% not in a""ition to white su'remacy but in 'lace of it. How- ever! the telling insistence that this regime change represents /a signi6cant irony undermines Stephens$s entire diagnosis . -or what len"s this new "is'ensation its irony is the fact that the agents of the current
/denial of the Yinterracial!$ /Afro-Americans! were previously the targets of /ante- ellum antimiscegenation .% hat is, Ste'hens here im'lies that antimis+ cegenation is a historic com'onent of white su'remacy an" antiblac5ness, not an autonomous re'ression of mi7ture that blac5s an" whites might commonly en"orse on e>ual footing. *f lac"s were /now to ta"e up the
position occupied y whites /a century ago! they would have had to invert the social order completely! reversing the terms of its /une3ual power relations .
)ace not Dey The system has never een colorlind! and their assertion that we can e a color lind society only serves to further deny the lac" rights and protection. Hartman$I
(3artman, Sai"iya P.. Scenes of sub=ection& terror, slavery, an" self+ma5ing in nineteenth+century America. #ew Nor5& 7for" @niversity 8ress, 1KKH. 8rint. 8g.1)B+ 1)H Apparent in the ta0onomies of race that roun" their way in to the law of freedom were the contradictions that shaped the emergent vision of lac" e3uality. As it turne" out, the /e3ual protection of the law ! aleit intended to correct the violation of lac" lierty enacted in the ;lac" codes! social customs! and other forms of practice! did not consider these classi6catory schemasin 'articular the legal classiuality. ertainly this legislative production of lac"ness was essential to the repressive and regulatory measures of the state , yet it was not foun" to be a violation of fun"amental civil rights. #onetheless, these ta0onomies were instrumental in eNecting new forms of servitude . 6et me state clearly that this is not an argument on behalf of color blin"ness. The rec"less innocence or naivetZ of color-lind position cannot redress the in'uries of race y wishing race away in the desire for an imagined neutrality. !oreover, the invidious eNects of racism also operate in raceneutral guises ! which we see in the successful implementation of repressive laws that disproportionately imprisoned! sentenced! and 6ned the freed and the mushroomed into the convict-lease system . -urthermore, the color-lind position naturali7e " race y assuming its anteriority to discourse. In light of this, the aim of this e7amination i s to consi"er both the state/s 'ro"uction an" regulation of racial sub=ects an" the con4ation of e>uality an" amalgamation that thwarte" guarantees of e>uality of rights an" 'rotection.
)a7antamont #es! we are angry and eternally hopeful for the future. The only place for lac"s to inhait is a place where we are this way. To say that this means all of our struggles are meaningless is an emodiment of white distancing. *t only serves as a way to get away with racist theori7ation ecause we are the /Angry lac" professor #ancy$1%
(9eorge Nancy is 8rofessor of 8hiloso'hy at Cu>uesne @niversity an" oor"inator of the ritical Race heory S'ea5er Series. 3e is the author of :lac5 :o"ies, Fhite 9a?es& he ontinuing Signiuesne @niversity 8resi"ential Awar" for 7cellence in Scholarshi' Nancy, 9eorge. 6oo5, a FhiteZ& 8hiloso'hical ssays on Fhiteness. 8hila"el'hia& em'le @8, 2012. Feb 'g. 1;*+1;W my /anger functioned as the fulcrum around which the professor$s entire narrative of my tal" revolved . He could see only my /anger . *n /seeing only my /anger! he not only failed to hear me ut also ! in the process! managed to shore up his whiteness. In other wor"s, “* see an angry lac" professor can e theori7ed as an instance of distancing whiteness from e0amination and criti3ue! of safeguarding whiteness . 3ence, “* see an angry lac" professor can e descried as the deployment 8whether consciously or unconsciously9 of a white /distancing strategy to /avoid eing positioned as racist or implicated in systemic oppression .%2 !y sense is that
Curing the tal5, 'art of my ob=ective, as on many other occasions when the theme has to "o with racism an" racial embo"iment, was to 'ut white ness on "is'lay, to mar5 it, to counter+ga?e from the 'ers'ective of critical blac5 male sub=ectivity. !ar5ing whiteness in the 'resence of whites can be a 'rofoun"ly "is>uieting e7'erience for them, es'ecially when the agent "oing the mar5ing is a 'erson of colorin this case, a blac5 male. As race" an" engen"ere", I am a blac5 male 'rofessor, an" yet I am also the “hy'erse7ual beast,% the “ra'er of white women,% the “sha"ow lur5ing in the "ar5.% he conte7t can become "ownright volatile. “I see an angry blac5 'rofessorZ% functioned to erase my critical su'ectivity . I felt the shoc" and sting of gross
misrecognition. * ecame the 3uintessential angry lac" man! a powerful racist trope that signi6ed that * was out of control and possily in need of discipline. 8erha's for this 'rofessor an" for other whites too timi" to voice their views, I was the e'itome of the raging blac5 male on the 'reci'ice of violence, the aca"emic Fillie 3orton. owar" the en" of my tal5, another white male 'rofessor, this time an ol"er gentleman, felt that I ha" faile" members of the au"ience. He said!
and one could sense the irritation in his voice! / #ou leave us with no hope . In fact, he inferre" from this that I must be angry because I "i" not tal5 about ways to "eal eDectively with white racism, ways of overcoming it. he faulty inference asi"e, * responded! /hy do you want hopeL ,y o'ective here is not to ring white people hope! to m a"e them wal" away feeling good aout themselves. % 3e reiterate", “hen you must be angryZ% Hope has always played an essential e0istential role in the lives of lac" people living in white America . ;lac" people have long reelled against the asurdity of white racism through a lues sensiility that continues to emphasi7e the power of transcendence through hope. hus, it was not that I was unfamiliar or unconcerne" with the 'ower of ho'e, that incredile capacity to loo" asurdity in the face and yet arm life . Rather, I was curi ous about the function of this ol"er
'rofessor/s "esire that I shoul" have left my au"ience w ith ho'e. In"ee", for me, “I see an angry blac5 'rofessorZ% an" “ #ou leave us with no hope functioned as two sites of white ofuscation. *n the former case, as alrea"y argue", * was reduced to the mythical
angry lac" male ! a one-dimensional caricature! rendering all that * had to say aout whiteness and white racism of little or no value . The latter case functioned to elide the gravitas of the immediacy of lac" pain and suNering and the viru lent ways in which white racism continues to function with such fre3uency in our contemporary moment . In my analysis, both men faile" to tarry with the reality of r acism an" the 'rofoun" ways in which 'eo'le of color must en"ure it.
A(( Answers
A% &ntology 6rst Their essential claims of political ontology failsRdivorces politics from the political and necessitates the impossiility of any navigation of politicsRthe A(($s comination of oth solves &"sala 14+Senior Research -ellow in 8hiloso'hy @niversity of 3elsin5i -inlan" X$ohanna, “-oucault/s 8olitici?ation of ntology,% ontinental 8hiloso'hy Review, W*&WW;+WBB, 10)2010, CE8Y
I begin by ma5ing two claims about 'olitical ontology that at the outset seem to contra"ict each other. -irst, I argue for the im'ortance of ontological in>uiry in 'olitical 'hilo so'hy. !any 'rominent thin5ers agree that current 'oliti cal events in"icate that we urgently nee" new ways of thin5ing about 'olitics, but they sometimes argue for the strict se'aration of the 'olitical an" the ontological. Simon ritchley, for e7am'le, argues in his seminal boo5 Inuire" for its analysis an" 'ractice.1 !y claim is that, on the contrary, for the theoretical rethin5ing of 'olitics to amount to an eDective res'onse to 'ractical 'olitical 'roblems it cannot avoi" ontological investigation. 8olitics cannot shun ontology because ultimately
,y secon" aim is to argue against any essential de6nition of Ythe political$ that attempts to defend its autonomy and speci6city vis-a[vis other social domains. The importance of ontological in3uiry in 'olitical 'hiloso'hy is often estalished through an emphasis on the distinction etween Ypolitics$ and Ythe political$: =olitical science deals with the empirical 6eld of Ypolitics$! whereas political philosophy is not about the facts of 'olitics, it is aout the nature of Ythe political$. 2 hantal !ouDe, for e7am'le, e7'licates the "istinction by borrowing the vocabulary of 3ei"egger& [8olitics/ refers to the two cannot be se'arate".
the ontic level an" "eals with the manifol" 'ractices of conventional 'olitics, while [the 'olitical/ has to "o with the ontological level an" concerns the very way in which society is institute". !ouDe argues that it is the lac5 of un"erstan"ing of [the 'olitical/ in its ontological "imension that lies at the heart of our
eNorts to de6ne what constitutes Ythe political$ in its ontological dimension have repeatedly run into diculties. Fhether we thin5 of arl Schmitt/s "e
I a"vocating any form of regional ontology, in>uiry into the region of reality un"erstoo" as 'olitical. Such an in>uiry woul" be not only 'olitically but also theoretically 'roblematic. Cistinguishing some realm of reality as ['olitical/, an" then attem'ting to clarify the ontology 'ertaining to it, woul" im'ly that a
hat * am advocating is an ontological in3uiry into the way in which reality is instituted that reveals this institution as a political process. !y claim is that 'olitical 'hiloso'hy "oes not nee" ontology in or"er to "euiry ina"vertently results in an i m'licit un"erstan"ing of the 'olitical. It is not a "istict "omain of social reality, but its 'recon"ition& It concerns the contestation an" struggle over the institution an" "isclosure of reality. 3ence,what * mean y political ontology is a politici7ed conception of reality. ,y aim is to prolematise the relationship etween ontology and politics y putting forward such a conception with the help of ,ichel (oucault$s critical pro'ect. I argue that -oucault/s famous slogan ['ower is everywhere/ means no more an" no less than that the e7tension of the 'olitical cannot be securely limite". His thought amounts to an eNort to politici7e regions of reality that have een depolitici7ed! an" this is his most im'ortant contribution to 'hiloso'hy as well as to 'olitics. I argue that -oucault/s thought accom'lishes the 'olitici?ation of ontology with two 5ey theoretical moves. he
and all ontological schemas that order it, an" a subse>uent in"eterminacy of reason in establishing ultimate truths or foun"ations. After this initial ste' whereby ontology is "enaturali?e"ma"e arbitrary or at least historically contingentthe way is open for e0planations that treat the alternative and competing ontological framewor"s as resulting from historical! linguistic and social practices of power. The second "ey move is thus the e0posure of power relations and their constitutive role in our conception of reality. The important philosophical idea ehind (oucault$s hyrid notion of power?"nowledge is that social practices always incorporate power relations , which become constitutive of forms of the sub=ect as well as
"omains an" ob=ects of 5nowle"ge. hey are not sub=ects an" ob=ects e7isting in the worl" as 're+given constants, but are rather constitute" through 'ractices of 'ower. his is a ra"ical, ontological claim about the nature of reality& Reality as we 5now it is the result of social 'ractices al ways incor'orating
The eNect is the profound e0posure and a critical rethin"ing of ontological commitments and ac"ground eliefs concerning social reality. 'ower relations, but also of concrete struggles over truth an" ob=ectivity in social s'ace.
Alt creates passivity Turn M =assivity M Their Understanding of lac"ness as asolute dereliction is only made possile y hite ideological hegemony M the fantasy of the socially dead slave is the foundation of colonialism al"er $1% racey, !asters in 8sychosocial Stu"ies at :ir5bec5 @niversity, “he -uture of Slavery& -rom ultural rauma to thical Remembrance%, 9ra"uate $ournal of Social Science $uly 2012, Pol. K, Issue 2 o argue that there is more to the 'o'ular conce'tion of slaves as victims who e7'erience" social "eath within the abusive regime of transatlantic slavery is not to say that these sub=ectivities "i" not e7ist. Fhen consi"ering the institution of slavery we can >uite con<"ently rely on the assum'tion that it "i" in"ee" "estroy the self+hoo" an" the lives of millions of Africans. Scholar Pincent :rown (200K however, has criticise" rlan"o 8atterson/s (1K)2 seminal boo5 Slavery an" Social Ceath for 'ositioning the slave as a sub=ect without agency an" maintains that
those who manage" to "islocate from the nightmare of 'lantation life [were not in fact the living "ea"/, but [the mothers of gas'ing new societies/ (:rown 200K, 12W1. he $amaican !aroons were one such "is'arate grou' of Africans who manage" to ban" together an" 4ee the $amaican 'lantations in or"er to create a new mo"e of living un"er their own rule. hese [runaways/ were in
fact [ferocious
the story of the Fin"war" $amaican !aroons "isru'ts the 'hallocentricism inherent within the story of the slave [hero/ by the very revelation that their lea"er, []ueen #anny/ was a woman (9otlieb 2000. As a lea"er, she was often ignore" by early white historians who "ismisse" her as an [ol" hagg/ or [obeah/ woman ('ossessor of evil magic 'owers (9otlieb 2000, 7vi. Net, "es'ite these negative "escri'tors,#anny 'resents an interesting image of an African woman in the time of slavery who cultivate" an e7ce'tional army an" use" 'sychological as well as military force against the nglish "es'ite not owning so'histicate" the :ritish army after 200 years of battle (9otlieb 2000,1B. In a""ition,
wea'ons (9otlieb 2000. As an oral tale, her story s'ea5s to 'ost+slavery generations through its re'resentation of a
. he label of [social "eath/ is re=ecte" here on the groun"s that it is a narrative which is 'ositione" from the vantage 'oint of a uro'ean hegemonic i"eology. Against the social symbolic an" its ga?e, blac5 slaves were in"ee" regar"e" as non+humans eir lives were stunte", "iminishe" an" "eeme" less valuable in com'arison to the uro'eans. 3owever, -anon/s (1KBH assertion that [not only must the blac5 man be blac5 he must be blac5 in relation to the white man/ (-anon 1KBH, 110 hel's us to un"erstan" thatthis classiue circumstances, were force" to create new mo"es of communication which woul" inclu"e a myria" of African cultures, languages an" cree"s (9ottlieb 2000. his creative an" resistive energy of slave sub=ectivity !ARECCCCCC not only "isru'ts the colonial 'ara"igm of socially "ea" slaves, but also im'lies the ethical living un"er 'aternalistic, racist, classist an" gen"er base" o''ression/ (9otlieb 2000, )W
tro'es of creation, renewal an" mutual recognitio n.
In contrast, the 'assive slave 'rove" to feature heavily in the 200H bicentenary commemorations causing =ournalist oyin Agbetu to interru't the oGcial s'eeches an" e7claim that it ha" turne" into a "iscourse of free"om engineere" mostly by whites with stories of blac5 agency
e7clu"e") . Noung/s argument that [one of the "amaging si"e eDects of the focus on white 'eo'le/s role in abolition is that Africans are re'resente" as being 'assive in the face of o''ression/, a''ears to echo the behaviour in the @E to"ay given that a recent research 'oll reveals that the blac5 vote turnout is signi
however, enables slave consciousness to rise above the mire of slavery/s ab=ect victims an" establishes an ethical relation with our ancestors who live" an" survive" in the time of slavery.
2aw Good >ven if the state is evil we should still try to use the law against itself )oert illiams 5J
X!arch 1KB), Robert -. Filliams was a civil rights lea"er an" author, best 5nown for serving as 'resi"ent of the !onroe, #orth arolina cha'ter of the #AA8 in the 1K;0s an" early 1KB0s. :lac5 8anther 8arty foun"er 3uey #ewton cite" Filliams/s #egroes with 9uns as a ma=or ins'iration. “Reaction Fithout 8ositive hange%, he rusa"er, Polume K, #umber W, htt'&free"omarchives.orgCocuments-in"erC;1*scansRobert-Filliams;1* .Robert-Filliams.rusa"er.!arch.1KB).'"fY racist AmericaXs igoted court system is the cardinal scourge of the powerless ;lac" and white masses . he constitutional myth about _trial by oneJs 'eers_ is a car"inal sacrilege against the sacre"ness of truth. hen a ;lac" man is a defendant in AmericanismXs doc" of Anglo-Sa0on law he is pretty much in #e7t to na5e" violence an" unmitigate" terror,
the same position as an humle lam on an altar of sacri6ce. hite AmericaXs savage culture erects a pious facade of devotion to the rule of law rather than of man and hypocritically attempts to pro'ect the ritualistic victimi7ation of the ;lac" man to some remote and spiritual realm of divinity aove and eyond the tawdry arena of satanic man. o 'roclaim Anglo+Sa7on =uris'ru"ence to be a rule of law an" to allow its a''lication to be left to the whim of insensate brigan"s is tantamount to casting 'earls before swine.
The "angaroo court system in racist America is the most
archaic of reactionary institutionali7ed in'ustice. Some 'hases of society mo"erni?es an" a"vances. ertain as'ects of culture are in a constant state of transition, but to an" behol" Anglo+Sa7on law "ogge"ly clings to a !agna harta stee'e" in the tra"itions of a !i""le Ages mentality. Fhy "oes this so+calle" rule of law so rea"ily invo5e the heritage of ancient vanity in =ustifying mo"ern in=ustice 're"icate" on feu"alistic logic an" moralityL Fhy is it so incline" to loo5 bac5war"s instea" of forwar"L Fhy is it a >uilte" 'atchwor5 of sham reform rather than a bol" new uniforme" structure create" out of sociologyJs u'+to+"ate "iscoveries an" 'remisesL It is because it is an instrument of social reaction in the employ of reactionaries hell-ent on preserving an ante-ellum and vulturous power structure frenetically trying to maintain its encircled and attered position . yrants "o not change of themselves. The pressure of the people stimulated y the enlightenment derived from their social eing is the driving wheel that propels the vehicle of change. The ;lac" an" the 'owerless, who face the wrath of so+calle" Anglo+Sa7on =uris'ru"ence, must come to reali7e the futility of leaving their fate to the rule of law as implemented y puppet 'udges who 'an"er to the
savage emotions of a col" bloo"e" aristocracy. he true 'ower of the state "erives from the 'eo'le. he wea5ness of the 'eo'le in a confrontation with state tyranny evolves from the a'athy, confusion, "emorali?ation, "isunity an" ignorance of their own 'ower.
All over degenerate and fascist America today the most complimentary citi7ens of a civili7ed society are eing railroaded to prison! are eing removed from a decadent and sheepish society that is in dire need of highly moral and resistant 6er . These courageous and upright citi7ens constitute the last thin line etween regression and progression . They are the sparse in numers ut 6rm pillars that so precariously prevent the society from plunging into the tragic and chaotic depth of despotic fascism. AmericaXs 'ails are teaming with principled ;lac" @ationalists! freedom 6ghters! war resisters! peace advocates! resisters of false arrest!
those forced into crime as a means of survival! the penniless and powerless guilty of minor infractions! ut unale to pay the courtXs triute money and the stateXs riery . AmericaJs racist courts have assume" the "es'otic 'osture of institutionali?e" lynch mobs en=oying the sanctimonious solicitu"e of the stateJs ritualistic buDoonery. This inhumane and oppressive situation can only e recti6ed y an aroused ! united and determined citi7enry . The power of the enraged masses must e arrayed against this Anglo\Sa0on "angarooism. e must strive to create more favorale legal conditions to disrupt the orderly and uninhiited process of perennial racist "angaroo 'ustice. A life-and-death struggle must e waged to rea" this anti3uated 6rst line of the reactionary power structureXs defense of its fast ero"ing 'osition. Science changes, me"icine changes, e"ucation changes, customs change, styles change but the archaic courts still arrogantly pride themselves on the fact that they are the true and nole hermits from the dar" ages . *n our life-and-death struggle! we must convert everything possile into a weapon of defense and survival . e must not e narrowminded and sectarian in our scope.
Fhen 'ossible
we must use the allot , we must use the
school! the church! the arts and even the evil legal system that we "now to e stac"ed against us. Fe must
A-; not ontological Anti-lac"ness is not an ontological antagonism---conict is inevitale in politics! ut does not have to e demarcated around whiteness and lac"ness---the alt$s ontological fatalism recreates colonial violence Peter Hudson 13, Political Studies Department, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg , South Africa, has been on the editorial board of the Africa Perspective: he South African Journal of Sociology and heoria: A Journal of Political and Social heory and ransformation, and is a member of the Johannesburg Wor!shop in heory and "riticism, he state and the colonial unconscious, Social Dynamics: A #ournal of African studies, $%&'
There always has to exist an outside, which is also inside, to the extent it is designated as the impossibility from which the possibility of the existence of the subject derives its rule +adiou $%%-, $$%.* But although the excluded place which isn’t excluded insofar as it is necessary for the very possibility of inclusion and identity may be universal +may be considered /ontological0., its content (what fills it ! as well as the mode of this filling and its reproduction 1 are contingent* 2n other words, the meaning of the signifier ofexclusion is not determined once and for all" the place of the place of exclusion# of death is itself over$determined # i%e% the very framewor& for deciding the other and the same#exclusion and inclusion# is nowhere hus the self(same)other distinction is necessary for the possibility of identity itself*
engraved in ontological stone but is political and never terminally settled% Put differently, the 'curvature of intersubjective space +"ritchley $%%3, 4&. and thus,the specific modes of the /othering0 of 'otherness are nowhere decided in advance (as a certain ontological fatalism might have it . +see ilderson $%%5.* The social
does not have to e divided into white and lac" , and the meaning of these signifiers is never necessary 1 because they are signifiers% o be sure, colonialism institutes an ontological division, in that whites e6ist in a way barred to blac!s 1 who are not* But this ontological relation is really on the side of the ontic 1 that is, of all contingently constructed identities# rather than the ontology of the social which refers to the ultimate unfixity # the indeterminacy or lac& of the social% 2n this sense, then, the white man doesn7t e6ist, the blac! man doesn7t e6ist +8anon &-45, &49. and neither does the colonial symbolic itself, including its most intimate structuring relations 1 division is constitutive of the social# not the colonial division% ')hiteness may well be very deeply sediment in modernity itself, but respect for the /ontological difference0 +see ;eidegger &-4$, $4 Watts $%&&, $3-. shows up its ontological status as ontic* *t may be so deeply sedimented that it becomes difficult even to identify the very possibility of the separation of whiteness from the very possibility of order# but from this it does not follow that the 'void of 'blac& being functions as the ultimate substance, the transcendental signified on which all possile forms of
sociality
are said to
rest % )hat gets lost here, then, is the speci6city of colonialism, of its
its 'ontological differential% A crucial feature of the colonial symbolic is that the real is not screened off by the imaginary in the way it is under capitalism* At the place of the colonised, the symbolic and the imaginary give way because non$ constitutive a6is,
identity +the real of the social. is immediately inscribed in the 'lived experience +ve! $%%4a, ?%14%. all the time the void of the verb /to be0 is the very content of his interpellation* The colonised is, in other words, the subject of anxiety for whom the symbolic and the imaginary never wor& , who is left st randed by his very interpellation*? /+ixed into 'non$fixity# he is eternally suspended between 'element and 'moment9 1 he is where the colonial symbolic falters in the production of meaning and is thus the point of entry of the real into the texture itself of colonialism* e this as it may, whiteness and blac&ness are +sustained by. determinate and contingent practices of signification, the 'structuring relation of colonialism thus itself comprises a ¬ of significations which # no matter how tight# can always be undone% Anti-colonial 1 i*e*, anti$'white 1 modes of struggle are not +#ust. /psychic0 4 but involve the ' reactivation +or /de(sedimentation0.3 of colonial o'ectivity itself * @o matter how sedimented +or global., colonial ob#ectivity is not ontologically immune to antagonism* Differentiality, as =i>e! insists +see =i>e! $%&$, chapter &&, 33& n?5., immanently entails antagonism in that differentiality both ma!es possible the e6istence of any identity whatsoever and at the same time 1 because it is the presence of one ob#ect in another 1 undermines any identity ever being +fully. itself* ach element in a differential relation is the condition of possibility and the condition of impossibility of each other* 2t is this dimension of antagonism that the Baster Signifier covers over transforming its
symbolisation produces an ineradicable excess over itself# something it can’t totalise or ma&e sense of# where its production of meaning falters* This is its internal limit point, its real:- an errant /ob#ect0 that has no place of its own# isn’t recognised in the categories of the system but is produced by it ! its 'part of no part or 'object small a%&% "orrelative to this ob#ect /a0 is the sub#ect /stricto sensu0 1 i*e*, as the empty sub#ect of the signifier without an identity that pins it down*&& That is the subject of antagonism in confrontation with the real of the social# as distinct from 'subject position based on a determinate identity* outside +Cther. into an element of itself, reducing it to a condition of its possibility*5 All
e challenge US military complicity with racism US military presence in the Ara States of the =ersian Gulf is complicit with anti-=ersian racism Kafar 14 human resources professional in Toronto! +anada who is an avid oserver on international aNairs Saa", Toronto Foreign Policy Examiner , $uly K, htt'&www.me"eshivalley.com20100Huae+calls+for+attac5+on+iran.html
here have been re'orts that Sau"i Eing Ab"ullah has given Israel 'ermission to use Sau"i airs'ace for an attac5 on Iran. According to a (rench 'ournalist! Ding Adullah also told the (rench Befense ,inister that there are two states in the ,iddle >ast that do not have the right to e0ist: *srael and *ran. Sau"i Arabia fervently "enie"
these re'orts when they were ma"e 'ublic.
:ut Amassador al-&taia$s remar"s appear to reect the view of many Ara governments in the region. Analysts say that there are a numer of reasons why Aras hold such viewsO the 6rst eing religious igotry. *ran is a ma'ority Shi$a country! and many Aras hold Shi$as in contempt. The second reason is the anti-=ersian racism that is pervasive in many Ara societies. The third reason is the fear of foreign domination. Some 6nd it strange that Aras 6nd it more or less acceptale for a Pewish state to have a nuclear arsenal ut the very notion of a =ersian Shi$a nation even having a nuclear program ma"es the Aras 3uiver in fear. Also! the Aras tremle at the thought of eing dominated y =ersian Shi$as! ut the Aras feel little or no shame eing dominated y +aucasian Americans 8or even an African American9. Amassador al-&taia seems to elieve that the United States will come to the UA>$s rescue if *ran decides to retaliate in response a US attac" 8supported y the UA>9. :ut given the fact that America/s
military commitments in Ira> an" Afghanistan are weighing "own so heavily on the @S military (not to mention the @S economy, it is unli5ely that the @S will have the ca'acity to guarantee the security of the mirates. ;lac" 2ieration demands that the US get out of Africa and Asia Sha"ur JJ African-American activist and memer of the former ;lac" =anther =arty and ;lac" 2ieration Army
