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Editorial Introduction
The second entry in of our Black August series is a new essay Shaka A. Shakur wrote for the Chinese translation of his latest book, From the Republic of New Afrika to Palestine: National Liberation in Context. For more information about this series that represents the first of Shaka’s books to be translated into Mandarin or another language, see the series introduction.
The Mandarin translation of this essay is available here.
When the Dragon Comes…
Dear Comrades of China,
i am really humbled and appreciative of this opportunity to bring to you a translated version of my writings in the real spirit of solidarity and internationalism.
As a teenager, first learning about revolutionary politics, i was studying the struggles and sacrifices of the Chinese people during the Cultural Revolution and beyond. These teachings have not only been inspirational, but educational; teaching me the skills to be able to break down the contradictions and blood sucking nature of a capitalist social system and its particular political mode of economy.
The writings in this series are geared towards contributing to the continuing forward motion of that struggle.
i often hear u.s. propaganda by media pundits talk about the Human Rights violations of the Chinese government and its policies within its prisons. I’ve often wondered about the audacity and hypocrisy of such pundits.
i’ve been doing time in u.s prisons for 40 years and i have experienced torture, human rights violations, violations of international law as defined by the U.N. Charter (e.g. The Mandela Rules of Standard Minimum Rules of Treatment of Prisoners) and the exploitation of labor (e.g. making 13 cents an hour to produce materials or products that the state or private enterprise take and make millions off of).
These writings are an attempt to connect the internationalist dots with Palestine and the different faces and masks of colonialism and occupation. It is also an attempt to show how the u.s. represents an empire with imperialist tentacles that extend around the world.
The u.s. isn’t a country; it is an empire that represents “A Prison House of Nations” that has been domestically colonized. I’m a part of the New Afrikan Nation that strives and struggles to make the Republic of New Afrika a material and independent reality through a National Liberation Struggle and War for Independence and Self-Determination.
While u.s. politicians speak about the need to “free Taiwan,” New Afrikan/Black folks ain’t free in Amerika! When Puerto Rico ain’t free and Independent!!
u.s. politicians speak about Israel’s right to “defend” itself and yet have hundreds of Black, Brown, and White Revolutionaries housed in u.s. maximum and super-maximum security prisons as Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War. They are often held for 40-plus years and generally only released on their deathbeds!! They are those who attempted to liberate their people from the yoke of neo-colonial imperialism.
Such rhetoric and posturing by the u.s. government and its talking heads truly reveal the fact that the u.s. is a paper tiger and the Emperor wears no clothes.
Once again I appreciate the love, solidarity, and comradeship.
All Power To The People!!!
Free The Land!!!
Shaka Shakur
www.ShakaShakur.org
shaka@shakashakur.org
Featured image: A dragon overlaying the cover of the October 16, 1971 issue of The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service, featuring a photo of Huey P. Newton greeting Chinese premier Zhou Enlai during the Black Panther Party’s September 1971 delegation to the People’s Republic of China. Zhou Enlai was instrumental in building Afro-Chinese solidarity during the early 1960s.
