Letters from Our Readers

Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor

20 Jan 2021

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This week the uprising in Washington and Du Bois’s writings on the Soviet Union were on your mind. We share your letters for “White Settler Uprising at the Capitol,” “W.E.B. Du Bois and the Paths to Communism: A Review,” and “Max Blumenthal: Breach of Capitol Security Was Like a Military Operation.”

“White Settler Uprising at the Capitol” by Glen Ford argues that the storming of the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump was a racially motivated action in line with the historic role of settlers in settler-colonial states.

Bob Browning writes:

“A good article that led me to practically 24 hours of reflection and introspection on what experiences have shaped my perceptions. Of course the key ingredient that allows the elites to maintain their power is perpetuating the racial divide- the divine right.. I had given my cousins, those semi well off misled white folks, a pass on being both ignorant by being played by yet another millionaire and naive about the history of election manipulations but that racism (conscious or subconscious) programs us to be tools. I'm bummed- it's gonna take many generations to evolve this mind-set.. and/or as Chris Hedges says, ‘Many and often in the streets and loud.’”

Tamas Advocatuur writes:

“The statement that only in the USA there is a potential threat to and uprising by white supremacists against the elite and the government does not sufficiently and necessary results from the empirical phenomenon of rising participation of black and brown people in political life. I experienced myself the last white supremacist revolt in November 2018 the Hague (the Netherlands), in the so called ‘juridical capital of the world’, when white supremacists literally occupied the center of the city and all the main access routes thereto, and were molesting verbally and physically brown and black people and denying them access to the city and even to leave the city. The police and the local of central government did not intervene. The white bystanders also did not react and where tacitly enjoying the humiliation of brown and black people. In Holland and also in the Hague there is no rising phenomenon of participating of brown and black people in political life.”

In “Max Blumenthal: Breach of Capitol Security Was Like a Military Operation” Ann Garrison interviews Max Blumenthal on the possibility of collusion between military and police with the forces that stormed the Capitol.

Riva Enteen writes:

“Although the efforts of the Partnership for Civil Justice are essential, the collaboration of the Kenosha cops with Kyle Rittenhouse was filmed for all to see and seems a forgotten atrocity. As a retired LAPD cop says, accountability is a 4-letter word in the department. We must hold the Kenosha cops accountable for giving water and high-fives to a white supremacist, let alone allowing him to walk away, holding his rifle, after they were told he had shot several people. Cop collaboration in our sacred capital is no worse than on the streets of Kenosha. That it happened in our sacred capital now allows our Silicon Valley execs to be the arbiters of what is protected speech. Orwell would be shocked.”

In “W.E.B. Du Bois and the Paths to Communism: A Review” Anthony Monteiro argues Du Bois’s 1950 manuscript is essential to the struggle for Communism in the 21st century.

Phillipe Gendrault writes:

“Thanks to Dr. Monteiro's review of the text Russia and America: an Interpretation, I discovered an amazing text of history, political science, political economy and even anthropology. I send Dr. Monteiro my gratitude. Du Bois is nothing less than a genius of his time and well beyond. This ought to be published as it stands to correct so many erroneous historical beliefs so commonly accepted today.”

The ruling elite have targeted those who fight for ideological clarity. Reviving the ideas of Du Bois is one key component of reviving a serious left.

Jahan Choudhry is Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.

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