Revolutionary Launch
By Pierre Polo Pinson*
(A View of Revolutionary Self Determination)
The launch was a gathering of resources (people) in one place to launch against the machine. It was the collection of formed and raw material to be weaponized. Some will oppose the thought of being raw material, however, as a Black man in Amerika, I am unable to escape this reality. This system does not aim to colonize our land because we have no land. My people are descended from those stolen from their homeland and capitalism requires resources to extract from occupied, conquered, and colonized lands. However, due to the fact Black people in America have no land to exploit the capitalist system must exploit Black people as political, penal, and public capital. We, the people are our greatest and most valuable resource. We must see others as necessary and valuable resources not to be exploited but to be explored with intentional care and curiosity. All resources must be maximized and organized to make revolution.
We are the raw material organized and aimed to sabotage (See Sabot or the French çabot). Our individual thrusts or purposes combine to create the thrust or force that propels the movement that launches the people as projectile. This Projectile can take various forms, however, what is important is the impact. Revolution as a purely destructive act is for those who have not imagined freedom. The projectile lands with an impact to bend the ground and consciousness. The more projectiles that shake the mental, social, and political landscape, the more the people will emerge from their holes. Some will look to the skies and others will look to the why's. Either way, they will be educated.
Of course, we are not all projectiles. Organizers are tasked with gathering the cannons, some through theft from the oppressors others by raising awareness and funds. Soldiers execute orders and load the cannons. Some people are projectile and others are fodder that support the projectile.
Then there are those of us who are to provide the spark that ignites! Everyone who was at the ITB launch comprises some part of this function to be weaponized against oppression and repression. It is the individual's duty to objectively assess who and what they are and to execute that role with pride and precision. A successful launch can be determined by the accuracy with which we strike the target but we must keep in mind that even a projectile that misses its target shakes the foundation of the oppressors house. Insecurity rings in his ears! The success of our launch will be determined by how many of the people become projectiles shaking the world to the core.
In closing I leave you with a revolutionary word,
The effectiveness of rallies and mass demonstrations has not come to an end. Their purpose has diacritically altered, but the general tactic remains sound. Today the rally affords the opportunity to effect intensive organization of the projects and programs that will form the infrastructure of our communes. If the mass rallies close, as they have in the past, with a few speeches and a pamphlet, we can expect no more results than in the past: two hours later the people will be Americans again (instead of people). But going among "the people" at each gathering with clipboards and pens, and painfully ascertaining what each can contribute to clear-cut, carefully defined political projects, is the distinction between intensive organization and sterile, stilted attempts to build new unions (rank and file, etc.) or elect a socialist legislature. -George Jackson, Blood In My Eye (p. 60)
