Q: How have you been able to cope? A: Well, it hasn’t been easy. There’s two things i’ve learned: when War did that record “The World is a Ghettoâ€, i don’t know if they knew the depths of what they sang. But really, it’s true, the world is a ghetto, and Black people are considered on the bottom everywhere; there’s no exceptions! Another thing, Che Guevara said, “Whenever you’re in exile, consider yourselves in enemy territory.†Now, like i said, in Algiers the government was very helpful. Helped me get a job, helped me get an apartment, and i was very very well treated. But you got the problem of cultural differences, which were very very strong. i lived seven years in Algiers, and the last day was like the first; whenever i went out of the house into the streets, “There goes the american! There goes the american!†It just wasn’t possible to integrate, because i’m not a religious person especially; i wasn’t going to become a muslim. i had been told several times by certain officials responsible for liberation movement people, “You become a muslim, all the doors will be opened.†Well i’m not an opportunist on that level; i wouldn’t make those kinds of compromises with my principles, so i was just isolated out there by myself. The cultural differences became so strong; the pressure became so great, that i had to get out of there. Now, i’ll recount a little anecdote; it’s funny, but it’s tragic also: The Africa Cup – Football in 1977. The only thing standing between Algeria & the Africa Cup was Guinea, the team from Conakry. The first match was in Conakry, and the Guineans beat the Algerians 2-0. There were some Algerians that attacked Black people in the street in Algiers, as a result of that football game. The doorkeeper at the job where i worked was a Black man - people came to work the next day talking about, “You don’t come to the stadium for the return match.†And talking about me (now these were supposed to be progressive people who had been to the school of fine art) - “If he hadn’t done something wrong, he wouldn’t have had to leave his countryâ€. i left work; i quit work right then & there. That was in February; i started moving to get out of Algiers. i wasn’t ready to accept that kind of atmosphere from a country that had suffered so much from racism as they had from the French. i preferred to find some reactionary western culture (because i’m from a western culture myself) where don’t nobody care about what i do. Well, the only other culture i had learned, being in Algiers, was the French culture. All the other foreigners that i had met, Algerians and French alike, were living in France so i decided to leave Algiers & come to France. That was in April 1977. Q: How many Panthers would you say are in exile in various countries around the world? A: Well, i don’t really have an exact figure, you know. i know of about twelve personally, but i’m sure that there are others because it just wasn’t possible for me to know everybody. Q: What does being an exile mean in terms of the impact on your life? A: Well, it means being cut off completely from everything you know, everything you love. All your references are completely blown away. Everything is new; you have to learn new rules all over again everyplace you go. Every culture is different. Frankly, everybody has the same problems all over the world – survival: food, clothing, and shelter. And really, basically the only thing that changes is the culture & the language. But, some of the rules really (coming from the america that i knew, that doesn’t seem to exist anymore!) are hard sometimes. France, for example: here, you have to have a national identity card; you always have to have your identity card on you. If you don’t have your identity card, and if you’re controlled, you can go to jail for four days automatically. Well, coming from the united states where there was no national identity card, that’s like big brother for me. Here, you can’t do anything without first having authorization or registering somewhere. i remember when i opened up a photographic studio in San Francisco in ’64, all i had to do was go down to city hall, pay a dollar & a half, and register the name & pay my taxes. That’s all i had to do. Here in France, it takes like three months to create a company. Three months of paperwork. And because they have so many social programs – social security, medical care, retirement, old age pension & things like that – the charges are terrible! For example, me working as a contractor; whether you work or not, every three months you have to pay something like $5,000 in charges to the retirement fund, the health plan, and things like that. So really, it’s hard here. It’s very, very, very difficult; on the survival level, that’s the most difficult thing. Being outside of my element, i find survival on an economic level the most difficult thing. Because my attitude has never changed all these 22 years i’ve been in exile in terms of the struggle, i feel no different about the united states on that level. i’m just disturbed by the fact that i see things have deteriorated to the point that things are thousands of times worse today than it was when i was active with the rest of the comrades back in the ‘70s. Q: What are some of the lessons that you have learned from the last 22 years of struggle & exile? A: Well, for me the most fundamental thing that i’ve learned is the problem is the men & the megalomania. Every time you look at organizations that try to get started and they fall apart, it’s always because of the men struggling over power, and trying to get over their own program, no matter what it is. And, even when you look at history, history is nothing but that; struggles of men wanting to impose their way of seeing the world or protecting their power and oppressing other people. History is full of that. That’s one of the things that i really try to get deep off into, studying history, pre-history, the evolution of man, trying to understand that phenomenon, to see what can be done to change that. Because the objective conditions today are a hundred times worse than they were when We were active; what’s the reason that there’s not people out there dealing with the problem? Because the men – every time people get their heads together trying to get an organization you start having those megalomaniac struggles for power. That’s the most fundamental thing that i’ve learned out here. As far as i’m concerned, that’s the thing that We have to guard ourselves against. Anybody that wants to get organized, to get something moving again, they’ve got to create some means to controlling this tendency of men to struggle for power and their own personal aggrandizement. Q: What are some of the concerns that you have now? A: My concerns that i have now is that terrible situation that We find ourselves in in the united states and really, the recognition and the understanding that it’s no longer just a national problem. All the countries of the world treat their problems as internal & national, but really it’s an international octopus that’s calling all the shots. International finance capital; We have to recognize the situation like it is. People in London are deciding the prices of the cocoa and the precious metals that people all over the third world are producing; people in Chicago are deciding the price of grains, the wheat & everything that people are producing; here at the stock exchange in Paris, they’re deciding the price of sugar. It’s out of control; it’s out of control of government hands. There is no national solution to the problem, it’s really an international phenomena. Of course, much can be done on an internal level. i mean, it’s a crying shame that inside a country that’s socalled leading the western world like the united states, you have all those people living out there in the streets, whole families, ‘cause they don’t have the means to have shelter. There has to be shelter, the basic necessities of life for everybody. Any movement that starts out has to deal with those questions. Everybody has to have a shelter, everybody has to have a means to survive on a physical level. Then, when We get those things accomplished, then We can take things to a higher level. Those are my concerns right now. Q: If you had one gift to give to the youth of today, who are becoming politically aware, what would it be? A: Knowledge of what went on before, so people don’t fall back & make the same mistakes again. That’s one of the one of the biggest problems i see today, the lack of continuity. People don’t even know what happened last week, let alone 20 years ago. So, any young organizations, people coming out there today, that don’t know about all the mistakes that We made, they’re gonna make the same mistakes again. A lot of people don’t believe that you can learn from past mistakes, but i don’t believe that. If We could pass on the knowledge on a mass level of what went on before, that would help those that are in a position to analyze and make decisions, see some of the things that shouldn’t be done. Now, nobody has any answers to how to deal with this stuff today. Nobody’s had to deal with it before, and you can see all the models that We had before, in the so-called progressive communist world, have just fallen by the wayside because it was trying to be imposed from the top. The people stayed where they were at. As soon as all those repressive measures by all the different regimes fell aside, all those ethnic struggles that were taking place 75 years ago sprung out all over again in all those eastern countries. What We have to do, We have to write the whole thing all over again. We have to start by coming up with something to deal with the economic problems of all those millions of people out there suffering from not having any shelter, not having means to eat, and no healthcare. i feel that personally, one of the solutions – one of the solutions – is that there needs to be a real true party in the united states that represents the needs of the people. Another party that really addresses itself to the needs of the people has to come into being. There’s just too many people out there suffering that would support it. i feel that if it came along, anything that’s really effectively dealing with the people’s needs, the people are going to get behind it, ‘cause the situation is terrible. Q: There are Panthers that are still in prison: the New York 3, David Rice, Robert ‘Seth’Hayes, Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald, there’s a Panther on death row: Mumia Abu-Jamal; there’s Panthers still in exile: Michael Cetewayo Tabor, Pete O’Neal, Assata Shakur, George Brown, etc. Would you say there’s a lot of unfinished business? Do you have any thoughts on what must be done? A: Yeah, well there’s definitely unfinished business. The reason that all these people are still in prison, and having such a difficult time getting out is because of all these problems. Because the authorities know that people that already have experience, that have knowledge, if they can keep them off the streets, that’s gonna leave the people out there floundering around. They can’t bring that experience and leadership to the struggle. So, i feel that the maximum number of people that can be gotten together, that have consciousness of what is the actual situation, should get themselves together. The answers are not gonna just fall out of the sky; We’ve got to get our heads together and have a brainstorming session and see what We can come up with to start dealing with that situation. i feel that’s the first step, people have to get themselves together. Put all those ideologies & ideological struggle and who has the best line with words out of the way. The people are suffering. That has to be dealt with; all those ideological struggles that just be wasting time, people be runnin’ their mouths trying to prove who has the best line just with words, that has to be thrown in the garbage can. And all those megalomaniac men, struggling for power trying to get off their program, they gotta be put into a museum of history. People have to get their heads together, that have some kind of political consciousness, to try to come up with some solutions and put ‘em into action and see if We can start moving to get something going to get some relief to the people. The people are suffering! Q: Is there anything else that you would like to say? A: Everybody, that’s got any ideas to get some kind of relief to all those suffering people, move on it! Don’t waste your time, criticizing the others; if you got an idea, move on what you think is right! Stop spending your time knocking down the others ‘cause you don’t agree with what they’re doing. What’s ending up, ain’t nobody doin’ nothin’! Q: Thank You A: Right On! 3/31/92
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 04:20:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015