Neighbor Newspaper Vol 48

NEIGHBOR NEWS

News Service

Issue No. 48 June 9, 2024

Poetry - 3

MXA Scholarship - 4

International - 6

Neighbor Series - 9

Politic & Acknowledgments - 10 Land Acknowledgement

WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE NISENAN PEOPLE ARE STILL HERE AMONG US TODAY, THOUGH NEARLY INVISIBLE. WE UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE ON NISENAN LAND THAT WAS NEVER CEDED AND THE ORIGINAL TRIBAL FAMILIES HAVE YET TO RECOVER FROM THE GENOCIDE OF THEIR PEOPLE. AS A RESIDENT OR VISITOR IN NISENAN LAND, WE SUPPORT THE NEVADA CITY RANCHERIA NISENAN TRIBE IN EFFORTS TO STABILIZE THEIR PEOPLE AS WELL AS THEIR CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE FEDERAL RECOGNITION.

poetry

we breathe when we have

big feelings have kept us breathing big all year at mxa big feelings have kept us surviving big feelings have kept us alive running a community school is by no means an easy task our funding is nonexistent. our team works their ass off contributing they can while working multiple jobs, maintaining relationships and trying to pursue our own personal goals/interests with the little time we have left in our schedules. it is why we are still referring to our programs as the panthers did - survival programs. we are not yet free none of us but malcolm x academy is our team’s vision of what freedom could look like one day and building dreams is by no means an easy task

there’s lots of feeling involved from the learners to the learning guides to the parents and beyond - every 5 days this year has been a whirlwind of anger and numbness and laughter and tears and celebration and loneliness and joy and sadness and comraderie and resentment and grief and fear and love - punctuated by a short 2 day ‘weekend ’

everyone at mxa has been learning how to breathe we need to it is the only way we are able to survive as we’re building these dreams

it is what’s kept our team in loving relationships with each other and with our community. it is what allows us to start off each day with intention and balance and our hearts in the right place. it is what we see our learners figuring out for themselves during intense games of capture the flag or when they’re tired and don’t want to work or when someone got them mad and they’re ready to fight

i am forever grateful for our practices of breathing and all the ways they show upwhether it’s mindfulness mondays with raiin, sunny days at the farm with dre, nada ear pressure breathing with brooklyn and shanaia, a morning somatic session with myself, intense dance battles with the girls and games of 21 with king and adrian or smoke session debriefs with mr jordan - the breaths and the heartbeats of our family is strong

so we breathe when we have big feelings and as we close out another year at mxa, i’m grateful for another year we’ve spent surviving alongside each other with love to the shakurs

Pedagogies of Love

Dejay Bilal

Moving through and being moved by love is something the MXA learning guides are figuring out each and every day To remain in this struggle, they believe that we must be moved by revolutionary hope and optimism Our people have been forced to endure over 500 years of genocidal occupation and they continue to face enormous obstacles that include but are not limited to police terror, housing insecurity, wage theft, environmental collapse, and the primary contradiction, European imperialism In the face of all of this terror, we must maintain revolutionary hope, optimism, and faith that our people will eventually be free from generations of pain if we organize ourselves properly.

For the last two years, the MXA community has been figuring out what exactly it means to move in love. What does it mean to be guided by love? This is a process that they’ve had to endure together, as a community Each learning guide has had the opportunity to engage in this process alongside the scholars and their families. Sometimes love at MXA looks a lot like struggle. Being in community with people means that we will inevitably experience conflict and disagreement This is true even with the community at MXA. The scholars and learning guides are all flawed people trying to find healthy ways to navigate interpersonal relationships within a community that has experienced a lot of deep trauma Pedagogies of love challenge us to navigate these conflicts by holding each other closer. At MXA, community circles are important to their implementation of pedagogies of love The learning guides utilize community circles whenever they join in conversation with each other because they allow for each member of the circle to be seen and heard Morning circles, afternoon circles, circles to share about joy, circles to navigate grief and harm circles invite us to relate to each other in new ways.

Each and every day that I have spent at MXA, community circles were a core part of our daily practice. I have witnessed scholars as young as five years old embrace the practice of community circles and I have witnessed them teach lessons to everyone in the room about what love can look like in a space like this. I have seen them express their feelings, hold themselves accountable, and navigate conversations that cause most adults to throw child-like tantrums The scholars of MXA have proven that pedagogies of love can be transformative. They have proven to me that these practices have the potential to completely shift how we relate to each other as community members

To ground their commitment to Pedagogies of Love, Assata Shakur’s poem R/evolution is Love has really guided the teaching practices of MXA’s learning guides Everyday for the past two years, the MXA community has turned to this poem time and time again as a reminder of what it looks like to move in love So much so, one of the seven-year-old scholars at the school has completely memorized the poem and leads her peers in a daily recitation during their morning check-in The first time I witnessed her memorized recitation, tears of joy filled my eyes

mxascholarship

R/evolution means respecting and learning from your children.

One morning last year when I arrived at MXA to set up the Assata Shakur freedom farm, one of our fifth grade students interrupted my work and asked me to come with him into the community room where we hosted most of our learning sessions. I followed him down into the space and he instructed me to sit down. I was pretty confused about why he was asking me to come inside because I still had a lot of work to get done with the farm and I also had to turn our compost system. This is what my brain was focused on. Quickly, my mindset shifted. He said, “Dejay, you know how you guys always teach us things? Well, just like Assata’s poem says, it's my turn to teach you something,”. For the next half-hour or so, I forgot all about my duties on the farm and sat with this scholar while he taught me how he makes necklaces, bracelets, and earrings to sell at the Sankofa Market. I had an absolute blast. Making the earrings was a very intricate process that required a ton of fine motor skills and the scholar was patient with me as I made mistakes and asked questions to clarify if I was doing it right. In that moment, he was the learning guide and I was the scholar. This is exactly what we set out to accomplish when we opened Malcolm X Academy. We wanted to completely blur the lines between teacher and student—in this moment, I knew we had achieved that. Without our youth, r/evolution is impossible. We have so much to learn from the children of the next generation who will carry on the struggle for liberation when we no longer have the capacity too. When we are no longer on this Earth in the physical form, the children we work with today will be the next generation to pick-up our struggle for freedom. How can we humble ourselves and discover new ways to learn from the children we work with? Afrikan and Indigenous traditions teach us that we should work and live for the benefit of children that will be born seven generations into the future. This includes the current generation of children. As we make decisions, the MXA community believes that we need to consider how our choices affect the future generations that will inhabit our communities.

International

Interview with Reuben at ICAP

Shane Williams

(CMB YSPI)

The discussion revolves around the significant historical figure, Frank Pais, and his contributions to the Cuban Revolution, emphasizing the urban support that complemented the guerrilla warfare in the mountains Frank Pais, born in 1936, emerged from a Christian family deeply entrenched in politics, developing leftist ideals early on Not initially part of Fidel Castro's group, Pais was propelled into action following the 26th of July Movement's assault on the barracks in 1953 He played a critical role in Santiago de Cuba, offering assistance to the revolutionaries and coordinating with Fidel Castro, leading to a plan of action that included raising Santiago in arms to support Castro's landing in 1956

The discussion then shifts to José Antonio Echeverría (Manzanita), who led an audacious assault on the presidential palace in Havana to assassinate Batista, illustrating the ferocity of the urban struggle against the dictatorship. The conversation also acknowledges the sacrifices made by numerous young men and women who fought clandestinely in the cities, underlining the brutal repercussions of capture by Batista's forces, including torture and execution.

In addition to recounting these historical events, the speaker, Ruben Javier Perez Busquets, touches on his role with the Institute of Friendship with the Cuban People and his personal encounters with Victor Dreke, an Afro-Cuban revolutionary who fought alongside Che Guevara The narrative concludes with a call to acknowledge and remember the sacrifices of both well-known and lesser-known revolutionaries who contributed to Cuba's history

Shane Williams - I want to talk about Frank Pais I'm an educator, man, so I'm very inspired by the movement that he had in the city People talk about the guerrillas in the mountains a lot, but they don't talk about the people in the city that had very important roles I would love to explore that a little bit

Ruben Javier Perez Busquets - So, Frank Pais, well, the guy was also a professor, just like you He was born in the 30s, ‘34, if I'm not wrong And the man was like He came from a family that were Christians, most of the family were Christians His father was, I think, a pastor or something like that, also his mom He (Frank) got pretty involved in politics, so very soon you could see his leftist ideals

So he started going to different groups, approaching different groups to start finding ways to make a revolution So, every time he got to one, it didn't work until he found out about Fidel doing the assault on the (Moncada) barracks. I mean, he wasn't part of the group of Fidel, but then, we're talking the year 26 of July, 1953, he wasn't part of the group of Fidel. But, as soon as he heard the action had happened, obviously, that touched him. And as soon as he saw that all of Fidel's comrades, or many of them, most of them, were being captured and tortured and slaughtered, he started giving assistance inside the city of Santiago de Cuba, because I forgot to say, he was from Santiago de Cuba

So, he started giving assistance to the participants of the assaults of the barracks that were still hidden all around the city From then on, he recognized who Fidel was and he started following Fidel To the point that he got in touch with Fidel He visited Fidel in Mexico, if I'm not wrong He visited Fidel in Mexico, while Fidel was in exile, because Fidel had to run And in Mexico, they created a plan of action So, it became really important to Fidel Castro to support the I mean, in the year 1956, Castro and another 81 comrades of his, were going to land in the eastern province around Granma, to try to make it all the way up to the mountain, to start the guerrilla war In order to camouflage the landing of Fidel and his comrades, there was a decision made to raise the city of Santiago de Cuba, like, raise it in arms Raise it in arms against Batista's forces So, lots of different smaller actions took place in Santiago de Cuba on the 30th of November, the year 1956, to support Fidel Castro's landing Now, Fidel didn't make it on time His comrades made it, like, two days later

I mean, Frank Pais went to jail several times He started struggling while Fidel Castro was in the Sierra Maestra He started doing everything that had to do with clandestine work in the city, mainly in the city of Santiago There's a moment that he goes up to the mountains There's a very famous photo of him You can Google it It's him in the mountains with Fidel Castro and other comrades He's ready to start taking arms again But he was so, so important in the city of Santiago that Fidel Castro told him, “Hey, you've got to go back Santiago, it's your domain ”And he did He ends up being captured and shot He was about to get married with his girlfriend, we are talking about a very young man He was born in the year 1936 He is killed in the year 1957 How many years? 21, 22 years old We're talking about a young man It's incredible, all these young people during the revolution, how they were very willing to do a very risky job, which was to, you know, confront Batista. Pais passes away and obviously, he becomes one of the martyrs of the revolution. It was a huge loss And, well, at that time, I mean, the revolution was unstoppable So even losing Frank País, eventually Fidel would come down from the mountains and take over the city of Santiago and pretty much the rest of Cuba The garrison of Santiago surrendered So by this time in the war, the morale of the troops of Batista was very low

So, yeah, Pais was one of Cuba's most important heroes And I think we'll always have him as one of the most important martyrs of the revolution

Shane - Are there any other revolutionaries in the city that we don't hear a lot about?

Ruben - Of course, you got the story of José Antonio Echeverría. Manzanitas, they call him. Manzanitas translates as the little apple Manzanita was part of the student directorate of the University of Havana He was a part of one of the most revolutionary groups in Cuba And, well, in the year Well, again, also while Fidel was in Mexico, Manzanita, José Antonio Echeverría visited him Actually, there's a letter that was signed I'm not sure Frank Pais was there signing it, but it was Fidel Castro and his movement, 26th of July Which, by the way, I forgot to tell you, Frank Pais was the leader of the 26th of July movement in (Ruben briefly needs to step away from the interview to assist the South African delegation)- So, Manzanita goes to Mexico He meets Fidel in Mexico while he was preparing the guerrilla war over there And Manzanita signs the letter that was called the Letter of Mexico. And I don't recall Frank Pais signing that letter, which wouldn't make sense that he'd sign it.

Shane - Why?

Ruben - Because Frank Pais already belonged to Fidel's movement Now Manzanita, or José Antonio Echeverria, he was part of another movement, another revolutionary group So the idea of signing this letter in Mexico was to find common ground of action against Batista.Unity. It was all about unity. So, yeah, Fidel Castro comes to Cuba He starts the Guerrilla War Manzanita had his thing going on over there in the University of Havana The clandestine fight here in Havana was more cruel than the fight in the mountains This people's clandestine fight was really I mean, I don't like to say that the people in Sierra Maestra, they weren't risking their lives No, obviously they were I mean, they were fighting an army armed by the United States of America.But what was happening in the city of Havana or Santiago de Cuba, I mean, that was like You had policemen everywhere You had safe houses But you never knew who could be the one who would How do you call this person that betrays?

Shane - Traitor?

cuba

Ruben - Yeah, pretty much the traitor of the group. And there were people that obviously betrayed some. And very valuable revolutionaries died because of betrayals. So, yeah, all that happened. It was really terrible.The most important thing I would say Manzanita did was the assault on the presidential palace of Havana to kill Batista. He was the leader of that group. So the action was this. I'm going to tell you how, right now. A group of young men from their directorate, students' directorate of the University of Havana, they decide they're going to buy a delivery truck. Inside that delivery truck they're going to get inside with weapons and... (Ruben briefly steps away to assist with an ICAP matter) So, they decide to buy this delivery truck. A bunch of men, I think it was around 70, 77, and I'm not quite sure the number. They decide to get inside this truck and they prepare a whole plan. Not only the truck, but they have, like, a whole plan prepared to go inside the presidential palace, shoot the guards, get into the office of the president, and kill him right there. I mean, just imagine a group of guys getting into the White House, killing the president. That's the same shit that these people were trying to attempt.Well, they did it. They went there, they shot some guards, they made it into the office of the president, they thought Batista was going to be there. The thing is that he never came down that day. Batista was on the fourth floor, where the garrison was. So, when he heard the shot, well, the whole garrison came down. So, they managed to make it to his office, but he wasn't there.There was another account that said Batista heard the shots, and the revolutionaries missed him by seconds, because there was a secret door that the revolutionaries did not see. So, he just slipped from their hands. And, again, the leader of that action was José Antonio Echeverría.He was taking over the radio, Radio Reloj here in Cuba, and in the middle of the attack on the palace, on live radio, he started saying something like “People of Cuba, at this very moment, the dictatorship of this country, Fulgencio Batista, is facing justice, revolutionary justice.” And, well, they didn't do it, but that was a very, very bold action. Shane, my friend, on his way out of the radio station and on his way to the University of Havana he was shot by a police patrol. They just recognized him and fired. And that was the end of one of the most valuable revolutionaries that Cuba had.José Antonio Echeverría, alias Manzanita. Actually, we have a university that's named after him. He died on the 13th of March of the year 1957. The revolution was, I mean, the guerrilla war was going on, and everybody, including Fidel, of course, mourned him a lot, because that was another very important hero.And I have to tell you, most of these young men and women who were also in the clandestine movement in the cities, once they were in real peril, you know, there was no way out for them. Fidel would call them, “Hey, come up to the mountains. You're burned. You're burned in the city, so you gotta come do your part here.”

Shane - I was reading Victor Dreke's Escambray to the Congo, and he had a similar situation. Needing to join the guerillas in the mountains to escape persecution in the city. Can you talk about Victor Dreke, maybe Juan Almeida and a couple of those Afro-Cubans?

Ruben - I know Victor Dreke personally. He's still alive. He's still alive, yeah. Very nice guy, and he's a very, very, very nice guy. I saw him the other day, just a couple of days ago. He's still in great shape. He's got all these stories. And Victor, he was a child. He was a kid. He was a kid when all this was happening.I remember the other day I was with a group, a couple, a couple that came to Cuba on their honeymoon. It was interesting because I'm walking in the park, showing them the plazas and all that. Suddenly Victor Dreyke is right there. “Hey, Comandante, how are you?” Sitting with his wife. “Oh, very good.”And I tell them, look, this guy is a Comandante of the Revolution. They were like, really? This guy fought with Che Guevara in Congo. Wow, really? History, man, history.Not only men, but women. We had lots of amazing women. I always say, like, women that were captured...I mean, men that were captured, if they caught you, they would torture you. They would pick out your nails. They would put electricity in your penis, inside your penis. Flame torch on your back, on your skin.All these things were being done. They would pull out your eyes.All these things being done just for, you know, so that people would speak up. A woman, they would have it even worse. They would be raped by the soldiers, plus all the torture that came with it. So we have so many examples of great women. These were young people, man. These were boys and girls making a revolution and risking it all.

(Interview cut short so Ruben could tend to another ICAP matter)

Neighborseries

Trapped Inside The War

Jordan McGowan

Have u ever been?

Trapped

Not able to move as you please

Unable to unsee all this death around

Truthfully I’m sensitive

I want to be an artist

I want to paint the most beautiful strokes

I wish I could write music & dance the day away

But I’m trapped inside this war

I freedom dream often

Playin my sax on the beach

Writing poetry as sunsets glow golden

But I can’t escape the violence

Have u ever been?

Trapped

Not able to move as you please

Unable to unsee all this death around

Have u seen their eyes filled with hunger?

Have u ever decided your life is worth the price?

I dream often

Each time all our bellies are full

I can’t stop myself from seeing the war

Maybe that’s why I feel so trapped

So I find myself serving Hoping 2 prepare our troops

Maybe that’s why I pray we win

Maybe that’s why I fight so hard

So that all these freedom dreams

Won’t have 2 seem so far

Have u ever been?

Trapped

Not able to move as you please

Unable to unsee all this death

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to all who contributed their time, labor, effort and work to this issue of Neighbor Newspaper

Thank you to Ryan & Liberating Library, mel olugbala, Dejay Bilal, Shane Williams, the MXA babies, Mama Kim, Community Movement Builders and EVERYONE working towards Afrikan Liberation!

Afrika WILL Unite!

G F dMepage

Community Agreements

By MXA

(@916MXA)

We show love and respect to our friends - Tunaonyesha upendo na heshima kwa

We communicate with our friends - Tunawasiliana na marafiki zetu

We know being here is enough - Tunajua kuwa hapa

We honor our ancestors - Sisi ni heshima ya mababu zetu

We are leaders - Sisi ni viongozi

We breathe when we have big feelings - Tunapumua tunapokuwa na hisia kubwa

We keep our space clean - Tunaweka nafasi yetu safi

We try hard things - Tunajaribu mambo magumu

We eat together - Tunakula pamoja

10 Point Program & Platform

1 WE WANT freedom We want power to determine the destiny of our Afrikan and Indigenous Communities 2 WE WANT full employment for the people 3 WE WANT an end to the robbery by the kkkapitalist of our Afrikan and Indigenous Community domestically and globally 4 WE WANT decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings

5 WE WANT education for our People that exposes the true nature of this decadent amerikkkan society We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society

6 WE WANT the abolition of the Military-Industrial Complex

7 WE WANT an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of the People

8 WE WANT freedom for all Afrikan People held in federal, state, county, and city prisons and jails

9 WE WANT abolition! We believe the carceral system is inherently racist and that there are better alternatives to reduce harm 10 WE WANT land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace And as our major political objective, a new world where radical love for human beings is found and the land is given back to its indigenous People Peace, Love, Freedom, All Power to the People AFRIKA UNITE!!!