I wish I had a collection of links and whatnot to really direct people to the details of the issues, but ultimately I too feel pretty out of the loop and I am wondering how many on here have kept track of the history of these nascent left movements/orgs.
RIBPP just recently split off from NABPP over disagreements about broad strategy and personal disagreements with NABPP. This was done in part under the direction of Kevin Johnson, former NABPP member who disagreed with the chairman and another influential member, Tom Watts. Their 'policy-based' splits alleged by the RIBPP people was that the NABPP shuttered the United Panther Movement because it was existing beyond NABPP control.
However, at the same time, I see posts on the BHO website which alleges that Kevin Johnson doesn't even exist and is merely a pseudonym for Tom Watts. And BHO alleges that Tom Watts might have been a white supremacist controlling the NABPP with a puppet chairman? Though to be fair, I know little to nothing about Black Hammer beyond the fact it is a website saying it is an organization.
I will say as an indigenous person, that Tom alleges indigenous ancestry in a way that hits nearly all the red flags of someone pretending to be native, so I am distrustful of this alleged White Panther who is in the NABPP.
I can provide a bit more detail to anyone curious but largely I am just wondering... what the fuck is going on, which orgs are ops, is anyone on the internet even real and trying to build popular fronts against capitalism or to paraphrase Zhuangzi am I just a butterfly living in my own convoluted dreams of decolonial socialist actions in the imperial core?
:curious-marx:
If anyone can provide some details about these dynamics I would be greatly appreciative.
Kevin "Rashid" Johnson is very much a real person.
He is an organizer with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. He has led major prison strikes. The state keeps relocating him to different prisons due to his organizing efforts. His Wikipedia page has some sources on it. [1]
Ghazi Kodzo has a very suspicious political career. He has been removed from other socialist orgs in the past for acting as a wrecker. He has published rants on YouTube proudly claiming to be an anti-Semite. Black Hammer Organization, which he leads, came under fire back in May after Ghazi posted a rant about how Anne Frank was just a "white Becky", called the Holocaust "white infighting", among other things I cannot fully remember.
Black Hammer Organization has also started a campaign called the Operation Storm of White Tears intended to split revolutionary organizations and absorb disaffected members into Black Hammer Organization.
Rashid has written a couple articles comparing the actions of Ghazi Kodzo to other COINTELPRO operations [2] [3]
That is all I remember from when this initially blew up in May.
Thanks for all this!
Yeah, I remember my initial thoughts of BHO articles I came across were that they were nothing serious and more harmful than anything else, but in a few things discussing Watts/Sharod Zulu they linked to Watts own words and it was a real mess when you consider the totality. Kinda manipulative and disconnected defences. I also remember that thing blowing up in May but didnt think much of it, until the RIBPP split.
I have read stuff by Rashid to the point that I bought hardcopies of some books of his, so I wasn't sure exactly what was going with them alleging he doesn't exist, especially if the RIBPP/NABPP split occurred over 'Rashid's faction' arguing with 'Sharod/Tom's faction' that stayed in the NABPP.
Aside from the BHO allegations, do you have any insight into the RIBPP allegations about the NABPP's inability to work with others in a UPM or that Sharod mistreats women? That was the main stuff I was looking into, and then finding all the BHO stuff was just a crazy cherry on top of my existing confusion.
The Panthers have always been a big factor to me, so I am really eager to see any currently existing panther movement gain steam at this time, and from what I had read Rashid was doing a good job at it.
I am open to learning more about all of this, for sure. Especially as I don't know much about those involved in the RIBPP aside from Rashid.
I would definitely not trust anything BHO says. The idea that Kevin Johnson doesn't exist is comically absurd. As others have mentioned. Kevin Johnson does a very good job of laying out why the Ghazi is untrustworthy here http://rashidmod.com/?p=2797 Andi would encourage you to read Also this https://blackhammer.org/hammercity/ Is really special.
Yeah that allegation an entire person didn't exist, yet split with his actual person in Tom, yet BHO had published a letter from Kevin and his wife... was just crazy.
But given how wild things have been the last little while, I felt like I couldn't automatically discount things being dramatically absurd just because it was unbelievable, given these are rather absurd and unbelievable times.
And yeah that looks hilarious, building a utopia in Florida off of crowdfunding lolll... It would be more believable that someone starts a gofundme for us to cut Florida from the continent Bugs Bunny style than it would be to believe people want to decolonize/move to somewhere in Florida because of a gofundme.
Thank you!
I wouldn't be surprised.
When I first read their stuff a few months back it was pretty weird and felt very off. Nice to know my initial instincts align with most people's who pay some attention.
I'm still very in the dark about the whole RIBPP/NABPP split overall, however. I only saw the initial RIBPP announcement and that's basically it.
I don't have a lot insider knowledge, but from the outside this reeks of a huge mess that the repressive arm of the state surely has at least some role in starting or fanning the flames of. The ultimate aim is to confuse and scatter people. They want members of oppressed nationalities (i.e., black, First Nations, latinos, etc.) to feel confused and disillusioned and keep the movement fractured and prevent the re-emergence of multi-national, multi-racial solidarity. I wish I had more knowledge to be able to tell you which one of these is the real deal. I've heard from people who were in BHO that it can be pretty ultra-left and even reactionary at times, not sure about the Panther orgs.
Thank you once again! I was always sceptical of BHO but was mostly wondering...wtf are they even. I was getting weird vibes from the tone of their writing, it made me think of those Austin-based people that are 'maoists' who only ever (literally) punch left. Are they something big or regional?
Overall for the NABPP/RIBPP divide irrespective of BHO, it seems like the big splits were that the NABPP wanted too much control over membership, and were abusive to certain subsets of people. Next step is to verify all those legitimate claims and move forward.
Yeah, personally I think BHO is a total wrecker organisation that, sadly, has roped in a lot of well-meaning people who like it's flashy antics. I don't know about the Panther Party split in detail but I have listened to a lot of KRJ speak and read his writings and I'm inclined to believe his side of the story. Still, it's pretty sad that so many black-lead far-left orgs get hit especially hard by wreckers and people that muddy the waters.