A Belated Marxist IQ on the Assata Shakur Case by Norman Markowitz

by: Friday 10 May 2013

 

 Work has kept me from updating the Marxist IQ but this outrageous blast from the past  deserves mention. 

 

 

1.       What is most shocking about the FBI’s placing Assata Shakur on its terrorist list is

a.       Her 1973 trial for killing a police officer in  a shootout involving the Black Liberation Army(BLA) had nothing to do with terrorism

b.      The concept in U.S. law  of terrorism, as against specific crimes like kidnapping, hijacking, killing, did not exist  at the time

c.       There are Cubans in the U.S. who committed crimes, including blowing up airplanes, now considered terrorism under  U.S. and international law, whom the U.S. has refused to extradite to Cuba

d.      All of the Above

2.       The press erroneously reported that Assata Shakur was the first women placed on the FBI’s most wanted list.  Actually, the first women on the list was

 a. Sarah Palin

  b. Ma Barker

  c.   Angela Davis

 d. Mrs. J. Edgar Hoover

 

3.       For many the most sinister aspect of the Assata Shakur incident today is

a.       The Obama administration acting in the tradition of the Bush administration to  use the completely disconnected Boston Marathon Murders to revive this case

b.      The possibility that Assata Shakur was connected to the Boston Marathon Murders

c.       The  plots that Assata Shakur has been hatching against the U.S. during her 34 years in Cuba

d.      The possibility that Assata Shakur has been in touch with North Koreans about placing offensive North Korean missiles in Cuba

4.       While the election and re-election  of President Barack Obama was and is a historic victory against racism, recent studies show that

a.       African American family income has remained the same during his administration

b.      African-American family income has dropped significantly  during his administration

c.       African-American family income has risen significantly during his administration

d.      African American  home ownership has risen significantly during his administration

 

5.       This whole issue would not and could not have occurred if

a.       The U.S. had  ended  its blockade and established  full and friendly diplomatic relations  with Cuba

b.      The U.S. would have  fulfilled the policy of the 1850s Ostend Manifesto and annexed  Cuba as a slave colony

c.       President Kennedy had followed the advice of Strategic Air Command General Curtis LeMay and initiated a first strike and full scale nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962     

d     The U.S.  would have offered TV personality Desi Arnez  as an alternative to Fidel Castro in 1959 and launched a massive advertising campaign to install him and his wife Lucille Ball  as president and first lady of Cuba

 

 

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  • d-c-a-b-a (hopefully) Let's take a moment to also remember Victor Rabinowitz, ever a good friend of revolutionary Cuba and always a force at the bar, being one the primary workers in the dismantling of the Smith Act.

    Posted by Michael Sweney, 05/29/2013 1:27am (11 years ago)

  • The present writer would not want to be misunderstood, making the "prominent organization" identification of the CPUSA.
    The CPUSA has a special prominence among international working class, unionists, and, yes, socialist and communist organizations. It is special in this way. The historic demand of Fidel Castro Ruz, during the 1961 debate with president John F. Kennedy, to free another political prisoner, maybe the most valiant fighter to free Angela Davis, Henry Winston, Chair of the CPUSA, as he was persecuted and tortured in the worst dungeons in the land, delineate the CPUSA's international prominence with socialist and working class organizations. It gives a graphic example of socialism's adamant defence of the Africa element again, and an indirect but clear defense of those who would fight for the dignity and freedom of Africa derived womanhood.
    This in no way detracts from the appreciation for the need of unity among all organizations(and individuals)-the NAACP, ACLU, AFSC, UL, LA RAZA, CBTU, and scores and scores of local, regional, national and international government and NGOs, civil, legal, African American liberation and human rights organizations, to free all political prisoners-what brother Fidel demanded, and Winnie and Angela echoed.
    These forces need to come together now, to stop both the persecution and terrorization of Cuba and Assata Shakur by the State of New Jersey, the State of Florida(from Miami), the U. S. government and the F. B. I.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 05/18/2013 2:21am (12 years ago)

  • Probably, the CPUSA is the only prominent organization, with its leaders like Norman Markowitz, who would decry the atrocity of the Assata Shakur case, lambaste the U. S. government for it, pasting it, in its well deserved ridicule.
    For instance, let's explore Marxist I Q question no. 2.
    Why would the F. B. I. and the monopoly press report the lie that Shakur was the first woman placed on its notorious most wanted list?
    There are many guesses, but, in the wake of Dr. Angela Yvonne Davis's acquittal, of unfounded charges, (after being placed on the F. B. I. list), and subsequent selfless public service, as a paid university worker(professor at California's San Francisco State University), selfless persistent advocacy of human rights for gay people, poor people, and people of color, and the dismantlement of the U. S. prison system, probably the world's most brutal and inhuman, we think we have a hint.
    The F. B. I., maybe thinks that the wanton, genocidal, persecution of Angela may be seen as a pattern of the promulgation of the horrific genocide of the African derived female, an integral part of systematically murdering the international working class, which is continued through persecuting Assata.
    This obvious truth to many, is the F. B. I. thinks it can hide by obliterating the Angela Davis case out of history, while again, oppressing Shakur. This as, our out of control C. I. A. , F. B. I. , State Department, Military establishment, especially the notorious "Military Industrial Complex", can't resist the racist posturing, the anti-socialist and anti-communist, witch-hunting, decrying the heralded struggles to free the Cuban 5, and the celebrated struggles bringing justice to the poor by governments in say, Venezuela and Cuba, under the leadership of Chavez and the Castros, respectively.
    Our government's and country's history of racist genocide and anti-communism, leads us to hell, excuses it from making massive positive changes in foreign and domestic policy to delivery jobs, food, clean water and infra-structure development and sustainability for ourselves and the civilized world, especially in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, where we have done egregious economic and social damage(with no comparable "Marshal Plan"as in Europe).
    This is maybe what the genocidal oppression of the Assata Shakur case, and its resurrection revolves around, as the Angela Davis case is"nixed"out of history.
    Thanks to professor Markowitz.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 05/14/2013 8:04pm (12 years ago)

  • 1. d

    2. c

    3. a

    4. b

    5. a

    Posted by Sean Mulligan, 05/14/2013 9:06am (12 years ago)

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