JUST FOR INTEREST'S SAKE

Whatever you choose to believe , it's always good to open your mind to another perspective , even if it goes against yours, or maybe especially if it goes against yours..... 

This Man Jesus

BY STARLA MUHAMMAD -MANAGING EDITOR- | LAST UPDATED: APR 8, 2020 - 6:31:25 PM

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Dispelling myths about the Messiah, exploring His role in history and prophecy

Photo: MGN Online

Over 2.1 billion Christians worldwide are preparing to observe Easter, commemorating the triumph of Jesus the Christ over crucifixion, death and his subsequent resurrection and ascension to heaven. Yet the reality and truth of the mission and work of this great servant of God often gets lost amid misguided symbolism and frivolity.

Jesus is still presented by many theologians as a meek and mild historical figure, his teachings relegated to “turn the other cheek,” and “love your enemies.” Yet, he was far from that. He was a revolutionary and dedicated freedom fighter who unselfishly sacrificed himself on behalf of downtrodden and oppressed people. His uncompromising faith was a threat to the status quo leadership causing him to make enemies along the way among religious and political leadership, particularly among members of the Jewish community. The Jesus of 2,000 years ago was not loved or appreciated by the masses.

NEWS ANALYSIS

What effect has this misinterpretation and misrepresentation of Jesus had on the hearts and minds of people in general but the Black man and woman in particular? Why is there a tendency to grasp on to the historical Jesus and ignore One he prophesized of in scripture that would come after him to usher in a new world, sit down tyrants and battle Satan?

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad pointed out in His teachings from His teacher, Master Fard Muhammad that the mission and role of Jesus was not understood. “I have taken up Jesus and his teachings because after Master Fard Muhammad taught me, I saw quickly that this man’s (Jesus’) history was the world’s most misrepresented and misunderstood. What Allah has taught me of the truth is common sense and makes sense,” the Nation of Islam patriarch wrote in a book compiled from a few of His articles on this subject titled, “The True History of Jesus.”

His chief student, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in reiterating what his teacher taught stated, that “if Black people really understood the truth about Jesus, we would be free overnight.” The reality of Jesus and his mission is critical, Minister Farrakhan explained.

“The real truth of Jesus is so important because of the Power and the Truth that Allah (God) would give Him to end Satan’s rule. It is natural then that Satan would work very hard to deceive the masses of the people with respect to Jesus,” the Minister stated. “Satan is trying to preserve his power, and, his power is in his ability to deceive. The greatest deceit is to deceive you about the man you expect to be your Saviour.”

A revolutionary Black man

Like most revolutionary figures in history, Jesus has been redefined and his teachings “watered down” to make him more “weak and comfortable” for the masses of the people, explained Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church in Chicago. “Jesus was a revolutionary person; he was a radical person and his teachings were so radical,” said Father Pfleger.

“I have consistently said that I think the Bible is one of the most radical books ever written when we really read it. Remember that he was murdered by both government and religion and because he came putting in place a new order, and a teaching about the equality and the love and the concern and the care for all people,” he continued.

“I think preaching too often in pulpits has made him sweet and soft and cute, and not radical and revolutionary and transformative,” he told The Final Call

In his book, “The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted,” theologian Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. reflected on the confusion he felt as a youngster in the way Jesus was presented to him. Something about the way he was portrayed “just didn’t make sense,” he explained.

“Was this meek, mild Jesus the same Jesus who defiantly called the Pharisees, ‘a brood of vipers’ and described them as ‘whitewashed tombs full of every unclean thing?’ Was this the same outraged Jesus who, swinging a fearsome stick, set the Temple money changes to flight? And if he was so meek and mild, how could he get anyone’s interest in the first place, much less hold the attention of thousands at a time and effortlessly get tough guys to follow him, like the apostle James, who was so rough and blustery that he was nicknamed “Son of Thunder”? wrote Mr. Obery, a visiting scholar in Religion and African Studies at Columbia University and Emeritus Professor of Biblical Interpretation at New York Theological Seminary and elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Jesus challenged the status quo and as a result, was not popular among the masses of people. “Jesus would have been one of those people that was on a certain do not invite to speak list,” explained Rev. Melech E.M. Thomas. “In fact, there were certain spaces where Jesus could not go, so you know when you think about the prophets of today who are banned from certain countries, because of the truth that they speak, it’s almost as if those who are well loved by everyone that say that they represent Jesus, if you’re well loved by somebody who was disliked by everybody, that says something,” said the 32-year-old Chicago-based pastor.

“If the country that has policies and doctrine and philosophies that grind specifically and intentionally against the Gospel of Jesus Christ loves you, honors you, celebrates you, you might want to double check what Jesus are you preaching?” argued the young AME pastor and activist.

Another perpetual myth about Jesus is that he was White. “Nobody as far as I know has a Polaroid picture of him but the scriptures—he’s referred to in the Bible as a man with bronze skin, and wool-like hair,” said Father Pfleger, a White Catholic priest whose predominately-Black church has a large painting of a Black Jesus on its wall.

“When people say to me, that’s not how Jesus looks I say to them, well, I never saw him. But the scriptures—my mural at St. Sabina reflects what the scriptures say about him. Christ is all things to all people, according to our scriptures. If he is that anybody who looks at him, ought to be able to see themselves in him. Racism has betrayed Jesus as this White man with blue eyes and blonde hair, through the history of time and perpetuated that lie to support White supremacy,” he continued.

“As long as we continue to see Christ like that, we continue to see White skin as the God and as a superior person. I don’t think the pictures that have been painted or hung in churches around this world has anything to do with Christ has everything to do with White supremacy,” said Father Pfleger.

Let this mind be in you

Rev. Willie Wilson and his wife Rev. Mary F. Wilson served for decades at their church Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. The couple retired in 2018 and their daughter Rev. Dr. Anika Wilson Brown is now lead pastor.

One of the obstacles facing Black people and how we view Jesus is that since Africans were kidnapped and brought to America as slaves, we have been taught the religion “about” Jesus but not the religion “of” Jesus, Rev. Willie Wilson told The Final Call referencing Matthew 16:24 which states, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Jesus is an example of how we should strive to live our life, he explained.

“Jesus was saying essentially, if you want to be my disciple, you have to die to self even as I have, you must be willing to take the cross of self-denial to become self-less instead of selfish. Juxtapose that to the message that we have been given, which is called the charismatic message and that singularly deals with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and which results in a kind of substitutionary theory where we are absolved of accountability and responsibility and put everything on Jesus that he died and essentially I don’t have to do anything,” said Rev. Willie Wilson. This mindset grew out of the 325 AD Council of Nicea when the Roman Emperor Constantine who accepted Christianity, but who was ingrained with Pagan practices of Rome and Babylon made a deal with church leaders that brought the church under one umbrella, he pointed out.

However, the example of Jesus must be internalized to those who profess to follow and believe in him, said Rev. Willie Wilson.

“The resurrection of Jesus embodies our own resurrection in terms of our own resurrection if we understand the message of Jesus and that our own personal ascension takes place when we understand that the same power that was available to Jesus is available to us and rather than looking up in the sky, for God we understand and find that God within. This is the message that Jesus brought, as he talked about the kingdom of God is within you, so that if the kingdom is within you, then the king must be where the kingdom is, in you.”

The life and existence of Jesus points to who we are individually and that the power God deposited in him is in us, added Rev. Mary L. Wilson. “We too are defined as sons and daughters of God, and that we have access to the same power, we have access to the same abilities that Jesus exhibited,” she said.

“While we honor Jesus and we recognize his sacrifice and even his suffering, it also puts us on a plain level field of our own sacrifices and our own suffering that we have endured and that we even have yet to endure, knowing that just he prevailed so we too can prevail and triumph,” she continued.

“The example that we portray as pastors and as leaders, our job is to let people know that they have access to the same power.”

Father Pfleger agreed. “Our job is to build his kingdom on earth and to build it based on his values and his teachings, which are radical. It’s about transforming the world and reminding ourselves we’re in the world. Our Bible teaches we’re in the world, but we are not of the world and we can’t keep saying that if we look just like the world,” he said.

“It’s easy and it’s cute to remember the resurrection of Jesus, but that’s safe. I think what it ought to be about is the resurrection of his people, and the resurrection of his spirit and the resurrection of his teachings.”

The One to Come

The three Abrahamic faiths—Christianity, Judaism and Islam—are all expecting the return of One who is referred to by various titles and names.

“The Jews are looking for the Messiah. The Christians are looking for the Christ. The Muslims are looking for the Mahdi. Are we looking for three different men? Or are we looking for one Man described and characterized by the different branches of belief, under three different names? The greatest truth to come to the world is hidden in the truth of the man under the name ‘Jesus,’ Minister Farrakhan explained during the first Savior’s Day in his rebuilding of the Nation of Islam absent his teacher in a 1981 address titled, “A Saviour Is Born For the Black Man and Woman of America.”

“There are two powerful aspects of that truth: one is the relationship of Jesus to God, because Jesus removes the veil between man and God, bringing understanding of the divinity in human nature; and two, did Jesus escape from death?” he continued.

Student Minister Ilia Rashad Muhammad explained there is a challenge in getting people to look beyond getting “caught up” in the historic Jesus of 2,000 years ago, esoteric symbolism and having them look ahead for who fits the description and work of that Son of Man prophesized in scripture who would come and “raise the dead to life.” The Jesus of 2,000 was a prophet who pointed to one that would come after him.

Graphic: Final Call archives/MGN Online»

The misinterpretation and confusion about Jesus has buried the world of religion in a grave of ignorance, stated Student Minister Muhammad, a member of the NOI Research Group. The Holy Qur’an in Surah 23:40 explains that Jesus and his Mother Mary are a sign, he explained. The verse reads: “And We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign, and We gave them refuge on a lofty ground having meadows and springs.”

“Allah is letting us know that these figures are given as a sign. So, we can’t look at everything we read about them as being something that happened in the past. Even right there in the Bible, most people overlook this right there in the book of Revelation 19:10. It says, ‘worship God,’ and then it says, ‘For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy,’” continued Student Minister Ilia Muhammad.

This verse let’s readers know that what they read of this Jesus in the Bible did not necessarily take place historically, he explained. “That’s why you don’t find any historical records about such a man performing these miracles under that name and doing all of this type of stuff. There’s no record of anybody doing that, of course there were several people with that name Yeshua as they pronounce it in Hebrew.”

It is critical to continue studying and examining scripture and delving into the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan regarding the truth about Jesus, the Messiah. “For those who may not be students of theology, students of scripture, but have some knowledge of this man Jesus from the scriptures, or at least what pastor said; if we just simply measure the work of Minister Farrakhan and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the real world, we can find no other person no other entity that matches the life, controversy and just overall life of Jesus more so than Minister Farrakhan and his teacher,” said Student Minister Ilia Muhammad.

The works of Master Fard Muhammad, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan are full of examples that are measurable. One must be analytical when weighing evidence, explained the Memphis-based student minister. Basing things solely on scripture relies strictly on interpretations which can vary and differ. What causes so much confusion in religion is because many students want to go by the Bible or Qur’an but don’t have any real-world evidence to measure what they believe in, continued Student Minister Ilia Muhammad.

“Their belief in scriptures is largely interpretive. So, you can have 27 different people read the same scripture, and they can have 27 different interpretations. What makes the Nation of Islam most unique is that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan, they give us real world evidential criteria to measure the scriptures by. So now, when we read the scriptures, it’s not limited to just my interpretation.”

“No, it’s based on some real world, practicalities and evidence. When we look at it like that with empirical knowledge, with scientific knowledge to compare with the scriptures, we can find no other person fitting these characteristics on earth today, more so than the Honorable Minister Farrakhan.”

His teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad like Moses in the Bible, boldly proclaimed he met face-to-face with God Himself in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, the Great Mahdi or Self-Guided One. Their Anointed Servant, Minister Farrakhan has picked up that mantle, mission and message and has endured and sacrificed 45 years absent his teacher but is backed by the absolute power of God and His Christ.

“My teacher taught me that Jesus’ teaching was freedom, justice, and equality, which is what we teach today,” the Minister told a packed audience during his March 1 message, “Jesus is the Key,” at Mosque Maryam in Chicago.

He then added, “Could it be that the Jesus you’re looking for is hiding in plain sight?”

THIS MAKES SENSE

Okay, I'm gonna say it now.....I'm sick of all of these scared motherfuckers wearing masks and gloves ( with which they fucking touch EVERYTHING ) living in fear of something which in this country 97% of cases are diagnosed as MILD !!!!!
These spinesless assholes are so easily manipulated , just as they would have been in many countries during World War 2.

Read this article 
It just makes sense .

FEAR CAMPAIGN

There is 100 % no reason why you should believe all of the hysteria regarding the new plague coming out of the screeching news media in the u.s.a.

Read about their fear campaign .

MENTAL SHACKLES

I find it totally amazing how those who are locked up can have a far better understanding of what's going on in the world and what needs to be done , while those who are "free" don't have a fucking clue because they don't fucking want to know !

Prisoners Speak Out On Current Situation

March 30, 2020 | revcom.us

We greatly appreciate receiving these letters from prisoners and encourage prisoners to keep sending us correspondence. The views expressed by the writers of these letters are, of course, their own; and they are not responsible for the views published elsewhere on our site.

“Can you not see how a capitalist-run society makes such emergencies (like this epidemic) even worse!”

To the Comrades at PRLF & Revcom.

It’s times like these where it’s important to further AMP-UP agitation out there in the streets. From what I hear when I get in contact with the world. This epidemic crisis has caused food shortages, there’s a shortage of toilet paper, can foods and other important necessities. It’s getting difficult for stores to meet demand, they might close their doors soon. Slowly and docilely this crisis is causing industry and production to come to a halt. I don't know comrades, but I think that there’s a wave coming, one we must not miss the opportunity to catch.

Of course, I'm not in no way advocating a pre-mature uprising, we might not have enough people and resources on our side for that at the moment. But I am advocating for a further amp-up in agitation. Cause as this crisis gets worse, this fascist government will be too incompetent to handle the crisis properly. People will begin to question the legitimacy of the government. We must harness that and be ready to lead the people. Best believe the reaction of this fascist government will be wild and erratic. Thus, further fertilizing the ground for Revolution.

On another note, I was watching what the reactionaries on Fox news were saying about the situation, and of course, they were praising the president for his little speech on friday. (You know the one where he is getting himself in position to come out as a “Savior” of the country LOL.) But what got my attention the most was when they began praising the corporations (Walmart, CVS, etc.) for how they have been handling and “helping” in the crisis. Then the reactionary (Hannity) began praising the capitalist-market system for being able to handle this situation properly.

To me, it sounded like they were trying to convince themselves. Because when you actually take a look at what’s really going on out there, NO, things are not being handled right as they should. This system of capitalism-imperialism is limiting a lot of things that could be done, that should be done to properly handle a dire situation like this. OK, so the U.S. government is pledging a couple million dollars to combat this crisis, well doesn’t one cruise missile or predator drone cost a couple million, but they got no problem making a bunch of those, money is nowhere near an issue when it comes to making their instruments of death. Yet there’s a lot of people who will go without water, food, toiletries and other essential items under this crisis, either cause they can't afford it or because stores can't meet demand, leaving the fate of a bunch of people in the hands of capital and corporations. It’s what the system of capitalism has dictated for society.

What I'm trying to get at is. The way the reactionaries were praising the corporations and the capitalist market system lets me know that even they have to try hard to convince you and themselves that everything is OK under this system.

The cracks in the system have always been there for everyone to see, this crisis only further exposes them. I know people have to see it. The question is, how will we communists help in leading the people to realize that things don't have to be like this, that there’s another way and that yes we know how to get there and what it takes to get there.

A Revolution and nothing less!

Just thought I'd share that with y'al .Keep up the good fight comrades!

***

Take this Coronavirus situation. How is it being handled in a capitalist society? Capitalist/Imperialist society does not take the well-being of human life serious. Its set up to only care about capital and commodity relations. How is it that under such dire emergencies, stores are running out of water, toilet paper, & food. All that surplus and stores can't meet demand? Is it not profitable enough for them? And why is such relation set up like that anyway? Why must society rely on private corporations (Walmart, CVS, etc.) for such necessities. So basically if you have no money to buy emergency goods, you just fucked. And even if you do have money, its useless since store shelves remain empty since they can't “meet demand” and will instead rather close its doors.

Can you not see how a capitalist-run society make such emergencies (like this epidemic) even worse! A lot of people are going to suffer even worse miseries because the necessities of life are privately owned and produce for capital gain. So the response to this emergency will be under the confines and limited to commodity and capital relations. A capitalist-run society does not care if people are dying or if they will go hungry or without basic life necessities.

Does it not make you angry that that’s the way this society is ran. Does it not concern you that you live in a society that’s set-up not to care for the well being of humans. A few “comforting” words from the “President” is not enough. People are dying and will continue to suffer unless we, as the masses of people take to the streets, stomp-down and demand change, a change in President is not enough. We need an overall change in the way society is organized. We need to do away with this system of capitalism that sees no value in human life.

I understand, disasters happen, epidemics happen, it’s the way of the world. Humans have been battling the elements since forever. The problem lies in how we as a people, respond to it. I know for a fact that, had we been living in a true Socialist Society, a real Communist Society, where the means of production are socially owned. Where the necessities of life are produced for the betterment and well being of humankind and not for profiting! The response to such emergencies as the one we face today would be different. There wouldn't be a price tag on dealing with emergencies, vaccines wouldn't be cost an arm and a leg. Hospital visits won't leave you in debt. Relations in society wouldn't consist of commodity and capital relations. Under communism, it would be OVERstood! that humankind comes first

CUT THE SHIT

Stop whatever it is the fuck you think you're doing and go and listen to Cut The Shit's album "Harmed And Dangerous" right fucking now.
Fuck corona, trump, trudeau, and all of that other shit.
Listen :

harmed and dangerous

VOLUNTARY HOUSE ARREST

These times will bring out the weasel in those who are inclined to tell on  anyone they think "isn't following the rules". When things get intense , most of us revert to listening to the authorities because we're taught that they all know what's best for us. It's a dangerous road , and not as black and white as many think.

Draconian COVID-19 Lockdown Powers: It’s a Slippery Slope from Handwashing to House Arrest

By John W. Whitehead

Global Research, April 02, 2020

Region: USA

Theme: Law and Justice, Police State & Civil Rights

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“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”—Viktor Frankl

We still have choices.

Just because we’re fighting an unseen enemy in the form of a virus doesn’t mean we have to relinquish every shred of our humanity, our common sense, or our freedoms to a nanny state that thinks it can do a better job of keeping us safe.

Whatever we give up willingly now—whether it’s basic human decency, the ability to manage our private affairs, the right to have a say in how the government navigates this crisis, or the few rights still left to us that haven’t been disemboweled in recent years by a power-hungry police state—we won’t get back so easily once this crisis is past.

The government never cedes power willingly.

Neither should we.

Every day brings a drastic new set of restrictions by government bodies (most have been delivered by way of executive orders) at the local, state and federal level that are eager to flex their muscles for the so-called “good” of the populace.

This is where we run the risk of this whole fly-by-night operation going completely off the rails.

It’s one thing to attempt an experiment in social distancing in order to flatten the curve of this virus because we can’t afford to risk overwhelming the hospitals and exposing the most vulnerable in the nation to unavoidable loss of life scenarios. However, there’s a fine line between strongly worded suggestions for citizens to voluntarily stay at home and strong-armed house arrest orders with penalties in place for non-compliance.

More than three-quarters of all Americans have now been ordered to stay at home and that number is growing as more states fall in line.

Schools have cancelled physical classes, many for the remainder of the academic year.

Many of the states have banned gatherings of more than 10 people.

At least three states (Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania) have ordered non-essential businesses to close.

In Washington, DC, residents face 90 days in jail and a $5,000 fine if they leave their homes during the coronavirus outbreak. Residents of Maryland, Hawaii and Washington State also risk severe penalties of up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine for violating the stay-at-home orders. Violators in Alaska could face jail time and up to $25,000 in fines.

Kentucky residents are prohibited from traveling outside the state, with a few exceptions.

New York City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., is offering its Rikers Island prisoners $6 an hour to help dig mass graves.

In San Francisco, cannabis dispensaries were included among the essential businesses allowed to keep operating during the city-wide lockdown.

New Jersey’s governor canceled gatherings of any number, including parties, weddings and religious ceremonies, and warned the restrictions could continue for weeks or months. One city actually threatened to prosecute residents who spread false information about the virus.

Oregon banned all nonessential social and recreational gatherings, regardless of size.

Rhode Island has given police the go-ahead to pull over anyone with New York license plates to record their contact information and order them to self-quarantine for 14 days.

South Carolina’s police have been empowered to break up any public gatherings of more than three people.

Of course, there are exceptions to all of these stay-at-home orders (in more than 30 states and counting), the longest of which runs until June 10. Essential workers (doctors, firefighters, police and grocery store workers) can go to work. Everyone else will have to fit themselves into a variety of exceptions in order to leave their homes: for grocery runs, doctor visits, to get exercise, to visit a family member, etc.

Throughout the country, more than 14,000 “Citizen-Soldiers” of the National Guard have been mobilized to support the states and the federal government in their fight against the coronavirus. While the Guard officials insist they have not been tasked with martial law, they are coordinating with the Pentagon, FEMA and the states/territories on COVID-19 response missions.

A quick civics lesson: Martial law is a raw exercise of executive power that can override the other branches of government and assume control over the functioning of a nation, state, or smaller area within a state. The power has been exercised by the president, as President Lincoln did soon after the start of the Civil War, and by governors, as was done in Idaho to quell a miner’s strike that broke out there in 1892.

The Bill of Rights Turns 230, and What Do We Have to Show for It? Nothing Good

In areas under martial law, all power rests with the military authority in charge. As British General Wellington wrote, “martial law” is not law at all, but martial rule; it abolishes all law and substitutes for it the will of the military commander. Military personnel are not bound by constitutional restrictions requiring a warrant, and may enter and search homes at without judicial authorization or oversight. Indeed, civil courts would no longer be functioning to hear citizen complaints or to enforce their constitutional rights.

Thus far, we have not breached the Constitution’s crisis point: martial law has yet to be overtly imposed (although an argument could be made to the contrary given the militarized nature of the American police state).

It’s just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose.

If this is not the defining point at which we cross over into all-out totalitarianism, then it is at a minimum a test to see how easily we will surrender.

Curiously enough, although Americans have been generally compliant with the government’s suggestions and orders with a few notable exceptions, there’s been a small groundswell of resistance within parts of the religious community over whether churches, synagogues and other religious institutions that hold worship services should be exempt from state-wide bans on mass gatherings. While many churches have resorted to drive-in services and live-streamed services for its congregants, others have refused to close their doors. One pastor of a 4,000-member church who stood his ground, claiming that the government’s orders violate his right to religious freedom, was arrested after holding multiple church services during which attendees were reportedly given hand sanitizer and made to keep a six-foot distance between family groups.

Screenshot from CNN

It’s an interesting test of the First Amendment’s freedom of assembly and religious freedom clauses versus the government’s compelling state interest in prohibiting mass gatherings in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

Generally, the government has to show a compelling state interest before it can override certain critical rights such as free speech, assembly, press, search and seizure, etc. Most of the time, it lacks that compelling state interest, but it still manages to violate those rights, setting itself up for legal battles further down the road.

These lockdown measures—on the right of the people to peaceably assemble, to travel, to engage in commerce, etc.—unquestionably restrict fundamental constitutional rights, which might pass muster for a short period of time, but can it be sustained for longer stretches legally?

That’s the challenge before us, of course, if these days and weeks potentially stretch into months-long quarantines.

For example, the First Amendment guarantees “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”  While the freedom to travel has been specifically recognized only as in the context of interstate or international travel, the freedom of movement is implicit liberty given that government agents may not stop and question or search persons unless they have some legal justification.

As Supreme Court Justice William Douglas once wrote:

The right to travel is a part of the “liberty” of which the citizen cannot be deprived without the due process of law under the Fifth Amendment. . . .  Freedom of movement across frontiers in either direction, and inside frontiers as well, was a part of our heritage. Travel abroad, like travel within the country, may be necessary for a livelihood. It may be as close to the heart of the individual as the choice of what he eats, or wears, or reads. Freedom of movement is basic in our scheme of values.

As a rule, people are free to roam and loiter in public places and are not required to provide police with their identity or give an account of their purpose for exercising their freedom.

However, as with all constitutional rights, these freedoms, as the Courts have ruled, are not unqualified. Even content-based restrictions on speech are allowed under the First Amendment if the restriction is needed to serve a compelling government interest.

The Supreme Court long ago “distinctly recognized the authority of a state to enact quarantine laws and health laws of every description[.]” Such laws are an exercise of the state’s police power, and if there is a rational basis for believing they are needed to protect the public health, they will be deemed to serve a compelling government interest.

The point was made over 100 years ago in circumstances similar to today’s COVID-19 outbreak when a smallpox outbreak occurred in Cambridge, Mass., invoking a state law allowing localities to make vaccinations mandatory and enforceable by criminal penalties.  In upholding the law and local order against a claim that it violated the constitutional liberty to control one’s own body and health, the Supreme Court declared:

The possession and enjoyment of all rights are subject to such reasonable conditions as may be deemed by the governing authority of the country essential to the safety, health, peace, good order, and morals of the community. Even liberty itself, the greatest of all rights, is not unrestricted license to act according to one’s own will.

The Court went on to write that “[u]pon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.”

Most states have enacted laws that recognize the need for prompt action in times of emergency, including epidemics, and have delegated the authority to and executive officer to take action to address that emergency.  For example, Tennessee law provides that the governor is given the power to issue orders that have the force and effect of law to address emergencies, which include disease outbreaks and epidemics. That state’s law similarly grants mayors or other local chief executive officers the power to issue orders and directives deemed necessary, including closing public facilities, in order to address civil emergencies.

Courts have ruled that they will defer to the decisions of an executive authority on the decision as to whether an emergency exists and whether the means employed to address the emergency are reasonable and legal, although there could be situations where a court would declare that the executive decision is arbitrary and unreasonable.

When governments act under their police power to control plagues and epidemics, those laws are valid even though they may restrict individuals in the exercise of constitutional rights.  As one legal scholar recently noted, the balance between individual rights and protection of the public “assumes that there will be times when there are truly compelling emergencies justifying severe measures. A global pandemic that spreads even among those who are asymptomatic and could exceed the capacity of the American health care system would appear to be just such a compelling situation.”

At the moment, the government believes it has a compelling interest—albeit a temporary one—in restricting gatherings, assemblies and movement in public in order to minimize the spread of this virus.

The key point is this: while we may tolerate these restrictions on our liberties in the short term, we should never fail to be on guard lest these one-time constraints become a slippery slope to a total lockdown mindset.

What we must guard against, more than ever before, is the tendency to become so accustomed to our prison walls—these lockdowns, authoritarian dictates, and police state tactics justified as necessary for national security—that we allow the government to keep having its way in all things, without any civic resistance or objections being raised.

Martin Niemoller learned that particular lesson the hard way.

A German military officer turned theologian, Niemoller was an early supporter of Hitler’s rise to power, having believed his promises to protect the church and not allow pogroms against the Jewish people. It didn’t take long for Hitler to break those promises, but by the time the German people realized they had been double-crossed, it was too late.

As Niemoller warned:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

The lesson for those of us housebound and watching from a distance as the Fourth Reich emerges from the shadows is this: all freedoms hang together.

Niemoller’s warning for our modern age would probably go something like this: First the government went after the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and I did not object, because I had nothing to hide. Then they went after the right to not be spied upon, and I did not object, because I had done nothing wrong. Then they went after the right to criticize the government, and I still did not object, because I had nothing to criticize them for. Then they went after the right to speak—worship—and assemble freely, and I did not object, because I had nothing to say, no one to worship, and nowhere to congregate. By the time the government came to lock me up, there was no one left to set me free.

In other words, don’t be naïve: the government will use this crisis to expand its powers far beyond the reach of the Constitution. The Justice Department has already signaled its desire to suspend parts of the Constitution indefinitely.

That’s how it starts.

Travel too far down that slippery slope, and there will be no turning back.

Curiously enough, although Americans have not been inclined to agree on anything much lately, given the extreme polarization of the country politically, a recent survey indicates that “people of both parties seem rather okay with undermining core civil liberties in order to fight the pandemic.”

This way lies madness.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, if you wait to speak out—stand up—and resist until the government’s lockdowns impact your freedoms personally, it could be too late.

What would be far worse, however, is handing over your freedoms voluntarily—without even a semblance of protest—to a government that cares little to nothing about your freedoms or your lives.

*

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This article was originally published on The Rutherford Institute.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People  is available at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research

STATE CONTROL

There have been many people who have speculated that the new security measures put into place to fight the pandemic will outlive the disease, or that it might be practice for future use as deemed necessary by the powers that be. Not a conspiracy, but the way shit works.
Read.

COMMUNISM, ONLY CURE FOR CAPITALIST PANDEMIC

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020 AT 10:30PM

As the Covid-19 pandemic spreads to hundreds of thousands of workers in more than 160 countries or territories and counting, the world seems filled with uncertainty. But one thing is for sure: This crisis dramatically exposes the utter inability of capitalism to meet the needs of the international working class. In their callous negligence in mishandling Covid-19, the rulers are telling us—again—how little they value workers’ lives under the profit system.
For the capitalist bosses, Covid-19 is both a challenge to their system and an opportunity to experiment and impose more intensive fascism. For the working class and Progressive Labor Party, it is also a challenge and opportunity. We will need to learn how to operate in new ways, and it won’t be easy. But if we succeed, we can show workers how a healthier society could be run in the interests of our class. Only a communist revolution can stamp out capitalism, the deadliest pandemic of all time.
The China model: open fascism
In Wuhan, China, the early epicenter of the crisis, the Chinese ruling class responded at first with denial and repression. Their openly fascist state muzzled doctors who tried to warn the world of what was coming. Then it put 45 million people on lockdown, turned countless Chinese workers away from over-burdened, under-supplied hospitals, and left them to die at home without care (Reuters.com, 2/13).
When you contrast the policies of today’s Chinese bosses with the communist health care system built by Chinese workers after the 1949 revolution, the choice is clear. The Chinese communists’ monumental public health campaigns, led by the revolutionary “barefoot doctors,” treated curable diseases and eliminated others entirely. In just ten years, they doubled workers’ life expectancy and halved infant mortality, the greatest public health gains in the history of humanity!
As the Covid-19 spreads around the globe, other countries are following in China’s fascist footsteps. South Korea, with the second most confirmed cases in Asia, instituted a massive testing program—by itself an essential tool for containing an epidemic. But as people tested positive, the government used a new law allowing it to track “CCTV footage, GPS tracking data from phones and cars, credit card transactions, immigration entry information, and other personal details” of anyone infected (Reuters.com). The South Korean bosses are exploiting Covid-19 to escalate surveillance and tighten control over workers, measures that will outlive the pandemic.
In New Rochelle, NY, Governor Andrew Cuomo, a liberal Democrat, created a one-mile-radius “containment zone” and deployed the National Guard to police it (NPR.org, 3/10). On March 13, President Donald Trump declared a “national emergency” under federal laws that allow him to “seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and, in a variety of ways, control the lives of United States citizens” (Congressional Research Service Report). This is the beating heart of fascism.
The Italy model: infrastructure collapse
As Italy has gone from a few hundred confirmed cases of Covid-19 to more than 30,000 in barely three weeks, its healthcare system is overwhelmed. The Italian bosses have responded with new guidelines for triage, “The criteria for access to intensive therapy in cases of emergency must include age of less than 80 or a score on the Charlson comorbidity Index of less than 5” (The Telegraph, 3/14). In other words, doctors will determine who deserves a life-saving ventilator and who does not. (The Atlantic, 3/11). The Nazis’ Third Reich had a similar stance on health care.
The worldwide scarcity of intensive care beds and resources is no surprise. In 2015, a New York State Health Department task force estimated that “a severe 6-week outbreak” would result in 89,610 patients in acute respiratory distress “and there will not be enough ventilators in the State to meet the demand” (health.ny.gov). The bosses knew the next pandemic was coming, but spare inventory is a drain on profits. Hospital “efficiency” is profitable; excess capacity is not. In the U.S., the richest nation in the world, there are only 2.8 hospital beds per thousand people—fewer than in South Korea (12.3), China (4.3), or Italy (3.2) (NYT, 3/14). In New York City, home to Wall Street and its tens of billions of dollars in annual profits, more than 20 hospitals have closed since 2000 because of “financial pressures” (nbcnewyork.com, 8/6/13). Some have been replaced by luxury condo buildings. As always, the bosses put money over people.
In the absence of adequate health care, or even minimal numbers of tests, the capitalists are promoting “social distancing,” shutting down public spaces (including schools), and self-quarantining at the first sign of sickness. While these may be sound recommendations from a public health perspective, they make survival nearly impossible for workers who don’t have paid sick leave or options for child care. Those hit hardest by capitalism’s racist inequalities—Black, Latin, immigrant, the homeless and the uninsured workers—are also the most vulnerable to the coronavirus and the least equipped to adjust to the “new normal.” We must continue to wage struggles to help these workers and their families stay safe, healthy, and fed.
Fight the bosses, not each other
One historical aspect of fascism and the drive toward inter-imperialist war is the pitting of workers against each other. With Covid-19, egged on by racist talk of “the Chinese virus” by Trump and his flunkies, some workers have been led to look suspiciously at anyone who sneezes, especially if they appear to be of Asian descent. In addition, short-term shortages of supplies have created frenzies of unnecessary hoarding. When workers are isolated and afraid, they are more susceptible to the contagion of the bosses’ rotten ideas: selfishness, individualism, competition.
But let’s be clear: Our real enemy is capitalism. In every disaster, “natural” or otherwise, from Haiti to New Orleans to Puerto Rico, workers have chosen the right side and defended their class. In this urgent time, PLP will continue to work within our mass organizations and stand for worker unity and class consciousness over fear and hysteria. Where public schools are closed, we can run Freedom Schools. We can organize food drives and fight for the homeless and undocumented. We can show the working class that we can run society!
As the U.S. ruling class tries to infect us with racist fear-mongering, communists in PLP must respond to fight the root causes of this pandemic: the blood-sucking bosses and their diseased system. Today we have an opportunity to demonstrate how communism is the only solution for our class. Make the fight against the coronavirus a fight against capitalism! Join Progressive Labor Party!

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Fascists divided in crisis: Trump vs. Biden

As the Covid-19 crisis intensifies, the capitalist ruling class has been rocked by division and instability. Worldwide oil prices and demand are at record lows (NYT, 3/4). The world’s stock markets, from New York to London to Shanghai, are crashing as well. In the U.S., the Donald Trump administration has been a disaster of anti-scientific incompetence. Two years ago, it dismantled the federal pandemic response team. More recently, by failing to make widespread coronavirus testing quickly available, the government has been instrumental in causing a broader outbreak.
Rulers not immune to splits
It’s clear by now that an isolationist, Fortress America approach—the agenda favored by the domestic Small Fascists behind Trump—doesn’t work against a virus. But it’s also important to point out that today’s public health crisis was created by the liberal finance capitalists, the same Big Fascists who are hoping to capitalize on the pandemic to win back the presidency and their control over the state apparatus in November.
It’s no accident that the U.S. government’s first significant action on Covid-19 was to pump 1.5 trillion into short-term lending markets, to keep finance capital afloat. That figure dwarfed the initial emergency “relief” bill rammed through by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an insulting measure that offered paid sick leave to only 20 percent of workers (New York Times, 3/14). The bosses will put the greed of capitalism before the needs of the working class every time—even more so when their profits are threatened.
The liberal Democrats’ pathetic response to the Covid-19 echoes their decades of criminal disinvestment in workers’ health. Consider the record of Joe Biden the bank and credit card industry stooge who is now the heavy frontrunner for the Democrats’ presidential nomination. Beginning in the 1980s, whenever he wasn’t pushing for racist mass incarceration, then-Senator Biden led the charge for cutbacks to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (theintercept.com, 1/13). He consistently endangered the same groups now most at risk in the current pandemic: the elderly, the disabled, and low-income families and individuals. He backed the Ronald Reagan budget cuts that “cut federal medical aid to more than a fifth of the American population” and gave states the freedom to eliminate medical care entirely for the working class(Washington Post, 8/21/81).
In 1987, in the runup to his first presidential campaign, Biden supported an amendment to list HIV among “the list of dangerous infectious diseases that would prevent immigration to this country” (thedailybeast.com, 3/13).
Obama and Biden, a toxic duo
In his current cynical campaign for Black votes, Biden’s main claim to credibility is his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president. But when it comes to public health, Obama’s legacy is an anti-worker debacle. In 2015, the “change we need” president called for an 8 percent, $50 million cut to the program that “helps uninsured families receive vaccines and funds the government’s response to disease outbreaks that stem from lack of immunizations”(theatlantic.com, 2/2/15).In total, Obama proposed $399 billion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs, including home health services. As the New York Times (2/2/15) noted:
In addition, Mr. Obama’s budget would reduce scheduled Medicare payments to teaching hospitals, hundreds of small rural hospitals, nursing homes and health maintenance organizations that care for older Americans and people with disabilities.
The Obama-Biden centerpiece legislation, the Affordable Care Act, left more than 25 million people uninsured and tens of millions more underinsured, with high premiums and prohibitively high co-payments and deductibles: “Of the 194 million U.S. adults ages 19 to 64 in 2018, an estimated 87 million, or 45 percent, were inadequately insured” (commonwealthfund.org, 2/7/19). Even with a free Covid-19 test, a hospital stay for pneumonia can cost an uninsured worker “between $75,000 and $100,000 for 10 days” (cnbc.com, 3/10). When adequate care equates to bankruptcy, is it any wonder that many workers are reluctant to get treatment?
As Biden’s record shows, the liberal bosses are indeed the main danger