Good afternoon, sisters, brothers, and siblings in the struggle,
I’d like to open with some words from Frantz Fanon, a revolutionary thinker and writer, whose words describing the fight of the FLN against French colonialism in Algeria in the 1950s and ‘60s rings just as true today. It goes like this:
“Sooner or later, colonialism sees that it is not within its powers to put into practice a project of economic and social reforms which will satisfy the aspirations of the colonized people. Even where food supplies are concerned, colonialism gives proof of its inherent incapability. Once colonialism has understood where its social reform tactics would lead it, back comes the old reflexes of adding police reinforcements, dispatching troops, and establishing a regime of terror better suited to its interests and its psychology.”
From tactics to uniforms, there are plenty of disgusting similarities between the Baltimore City Police Department and the Israeli Occupation Force. No knock raids CHECK, forced entries CHECK, corruption CHECK, public executions and humiliations CHECK, Overuse of force and violence CHECK. These similarities are purposeful. These are the tactics of Imperialism and Colonialism. Tactics that are meant to subdue and scare the members of oppressed and working-class communities. Frantz Fanon explains the dynamic like this:
“The colonial world is a world cut in two. The dividing line, the frontiers are shown by barracks and police stations. In the colonies, it is the policeman and the soldier who are the official, instituted go-betweens, the spokesmen of the settler and his rule of oppression. The policeman and the soldier, by their immediate presence and their frequent and direct action, maintain contact with the native and advise him by means of rifle butts and napalm not to budge.
“It is obvious here that the agents of government speak the language of pure force. The intermediary does not lighten the oppression, nor seek to hide the domination; he shows them up and puts them into practice with the clear conscience of an upholder of the peace; yet he is the bringer of violence into the home and into the mind of the native. The native cities are deliberately caught in the conqueror’s vise. To get an idea of the rigor with which the immobilizing of the native city, of the population, is organized, one must have in one’s hands the plans according to which a colonial city has been laid out, and compare them with the comments of the general staff of the occupation forces.”
How does the government respond to the issues plaguing our class siblings across the city? … With more police. Food deserts across town, fill the lots with police to survey the community. Kids not taken care of in school due to poor infrastructure, scare them straight with officers in every school.
Workers wanna organize to protect their rights; they are met with police. People needing shelter and doing what they can to secure the means to survive the day are not met with assistance or sympathy but are instead met with brutality at the hands of police. They are so determined to keep communities policed and subdued that when met with a lack of new officers, instead of looking to solve the root issues in communities and alleviate the pressure on everyone, they double down with drones, AI, and any technological advantage.
Whether it be Baltimore or Palestine, the capitalist ruling class knows it is outnumbered. However, it also knows that to maintain its power, it must scatter its enemies by any means necessary.
In occupied Palestine, there are thousands of Palestinians held illegally by the Zionist state. These prisoners are kept in dehumanizing conditions, where they are forced to endure torture, collective punishment, starvation, rape, and finally be left to die in said prisons. Those that aren’t held directly in Israeli Prisons have lived in an open-air prison whether they are in the West Bank or Gaza. Watched by cameras, drones, automated guns, soldiers, and illegal settlers, Palestinians have been forced to accept a world that does not offer them peace. And what little corners and pockets of peace they do find are snuffed out by AI targeting and tracking at a rate never before seen.
Here in Baltimore, the police use nearly all the same tactics to surveil and suppress the people of the city. Who remembers the introduction of the spy plane above our skies? Now, it’s drones and cameras on corners, in lots and on the countless BPD vehicles parked around the city. In the prisons, inmates fend for themselves and are not given essentials and bare necessities. All the while, prison officials and correctional officers continue to abuse inmates and get away with further corruption. More people are being held without bail for exponentially longer periods of time awaiting their trials, and to no surprise, some have even died while in the hands of the government.
And this government is willing to pay out top dollar to any corporation that is in the business of oppression and apartheid. These businessmen are Google and Amazon with Project Nimbus, the IOF with its Lavender system, which includes the Where’s Daddy? And The Gospel AI. Here in Baltimore we have X9 Intelligence as the newest tech company to attempt to profit off of the continued boot on the neck of Baltimore.
Whether it be in Palestine or Baltimore, state-sponsored thugs run loose, harassing oppressed communities, protected and armed by the wealthiest sponsors of imperialism, colonialism, and white supremacy. The Baltimore police are no stranger to these sponsors. Read its history, and you’ll see how from the beginning to now, all BPD has been is a front for white supremacy run by all levels of government in the United States, be it local, state, or federal. Likewise, the Israeli Occupation Forces trace their history back to the murderous gangs and militias of Zionist settlers.
On Oct. 7, when the resistance in Palestine rose up and broke the walls of the open-air prison and reintroduced the Illegal occupation of Palestine on the national stage, they were also casting out the occupier who for decades was the sole cause of all hardship to their people.
Here in Baltimore, that same spark exists. We saw it during the George Floyd uprisings, just how powerful, determined, and ingenuitive the people of Baltimore can be. We saw how the people took their streets back from the cops and controlled the momentum of all that was ahead. Now more than ever, sisters, brothers, siblings, cousins, and comrades, with fascism here, we will need this spark. To quote the resistance in Palestine:
“There will be no retreat from the path of confrontation, no matter how great the sacrifices are. It is indeed a revolution until the liberation of the land and of the human being.”
Long Live Palestine
Long live Baltimore
Long Live International Solidarity
Thank You
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