Soldier's Story: Revolutionary Writings by a New Afrikan Anarchist

by Kuwasi Balagoon, Matt Meyers (Editor), Karl Kersplebedeb (Editor)

Overview

Kuwasi Balagoon was a participant in the Black Liberation struggle from the 1960s until his death in prison in 1986. A member of the Black Panther Party and defendant in the infamous Panther 21 case, Balagoon went underground with the Black Liberation Army (BLA). Captured and convicted of various crimes against the State, he spent much of the 1970s in prison, escaping twice. After each escape, he went underground and resumed BLA activity.

Balagoon was unusual for his time in several ways. He combined anarchism with Black nationalism, he broke the rules of sexual and political conformity that surrounded him, he took up arms against the white-supremacist state—all the while never shying away from developing his own criticisms of the weaknesses within the movements. His eloquent trial statements and political writings, as much as his poetry and excerpts from his prison letters, are all testimony to a sharp and iconoclastic revolutionary who was willing to make hard choices and fully accept the consequences.

Balagoon was captured for the last time in December 1981, charged with participating in an armored truck expropriation in West Nyack, New York, an action in which two police officers and a money courier were killed. Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, he died of an AIDS-related illness on December 13, 1986.

The first part of this book consists of contributions by those who knew or were touched by Balagoon. The second section consists of court statements and essays by Balagoon himself, including several documents that were absent from previous editions and have never been published before. The third consists of excerpts from letters Balagoon wrote from prison. A final fourth section consists of a historical essay by Akinyele Umoja and an extensive intergenerational roundtable discussion of the significance of Balagoon’s life and thoughts today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629633770
Publisher:	PM Press
Publication date:	05/15/2019
Series:	Kersplebedeb
Edition description:	Third edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Kuwasi Balagoon was a defendant in the Panther 21 case in 1969 and a member of the Black Liberation Army. Captured and convicted of various crimes against the State, he spent much of the 1970s in prison, escaping twice. After each escape, he went underground and resumed BLA activity. He was captured for the last time in December 1981, charged with participating in an armored truck expropriation in West Nyack, New York, on October 21 of that year, an action in which two police officers and a money courier were killed. Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, he died of an AIDS-related illness on December 13, 1986.

Matt Meyer is a New York City–based educator, organizer, and author who serves as War Resisters' International Africa Support Network Coordinator, and who represents the International Peace Research Association at the United Nations Economic and Social Council. A former draft registration resister, Meyer’s extensive human rights work has included support for all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, solidarity with Puerto Rico and the Black Liberation Movement, and board membership on the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute.

Karl Kersplebedeb is a Montreal-based publisher and distributor of anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-patriarchal literature as well as a longtime anti-prison activist. Working with comrades to publish the first edition of A Soldier's Story in 2001 remains one of the accomplishments he is happiest about.

Table of Contents

Introduction to 2019 Edition 6

Introduction to the First Edition 8

B.L.A. Albert Nuh Washington 10

Kuwasi in the Twenty-First Century 11

Maroon: Kuwasi Balagoon and the Evolution of Revolutionary New Afrikan Anarchism Akinyele Umoja 13

3 Haiku That Barely Suggest the Sparkle of Kuwasi Balagoon David Gilbert 46

Kuwasi: A Virtual Roundtable of Love and Reflection, Compiled and coordinated Matt Meyer Joan P. Gibbs Meg Starr featuring Sekou Odinga Bilal Sunni-Ali Kim Kit Holder Meg Starr Danielle Jasmine Amilcar Shabazz Ajamu Sankofa David Gilbert dequi kioni-sadiki Kai Lumumba Barrow Dhoruba Bin Wahad Ashanti Alston 47

Black Cats Named Kuwasi Kai Lumumba Barrow 62

Poetry 65

Your honor 66

With no questions 67

Secretary watts 68

Spring comes 69

Big ben 70

I remember 73

Life is rough 74

The klan marched 75

Mother of pearl sky 76

Rain 77

Some solo piano or guitar 78

Filtered through the roof 79

We've got to 80

When the world is stale 82

Lock step 83

Refused 84

Rockland 86

Kuwasi Speaks 89

In the Other Army 90

Statement at Preliminary Hearing 93

Brink's Trial Opening Statement 95

Brink's Trial Closing Statement 129

Brink's Trial Sentencing Statement 141

Destroy All Traitors 145

Statement to New Afrikan Freedom Fighters Day 148

Anarchy Can't Fight Alone 150

The Continuing Appeal of Anti-Imperialism 155

Why Isn't the Whole World Dancin'? 160

A Letter to Overthrow Newspaper 170

Letters from Prison 173

Kuwasi Remembered 199

In Memory of Kuwasi Balagoon, New Afrikan Freedom Fighter David Gilbert 201

New Afrikan People's Organization Memorial Statement 204

Statement Prisoners at Auburn 206

A Eulogy Sundiata Acoli 207

Born on Sunday David Gilbert 208

In Memory of Kuwasi Balagoon Marilyn Buck 210

Some Reflections on an Unpublished Poem Meg Starr 211

An Unpublished Poem Kuwasi Balagoon 213

Found and Shared 215

1 Where Do We Go From Here? 217

2 On Traitors 250

3 The Vocations of Warrior and Soldier 261

Kuwasi Balagoon Exercise Book 268

Contributors 278

Editorial Reviews

The success of the Movement for Black Lives over the last three years has demonstrated the power inherent in a challenge to white supremacy that is at once radical, nonhierarchical, intersectional, and queer-centered. But for many in today's political world, this constellation of commitments pops out of nowhere, with little articulate history. And that is a shame, because there is always a history, and to understand where we came from tells us a great deal about where we are. A conversation with our elders—whether departed or not—always deepens our understanding. This important, often-brilliant, and little-known collection from a Black anarchist political prisoner, whose struggle moves from the early ’60s Panthers to the early years of the AIDS epidemic, deserves wide discussion. The words in these papers and letters speak important truths to our current situation and will provoke heated debate on both theory and practice, as we move into a new and dangerous era, ever rekindling the hope of radical transformation.”
—Mark Lance, professor of philosophy, Program on Justice and Peace, Georgetown University

“We have to get our jewels where we can, for this is how we carry on from one generation to the next—it's revolutionary cross-pollination. To paraphrase Che, we need one, two, three, many more Kuwasi Balagoons in order to get free of the chains that bind us.”
—Sanyika Shakur, author of Stand Up, Struggle Forward

From the Publisher