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Indybay Feature

Black Panther Memorial

by Charles Slay (slaycslay [at] aol.com)
Family and friends of slain Black Panther Bobby (Little Bobby) Hutton gather to honor his memory on the occasion of the unveiling of his long awaited headstone.
bobby_hutton.jpg
Family, friends and colleagues from the Black Panther Party gathered at Oakland's Mountain View Cematery on February 15 to honor the memory of Bobby (Little Bobby) Hutton. Bobby Hutton was the first person to join the Black Panther Party For Self Defence after it was founded in the fall of 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, Hutton later became the party's treasurer. Bobby Hutton was slain by Oakland police on April 6, 1968 during a raid, he was unarmed. Bobby Hutton was buried without a headstone until the winter of 2003 when the family and the Commemoration Commitee of the Black Panther Party raised the funds -through donations - to purchase a memorial.
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by ...
First of all let me state that it's about time Lil' Bobby got a headstone but I was surprised to see that the Commemoration Committe for the Black Panther Party (CCBPP) was responsible for raising the funds. The CCBPP has no connections to the Black Panther Party and is misappropriating the Black Panther symbol.

The CCBPP is a front organization for the National Labor Federation (NATLFED). They are a very creepy outfit, more like a cult than a political organization.

NATLFED was "[h]ot news after its NYC headquarters was raided by police in November 1996, NATLFED actually has been active for 27 years in dozens of small fronts across the country. NATLFED fronts, using innocent names like "Western Service Workers Association," "Eastern Farm Workers Association," "Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals," and "Women's Press Collective," lure liberal volunteers from communities and colleges into brainwashed separation from their families, jobs, and friends."

http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/

The CCBPP is one of many fronts groups that operate out of a spot on Alactraz Avenue in Berkeley, CA and across the street from West Oakland BART. The groups present themselves as indpendent "entities" but are actually all controlled under the umbrella of NATLFED.
========================
http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/supp/recruit.html
Recruiting

NATLFED gains members through innocuously named fronts. Recruiting through street fairs, canvassing door-to-door and by phone, giving free holiday dinners targeting the poor, and posting flyers, the fronts acquire volunteers who may be given work to help the poor directly and are definitely given work to support the operations of the front itself, in the name of helping the poor indirectly.

Volunteers in whom NATLFED takes special interest are asked to donate ever-increasing amounts of time and resources, and are urged to attend long, obtuse lectures on strata organizing, NATLFED's putative form of alternative labor organizing. Such dedication can be rewarding to volunteers, but its attendant stess limits critical thought. After a period of time in which the volunteer's attitude is monitored, NATLFED may then reveal its revolutionary goals and broader organization.

By the time NATLFED has revealed its secret goals to a sympathetic volunteer, that person may have already formed close social and political ties with the organization. Such people have been willing to accept even more work; undergo intensive indoctrination disguised as education; and break ties with their family, friends, and work to become full-time putative labor organizers, living and working 24 hours a day in NATLFED facilities. Such members are usually relocated to cities remote from their homes to increase NATLFED control over their activities. Further indoctrination includes advancement within the organization and devilifying the world outside of NATLFED to encourage loyalty.
========================
Other front groups include the California Homemakers Association, Western Service Workers Association, Western Farm Workers Association, and National Equal Justice Association.

Here is an article on the CHA from the East Bay Express:

http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/shadowpo.html

Here is a list of articles from periodicals across the country concerning NATLFED and related front groups:

http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/artindex.html

Here is a sample of some NATLFED publications (including the Black Panther Commemorator):

http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/supp/pubs.html

You can read testimonials from people who got involved with NATLFED here:

http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/supp/feedback.html

Please become educated about this group, they have already fucked up a lot of lives. I know because I watched people who should have known better get sucked in by these charlatans.
by Red_Monkey
The Black Panther Party was a double edged sword, for as much good, there was just as much sinister evil.
by black
spoken like a true white guy.
by OAKLAND
FREE HUEY!
by Cyrinical
spoken like a true racist
by truth seeker
"Be careful" with the arguments you use, as they may turn on you...

1) "They are a very creepy outfit, more like a cult than a political organization"

Define your terms. What is a "cult"? What is a "political organization"? The links you provide base their definition of "political cult" on a cold war [ie: anti-communist] paradigm [first articulated by Robert Jay Lifton in his work on "brainwashing" of US POWs during the Korean War, most recently refined by the Berkeley psychologist Margaret Thaler Singer]. In short, this is an articulation of an anti-communist worldview, in which the status quo is viewed as the "par excellence".

However, based on the links you provide, I would put it that "Natlfed" would appear to be a component of a communist organization which bears close structural (& ideological) similarities to many others functioning in the world today [in Nepal, in India, in the Philippines, in Mexico, etc]. Or to put it bluntly: is the (Philippines) New Peoples Army a cult? Is the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) a cult? The FARC? Or the Tamil Tigers?Because all of those organisations have similar methods of recruitment & similar discipline imposed on their members.

2) "NATLFED was "[h]ot news after its NYC headquarters was raided by police in November 1996"

According to the links you provide the raid you refer to above involved seizure of a large quantity of weapons. In what way does that make Natlfed a "cult" & not a "political organization"?

3) "NATLFED actually has been active for 27 years in dozens of small fronts across the country. NATLFED fronts, using innocent names like "Western Service Workers Association," "Eastern Farm Workers Association," "Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals," and "Women's Press Collective," lure liberal volunteers from communities and colleges into brainwashed separation from their families, jobs, and friends."

The use of front organizations is not unknown in communist party organizing (if in doubt, study the Philippines CP, Nepal CP (M), India's People's War Group, FARC, etc)

But this quote reveals the real ideology underlying "be careful"'s post: "innocent names ...lure liberal volunteers...". Which brings to mind the question as to what exactly do you think the Black Panther Party represented: a "liberal political organization"? Or an organization of revolutionary fighters savagely crushed by the US government?
by kulbrez
Hi I used to volunteer with a NATLFED related group for a few years. I left of my own free will (what a concept). a few years ago I saw someone posting this anti-NATLFED garbage on a listserve. below is a letter I sent to that group. Please consider this seing as how the media has previouisly slandered Mumia and anti -globalization activists.

This is the letter I sent a few years ago:


If you aren't careful the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing Malcolm X
>
> Um excuse me..... I've been volunteering with WMLA since last August. In that time I've helped with poastering, information tables, canvasses, phoning , writing the newspaper, food distribution and several other valuable activities.
>
> Since we met I've traveled out to Pittsfield on a weekly/bi-weekly basis I've spent several weekends there and even once took a week off from work to volunteer out there. In all that time I was never abducted, restrained, drugged or hypnotised and apparently neither was the author of this letter you sent me. Gee, you'ld think that if they were going to try to kidnap me they'd have done it by now.
>
> Let me tell you what we do, do out there. Western Mass Labour Action runs an eleven point benefit program for low income families. This includes things like emergency food distribution, utility advocacy and back too school clothing drives (treachery). We also get doctors to volunteer free medical services for members and lawyers to give "know your law sesions". Of course poor people aren't really suppose to know what their rights are; the government couldn't exploit them as much if they did, so I guess all this could be seen as some sort of crime.
>
> Emergency Food distributions are a regular occurance at WMLA. People come in for food all the time And yet the papers say the economy has never been better. I guess it depends on your perspective. The economy is doing good ...at least for people who matter.

> Most of WMLA's members are low income families working in the health care industry, in the service industry, unemployed or doing temp work. The vast majority of these positions aren't covered under the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act. Their status as unrecognized workers makes them more open to abuse by the government and corporate america.
>
> In the early half or the 20th century the government had to make a number of concesions to the militant unions of that time. At the same time, however, they were able to put those groupings under government control. Many people are excluded from these union benefits so the corporations can exploit their labor. WMLA and organizations like it, however, operate outside of traditional
labor laws. They have fought for this in courts and because it's members weren't
> covered under government laws the feds couldn't control it.
>
> I stumbeled upon the website you mentioned last November. I found it to be... amusing at best. The size of this site indicates that it was written by professionals, probably some right wing foundation or government agency. The majority of the hype is the result of random police raids made on the
New York headquarters.
>
> Those of us who are familiar with the criminal injustice system in general and New York police in particular; know that police raids are a common occurance. Recently Guilanni's squads raided a homeless shelter. This came at the same time that Guillani was arresting homeless for sleeping in the
park and saying people in shelters should be put in forced workfare programs.
>
> So the newspapers wrote some scandalous stories about us and somehow that translates into evidence of wrongdoing on our part. They call us a cult. What exactly is a cult anyways?? We have educational classes open to all volunteers about the history of organizing and the labor movement? Some people call that brainwashing because everyone knows that in america free speach is a privlidge granted only to right wing talk show hosts. If anyone else speaks up they're labled as being "politically correct" and must be censored (usually with tear gas and pepper spray).
>
> Full time organizers at WMLA, and other organizations have made a conscious decision to fight for what they believe is right. They should be admired, not feared. Just because some people can't make that kind of commitment doesn't give them the right to lash out at us to pacify their guilt.
>
> It's very telling of our country that when some concerned activists tried to help some poor people all the forces of the police, courts and media were unleashed against them. Anyone who demonstrated against the IMF, WTO and world bank in Seattle and D.C. should be familiar with this. The people
in power aren't just going to give up. This is a struggle but it's one we can win. Won't you join us.
>

Hi! Just a quick note to thank you for your response regarding WMLA. I knew nothing about the organization (until your email, that is), but when I read the original e-mail trashing the group, alarms went off in my brain.
by liv dillon (liv0815 [at] yahoo.com)
Hi,

There is a more informative discussion going on at the following link:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2002/12/37128.shtml
which is the portland indymedia sight.

I'm a former cadre (12/93-3/98), and I was actually the liason to WMLA from NY's central office. I think its important to acknowledge that WMLA (and almost all the field entities) do an amazing job of providing benefits and doing grass roots organizing in the community.

However, the person who was in WMLA and left of 'thier own free will" was clearly not a member of the party. This group, is controlling, cultish, and, in my opinion, counter-revolutionary in its authoritarian, hierarchical structure. Not everyone is allowed to leave of their own free will, I know this from numerous first hand experiences. I'd be happy to discuss it more with anyone thinking of joining, or who has been a part of the group, just write me.

If you are volunteering with them, and you feel you are making an impact in the community and doing good work, great, keep doing it. But when they start helping you decide that there is only one way to make a revolution in this country, please write me before you join, I assure you there is not one way, and even if there was, NATLFED is not goind to do it.

To anyone fellow x-cadres reading this, please write me, it is just not fair that people leave this group with no support network or people to talk to when there are so many of us x-cadre out here. The only thing they are offered is money hungry cult-like de-programmers and right wing freaks.

-liv
by Jeff Whitnack (whitnack [at] pacbell.net)
For 3 months I was sucked into the Natlfed Cult. After leaving I was asked to write an article for The Public Eye. My article can be found at

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v04n3-4/Cadre_or_Cult_1.html

Natlfed isn't a cult just because they use front groups, are a bit clandestine (though they hide the truth more from their own members), etc. The whole story they tell recruits is a big lie, one so bizzare that it's akin to the other "locking mechanisms" used by cults as the Moonies, Scientologists, etc. The Moonies tell recuits that Mr. Moon is the second coming of Christ, Scientologists the whole Thetans in the volcano mythology, etc. There is an inherent dishonesty towards the members.

Sure Fidel Castro's July 26th movement was secretive, used fronts, etc. But Fidel was who he said he was!

The only way things make sense when one looks at Natlfed is when it's recognized to be a left wing cult. In a way these cults are pretty much the same, you almost plug in the religion or the politics.
by Jeff Whitnack (whitnack [at] pacbell.net)
For some reason all onliine versions of my article have left out the Prologue....

The very end of the printed article ended with..

In a kitchen in Marysville (1), a few miles from the hole dug on the Feather River island ten years earlier, I sti talking with Gerald Doeden's old drinking buddy and former best friend (2).
"What was Doeden really like?", I asked him.
"Gerry could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo, and then charge him 30% extra for being so far north," replied the friend. "There's one word, a code that we had between us," he continued.

"If you ever used it, Gerry would know you've talked to me,"
"What's that?", I asked.
"Ducdame"--it's from a scene in the Shakespeare play "As You Like It'

If it do come to pass
That any man turn ass
Leaving his wealth and ease
A stubborn will to please
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame
Here shall he see
Gross fools as he
An if he will come to me
Ami--What's that Ducdame?
Jaq--Tis a Greek invocation to call fools into a circle

1) Marysville, California. The northern California town where Gerald Doeden grew up
2) Alan Thoma. Best friend of Gerald's. He confided to me that he was an FBI agent during the LARGO days, the time before Gino for the East coast.
by Oaklander
I beg to differ, The Commemeration Committee for the Black Panther Party, (NATLFED) and former Black Panthers, have a common goal.
An attempt to bring about true equal rights, education, jobs, housing, to to ALL people's.

As you know, former Panthers, are now mostly law abiding people, no longer toting weopons and basically just trying to earn a living like everyone else.

While I have major dis-agreements with the so-called cult group NATLFED, WSWA, CHA, BA-AP. They are not as creepish as you portray. I know first hand, some former panthers are members.
And the two linked arms, to protest the possible displacement of poor Oakland citizens during revitilazation.
You are absolutly right about the way NATLFED is run....they are inept, treat the people who help them like crap, organized a hopeless buaerucracy, and wallow in stagnation...As a former cadre, I grew angry at thier roadblocks to progress, and ability to help the poor. NATLFED is not a dangerous cult. but more like a conglomeration of backward fools.

They lack a COMPASSIONET leader. and or leaders.

.In the photo above, Melvin my main man, knows the score.
But the poor guy has to put up with those dumb whiteys attempting to run the show.
by ex-natlfed cdr (natlfed [at] yahoo.com)

Hi, I just want to invite ex-Natlfed cadre to join the ex-natlfed cadre discussion group [this has no official connection with natlfed whatsoever]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/natlfed/

and there's also a natlfed discussion group open to everyone who wants to discuss one of the most controversial organizations of the American left:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/natlfed2/
by Liv Dillon
Hi there,

This is Liv Dillon (author of the original post). I'm just adding my new email address. I stand by everything I said in this post 17 years ago (except for the embarrassing typos).

-Liv

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