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Title: Kuwasi Balagoon: Anarchist Warrior Author: Michael Kimble Date: December 2016 Language: en Topics: black anarchism, prisoners, Black Liberation Army Source: Retrieved on 2020-06-06 from https://anarchylive.noblogs.org/post/2016/12/23/kuwasi-balagoon-anarchist-warrior/ Notes: [Note: December 2016 marks both what would have been Kuwasi’s 70th birthday and the 30th anniversary of his death (murder) from AIDS-related illnesses while serving a life sentence on charges related to the robbery of a Brinks armored car undertaken to fund guerrilla activities.]
I became acquainted with Kuwasi Balagoon in the 1990s through his
writings and the writings of revolutionaries that knew and fought
alongside him. What is clear is that Kuwasi had an intense love for New
Afrikan people and all oppressed people, and an equally intense hatred
for racist and oppressive authority, and dedicated the bulk of his life
in defense and liberation of all oppressed people. First as a member of
the Central Harlem Committee for Self-Defense and later as a Black
Panther and soldier within the Black Liberation Army. Soldier is really
a misnomer, because a soldier is one who follows orders and the dictates
of authority without question. And that wasn’t Kuwasi. We see that
Kuwasi was rebellious as a young kid and later in his stay in the
military. Kuwasi can best be defined as a warrior who lived to fight.
Sundiata Acoli, a comrade of Kuwasi’s within the Black Liberation Army,
wrote that if we had read Kuwasi’s poem “I’m a Wildman” we would know
Kuwasi, because he was a wildman – and that we need more of today.
Sundiata also wrote that Kuwasi hated authority. I don’t know when
Kuwasi officially or theoretically became an anarchist, but it’s clear
that he was always an anti-authoritarian. He exemplified that through
the numerous actions he carried out, from bucking in the military to the
numerous prison breaks after being captured, which one isn’t supposed to
do simply because authority says you should. It’s against the law,
right?
Well, Kuwasi didn’t give a flying fuck about the law. He understood to
really be free, one must act outside the law and destroy the lawmakers
and their authoritarian institutions. Kuwasi’s trial statement says it
all – it’s brilliant, defiant, and clearly shows what we should be
about. I’m sure Kuwasi caught a lot of grief and heartache for becoming
an anarchist because it’s seen as a white thing, just as Ashanti Alston
spoke about. But I’m sure Kuwasi said fuck you to those who criticized
him for being an anarchist.