On ritual and spectacle
I started writing this essay on Super Bowl Sunday, one of the biggest capitalist rituals of the year. On one level, the spectacle of the Super Bowl is used by the ideological superstructure of capitalism to shape the collective consciousness of the masses here in the U.S. On the layer beneath this materialist analysis, in the realm of spirit, the function of rituals like the Super Bowl is to put the masses under a trance (a suspended state of consciousness).
What is the relationship between dialectical historical materialism and the central role Spirit plays in our lives as African people? The dynamic interplay between spirit and matter is in and of itself a dialectical relationship. As a consequence of centuries of violent imperial rule, European nations had been cut off from their pre-Christian ancestral medicine. I would argue that this disconnection from spirit has been at the core of European philosophical thought for centuries.
Industrial economies devoid of spiritual grounding are only able to consider life on the physical plane of existence. This context produced hard sciences that deal primarily with physical, material phenomena. Dialectical historical materialism (Marxism), as a scientific methodology, deals with life in tangible, observable terms. In part this comes out of Marx and Engels’ move away from the institution of the church, which was the spiritual technology of colonialism.
It is important to remember that it was not dialectical or historical materialism that guided the revolution that set Haiti free, Vodun did that. And it is a rejection of all things African in Latin America that has isolated Haiti in the region, and perhaps globally. Since asserting independent nationhood, our people in Haiti have only sought recognition as equal partners in trade and commerce. This is what it means to be a proud sovereign people. Haitian scholar Jemima Pierre reminds us that European governments harbor a bitter, vindictive grudge against Haiti going back to 1804, and that they will stop at nothing to re-take the island as a colonial possession. The imperialists are driven to re-capture what they could not control.
As i write this, another island in the Caribbean is in the crosshairs of imperialism. I am speaking, of course, about Cuba. In 2004, on my first trip to Cuba, i was fortunate enough to be there when Fidel was still alive. I got to see him lecture live, in action on Cuban state tv. To me watching a meeting of the Assembly of People’s Power felt a lot like observing a class in a large lecture hall. This was my introduction to socialism as a science, and it looked and felt like participatory democracy.
The Cuban Revolution as an experiment in scientific socialism has not lost its African-ness. On that first trip, our group visited the Lucumi Museum. It’s across the street from the Cuban capitol building. Lucumi is part of Cuban culture. Because of this, we can look to Cuba as a revolutionary example that proudly affirms African spiritual technology. When Cuban fighters came to assist Angola and other African territories in liberating our people from colonial apartheid regimes, that was an expression of African spiritual power, as well as good military strategy.
The elders say, “Pray and move your feet.” When we imagine how we are going to meet all of our basic needs in the future, scientific socialism offers us a practical methodological approach that might just be our best alternative to the extractive, exploitative system of imperialism now in the throes of its own demise. As Pan-Africanists, imagine a world in which Haiti, Cuba, and a liberated Benin could just simply exist without any outside interference from an imperial power. How might trade and cultural exchange between these nations look without the impediments imposed on them by the colonizers?
The Blockade imposed by the U.S. on Cuba is an imposition saddled on the Cuban Revolution. We know the U.S. aims to wipe out any semblance of the Cuban Revolution because of the threat socialism poses to the U.S. Monroe Doctrine. They fear the very idea of others’ autonomy. The U.S. occupation of Haiti is an imposition to keep the people down. The fascist Confederates in the white people’s house do not want Haitian immigrants to be able to live inside the U.S. because they would rather Haitians be re-enslaved by U.S. corporations on the island of Haiti.
The colonizers want slavery. They want it here on U.S. soil, and on Cuba, and on Haiti, and everywhere else. For the small cartel of capitalist gangsters, slavery is the only economic project that have in mind for Planet Earth. In their greedy eyes, every inch of this planet, and all life on it are commodities to be consumed. Perhaps this is what DuBois meant when he wrote in The World and Africa that when the trade of human beings as commodities began, it set humanity on a decline, that this degraded all of humanity.
At this time, we are witnessing the psychosis at the core of global capital. The moral rot, the degeneracy, is on full display with the release of the Epstein files. The ruling class elites have been exposed for what they truly are: a cabal that engages in group ritual abuse and blood sacrifice of children to their deity. They have been using these rituals as a spiritual technology to maintain their power. To this group of deranged criminals, domination and control equate to power. This death cult at the center of global imperialism only cares about gratifying their base urges to consume more and more… They must be stopped.
Meanwhile Vodun Days in Benin has been in the spotlight thanks to the ‘iShowSpeed’ Africa tour. Personally, i loved seeing it! Content creator Speed purposefully bridged the information gap by bringing the African diaspora along with him in Africa. He dispelled myths about the Motherland, and this is a good thing. Meanwhile behind the scenes, Benin is being used as a staging ground for imperialism to launch counter-insurgency in the Sahel. In this context the iShowSpeed tour becomes a sideshow that distracts us from developments happening on the ground in West Africa.
When we watch the film Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, it shows us how tactics of misdirection have long been used as a part of the ‘soft power’/hybrid warfare playbook. Our culture has been used as cover while neocolonial puppet regimes (compradors) collaborating with the U.S. State Department wage war on us. In this way we may not even realize that our own culture is being used against us. The film is instructive in this moment of excitement and celebration.
While we love to see Speed sharing the power and beauty of Vodun, that same power that set Haiti free, the spectacle that iShowSpeed creates also provides a convenient cover for covert operations in the region. When terrorist groups funded and armed by France and the U.S. blew up part of the airport in Niamey, Niger, the terrorists were traced back to the border with Benin. Evidence suggests the governments of Benin and Côte d’Ivoire are collaborating in a covert war on the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
No one is suggesting that Speed knew anything about this. It’s just convenient, that’s all. Speed is just doing his thing, exploring the world, using his platform to inform and educate his audience. And it looked like he was having fun! It’s all fun and games until you stand up to imperialism as the AES has so bravely done.
When a nation stands up to assert their sovereignty as Cuba did in 1959, just as Haiti had done before in 1804, that is when Wall Street will send in their goons. The Pentagon has been allocated unlimited resources in order to spread terror and destruction around the globe. On one layer, in the materialist view, the Pentagon is a military command center. On the layer of spirit, we can view the Pentagon as an instrument of spiritual warfare. The architecture of the State under monopoly capitalism serve very specific functions.
When Patrice Lumumba was sworn into leadership, the people of Congo were ready to throw off the shackles of colonialism. When the Belgians came for the Independence ceremony Lumumba told them all about their crimes to their faces. The U.S. State Department financed a jazz concert in the Congo.
It was an elaborate ruse to kidnap and assassinate Patrice Lumumba. Louis Armstrong and them had no idea they were being used by the CIA to provide cover for this plot to snuff out liberation in the Congo. The bands went to play because that is what musicians do, and who can afford to turn down a paying gig?
So, our cultural workers and content creators get put in these compromising positions where they are presented with seemingly great opportunities to share their gifts and talents on a world stage. On the surface it appears simply to be a cultural exposition, but as Jemima Pierre reminds us, imperialism never stops. The imperialists are constantly plotting and scheming. Just as they seek to re-establish slavery on the island of Haiti, and a mafia paradise on Cuba, they also have designs on how they might sabotage what the Alliance of Sahel States is building in Africa.
