Manifesting The Vision: On Frantz Fanon’s Fundamental Transformation Period 

Frantz Fanon talked about the colonized people needing to go through the “fundamental transition period” between being colonial/captive subjects and the “new” people becoming an independent nation. What does this mean? Right now, We are not in control of Our own destiny, We are not in control of Our own day to day affairs. We depend on someone else for food, security, healthcare, technology, clothing, education, and political and governmental policy that dictate Our social reality.

Again, it’s the umbilical cord. If We just cut it and tried to separate Ourselves fully as it stands right now, We would starve off and die. We have been here before; they claim that We were “freed” from chattel slavery in 1865, but that was only the transition from colonialism into neo-colonialism. For hundreds of years, We had been dependent on Our captors, We weren’t allowed to own anything, We didn’t have any educational, economic, or agricultural autonomy.

So, with no “fundamental transition period,” one day we’re enslaved and the next day they say We are free. We still had to depend on the colonists for food, shelter, employment, and We haven’t recovered to this day from that continued codependency. In terms of what this means in 2024 for New Afrikans seeking national liberation and self-government, that transitional decolonization period has to mean Our political organizers, legal body, underground formations, medical cadre, student unions, farmers, and the prison movement all coming together to establish infrastructure that will sustain Us in the future.

Let's say the u.s. or united nations honored international law and allowed Us to separate RIGHT NOW! No depending on their food sources, no using their medical facilities, no sending Our children to their schools, etc. What would We do? Where would We be as a people? We would look like the many underdeveloped nations in the motherland who gained their independence during anti-colonial wars over half a century ago. They had the military resistance but failed to establish agriculture, medical, or economic structure to sustain the new nation. Following the 2021 International Tribunal, the Spirit of Mandela Coalition and those of Us under that umbrella have been taking the fundamental steps towards transitioning the people into various forms of decolonization and strategic measures, such as national panels and webinars, to guide New Afrikans, Chicano, and Indigenous nations/tribes to lay the foundation for the Peoples’ Senate.

National Coordinating Committees and Regional Coordinating Committees

Prison Lives Matter (PLM) is getting back to the core of its organizing capabilities and Our initiatives to build state chapters and regional organizing committees to strengthen the overall national structure as well as the collective aims/objectives within the movement. As We called upon people to become field marshals or general members to start inside-out coordination in their state between captive individuals and outside formations, family members, lawyers, students, etc. We were receiving all this national mail to one P.O. box in Chicago.

The original mission was to distribute the mail to comrades/organizations in the state or region in which the inside person wrote from and help develop the necessary correspondence to start calls and meetings in that area. Once a statewide chapter is developed, it would then become the responsibility of the outside members to start their own P.O. box or destination for mail in that state.

We were encouraged by the overwhelming amount of people who tapped in, wanting to develop structure in their state or learn more about PLM; however, the lack of organizational structure and coordination within the united front made it hard for one person to respond to all this mail from across the nation. PLM has monthly calls with the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) to discuss the progress of the movement, onboard new individuals, plan upcoming events, and report the status of Our Political prisoners and their campaigns.

The last three meetings have been focused on rebuilding the internal structure of Our sub-committees, and making sure that We are clear on coordination, communication, and capacity that will ultimately help Us properly network and reach Our goals.

As I’ve always stressed, despite the name, PLM is not solely about prisoners or the conditions in these kamps. It is a vehicle for decolonization, a united front based on the blueprint of FROLINAN and the concept of We Are Our Own Liberators.