The Life and Theory of Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin Part 2 ft. Andrew

In part 2 of Andrew's episodes on Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin we discuss Ervin's model of survival programs in the present system

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, and welcome back to another episode of It Could
Happen Here with myself Andrew of the YouTube channel Andrewism
if you're joining us. From the previous episode, we touched
in the life of Lorenzo Combo Irvin, who he was
as a leading figure in the black anarchist movement, how

(00:30):
he ended up in that position, sort of his life
story and how he ended up writing Anarchism of the
Black Revolution and sort of breaking down that vision of
a Black revolution, including tactics like communes, squats, French strikes,
tax strikes, boycotts, general strikes, and of course a Black

(00:51):
labor federation. But that's not all that Iuven has explored
in his work, and today we're going to dive into
his vision for survival programs, things to agitate for, and
actions the black community can take to survive under the
current system. Now. Historically, black communities have been subjected to
economic exploitation, with businesses and financial institutions often taken profits

(01:15):
out of the community without investment in its growth and development,
and this of course has led to disinvestment, poverty, lack
of resources, community members, and of course persistent relative deprivation.
So the demand for community control of businesses and financial
institutions that even outlines is something that seeks to shift

(01:37):
power and resources back into the hands of the community
by police and control in the hands community members. Provides
an opportunity to build economic power and to ensure that
businesses and financial institutions work for communities rather than vice vs.
Because such institutions and businesses would be under the control

(01:59):
of the beers themselves. So in a cooperative model, members
work together to achieve common goals and share the benefits
and risks of a business equally. The covenant structure for
cooperative typically involves board of directors who might elected by
members to make strategic decisions on behalf of the cooperative,

(02:19):
but they of course other ways of organizer and including
horizontal consensus. All members of a cooperative have an equal
say in these decisions, with each member typically having one
food and the board of directors is meant to just
be accountable to members and act in the best interest
of the cooperative. Now, cooperatives already exist in the operating

(02:41):
in various industries, and they can operate in various industries
including agriculture, retail, finance, housing, healthcare, and more. For example,
in a cooperative agriculture model, farmers can prove resources to
purchase seeds, fertilizers, and equipment at lower cost, and then
sell their crops collectively to increase bargaining power and reduce costs.

(03:02):
In a retail cooperative, members can buy products at a
discount and have a saying the type of products offered,
while in a financial cooperative, members can access bank of
services and share in the profits they're generated by the cooperative.
Cooperatives also often provide mutual aid and support to their members,
with surplus profits from the businesses reinvested either in the

(03:24):
businesses or distributed as dividends to members, which ensures that
the benefits of the business are shared equably and members
have a stake in the success of a cooperative. Like
I mentioned, corporators already exists, which means they're capable of
operating within capitalism, but within a broader program of social revolution.
They're meant to build our alternative power in a dual

(03:48):
power struggle to eventually enable us to assert our independence
from this system as it will. But even here now,
it is necessary to survive under this system, and I
think cooperatives offer a more humane and more empowering model.

(04:10):
Another example of that sort of cooperative structure could be
found in mutual lead banking societies, again owned and controlled
by the members and are creator specifically to provide access
to financial services and support to individuals and communities that
have been traditionally excluded or marginalized from a lot of

(04:33):
traditional banking systems. So they function to provide low interest
loans to members for various purposes including you know, starts
and businesses, purchasing homes, covering unexpected expenses, and members are
required to you know, put in a certain amount each
month to fund these sorts of loans. And in addition

(04:55):
to providing financial services, these sort of societies can also
provide education and support, help with financial planning, help with budgeting,
help with financial literacy to enable members to better survive
within their current financial situation under capitalism. And so that's

(05:19):
one aspect of the survival program, right, and emphasis on
survival its existed now in this system. So that's one
aspect of pushing for community controller businesses and financial institutions
and creating community cooperatives and mutulaid banking societies. Another aspect
of that survival program that open outlines is achieving community

(05:42):
controlled housing to help address is to use of gentrification, displacement,
and lack of affordable housing through legal and legal means
such as then strikes and demonstrations aren't actions open squad
in to drive landlords out and take over the property
are more precarious approaches, right, and then they're also be

(06:03):
above the board methods. I spoke about those approaches. Some
of those approaches in the first part. The quote unquote
above the board methods would be establishing things like community
land trusts or clts. A CLT is essentially a nonprofit
organization that owns and manages land for the benefit of

(06:24):
a community. The CLT can acquire land and then lease
it to developers or residents who agree to use the
land for affordable housing, which allows them to retain control
of the land and ensure there's been used for their
good rather than being solo off the private developers for
the sake of profit. In a situation under a CLT

(06:45):
where a homeowner wants to sell wants to move, they
can only sell the building that they occupy. They can't
sell the land itself because the community land trust retains
control of the land. The community land trust also retains
the right of first refusal to purchase the buildings, which
basically means before you can try and sell the building
to anyone else, you have to give the community land trust,

(07:08):
the community itself, an opportunity to buy the building back,
and that would enable them to also make sure that
people aren't coming into just profit off of such affordable
holes in and they're also doing it so that the
housing stay is affordable, so they can ensure that they

(07:28):
can resell the building to somebody who's also seeking that,
you know, affordable housing. And by providing that sort of
house in, community land trusts can stabilize communities and prevent
displacement in the long term, they can help to revitalize
distress neighborhoods, and they can also invest into things like

(07:52):
community facilities like pools and laundromats and gyms and that
sort of thing. In terms of how you actually create
a COLT, laws of course vary from place to place,
but essentially you form a nonprofit organization, obtain tax exam status,

(08:18):
acquire the land either through purchase or donation, and then
begin developing affordable house or community facilities on the land.
In addition to that, a community land trust would need
to guidelines in place for leasing the land homeowners and
to maintain the affordability the land over time. And of course,
community AANDRST requires a system of governance and decision making

(08:40):
to engage in that sort of ongoing effort of involving
the residents themselves and ensuring that they are educated, and
how comunity land trusts work, and how this model could
be expanded to other communities force establishing such a thing
requires significant reason sources. Another approach to community controlled housing

(09:13):
that also takes summary resources is through limited equity housing cooperatives.
So in this model, residents own and manage the house development.
Each have the same decision making process to run democratically.
They each have a share in the cooperative, which gives
them the right to occupy a unit in the development.

(09:34):
The share price, however, is set at a fixed rate,
which means the unit can only be sold back to
the cooperative at the same price, which again helps to
make sure that the housing remains affordable in the long term. So,
unlike with the community land trust where you own the

(09:56):
building but you don't own the land LHC or you know,
limited equity housing cooperative, you don't own the building or
the land. You own a share and the cooperative owns
the property itself. You're also required, of course to contribute
a down pay month and to pay monthly fees which

(10:19):
helps to maintain and manage the property. You know, it's
difficult to organize things, as anyone with some experience organizing
can tell you, and something as high investment as housing
is no different, right. It's a challenge. It's a challenge

(10:39):
in fundraising, it's a challenge in organizing people. It's a
challenge and insurance that such efforts are defended and able
to establish themselves in the long term. But it's still
a promising model I believe for Survival because of its
priority on community ownership and control. It really relieves that
one me just dress in a lot of people's lives

(11:03):
in terms of affordable housing. Of course, in the long
term us and should be decommodified entirely, but that is
the future. The Survival program is for the heir. Now.
Another aspect of this Fiber program that even talks about
is food autonomy, the establishment of black community controlled food
systems to establish self sufficiency, to control the production distribution

(11:28):
of foods and should be a signique to met to
ensure that Black communities are no longer at the mouseeat
of food, deserts, and other systemic barriers to accessing healthy,
affordable food. By creating trucking networks and warehouses and community farms,
farmers cooperatives, food cooperatives, agricultural unions, and other collective associations,

(11:49):
black communities can ensure that healthy and essential foods are
readily available. Rather than just treating the symptom, such institutions
would treat the root was of food and security, which
is a lack of control over our food chains and
food networks. So, for example, a trucking network would be

(12:13):
used to transport food from communal farms to warehouses, which
could serve as clusterly owned distribution centers for the food
in a sort of a library economy set in. The
warehouses can also save us storage facilities for other non
perishable food items to bank seeds to distribute those seeds

(12:36):
and other items and tools to community gardens and food cooperatives.
And such community gardens could be established on vacant lots,
on rooftops and unused spaces in the city, particularly in
areas where access to fresh produce is limited and All
these efforts would involve members of the community who would
be responsible for each step in the process and ensuring

(12:57):
that such things are accessible equatiply. Food cooperatives within communities could,
for example, be organized through sort of a share structure
where each household or each individual has a share in
the cooperative that entitles them to sit down to food
each week. Or you could have in a sort of

(13:18):
a library structure that a lot of different ways that
you can organize it. You could even have as well.
Agricultural unions provide support and training and education, unsustainable farming practices,
access to tools and equipment, financial assistance for farmers in need.
All these efforts would establish the foundation necessary for food

(13:42):
or autonomy under this sort of survival program that Even
has developed, and as I mentioned in the previous episode,
Even also talks about under the survival programs developing or
US education ensuring the community has control over every aspect

(14:03):
of the educational system, from the curriculum and textbooks to
the hiring and training of teachers, administrators, And as I
spoke about in the previous episode, you know the same
way the reactionary is fighting advocate for control of educations,
the same way that we can do the same. It
won't be as easy, but we have to counter their

(14:25):
efforts because they've already been countering hours the minimal gains
we've made, and for example, ensuring that an accurate account
of history is told in schools, it's already being fought against.
Siting to go even further, community controlled schools would not

(14:50):
only reflect community values, culture and history. Not only would
they be designed to meet the specific needs the children
within them. Not only do they provide us safe for
a nutrient environment, encourage creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving skills,
but they would also provide a space, an additional space

(15:15):
for the development of people's powers and drives and consciousness
towards liberation at any age. I mean, in addition to
primary and secondary education, Woven also talks about free higher
education programs, remedial training programs, reading programs, trade programs, all

(15:36):
these things to help develop people's skills and education knowledge
that would help equip them to address social, political, and
economic issues. If it also calls for a system of
community based self defense to defend ourselves against various forms
of violence, including police brutality, heat crimes, and vigilant attacks

(16:00):
without relying on government or law enforcement agencies to defend ourselves.
They had several components to this. Of course, it will
involve organizing and mobilizing community members to participate in self
defense training programs. It would involve weapons training. It would
involve tactics for de escalation. It would involve a network

(16:24):
that can coordate responses to incentsive violence, establishing community channels
to quickly disseminate information, enabling restorative and transformative justice practices
to be included to keep the state out of resolving
the conflicts between people in communities. And then, of course,

(16:57):
unlike a lot of these law enforcements, stems and structures,
a community based self defense program or system would also
be involved in the prevention of such incidents of violence
and harm and conflict from occurrent. It will be involved
in continuously evaluating and adapting to change in circumstances, to

(17:18):
analyze in the patterns of violence and gaps that are
taking place in training or in resources, and to continuously
refine tactics and strategies and approaches to see to the
long term healing of the communities and the interruption of

(17:39):
cycles of violence and generational trauma in the long term.
Another component of these survival programs would involve medical training,
large scale medical training programs in black communities, providing individuals
with the knowledge and skills needed to understand and address

(17:59):
health issue. Black communities, especially those from low income backgrounds
in the US, often fase significant barriers to access in
quality healthcare. It's due to systemic racism and oppression. So
it's due to inaccessibility and an affordability of healthcare just generally,

(18:21):
and also the quality and resources available within certain communities specifically,
and also the ways that health outcomes are worse if
you are black. Black mothers are or rather the black

(18:42):
maternal death rate is one particularly heavy example of these
sorts of disparities. And so that's why we need community
based medical clinics and training programs and workshops and seminars
led by black medical professionals, public health essper, public health experts,
and community organizers who are versed in the social divenance

(19:05):
of health and impacts of systemic racism and health outcomes
and invested in seeing that changed. Such a program would
involve medical including dental training, so would empower individuals to
provide basic health care services and support their communities you
would involve training and first aid, you involve healthcare screenings,

(19:27):
health education, because underrepresentation in health matters, lack of education
in one's own personal health matters, and two people losing
their lives as a result of that racial blind spot
and as a result of that inequality, and so a
survival program in the here and now needs to account
for that. Even also calls for the release of black

(19:53):
political prisoners as part of a broader abolitionist struggle rooted
in the recognition that the criminal justice system in the
US has been used as a tool for political repression
against black people in the martialized communities. He's speaking here
from experience, of course, he wrote this when he was
in prison. Mass and conceration of black people has been
deliberate and systemic effort to silence and dissent, to silence

(20:17):
dissent and maintain the statusco of white supremacy and white
supremacist capitalism. Here and now, survival programs should be involved
in the release of black political prisoners, especially to investigate
and review the cases of those who have been unjustly imprisoned,
to address the use of cost confessions, falsified evidence, and

(20:38):
other forms of prosecutorial misconduct there's led to wrongful convictions
that has led to people rosten away in jail cells
for decades with no sort of justice. I mean, these
people are often so of the most committed and dedicated
to revolutionaries and the continued imprisonment has been a grave
in justice. Some of them unfortunately past before they're even

(21:01):
released if they have released a tool and by demanding
their release, by fighting for their freedom, by writing to
them and supporting them even now, by showing our solidarity
with those who have sacrificed so much in the struggle
for liberation and ensuring that their voices are heard, not
only can we aid in their survival, but we can
also aid in our own. Lastly, even calls for the

(21:28):
ever contentious big payback reparations you have challenges us to
build a mass movement in our communities to compel the
government and the rich to provide the means for our
communities redevelopment at the centuries of slavery and of abuse,
and of robbery and of discrimination, demanding those reparations in

(21:50):
the form of community development funds to be placed in
credit unions, cooperatives and not the mutual aid institutions in
the black community, so we can start to obtaining some
measure of or make self sufficiency. But of course from
the question of who pays, to how we force them
to pay, to how we determine how much they pay,
how that pay is distributed or implemented, if the pay

(22:11):
is even in cash. You know, there's a lot of
tension strown in that topic. And pro reparations not just
for Black America, with the entire diaspora. I mean, I've
seen the US made sure to get reparations for itself
and its allies after World War Two, the victims of
various atrustees have received reparations for the injustices. But as
soon as Black people demand their due, demand their due, everybody,

(22:35):
you know, they want us to forget about it. But yeah,
everybody knows, and I think part of that is because
everybody knows that they can't actually afford it. You know,
if we were paid exactly what we would do, they
would not have the wealth that they have. And so

(22:56):
my stance has always been I don't think reparations will
come by ballot. I don't want it to come by ballot.
I don't want to receive some check in the mail
that says, Okay, now be happy, get over it, but
let me not get myself in any more trouble. I
believe it at that. I don't think it will come

(23:17):
by ballot. There as a lot of things that's reasonable. Yeah,
I've already said so much in these past two episodes.
I mean, there are a lot of arms to this
survival program. Then bring things to a close a bit.
There as a lot of areas of struggle that we
can pick up, a lot of things that could be applied.

(23:38):
Of course, most of these things I think could be
applied beyond the Black community. But there's a reason that
the black community specifically was Irvin's focus, because of his
life experience, because of the need to address black communities
specifically in uh in an anarchist text, something that was
really lacking prior to the resurgence of you know, the

(24:02):
black radical tradition, the black anarchist specific tradition in the seventies.
So it's necessary. But I just hope you know, people
who understand who on that black didn't just you know,
click off, that I still hear that these ideas and stuff,
these programs are applicable more broadly. I hope that I

(24:27):
can see and contribute to these changes in my lifetime,
and as I consistently borrow from Ashanti Alston, another black
anarchist figure who I actually hope at some point we
could bring on or power to all the people peace.

(24:52):
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