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RUNNING HEAD: The Black Panther Defines the “World Revolution”

From Latin America to Africa: Defining the “World Revolution” in The Black Panther

Abstract

Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, the Black Panther Party offered an alternative

discourse to the Civil Rights Movement, primarily using black power rhetoric, black nationalism

and internationalism, and Marxist-Leninist revolutionary politics. This paper provides a

historical analysis of the Party’s international news coverage, published between 1967 and 1970,

in its newspaper The Black Panther Black Community News Service. While previous literature

has largely analyzed the Party’s use of print media, less work has analyzed how the Party’s

newspaper became a tool for internationalizing the U.S. Black Power Movement (BPM),

immediately following the launching of The Black Panther. An analysis of the newspapers’ first

three years of publication locates the 1960s BPM within a global movement focusing on both

race and class struggle. While there is little evidence that suggests the newspaper had a

significant effect on fostering an international BPM, its existence is important. This paper shows

how the newspaper helped shape the discourse of race and class by highlighting how The Black

Panther informed their members and other readers about the organization and its messages, but

also educated readers about international affairs (particularly about socialist and liberation

movements abroad). Such a project underscores the importance of the relationship between

media history and social movements.

Key Words: The Black Panther Party, media, social movements, internationalism, Black Power Movement

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Introduction

On July 20, 1967, three months after the inception of The Black Panther Black

Community News Service, the Black Panther Party launched its first verbal attack on the

Vietnam War. During the first few months of the newspaper’s launching, an editorial published

by the organization’s newspaper staff in Oakland reflected on the Vietnamese struggle against

the “imperialist,” Western nations. The editorial criticized the U.S. and French governments for

their involvement in the war (“Remember the words,” 1967, p. 8). This two-page editorial,

which appeared next to a picture of Malcolm X and under the headline “Millions of Black

People Are Making Your Dreams Come True,” highlighted a conflict that would eventually

become one of many international topics in The Black Panther.

Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, the Party articulated an alternative perspective

to the non-violent Civil Rights Movement, largely inspired by black power rhetoric, black

nationalism and internationalism, and Marxist-Leninist revolutionary politics (Joseph,

2009). These linkages between black power and Marxism-Leninism illustrate how global

“activism [has often] contested local and global power structures and offered alternatives to

the politics of force” (Jong, Shaw & Stammer, 2005, p. 1). Activists, thus, have connected

to movements outside of their immediate borders to bypass national authorities and seek

validation of their politics, while utilizing a combination of political messages inspired by

multiple ideologies (Ruggiero & Montagna, 2008).

It was through print media that the Panthers communicated global activism, calling for

solidarity among oppressed communities throughout the world. According to black power

historian Judson Jeffries (2006), the “use of the written word, art and culture heightened the

consciousness of the Black community” (p. 10). The organization’s newspaper was a key

political tool for organizing and informing the public about various revolutions in hopes of

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heightening both racial and class consciousness worldwide (Rhodes, 2001). This paper,

therefore, explores how Panthers moved away from a U.S.-centered critique of racism to join a

global revolution that also critiqued U.S. imperialism. Furthermore, some literature indicates

that the Party did not focus on internationalism until the 1970s; this paper, however, suggests

that from its inception, the Party sought to internationalize its messages through a discussion on

both race and class (Smith, 1999; Davenport, 1998).

Much of the research on the Party has underscored essential developments within the Party, including its usage of political messages, organizational practices, and its distorted

representations found in mainstream media (Johnson, 2004; Hughey, 2009; Hoerl, 2007; Lule,

1993; Maurantonio, 2008; Rhodes, 1999; Hilliard, Zimmerman & Zimmerman, 2006; Williams

& Lazerow, 2008; Jeffries, 2010; Joseph, 2010; Austin, 2006; Murch, 2010. Less research has

addressed how essential media were in helping key Panthers promote their international causes

immediately following the creation of the organization in 1967. John Downing (2008) argues

that media studies have not paid sufficient attention to social movement phenomena. A “divorce

persists unabated between media studies research and theory and research by sociologists,

political scientists, and historians” (p. 41). This historical study, therefore, adds to previous

literature on global social movements by exploring the role that print media played in helping

the Panthers construct messages about race and class during a time period of political, social and

cultural strife around the world.

Analyzing The Black Panther places print media at the center of the Black Power

Movement (BPM) as it was one of several important black newspapers that helped define the

movement. Scholarship on the Party and personal accounts by Panther members have indicated

that the newspaper’s circulation ranged between 139,000 and 250,000 (Gaiter, 2005). I argue,

therefore, that while there is little evidence to suggest that the newspaper actually influenced

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political mobilization, its mere existence was important for helping shape historical debates

about the relationship between race and class on a world-wide scale. Such an argument has

implications for theorizing about activists’ engagement with alternative media in global social

movements. The existence of print media like The Black Panther, therefore, is important for

examining the how activists have utilized media to advance and articulate their political

messages, goals and strategies (Broussard, 2004). As Kathleen Cleaver—a former Black

Panther and staff writer—suggested in a 1997 interview, the Party was an “international

revolutionary vanguard” that saw itself as the “American people’s liberation front” and could

not succeed without the support of people around the world (Cleaver, 1997). The

organization’s newspaper was one tool that acted as an instrument aimed at recruiting,

mobilizing and gaining the support of people worldwide.

In The Black Panther, Panthers integrated black power rhetoric with Marxist-Leninist

messages to create and define a “world revolution” that moved beyond race. While Panthers

were “not a Marxist organization per se,” they combined “strands of nationalism and

Marxism into an eclectic mix” (Elbaum, 2001). As a result, the Panthers became one of the

most important revolutionary organizations in the country, especially during the late 1960s

and early 1970s, as they provided a critique of both U.S. imperialism and racism. I argue,

therefore, that the newspaper’s first three years of publication were crucial for understanding

the organization’s early interest in informing readers about the organization and its messages,

and educating them about international affairs, especially world-wide socialist and liberation

movements that resisted both U.S. imperialism and racism. Such an argument underscores the

importance of understanding social movement phenomena within the context of media

history.

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The Black Panther Rises

On April 1, 1967, Denzil Dowell, a young black male from Richmond, California, was

shot down by a sheriff’s deputy in Contra Costa County (Austin, 2006). Twenty-four days

later, on April 25, 1967, the Party’s Oakland staff published the organization’s first

mimeographed four-page, hand-written issue of The Black Panther. This first short issue—

which was propelled by Dowell’s shooting—displayed the headline, “Why Was Denzil

Dowell Killed?” on the front page. Oakland staff writers critiqued the local media and the

Sheriff Department for justifying the murder of Dowell even as evidence proved otherwise.

The Party’s first issue on police brutality became the first of many stories to come. For the

next thirteen years, the Party would call for armed black activists to unite and join the

organization, and fight U.S. American imperialists and “racist murderers.”

This attempt to mobilize black communities via print media has its roots in the black

press.1 The history of black newspapers has largely been documented, especially in terms of its

role in resisting white superiority within the U.S. (Vogel, 2001; Pride, 1997; Hutton, 1993).

Early black journalism helped establish a liberating tool for the black world. For example,

during the early 1900s, Marcus Garvey used his newspaper Negro World to help form a race-

based international movement rooted in black nationalism and internationalism (Grant, 2008;

Shilliam, 2006). Throughout the latter part of the twentieth century, black journalists continued

to employ writing as a mechanism for expressing activism, calling for the liberation of black

communities worldwide and correcting mainstream perceptions of black inferiority (Broussard,

2004). Newspapers like The Black Panther maintained the traditions of the black press, but went

further in adopting a militant approach that called for armed self-defense (one of the main

principles of black nationalism) and “pointed a way toward building a multiracial movement”

(Elbaum, 2002, p. 41).

1 The history of the black press dates back to 1827, with the emergence of Freedom’s Journal.

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Scholars have marked the late 1960s and early 1970s as a prominent time defining a

period filled with division, “urban guerillas,” “prison revolts,” the “FBI’s COINTELPRO

program” and global anti-capitalist protests (Singh, 1998; Elbaum, 2002). The BPM “embraced

the revolutionary nationalist impulses in communities of color, where Marxism, socialism and

nationalism intermingled and overlapped” and broke “with Eurocentric models of social

change, and also with the political caution that characterized Old Left groups” (Elbaum,

2002). Racial views were often viewed through large sociopolitical issues as black radicals

during this era called for a Marxist-Leninist approach. While Marxism-Leninism focused on

class struggle, a “Third-World Marxist Movement” allowed black activists to add cultural

dimensions to the traditional class analysis (p. 43).

World-wide historical events during this period became the focus for black leaders, especially the Party. The Vietnam War, assassinations of black leaders, the Cuban Revolution,

liberation movements in Africa, and student-led protests in Mexico catapulted the organization’s

interest in international affairs. Even before the formation of the Party, Newton had led street

rallies in Oakland, California to protest against recent political actions, such as the Cuban

blockade. In his book Seize The Time, Bobby Seale (the Party’s chairman) describes his first

encounter with Newton at one of these rallies: “Huey was holding down a crowd of about 250

people and I was one of the participants. I…asked the brother, weren’t all these civil rights laws

the NAACP was trying to get for us doing some good?” (Seale, 1970, p. 13). Seale recalls that

Newton “shot” him down like “everyone else” and explained to him that the Civil Rights

Movement had not solved the economic problem for black people. Newton and Seale, thus,

began exploring alternative strategies that would challenge traditional civil rights messages.

They concentrated on creating an “international revolutionary vanguard” modeled after the

philosophies of former black activists and international figures like Karl Marx and Vladimir

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Lenin (Cleaver, 1997). The Party’s newspaper, therefore, reported on “racist America,” but it

also presented readers with information about the lives and political struggles of the oppressed

abroad. Both Newton and Seale primarily saw the weekly publication as a “propaganda tool—a

means for political education and the recruitment of followers” (Rhodes, 2001).

Community workers involved with the Party often helped sell the newspaper in their own

neighborhoods and throughout cities like Harlem and Oakland (Abu-Jamal, 2004, p. 187).

Panthers like Assata Shakur worked on distributing the newspaper: “The papers wouldn’t get

picked up from the printer until late in the evening, and people would work until the wee hours

sorting them out and preparing them for distribution to the Panther offices all around the

country” (Shakur, 1984). Another Panther illustrated the growing impact the organization’s

writings had on people: “The masses [were] finally coming to their senses and relating to the

paper” (Foster, 1970). Essentially, newspaper sells provided the Party with a significant

portion of its income( Bukhari, 2010). The Black Panther, thus, was important for the Party

itself, as it sought to use the publication as a recruiting and education tool, and helped provide

the funding and support for other political endeavors.

Jane Rhodes contends that the creation of The Black Panther in the late 1960s was an important

development that symbolized the “standard-bearer” for black nationalism (). This paper

illustrates that the organization, however, also adopted an internationalist message as an

“expression of the black liberation struggle in the United States” (West, Martin & Wilkins,

2009, p. 9). This paper underscores that from 1967 to 1970 the Party utilized this media tool to

promote social change both in the U.S. and abroad. The organization’s newspaper educated

black Americans about racial oppression while connecting their struggle to “Third World”

socialist and anti-imperialist revolutions.

Overall, in the first three years of publication, three themes emerged from the

newspaper’s text.

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1) The Party sought to connect their readers to other oppressed communities, informing

them about the similarities between the U.S. BPM and movements elsewhere.

2) The newspaper emphasized the importance of uniting with the “Third World” to fight

Western imperialism. Staff writers constantly reminded readers that other revolutionary

figures like Mao Tse-tung supported the black revolution in the U.S. In turn, Black Panthers

offered their support to global revolutions and protests.

3) The newspaper also educated its readers about the “Third World” and the impact that U.S.

foreign practices had on less powerful nations. Thus, early on, Newton and his followers

provided their readers with information about the world and attempted to create a “world

revolution” that called for all people of color to unite and fight oppression.

These themes illustrate how the Party utilized its newspaper to promote revolutionary politics

that further helped shape the political discourse of the late 1960s by combining a racist

critique with a Marxist-Leninist analysis of U.S. foreign policy.

Connecting to the “Third World”

The Black Panther sought to show readers how black Americans shared a common

struggle with oppressed communities around the world. A close reading of the articles revealed a

growing interest in Asian revolutionary politics among Party members. Showing an interest in

China, the paper ran an article entitled “The Chinese Peoples of Republic Repels Soviet

Aggression” on March 23, 1969. The two-page article reported on a Russian attack on Chinese

border guards at Chenpao Island. The newspaper declared opposition to the Soviet Union attacks

in China. Here, the Mao-Marxist rhetoric is evident: “How did the Soviet Union, which was

once a socialist country and an inspiration to millions of downtrodden people…come to be the

accomplices of the U.S. imperialists?” (“The Chinese Peoples,” 1969, p. 10). The article

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called “Chairman Mao Tse-tung” and the Chinese Communist Party “the leading force in the

world-wide revolutionary struggle of oppressed nations” (p. 10). Those countries outside of the

Soviet Union and U.S. during the Cold War were clearly fighting two superpowers; according to

the newspaper, minorities around the world were fighting for a common cause, to liberate their

citizens from two imperialist powers. Therefore, while the Party adopted a Marxist-Leninist

critique for analyzing U.S. global policies, they also criticized the Soviet Union for its practices

in “Third World” countries.

Articles also included general, but slanted reports about the U.S. and Vietnam. Six

months after the U.S. and Vietnam began holding the Paris Peace Talks in 1968— which

sought to negotiate the bombing operations of the U.S. and North Vietnam, eventually lasting

five years—the newspaper wrote an update on the talks(“Viet Nam-U.S., 1968, 2). Often, the

newspaper sided with the Vietnamese people, writing statements that invoked revolution and

urging people to continue to fight for freedom: “The Vietnamese have a revolutionary culture, a

fighting culture, a changing culture and a cultural spirit that demands change in the form of

freedom” (“The only culture worth,” 1969).

Other articles discussed the relationship between racism in the U.S. and “genocide” in

Vietnam (Cleaver, 1969, p. 16; “The Black People in the U.S.,” 1969, p. 9). The paper argued

that black men should be exempt from the U.S. military—which also was indicated in the Party’s

10-point platform (“October 1966 Black Panther Party,” 1968, 7). On March 23, 1969,

Eldridge Cleaver—the editor at the time—linked the war issue to the race problem at home,

writing that the treatment of the Vietnamese people was similar to the treatment blacks received

in the U.S. He argued that the involvement of black troops in the war was one sign pointing to

this connection between racism at home and genocide abroad. Thus, the Party used the

newspaper as a weapon to simultaneously fight against oppression in the U.S. and in those

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countries that were profoundly affected by U.S. foreign relations.

Aside from the Asian world, Black Panthers also presented important news linking

Latin American oppression with the black movement in the U.S. As a commemoration of the

July 26th movement—Fidel Castro’s political movement, which led to the defeat of Fulgencio

Batista’s dictatorship in Cuba in the 1950s—the Black Panthers published a letter from the

Party to the Comite Coordinador de Comites de Lucha. The letter informed the people of

Mexico that the Party was in “solidarity” with Mexican student protestors who opposed the

actions of President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz and had organized the National Strike Council in 1968

shortly before the Games of the XIX Olympics (“Solidarity with Mexican Students,” 1969, 18).

Perhaps the Party published this letter in the newspaper to inform their readers about the

protests in Mexico, but the letter also illustrated an example of how an international movement

was achieving progress; this success provided some hope that the black movement at home

would do the same.

Just as the protests in Mexico symbolized progress, the Cuban Revolution represented

one of Latin America’s successful socialist movements. In an article published on January

1970, the paper reported on Cleaver’s response to accusations claiming that he and another

Black Panther had left Cuba because of racism. In his speech, Cleaver argued that the Cuban

Revolution was an achievement in the “world revolution, by establishing an island of socialism

in an ocean of capitalist aggression” (“Eldridge Cleaver Raps About Cuba,” 1970, p. 6).

Here, the writer points to another successful revolution and suggests that Castro’s political

movement was part of the “world revolution” that sought to fight against the same oppressor:

the U.S. government. For the Panthers, a world revolution meant that U.S. black Americans

were not alone in their fight for “freedom.” On September 14, 1968, in an article entitled “We

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Want Freedom,” an unknown writer wrote that “in a time of world revolutionary struggle,

we…must rise up in revolt against the Capitalistic governmental establishments” (“We Want

Freedom,” 1968, p. 10).

For Panthers, black communities in the U.S. shared similar fates with oppressed people abroad. In May 1968, the paper published a letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. to Ramsey

Clarke, U.S. Attorney-General, about stopping the persecution of black Americans (“Eyes of

the Third World,” 1968, p. 3). Directly underneath this passage, another letter written by a

student organization based in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico ran on the page, offering condolences

for the death of Martin Luther King Jr. The letter stated that the organization wished to fight

U.S. racism and imperialism: “American imperialism which has perpetuated aggression in

Vietnam claiming to give Vietnam so-called freedom that does not exist at home has once

again exposed its own true nature before world peoples” (p. 3). The letter equated racism

with imperialism and illustrated to readers that Black Panthers and revolutionary leaders

abroad sought to create a campaign against U.S. racism and imperialism. On October 12,

1969, the paper reprinted an article from Granma News—the official newspaper of Cuba’s

Communist Party. The article recalled the presence of Jordon Ford, New York leader of the

Black Panthers, and George Murray, Minister of Education, in Havana, Cuba. It informed

Cuban readers about the purpose and goals of the Black Panther Party in the U.S. (“The

Black Panther,” 1968, 14). The article also pointed out that the Black Panthers saw how

racism in the U.S. connected to the country’s “imperialist structure.” For the Panthers, both

racism and imperialism (which had tremendous effects on people of color worldwide)

produced similar experiences.2

2 On the second page of the November 2, 1968 issue, the paper published a drawing by Emory Douglas that called for U.S. imperialism to be “removed from the ghetto, from Africa, Asia, Latin America, by way of the Grave.” Thus, imperialism and racism were concepts that could not be separated from each other and were part of the

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Supporting the “World Revolution”

The Black Panther not only brought all “Third World” nations together in its pages, but

the paper also sought to illustrate for its readers that other revolutionary figures like Fidel Castro

and Mao Tse-tung supported the Party. For example, in an article published on September 20,

1968, the paper reported that Cuba was in support of the “Black Liberation struggle in America”

(“Minister of Education,” 1968, 21). One week later, the Party published a drawing by

Emory Douglas depicting three Black Panthers, each embracing guns. The caption read: “This

drawing…was made into a poster by the Cuban People and sent throughout the third

world…with a caption reading “Solidarity with the Afro-American struggle” (“The Black

Panther,” 1968, p. 15). Articles indicated that support from other revolutionary figures further

justified the existence of the Party; thus, Panthers propagandized to readers using revolutionary

rhetoric that called for U.S. black Americans to participate in armed revolutions at home and

abroad. Such armed movements were heavily influenced by political leaders like Mao Tse-tung,

Fidel Castro and Che Guevara (“African, Asian and Latin-American,” 1968, p.4;

“Chinese Workers Support,” 1969, p. 12; “Telegram from Comrade,” 1970). In a

telegram sent from London to the Black Panthers, the letter stated that “international socialists”

in Britain supported the Party, whose members also were fellow socialists (“Telegrams to the

Black Panther Party,” 1970, p. 6). Again, the paper demonstrated to its readers that even groups

in the Western world supported the Party’s cause.

Even as the newspaper’s staff illustrated that the international link was essential for the

Party, the organization admitted they were “not yet organized” and did not “have the

international links yet with [their] brothers and sisters in struggle abroad” (“West German

black experience in America and around the world.

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S.D.S.,” 1969, p. 13). The presence of other successful movements, however, was significant

for the Party. The Black Panther responded to a German revolt that had emerged after the

assassination of Rudi Dutschke, a West German SDS organizer (Socialist German Student

Union), in 1968. During the revolt, 150,000 German workers and students blocked the delivery

of Bild-Zeitung—a German right-wing publication, owned by Axel Springer, that had declared

Dutschke a ‘public enemy’—for two days by protesting in front of Springer’s buildings. The

protest (which took place after the Springer newspapers requested that student radicals be

‘rubbed out’) was a victory for the Party, because it successfully fought against imperialism,

according to the newspaper (p. 13). It is evident that Panthers supported movements like the

SDS and meant to use the success of these protests as examples of achievements in the struggle

against U.S. imperialism and racism. To further illustrate their support for communist and anti-

capitalist governments, the newspaper often included quotes and phrases in articles by political

leaders like Mao Tse-tung who invoked revolutionary action among students and workers (“The

Black Panther, 1968, p. 11).

In addition to the Party’s interest in Asia and Latin America’s socialist movements, the newspaper also printed stories about the transition from colonialism to independence in Africa

during the 1960s. The Party publically endorsed independent movements throughout the

continent as well as the revolts against “white Africans” occurring during this period (“letter

from Nigeria Brother,” 1968, 7). In its first year of publication, the paper printed a letter

written by the Party to the South African anti- apartheid politician Oliver Tambo. The letter

responded to the African National Congress’ threat to “wage a revolutionary armed struggle

against the illegal white South African government” (“Armed Revolt in S. Africa,” 1967,

p. 2). In the letter, the Party primarily declared its support for armed revolts in South Africa

and admitted that it had used the newspaper to ask U.S. black Americans not to buy General

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Motors’ cars because of investment practices that “exploited labor” in the country (p. 2).

Some international stories also announced a growing interest among some African

and Asian nations to support each other (“Africans Say They Share Foes,” 1968, p. 2).

For example, Panthers published an article reporting on a Palestinian conference that was

held for two days in December 1969 in Algiers to show support for the “Palestinian

Liberation Struggle” (“Conference on Palestine, 1970, p. 13). The article stated that

“after five years of armed struggle, the Palestinians [had] achieved their major objective,

proving that imperialism [could] be crushed and that technology [could] be defeated.” It also

asserted that “the fight in Palestine [was] a fight against colonization” (p. 13). For the Party,

a union with the “Third World” would launch an important campaign against Western

imperialism.

“Telling It” to Readers

Because Western imperialism invaded every corner of life for the oppressed people of the

world, the Party sought to highlight such “evil” foreign practices in its pages. Early on, the paper

declared that the U.S. was a “white, imperialistic structure” seeking to repress people through

corrupted foreign aid deals, neo-colonialism, “economic integration,” and military occupations

(“The Foreign Aid Joke,” 1967, p. 9). In March of 1969, Panthers published an article labeling

U.S. imperialism as the “source of all evils” and the “people’s most vicious enemy” (“U.S.

Imperialism,” 1969, p. 8). The U.S., according to the article, controlled the Latin American

economy, from oil production in Venezuela to the control of copper in Chile (p. 8). Thus, such

practices brought worse economic conditions, causing unemployment, price increases and

destitute living situations for the people of Latin American countries (p. 8). Later that month, the

Party wrote that while U.S. practices oppressed the people of other countries, inside it “tried hard

to put on an air of respectability by hiding its ruthless rule behind a veil of ‘democracy’” (p. 8).

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The article claimed that U.S. imperialism, however, was nearing the “end of its rope” as U.S.

black Americans continued to fight against racial oppression and student movements continued

to make progress against the U.S. American monopolistic structure (p. 8).

In some instances, Panthers underscored the practices of U.S.-backed governments,

such as the Brazilian administration. According to the newspaper, the Brazilian government

was a “pro-U.S. dictatorship” that sought to repress the “people’s movement.” Recent

government actions against protestors proved that the “dictatorial” regime would relentlessly

pursue a more brutal repression against the people (“Brazilian Struggle Will Continue,” 1968,

p. 2). On July 26, 1969, the paper reported that in another part of the world “heroic Palestinian

women” were fighting against U.S.–Israeli “aggression” and that the war—which the Israel

government began with “U.S. support against Arab countries” in 1967—was pushing

Palestinian women to stage demonstrations and, pushing them to join the guerrillas (“The

Heroic Palestinian Women,” 1969, p. 7). These examples show how the Panthers were

concerned with Western imperialism and with other political conflicts that were supported by

U.S. authorities.

Panther members attempted to show how Western imperialism, in the quest for power,

also affected the people of Africa, causing violent civil wars among tribal groups. The Nigerian-

Biafra war lasted approximately three years in the late 1960s and resulted from a secession of the

southeastern regions of Nigeria into the Republic of Biafra. In response to this war, the

newspaper informed readers about an exiled “Nigerian socialist revolutionary,” Obi B. Egbuna,

who accused British-American, “racist Peace Corps volunteers” for promoting tribal rivalry in

Africa. Egbuna also attributed the war to Britain and American neo-colonialism (“British-

American Pigs,” 1968, p. 12). Here, a reader could find an “expert” opinion about the Nigerian

From Latin America 16

Civil War, which occurred seven years after the country gained independence from Britain. On

the same page that included several pictures of soldiers fighting, the writers reported that

Nigerian troops were provided with British and American weapons. They wrote that the Biafran

troops fought like guerillas, “fighting a war as blacks with soul, not much else,” as their weapons

were often taken from dead Nigerian troops. The Black Panther reader learned more about the

impact of Western foreign practices in articles like this one.

Several armed struggles against imperialism also occurred in Mozambique, Angola,

Guinea and Zimbabwe. One article published a picture of Patrice Lumumba—an independence

leader and the first Prime Minister legally elected in the Republic of the Congo who was

overthrown and assassinated shortly thereafter—with a caption reading: “Martyred leader of the

revolutionary struggle in Congo was a victim of capitalist inspired violence and terrorism…”

(“The True Culture,” 1969, p. 15). Another picture depicted “freedom fighters” in Angola,

Guinea and Mozambique, all participating in military training or in the midst of fighting

“colonialists” (“African Patriotic Armed,” 1969, p. 14). The Panthers called for the

independence of African nations, but also openly declared their support for armed struggles that

attempted to fight colonialism and imperialism throughout the continent. The newspaper

informed their readers of what was going on in Africa and how others were fighting the same

powers who continued to practice racial oppression back home. Telling readers about the “world

revolution,” therefore, became integral in The Black Panther as it sought to mobilize black

communities in the U.S., encouraging them to fight against both U.S. racism and imperialism.

As the paper continued to demonstrate to its readers that groups abroad were fighting Western imperialism and colonialism, it argued that the U.S. was losing the battle in the global world. It suggested that “armed struggles of the Arab, African and Latin American

peoples…developed rapidly…and the struggle of workers, students…[were] surging forward

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with tremendous movement,” and fighting the “counter-revolutionary ‘global strategy’” of

American imperialism (“Bankrupt ‘Global Strategy’” ). According to the newspaper, incidents

like the success of hydrogen bomb tests in China throughout the 1960s were necessary

responses to the nuclear threat practiced by the U.S. (“China Explodes H-Bomb,” 1969, p.

16). Students in Tokyo also attempted to fight U.S. imperialism and Japanese reactionaries

(“Japanese Students Fight American,” 1969, p. 9). These students had recently staged a strike at

Jochi University in Tokyo, demanding that University officials repeal their decision to suspend

students who fought against a U.S. military base in Tachikawa, a city in the western part of

Tokyo (p. 9). Thus, while The Black Panther attempted to portray U.S. foreign practices as all-

powerful and evil, it simultaneously reduced the country’s impact on the world by illustrating

that other people were successfully winning the battle against Western imperialism.

Not only did the paper provide information about fighting Western powers, but news also

reported on day-to-day incidents abroad. Panthers covered civil wars, student protests and other

general events (“Chinese Government Statement,” 1967, p. 2; “The Traitor of Africa,” 1967, p.

2; “African Friends, Hail,” 1968, p. 8; “Mexican Students Fight,” 1968, p. 8; “Mounir-A Heroic

Palestine,” 1968, p. 15). On October 19, 1968, the paper included several articles that addressed

international protests occurring throughout the world. One of these reports included a discussion

on guerilla warfare in Palestine. In 1968, for thirteen days, Palestinians attacked the Israeli

occupied Gaza Strip and other territories under Israeli rule, such as Seisang Valley. Other news

articles highlighted student-led demonstrations in Mexico and the sentencing of students and

professors in Tunisia after protests against the Habib Bourguiba government (the first president

of Tunisia after the country’s independence from France in 1957).76 The newspaper often

published snippets of general events around the world, updating its readers on world affairs

(“Torture in Mexico,” 1968, p. 10; “Blame it on Che,” 1968, p. 10; “Cochinos La Espanola,”

From Latin America 18

1968, p. 10).

Because the newspaper utilized a substantial amount of space updating its readers on the

progress of Latin American, Asian and African countries, several articles ran two to three pages.

Some articles illustrated that reports were borrowed from other media, particularly the

international press, or written by non-staff members (“The Power of Arms,” 1969, p. 16; “Black

GI’s Fight Off,” 1969, p. 17). For example, Panthers published a two- page article about a

student-led movement in Mexico. The article, however, indicated that the news came from the

Granma Press, the official newspaper for Cuba’s Communist Party (“Children of Zapata,”

1969, p. 10). In the international section of The Black Panther’s issue on November 8, 1969,

the paper included a manifesto written by Carlos Marighella, a leader of the Acao Libertadora

Nacional (National Liberation Action). The manifesto outlined the “aims and programs of one of

the two underground organizations in Brazil,” which had captured a U.S. American ambassador.

The article (which was considered a message to the Brazilian people about the “brutal” Brazilian

military government) was reprinted from the Monthly Review Press, a U.S.-based socialist

magazine. Other long reports on Peru, Brazil, Thai, Angola and South Africa merely continued

similar rhetoric about the “heroic” people of poorer nations fighting against government

repression (“Peru…Bitin the Hand,” 1969, p. 17; “Final Victory Belongs,” 1970, p. 15; “A

Showdown in Angola,” 1968, p. 14). One article provided readers with a two-page discussion

about Western influences in South Africa’s economy, arguing that the country had become an

imperialist nation (“Peoples Struggle in South Africa,” 1969, p. 4) Thus, while the paper

attempted to present general information on world affairs, it still continued to shape their news

to fit a specific agenda—one that invoked an anti-capitalist, Marxist-Leninist rhetoric that called

for military action against repressive, imperialistic governments.

In other issues, readers could open the pages to The Black Panther and find information

From Latin America 19

on the day-to-day guerrilla strategies that were winning political conflicts. In early 1969, the

newspaper’s staff celebrated the tenth-year anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Panthers

reflected on the revolution in their pages, writing about how revolutionaries like Fidel Castro

and Ernesto Che Guevara led a six-year movement against the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship

(“Cuban Revolution Ten Years Old,” 1969, p. 11). The article recalled how Castro’s July 26th

movement launched the revolution in 1953 as he attacked one of Batista’s army barracks. It also

retold the events that would eventually overthrow Batista and allow Castro to take control of the

country (p. 11). Two months later, on a Sunday in April 1969, an article on the “nature of

guerrilla warfare,” stated that “guerilla war is the form of fighting by the masses of a weak and

badly equipped country…[and] this is the way of fighting toward a successful revolution” (p.

11). Furthermore, the article reported on the logistics of leading a revolution by practicing

guerrilla warfare. These details included information on the missions of guerillas, how these

movements were organized, and how people can become politically mobilized— “raising

political consciousness of the people”—to follow the revolutionary struggle (p. 11). Such

articles alluded to the Black Panthers’ political ideology and suggested that other successful

guerrilla movements, like the Cuban Revolution, influenced the Party’s mission in the U.S.

Readers, however, also were given vital information about raising their own political

consciousness and joining the struggles of the “people.” For the Party, guerilla warfare was an

essential factor for winning a revolution, especially one at home.

In addition to discussing the role of guerilla warfare in revolution, Panthers also

celebrated key actors’ victories. One Panther wrote in July 1967, “freedom fighters in Viet Nam

and Congo” are examples for “American youth” (“Freedom Fighters in Viet Nam,” 1967,

p. 9). Another successful example included an essay written by the Kim Il Sung, Communist

Party leader of North Korea who reigned from 1948 until his death in 1994. The article focused

From Latin America 20

on his establishment of Juche, a North Korean ideology that held “fast to the principle of

solving for oneself all the problems of the revolution and construction in conformity with the

actual conditions at home, and mainly by one’s own efforts” (“Kim Il Sung On the

Question,” 1970, p. 12). A week later, the newspaper presented another article written by the

Sung, which highlighted “fierce struggle” between “socialism and imperialism” (“Comrade

Kim Il Sung on the international,” 1970, p. 14). Recalling the death of Che Guevara a year

after he was executed by CIA-backed Bolivian troops, the newspaper reflected on Guevara’s

impact on the world, writing that “there were only incipient freedom struggles and military

coup d’états until the Cuban Revolution sounded its trumpet call…drawing down the rage of

the imperialists…” (“Che Guevara on Vietnam,” 1968, 9). Revolutionary figures, who

propelled socialist movements like those mentioned above and whose political messages clearly

backed the Party’s original intentions, were common topics in The Black Panther.

Conclusion

Lara Putnam (2009) charges that “local newspapers [have] played an important role in

uniting distant settlements into a single social world” (p. 107). The Party was one of several

organizations during the 1960s that sought to achieve such a goal via print media. Aside from

publishing articles on domestic racist crimes, police brutality and the imprisonment of Panthers,

the organization sought to inform readers about the ongoing international struggles of the

oppressed, constructing a critique of both U.S. racism and imperialism. Following the inception

of The Black Panther and Newton’s imprisonment the organization moved forward with a

strong focus on promoting global activism as a political solution for challenging U.S. domestic

and international policies. The organization produced a paper “that spread from California to

Africa…to serve as an organizing tool for Black people and all other oppressed people

throughout the world” (“Power of the Presses,” 1969, p. 16). Newton’s focus on

From Latin America 21

internationalizing the BPM continued until its demise in 1980—as the Party began to break up

due to several factors, including FBI infiltration, political infighting, and the departure and

imprisonment of Black Panthers (Douglas, 1990; Hayes & Kiene, 1998).

A central goal for the Party was to encourage readers to participate in an ongoing

struggle for social and economic change within of the U.S. capitalist system. For the Panthers,

developing a critique solely of race was insufficient. While the Party criticized the Soviet Union

for implementing imperial practices around the world, it adopted Marxism-Leninism to critique

U.S. racism and imperialism. The Panthers contended that creating solidarity with “Third

World” liberation and socialist movements would help black communities in the United States

and oppressed people abroad unite to achieve social change. To demonstrate how unity between

black people and other oppressed communities abroad was essential for a Marxist-Leninist

global movement, the Party sought to inform readers about world-wide resistance to Western

imperialism (which was heavily linked to U.S. racism). The Black Panther illustrated that global

protests and movements were defeating U.S. American imperialism and racism simultaneously.

The newspaper also attempted to illustrate how the movement at home would be successful as

long as they mirrored international revolutions. These successful examples (i.e. the Cuban

Revolution and Mao Tse-tung’s Cultural Revolution) validated the Party’s existence and

purpose. The Black Panther, therefore, helped shape the discourse of an international BPM,

emphasizing the importance of an integrated world revolution that promoted global social

justice in relation to race and class struggle. Furthermore, the newspaper told readers what was

at stake if they continued to buy into the racist and capitalist system of the U.S.

For almost thirteen years, the paper told its readers what and how to think about social

movement phenomena occurring during the 1960s. The newspaper played a significant role for

readers in a time when black and other oppressed communities of the world faced an uncertain

From Latin America 22

future. The newspaper, therefore, represented an essential tool that has allowed the Party to

remain visible in today’s political climate: “The Party must exist above ground as long as the

dog power structure will allow and hopefully when the Party is forced to go underground the

message of the Party will already have been put across to the people” (“In Self-Defense of Self-

Power: The Correct Handling of a Revolution”). Such a statement shows that Panthers believed

media could act as important tools for distributing political messages and fomenting social

change. By examining the historical role that The Black Panther had in the internationalization of

the U.S. BPM, this study attempts to integrate the histories of media and social movements. It

underscores how media have attempted to foster global movements centered on issues of race

and class. While such a study focuses on print media of the 1960s, it may help scholars

conceptualize whether and how current social media are fostering social change throughout the

world today.

Because of the emergence of the Internet in the late 1900s and social media in the early

2000s, the promises of global activism have reached new expectations. Today, while print

sources remain important for informing citizens, digital spaces are increasingly becoming

political weapons for promoting revolution—as we have seen various key figures throughout

Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the U.S employ social sites to organize and protest (through

both non-violent and violent means) for various political and economic reasons. The current

political environment, while clearly different from the environment of the 1960s, is reflective of

that decade’s politics as current protests seek to address violent repression in U.S.-supported

dictatorships, an unpopular war and global economic crises. These events have influenced

scholars in asking important questions about the actual effectiveness of new media in today’s

social movements (Shirky, 2009). This paper, however, argues that while effectiveness is

From Latin America 23

important for studying how communication technologies have helped promote social change, it

also is important not to dismiss the mere existence of historical media like The Black Panther.

The newspaper helped shape the discourse of a national and global movement (which integrated

race and class issues) in ways that may still be relevant today.

From Latin America 24

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