today is martin luther king day, a day for liberals and conservatives to desperately try to turn him into a harmless icon by erasing his revolutionary anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist politics from view. so here is a thread to commemorate that legacy

the last segment, reposted here, is why MLK (like malcolm x before him) had to be stopped at all cost: he was calling for the revolutionary overhaul of the capitalist economic system, and critiquing the limitation of the struggle to the cultural front

here MLK calls out the hypocrisy of the "lift yourself up by your own bootstraps" propaganda that conservatives and later on also neoliberals employed to destroy any remnants of the welfare state as soon as it could be used to benefit the black community

as MLK was growing increasingly radical in his politics, developing an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist stance, the smearing of him by the professional media and political class reached a fever pitch. he was denounced as a dangerous communist "outside agitator", and it worked

liberals meanwhile kept insisting that he was impractical, that he was too extreme, he didn't understand how real politics works, that he was demanding ponies and being divisive. here is one such genteel liberal berating MLK for his unsophisticated view of politics:

as MLK grew increasingly radical he moved closer to his politics at the same time that malcolm's full embrace of a universalistic socialist politics drew him closer to MLK. this alliance was cut short by malcolm's assassination

the potential of america's most recognizable and revered black leaders joining forces to oppose capitalism and imperialism was of course something the ruling classes could not abide. both were assassinated within 3 years of one another. more details here: https://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/19/Malcolmx.king/index.html

one of MLK and malcolm's most insightful analyses was that of the greater harm caused by white liberals, who operate as agents of maintaining the status quo. here is MLK's famous description of them:

and here is malcolm brilliantly echoing MLK's sentiments about white liberals

after his assassination, MLK was turned into a harmless icon, exactly in the way lenin described is always done with revolutionaries. the best way to honor him is by commemorating his radical legacy and exposing the conservative and liberal scum who hounded him in his lifetime

of course the same was done with malcolm x, with deranged conservatives claiming that he would have been a trump supporter while liberals claim that he became a harmless liberal like them after his hajj. all that is dispelled in this thread: https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1288274976492204032

for more great clips of and information about brother malcolm see this thread https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1265808489080926210