Of course they’re working double-time to try and argue that the Panthers aren’t actually tankies.
And I’m completely unsurprised that they trot out the name of Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. The fact that his story is swallowed whole without a single critical thought by certain groups is a clear indication of just how convenient his narrative is imo.
Ervin’s story changes and, while I haven’t gone on a deep dive to really turn up any buried details, it’s something that should raise at least a few red flags for people.
Ervin claims to have been turned over to the US government by Cuba. While he was in Czechoslovakia. While he was captured by the US authorities, he somehow managed to escape and fled to East Germany. This part of his story is sometimes present, sometimes absent however. Somehow while in East Germany, he was recaptured, taken to Berlin, tortured, and extradited to the US. (This is probably the fault of the Cuban government as well.)
Then he gets a sentence in the US for life imprisonment on two counts and serves out just 15 years and, although having narrowly escaped the death penalty and for having an extensive history of absconding and (essentially) being a terrorist in the eyes of the US government, he is released 10 years before he should have been eligible for parole.
Apparently due to his time experiencing “authoritarian” socialism and due to being exposed to anarchism in prison, he had a change of heart and now spends a lot of his time on an anti-communist angle.
I cannot figure out how long he spent in Cuba but, shockingly, Cuba is not some socialist utopia. I think that a lot of western revolutionaries are still quite idealistic deep down and they don’t fully internalise what a revolution means and what post-revolutionary socialist construction really represents, especially under a US embargo. “What, no treats? Disgusting! I hereby renounce Marxism!!”
The time he spent in Czechoslovakia would have to have been fairly short and, I assume, that his sometimes-nonexistent stint in East Germany was even shorter.
His angle smacks of wanting to eat his cake and have it too. Czechoslovakia and East Germany were these horrible, repressive Stasi states and yet at the same time he blames these countries for not protecting him from the spooks that ran rampant across those countries. Are you opposed to US espionage in these countries or do you want open borders and free reign for US interference in these countries? Because it seems like, if you’re still holding a grudge that these governments “allowed” you to be captured by US agents that you’d, I dunno, see the necessity for “authoritarian” measures? Wild thought.
I really struggle to see how he managed to escape from the US authorities in Czechoslovakia tbh. I’ve never heard him explain how he did this in even the most passing of ways. Same for entering into East Germany - it’s not like that would have been an easy feat to accomplish.
Likewise, I would be very interested in hearing how he developed such a comprehensive picture of countries like Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and potentially Cuba, if he only spent a very limited amount of time there—and apparently often while on the run. Although he never seems to talk at all about what would be considered a thrilling biography.
As far as I’m concerned, Ervin glows brighter than the midday sun.
Of course they’re working double-time to try and argue that the Panthers aren’t actually tankies.
And I’m completely unsurprised that they trot out the name of Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. The fact that his story is swallowed whole without a single critical thought by certain groups is a clear indication of just how convenient his narrative is imo.
Ervin’s story changes and, while I haven’t gone on a deep dive to really turn up any buried details, it’s something that should raise at least a few red flags for people.
Ervin claims to have been turned over to the US government by Cuba. While he was in Czechoslovakia. While he was captured by the US authorities, he somehow managed to escape and fled to East Germany. This part of his story is sometimes present, sometimes absent however. Somehow while in East Germany, he was recaptured, taken to Berlin, tortured, and extradited to the US. (This is probably the fault of the Cuban government as well.)
Then he gets a sentence in the US for life imprisonment on two counts and serves out just 15 years and, although having narrowly escaped the death penalty and for having an extensive history of absconding and (essentially) being a terrorist in the eyes of the US government, he is released 10 years before he should have been eligible for parole.
Apparently due to his time experiencing “authoritarian” socialism and due to being exposed to anarchism in prison, he had a change of heart and now spends a lot of his time on an anti-communist angle.
I cannot figure out how long he spent in Cuba but, shockingly, Cuba is not some socialist utopia. I think that a lot of western revolutionaries are still quite idealistic deep down and they don’t fully internalise what a revolution means and what post-revolutionary socialist construction really represents, especially under a US embargo. “What, no treats? Disgusting! I hereby renounce Marxism!!”
The time he spent in Czechoslovakia would have to have been fairly short and, I assume, that his sometimes-nonexistent stint in East Germany was even shorter.
His angle smacks of wanting to eat his cake and have it too. Czechoslovakia and East Germany were these horrible, repressive Stasi states and yet at the same time he blames these countries for not protecting him from the spooks that ran rampant across those countries. Are you opposed to US espionage in these countries or do you want open borders and free reign for US interference in these countries? Because it seems like, if you’re still holding a grudge that these governments “allowed” you to be captured by US agents that you’d, I dunno, see the necessity for “authoritarian” measures? Wild thought.
I really struggle to see how he managed to escape from the US authorities in Czechoslovakia tbh. I’ve never heard him explain how he did this in even the most passing of ways. Same for entering into East Germany - it’s not like that would have been an easy feat to accomplish.
Likewise, I would be very interested in hearing how he developed such a comprehensive picture of countries like Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and potentially Cuba, if he only spent a very limited amount of time there—and apparently often while on the run. Although he never seems to talk at all about what would be considered a thrilling biography.
As far as I’m concerned, Ervin glows brighter than the midday sun.