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A Soldier's Story: Revolutionary Writings by a New Afrikan Anarchist
Kuwasi Balagoon was a participant in the Black Liberation struggle from the 1960s until his death in prison in 1986. A member of the Black Panther Party and defendant in the infamous Panther 21 case, Balagoon went underground with the Black Liberation Army (BLA). Captured and convicted of various crimes against the State, he spent much of the 1970s in prison, escaping twice. After each escape, he went underground and resumed BLA activity. Balagoon was unusual for his time in several ways. He combined anarchism with Black nationalism, he broke the rules of sexual and political conformity that surrounded him, he took up arms against the white-supremacist state—all the while never shying away from developing his own criticisms of the weaknesses within the movements. His eloquent trial statements and political writings, as much as his poetry and excerpts from his prison letters, are all testimony to a sharp and iconoclastic revolutionary who was willing to make hard choices and fully accept the consequences. Balagoon was captured for the last time in December 1981, charged with participating in an armored truck expropriation in West Nyack, New York, an action in which two police officers and a money courier were killed. Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, he died of an AIDS-related illness on December 13, 1986. The first part of this book consists of contributions by those who knew or were touched by Balagoon. The second section consists of court statements and essays by Balagoon himself, including several documents that were absent from previous editions and have never been published before. The third consists of excerpts from letters Balagoon wrote from prison. A final fourth section consists of a historical essay by Akinyele Umoja and an extensive intergenerational roundtable discussion of the significance of Balagoon’s life and thoughts today.
288 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2001
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About the author
Kuwasi Balagoon
8 books19 followersKuwasi Balagoon, born Donald Weems, was a Black Panther, a member of the Black Liberation Army, a New Afrikan anarchist, and a defendant in the Panther 21 case in the late 1960s.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 11, 2021
“The foundation of the revolution must rest upon the bones of the oppressors.” This quote sums up the mentality of a militant, uncompromising leader in the Black Liberation Movement, Kuwasi Balagoon. Balagoon was a fascinating figure. He combined New African identity and nationalism with Anarchist ideology and militant guerilla warfare as he participated in protracted struggle against the U.S. government for the liberation of his people. His rejection of American token citizenship and the institutions that most of us take for granted show just how committed he was to Black Power.
Kuwasi Balagoon’s writing (almost all of which came from behind bars) had serious clarity. His indictment of U.S. empire—one borne and entrenched through genocide and colonialism—is striking. In doing so, he makes the case that New Afrikans were never afforded the opportunity to achieve self-determination, and were instead forced into colonial subjugation post-chattel slavery via the 14th Amendment. This is the basis for the political philosophy of the Republic of New Afrika. Kuwasi also meticulously detailed the Anarchists program of building alternative institutions via the formation of “Collectives” and “Federations,” ultimately designed to foster and achieve National liberation and the end of Euro-American colonialism.
I was struck by the shades of Malcolm X in this book, as the indictment of American hypocrisy is constantly made clear. One of my favorite quotes highlighting this indictment is: “I am tired of living the life of a colonial subject, while the hypocritical oppressors and exploiters of my people make pompous declarations about our democracy. America is racist, and by no twists and turns of semantics, by no evasions whatsoever, can a racist nation claim to be a democracy.”
Kuwasi Balagoon was a principled revolutionary trailblazer who set a standard for New Afrikan Anarchists specifically, and Black revolutionaries more generally. While the militant aspects of this book might shock readers unfamiliar with the Black Liberation Army’s praxis, this book is a must read for anyone who wants to gain insight into the struggle for total decolonization.
Kuwasi Balagoon’s writing (almost all of which came from behind bars) had serious clarity. His indictment of U.S. empire—one borne and entrenched through genocide and colonialism—is striking. In doing so, he makes the case that New Afrikans were never afforded the opportunity to achieve self-determination, and were instead forced into colonial subjugation post-chattel slavery via the 14th Amendment. This is the basis for the political philosophy of the Republic of New Afrika. Kuwasi also meticulously detailed the Anarchists program of building alternative institutions via the formation of “Collectives” and “Federations,” ultimately designed to foster and achieve National liberation and the end of Euro-American colonialism.
I was struck by the shades of Malcolm X in this book, as the indictment of American hypocrisy is constantly made clear. One of my favorite quotes highlighting this indictment is: “I am tired of living the life of a colonial subject, while the hypocritical oppressors and exploiters of my people make pompous declarations about our democracy. America is racist, and by no twists and turns of semantics, by no evasions whatsoever, can a racist nation claim to be a democracy.”
Kuwasi Balagoon was a principled revolutionary trailblazer who set a standard for New Afrikan Anarchists specifically, and Black revolutionaries more generally. While the militant aspects of this book might shock readers unfamiliar with the Black Liberation Army’s praxis, this book is a must read for anyone who wants to gain insight into the struggle for total decolonization.
May 19, 2020
An excellent collection of stories, works, and writings from and about Kuwasi Balagoon, a Black anarchist who resisted white supremacy and died in prison for it. It's a very unique book, including interviews with his friends and comrades, poetry he wrote, his notes, writings and speeches before he was arrested, the letters he wrote from prison, and reflections on him after he died from his contemparies. A really valuable look into what queer, Black anti-colonial anarchist struggle looks like. I only wish it could have had more details, but a great place to start. In a time when most anti-colonial struggle is co-opted and dominated by Marxist-Leninists, Balagoon presents a powerful alternative vision of anti-racist and anti-colonial struggle.
September 23, 2020
Powerful and intense, Kuwasi Balagoon lived the struggle. His no-nonsense thoughts at the end of the book are especially timeless and relevant now. His speeches opening and closing his circus of a trial are a brilliant inditement of the white supremacist colonial settler state and its oppressions.
November 4, 2024
An inspiring collection of writings by and about a great revolutionary.
June 20, 2020
No longer using this website, but I'm leaving up old reviews. Fuck Jeff Bezos. Find me on LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/profile/...
If the liberation of New Afrika, and an anarchist revolution didn't happen (and it didn't) in the 70s and 80s in the U.S., it was not due to lack of effort by Kuwasi Balagoon. He never gave up, he never gave in, he never compromised, and he never stopped fighting as hard as he could. An organizer inside the US Army while stationed in Germany, Balagoon started an anti-racist self-defense organization called De Legislators with other black soldiers, in which De Legislators would beat the shit out of white GI's who would gang up on black GI's. When he returned from Germany, he became a tenant organizer in Harlem, where he became radicalized through increasing frustration with exploitative landlords and their state lackeys. He realized then that in order to free his people, the internal colony of New Afrika, relegated to reservations called ghettos, there would have to be revolution.
He joined the Black Panthers, got swept up in the New York 21 case, and then moved on to clandestine armed-struggle with the Black Liberation Army. Balagoon was "arrested for menacing a 270 pound colonial building superintendent with a machete, who physically stopped the delivery of oil to a building [...he] helped organize." Balagoon was not known for serving the jail sentences given to him. On two occaisions, Kuwasi escaped from prison, and on one of those occaisions he returned to the prison later, armed, to free other prisoners. Caught during a shootout after a bank robbery, Kuwasi wrote his best works for use in his trial. He refused to participate in his trial, choosing instead to frame himself as a prisoner of war, and that the criminal court has no jurisdiction against him. He used his opening, closing and sentencing statements, not to plead innocence or attempt to get off with a guilty plea. He used the witness stand as a pulpit from which to preach revolution and the liberation of his people.
Kuwasi Balagoon never compromised. His history is clear, and his rhetoric is crazy: he wanted to take on the full machinery of the state in guerilla armed uprising for the decentralization of wealth and the redistribution of the land. And yet he was the first to put himself on the line to accomplish these goals. If there were 100 Kuwasi Balagoons, they might have done all of that. The other highlight (other than his opening, closing and sentencing statements) for me was the essay "Anarchy Can't Fight Alone" about the necessity of working together to overthrow this imperialist government by any means necessary, and providing concrete examples of how anarchists can provide immediate needs to oppressed people and organize for overthrow.
Kuwasi did everything he could, risked everything he had for his people and the anarchist revolution. When he died in 1986 of AIDS, he left behind a world that desparately needed him and hundreds of others like him. I'll end this review with the words Kuwasi Balagoon used to end his letters:
Love, Power & Peace by Piece
If the liberation of New Afrika, and an anarchist revolution didn't happen (and it didn't) in the 70s and 80s in the U.S., it was not due to lack of effort by Kuwasi Balagoon. He never gave up, he never gave in, he never compromised, and he never stopped fighting as hard as he could. An organizer inside the US Army while stationed in Germany, Balagoon started an anti-racist self-defense organization called De Legislators with other black soldiers, in which De Legislators would beat the shit out of white GI's who would gang up on black GI's. When he returned from Germany, he became a tenant organizer in Harlem, where he became radicalized through increasing frustration with exploitative landlords and their state lackeys. He realized then that in order to free his people, the internal colony of New Afrika, relegated to reservations called ghettos, there would have to be revolution.
He joined the Black Panthers, got swept up in the New York 21 case, and then moved on to clandestine armed-struggle with the Black Liberation Army. Balagoon was "arrested for menacing a 270 pound colonial building superintendent with a machete, who physically stopped the delivery of oil to a building [...he] helped organize." Balagoon was not known for serving the jail sentences given to him. On two occaisions, Kuwasi escaped from prison, and on one of those occaisions he returned to the prison later, armed, to free other prisoners. Caught during a shootout after a bank robbery, Kuwasi wrote his best works for use in his trial. He refused to participate in his trial, choosing instead to frame himself as a prisoner of war, and that the criminal court has no jurisdiction against him. He used his opening, closing and sentencing statements, not to plead innocence or attempt to get off with a guilty plea. He used the witness stand as a pulpit from which to preach revolution and the liberation of his people.
Kuwasi Balagoon never compromised. His history is clear, and his rhetoric is crazy: he wanted to take on the full machinery of the state in guerilla armed uprising for the decentralization of wealth and the redistribution of the land. And yet he was the first to put himself on the line to accomplish these goals. If there were 100 Kuwasi Balagoons, they might have done all of that. The other highlight (other than his opening, closing and sentencing statements) for me was the essay "Anarchy Can't Fight Alone" about the necessity of working together to overthrow this imperialist government by any means necessary, and providing concrete examples of how anarchists can provide immediate needs to oppressed people and organize for overthrow.
Kuwasi did everything he could, risked everything he had for his people and the anarchist revolution. When he died in 1986 of AIDS, he left behind a world that desparately needed him and hundreds of others like him. I'll end this review with the words Kuwasi Balagoon used to end his letters:
Love, Power & Peace by Piece
July 8, 2021
This is some hardcore, harrowing stuff. I had read an older edition of “Whirlwind” in the 1990s and I even went to a Q and A with Afeni Shakur back then, but I feel like I am only now beginning to form a real picture of the NY Panthers and their clandestine activity. Balagoon is especially interesting, because of his commitment, his range of thinking and diversity of tactics. That he was also queer adds another layer, quite literally in the sense of keeping various identities and social / activist circles compartmentalized. This is a collection of writing by him and about him and the thrilling narrative of a revolutionary who keeps escaping from prison and breaking other comrades out is one that has to form in the reader’s own head. That’s the harrowing stuff, especially after reading the bit towards the end about traitors. It’s like, what’s a guy who’s thinking about revolutionary collectively run day care and children’s clothing exchange doing with a gang of bank robbers ... excuse me... a cadre dedicated to expropriations? And then he has this whole other life, with his transwoman partner, hanging out at the mud club with the punk rockers? I barely have the strength to keep my plain vanilla, white skinned, armchair activism life together and this guy is a queer anarchist underground armed struggle warrior in a basement full of coked up 5 Percenters? Rough!
There was a lot of terrible things that happened in the 1980s, a truly miserable decade. Losing our best fighters to AIDS is an especially low point. Rest in Power, Balagoon and thank you for your work.
There was a lot of terrible things that happened in the 1980s, a truly miserable decade. Losing our best fighters to AIDS is an especially low point. Rest in Power, Balagoon and thank you for your work.
June 26, 2020
This book was decent.
I really enjoyed his poetry and statements before the courts he was tried in, but I felt like the stuff written by other people about him wasn't quite as able to keep my attention. It was interesting to read about him and his life, but I felt like the way it was written wasn't as good as his actual writings.
He sounds like he would've been a blast to hangout with!
I really enjoyed his poetry and statements before the courts he was tried in, but I felt like the stuff written by other people about him wasn't quite as able to keep my attention. It was interesting to read about him and his life, but I felt like the way it was written wasn't as good as his actual writings.
He sounds like he would've been a blast to hangout with!
March 23, 2021
Every anarchist really should read this book and learn about Kuwasi Balagoon. I really can't believe he's not as well known as other Black revolutionaries in America like George Jackson, Fred Hampton, etc. Balagoon's writings on anarchism, Black nationalism, and revolution are all valuable, but I also got a lot out of learning about him as a person. Like, he didn't just write about revolution, he was literally waging guerilla warfare against the American empire. He walked the walk and talked the talk. Balagoon literally escaped prison like 2 or 3 times!!! Like, damn!
Perhaps one of the things I appreciated the most about Balagoon is that he didn't let sectarianism and other differences get in the way of doing the things that needed to be done.
Perhaps one of the things I appreciated the most about Balagoon is that he didn't let sectarianism and other differences get in the way of doing the things that needed to be done.
August 5, 2020
Excellent as the previous edition, includes invaluable insights from Balagoon on organization, how to deal with "traitors" and exercise. If you can get your hands on this edition it is very much worth it. Also includes a nice poem from Marilyn Buck that wasn't in the first edition.
November 15, 2010
Balagoon provides the best definition of the divide between Left and Right I have ever read.
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October 7, 2016Found myself frustrated by the organization, but maybe that has more to do with the available materials than bad editing. People should definitely read this.
August 18, 2023
This was an excellent book about a forgotten hero. Kuwasi Balagoon is a forgotten figure in the history of true black emancipation. He was a man of huge aspirations, doing what we thought was right for the betterment of his people against formidable odds. He was unique in many aspects of his life in ways that could have easily ostracized him from many people in the same milieu, he was an anarchist, queer, and fan of punk rock, but he would not let these aspects of himself hold him back from the fight for which he gave his all to. I don’t agree with all of his actions, he thought it was important to work with freedom fighters from different political leanings such as Marxist, as history has shown us that never turns out well for the anarchists, but I understand why he did it, it was either that or fight alone. There was an interesting section in the book where he lays out character traits that we noticed recurring in traitors and how to spot them, I think this formula can be used in everyday life as a way to weed out toxic people in general.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews