Siatta Merchant_Final Project_Revolutionary Aspirations: A Movement of Empowerment

Siatta Merchant
Seminar in Composition
Revolutionary Aspirations: A Movement of Empowerment
I am the power, the revolution, and the movement. I am the beginning, middle, and end. To think as I do would be powerful, because I am well prepared to pursue my purpose. I am equipped with knowledge, derived from literature and experience, love, learned through family and culture, and most importantly, individualism, developed throughout my years, and through my own personal hardships. What do I seek? Immanuel Kant wrote, “Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them (Kant 59).” I seek the unification of a strong, educated, and cultured few. I seek individuals willing to engage in the empowerment of the browbeaten and repressed that serve as the majority of Liberia. I seek to carry out Martin Luther King’s dream. I seek to build a leadership like that of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, who had a plan of warfare, the tactics I read line by line, word by word, and I must engage in the fight, speak the word, and be the man. As I stand before you, I must reveal all that I am, so that you may join in this fight, declare this word, and encompass the strength of this man.
I believe in a revolution. I believe in the ability of the repressed, as they are leaders in their own right, to overthrow the corruption looming above our shattered society. I believe that you are no longer chasing my lead, for you are in pursuit of a victory, as we stand “until victory always (Guevara, “Mobilising”).” I believe, and I am sure, this victory is when all the children of Liberia enjoy a great pride in their country, one free of corrupt politicians, money hagglers, and a poverty-stricken majority. I believe that they, captives of a once resourceful, joyous, now depleted, saddened land, are the forgotten, the lost, and the unknown. I believe it is our duty, our right, and our cause to make all Liberians known to the world, for our spirits are rich, our language, unique, and our ideas, life-changing. I believe that a spirit worthy of envy and glory develops through religion, family, and the values of the village that surrounds a child. I believe our language, a mixture of indigenous tongues and modern American slang, is a language of beauty, and one that defines the bold, loyal, and strong people that we are. I believe that our ideas, culinary to philosophical, have created a culture unlike that of those who surround our country, therefore, making it influential to any and all outsiders.
I believe that when Ernesto Guevara said “it is better to die standing than to live on your knees,” he proclaimed the motto of our revolution (Guevara, “Letter”). I believe that when people say Ernesto Guevara was a heartless leader who invoked countless years of fear and anger into those he led, they knew not of all his philosophies. I believe Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara was a true individual who tested the faith of his followers, who wanted nothing more than to destroy the betrayal that lie in the hearts of men, and who tried to dismiss insecurity among his fellow soldiers. I believe that it was after he had left his soldiers, including Fidel Castro after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista, that they become who they really were. I believe this is what we, the individuals that have been separated from Liberia for so long, must mimic in order to remove all deceit, hatred, and disloyalty that have built up in the hearts of our people in the presence of corruption; this will bring about a revolution. I believe, or rather, I know that our cause is to bring Liberia to its feet, for the previous years spent kneeling, have been ill-lived. I believe in the people of this militia, those that once enjoyed its greatness and must now return, those born Liberian elsewhere, and those whose hearts still thrive on the coast of West Africa; we are one people. I believe that our individual confidence and knowledge is what will create an army of pioneers, because I know that within myself, I do hold all the power necessary to lead one, many, or millions. I believe with this, we can empower the repressed to engage in a revolution. I believe in our fight to make Liberia what it once was, and for you to share in this faith, will bring elation.
I rejoice in the tears. I rejoice in the tears that fall from blood-rushed cheeks in hope and search for a better life. I rejoice in the tears, not of our fellow Liberians, but of those, who, during the 26th of July Movement overtook the dictatorship of Batista under Ernesto Guevara. I rejoice in the tears because, like his militia, we are a simple, unified few that are fighting for a cause to cure a situation that is plagued with hardship and defeat for the masses of our beloved country. I rejoice in the tears of those beaten and burned, bruised and busted, who sat unwanted in cafes and diners designated for those of a paler complexion. I rejoice because we are like African Americans who were finally able to shine a spotlight on the imperfections of their society through their persistence on a day known as Bloody Sunday. I rejoice because in this event in Alabama, black Americans showed an unrelenting force as they walked and protested throughout the streets, one I chose to imitate. I rejoice in the determination of those inspired by the words of Martin Luther King Jr., but led by their own personal drive. I rejoice because they stood firm in Birmingham, Atlanta, Memphis, and Little Rock, when police hoses sought to knock them down; they were fighting our fight. I rejoice in the words of Ernesto Guevara, “The victory of the Cuban Revolution will be a tangible demonstration before all the Americas that peoples are capable of rising up; that they can rise up by themselves right under the very fangs of the monster (Guevara, “Guerilla” 38).” I rejoice in these tears because, I am sure that, if they could be successful, we can also. I rejoice because, we are individuals sacrificing the lives we have built in order to assist those who suffer a deprived individualist spirit, due to corruption and devastation. I rejoice in the hope that you will take necessary risk to better our country, as these before us have bettered theirs.
I hope you will not be fearless, for fear is strength, leadership, and human nature. I hope, however, that you will be fearless of accomplishment, for we will accomplish our goal to fight poverty in a stricken society. I hope you will be fearless of survival, for we will survive in our fight, and no evil or envy shall provoke havoc in our hearts. I hope you will be fearless of persuasion, for you will persuade all those that cast shadows in your path. I hope that you will be fearless of determination, for many who have kept faith in their ambitions have seen victory. I hope you will be fearless of faith, “faith is taking the first step when you do not see the whole staircase,” and this uncertainty will be answered along the way (King 102). I hope you will be fearless of rebellion, because it is those, such as Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, able to set moralities aside, which are most often victorious. I hope you will be fearless of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, “do what is right, though the world may perish,” because if we do what we believe, and the world does perish, you must know that it was God’s plan (Kant).
I hope for understanding. I hope for the understanding of those I choose to join in my fight. I hope that you realize what has occurred in the past years. I hope that you know this revolution is much needed, because our people have been used as pawns for the wealth of a corrupt few, our resources used to support callous activity, and our country’s name used as an example of a once thriving nation that can be no more. I hope that you share in my determination to prove this statement wrong, for I know we are aware of Liberia’s potential. I hope that when the battle has begun and my spirit begins to turn as ruthless as Charles Taylor’s, you will not hesitate to show me that I must stick to our mission, as soldiers in Ernesto Guevara’s army did not; true leaders understand that “cruel leaders are only replaced to have new leaders turn cruel (Guevara “Mobilising”).” I hope that you know we can put together pieces of broken glass, glass once shattered by evil and wrong doing. I hope that you are sure that I will not be led astray, for this is my purpose, and if I venture off onto my own, who will sacrifice for the restoration of a broken society?
I sacrifice for Liberia and its people. I sacrifice myself for the gun-guarded children, the bear-backed market slaves, and the squanderers sitting sloppily in the slanted shacks that sit on the side of Monrovia’s hills. I sacrifice my judgment, for that aspect of moral thought can only shield my eyes to the true meaning of my movement; judgment will not allow us to better the lives of our people, it will only be a detriment to our progression. I sacrifice as Martin Luther King Jr. did to the Civil Rights Movement; he was a true leader because of his devotion, and because of his unwillingness to engage in discrimination against those who choose to be silent in their fight for equality. I sacrifice myself because I know that others will not, and like those in the Civil Rights Movement, I think that “silence is only argument carried out by other means”; so they are with me in heart and mind (Guevara, “Letter”). I sacrifice my knowledge to those who have not yet recognized their own purpose, and hope that my words will guide them to this revelation; that is what Dr. King did. I sacrifice my spirit that is without morality, for morality, in my opinion, is conformity to the concepts of right and wrong of a community in a world where judgment and self-superiority are accepted; self-superiority meaning our ability of placing ourselves above those that are not compliant to our standards. I sacrifice my knowledge onto you, the words I have read of Martin Luther King that says, “Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.” I sacrifice myself to be the first to break down barriers between us who have lived in America, and those that have stayed in Liberia. I sacrifice to those in my militia in this situation beyond morality, for we must not judge our people that were forced to tote guns and kill innocent beings in hatred, because as Ernesto Guevara said, “Hatred is an element of struggle; relentless hatred of the enemy that impels us over and beyond the natural limitations of man and transforms us into effective, violent, selective, and cold killing machines (Guevara “Guerilla” 120).” I sacrifice to the people who stayed in Liberia in times of trouble and war, because they faced this struggle, a struggle different from ours, but they should hate no more for this revolution will lead us all to be victorious, fortunate, and content.
I am the power, the revolution, and the movement. You are the power, the revolution, and the movement. To think as we do would be powerful, for we now know our purpose. We have the faith within us to lead and empower the gun-guarded children, the bear-backed market slave, and the squanderer. We are individuals, strong and confident, knowledgeable and independent, and now unified and determined. I believe in a revolution, one such as those carried out in Bolivia and Cuba, one propelled by heart and mind, and one of Liberians seeking the interest of their people who face a slighted fate. I rejoice in all of the tears, whether they be plentiful or few or whether they fall from the cheeks African Americans or Cubans. I hope my words have captured your understanding and engaged you to join in my fight, speak my words, and encompass all the strength of every man. I hope you will sacrifice to the sacrificed, for I believe in my devotion to this cause, and I shall not turn back. I believe in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. that inspired millions before me, a word of nonviolence and unity. I believe in the ideas of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, ideas that said, “The life of a single human being is worth a million times more than all the property of the richest man on earth (Guevara “Revolutionary”). I believe in the philosophies of Immanuel Kant, those that praised individuality, that said “there will always be some people who will think for themselves, even among the self-appointed guardians of the great mass who, after having thrown off the yoke of immaturity themselves, will spread about them the spirit of a reasonable estimate of their own value and of the need for every man to think for himself (Kant 59).” So now I must leave to pursue my purpose, and there is only one last thing to ask: will you join me in this revolution?