http://www.cipheronline.com/#The Cipher Mission
cipher's mission as a band
Goal
Cipher’s main goal is to bring an end to oppression. Whether the fight is against
white supremacy, overthrowing gender oppression, toward Afrikan liberation, smashing neocolonialism,
halting neo-liberalism, snuffing homophobia, ending capitalist excesses, for animal liberation,
or on behalf of nature, we recognize the universality of struggle.
We recognize that the oppressive models we operate under must be
destroyed because they are not sustainable and will definitely lead to
the end of human life or at the very
least bring about the permanent shrinking of the potential happiness of most of the world’s population human, plant, and animal.
It is the obligation of everyone interested in the perpetuation of the human species, regardless of their position in life, how they are raced or gendered, or what class strata they occupy, to bring an end to the status-quo as we know it either by destroying this world or radically changing it.
We are determined to accomplish this goal through varied strategies and by any means necessary.
What
We believe that humankind’s unnatural attempt to separate itself from nature led to the creation and validation of philosophies and premises that the forms of institutionalized oppression we see today rest on.
This is why as, Vandana Shiva illustrates, an economy based on fossil fuels is an economy of violence and an economy based on soil is an economy of life.
When humans feel they no longer depend on the Earth and actually view nature as something to be “tamed” or “controlled” we begin to attack nature, plundering it for fossil fuels that have a finite source, and suppress and deny our attachment to it.
Humans have survived for millennia due to the recognition and appreciation of the interconnected relationship they have with nature.
When viewed as things of nature, savages, or animals, indigenous people were easily wiped away. Women remind humanity of it’s natural essence through menstruation and child birth. As parts of nature women too are easily oppressed.
How
The dual cradle theory of human development proffered by Chiek Anta Diop states that the European developed an antagonistic relationship to the earth because winters was so harsh and food was so scarce in Europe. This is one theory to explain the origins of Eurocentric thought and its comparative uniqueness with other cultural frameworks. One of Euro-centric philosophy’s hallmarks is what Fanon called Manicheistic thought, or in other words, an “either or” approach to the universe. Human vs. Nature, Man vs. Woman, etc. This fits well as a companion to Diop’s theory. If the epistemological direction of Europeans was a binary one, this binary orientation could have been influenced by their natural surroundings. In Europe, half of the year is pleasant while the other half bitterly cold and devoid of much food: the antagonistic relationship begins.
Most other peoples in the world developed in climates where all seasons were always abundant with food and friendly to human life. Therefore, it’s very common in most indigenous cosmologies to find that human’s have animal origins and intertwined within their cultural matrix are earth reverential practices and customs. What’s good and bad, destruction and construction, man and woman, are often viewed as necessary components of a whole universe, rather than competing and differently valued pieces.
The fact that Europeans were armed with this unique “either, or” philosophy, the advent of a novel form of mercantile capitalism, leaps in technology including the use of gun powder in weaponry and the smelting of steel, and a host of human diseases whose origins and immunities were both unique to Europe are all factors that when coinciding, can account for the European domination over the rest of the world over the past 500 years.
Their enormous solidification of power and sustained domination of the world in the past 200-300 years was brought on by the effectiveness of a new philosophy known as racism, the capitalist economic order, and industrialization. The imagined creation of the Nation-State in Europe as outlined by Benedict Anderson, and it’s subsequent propagation worldwide were also crucial historical occurrences. All these factors are interconnected and played into each other to develop a rather complex socio-political order in support of European global hegemony.
Who
Based on Fanonian liberation theory, those that experience forms of oppression have the ability to critique these institutions in ways the dominant culture cannot. Therefore, colonized people around the world need to organize and develop strategies to heal their peoples. The answer will not come from dominate society, the colonizer, the landlord, or the oppressor. According to Erica Waples’s theory of oppositional intersectionality the colonized woman of color is sublimely positioned to develop the strategies to attack the interconnected forces of gender oppression, white supremacy, colonization, and capitalism. Those of the dominant culture that wish to participate in world liberation must first recognize then relinquish their privilege. The next step for those allies within the dominant/oppressor/colonizer class is to organize others in their community to do the same, creating more space for oppressed communities to heal themselves. This process must also take place with men in all social and racial strata, as they collectively benefit from patriarchal oppression.
The importance of Afrika
Humanity’s ancestral homeland should not merely be considered of cultural-emotional import. Africa, using mineral wealth as a sole indicator, is by far the wealthiest continent on earth. Therefore, Afrika is of unique strategic importance to a worldwide liberation strategy. The warring, ethnic turf battles, and poverty seen throughout Afrika are based in the external control of most of it’s enormous resources by multinational corporations in the US and Europe. Conversely, as documented by Walter Rodney, the overdevelopment, over-consumption, and overabundance of the economic north (Europe, the US) have it’s direct origins in this relationship. This explains why the population of nations with relatively scare natural resources like Great Britain, enjoys a higher quality of life than the population of Nigeria, a nation rich with oil reserves and other resources.
Consolidating control of Afrika under an egalitarian, democratic, indigenous leadership would render Africa a powerful geo-political power. Responsible stewardship of Afrika, simply based on its sheer material wealth, would force a new world order.
Author
