By Chief Mase
Day in and day out colonialism knows one thing and that is the oppression of Colonized people. As if living under colonialism wasn’t bad enough for us, whenever a natural disaster strikes it’s like we are being kicked when we are already down.
Not only do we have the knee of colonialism pressing down on our necks every day but in times like these, we colonized people are the ones who have to deal with the effects of catastrophe.
For an example of this, one has to look no further than the latest natural disaster to hit the stolen land that is now called Oklahoma.
Catastrophe strikes
On 10/26/2020 an ice storm devasted the state causing power outages for over 400,000 people. These outages lasted weeks for many people to this very day there remain 2,066 families without electricity.
If a disaster of this magnitude were to affect socialist nations like Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, China, the DPRK, or Vietnam the media conglomerates in the imperial core would have this painted all over their headlines. So that is exactly what we are doing here at BHT; we politicizing tf out these atrocities committed by the oppressor.
The contradictions that arise from natural disasters for colonized people are endless, however, let us focus on the economical burden endured by the families who experienced the power outage:
- Average cost from lost contents of food and freezer: $250- $500
- Alternate accommodations, if needed: $100 per night. Extra if you need to board pets.
- Productivity loss- this is time lost from work, time lost looking for places to charge devices, getting supplies, making decisions- at a job earning $15 an hour, this would mean a loss of potentially $120 per 8 hour period, per person employed. Losses will increase as wages increase.
- Meals out: cost will vary, but for a family of four, it’s reasonable to assume they would easily spend between $50 – $100 a day to have three meals out while unable to cook at home.
- Miscellaneous Expenses: Power outages often lead to additional purchases of batteries, flashlights, lanterns and the like.
- Cooling/Food preservation: This will mean purchasing ice or dry ice to try to preserve contents of a fridge. Dry ice costs $1.50 or so a pound, usually sold in 7 – 10 lb packages, so we will estimate this at $15 per day for dry ice and probably another $15 for regular ice to keep drinks and people cool.
Ironically, the article actually discusses the material reality of colonized people suffering the effects of power outages in natural disasters, but it does so with the hopes of selling you something to keep the dying economy going. Another form of harm-reduction.
With titles like The Monetary Cost of Power Loss, or Why We decided to Buy a Whole Home Generator, it’s obvious enough to see that these settlers don’t give a damn about the colonized people they oppress.
Harm-Reduction isn’t the Answer
We at Black Hammer Organization know that the only way to overturn these contradictions isn’t through accepting the harm-reduction liberals try to shove down our throat, but in building the unity of colonized and indigenous people behind the Four Principles of Unity.
Our strength as revolutionaries to bring about the liberation of all our people can only be found in struggling to bring about that unity, furthering the path towards decolonization.
Land Back.
