Conducted by Chief Tureyel
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you landed in the role of Chief of economic development.
My name is Chief T, I represent the colonized nation of India. Specifically, my family is from the Bihar and Jharkhand region of India and Uttar Pradesh, and I am a young revolutionary. I have known for a long time, since my childhood, that there was something not right with the way the world worked. I was always trying to find solutions, but it took me a while, you know, to get to that level of political development where I understood what was going on, and that is how I joined Black Hammer.
And since then, I’ve continued my political development, and my chiefs and comrades have helped build me into a better leader, a better person, and a better revolutionary. I think that has translated into me being given this revolutionary role.
We know that there is a need for economic development, especially since the colonizers’ economic infrastructure is falling apart, impacting our people a lot. There is a need for economic growth, for Black Hammer to succeed, for this revolution, for our people to be okay. I’m going to take responsibility for that alongside all the comrades that are under my leadership.
I love Black Hammer and how my role as Chief of Economic Development is always making me challenge myself in ways that I never thought I would.
What were the biggest obstacles in your way, as a leader and as a committee?
Yeah, so, in my growth as a leader, I think that the biggest contradiction is that I’m colonized. The fact that many of us lack that revolutionary confidence, we are taught not to believe in our own leadership. We are taught to be in constant doubt. That was a huge contradiction for me, and something that I still struggle with sometimes. Even though I am continuing to get better, the colony never stops throwing that at me either; telling me I do not have the ability to lead. That was my biggest contradiction: that I just shied away a lot from leadership.
With the help of my comrades, especially coming into this role, I’ve had a lot of guidance from the ICC [International Chief Circle], from our Secretary-General, from Commander-in-Chief Gazi on how to become a better leader and to assert myself, which has been really good for me, not just in what I do for Black Hammer, but also in my own personal life. Being able to advocate for myself and setting boundaries, and accepting my responsibilities.
Our economic development committee’s biggest challenge has been that the committee was previously inactive for a little bit. At the same time, the contradictions that, you know, stem from this colony falling apart.
As soon as we came in we were just thrown all these projects, and, you know, we are working to fix them. But it was definitely an office that was rebuilding itself. It was a lot, but it only made us stronger because we quickly built the infrastructure needed to take care of those contradictions, so that if they happen again in the future we know what’s up.
Another contradiction was that people can see economic development as a boring role, right? You know, it’s all just bookkeeping and accounting. And so there was, you know, there was disinterest. People were just not uniting with this work. They wanted to go to more exciting committees, like Campaigns and Agitation & Propaganda.
I’m hoping that with the plan that my staff and I have made, we will overcome that by showing through our work that economic development is significant. It’s not simply bookkeeping. Economics is a science, right? And there’s a lot of creative work and research work that goes into this, and I like to execute these plans. And so we hope to make these roles really exciting, and our committee a welcoming place for people to come into, especially if they’re interested in numbers, and interested in economics.
Can you paint that picture for us? What does dual contending power look like with economic development?
Yeah! Dual contending power for economic development looks like having our own systems and generating our own economic resources and money outside of the colonial system. It’s a very long term goal. Still, at the same time, every day we move closer to achieving it.
What I mean when I say “being ourselves off of the colonial economic system” is that our people should not have to worry about things like credit scores, or insurance, or these colonial banks that will exploit you. I wan Black Hammer to be able to build those systems, to take care of our people without having to rely on predatory repayments plans, or loans.
At the same time we need economic self-determination in order to have our separate system from colonialism, right? I think a perfect example of this is China.
Major salute to China!
China spent years, decades, building this excellent economic system that has now allowed them to be more and more independent of the western economy and to become a major economic player, to challenge united snakes hegemony. That is sort of the vision that I see for ourselves.
We want to be able to use whatever resources this system is giving to us unknowingly, and then use them to build a system that is completely separate from them. To keep building our own power so that we can fund our own science projects, so we can see Hammer Cities all over the globe. We can have our own renewable energy projects. You know, that funding can come from us! And funding to build these revolutionary health care systems because, at the end of the day, all those things will require resources and its economic development’s job to make sure that we don’t have to beg the colony for those resources. We know they’re not going to give them to us.
We never want to be like the colony.
Right.
Speaking of which, how can the masses know that we are putting their funds to revolutionary use?
Yeah, that is a really important question. In a revolutionary organization, there has to be a very high level of transparency and accountability when it comes to the people’s money because we don’t see that in our own government institutions or private institutions, right? Every year you pay taxes, but they do not go towards your own benefit. They go to fund these wars that the US has with other countries. Even your bank is investing your money in the military-industrial complex and the fossil fuel industry, right? And we do not want to do that.
We want to make sure that everything we do, like with our money, is accountable to the people. When people are giving us their support and their resources we return to them tenfold in the form of revolutionary programs. And that is the job of the Economic Development Committee, not only to create more avenues for those resources to come in, but then helping committees to them into products that they can use. And also knowing that money is a very easy way to exploit colonized people. I’m sure that at some point, the colony will try to use it against us. We have to be prepared for that. And we are prepared for that because we work very closely with the Defense Committee. We also are in very close contact with every office. We have eyes and ears in every single region. So, as soon as an economic contradiction springs up, we know about it.
I would really like to emphasize that we do not take this lightly. The fact that the masses are entrusting us with their resources in a time when they are definitely struggling, we take that and we understand the value of those resources. And we’ll give everything to protect those resources because it is needed. It is needed.
Who would you most like to see join this department?
Yeah, there’s all sorts of talents that a Committee like Economic Development could use, like event organizing and things like that. Really creative people to help us build more fundraising plans for our communities and chapters and help them function. But also maybe, like, if you are a colonized person who went to college for things like business or finance or accounting, and you realize that there is no way that you can partake in those industries without being complicit in your own oppression. And you want to use those skills for good.
We want you because there is a need for those skills, for our people to learn those skills kept behind closed doors at these institutions. Or if you’re just interested in money and economics and feel like you have no skills. That’s okay! We’re all learning here, and we’re all building each other up. If you just have the passion, if you have that excitement, that drive in you, we want you.
By nature of being poor and working-class Colonized people, we have become experts in pulling in just enough to make rent. In how to make that paycheck stretch. Just by nature, we have to be experts.
Yeah!
Last question. What are you personally most proud of as the leader of economic development?
When I came into this office, I was super fresh, and many things were kind of all over the place. And I’m really proud of myself, my Chief of Staff, and all our comrades for having patience, but at the same time quickly organizing so that we could build our office back again and have those processes to ensure the well being of our organization. We have already started creating those processes. We are already building plans of action. We have already met with every committee leader about their economic development and fundraising.. And we did all that within just three weeks.
I’m definitely really proud of our ability to get organized really quickly and come together. Especially because I am a new person, most of the members did not know very well before I came in, but they were very open to that change. They got with the program, and did what needed to be done. And that which was what was needed of them. Also, to organize and to understand the importance of economic development. So, yeah, revolutionary salute to them!
Land back and revolutionary salute to you and all your team!
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