Million Man March on Washington

In the largest all-black demonstration in the US since the 1950s civil rights movement, more than a million people, mainly African-American men, marched on Washington on October 16. Green Left Weekly's LISA MACDONALD spoke to MALIK MIAH, an African-American activist based in San Francisco and editor of the socialist magazine Independent Politics, about the significance of the march. This mobilisation was "one of the most important rallies in the history of the black struggle", Miah said. "Participants were overwhelmingly black workers, since that's the composition of the black population, but many middle-class blacks — lawyers, doctors, professionals — also participated. "The breadth of the rally reflected that African-Americans are afraid for their future. Congress is tearing apart all social programs and there is a big campaign against affirmative action. An opinion poll conducted just before the march showed that a majority of white-Americans think that blacks are getting a better deal. Even the black middle class is worried about its future. "The huge turnout reflected that African-Americans know the reality of racism, regardless of whether they are a black lawyer, doctor, sports star, worker or unemployed. "Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, which initiated the march, tapped the sentiment among black people that we have to get our act together, something Malcolm X explained many years ago." Miah said that the weakness of the march was that it didn't make any direct demands on the government. "Many people criticised the march for focussing too much on atonement. 'What do we have to atone for' they were asking? 'We live in a racist country'. "The majority of people who participated went beyond Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. They went to stand up, not just for black men, but against racism in the US. And they made their own anti-racism demands on the government." Commenting on the general response to the mobilisation, Miah said that people had completely different views. "The average white reaction was fear and questioning, like they believe that racism doesn't exist any more, or that is not as bad as they thought. "Many people on the left, including the black left, opposed the demonstration because of the sectarian politics, and the anti-woman and anti-Semitic views of the Nation of Islam. Angela Davis and many other black feminists came out against it because they didn't like the idea that black women weren't asked to participate. Miah said that although the action "did have political limitations" those who called for a boycott made a mistake. "You have to see the significance of a million black people marching together to understand that the limitations were secondary. "The fact that a million people, mostly black men, marched and there was no violence, despite provocateurs, and despite the horrendous smear campaign against the Nation of Islam and the racist campaign against the march, is a major victory. As one black woman from San Francisco reported, she felt 'the safest I have ever felt in that crowd'." The protest will affect the nature of US politics, Miah said. "It sends a message to the ruling class that it has big problems. It shows that many understand that there are two separate, unequal nations in this country, and that there is a lot of anger about racism, especially among black youths." Asked how this anger is likely to be organised, Miah acknowledges that it is hard to predict. "The Nation of Islam is primarily a black sect. Its program includes sexist attitudes towards women, and Farrakhan has made many anti-Semitic and anti-gay statements. But Farrakhan is not the leader of the black community. It is just that he fills a real leadership vacuum in the black movement at the moment and that's why people marched at his call." While the Nation of Islam organised the protest, Miah said that many more organisations helped to build it. He predicts that there will be a "shake-out" because, "while some of the traditional black organisations did not support the march, the black community went out regardless". "This is really significant, because it has created new openings and opportunities for the self-organisation and successful struggle of African-Americans.""