MOVE is a group surrounded by a lot of misconceptions. Quoting from an earlier writeup:
"They were forbidden to see any doctors during their pregnancy, and labor was expected to be natural. After the child was born, women were supposed to lick the baby clean and chew off the umbilical chord with their teeth."
No one in MOVE was "forbidden" to do anything. The word "
forbidden" gets used every time mainstream media wants to turn a "movement" or a "group" into a
cult. Any member of MOVE could leave any time they wanted. Though I have never heard one way or the other about the act of childbirth within the MOVE group, the "licking the baby clean" part seems a bit unlikely to me, not because it goes against the teachings of
John Africa, but because it sounds exactly like a
bullshit rumor designed to make the listener think of the group as a radical bunch of insane people. This same technique was utilized in the early 70's, only then they labelled the group in newspapers as "
vegetarians". Headlines would read "Group of Vegetarians building bunker in
Philidelphia", as though vegetarians were something to be feared.
Their vegetarianism stemmed from their respect for all living things, which is the origin of their name as well. MOVE, is not an
acronym (though it has been capitalized in every isntance I've found it), but rather a reference to their respect for all things that move and grow. This respect was also the reason their building was infested with cockroaches.
Again, quoting from an earlier writeup "
people who resided in close proximity to the MOVE establishment began to complain about the waste and smell their neighborhoods were being infiltrated with". If there was a smell it came from the compost heaps MOVE used to fuel their gardens. There wasn't much waste, it's not as though they used outhouses, but there were
cockroaches, as I mentioned.
From the MOVE homepage: "MOVE'S WORK IS TO STOP INDUSTRY FROM
POISONING THE
AIR, THE
WATER, THE
SOIL, AND TO PUT AN END TO THE ENSLAVEMENT OF LIFE - PEOPLE, ANIMALS, ANY FORM OF LIFE. THE PURPOSE OF JOHN AFRICA'S
REVOLUTION IS TO SHOW PEOPLE HOW CORRUPT, ROTTEN,
CRIMINALLY ENSLAVING THIS SYSTEM IS, SHOW PEOPLE THROUGH JOHN AFRICA'S TEACHING, THE
TRUTH, THAT THIS
SYSTEM IS THE CAUSE OF ALL THEIR PROBLEMS (
ALCOHOLISM,
DRUG ADDICTION, UNEMPLOYMENT,
WIFE ABUSE,
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, EVERY PROBLEM IN THE WORLD) AND TO SET THE EXAMPLE OF
REVOLUTION FOR PEOPLE TO FOLLOW WHEN THEY REALIZE HOW THEY'VE BEEN OPPRESSED, REPRESSED, DUPED, TRICKED BY THIS SYSTEM, THIS GOVERNMENT AND SEE THE NEED TO RID THEMSELVES OF THIS
CANCEROUS SYSTEM AS MOVE DOES."
Clearly some kind of free-thinking anarchists.
For more information check: http://www.angelfire.com/ga/dregeye/move.html
Again, quoting from an earlier node: "The mayor of Philadelphia at the time approved the use of an explosive to blast a hole in their bunker, in order to use tear gas to evacuate the establishment. The explosive did not create a hole. Instead, the roof of the bunker caught fire, and everyone except two MOVE members made it out of the house alive. "
The
contradiction at the end of the previous writeup in this node can be cleared up here. Everyone EXCEPT two people died. this explains the contradiction regarding Ramona
Africa being alive or not.
Also, I'd like to point out that this was exactly what was said about the
BATF's actions in
Waco, Texas with the
Branch Davidians. They government claimed that they were trying to use tear gas, but somehow the building caught fire. None of the three main tear gasses (Chloroacetophenone (CN), Orto-chlorobenzylidene-malononitrile (CS) or Dibenz (b,f)-1,4-oxazepine (CR)) are
flammable at all, so you determine for yourself what happened.
From one perspective the MOVE movement was an anarchistic
black power movement. From another perspective the MOVE movement was one of
peace, in a society that wasn't quite ready for a group of several dozen people with brown skin to live the way they wanted to. It is important to remember both sides of these things.