Revolution #362, November 24, 2014 (revcom.us)

Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

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Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

An Historic Dialogue:
Cornel West and Bob Avakian Enlighten and Challenge at a Critical Juncture

November 16, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On November 15, 1900 people packed The Riverside Church in New York City to experience the Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian—REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion. There has never been anything like it.

It was an historic event. It was the first public appearance in decades by Bob Avakian, the revolutionary leader and architect of a whole new framework for the emancipation of all of humanity, who spoke directly and in depth to the need and basis for revolution; in dialogue with Cornel West, one of the most important and provocative public intellectuals of our time and who spoke and engaged in dialogue from the perspective of Christian and Black prophetic traditions, and as an uncompromising champion for the oppressed.

Cornel West had promised that the audience was “going to hear agreement & disagreement... transgression & convergence... most importantly, you're going to hear two brothers who are for real..." That happened, and more. With intensity, sincerity, and love, both speakers pulled the audience out of their collective and individual comfort zones—and challenged them to take responsibility for the state of humanity, in stark contrast to and explicitly in opposition to the prevailing morality of “me first.” Bob Avakian began his speech with a loving tribute to Wayne Webb, also known as Clyde Young, a close friend and comrade, and a member of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party who had just passed away—whose life was an inspiring example of how those this system treats as "the worst of the worst" can become the very best that humanity is capable of.

The Dialogue was driven by profound and historic challenges to humanity—at a moment when billions of people live lives of unnecessary misery and the very planet itself is in peril. As Host Committee member Ed Asner said before the event: “If hope and clarity can only come from this dialogue to lighten the dark times we live in, then I would wish this same dialogue will be played throughout the land. We need it desperately.”

The Dialogue was made possible by a diverse and determined grassroots movement, and a Host Committee that brought together an unprecedented range of voices, from academia to the parents of African-American youth murdered by the NYPD. Tens of thousands of dollars were raised to promote the Dialogue. Fundraising continues to cover the cost of a full-page ad in the Thursday, November 13 print edition of the New York Times. Radio station WBAI signed on as the media sponsor for the event.

Lining up outside, waiting to get into the Dialogue. Photo: Special to revcom.us

People came on buses from Ferguson, Missouri; from the South Side of Chicago; and from nearby housing projects in Harlem. They came from elite universities and community colleges and from churches, and classes came from high schools. The audience included long-time political activists and youth who had never been to a political event. The vibe and feeling of the audience was intense, enthusiastic, welcoming, vocal, and eager to get into the questions; the place throbbed with the feeling of something new coming into being. The seriousness of the speakers and the love and respect they had for each other set a tone that people very much responded to.

ON THE POSSIBILITY OF REVOLUTION

Read more

Differences around the key question of the event—the fight for emancipation and the role of religion—were deeply gone into, as were points of unity. As we said, the determination of both speakers to not only bring out how people today all over the world are forced to live and needlessly suffer and who is responsible, but also to sharply challenge the audience to act against that with courage, came through. People intensely listened to the truth-telling for over four hours. Thought-provoking and soul-searching questions were posed from the audience to Cornel West and Bob Avakian including on the state of popular culture; the morality of violence; the nature of the police and how to get justice; the possibility of actually carrying out and winning a successful revolution; and defining personal experiences in the lives of the speakers.

This event was a great beginning! And now the dialogue continues—between and with people from all walks of life and from a wide range of perspectives. In the coming weeks and months, in different ways, we will be providing coverage of this event and its aftermath here at revcom.us. Tune into the audio re-broadcast, which we will feature at revcom.us as soon as details are available.

Click here for the flyer handed out to people leaving the event. Share your thoughts in emails to revolution.reports@yahoo.com. And stay engaged with the movement for revolution through revcom.us.

A view of the audience, during the Dialogue. Photo: Special to revcom.us

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/revolution-and-religion/after-the-dialogue.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

After the Dialogue:

Observations from the Audience

Updated with additional comments December 7, 2014

The comments at right are from people who were in the audience at the Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian on November 15, live and in person at the Riverside Church, and at simulcasts in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. A very wide spectrum of background and views was represented that day. There was unity and determination, but also controversy—between the speakers, and controversy provoked by the fact that both speakers challenged people to break out of the framework through which they see what kind of change is necessary and possible. We are just beginning to get a sense of the impact the event had on people. The following comments are mainly from exit interviews, and are very preliminary responses. They reflect the thinking of those who made them, in response to and provoked by what they saw and heard, not necessarily the views of the speakers.

We encourage everyone to watch the entire Dialogue at revcom.us! While we cannot post all comments sent to revolution.reports@yahoo.com, all of them are appreciated and forwarded to the Dialogue organizers.

 


 

Click here to print this collection of comments
(Updated December 7 with additional comments)

On Saturday, November 15, 2014, Photography students from the High School for Arts, Imagination & Inquiry attended the Dialogue between revolutionary leaders Cornel West & Carl Dix on the role of religion and revolution in the fight for emancipation of all humanity. People from all over the country attended.

Here are reactions of some who attended, captured by students.

 

 


 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/questions-from-the-audience-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Questions from the audience at the November 15 Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian

Updated December 31, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

At the Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian on Revolution and Religion: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion, the audience was invited to write down their questions. More than 200 questions were submitted. During their discussion, Cornel West and Bob Avakian had time to speak to ten of these questions, which are printed below. Hear Cornel West's and Bob Avakian's discussion of these ten questions in the rebroadcast.

  1. "For many Black and Brown people who believe in Jesus Christ and rely on him for salvation, how do they square their religious faith, or can they square their religious faith, with a revolutionary mindset that does not look to heaven to fix problems on Earth, because many will not give up their God?"
  2. “How do we as a community approach the NYPD and our city officials to demand justice and free our children now, who are now incarcerated, all facing conspiracy charges and life in prison? We need help!” Which is a very powerful question. The second is I think related, from someone from Ferguson, Missouri. They ask: “Why are we, in 2015, still going through this hell, because I never thought I'd be still fighting for justice.”
  3. “I wish life could be like this room tonight all the time, but when we leave here, we go back to a hard world, where some people go through hell, and others harden their hearts and heads to the possibility that things can actually be much better. How do we carry the spirit of mutual respect back home and sustain it while we struggle to change the world. I mean, cynicism is deep; how do we keep our heads?”
  4. “I hear what you're saying, that I should be part of the revolution, and part of building this dialogue, but I'm too messed up, and I've done too many messed up things.” So what would you say to the youth in particular, the youth who've been cast out by this system, who say that?
  5. “Every rational conversation should begin with definitions, and John Lennon gave the best definition of god that I've ever heard: ‘God is a concept by which we measure our pain.’ Can you guys do any better in terms of defining god?”
  6. “In response to voting, is there no value in working to abolish a system while participating to minimalize the immediate damage it does at the same time?”

    And then someone else asks:  “If we avoid voting, because no candidate represents 'the Left,' how can we also avoid enabling the rise of the worst of the Right?”
  7. “How in this world are we, the oppressed, to accomplish true revolution peacefully, when in reality, the powers-that-be have all the artillery to kill, while all we have are our voices and our fists? How do we compete? There's no ‘win’ in this picture for the oppressed, as I can see. Please shed some light on this.”
  8. “What in communist thinking on the one hand and religious thinking on the other is a power for admitting the sins of communists worldwide or biblical texts? What enables communists on the one hand and religious people on the other to say, ‘We were wrong?’”
  9. “What is the role of art in revolution?”
  10. “What lessons in life did you learn the hard way?” And, "What is the wisest thing anyone's said to you?”

Many more questions were submitted to Cornel West and Bob Avakian than could be addressed at the Dialogue. The following are some of those additional questions.

  1. "Does the harm of religion spring primarily from the lack of preservation of the meaning/correct interpretation of the texts, or from the presence of statements susceptible to harmful misinterpretations despite the preservation of the text's meaning?  Does morality entirely come from class relations and interests, or does reference to these sources fall short of explaining instances where people act against both of those interests, in a moral manner?"
  2. Why do we revolt instead of evolve up and out of the restraints of this system?
  3. How can we the people help make a better world? The world is facing a difficult time and it is getting worse. Could you offer a word of advice on how we can cope in an uncertain world?
  4. In these male-dominated spaces, what role and in what ways do you all involve the concerns of women and girls of color (including sexual violence, silencing, gender-based discrimination, trafficking, etc.)?  Please don't forget our girls and women!
  5. Cornel West describes a central role of radical love in transforming the world. Could Bob Avakian explain how he sees that?
  6. How can we break the Hypnotic corporate spell off of the minds of Americans, who have mentally and spiritually fallen asleep behind the television screens, the newspapers and magazines, and pseudo-religious doctrines—all owned by the same multi-headed corporate Beast that controls over 90% of information going out into the public mind—the same monster which controls the school-to-prison pipeline institutions, like a conveyor belt intaking humans and mass producing robotic slaves, who go on to become teachers, police officers, soldiers and general consumers of the Corporate Conglomerates that Play Monopoly with us All?
  7. What was the way that Mao and Stalin handled the contradiction of religion after those revolutions and what does the "new synthesis" say about dealing with this contradiction?
  8. What does revolution look like? Who are the players and does it necessarily involve bloodshed?
  9. How can we revolutionize this country and not lose our spiritual faith that is taught to us by our upbringing, by our parents and family? Do you need to lose your spiritual faith in order to revolutionize the world?
  10. What has religion done to unify the Blacks in America to become self-aware and self-sustaining?
  11. Is religion—in a form that does not deny science and is open to inquiry and change—harmful? Why or why not? Is "prophetic fire" worth the superstition that accompanies it?
  12. Given the militarization of the police force and the criminalization of Black people uniting in force as conspiracy, what do each of you think would be a strategy to fight? They are actually killing us!!!
  13. If in communism there are no divisions or classes of people, how then will the many different religions survive in a society not divided when there are soooo many types of religions?
  14. A question for Mr. Cornel West: How could we respect and uphold the religious ideologies when they support the system of capitalism—the system which oppresses and exploits to survive? Also, these religions all justify and promote the oppression of women and openly declare that all women should submit and be subordinate to their male partners.
  15. To Bob: Do you think "religion" is a road blocker to the revolution?

    To Cornel: Bob spoke about using a scientific approach to analyze the system, but religion is not scientific, just emotional! Then how do you think you guys still go together??
  16. What are the specific strategies you are advocating we begin using to fight oppression? If violence is the strategy, given increased police repression and the fact that this strategy has not always been successful when used in revolutionary movements, what is different about the method of violence you are advocating for?
  17. To say we should rely on science for facts would also imply that science should be able to answer the question why. Also, how can we differentiate real science from science fiction—both science and science fiction are becoming part of our reality?
  18. Dr. West, could you expound on three words for me as you feel they relate to poor people's struggles—Humility, Dignity, and Indifference?
  19. How would the Communist Party handle the conflict in Palestine and the slaughter of the Palestinian people?
  20. For Dr. West: Is it possible for Christianity to confront, publicly, those who use religion to oppress? (Think Dominionists, 'The Family', and so-called evangelicals, whose efforts support the political establishment.)
  21. What is the application of Science in Art? What is the role of Art and the artistic process in Science? What does this have to do with a revolutionary morality?
  22. To both, mainly Bob: The vision and utopia of another world without the violence and injustices of capitalism are good, and most of us here do not need to be convinced of that. What about some specifics of how to get there? What are revolutionaries in the belly of the empire in the 21st century proposing that adds to previous conversations and proposals? Are there any corrections to be made in the course of revolution, taking into consideration the failure of some states in realizing communism or fulfilling the revolutionary dream? What to do to prevent today's revolutionaries from becoming tomorrow's oppressors when in power?
  23. The capitalist-imperialist system is so diversified. How is a revolution going to happen? What plans are in place for AFTER the revolution?
  24. Climate change is the most comprehensive threat to humanity caused yet by the capitalist system, yet most people believe either that god has plans to end all existence at some point relatively soon or that science can come up with technological solutions In other words, why act? What do you each believe needs to happen specifically to prevent the destruction of most living species as a result of climate change?
  25. Do you not feel that communism, its rejection of widespread dialogue and its claim to definitive truth is not in itself a "religion"?
  26. I address this question to both speakers: I have grown up Christian, but as I have gotten older, I see organized religion as a tool used to hold people down, as part of an unholy trinity—Christianity (Religion)/Imperialism/Capitalism. Am I wrong on this?
  27. What is the difference between a revolutionary communist who joins a party and an activist? Why should people be revolutionary communists?
  28. How can you, as a Christian, speak about a God that was given to us as Black People by white slave masters? What is Bob's view on this shit? How are either of you organizing or training youth to think outside the box of our current system?
  29. What does a party of heroes, like the Black Panthers, look like today?
  30. How do you speak to the role of violence in the revolution? WHEN violence is the end of reason and debate and FAIRNESS?
  31. To Cornel West: Bob Avakian referred to "salad-bar Christianity" and asserted that all Christians practice it. Do you experience yourself practicing "salad-bar Christianity"? If not, why not?
  32. How would you respond to folks like Reinhold Niebuhr, who would say that Communism and its belief in dialectical materialism is its own form of religion, as it attempts to predict what will happen in the future—an ultimate clash between classes?
  33. If the advances of the 1960s have been under attack by the powers that be, then what shall be the nature of the counterattack that will regain lost ground and move forward? How can it be "sustainable," not just sustained?
  34. In a dialogue entitled "Revolution and Religion," the speakers should answer one simple question: What is religion? Define.
  35. BA: You have been advocating revolution and uprising for Black and brown people. Can you speak more about what renouncing white/male/heterosexual/wealthy privilege looks like? How can folks who hold these privileges be part of the uprising?
  36. What can a high school student (freshman) do to make a change?
  37. How do KINDNESS, COMPASSION, and HUMILITY coexist with revolutionary activism? How can we help people understand the painful truth of what is happening in the world without invalidating them?
  38. The argument that most Black people are Christian leads to the need for revolutionary Christianity more than revolutionary communism. Does that mean revolutionaries in non-Christian countries should be non-Christian religious revolutionaries?
  39. Historically, has religion spawned more good or more evil?
  40. Why do you believe there is dissonance between the elders of revolution and the youth who wish to continue it? How do we (youth and elders) rectify this dissonance?
  41. a) How might conflicts in a religious vs. a secular (materialist) conception of history present a problem for unified revolutionary political organization?
    b) To what extent do future political endeavors depend on our relationship to and reading of human history, especially the history of capital?
    c) Have either of you ever had a prophetic dream?
  42. Would BA speak of Spartacus on the cross and Jesus on the cross?  Why is one remembered and not the other?
  43. For Bob Avakian: How would you define the "American working class" today? What is their revolutionary potential?
  44. Why the route of "religion" and not spirituality? Religions vary. They are confined to their own set of rules and norms. Conversely, spirituality can be practiced and pursued without the confinement of tradition. We know what oppression looks and feels like. We don't need a specific cloth to practice righteousness.
  45. With greed (or the love of money) being the culprit behind the majority of unsavory or oppressive decisions in our system today, how can we truly fight back when less than 20 families control the entire path and flow of every global currency?
  46. What inspires you about life and living?
  47. To Cornel West: Hotep! What are your thoughts on Pan-Africanists adopting and utilizing communist ideology?
  48. a) Many African-Americans have thrown off their slave owners. Why has there not been a similar mass movement to throw off the oppression of Christianity, with which they were also enslaved?
    b) How is the "faith quotient" of Revolutionary Communism not exactly identical to the "faith quotient" of Christianity (no matter how many times the RCP calls its movement "scientific")?
    c) Exactly how much room is there in the RCP's Constitution for [the New Socialist Republic in] North America for organized, perhaps fundamentalist religion?
  49. I would like to know how much longer it is going to take for a revolution to take place? Is it about people's mindset?
  50. Question for both presenters: Is it possible for communist or socialist ideas and practices to be fully implemented within a capitalist system? Please provide a rationale for your response.
  51. You have been such an inspiration in my life and continue to be. I went on the bus tour and ever since then, I have gotten closer to the Party. Everything that I experienced and witnessed on the tour changed me as a person. I hope the Party can expand from today's event and more people get involved. P.S., I wish I could give you a hug.
  52. Given the current two-party monopoly on message and platform, how can we move the public focus from various "isms" and onto the issues of poverty and unequal access?
  53. Can both guests respond to how revolutionary atheists can better listen to the particulars of people's religious heritage? I grew up not unlike Cornel, but am now an atheist and a revolutionary and get embarrassed when my atheist friends become "red and expert" on every denomination. They lose credibility on the street when this goes down.
  54. Cornel: From a spiritual/metaphysical perspective—anti-philosophical materialism—where the self consciousness can never die, is it possible to have as much enthusiasm for political activism as a Marxist?
  55. Why is there such lethargy among the masses in the U.S.?
  56. What will it take for mainstream America to embrace the world's population as equal? How does terrorist violence impact overall revolution? Does it detract or give it a louder voice?
  57. Is there anything "new" that Revolution and/or Religion can offer to the young generation (25 & under) that is jaded by all the manipulation and scandals that have ruined their hope for freedom?
  58. What is one action step to take as we go home to our local communities? How do we encourage, inspire and support those—the newcomers and the skeptics—who have been let down time and time again, convinced that hardened is who they are?  How do we bring them along because hardened is not who they are?
  59. How do we, as revolutionaries, bring about gender equality in an age of shameless bullshit?
  60. We're from the Cabrini Green projects in Chicago. We want to know why is religion being pursued in revolution when making us choose is dictatorship in itself? We're on the same mission!
  61. They killed Malcolm, ML King, Jr. and  decimated the Panthers. How can a revolution succeed, no matter how committed a significant group of people are?
  62. How do you feel about the military funding of Israel by America and what can we as Americans do against it?
  63. In what way is respecting the autonomy of non-human animals and not participating in eating them or drinking the milk or eating the eggs stolen from them—the torture, suffering and death of these sentient beings—antithetical to a Christian focus on the heart and compassion, or a revolutionary message of ending exploitation of women, African-Americans, immigrants, people of color and poor people? Can we add all sentient beings , regardless of their status as humans, to the list of oppressed and work towards the liberation of all?
  64. The book Caesar's Messiah:  The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus by Joseph Atwill looks at the Old Testament, New Testament, The History of Jews and The War on the Jews and contends that Jesus was invented by the Jewish historian Joesphus after he was tortured around 73AD, after Caesar Flavius had completely decimated the Jews and wanted to make sure any surviving Jews would never again challenge the authority or god-status of Caesar. They created a pacifist Jesus so that followers (Jews, etc) would not struggle, fight against, resist the god-like supremacy of the rulers. What parts of the invented Jesus' message should we embrace and what parts should we reject in favor of Frederick Douglass' "power concedes nothing without a demand?"
  65. What of us who are African and Christian? How do we square our Christian beliefs with the reality that Christianity destroyed most of our native cultures and traditions?
  66. When I think about the fight for emancipation and the role of religion, the first thing that comes to my mind is the role of religion in perpetuating the conditions that make the fight for emancipation necessary in the first place. The fact that the negative aspect of religion is principal is hard to escape. So I believe the question is not what is the role of religion in the fight for emancipation, but how can people who are deeply religious make the biggest contribution possible to overcome the negative effects that are inherent in religion?—from a former prisoner from LA
  67. How do we create and sustain ways of life that bring us closer to the realization of our essential oneness as human beings?
  68. What are we gonna do about making this world a better world where we can all be treated the same? When and how?
  69. a) How can we better unite Antonio Gramsci's organic and traditional intellectuals?
    b) How can we best resist the repressive state when they operate with arms?
    c) Revolution requires a complete change of the system. That is not the removal of leaders, but the system of leaders itself. How can we peacefully dismantle the system that oppresses us?
    d) Is there a way to protect leaders from censorship? Do you think the web and Twitter will be censored in the future?
  70. It is said that the ratio of earnings of high officials (CEOs, etc) to ordinary workers is $500 to $1. Under a practically functioning communist system, one that recognizes that Americans have been socialized to tolerate some inequality of compensation as a basis for incentives to excel, what might you imagine the high official to ordinary worker earning ratio should be?
  71. So the power cartel takes all the donuts for themselves and leaves one to be split up by the population. Isn't the proper organizing principle of a proper society more than just everyone gets a donut?
  72. What role do worldwide religious minorities such as Wiccans and Baha'i have in the revolution? Is it different from Christianity or Islam's role?
  73. To B. Avakian and C. West: What should be done about ISIS?
  74. Are religion and capitalism inextricably linked? In other words, can Mr. Avakian's proposed revolutionist theory operate while still considering religion?
  75. Instead of persistent talk of revolution, what specific strategies do you suggest to bring about specific change in our U.S./global systems? Martin Luther King spoke of an annual guaranteed income for the poor and indigent when he was structuring his Poor People's Campaign. We need specific strategy. Please speak on this!
  76. Is there a role for myth under both your visions, and how does myth relate to unleashing people to act on the truth in fighting against the brutality that people face?
  77. Doesn't religion and belief in God dissipate our energy for dealing with the real world? How do we know that communism is the best system to inspire the full actualization of human nature?
  78. How can we separate church and politics and say that we are humanely sound in our actions? Isn't the basis of religion our moral compass for compassionate living?
  79. What kind of prayer does President Obama say before ordering a drone attack?
  80. Cornel: What do you do with the garbage in the Bible? And how do you connect Christianity in its most fundamental sense with an analysis, strategy and theory of revolution?
  81. Someone said that they don't see how you can be scientific and at the same time believe in some supernatural force and said that Einstein was an example of such a person: he made breakthroughs in science yet clearly believed in God.
  82. Bob Avakian: Express your understanding of spirituality. What role does spirituality play in Revolution? What is higher consciousness to you?
  83. Are those of us who observe and critique the Obama presidency disingenuous when we say the Obama administration has not been transformative in its approach to social justice, this has been merely cosmetic?

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/361/continue-the-dialogue-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Continue the Dialogue, Learn More About the Revolution, Get Involved in the Movement...

Updated November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian on the topic of Revolution and Religion: The Fight For Emancipation and the Role of Religion on November 15, 2014 covered the most important questions facing humanity. Two perspectives were set forth—contending and overlapping, struggling for higher ground, and coming back to unity on the need to ACT. And you’ve never heard anything like this.

Now what?

Continue the dialogue...

The speakers at the dialogue cut very deep, and we all need to “go there.” Be on the lookout for open house discussions at Revolution Books bookstores and elsewhere.

And send us your comments at revcom.us. Invite us to your group, your class, your family and friends, your neighborhood to get more deeply into this. Come to the dinners being held around the country in mid-December by BA Everywhere and get more deeply into this. Let your friends know about the audio broadcasts on WBAI-FM, KPFK-FM in LA, and KPFA-FM in Oakland/San Francisco.

Learn more about the revolution...

Learn more about Bob Avakian and the revolutionary communist framework he has developed. Buy his filmed speech REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! and his book of short essays and key quotations, BAsics. Dig more deeply at revcom.us or at The Bob Avakian Institute.org.

Learn more about Cornel West and the prophetic revolutionary Christian worldview. Buy his book Black Prophetic Fire. Go to Cornelwest.com to learn more.

Go to revcom.us at least once a week. During times of crisis and upsurge go at least once a day. This site gives you a living and scientific understanding of rapidly changing events, showing the contradictions at the heart of this oppressive system and bringing alive the need and possibility of revolution and of a whole new world.

Visit Revolution Books bookstores, for their books and their programs. Go deeper and go back-and-forth with people.

Get involved in the movement...

There is a place—and an urgent need—for you in the movement against injustice and the movement for revolution. Go to revcom.us to learn more (click on the portal “Fight the Power, and Transform the People, For Revolution”). Go to the website of the movement initiated by Cornel West and Carl Dix against mass incarceration and police murder—Stopmassincarceration.net, or go to stoppatriarchy.org to get involved in the fight against the oppression of women. Learn more about the vanguard, the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, which Bob Avakian leads. Come to the open house tomorrow to meet people from these movements, and from the Revolution Club—where people can fight the power while they get out, and learn more about, revolutionary communist ideas.

Above all: get involved in FIGHTING these injustices.

We’ll be seeing you!

revcom.us

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/361/darren-wilson-must-be-indicted-there-must-be-justice-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

DARREN WILSON MUST BE INDICTED!
THERE MUST BE JUSTICE!

Updated November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

 

The word is now being floated that some time soon there will be a decision from the grand jury in Ferguson that will let the cop who murdered Mike Brown walk free. This would mean that the cop who shot Mike Brown in the head as Mike held his hands in the air 30 feet away, the cop who was never even arrested, would walk free. That would be a total OUTRAGE!

To the powers-that-be, the facts of the case do not matter and they never did. The only thing that made them even think about backing up at all was the way that people in Ferguson rebelled, joined by many thousands around the country. The powers must not be allowed to go ahead with this whitewash and then jam it down people’s throats with no resistance, or just some token “protest.” Now is not the time to negotiate with the pigs about how to “keep the peace”—the only peace they accept is one where people are kept walking around in circles, going nowhere. Now is not the time for bootlickers to talk about “policing ourselves” and to cooperate with police to repress, assault, and arrest those protestors who they decide are “out of line.” All this kind of talk just accepts that these monsters can do what they want. NO! ANY FAILURE TO INDICT DARREN WILSON IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE AND MUST BE MET WITH RESISTANCE. THEY MUST NOT DARE TO WHITEWASH THIS MURDER AND LET THIS PIG WALK FREE WITH NO CHARGES!! AND THEY MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO GET AWAY WITH IT!!


If the authorities do dare to announce such an outrage... if they dare to call this crime a “justifiable homicide”... then there has to be a giant NO! on the very day they announce it. NO! to the murder of Mike Brown. NO! to the whitewash of his killer. NO! to the whole way this system does Black and Latino people, from cradle to the way-too-early grave. NO! NO! NO!!!

And... there also has to be a Yes through our actions. Yes, to fighting the horrors of genocidal mass incarceration and police murder, and to building a stronger movement to end this. Yes, to shaking off and shattering these chains—physical and mental. Yes, to fighting together with people all over the world to get free, not for a bigger cut of the American pie. Yes, to looking for REAL solutions, to getting with the Revolution... to preparing the ground, preparing the people, and preparing the vanguard for the time when millions can be led to go for revolution, all-out, with a real chance to win.

DARREN WILSON MUST BE INDICTED!
THERE MUST BE JUSTICE!

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/361/carl-dix-take-to-the-streets-when-the-ferguson-grand-jury-announces-its-decision-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Take to the Streets When the Ferguson Grand Jury Announces Its Decision

IF THE MURDERING PIG WALKS, AMERIKKKA MUST BE BROUGHT TO A HALT!

By Carl Dix

November 17, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Printable PDF of this statement

 

The grand jury investigating the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson will announce its decision any day now. All indications are that it will let the killer cop, Darren Wilson, walk free. This would amount to the system giving its stamp of approval, once more, to police wantonly murdering Black youth. This would be an outrage—one that we must refuse to accept.

When the decision comes down, people need to pour into the streets immediately. If the authorities let this murdering pig walk, America must be brought to a halt. Major streets and highways should be blocked, and traffic should be unable to proceed on bridges and tunnels. Professional athletes should join the response by refusing to play. Musicians should cancel appearances. Students should walk out of school when they hear that another murdering pig has gone free. If the decision is announced at night, the next day should be a day of NO BUSINESS AS USUAL at schools. Buildings on campus should be taken over, classes should become teach-ins on police murder of Black people. All this and more should be done.

Governor Nixon of Missouri has declared a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard. The emergency we must act to stop is the murder of our youth by police. Nixon's actions underscore the need for us to step up and step out to say NO MORE to police murdering our youth.

If the grand jury does indict Wilson, we still need to act. If it's anything less than murder, that would be the system telling us Black life doesn't matter much. Even if they indict him for murder, justice hasn't been won yet. Zimmerman was indicted for the murder of Trayvon, but he was allowed to walk free after a trial where the prosecutors acted like they had forgotten how to prosecute.

What we do when the grand jury decision comes down has to be more than a one-day thing. It must be part of bringing into being a movement of millions of people who are determined to STOP the murder of Black and Latino youth by police and racist vigilantes. The day after Thanksgiving should become “Black Lives Matter” day instead of a black Friday of getting a jump on Christmas shopping. Walmarts should be a focus of protests because a young Black man, John Crawford, was murdered by police in Walmart in Ohio, and a grand jury let those killer cops walk free.

And all this has to be aimed at delivering a message to one and all that THE KILLING OF BLACK YOUTH MUST STOP! People must come together and say this in a loud and united voice. We must mean it, and we must act accordingly immediately when the decision is announced and going forward from there till the murder of our youth by police and racist vigilantes is truly no more.

TAKE TO THE STREETS AS SOON AS THE GRAND JURY DECISION IS ANNOUNCED!

JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL BROWN, ERIC GARNER AND ALL THE VICTIMS OF KILLER COPS!

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/two-things-about-the-revolutionary-communist-party-that-everybody-needs-to-know-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Two Things About the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA That Everybody Needs to Know

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

In the midst of intense struggle over police brutality and murder, particularly of Black and Latino people and what it will take to get justice, millions are hearing about the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP). In some cases, they are meeting the Party first hand, engaging with and joining hand-in-hand with the RCP in the struggle for justice. In other cases, they’re seeing the signs in the streets and on the news with the website revcom.us. And millions are reading and hearing about attacks on revolutionary communists in the media, and from representatives of the very forces who carry out wanton murder of Black youths, like the FBI and St. Louis police chief Sam Dotson.

And then you will find others, claiming to be on the side of the people, who repeat and try to give credibility to lies, slanders, and attacks on the RCP that come from or serve the powers-that-be. You hear them echo the tired old “outside agitator” bullshit that the FBI and the KKK ran out about the heroic Freedom Riders who went to the South in the struggle against the old Jim Crow.

So. To all those who truly do want to see an end to the outrages and abuses coming down on people... and to the slanderers, the haters, the opportunists, and worse:

THERE ARE 2 THINGS ABOUT THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY, USA THAT SOME PEOPLE APPARENTLY HATE... THAT OTHER PEOPLE CHERISH... AND THAT EVERYBODY NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT AND UNDERSTAND:

1) We are about fighting this whole wretched system of exploitation and oppression, and bringing in a radically different, liberated world. We take the responsibility to look at all the outrages and abuses and agonizing problems confronting humanity... we analyze where they come from and how they are linked... we fight hard against them and figure out how to get rid of them. And we do all this as part of bringing forward a new system.

2) When there is a particularly outrageous abuse, an abuse which absolutely requires and demands that people stand up against it, we take the responsibility to reach out as widely as we can to unite with every honest person, of whatever viewpoint, who wants to fight it, and together we fight as hard as we possibly can to defeat the outrage. We don’t view any particular kind of oppression as anyone’s property. We don’t think that it is negative when people from one section of society stand against abuses coming down on others, and stand with others to fight back. To the contrary: To do anything less, let alone to work against that, is to betray the hopes of the oppressed who really do yearn to see and know that others will stand up. And all our experience—right down to today, in taking on the outrageous police murder of Michael Brown in Missouri and in waging a battle against the life-and-death restrictions being put on abortion in Texas—shows that when such support is forthcoming, those who are under attack welcome this!

In other words, we are about fighting the power, and transforming the people, for revolution. This has been a hallmark of our Party for 40 years. Not only that—this has been led and fought for and insisted upon, no matter what the conditions or circumstances, by Bob Avakian, the leader of our Party, going all the way back before our founding, to the 1960s.

A simple but bedrock point of morality: Anyone who sees an injustice needs to fight against it. And then, yes, there will be lively debate and struggle over the source of the problem and the solution to the savage inequality and oppressive violence that keeps people down. That debate, dialogue, and struggle needs to keep a focus on the real enemy and the real attacks and abuses that urgently cry out to be opposed and ended. And honest, principled people must draw a line against attacks on the RCP—in any form.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/361/give-carl-dix-opportunity-to-answer-the-red-baiting-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

From Efia Nwangaza to NPR: Give Carl Dix Opportunity to Answer the Red-baiting

November 20, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The following is a letter sent by Efia Nwangaza, of the Malcolm X Center and Radio Station WMXP, to the All Things Considered program on National Public Radio (NPR). We are running it here by permission.

This is to ask that Carl Dix, National Spokesperson for the Revolutionary Communist Party be given the opportunity to answer St. Louis law enforcement question of "What is the interest of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Michael Brown and Ferguson?" Yesterday, I heard this on my local SCETV -NPR station and think it is only fair that they be allowed to respond! As a Student Non-violent Coordinator (SNCC) worker in the 1960s, I am outraged by the "outside agitator" and red baiting that's again being used today. Please do not be an instrument of this divisiveness. Allow the Revolutionary Communist Party to tell why it is interested in Mike Brown's death and Ferguson, MO.

Efia Nwangaza
Greenville, SC

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/356/setting-the-record-straight-the-real-role-of-the-revolutionary-communist-party-in-the-struggle-vs-police-repression-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Setting the Record Straight: The Real Role of the Revolutionary Communist Party in the Struggle vs. Police Repression

October 6, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Over the past few months, there has been a concerted attack on the Party and its role in the struggle against police brutality. Some political forces have not only spread rumors, but have actually accused the Party or people associated with the Party of criminal acts, or—either alternatively or at the very same time—of being police provocateurs. THESE SLANDERS ARE LIES. THOSE WHO SPREAD THEM ARE LYING.

In addition, and even more serious, some people and forces have made physical threats, attempted to organize physical attacks and actually have carried out attacks. At times this has included fingering people for the police and actively working to help the police. SUCH ATTACKS ARE OUTRAGEOUS AND MUST BE OPPOSED, AND ACTUALLY RENDER AID TO THE POLICE AND POWERS-THAT-BE. SUCH COOPERATION WITH THE POLICE MUST HAVE NO PLACE IN ANY MOVEMENT THAT REALLY OPPOSES POLICE MURDER, ABUSE AND BRUTALITY.

Not only that: such slanders, threats and attacks are designed to enable, or in any case could objectively enable, the state to escalate the attacks on the Party and those who support and work with it to even more serious and grievous dimensions. These kinds of slanders and this kind of atmosphere played a major role in creating a situation during the 1960s and '70s in which poisonous conflicts were fomented by the FBI and other organs of the state, and important invaluable leaders were killed off, with the authorities able to hide their hand and blame it on “internal conflicts.” These slanders and attacks are also designed to create a situation where honest people who should know and do better—who would defend people against open attacks by the state—retreat into confusion.

The terrible damage done by this includes the assassination of Malcolm X, in which the outrageous slanders and threats against Malcolm coming from members of the Nation of Islam and their newspaper enabled the FBI and police to conceal their role in Malcolm’s murder. It also includes numerous incidents around the Black Panther Party, including the murder of Panther leaders Bunchy Carter and John Huggins by people associated with the cultural nationalist US group. And there are literally thousands of other such incidents, not so well-known, which were orchestrated in the same way.  This is STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE of the people who run this system—the “power structure”—the imperialist-capitalists.

Such slanders and threats were part of the whole “toolkit” of the FBI, a fact which only came to light in 1971 with the exposure of the FBI’s “COINTELPRO” program. These bitter and costly lessons, paid for with the blood of great leaders and the despair and suffering that came in the wake of all this, is today ignored by too many who know it, and not known by too many who should. Those engaging in these slanders are doing something very criminal, counter-revolutionary and dangerous and need to STOP.

Right now such attacks are particularly focused on Joey Johnson, as well as some supporters who are in Ferguson. These, again, are outrageous. And again: they must stop, and honest people, whether or not they agree with everything about the RCP, must oppose them.

Of a somewhat different order, but also doing damage and great harm and often working in tandem with the first, is a second set of lies: the notion that the Party is a bunch of people with no connection to the masses who care only about self-promotion. THESE TOO ARE LIES AND OUTRAGEOUS DISTORTIONS. Anyone who had a serious attitude—who actually looked into our history and practice going back 40 years and more, who read our press or examined our positions—would see this in a minute. But particularly in today’s culture of snarkiness and the attitude of “I-read-it-on-the-internet-and-I’ve-heard-it-around-so-it-must-be-true,” this has confused some people. To that end, we have included here for people’s reference a brief summary of the Party’s history in this struggle. Left to stand, this lie undercuts and destroys the unity needed to actually stand against a common enemy and STOP the horror of mass incarceration and police murder. And it creates the attitude where people stand back and do nothing when the state goes after revolutionaries and radicals who stand against it.

What Actually Happened in Ferguson

Much of this current round of attack has focused up in and around Ferguson. On August 9, Michael Brown was wantonly murdered by the cop Darren Wilson and his corpse was left lying in the streets of Ferguson, like so much trash, for hours. Immediately on hearing this, Party supporters came down to the city to join with people who were standing up—as they should have, and as did many other people. Throughout that time, the Party stood with those who made sure through the fierceness and unquenchable determination of their struggle that this murder would not be covered up, not be tamped down by yet another round of the dead-ends of voter registration drives, lawsuits, investigations and everything BUT justice for yet another callous murder of an unarmed Black person by the police.

This stand in particular incurred the wrath of two kinds of people and has been the proximate cause of the threats, attacks, slanders and lies that made this article necessary. The first are those who outright work in or for the system (Ron Johnson, who is after all nothing but a PIG, Antonio French, the politician whose great claim to fame seems to be that when police in his district murder somebody they give an excuse for it; Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo, mouthpieces for the ruling class media; etc.); and the second are those who are not themselves part of the power structure but still wish to steer masses of people away from defiance and rebellion and into the tried and untrue meaningless dead ends of voting, “conversations,” “working through the Justice Department,” etc.

As for the cops, politicians and top news commentators, these people are enforcers of the system, pure and simple. There is no common ground with them. As for those who attempt to police the masses and attack the revolutionaries for standing with those masses—they fear the specter of the people rising up much more than they hate what the police do every day; this is why you see them doing the work of the police, telling the people to go home, fingering those who they claim are agitators, etc. They cannot conceive of anything beyond reforming this system, and more than anything they want “in” on it, and so they also fear and hate talk of revolution—especially as this gets a hearing among the people. Such people need to be sharply struggled with to see the consequences and implications of their actions and to get off them, and to be won over to at least friendly neutrality. Finally, all this has led to confusion of those who seem content to believe anything that they see on the Internet, who are not driven to find out the truth for themselves, and who just “go along” with the crowd—and this too does significant damage to the actual crucial fight that must now be urgently waged.

Those in the streets, the defiant ones, see no place for themselves in this system—they understand on a basic level that there is no future for them, and when the outrages just get to be too much and the chance comes to stand up against these outrages they fearlessly do so—these represent the hope for real change, if they are given leadership and support, if they are worked with to see the source of the problem and its solution, and if work is done to rally people very broadly to support their righteous stand. To the accusation that we have worked with and supported and provided leadership to these forces, we plead “innocent as charged.”

The Party’s Aims and Objectives

The RCP works with and stands with the masses to resist police terror and mass incarceration all over the country, in many different forms, AND we work to expose the real source of the problem—capitalism—and the real solution—revolution. These two aims flow out of a single place: our implacable opposition to the horrors that are brought down on masses of people based on our deep conviction that not only is this totally unjust and illegitimate, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We could get to a whole new situation where the police terror that comes down on masses could be ended—through REVOLUTION. This understanding not only leads us to be at least as outraged as anyone else by these horrors, and at least as driven as anyone else to end them... it also leads us to grasp that UNLESS people are inspired and organized to stand up against these, they will be driven down and broken, unable to wage the larger struggle for emancipation. And we understand—through actually digging into WHY police terror and mass incarceration has grown like a cancer these past four decades, how this is linked to the capitalist system—that unless this is stopped, what is now a “slow” structural genocide could be escalated at some point into a fast, horrendous “final solution.”

Our aims and objectives in entering into these struggles are:

  1.  to build the strongest, most determined and broadest possible resistance to police terror and mass incarceration...
  2. to build up the people’s consciousness and fighting capacity against the enemy (the state—that is, the governmental structures of violent repression and decision-making), with particular emphasis to organizing and standing with those directly under the gun...
  3. at the same time, to reach out broadly to many, many others in all walks of life in society to go against the demonization and isolation of those on the bottom who are the objects of this terror and imprisonment...
  4. to instill in millions a sense of the systematic character of all this and the total illegitimacy of a system that requires this...and
  5. through all this to both change the terms in society in such a way that the rulers are put on the defensive and forced to back off on this program AND to prepare people, in their millions, to actually make revolution and DO AWAY with this madness at the earliest possible time.

All this flows out of and is part of our strategy to actually make revolution in the U.S., at the earliest possible time. People can and should check out our explanation of this strategy: “On the Strategy for Revolution.” In another sense, this strategy is concentrated in the slogan “Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution.”

Does this constitute a hidden agenda? No, it constitutes a larger agenda. And, anyway, so what? “Having an agenda” is far from unique to the Party! As one minister working within a coalition put it, “look, everyone in here has an agenda—I’m a Methodist minister and I’m coming from that point of view.”

Methods and Principles

As part of building the fight to actually STOP this outrage right now we work with many different people and political forces. We come together and make plans on how to unite in common struggle against a common enemy. And within that, there should be a spirit of lively wrangling over differences. If done in the right way, with largeness of mind and generosity of spirit, this kind of wrangling actually deepens the unity of any group of people working together.

At the same time, there should be and must be a few simple principles of what does NOT go in this movement. One of those principles, which everyone should be able to agree with, is this:

Differences among groups should be struggled out in a principled way. There must not be physical threats, let alone physical attacks, against anyone in the movement to end these outrages. Nor can there be accusations of working with the police—being a provocateur or informant—without actual evidence. And as for “working with the police,” there are often instances where it is necessary to negotiate permits, etc.; but in no instance is it ever permissible for people in struggle to finger, or turn over, others to the police or to speculate to the press—who often work closely with the authorities—about someone else in the coalition. Such activity should actually be cause for barring people and individuals from the people’s movements, until they renounce and change these practices.

Where We Are Now

Let’s face it: any honest review of the Party’s history over literally decades leading up to today would have to conclude that, as one minister put it, without the RCP this struggle would be far weaker than it is. However, because most people don’t know the history of the Party in this struggle, we have included an appendix going into this.

In April of this year, the RCP united with the initiative coming from Carl Dix and Cornel West for the Month of Resistance, now going on. 90 people, representing individuals and groups, met in April to hammer out a call for the Month. As of Sunday, October 5, 327 people have signed this call and hundreds are working actively on it in many different ways. Artists, including Alice Walker and Chuck D, have contributed important efforts. Clergy have begun to give sermons, as part of a concerted effort to bring religious communities into, or further into, this struggle. Students have taken up different plans on different campuses, including building mock prison cells, holding symposia, group “hands-up” pictures, and other efforts. Plans have been made and are going forward for massive demonstrations on October 22. And, while called by a coalition of other groups, the forces organizing the Month of Resistance (the Stop Mass Incarceration Network), including the Party, have enthusiastically endorsed the weekend in Ferguson.  There is a great deal at stake here in making this month a real blow against this whole genocidal program, a massive STOP sign right in the face of U.S. society.

Right now, as we said earlier, we are, with many other people and groups, working hard to make October a Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror and the Criminalization of a Generation. To actively work to wreck this effort, as some are doing, is unconscionable and shows only that they hate revolution and resistance more than they do the system and its horrors; to stand aside based on rumors and hearsay, to fall for the distancing carried out by others, some of whom are in league with the authors and perpetrators of these horrors, without yourself digging into the facts, is, in its ultimate effect, just as bad.

The juncture is clear: we have an opportunity over these next 3½ weeks to change the terms of things in this society, to seize the political initiative to create a sea change in how people view this outrage—to take a huge step toward actually STOPPING this. Not mitigating it, not ameliorating it, not carving out alternative space within it for a few—but STOPPING it. There is much right now going on that is different and extremely positive—much of it that has been sparked by or influenced by the call issued for the Month of Resistance and much that is independent of that and welling up from many different quarters. There is tremendous potential.

But to realize this potential—to really take this giant step toward changing the very terms in which millions of people view what is just, what is legitimate and what must be done—we must all go much further. That will take many, many people and political forces from a very broad diversity of viewpoints working together, in many different kinds of activities. Let’s DO this. Let’s honestly struggle over differences, learning from each other and developing our individual and collective understanding of the problem... but let’s most of all really go forward with the broadest, most united fight possible against a common enemy that is killing people and mutilating spirits even as you are reading this.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/361/nixons-state-of-emergency-illegitimate-and-outrageous-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Nixon’s State of Emergency: Illegitimate and Outrageous

November 17, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On November 17, Missouri Governor Nixon declared a State of Emergency—mobilizing the National Guard, and authorizing violent suppression of protest—even before there is an announcement from the Grand Jury on whether they will indict Ferguson cop Darren Wilson for the murder of Michael Brown. For all the sanctimonious lies we are fed about “protecting free speech,” the “bottom line” for those in power is armored personnel carriers, rubber bullets, toxic gas, violent assaults on news media—which Nixon’s press release calls “steps toward peaceful change.”

Nixon’s “State of Emergency” is an outrage on top of outrages—it violates this system’s own Constitution, and is completely illegitimate suppression of righteous protest. And it must be OPPOSED by anyone with any sense of justice!

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/enshrining-property-murdering-black-people-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Enshrining Property, Murdering Black People

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

When Missouri Governor Nixon issued a fascist “Declaration of Emergency” on November 17—canceling basic rights supposedly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and mobilizing the National Guard to violently suppress protests demanding justice for Michael Brown—he invoked the sanctity of “life and property.” And that message—the need to "protect life and property” is run in a constant stream from politicians and the mainstream (ruling class’) media. What does that really mean?

Look, nobody is calling for wanton destruction of property. Small businesses are not, in the grand scheme of things, the problem. They should not be damaged in protests.

But this is a system that enshrines property, and kills people. And for this system, Black lives in particular have never mattered.That was true when slaves were literally the property of slave-owners. It was true when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Black people had no rights a white man was bound to respect. And it is true today. A Black person can be murdered by police or a racist vigilante for wearing a hoodie, like Trayvon Martin...for supposedly selling loose cigarettes, like Eric Garner...for standing in the street unarmed, like Michael Brown. Or for walking down the stairs of a jail-like housing project, like Akai Gurley in Brooklyn.

The obscene worship of property goes hand-in-hand with oppressive violence and contempt for human life that is both the economic logic, and essential immorality, of this whole setup—and has been ever since the “Founding Fathers” situated “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” in a system of slavery and genocide against the Native peoples.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/mike-brown-poem-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Mike Brown

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

We received this poem, which was written by someone on the bus that went from Chicago to the November 15 Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian in NYC.

 

Mike Brown

My brother, though we never met
Invisible to a system that viewed you as trash
Killed in cold blood by that system's enforcer
Ever still as your body lay cold on the pavement.

Brother, you will always be in our hearts
Riding through our thoughts as we fight for justice
Our movement driven by your sacrifice
We will continue on in your name
Never forgetting that you are one of our own.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/todos-somos-ayotzinapa-thousands-demand-justice-for-43-disappeared-students-in-mexico-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Todos Somos Ayotzinapa! Thousands in 30+ Countries Demand Justice for 43 Disappeared Students in Mexico

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

November 20 was a Global Day of Action for Ayotzinapa—the case surrounding the coordinated assault by police and narcotics gangs on teacher training college students in Mexico’s southwest state of Guerrero, which resulted in the deaths of six people and the disappearance of 43 students. This date, the anniversary of the start of the 1910 revolution—an event institutionalized and commemorated by official parades—was marked this year by powerful demonstrations and strikes across Mexico and significant solidarity actions in more than 30 countries.

Mexico City. November 20, 2014. Photo: AP

Ayotzinapa is the popular name for the rural teachers training college in Guerrero. Its students come from very poor peasant and/or indigenous families. The rural teachers colleges in general, and Ayotzinapa in particular, are known for their tradition of instilling radical ideals and militant struggle, stemming from their founding in the early years after the 1910 Mexican Revolution, which overthrew the reign of a U.S.-imposed dictator in Mexico and enacted limited agrarian and constitutional reforms.

Two months ago, on September 26, buses carrying students from Ayotzinapa were ambushed and fired upon by police. Three students and three passersby were shot dead and dozens wounded on the spot, and 43 students were taken away in patrol cars, never to be seen since.

On November 20, tens of thousands of marchers snaked through the streets of Mexico City, one of the world’s largest metropolises, and overflowed the central plaza, which holds 100,000 people.

At midday, one contingent of 400 attempted to march to and close the Benito Juárez International Airport but was blocked by police. After the protesters retreated, they were completely surrounded and then attacked by police, with many wounded and arrested. Residents of the neighborhood of working and unemployed people and basic masses, where this was taking place, stepped out to demand that police stop the attack and release the marchers.

Late into the evening, after the end of the main march, furious demonstrators continued to face off against federal police in front of the National Palace, even after 50 truckloads of police beat and tear-gassed large numbers of marchers and arrested dozens. The police and mainstream press attempted to blame this repression on the violent actions of a small group they described as “anarchists.” But one widely shared photo shows police attacking the head of Mexico’s Children’s Rights Network, who later reported that his whole family was beaten, including a three-year-old child.

Tens of thousands of college students shut down campuses in dozens of Mexican cities, supported by thousands of teachers. In a number of cities, telephone workers stopped work in solidarity. In several states, youths seized highway toll booths, as has become a frequent tactic; travelers were allowed through free of charge and/or asked to make small contributions to the struggle. In the southernmost state of Chiapas, where in 1994 a guerrilla uprising temporarily seized large swaths of territory, thousands marched in spite of police repression. Five thousand marched in the eastern state of Veracruz.

Vigils, marches, and die-ins around the world ranged from London and Madrid to as far away as India, South Korea, and Australia—many at Mexican consulates but also at universities. In the U.S., actions at Mexican consulates mobilized much larger numbers of immigrants than have been seen for years, including many hundreds in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. There were also dozens of actions at colleges and universities across the U.S.

 

#Ayotzinapa #Palestine #Ferguson

On social media, dozens of shares and retweets, and sometimes hand-written signs, express the sentiment shown in this graphic, accompanied by statements such as, “Different fronts all same fight,” “Be internationalist,” or YourStruggleIsMyStruggle.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/los-angeles-thousands-march-and-rally-for-missing-mexican-students-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Los Angeles: Thousands March and Rally for Missing Mexican Students

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Thousands of people from Mexico, young and old, took to the streets of Los Angeles Thursday night, November 20, to protest the disappearance and possible mass murder of 43 college students who were last seen in police custody in the city of Iguala on September 26, and who were reportedly turned over to drug traffickers and murdered. This date was the anniversary of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, and it was marked inside Mexico by one of the largest anti-government outpourings of protest yet at this likely massacre of the 43 students.

Photos: revcom.us

In Los Angeles, three protests converged in front of the Mexican consulate near MacArthur Park. The largest was a march, estimated at more than a thousand, of people who had come together to watch President Obama’s speech on immigration at historic Olvera Street. They then marched more than three miles, carrying handmade signs and banners, chanting the whole way to the consulate. There, people took over the streets, expressing their rage at this horrific crime. Some held individual pictures of the 43 students, and photos of many of them were planted in the grass. The father of one of the missing students spoke at the rally.

The people repeatedly counted to 43 and called out for justice. Another chant demanded, “They took them alive; and alive we want them back”—because many people do not trust the Mexican government and don’t believe its version of what happened to these youths. And over and over the protesters raised the demand that Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto be removed from office.

The kidnapping and likely murder of these students has struck a powerful chord among the Mexican people; it has unleashed a sentiment that what is happening in Mexico—the disappearances and killings, the violence of the drug traffickers, together with the collusion of the police and government officials—has to end. A woman expressed the sentiments of many people: “I feel horrible, and tired. Enough. And it’s not only 43. There are thousands and thousands.”

There were many Mexican-born high school and college students there who are very angry and impatient. A high school student spoke passionately about how she sees the situation:

I’m Mexican, and I’m tired of the murders and kidnappings that constantly happen in Mexico, and I want it to end; and I want my narco-government to end; and I want this to stop. So that people my age, people going to college, don’t have to fear getting an education. I want my people free. I want my people to not die on the streets, every day. I don’t want them being kidnapped; I want them to be free of this.

We are tired of living in fear, of the drug traffickers and the government; knowing they [the government] are working with them, knowing they will never protect us. We are tired of this.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/abortion-on-demand-and-without-apology-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

From StopPatriarchy.org: Each year on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, tens of thousands of anti-abortion fanatics descend on DC and San Francisco in their March for "Life"

This January 22 WE FIGHT BACK!
Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!
Act, Witness, Defend, Protect!

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Across the country, women's right to abortion is in a state of emergency – and the future of women hangs in the balance. Having and raising a child can be a wonderful thing. But, forcing women to have children against their will is a form of enslavement.

Hundreds of anti-abortion restrictions have been enacted. Dozens of clinics have been forced to close. Women who self-abort – or even miscarry – are being sent to prison. Terror, harassment and even murder against doctors and staff continues. Politicians talk openly of pregnancy from rape as a “gift from god,” stoking thousands of years of tradition and shame.

The war on women is real. It is not figurative, it is not an election ploy, it is not a talking point and it is not going away on its own. This assault has built for decades, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats controlled the levers of power. Despite advances for some women in some spheres, deadly violence, enslaving legislation, theocratic social movements, and hate-filled revenge against women are rapidly rising. The fight over reproductive freedom is a front line of this war.

All this is building up to an even more dangerous show-down as extreme anti-abortion legislation works its way up to an increasingly hostile Supreme Court.

The hour is late. Yet this direction can be defeated – if we cast off illusions and prepare for struggle. No major advance for women – or for the oppressed generally – has been won without people stepping outside of “acceptable” bounds, daring to change minds, and putting themselves on the line. People of conscience must go beyond cursing at their tv's or vesting their hopes in the courts and politicians. We must take the responsibility to resist!

This January 22nd, the anniversary of the legalization of abortion, join in making a leap in the level of resistance to this war. Join in opposing the “March for Life” in DC and San Francisco, refusing any longer to let them claim the high moral ground or go unopposed in the broad stage of society and calling out to millions to join in this fight.

Defeating this war on women will require sacrifice and daring. It is worth it. The future of women is being decided one way or the other.

This January 22, we fight back!
Act, Witness, Defend, Protect!

 

ABORTION ON DEMAND AND WITHOUT APOLOGY!
FORCED MOTHERHOOD IS FEMALE ENSLAVEMENT!

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/the-death-of-akai-gurley-at-the-hands-of-the-nypd-is-no-accident--it-is-murder-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

The Death of Akai Gurley at the Hands of the NYPD Is No Accident—IT IS MURDER!

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On Thursday, November 20, just after 11 pm, Akai Gurley and a friend left another friend's apartment in the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York neighborhood. As soon as they entered the unlit stairwell of the building to walk downstairs, Akai was shot in the chest by a New York Police Department officer and died soon after. Just like that, another young Black man’s life was stolen. Mayor de Blasio called it a “tragic accident.”

NO, MAYOR DE BLASIO, THIS WAS NOT A TRAGIC ACCIDENT! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE POLICE CARRY OUT A PROGRAM OF WANTON DISREGARD FOR BLACK LIFE!

NYC Revolution Club protests the murder of Akai Gurley who was killed by an NYPD police officer in the stairwell of the Louis Pink Houses public housing complex. Nov. 22, 2014. Photo: AP

Akai was just 28 years old. He had just spent the evening having his hair braided and was going home. He had a two-year-old daughter. And just like that, he was shot down and killed, his life just snatched away.

Yet another UNARMED Black man shot down and murdered by the pigs—and this time the NYPD is even being forced to admit that the man was totally innocent; they could not even make up some kind of bullshit story to try to justify their criminal act. The mayor asked people not to connect this murder to other recent murders of Black men by police, saying they all have very specific and different situations.

In fact, who could not make the connection between the murder of Akai Gurley and the murders of so many countless others cut down by the police? Who could not make the connection right now between this murder and the recent murder of Eric Garner, choked to death by the NYPD for supposedly selling loose cigarettes, and the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, who was cut down, unarmed with his hands up in the air? Who could not make the connection between the anger people are feeling about the murder of Akai Gurley and how the whole country right now is watching, waiting to see whether the grand juries will bring down indictments on the cops who killed Eric Garner and Mike Brown?

NO! The killing of Akai Gurley was not “an unfortunate accident.” This was the direct result of the Standard Operating Procedure, of the conscious policies of the police. This was the direct result of the NYPD’s policy of “vertical patrols” in the housing projects. The police go to the top floor and walk down through the stairwells. Bratton says cops have the discretion to have their guns drawn. The New York Times talks about how the “dimly lit stairways and dilapidated conditions create fertile ground for violent crime, while the constant presence of illegal firearms creates a dangerous and highly volatile environment for police officers and residents alike.” What bullshit! This is turning things upside down. The whole situation of these “dimly lit stairways” has not only created an unsafe situation for the residents of the buildings—but it has become an excuse, a rationalization for the police to justify “shooting people who appear in the darkness”—even if they are completely innocent!

The police and media all talk about how dangerous these patrols are—FOR THE POLICE! What about the danger these cop patrols pose for the people in the housing projects? This is NOT the first time that the police have shot someone in the stairway of a housing project. In 1994, 13-year-old Nicholas Heyward Jr. was killed in the stairway of his housing project by a NY Housing Authority cop doing a “vertical patrol.” In 2004, the NYPD killed 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury Jr. on a roof at the Louis Armstrong Houses in Brooklyn. A grand jury declined to indict the cop after he gave “emotional testimony” that he had unintentionally fired. He said he was startled when Stansbury pushed open a rooftop door in a place where the police said there was rampant drug dealing.

Imagine that happening anywhere else and to any other section of people! Imagine the NYPD doing “vertical patrols” in a high-rise condominium in Manhattan, with their guns drawn!

Enough Is Enough! People Need to Fight Back!

Two days after the murder of Akai Gurley, 200 people took to the street in a determined and defiant march called by the Black Autonomy Federation. The protest started at the front doors of the building where Akai was murdered and went first to the NYPD's 75th Precinct and then ended at the Public Service Area 2 (headquarters of the NYPD cops who patrol the projects where Akai was killed).

People were angry and outraged, chanting over the bullhorns, “From Ferguson to NYC, Fuck the police!” “These killer cops mean we got to fight back!” “Indict, convict, send the killer cop to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell!” and many others. People came out onto their stoops and screamed, “Fuck the police!” Many connected this murder to the murder of Michael Brown. The crowd included the December 12th Movement; families of people killed by the police, including Nicholas Heyward Sr., father of Nicholas Heyward Jr; anti-police brutality activists; revolutionary communists; State Assemblyman Charles Barron; the Stop Mass Incarceration Network; and others. The revolutionary communists carried a banner about the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, that is set to come down any day now with a decision about whether to indict the cop who killed Mike Brown. It read, “IF THE KILLER COP WALKS AMERIKKKA HALTS!” The banner had been signed by many in Harlem. It was the center of much attention as many came over to take pictures of it. Carl Dix’s statement, "IF THE MURDERING PIG WALKS, AMERIKKKA MUST BE BROUGHT TO A HALT!" was distributed to the crowd and people on the street and in their cars along the way.

In his recent statement, Carl Dix said, “The grand jury investigating the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson will announce its decision any day now. All indications are that it will let the killer cop, Darren Wilson, walk free. This would amount to the system giving its stamp of approval, once more, to police wantonly murdering Black youth. This would be an outrage—one that we must refuse to accept.”

These are the connections that de Blasio doesn’t want people to make—and doesn’t want people to act on. But the people who face this day-in and day-out, from the Pink Houses in East New York, to the projects in Harlem, to inner cities all over the country, as well as all people of conscience, need to stand up and fight back right now! This system, with its enforcer cops, has no right to take the lives of our youth and to trample on the people’s rights! Enough is enough!

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/mr-fish--israeli-real-estate-agent-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Art from Mr. Fish

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Israeli Real Estate Agent

Dwayne Booth (Mr. Fish) is an award-winning cartoonist and writer whose work has appeared in numerous magazines and on websites across the country and internationally. He is also the author of Go Fish: How to Win Contempt and Influence People, as well as a forthcoming book on art as commentary, due out in September. Nothing delights Mr. Fish more than to use the razor’s edge of his art to reveal truths that snap your brain around and lay bare the hypocrisy and crimes of the system and all that goes with it. To see more of his work visit his website, clowncrack.com.

Revolution/revcom.us welcomes correspondence and artwork, including poetry, music, literature, and graphic art sent to revolution.reports@yahoo.com (please include contact and crediting information). The perspective and political views of those submitting works are, of course, their own; and they are not responsible for the views published elsewhere in Revolution/revcom.us.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/mr-fish--waste-deep-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Art from Mr. Fish

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Waste Deep

Dwayne Booth (Mr. Fish) is an award-winning cartoonist and writer whose work has appeared in numerous magazines and on websites across the country and internationally. He is also the author of Go Fish: How to Win Contempt and Influence People, as well as a forthcoming book on art as commentary, due out in September. Nothing delights Mr. Fish more than to use the razor’s edge of his art to reveal truths that snap your brain around and lay bare the hypocrisy and crimes of the system and all that goes with it. To see more of his work visit his website, clowncrack.com.

Revolution/revcom.us welcomes correspondence and artwork, including poetry, music, literature, and graphic art sent to revolution.reports@yahoo.com (please include contact and crediting information). The perspective and political views of those submitting works are, of course, their own; and they are not responsible for the views published elsewhere in Revolution/revcom.us.

* * * *

Interview with Science Writer David Quammen:
Ebola, Poverty, and Absence of Decent Healthcare in West Africa

Read more

Interview with Alan Goodman:
The Ebola Epidemic and Xenophobia: A Fundamental Question of Morality

Read more

Interview with Sigga Jagne:
EBOLA: We're too interlinked to ignore what happens anywhere in the world

Read more

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/check-it-out-soledad-obrien-documentary-black-in-america-black-and-blue-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Check It Out

Soledad O’Brien Documentary, Black in America: Black & Blue: “Everyone I interview... has a story about fear of police”

by Li Onesto | November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

It starts with a video from July 17, 2014—Eric Garner being attacked by NYPD cops in Staten Island, New York. There’s a voiceover of someone saying, “It could be you, it could be your loved one, it could be your brother, your sister, your uncle, your cousin, your friend.” Another voice says, “Things like this happen to us too often.”

Then the narrator says, “Officers are only supposed to arrest someone if they have evidence of a crime... Eric Garner is on the sidewalk, struggling against an apparent chokehold. By the end of this video, he will be dead.”

Then you see it: Eric Garner, in a chokehold, being brought to the ground. And you hear him saying, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”

The picture then cuts to a demonstration where people are chanting, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”

This is the start of the documentary Black in America: Black and Blue—Soledad O’Brien Reports. It premiered on Tuesday, November 18, at 9 pm ET on CNN; You can watch the trailer on YouTube.

*****

Soledad O’Brien wrote, “I have been reporting on the black community my entire career, most recently developing the documentary series Black in America, which illuminates the lives of black Americans from their point of view. Everyone—and I do mean everyone—I interview in the black community has a story about fear of police, usually their own.” (Soledad O’Brien blog on Huffington Post)

Indeed, this is the truth of the situation Soledad O’Brien brings out in this documentary—giving voice to some of the young Black men who have been victims of police harassment and brutality. If you can find this documentary on the Internet or CNN ends up posting it on their website, definitely watch it.

We meet Keeshan Harley, a college student who is 19 years old and lives in the Bedford- Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. He’s been stopped and frisked more than 100 times—and never been charged with a single crime. He says he was only 13 the first time he was stopped. The excuse they always give, he says, is “I fit the description.” He talks about how, in addition to the physical abuse, this “messes with you psychologically, emotionally.” Keeshan’s mother, Safiya Harley, doesn’t go to sleep until he comes home and says, “The fact that it happens just about every single day is overwhelming and can lead you to lose your head.”

Later Keeshan tells us, “Enough is enough. We have to demand something be done about this. If I see another story about a person of color being killed by a police officer for no reason I’m going to lose my mind. I have no idea how to exist in this society so I have to accommodate through the solidarity of my people... we have to keep fighting, these people’s lives matter.”

We also meet Luis Paulino. In August 2012 he was walking in his East New York neighborhood when he saw the police stopping a kid for riding his bike on the sidewalk. The cops had maced him, tased him. Luis said he wanted to make sure the kid was all right—“honestly, the kid could have been my brother.”

As Luis Paulino is talking, you’re seeing the video caught on a cell phone and it’s hard to look at. About five cops are all on top of Luis, beating him, punching and kicking him mercilessly. You hear people all around yelling, “He didn’t do nothing, he didn’t do nothing.” Then they cuff him and yank him up, face down by his arms behind his back, causing serious injuries. Luis is charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and obstructing a government official—charges that are all later dropped.

Today, Luis still goes to physical therapy for his injuries and is waiting for a third surgery to repair torn ligaments. He says, “Every time I’m asked about the incident I close my eyes and can see myself, I can see myself on the floor getting punched, getting kneed. Every day I wake up and I have aches and pains in both of my arms.”

We also hear from the cops themselves, including New York Police Commissioner William Bratton, who likens the NYPD’s handling of high-crime areas under [former] Commissioner Raymond Kelly to General David Petraeus’ “surge” in Iraq.

We hear from a cop whose identity is hidden. Interviewed in the dark, he says he believes the police department is aiming to create an atmosphere of fear and says, referring to the people in the neighborhoods, “What we do is hunt them.” He talks about how the cops have to fulfill quotas for stop-and-frisks and says, “The arrests must be made. One officer said, I’ve ruined job applications. I ruined this guy’s life, all because they needed a number.”

*****

One of the most moving parts of the documentary is when Keeshan and some of his friends are sitting up on a rooftop looking out over their neighborhood. They are talking about how the constant encounters with the police affect their lives—how they get out of their cars and get frisked immediately, how they get searched for no reason. One friend says, “What are you gonna do about it? You can’t do anything about it, it’s ridiculous.”

To this, Keeshan says, “Somebody has to stand up even at the risk of their life—for change. That’s what needs to happen And those who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones to actually do it.”

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/carl-dix-straight-talk-on-violent-extremists-in-ferguson-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

 

Straight Talk on “Violent Extremists” in Ferguson

Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, Responds to Accusations from the St. Louis Police Chief

November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On November 14, St. Louis police chief Sam Dotson said on a radio program, “The Revolutionary Communist Party, I don’t know what their interest is in the shooting of Michael Brown.” On November 17, Dotson named the RCP on The O'Reilly Factor, suggesting that the RCP was intent on “criminal acts.” This takes place as the FBI warns that “violent extremists” may try to take advantage of the situation in Ferguson. This takes place as Missouri Governor Nixon has declared a totally illegitimate “state of emergency” and called out the National Guard in preparation for the grand jury decision over whether to indict the pig who killed Michael Brown.

Four things must be said about this:

1. Chief Dotson, the FBI, and the National Guard are the real “violent extremists.” The police terrorize, brutalize, kill, and ship off to prison millions of Blacks, Latinos, and others. In St. Louis alone, the police department that Dotson presides over has killed Kajieme Powell and Vonderrit Myers just in the 107 days since Michael Brown's murder. The FBI has a gruesome track record of “extreme violence” and “criminal acts” against the people, especially those rising up against oppression (see “Important Lesson on Political Piggery: How FBI COINTELPRO Targeted Radical Groups”). And the National Guard unleashed tanks, tear gas, rubber bullets, mass arrests, and vindictive brutality against peaceful protesters in Ferguson. These people have no right to talk about “violent extremists,” and no one should take one word of what they say seriously.

2. As for the RCP's interests in the Mike Brown case: everyone with an ounce of justice in their hearts needs to be part of bringing America to a HALT if the cop who murdered Mike Brown is not indicted for murder. Refusing to indict this murdering pig would mean a green light for all who want to murder, terrorize, kill, and destroy our youth.

3. On another level, the RCP's interest in this case lies in the fact that racist violence has been woven into the fabric of the U.S. beginning in hundreds of years of slavery, then Jim Crow, and now through the New Jim Crow of mass incarceration and police murder. It will take millions rising up and sweeping this system off the face of the earth through revolution to put a stop to this horror and we are working every day to bring closer the time when that kind of struggle can be won and a new day for humanity can be brought into being. Many more need to join with this Party in preparing for, and hastening, this revolution.

4. These accusations turn reality upside down. They take the focus off the police murder of Michael Brown. They aim to break up the unity of the people rising up. And they aim to set up the RCP for illegitimate repression. People of conscience must oppose this. The media must stop airing these accusations and must allow myself and the RCP the chance to respond.

Carl Dix is a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party. He co-founded with Dr. Cornel West the Stop Mass Incarceration Network as well as the October Month of Resistance to Stop Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation that included protests in over 70 cities in the U.S. and several in other countries on October 22. Dix was arrested three times in NYC protesting stop-and-frisk and twice in Ferguson standing with the youth and others demanding justice for Michael Brown.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/Wilson-has-walked-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Wilson Has Walked

AMERIKKKA MUST COME TO A HALT! THERE IS RIGHTEOUS RESISTANCE AND YOU MUST BE PART OF IT!!!

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

by Carl Dix

The grand jury has refused to indict Darren Wilson, the cop who killed Michael Brown in Ferguson. Once again one of their hired guns has gotten away with murdering a Black youth. This is a shot to the heart. A brutal, horrible injustice in its own right. And a damning indictment of the very essence of this system. It was a statement that ONCE AGAIN, the lives of Black people mean NOTHING to those who sit atop this empire of injustice.

This has to stop. NOW.

AmeriKKKa has a long history of savage oppression of Black people going all the way back to the dragging of African people to this country in slave chains. This savage oppression continued after slavery was abolished in the form of Jim Crow segregation and lynch mob terror. And it's still in effect today in mass incarceration and the police given a green light to brutalize and even murder people. Police have killed two Black men in St. Louis since Michael Brown was murdered. A 12-year-old boy was murdered by police in a Cleveland playground just this past weekend.

For weeks the authorities told people to remain calm and let the system work. For days we heard them threaten to unleash militarized police and the National Guard on anyone who would protest. Well, the system has worked—it's let another murdering cop walk free. This amounts to the system giving a stamp of approval to police murder of Black people.

And that is why it is so right, so just, and so necessary, that people are standing up! Within hours, people from the projects from the campuses and beyond poured into the streets in righteous fury and defiant protest. They stood up to teargas in Ferguson. At 1 a.m., thousands marched through the heart of NYC—from lower Manhattan through Harlem and have shut down the Triborough Bridge. Protesters blocked key freeways in LA and Oakland. Hundreds at the White House staged die-ins. There were actions ranging from prayer vigils to street protests, from Boston, Baltimore, Seattle, and beyond.

There is no standing on the sidelines now.

Bringing business as usual to a halt needs to continue and be built on. People need to stay in the streets. Don't go to work. Walk out of school or make stopping this genocidal program what your schooling is about. People in the neighborhoods where police routinely brutalize and murder need to make their anger felt thru mass political resistance.

And everybody needs to join in saying NO MORE to police murder. Athletes and musicians need to take a stand on this. Everyone has to take a side in this fight—Are you with the police who murder Black youth and the system that gives them a stamp of approval for their murderous actions? Or are you with the people who are standing up and saying NO MORE to this shit? If you fail to act, you're going along with the stamp of approval this system gives to police murder. But if you do act, you can be part of changing everything!

What is at stake is the very world we will live in. Can you tolerate a world where the lives of Black people mean nothing? It's that basic. If your answer is no, bring AmeriKKKa to a halt! And DON'T STOP UNTIL THERE IS JUSTICE AND THE MURDERER OF MICHAEL BROWN IS IN JAIL.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/the-grand-jury-a-sick-hustle-an-obscene-farce-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

The Grand Jury: A Sick Hustle, An Obscene Farce

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a Reader:

One hundred and seven days after Michael Brown was gunned down in the street by Ferguson “police officer” Darren Wilson, St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced this murderer would not be charged with any crime, at all.

Posing as sanctimonious and “objective,” McCulloch claimed that he had given the grand jury “every piece of evidence” and that the decision to LET THIS PIG WALK was the will of the people.

BULLSHIT!

The whole grand jury move in this case was a sick hustle and an obscene farce to COVER UP and WHITEWASH the murder of Michael Brown.

Fact: Grand Juries do what a prosecutor leads them to do. Over and over and over again, prosecutors tell grand juries to indict Black and Latino people especially, and over and over again, those Black and brown people are on their way to jail, never mind the evidence. And it happens before you can say WTF.

Nearly every time a cop murders a Black man, the killing is just ruled “justifiable homicide” by a prosecutor. The difference this time? In the face of tear gas, rubber bullets, and armored personnel carriers, people in Ferguson rose up in heroic and determined protest. The world saw a glimpse of the reality of life, and death, in this country for millions. And it looked like a modern-day slave plantation.

So, rather than simply issue yet another “justifiable homicide” ruling, the DA—McCulloch—told everyone that he would let a grand jury make the call. But the decision to not charge Darren Wilson was orchestrated all along the way. The whole story has yet to come out about  how that went down, but there were obvious and glaring ways McCulloch set things up: For one, nearly every time a prosecutor brings a case to a grand jury, that is done with  recommending  charges against the defendant. Not so in this case. That sent the grand jury an unmistakable message that this defendant was different and a different set of rules applied. McCulloch fed the grand jury bullshit. He let the murderer testify for hours defending himself (something that almost never happens). And a constant stream of leaks from the grand jury favored Wilson and sowed confusion. McCulloch dragged the whole grand jury “investigation” out for months to try to burn out people’s energy and outrage.

And now this notoriously pro-cop prosecutor—who can send a Black or brown man on the path to prison in minutes, innocent or not—is trying to make it look like he’s above it all. As if he is an impartial agent of justice.

No. He orchestrated the whole grand jury whitewash.

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/rage-in-the-streets-of-ferguson-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Rage in the Streets of Ferguson

by Larry Everest | November 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

November 24, midnight

By 8 p.m. tonight, 600 or 700 people had gathered in front of the police station on South Florissant Street in Ferguson to finally hear—after 108 days of agony and anger—whether or not Darren Wilson, the cop who murdered Mike Brown on August 9, would be indicted for murder. People were already angry—chanting “What Do We Do? Shut Shit Down!” “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” “Indict, Convict, Send the Killer Cop to Jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!” People stood up against the metal rails separating them from the pigs guarding their station—yelling, “Your badge doesn’t mean shit to me tonight!” 

Most people I talked to sensed that the system wouldn’t indict Wilson, but it felt like people's stomachs were tied in knots, the tension thick enough to cut. (Last night one Black woman told me if Wilson wasn’t indicted, there was no longer any future for her six children in America.) The prosecutor’s press conference started at 8 p.m.  But then, after 108 days, they still couldn’t just come out with the decision. They tormented people standing out in the near-freezing weather with 30 minutes of bullshit before they finally spit out their decision: no indictment!

It was like a kick in the stomach. Rage rippled through the crowd. People chanted, people yelled, people surged against the police barricade knocking it over. People seemed to be moving in six directions at once. 

Earlier in the day, I’d heard Missouri Governor Nixon and the mayor of St. Louis claim they were going to protect people's right to protest. That as long as property wasn’t damaged they were going to let people take the streets, even block traffic. Bullshit! People marching down the street were confronted with several huge riot vehicles. Before even an hour was up the pigs were telling people to get off the streets, to stop throwing things, that this was an illegal assembly. Several hundred people stood defiantly. Then the tear gas rounds started coming, and people scattered back in front of the pig sty. But before long people regrouped and came back, standing right in front of the armored pigs. 

I was taking pictures and filming. The tear gas rounds started coming again—like flares being shot into the crowd, like you were in a war zone. I got caught in a cloud of gas at one point—it has an acrid stink, it stings your eyes and gags you, making you feel like you’re not going to be able to breathe. So by 9:30, barely an hour after the announcement, most of us had been driven from the area, although some 100 remained. 

But when we drove over to West Florissant near the Canfield Apartments where Mike Brown lived and was murdered, we saw hundreds, probably over 1,000 people, on foot, driving into the area in their cars—taking over the streets, venting their rage.  Someone who lives here told me it reminded him of the first nights after Mike’s murder. They too were attacked by the police and soon the whole street stunk of tear gas.

As we headed out we heard news of protests in St. Louis, including the shutting down of Highway 44. Protests will likely go through the night, and more have been called for tomorrow starting at 7 a.m. This is far, far from over. 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/when-did-racism-become-a-legal-and-moral-justirication-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

When did racism become a legal and moral justification for police and vigilantes to murder a Black man in amerikkka?

November 26, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader

We are now being subjected to the obscenity of Darren Wilson’s “testimony” to the so-called “Grand Jury” that let him walk. The prosecutor gave Wilson every opportunity to justify the murder of Michael Brown. And the essence of that justification seems to be that “Officer” Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown because, in Wilson’s racist mindset, Michael Brown looked “demonic!”

Demonic!?

Darren Wilson didn’t know anything about Michael Brown. He didn’t know, and didn’t care, that Michael Brown was loved by family and friends as a gentle giant. All Darren Wilson saw was a large Black man. Programmed by a system that demonizes Black people, Darren Wilson looked at an unarmed human being and saw demon. Killed him. And got a pat on the back from the powers-that-be.

That in and of itself would be a horror, an intolerable crime. But over and over racist hatred and fear is invoked – successfully – as a legal justification to kill unarmed Black men doing nothing at all wrong. Just in the last few months:

And in a trial seen around the world, George Zimmerman got a pat on the back for stalking a young Black man in a hoodie because in Zimmerman’s racist mind, Trayvon Martin – minding his own business – was a threat. That was all the system needed to give Zimmerman a license to kill.

In fact, in state after state – not just in the south – laws have been passed to encourage white people to kill Black people if they feel threatened by them, explicitly defining that as legal even if there is no REAL basis for that fear. Of course those laws are not intended to apply to Black people who have a legitimate and highly rational fear that an encounter with police can lead to their death!

The underlying “logic” and IM-morality of allowing all these murderers a free hand is that any white man has a legitimate reason and right to fear and kill any Black man, under any circumstances.

When did racist fear and hatred of Black men become a legal excuse to murder a Black man? Basically from the moment this system was established on these shores through the violent genocide of the Native peoples and enslavement of Black people – enforced by the whip and the noose.

After the end of formal slavery, the KKK terrorized Black people in the south, and beyond, lynching thousands of people for “crimes” like looking a white man in the eye, not stepping aside when a white person approached, or just for doing nothing. In the beginning of the film Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About, Bob Avakian recounts the nature and impact of these lynchings, including the infamous brutal killing of Emmett Till.

The 1915 movie Birth of a Nation, still to this day widely acclaimed as one of the greatest American movies by critics, is an infomercial for lynching – portraying Black men as – yes – demonic – rapists (even while during slavery and in the decades afterwards, the rape of Black women by white slave owners and plantation owners was systematic).

Today, it is the police – as well as racist vigilantes –licensed to kill Black people, with no better excuses than the KKK lynch mobs had. In the 30 years between 1890 and 1920, 2,254 Black people were lynched in the USA. Official statistics of the U.S. Department of (IN)Justice – certainly undercounted – list 3,696 Black people killed by police between 1976 and 1998.

And today, as in the days of the lynch mobs, popular culture, politicians (of all stripes), police chiefs (and NBA owners), spew out vicious racist stereotypes demonizing Black people.

This system was born in white supremacy. It is soaked through and through with white supremacy. The police who serve this system have no more legitimacy than a KKK lynch mob. Except that this murderous terror is coming from official armed enforcers of the powers-that-be.

 

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/in-the-outpourings-of-rage-around-ferguson-taking-responsibility-for-the-whole-thing-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

In the Outpourings of Rage Around Ferguson: Taking Responsibility For The WHOLE THING

November 26, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader

Last night, I was out on the streets as part of the major wave of protests shutting down business as usual in the wake of the outrageous refusal to indict Darren Wilson for the cold-blooded murder of Michael Brown. I ran in the streets with thousands of others for hours. We were jubilant, we were outraged, we were aching deeply in our hearts, but we were together and we were strong and we are right and we are not stopping!

I want to share some important observations about some of the best of what I witnessed from revolutionary communists out on the street. I call this taking responsibility for the whole thing in two senses – taking responsibility for the crowd as a whole, and taking responsibility for linking up this particular struggle with the fight for revolution and all the way emancipation as a whole. For the purposes of this piece, I am drawing on the experience of one comrade in particular.

First off, this person took responsibility for really forging a massive collective feeling of togetherness, determination, collective strength and resolve. She stepped forward, not because it was planned that way, but because it was needed – not just once, but over and over throughout the night. She repeatedly agitated and got the crowd agitating with her about why they were out there together, why they were right to be outraged, and what was called on them to do. She was very cognizant of the fact that many were protesting for the very first time and took special effort to lead them to transform very quickly from newbies, some uneasy at first even raising their voices to yell, into a strong, collective group who had not only found their voices, but were taking responsibility to lead others. At times, she did this by leading the crowd simply to repeat, “We are different today. We are standing up. We are together. We are right. We are not backing down.” Repeatedly, she reminded them of the right they had on their side, “Every day, the police come in and snatch our children away. Every day they lock them up. Every day they gun us down. Every day their killer police walk free. Every day they try to shut us down. Then they tell us to respect their decision. Respect their laws. Respect their process. Respect their system. As they keep killing our Black and Brown youth. NO! No! NO! We don't respect their process. We don't respect their decision. We don't respect their system. We respect the lives of Black people. We respect the pain of Michael Brown's parents. We respect the future of our youth. So, tonight WE ARE GOING TO WALK FREE. Tonight WE ARE GOING TO WALK FREE. Tonight, we will NOT BE SHUT DOWN. Tonight, we SHUT THEM DOWN. Tonight, SHUT THEM DOWN. SHUT IT DOWN. SHUT IT DOWN. SHUT IT DOWN. SHUT IT DOWN!” Imagine every single phrase of that repeated by hundreds and then thousands.

She paid a lot of attention to the crowd, leading new and especially very young people to step to the bullhorn and find their voices. Sometimes, to give them more confidence, she would bring two or three young people up together to have each other's backs and she would talk to them to get them ready. At one point, a group of Black teenage women stepped forward and one of them shared a heart-rending story of being stopped, shoved to the ground, and punched repeatedly by a cop when she was just 14 years old. She told through streaming tears about how she had flashed to her parents and her family and the pain they would feel if she were killed at that moment. This comrade held her up as she spoke and shook. But that is not all: when the young woman trailed off, breaking down in heavy sobs, this comrade gave her words to find her strength again, suggesting softly that she call out, “This has to stop.” The young woman did, and the crowd echoed. The comrade whispered, “Say it again.” The young woman did, this time stronger. The crowd got stronger too. Again and again the comrade urged the young woman on and again and again she called out, “This must END!,” each time stronger until she and her friends and the entire crowd had come through the pain and the trauma and found once again their sense of strength and even deeper righteous outrage.

The other big way that this comrade took responsibility is by repeatedly giving them a sense of the bigger picture that all this is part of. She didn't just say these things, she led the crowd to feel these things together. Several times and at different junctures in the marching – in the beginning as people were still gathering, while folks were getting tired and starting to drag while blocking a major intersection, after the crowd was attacked and dispersed by police as part of bringing everyone back together – this comrade led people through mic-checks that gave people both the sense of the tremendous important of standing up NOW and NOT BACKING DOWN and of how all this is linked up with and must contribute to BUILDING UP THE STRENGTH FOR ALL THE WAY REVOLUTION AT THE SOONEST POSSIBLE TIME to bring into being a world where all this carnage against Black people and all this oppression and exploitation that is so much part of the daily lives of billions on our planet really is no more.

She said, for instance, “Obama said we are a nation of laws. Obama said we have to respect the decision. Sure, this is a nation of laws. Laws built on white supremacy. Laws that enforced slavery. Laws that enforced segregation. Laws that defended lynchings. Laws that send millions of our youth to prison. Laws that let killer cops walk. Laws that send tear-gas and brutality against protesters. We don't respect those laws. We don't respect this process. We don't respect this system. We don't respect their authority. We don't respect their billy clubs. We don't respect their blue. The law and order they enforce is the law and order of modern-day lynchings. Of stop and frisk. Of police murder. Of sobbing parents. It stops today. Look around you. See all the cops. Their power is not legitimate. Look around you. See all these beautiful faces. White and Black and Latino and Asian. Immigrant and US-born. Male and female and trans and more. These are the future. We are the ones with right on our sides. We are not scared of their billy clubs. We are not scared of their arrests. We are not scared of what they will do if we stand up. We are scared of what happens if we lie down. We are tired of them killing our youth. But we are not tired of marching. We are not tired of yelling. We are not tired of standing up. This feels good. Don't you feel good? Amerikkka want to kill our youth. Shut Amerikkka down. Amerikkka wants to kill our youth? Shut Amerikkka down! This is how we will win justice. This is how we change ourselves. This is how we change the world. And this is how we build up the strength to go all the way. Revolution. Revolution. Bring this system down.”

She went on to talk about a future where: “Never again will Black parents have to fear for their children's lives at the hands of police. Never again will immigrant families be ripped apart by deportation and illegitimate borders. Never again will women know what it is to fear walking down the street or in their homes, of rape and brutality. Never again will children around the world quake in terror at made-in-USA drones and bombs. Never again will we watch the beauty of the oceans and the air and the glaciers and the lands poisoned and destroyed by capitalist greed. Never again. And we know that standing up for Michael Brown, shutting this injustice down, bringing this country to a halt is part of this fight to get a whole new world. We need real revolution. We need all the way revolution. People need to get with this revolution. The Revolutionary Communist Party stands with you in the streets today and we invite you into this revolution! Fighting today must be part of winning a whole new world. You can be part of that. There is nothing more important you can do with your life. You are in the right place. Let's do this together!”

Again, imagine all this as part of a collective mic-check. People got a sense of their power, their collective strength, had their sights lifted, and were invited into a bigger process. It was very striking, that at one point when the crowd had reached a certain juncture and was trying to figure out what to do next, some of the broader masses who had spoken for the very first time at the beginning rally stepped forward to lead the crowd by speaking and providing some orientation. It was also very striking that when they saw this comrade in the crowd they called out to her and pulled her up on top of a structure so that she could agitate and they held her up as she did. When she was done, and throughout the rest of the evening, people came up and hugged her. Thanking her for what she had said, for being there for them and with them. And wanting to stay in touch.

To be very clear, many, many people played a critical and inspiring and even heroic role throughout the night. Thousands did, across this country! Many other revolutionary communists did so and many other people coming from very different perspectives did so as well. I share these observations about this one particular comrade because I think this provides a good model to learn from for many who are part of the movement for revolution at this moment when we are called upon to really take responsibility for everything. We are, after all, just getting started!

 

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/haiku-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Haiku

November 26, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The D.A.'s cold sneers
His mama's angry tears:“This
is America.”

—Toby O’Ryan

 

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/police-attack-demonstration-in-downtown-st-louis-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Police Attack Demonstration in Downtown St. Louis

By Larry Everest | November 26, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Police violently shut down a mass demonstration in central St. Louis today. After government officials claimed they’d “respect” peoples’ right to protest, police today pepper sprayed protesters trying to enter City Hall—supposedly a public building—and then suddenly declared the whole demonstration of 250 an “illegal assembly.” Police later claimed it was because someone “made contact” with a security guard.

"We're not gonna give up until we get justice!" Interview with an activist in the Freedom Fighters organization at the protest in St. Louis, 11/26/14.

But this was just a bullshit excuse to violently clampdown on protest—after yammering on for weeks how they were trying to prevent “violence.”  When the police were lining up to attack people, protesters who simply voiced their outrage at the police actions were openly pointed at by the head pig—one man was swarmed by police, violently taken down, and arrested without warning.  Then police, seemingly just to humiliate people, declared the exact same march route people had taken to City Hall to be an “illegal assembly” and demanded people go on the sidewalks.

Peoples’ hurt and outrage were palpable. 

St. Louis, 11/26/2014—"Indict! Convict! Send the killer cop to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!"

The march had begun at 10:30 with a brief rally at Kiener Park, and then a peoples’  trial of Darren Wilson at the Old Courthouse.  It had been organized by Freedom Fighters and Tribe-X, two organizations formed in the wake of the August uprising against Michael Brown’s murder.  (Freedom Fighters is made up of Black women.)  The march was diverse—mainly youth. There were Black and white college students. There were clergy, including one who had come from Illinois. And many activists.  Some of the white people I talked to described being previously oblivious to the situation of Black people, but then being deeply impacted and changed by Michael Brown’s murder.  One young woman, a social worker advocate, carried a sign saying:  "My life changed when I started to listen."

People then marched down Market Street, shutting down traffic on one side.  When the march got to the intersection with Tucker Boulevard, people formed a chain, holding hands and encircling the whole intersection, and then stood silently for four-and-a-half minutes—a minute for every hour Michael Brown’s dead body was left in the street by the Ferguson pigs.  Then the march went to City Hall where the police attacked. 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/after-the-dialogue-observations-from-the-audience-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

After the Dialogue:

Observations from the Audience

Updated December 7, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The following comments are from people who were in the audience at the Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian on November 15, live and in person at the Riverside Church, and at simulcasts in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. A very wide spectrum of background and views were represented that day. There was unity and determination, but also controversy—between the speakers, and controversy provoked by the fact that both speakers challenged people to break out of the framework through which they see what kind of change is necessary and possible. We are just beginning to get a sense of the impact the event had on people. The following comments are mainly from exit interviews, and are very preliminary responses. They reflect the thinking of those who made them, in response to and provoked by what they saw and heard, not necessarily the views of the speakers. We will post more comments online.

We encourage everyone to watch the entire Dialogue at revcom.us! While we cannot post all comments sent to revolution.reports@revcom.us, all of them are appreciated and forwarded to the Dialogue organizers.

“I learned we can change this whole damn system that’s guilty as hell”

What I learned from the Dialogue is that we can change this whole damn system that’s guilty as hell. We certainly and most seriously need a revolution so our Black and Latino kids can rise up and be a part of our country instead of ending up dead or locked up because they are separating our families.

(Woman from Ferguson, Missouri)

“A More Scientific Perspective”

I appreciated what Bob Avakian said about putting things to a more scientific perspective—analyzing the way things are, but also looking at solutions to try to rectify, solve those problems. I think that analyzing problems, but also looking for solutions that can be the source of self-determination and overcoming a lot of the oppression, and also the social instability, the social issues, that are placed upon people. I think that’s a real effective way of addressing a lot of those issues. Most surprising to me was how thoroughly they discussed a lot of the problems that exist in today’s society. People who didn’t come missed a very enlightening and informative discussion, and a chance to be amongst a lot of other like-minded, intelligent people.

(Young Black artist)

“A kindness there that was more real time in conversation”

The most important thing was watching two people sit down and discuss, respectfully, and having an end goal. And that appreciation for how they arrive at that end goal is different, but whether it’s through religion or just basic human compassion, it was very exciting. I was probably more familiar with Cornel... I was exposed to him more on public TV; he’s such a character. Not that Bob isn’t, but when you see the REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! video, he’s so serious in the recording, which is great; I know he’s got a message and he’s only got so much time. But there is an endearing side of his personality and there’s a kindness there that was more real time in conversation, so it was nice. And you’re also seeing him interact with someone, so it’s gonna be different than someone like just going at it.

(A young white woman)

“I try to turn to God... but sometimes I have to change myself”

About Bob Avakian, he’s a very good speaker; he seems like a very educated man. But you know I agree with what he’s saying, though he’s not a real spiritual person. He really don’t turn to God for his answers, not like a lot of other people. A lot of people, even me, I try to turn to God with my answers, my solutions, but sometimes I have to change myself. I agree with some of the things he said. He just wants the system changed. He’s not believing in what’s above. He’s believing that there’s something going on down here on this earth. He wants this system changed and I agree with him. I want to see it changed, too. ’Cause I’ve had my own run-ins with this system. And this system here, I’ve got some good out of it, but there’s a lot of bad. Like when it comes to the police, stuff like this. When they stop me on the street, and ask me all kinds of questions, if you don’t say what they want you to say, you can’t afford to get in an argument with one of them. Another human being, they can argue with me or I can argue with them, and then say, OK, it’s over with, everything’s OK. I go my way and they’ll go theirs. But the police, if I argue with him one time, I might end up getting hurt; could be the last time. I could get hurt or get killed; or end up in jail.

(An older Black man)

“The role of today’s Democratic Party seems to be a stumbling point for some”

To my friend who invited me to the Dialogue. You asked me for my thoughts and here they are:

I have voted in every presidential election since 1972. I have been voting for governors and local representatives for even longer. In the early 1960s I remember freezing in below zero temperatures as my Mom dragged me from door to door, handing out literature in support of John F. Kennedy. Mine was not a “rah rah wave the flag for America” kind of voting, it was more “people must always be part of shaping the system” participation.  

Today, in 2014, I believe the “system” is worse than ever. I believe that participation of the people is more important now than ever. I believe that we cannot wait another minute to make real change.

So on this Election Day, November 4th, I wanted to do something more significant than ever to be part of the solution. No, I did not vote. Instead I booked a flight to New York City and bought a ticket to a dialogue between scholar and philosopher Cornel West and Bob Avakian, leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party. I have come to understand that there is no change coming through the ballot box. People’s participation in the electoral system is not going to shape our common future. We must reexamine our situation, think beyond our daily concerns and commit our lives to working for a better world.

The event was billed as a discussion about religion and revolution but it was not limited to a narrow interpretation of those topics. Both West and Avakian worked off the principle that things must change. We cannot be afraid to look at the real failures of this current system and we must act together to make the future a better place—for real. We cannot wait for politicians and courts, we must be the change. Religion and revolution can work together for this outcome, they do not need to cancel out each other.

It is difficult to convey all the ideas and insights expressed during the four-hour dialogue. I will share three points that were especially important to me.

1. I am not the only one who is overwhelmed by the scope of the problem.

2. Turning to the ballot box or to a higher power may be the way that some people deal with being overwhelmed but those actions will not bring true change. In addition, people who vote, people who pray, and people who call for direct action should not let these differences separate us. We need to see the common problems and work together for real solutions.

3. Some people have a very hard time letting go of the Democratic Party.

Let me explain.

First, being overwhelmed by the scope of the problem is understandable. Many of the questions from the audience centered on this theme. This is a David and Goliath match. How can the poor and disenfranchised even begin to stand up to the well-oiled, well-armed U.S. government? People watch their sons, their husbands, their families shot down by police and no one is held accountable. People are not safe in their homes. The racial dimensions of mass-incarceration have soared to staggering levels. Audience members seemed to ask the same question in a number of ways: how can we fight these oppressions when we are, in fact, being weighed down by these oppressions?

We cannot do it alone and the struggle will not be easy. There is no short-cut but that cannot deter us. People who suffer abuse daily, people who have spent years in prison, old people who have been fighting for decades, students on campuses, senior citizens who have become fed up, people on the coasts and people in small towns all need to see the same truth. That kind of unity is necessary but it also does not come easy. For me and for others who are just now understanding the scope of the problems it all seems overwhelming. That is understandable but it should not stop us.

Turning to the ballot box or to a higher power may be the way that some people deal with being overwhelmed but those actions bring only short-term relief. Voting will provide an immediate fix to a problem. Turning to prayer and to the Bible may bring immediate comfort to some. Although neither speaker said this directly I came away with the idea that it may make sense for some but the problems still required more direct action.

Voting down a 20-week abortion ban or a "Personhood" amendment is an emergency measure, like triage or an ER visit. You have to stop the bleeding but that is not the end of the problem. Saying a prayer or reading the Bible may ease the pain. It may connect you to family traditions, loved ones, and memories that warm you but prayer will not end the problems of society.

Moreover the fact that some may pray while others do not should NOT divide us. There is room in the present struggle for everyone who wants real transformation and there is room in the future for everyone who wants to commit to a world of equality. Avakian is an Atheist, West is a Christian but they both see similar real-time problems and similar future possibilities. They will not be separated by their differences and neither should we.

Finally, the role of today's Democratic Party seems to be a stumbling point for some. Avakian made the point in several ways: Democrats have not offered any relief, Obama has continued the war policies of Republicans, and Hillary Clinton will be no different. From where I was sitting (in the middle of the main floor) those comments drew the most vocal responses. First, people seemed uncomfortable with talk of real politics at this event. Did he really say "Democrats"? Is he really going to talk about that now? I heard those comments from people around me. In addition some people seemed unwilling to question Obama or Clinton or Kerry. I heard a collective gasp the first time there was a critical comment about Obama. Many supported Avakian's comments but I was also aware of the other reactions. I am sensitive to this right now; I am just getting used to the idea that the Democrats will not save the day. I still remember going door to door for JFK. It is a tender spot, almost a betrayal of some kind. In my heart and in my head I know that the Democrats are not the answer but it is still hard to say it out loud. I picked up on some grumbling because I am just coming to terms with that point myself.

My three "take-away" points are all personal. I am overwhelmed by the scope of the problem, I am just coming to understand that my vote is not going to bring the change we need and that the current cast of characters is actually part of the problem, not the solution. My impressions reflect my point in a personal journey; I know that others in Riverside Church had their own experiences. I know that as time passes I will think of other points and consider other ideas. But the importance of this moment will always stay with me. Rather than being a single, isolated voter alone in a little booth I was one of hundreds, gathered from across the country, together to share questions, concerns, and ideas. Being together and sharing the possibilities is so much better than being alone and in the dark. That is probably the most important thing I took away from this experience.

(A woman who flew into New York for the Dialogue)

 

“Don’t judge a book by its cover”

What struck me as most important was that two people from two different views can actually come together and express theirselves and come to a common agreement, and while disagreeing, that we’re all in the movement for the same fight. And it wasn’t too much beatin’ around the bush, there were actual answers for the questions that we had. I would say to someone who hasn’t seen this, don’t judge a book by its cover, because you have a history of communism and atheism, don’t judge by the cover. You have to first figure out why this is happening and what the solution is to the problem. There’s some shit in taking this on you need to hear and listen and learn.

(Young poet from Ferguson)

“They weren’t talking like Americans...”

What I loved is [Cornel West and Bob Avakian] proved to me that people can come together to change the world—and I mean all kinds of people from all walks of life. And I think they drew the crowd they did because they weren’t talking like Americans. They were talking like and for the world’s people.

(A Black student from the City University of New York who brought five people to the Dialogue)

“The one thing that kind of stuck out was Bob Avakian’s approach to understanding—a scientific approach...”

What was important was that we all need to get involved for the common good against this injustice and exploitation and oppression in America and around the world. And it takes an active understanding of knowing people’s differences as well as the common good that the masses need to agree upon.

The one thing that kind of stuck out was Bob Avakian’s approach to understanding—a scientific approach—digging into the depths of understanding reality and the relationship of that to a scientific social agreement or unanimity agreement among the world. That is needed to be understood.

I have a fight with my faith and the church, so stepping out in the social arena and working with people against the injustices, a lot of them believe we gotta give man what is man and let God take control of what God has control of. But what I think about what Avakian is saying is God has already given us the will and the choice to stand for what he has already instituted in his word as well as in our consciousness of what is right. So we need to take that will and that choice and be active against that which we know is definitely wrong and definitely against society as a whole.

(A Black man active in the struggle against police brutality)

“Depth and concern about the conditions of women in the world...”

I’ve never heard anyone—man or woman—talk with such depth and concern about the conditions of women in the world like Bob Avakian did in this event. I found myself crying and standing up in applause in what seemed to be inappropriate times in recognition of this. He spoke with the same conviction in regards to Palestinians when he explained that the Democrats—not one of them—said a word about the massacre in Gaza by the Israelis.

(A woman from Europe who was raised Muslim)

“I was really impressed with his radical, militant, ‘I don’t care, I will tell you’ perspective...”

For a long time, I’ve been following Cornel West. Bob Avakian is pretty new to me. I really liked it and it’s something I follow closely. To see the line around Riverside Church was most empowering. A point of view I share very much was expressed in ways I’m not capable of expressing. So I really, really enjoyed it.

Bob Avakian really, really impressed me. I was annoyed with people asking him to stop. It was a bit long, I must admit that, but I was really impressed with his radical, militant, “I don’t care, I will tell you” perspective. I think we need more of that. This nation is in fact fucking imperialist. Fact of the matter is I am an immigrant (from the Islands). To dream of a future where there are no immigrants. When people have that conversation—when they have that immigrant conversation—when you look at the immigrant population, you need to ask yourself why are they here—why I left my country? I left my mother who works seven days a week to try to survive. “That is why I’m working at this table to serve you, sir.”

It’s spectacular. We need to have more comings together like this. We need to have more lines wrapped around buildings in the middle of winter a few days before Thanksgiving when so many people won’t have food on their table. My message to those who did not come would go a little like that.

(Woman poet in mid-20s)

“We need to go to a spiritual foundation...”

I don’t really believe in Bob’s views because I’m a man of the Lord and I love Jesus and I love the Holy Spirit. I love the way it leads me. With Bob, I think his message was typical—hey, we can do it through science, just like they have been trying to do for years. And that hasn’t worked. We need to go to a spiritual foundation. And as a Generation Xer, I intend to advance the knowledge of understanding the fundamental ingredients of open-mindedness, possibilities and freedom of thought. And that way all the Generation Xers are about to bloom and we are about to be burst.

Science has tried to attribute and contribute in a way that’s bigger than humanity, bigger than ourselves, meaning that it can reach to the heavens. It can reach beyond God. That’s what science is... Science does one thing, and faith does another thing. As you see, Cornel West explained when you take the familiar for the unfamiliar and the known for the unknown, you don’t choose science any longer. You know a power greater than yourself, and it’s called the Holy Spirit. And this is what you take before science once you become a believer of that. Now most of the time man believes in science. A man is like, “Oh, I can fix this. I can be better than this so-called God. And the only thing that kind of messes that up is a person that does not know how to get in touch with Jesus Christ, God Almighty, the Holy Spirit and the teacher.”

If I had a friend that wasn’t able to make it, I would tell him that both made very important points, and the whole program was a dialogue with two gentlemen who have been in the civil rights movement, who have been revolutionaries, who have been visionaries, who have been leaders of their own thoughts, of their own views, of their own opinions. They have been through storms and correction, and many many, detours of obstacles. They both have touched the ground of their own emptiness, and they have given us a message of hope.

(An activist who has been arrested dozens of times and served time in jail for activism)

“The creativity of the human spirit is something that needs to be allowed to flourish...”

BA said something that I didn’t expect, but something that touched a very unique chord in my heart. He began talking about the recent comet landing and the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake as being just as important as all of the arts.

This comparison of science and arts, placing them on equal footing and as interchangeable manifestation of human motivational needs hit me particularly close. I recall at one point trying (with little success) to convince one of my professors that science is also an art. Hearing BA validate this sentiment was refreshing and I wish I could have been as eloquent as him when addressing this professor. The creativity of the human spirit is something that needs to be allowed to flourish. Without this, we cannot be fully human. This is what a revolutionary society needs.

(White male, graduate student)

“This is not a game...”

People were hearing things said to a large group from two people who were speaking without any self-aggrandizement. That’s rare. Everyone around me had strong reactions to BA’s remarks about the Democratic Party—how he knew there were people in the audience who had been taken in and voted for Obama, and he explained what the Democrats are actually responsible for, how they’re part of the problem. One friend described this section as “brilliant, masterly.” People don’t hear the truth spoken very often, not just the truth, but why things happen. And that night they heard that about a lot of things.” The Dialogue itself was amazing. Magical is a good word for it. There was so much unity, not just ideologically, but they were working together.

Both were strong and confident, not just in themselves but for a better world. This was very real, and infectious just watching them function together. But it was not like they were larger than life. They were heroes and two people talking with great intelligence and passion.

BA repeated several times, “This is not a game, we’re very serious about this.” I think that’s important, and maybe the “headline” for what happened.

(A woman who has been a supporter of BA for many years)

“I didn’t know that Bob Avakian was a Caucasian male...”

What surprised me was that, first, I didn’t know that Bob Avakian was a Caucasian male, and it surprised me that he spoke the truth like that, because usually a lot of Caucasian people wouldn’t do that, 'cause they don’t want people to know the truth, you know? And I feel like he really broke it down, and that was just really interesting, because the way they broke the subjects and the situations down I really understood it, and I feel like it’ll change things, change the world.

(Young Black woman from Chicago)

“Both speakers talked about the struggle of gay people with real substance...”

Both speakers talked about the struggle of gay people with real substance, they made sure to bring that in. I was surprised in a positive way, given the audience in Harlem where it might not be so popular, that they made a point of talking about this.

(A young artist)

“All the information about WHY most of our Black people are getting killed for no reason”

They said it’s always the Black people that get killed for no reason. What surprised me? Knowing that it’s always us—like my brother who was killed by police. You shoulda came because it gives you all the information about WHY most of our black people are getting killed for no reason.”

(Twelve-year-old Black youth from Chicago)

“We need to give more thought to how people live while they are here and not pie in the sky.”

I’m a Christian. One of the things that struck me listening to the communist is that much of what he said is at the heart of, is foundational to Christianity, in terms of the Kingdom of God. The unfortunate thing about it is that the Christian religion gets a lot of criticism because we think a great deal about the pie in the sky by and by, thinking about a different world and getting the pie in the sky by and by. The reality is I don’t care if this is scientific or unscientific, this is a world full of people. One of the things I like to say to young people is part of the reason that a lot of these people get caught up in all these rituals they get caught up in it and can’t let it go. Because they’re thinking and acting like everything in this world is going to be forever. The graveyard in every society is an object lesson that nobody in this world is going to stay here and this world is not forever. But we need to give more thought to how people live while they are here and not pie in the sky.

(Black man in his sixties)

“Imagine!”

I was delighted that my question was one of those selected to be posed to BA and Cornel. I don’t think either gentleman had heard that one before. Cornel’s answer was predictable (“God is not a concept, God is love”) though I have to say, “love” is a concept, too. I think BA might agree with Lennon’s “God is a concept by which we measure our pain” once he ponders it a bit.

Unfortunately, “religion” comprised about 10 percent of the dialogue whereas race and class struggle occupied 90 percent of the dialogue. This was too bad since I came more to hear the former more than the latter, though I understand why race and class struggle matter. I also understand why it would have been hard to focus on BA and Cornel’s differences when they obviously find support in each other’s views.

BA needs to listen a little more with his audience—there were people all around us who were chanting “Give us Cornel!” I’m used to sitting in long lectures, but I’m guessing many there who were more familiar with Cornel than BA would have been shocked if they expected equal time for both.

The above critique aside, I thought both did a marvelous job of communicating their fundamental tenets and we all came away thinking, “Imagine.”

(A Columbia University professor)

“Avakian’s approach to ‘salad-bar Christianity’”

I feel there was an important subtle shift in Avakian’s expression of unity-struggle-unity with the religious. In Away With All Gods! and other previous criticisms of religion, I hear BA more blanketly dismissing the “salad-bar” Christianity, compared to what sounded in the Dialogue like a more embracing stance of accepting this approach when it is in the context of creating a movement for revolution. Others that I spoke to were surprised to hear BA say that he would rather walk with brother West than some other atheists. This didn’t surprise me, but the nuanced critical acceptance in Avakian’s speech was a significant emergence: “I don’t think we need God, but I do think the people need a lot more soul.”

Cornel shared his sentiment that Ferguson might be just the first of a wave of rebellions, more a righteous hope than a prophetic statement. This raised my eyebrows and my spirit.

To play off the Katt Williams comedy routine, where he proclaims to his friends and family (the ones that aren’t working all day or otherwise committed to some pursuit)—"If you aren’t smoking weed, then I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH YOUR LIFE?!!” The thing he is riffing on and hammering home in the routine is that there are ways in which altering your consciousness can be uplifting and lead to insight. And in a more provocative way, I want to express to my friends and family (all 10 of them, most of which are working or strongly focused)—firstly, if you aren’t engaging the need for revolution then WTF. Secondly, because more and more persons in the U.S. are, the Dialogue of 2,000 at Riverside, the national response to O22, and the masses making Ferguson an international issue, can be the beginnings of a movement. Thirdly, we need you to be “presente.”

“It opened my eyes...”

The Dialogue was very, very motivational. I was very inspired by Bob A. breaking down how serious it is that we need a movement for revolution. When Mr. Bobby broke down the reason we are in the predicament we are in today it opened my eyes and I really, really realized we need Revolution—Nothing Else.

(A Black middle-aged woman in Revolution Club)

“As a Christian myself, I had to think about my own views...”

And as a Christian myself, I had to think about my own views. Especially with the first speaker. He helped me to look more critically at my own position and that’s very helpful. Whether you are going to believe in all he’s saying or not, it’s helpful to have your thinking tested. When Malcolm X spoke to a Christian audience, he would tell them that we are not oppressed because of what God we believe in, or because we are Methodist, or Baptist, or Muslim, we are oppressed because we are Black. I think they [BA and Cornel West] are able to work together because they are both genuinely opposed to that oppression.

(A Black student who attends Union Theological Seminary, where Cornel West lectures)

“On the question of violence...”

From the first time on hearing the topic that was going to be discussed by these two highly regarded public intellectuals, I got excited. These two men, coming from different perspectives, reached similar conclusions, which proves to me the seriousness of the world situation and the need for drastic solutions.

Having never been to NYC also motivated me to want to step out of my comfort zone and make arrangements to get off of work so I could participate. Having got the days off, I then had to think about the bus ride itself, which was a long one. I threw out my expectations and trepidations and figured I could handle the close quarters. I was not disappointed. Even though I am an introvert and not the most sociable person in the world, the youthful energy and intensely interesting conversations swirling all around me kept me engaged and connected to the group. The bus ride was great! On the whole, the trip was well organized and planned out, even though there were a few glitches. When we arrived in NYC and into the church for the lecture, I was ready. It took me a second for my ears to adjust to the sound in the hall which was very echoey, but once that happened, I was not disappointed.

The energy and articulation by both men confirmed my feelings that they are committed to trying to create a new and better society. Cornel West won’t allow his religion and belief in God to keep him from the critical analysis of the problems confronting society. Bob Avakian let it be known that he’s serious about revolution and not playing around. On the question of violence, he was clear that he’s not advocating anything except whatever is necessary to wrest power from the capitalist class, which won’t turn it over willingly. I only wish there was a moderator to kind of expand the question and answer portion of the program, but there was only so much time available.

(Author unknown)

“Openness and sense of humor...”

They really brought home that, in fact, the system itself cannot be expected to produce anything but what it has. Most surprising was the openness and sense of humor, and self-criticism they made by both Cornel West and Bob Avakian. To those who didn’t come, I would definitely say you’ve got to watch this when it becomes—I hope—available for viewing.

(A Black woman from Los Angeles)

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/awtwns-from-ferguson-to-london-no-justice-no-peace-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

From A World to Win News Service

“From Ferguson to London: No Justice, No Peace!”

November 27, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

London Protest against Grand Jury Decision in murder of Michael Brown November 26, 2014

Photo: AP

Close to two thousand people took over the streets of central London Wednesday night [November 26] in anger at what’s happened in Ferguson. The protest began in the shadow of the U.S. Embassy. A deep feeling of solidarity with the fighters in Ferguson marked the crowd. Family members of young Black men murdered by “London’s finest” spoke movingly of how they felt the pain of the family of Michael Brown—the pain that a mother or sister knows at seeing her son or brother cut down before his life had really even begun. They also spoke of how they felt the rage that Michael Brown’s family must have felt as the U.S. authorities slammed the doors of justice right in their face with the Grand Jury decision—just as the British injustice system had done to them time and time again. As the sister of a young Black man who had been murdered by the police put it, “people around the world understand the anger and frustration that people feel when their loved ones are murdered by the police in the streets.” Another speaker noted that the U.S. was born in slavery and genocide—but that the slave ships crossing the Atlantic were usually English.

Hundreds of Black youth were joined by students from London’s elite universities, activists from Occupy, anarchists, and a handful of youth from the Middle East and North Africa who’d seen the same kind of repressive apparatus at work in Missouri as had bloodily suppressed their own rebellions in the “Arab Spring.” People snatched up copies of Carl Dix’s call to bring AmeriKKKa to a halt—eager to hear what revolutionary communists in the U.S. had to say. The police stood back—seemingly unprepared for the size of the crowd, or its militancy as it broke away from the Embassy and moved swiftly to take to London’s streets. But if the authorities had some idea that the marchers were merely expressing sympathy for people “across the pond,” and that this had nothing to do with them, then they were quickly set straight. The marchers blocked the capital’s traffic arteries for hours. Thousands of Christmas shoppers and tourists in London’s Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus heard the youths’ chants of “No justice, No Peace, Fuck the police!”, “Black lives matter!”, “From Ferguson to London, we want justice!”, and “Darren Wilson do your time, Being black is no crime!”—this was a generation for whom Ferguson was just about as familiar as Manchester or Birmingham—and just as close to their hearts.

More people joined in as the youth marched in a steady rain headed to the country’s seats of power, past 10 Downing Street and to the infamous Scotland Yard, HQ of the Metropolitan police. Time and again vanloads of riot police would arrive at the scene—just as the youth flew off in a completely different direction. As the march went past Big Ben and Parliament, many began to chant, “Burn it down!” reflecting people’s deep disenchantment with the workings of parliamentary democracy. The marchers soon reached Parliament Square, a historic center of dissent that the authorities have been trying to close off. In recent weeks the police had erected 10-foot fences around the Square’s entire perimeter, mainly to keep out Occupy protestors. Just last weekend 200 police had fought off 100 or so activists who’d attempted to occupy the Square. But tonight the marchers just rolled over the Square like a wave, and by the time they’d left not a single foot of police fence was left standing.

Almost no one had expected such a large turnout—the night had begun with only a couple of hundred, but word spread through social media and the numbers grew quickly and steadily through the evening. One chicly dressed young Black woman from Sweden who was visiting England said she was protesting for the first time in her life: “I can’t believe I’m here, I don’t do things like this. But two hours ago in my hotel room I saw this was happening and something inside me just said I couldn’t stay away.”

The rebellion in Ferguson and the protests around the U.S. stirred memories of the rebellion that rocked Britain for three days in 2011 when an unarmed Black man, Mark Duggan, was shot down by the police in cold blood in north London. The authorities and the media have worked hard to paint that rebellion as a “mindless riot”; the police took revenge for the mass fighting against them, arresting some 4,000 people, with arrests still taking place even today based on CCTV footage. One speaker defiantly upheld the so-called riot and proclaimed that it was really a mass rebellion against police murder and injustice. 

Many of the youth were exhilarated at the solidarity and community characterizing the protest, at seeing such a mix of Black and white standing together side by side against the system’s enforcers. They had been brought together by a powerful cause, and by the fiery spirit of the defiant fighters of Ferguson that had lit hearts and minds in a distant country, an ocean away.

 

A World to Win News Service is put out by A World to Win magazine, a political and theoretical review inspired by the formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the embryonic center of the world's Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/boston-students-and-others-in-the-streets-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Boston: Students and Others in the Streets

November 26, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

The night of the announcement of the grand jury decision not to indict the cop who killed Michael Brown, a couple of hundred students from Simmons College and other places gathered at Boston City Hall and marched to the state house. An impromptu rally also took place at Boston College that night involving a hundred or more students.

Crowd chants

Crowd chants "WE SEE YOU" to Black inmates in Back Bay jail. Photo: Shared via Twitter.

The next day, November 25, there was a speak-out at noon at the Umass Boston campus that pulled in around a hundred students, with a number of students taking the bullhorn in between the raps of the revolutionary communists. Chalk outlines were drawn on the plaza with names of people killed by the police. Students also added "save our children" and "no more." Someone cited Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow, around the systemic nature of the problem. Someone else proposed an economic boycott. We made a couple of thousand copies of the new Carl Dix statement on the grand jury decision, and people grabbed up bunches to get out in class. Mainly though, people did not cut class and seemed to question what could be done to really make a difference and whether students at this school could be rallied to do much. A bunch of people signed up for follow-up actions, and many were planning to attend the big rally called that evening in Roxbury by Black Lives Matter Boston. One student who had gone to New York City with us to attend the Dialogue between Bob Avakian and Cornel West was out there with us and spoke out, urging his fellow students to really step out and act to make a difference. We went downtown at rush hour with a bullhorn and reached a lot of commuters, many expressing the sentiment that they were "too angry to speak honestly on the bullhorn about it."

In Roxbury a rally began at 7 pm across from a major police station in Dudley Square. Here groups of students from area colleges, including Northeastern, Boston College, Harvard, etc., as well as community activists, anarchists, high school students—a wide range of thousands—came together.

South Bay Prison in Boston as protesters call to them in front of the prison

Inmates at Southbay Prison, Boston, banged on windows, flipped lights on an off, and held their hands up in the windows protesting the grand jury decision. Photo: Shared via Twitter.

After about an hour of people speaking out, we marched, taking over main streets with around 3,000 people, more at times. People headed to the South End and ended up near the ramp for the I-93 freeway, which sits next to a major jail, South Bay. The prisoners were banging on their windows and flipping lights on and off, loving it, and everyone felt an electricity in the air from this show of solidarity. The police let people march up the long entrance ramp and then blocked the actual highway itself off so that the crowd was unable to block I-93 itself, although we did cause a major disruption of the surrounding area. From there a large segment marched to downtown Boston and then to the central police headquarters (check out "Black lives matter turn out for mike brown indict America" on Facebook). One woman grabbed one of our signs saying "We are all Mike Brown ...the whole damn system is guilty! revcom.us" and many had homemade signs saying things like "Amerikkka never loved us," "Fuck white supremacy," "# Shut it down" and a whole lot more.

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/carl-dix-december-1-walkout-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL BROWN—
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1
WALK OUT OF SCHOOL, WALK OUT OF WORK—
SAY NO MORE TO POLICE MURDER!

by Carl Dix | November 27, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The Ferguson Action Team, a coalition of activists which has been coordinating protests around the murder of Michael Brown, has called for nationwide walkouts on Monday, December 1. I endorse this call and urge everyone to support this effort. Monday needs to be a day when everybody busts out of school, walks out of work and gathers to say that police murder must STOP! Get the word on this to everybody in your networks and involve them in it. Make plans for powerful actions on Monday. Spread the word to everyone we connect with between now and Monday.

The refusal of the system to indict Darren Wilson, the cop who killed Michael Brown, amounts to an official stamp of approval for police murder. If business as usual in this society includes police getting away with murdering our youth, we must continue and step up disrupting that business as usual.

By letting Wilson walk free, the system delivered its message: that Black life has no value in its eyes, that their cops can murder Black youth with impunity and face no punishment. The system continues to deliver this message with the police murders of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Akai Gurley in New York. People responded with determination and defiance. In Ferguson and in more than 100 cities around the country, people said NO, loud and clear, to injustice. Bridges and expressways were blocked by protests. City centers were clogged by demonstrations. People have raised their heads. This must continue and be taken further.

What’s at stake here is whether the color of a person's skin should determine how they live, or even whether they live. It comes down to what kind of society we want to live in and what kind of people we need to be. If things are allowed to go back to the normal routine, it will mean going along with a routine that includes wanton murders of Black youth by police. But if we continue to stand up and declare our determination to refuse to accept this routine, we can be part of bringing a whole different way for people to live into being.

WALK OUT OF SCHOOL—WALK OUT OF WORK! GATHER AND PROTEST!

JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL BROWN!

POLICE MURDER MUST STOP!

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/chicago-ferguson-protestors-face-vicious-repression-by-police-and-court-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Chicago: Ferguson Protesters Face Vicious Repression by Police and Court

November 27, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From readers:

During a November 26 protest in Chicago against the Ferguson grand jury decision, Grant Newburger and two other revolutionaries stepped into the street carrying a banner saying "Justice for Mike Brown." Grant is a front-line fighter in the struggle against police brutality and the criminalization of a generation. They were set upon by the pigs, who brutalized and arrested them. Grant, who was knocked to the ground from behind by masked police and suffered head and other injuries, was charged with aggravated battery against a police officer, a felony. Another revolutionary, who had her arms jerked behind her, was charged with resisting arrest, a misdemeanor. A third revolutionary was charged with obstructing traffic, also a misdemeanor.

Grant is well-known and respected among the people because of his role in the fight against police brutality and in various other struggles in the movement for revolution—and because of this, he is also well-known and hated by the police and authorities. So he was clearly being targeted in this police attack. The Chicago Tribune then ran an article on the charges against Grant that included not only a photo of him but what they said was the specific street and block where he lives—this, in a polarized situation where there is a major upsurge of protest and resistance on one hand, and intensified state official repression as well as reactionary activity and rants by white supremacists and fascistic forces on the other.

The next day, on Thanksgiving, about 20 people showed up on only hours notice to support Grant at the Cook County Criminal Court for a bond hearing.

As soon as we walked in the court's lobby, you felt the racism, fear of and contempt for the masses of the court system. The lobby was full of Black and Latino people on this Thanksgiving afternoon. When we told security we came for Grant's hearing, they started yelling that they wouldn't let all of us in, that only "two people per prisoner" were allowed in the court, the court was too crowded blah blah blah. We held our ground and got in—the whole "two people" thing was bullshit and there was lots of room.

In the courtroom, almost immediately the judge started yelling at us and Grant's attorney to keep quiet. She read the charge against and asked one of the cops what happened. When the pig lied that Grant had pushed him on his bike, a murmur of dissent went up from the crowd, and the judge went ballistic: "If you disrupt, I will have you evicted and charged with contempt." When a young woman laughed, she yelled at her and told the cops to eject her from the court. When a man next to her objected, she told them to evict him too and threatened them both with contempt. She threatened again, "If I hear one word of protest, I'll ask the sheriff to arrest you." And then, in a comment that I thought spoke volumes about the real meaning of Thanksgiving in Amerikkka, she said, "I'm trying to process all of you and get you to where you can give thanks."

Twice in the hearing, the judge asked cops if there had been any injuries to them. They said no. It means that legally, the aggravated battery charge against Grant, which requires injury, is bullshit, and should be dropped.

Grant got what is called an "I bond" and was released on his own recognizance. To be clear: Grant faces a serious felony charge, and there needs to be a fight to demand that this bogus charge, and all the charges against the Ferguson protesters, in Chicago and around the country, be dropped.

As we gathered outside, we felt it was clearly very important that people had come to court to support this revolutionary. Otherwise, Grant would not likely have been released so quickly and with an I bond. Various supporters spoke to how it was clear Grant, for decades a leader in the struggle to stop police brutality, was being targeted by the Chicago Police. In August, after returning to Chicago after taking part in the protests in Ferguson after the police murder of Michael Brown, Grant was arrested at a protest against the Chicago police murder of Roshad McIntosh. The police commander said at the time to Grant, "Why are you stirring up the savages?" and "We aren't having any Ferguson in Chicago." One supporter remembered how Grant was targeted and brutalized by police going back to the 1990s. Someone from Stop Mass Incarceration Network commented how this was part of the larger assault on protesters across the country in the wake of the Ferguson grand jury refusal to indict Darren Wilson, including more than 200 arrested in LA and 400 nationwide. And that like the larger struggle for justice for Mike Brown, the struggle around the Chicago Ferguson protesters is far from over.

People made plans to protest the next day, "Black Lives Matter" Friday, at 10 a.m. at Water Tower, at the busy Michigan Ave. shopping area in Chicago.

DROP ALL THE CHARGES AGAINST THE CHICAGO FERGUSON PROTESTERS! JUSTICE FOR MIKE BROWN!

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/everyones-talking-about-violence-but-who-is-violent-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Everyone's talking about violence. But who is violent?

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Is it the lords and enforcers of a system that violently locks tens of millions of people into ghettos and barrios...

shoving their children into rotten schools...

putting them in falling-down houses, just a paycheck away from homelessness...

surrounding them with a culture that degrades and brutalizes and reduces everyone to money...

chaining them into prisons by the millions, generation after generation, in a system designed to put them there...

and enforcing all this with police who are programmed to see them as just so many targets, just so many "hulks," who must be harassed, insulted, degraded, brutalized and even killed?

Or is it the people who finally stand up and rise up against that oppression?

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/ferguson-and-st-louis-day-after-grand-jury-announcement-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Ferguson and St. Louis—Day After Grand Jury Announcement: People Continue Determined Protests in the Streets

by Larry Everest | November 26, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

November 25—The shocks from the grand jury decision to let Michael Brown's murderer Darren Wilson walk free continued to spark outrage and protest in the Ferguson and the greater St. Louis area.

Shutting down Highway 44—Downtown St. Louis. Around 2 in the afternoon, 300-400 people marched up an exit ramp onto the elevated lanes of Interstate 44 in the heart of downtown St. Louis. Police closed both lanes of the freeway—and it stayed shut until people marched down 40 minutes later. People then briefly closed traffic on the Martin Luther King Bridge to East St. Louis.

Protestors Shut Down I-44 in both directions. St. Louis, MO. 11/24. Photo: AP

The protest had started around noon when some 500-600 people gathered in Kiener Plaza in the heart of downtown St. Louis for a defiant rally and march called by FergusonAction.com—#shutitdown. The crowd was diverse but mostly young, with a significant number of oppressed youth. There were students from U. Missouri at Columbia, Webster, St. Louis University, Washington University, including its Brown School of Social Work, and other campuses. There were clergy, and middle class activists. We met people from Arkansas, Michigan, and Chicago who had traveled to Ferguson-St. Louis to protest the grand jury decision.

The atmosphere was warm—and angry. The focus was on the injustice of the murder of Mike Brown and the non-indictment of the killer cop, not the so-called bad protesters and "looters" that the bourgeois media has been focusing on nonstop. We got out over 500 copies of Carl Dix's new statement: "Wilson Has Walked: AMERIKKKA MUST COME TO A HALT! THERE IS RIGHTEOUS RESISTANCE AND YOU MUST BE PART OF IT!!!" to a receptive audience. There was a broad sense that the oppression of Black people goes very deep, and requires radical systemic change of some form. "Black Friday Weekend—Boycott & Protest!" was being widely promoted. No shopping—protest!

St. Louis, MO. 11/24. Photo: AP

At a rally, people marched to the main federal courthouse, pushing through one police barricade to confront the cops guarding the building. Fake blood was poured in the street. People chalked, "Why is blood running in our streets?" People chanted, "I am Mike Brown, We Are Mike Brown! Black Lives Matter! You Can't Stop the Revolution!"

People then marched to the Interstate.

7 am—Clayton. Members of the clergy and others gathered at the office of the county prosecutor—which had been closed down for the day—to protest the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson. Around 7:30 am, the crowd stayed silent for 4.5 minutes—a minute for every hour Michael Brown lay dead in the street. Then 150-200 people marched through the downtown area. At one point, people lay down in the street.

Ferguson, Tuesday night. We drove over to the intersection of Chambers and West Florissant at around 9:15 pm. West Florissant is the street leading to the Canfield Apartments, where Mike Brown lived and was murdered, and the scene of sharp resistance on the night of the grand jury announcement—and for the past 100 plus days. Tonight, the state's new policing protocols were in effect, and you couldn't even turn and drive south down Florissant—it was barricaded by police and cop cars, and there were more cops and National Guard Humvees on the other side of the street. This is horrible for residents living along Florissant, like those in the Canfield Apartments, because it means they're practically penned into the apartment complex, and with many of the stores shut down, it's hard to get food.

But there was a group of about 60 people, mostly Black youths, who had gathered on the north side of Chambers, across from the pig barricade. People were yelling at the cops—their anger had not subsided. Then, five minutes after we got there, I don't know what happened—someone might have thrown a water bottle into the street—but the police immediately got on their loudspeaker and declared people just standing on the corner an "illegal assembly" and ordered them to disperse immediately. Everyone knew the tear gas could follow without warning, so most started moving away. Then the pigs charged to the median. Before long, most had left—but it was an illustration of the state's "more aggressive" policing—and how people's basic rights are being torn to shreds. "Fuck the police, fuck the police!" That's what a lot of the youths were yelling.

Then we drove further down Chambers to South Florissant where the police station is located. This time the pig sty was guarded by National Guard in combat fatigues, and there were a lot more police in the street. Still, there was a crowd of 250, maybe 300, in front of the police station. All of a sudden, a march took off back up the street toward Chambers. Suddenly a group turned a sharp right down Church and headed to City Hall. Before we got there, everyone started rushing back past us. Apparently, a police car had been turned over and set on fire. About five minutes later, police cars started screaming by—going from the station to City Hall—and then those streets were all blocked off and some tear gas was being fired. But still, there were people rushing forward, fading back, eluding the police, then making a resistance move back at them—back and forth—a kind of guerrilla protest and resistance. (And this includes cars, too—people jumping in their cars, heading away from the state, regrouping, coming back—using cars as part of the protests, including as mobile stages.) People were finding ways to express their rage and outrage in the face of a big, aggressive police/National Guard presence.

Again, all the bullshit from the officials—from mayors to governors to the president himself—about protecting people's rights to express themselves and protest had gone up in tear gas smoke. They murder people, and then don't even allow them to express their totally justified outrage.

But people were finding a way in the face of all this to resist the system that murdered Mike Brown and so many other youth, and righteously fight back. All this within little more than an hour tonight!

The back-and-forth between the people and the state went on well past midnight. The St. Louis Post Dispatch, reporting at 12:40 am Wednesday, said that the police were still trying to disperse a crowd of up to 500 people. There were also protests in the Shaw District of St. Louis, where VonDerrit Myers Jr. was murdered by a cop in October, as well as in Richmond Heights (near Clayton). Sixty-eight people were arrested Tuesday night, 45 in Ferguson. According to the Post Dispatch state officials tripled the National Guard deployment to 2,000, saying the "intensity of the unrest" on Monday night "had gone far beyond what had been anticipated."

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/five-lies-in-obamas-speech-after-darren-wilson-went-free-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Five Lies in Obama's Speech After Darren Wilson Went Free

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Obama did the little thing he was hired to do after Wilson walked free for Michael Brown's murder. But his act is wearing thin, his lies are hanging out, and his shit is getting tired. Listen to him:

  1. "First and foremost, we are a nation built on the rule of law." NO! First and foremost, you are a nation built on violently stealing the land of the Native American Indians and kidnaping, murdering, raping, and enslaving the peoples of Africa. And today you are a nation built on plundering the whole world and the environment and enforcing it with the biggest army in history, hammering down millions of people in this country, and illegally spying on and repressing anyone who gets in your way. So don't talk to us—don't talk to anyone—about "rule of law."
  2. "Understand, our police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day." NO! To paraphrase Bob Avakian, your police put the lives of our youth on the line every single day, harassing them, brutalizing them, imprisoning them, and even murdering them.
  3. "In too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country." NO! All throughout your country the police have been employed to repress and stomp on Black and Latino people, to crush their spirit and keep them "on the run," to pen them in and lock them up and kill them off... because the system you run, Obama, has no way to profitably exploit millions in these communities anymore and needs to crush resistance before it begins. The police don't "distrust" communities of color, they violently repress them, and this leads the police to fear and hate the people they keep down. And "communities of color" should, if anything, distrust the police even more—for any cooperation you give them, any time you rely on them, they will use it against you and it will backfire.
  4. "We have made enormous progress in race relations over the course of the past several decades. I've witnessed that in my own life. And to deny that progress I think is to deny America's capacity for change." NO! You yourself made "enormous progress" (if you can call being butcher-in-chief "progress"). Along with you, a small handful of other Black and Latino people have also become prominent. A larger group has made it into the middle class—but they are still perilously close to falling back out of it. But for most Black people, things are worse than they were several decades ago. Ten times as many people in prison, over half of them Black or Latino. More unemployment and a huge difference between the white rate and the rates for Black people or Latinos. Greater inequality in education and housing. Evictions rampant, along with homelessness. Credit discrimination. Even more segregation. And demonization in the culture. On and on, in every facet of life. Progress, my ass. Just because you made it, Obama, doesn't mean shit.
  5. "To those in Ferguson, there are ways of channeling your concerns constructively and there are ways of channeling your concerns destructively." Translation: "Walk around in a circle, talk in a dialogue that goes nowhere, get involved in a program that puts a Band-Aid on a cancer, so that business can go on as usual. Don't do anything that will actually try to STOP the outrages." Yeah, well, fuck that. We got something better. Stand up. Fight the Power, and Transform the People, For Revolution.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/free-noche-diaz-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Free Noche Diaz!

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

November 25—Early this evening, Edward “Noche” Diaz was singled out by the NYC police and arrested at the intersection of W. 40 Street and 11th Avenue at a protest against the Ferguson grand jury decision to let Wilson, the cop who killed Michael Brown, walk.

Noche is a member of the Revolution Club NYC and a young front-line fighter and leader in the struggle against police brutality and mass incarceration. He is known and hated by the police for his role. In tonight's protest, Noche was singled out by the police, who pulled him out of a demonstration of thousands and labeled him as the main agitator for the action.

As of 10 p.m., the police are refusing to reveal where they are holding Noche or what condition he is in. It is imperative that the police know that the people have Noche's back and will not tolerate any further injustice or brutality against him.

Right now: Call Central Booking 212-374-3921, major news agencies (print & TV), and the city hotline at 311 (or text 311-692)—leave a message for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Email revolution.reports@yahoo.com with info on who you called.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/houston-pouring-into-the-streets-taking-over-intersections-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Houston: Pouring into the Streets, Taking Over Intersections

November 26, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

Tuesday, November 25--People poured into the streets, taking over intersections, confronting police, and marching for more than four hours. People had been called by various forces to gather at McGregor Park at 5 pm the day after the grand jury decision. The park is part of the Black community but also near two major universities. The crowd quickly swelled to around 300, who marched into a major intersection to block traffic. After blocking the intersection for some time, people marched to the University of Houston campus, where protesters eventually grew to 600-700, before taking off into another section of the neighborhood where they passed a major housing project and the historically Black Texas Southern University (TSU). The deeper they went, the more tense and defiant things got. People poured out of their houses to check it out, many grabbed copies of Carl Dix’s statement, “AmeriKKKa must come to a halt...”, and copies of Revolution newspaper.

The crowd consisted of many young people of different nationalities, many conscious that youths had to take this up. There was a sense among many that there needs to be a combination of the experience of older activists with the fresh perspective of the younger generation. 

As things got deeper into the neighborhood, the police got more aggressive, with many of the protesters determined to take it higher and block Highway 288, as people had done for Trayvon Martin, and the police were determined to prevent it. The perspective of different forces broke out over what needed to be done, with some trying to cool things out, others wanting to take it higher, and some people trying to split people off and leave.

After a series of intense confrontations, with demonstrators sitting down in an intersection, attempting to push through police horse lines and the burning of an Amerikkkan rag, people made their way to the TSU campus and finished there with a rally.

This was a big militant, diverse, and determined protest, one of the largest here in recent memory, and people are determined to continue and build off the day.

In the days leading up to this, revolutionaries were out in the very same neighborhood and on the campus building for resistance. Several university students responded to the call to come out to a corner by the housing projects the day before the big march. There is a real need and basis to bring forward a number of these young fighters, and there is a real sense among these youths that finally the dam has broken and people are standing up.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/in-defense-of-the-fighters-of-ferguson-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

In Defense of the Fighters of Ferguson

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

We salute the bravery and defiance of the people in Ferguson in response to the outrageous refusal of the Grand Jury to indict the murderer of Michael Brown. They said NO, loud and clear, to injustice. No one was left in any doubt that they have had enough. And nobody can miss their courage and desire to fight against the enemy.

The bourgeois talking heads will slander them. The liberals will shake their heads. But know this...

This is not hopelessness or despair. No, this is casting away illusions. This is confronting reality as it is and saying in very clear terms HELL NO! And thereby laying the basis for real hope.

This is not senselessness. No, this is sanity. This is what it looks like when the outcasts realize that this system has no place for them, and they decide to stand up against that.

This is not isolation. No, this is people breaking out of the cells they have been put in to reach out to those who suffer under this empire of oppression, and all who have eyes to see and hearts to feel, and INSPIRE them.

This is not ugliness. No, this is the beautiful birth pangs of a movement fighting to be born.

They refused to carry out some ritualized protest that could be swept under the rug and "at best" derailed into a few reforms. They put something on the line to say "No!" and challenged everyone in society to stand up.

People will learn to fight better and direct their anger more clearly. People will learn the source of the problem. They will learn there is a path to actual emancipation through communist revolution. And what they are doing now is not only critically important in its own right, it is a crucial step to doing that.

The main thing is this: At a crucial time the basic people of Ferguson HAVE STOOD UP, joined by thousands and thousands of people in Ferguson and around the country. And now it is on everyone else to answer their call, to stand up as well, and burst out of the confines of business as usual.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/los-angeles-march-through-crenshaw-south-central-and-downtown-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Over 200 Arrests in LA

Los Angeles: March Through Crenshaw, South Central, and Downtown

November 27, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

Over 200 protesters have been arrested in Los Angeles as of Tuesday, November 25. Special to revcom.us/Revolution

On Tuesday night, November 25, the day after the grand jury decision to let the cop who murdered Mike Brown walk off, a multinational protest of many hundreds of outraged people hit the streets of the Crenshaw District and then went on an eight-mile march through South Central Los Angeles to downtown Los Angeles.

Protesters engaged police in a standoff at a freeway ramp and surrounded California Highway Patrol cars at a major intersection. The march then proceeded through the downtown commercial district and confronted the LA police at their headquarters across from City Hall. From there, the protest traveled several blocks and shut down the downtown 101 Freeway, near the 10 Freeway interchange. The freeway was shut down for at least an hour. Different groups then took off through downtown LA and no business as usual continued through the early morning. News is that early Wednesday morning, some protesters had abandoned their cars on the 101, bringing downtown Los Angeles freeway traffic to a grinding halt.

According to news reports, over 200 protesters have been arrested in Los Angeles as of Tuesday, November 25.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/on-the-night-of-the-outrageous-ferguson-grand-jury-announcement-people-around-the-country-take-to-the-streets-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

On the Night of the Outrageous Ferguson Grand Jury Announcement: People Around the Country Take to the Streets

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Immediately after the November 24 announcement that the Ferguson grand jury refused to indict the murdering pig Darren Wilson, people took to the streets and acted in other ways across the country to express outrage. Here are initial reports we've received from just a few of the cities.

New York City

Hundreds of people gathered at Union Square, 14th Street, for the announcement of the grand jury decision. Once announced, a moment of silence was observed, and then it was on! The hundreds there grew to about 1,000 as it headed out of the park took over the streets. Turning up 6th Avenue, police scooters got aggressive trying to force people to half of the street, but people were not intimidated and would not back down, and the police were forced to back off. The march took the street, and took Times Square.

From there the very spirited, very determined march headed up the over 100 blocks to Harlem, growing and shrinking at different points to between 500 and 1,500 people, a mix of white, Black, Latino and others, and young, (one chant was "We're young, we're strong, we're marching all night long" and they meant it!) The march got to Harlem after midnight, turned right and took the Triboro Bridge, where traffic was stopped on the Manhattan feed for over an hour.

Word spread about how people were standing up in Ferguson and around the country, and the parting comment between people was "see you tomorrow!"

Los Angeles

In Los Angeles, people fought with determination to bring the city to a halt in response to the outrageous grand jury decision and together with people in Ferguson and throughout the country. Marchers blocked freeways and staged die-ins at major intersections, including UCLA students marching through campus and blocking the central Wilshire/Westwood thoroughfare.

Early in the evening, a group gathered in the Crenshaw area and marched through neighborhoods calling people into the streets, and then onto the 10 Freeway chanting “Justice for Mike Brown, Shut it Down, Shut it Down!” They made it up the off-ramp and briefly onto the freeway before being confronted by police and pushed off, but this set a tone and inspired others to come out. The group staged die-ins at major intersections, including one on famous Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and a powerful 4 ½ minute die-in at La Brea/Wilshire for the 4 ½ hours Mike Brown’s body was left in the street like a dog.

In Leimert Park, where the pacifiers were having a mournful gathering and working to quell the rage of the masses, another group began marching after a 9-year-old got on the bullhorn: “They can kill us and get away with it. What are we going to do? We need to do something!” The marchers met up with more people who had gathered on Crenshaw and marched to the Southwest LAPD station and then on towards the University of Southern California. The elite campus went on lockdown, not only preventing people from entering, but also locking students into the campus. Earlier in the day, USC students cried as the decision was read. “To sit and listen to them justify someone being killed was just an assault on us,” one student said. A protest on campus was scheduled for the next day.

The protesters went through the USC neighborhood chanting, “Out of the dorms, into the streets, out of your apartments, into the streets!” and people joined in along the way. A river of determined people headed for the 110 Freeway, marching from one blocked entrance to the next one. Then—one marcher said, “we saw a fence, so a few people started running up there, then after a good amount of people blocked off one side of the freeway, we blocked off the other side, and we stayed there for a while until the cops started pushing us off, first one side then the other side.” Two young Black men summed it up: “We all out here to support. This isn’t justice. It’s not right. Every time you turn around somebody being shot by the police. It ain’t gonna stop til somebody do something about it.”

At UCLA, word got out quickly to gather and students came to the gathering spot. Those who came called their friends, and as the group grew they marched through campus and into Westwood, picking up more people as they went. After one student walked into a busy intersection and sat down alone with his hands up, others followed. They dispersed late in the evening vowing to meet again the next day to continue.

Oakland

Outraged by the announcement that Darren Wilson would not be charged, people who had been gathering at Oscar Grant plaza, took it to the streets, first by observing 4 ½ minutes of silence by dying-in in the middle of 14th and Broadway at the center of downtown Oakland.

About 250 people then marched, taking over the streets, chants echoing off the downtown buildings, furious that the pig was walking, determined to make the most powerful rejection of all this racist and reactionary shit. First foray went to a freeway exit near Chinatown. The protesters were blocked at the freeway entrance by a major police mobilization. At least one person was arrested in the confrontation at the on ramp. The protesters turned around and marched back to 14th and Broadway, taking over downtown streets all the way. “Michael Brown didn't have to die! We All know the reason why: the whole system is guilty!” At Oscar Grant plaza the crowd grew to at least 2,000, all ages and nationalities, but especially youth, and set off on a march again, this time towards the Grand Lake area where police tried to seal all the freeway entrances, but the youth in the front of the march found a crack and the crowd poured through, running up the off ramp and shutting the freeway down in both directions for at least an hour. “Ferguson, we got your back!” Many drivers of cars who were stopped on the freeway were clearly thrilled this was happening, they honked their horns in support, some getting out of their cars with fists in the air, videoing the protesters and cheering. “If you want justice for Michael Brown, honk your horn, it's time to get down!” After over an hour the police managed to gain control, arresting at least one person, and pushing the crowd off the ramp and, ordering people stopped on the ramp to get back into their cars. The march took off down the street and went on to another freeway off-ramp where they joined with another grouping of protesters and shut down Interstate 580 a second time protesters were brutalized and shoved off high concrete walls by the increasingly angry police.

There were different calls for people to continue the protests the next day, and many people marched back to 14th & Broadway. Protests in downtown Oakland are continuing as of this writing. Oakland has seen serious street battles, including in recent years, but nothing like this—stay tuned.

Seattle

500 people came into streets—overwhelmingly youth—mainly white but also Black youth, people were angry, some with tears in their eyes—particular outrage from young Black people. A protest called by Oct 22nd Coalition To Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation gathered 300 people; intersections and streets were blocked in the heart of the city downtown; people did die-ins blocking intersections. This march converged with another march and then marched to a police precinct and through the Central District. A chill-out session called by "activists" along with the police department was disrupted. A young woman demanded to know why this session to talk about what to do in the aftermath of Ferguson involved the police department. People cheered for this. There was back and forth debate about going into the meeting, others called for people to get back into the streets. People marched all over. Later a group of several hundred tried to get onto the freeway, which was blocked by police. People were pepper sprayed and attacked by police but a number of people got onto the freeway and traffic was blocked northbound for a short time. All through the night, youth took to the streets, converging on police precincts. At least five people were arrested. Revcom.us slogans and chants were a big feature in marches.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/protest-disrupts-atlanta-hawks-basketball-game-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Protest Disrupts Atlanta Hawks Basketball Game

November 27, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader

Tuesday night, November 25, demonstrators in Atlanta spoke out against the murder of Mike Brown in downtown Atlanta. A group of demonstrators marched to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Atlanta Hawks game for a speak-out as fans entered the arena. Hundreds of fans wore Justice for Mike Brown (revcom.us) stickers into the game.

"Hands Up! Don't Shoot!" "No Justice—No Peace!" At Atlanta Hawks' game, November 25, 2014.

Right before the start of the game, a woman inspired by the protestors arrived with over a dozen tickets for people to bring the protest into the game. Five minutes into the game, about 10 protesters blowing whistles and holding signs that read "Justice for Mike Brown" and "We Need a Revolution—Nothing Less!" They chanted "Hands Up! Don't Shoot!" and "I am Mike Brown" while standing at the top of the stadium. After about 10 minutes, they marched downstairs into the lower level of the arena and marched in a circle around the court and out of the stadium where they continued to chant and speak out before joining the larger demonstration down the street.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/seattle-high-school-students-walk-out-to-protest-grand-jury-decision-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

Seattle: High School Students Walk Out to Protest Grand Jury Decision

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

November 25—Students in at least four Seattle area high schools walked out November 25 to protest the refusal by a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, to indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Michael Brown. According to the Seattle School District, 1,000 students walked out of Garfield High, 250 from Roosevelt High, and 75 students walked out of West Seattle High School. Students from Garfield joined a march called by the NAACP that converged on the federal courthouse in downtown Seattle. Another walkout was called by students at Cleveland High School for this afternoon.

The Garfield students chanted “Hands up, Don’t Shoot” and “Black Lives Matter” as they marched. The Seattle Times quoted senior Alyssa King, president of the Garfield High School Black Student Union that organized the march: “We are out here to support Mike Brown’s family and show our support to African Americas all around.” Roosevelt students, organized by the Black Students Union there, went to the University of Washington, where they rallied in the center of campus in Red Square. These high school walkouts are very significant at this moment when the country needs to be ground to a halt and the outrageous murders of our youth put an end to.

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/the-shit-they-tell-us-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

The Shit They Tell Us

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

"Keep calm?" So they can kill more people and tell us again to "let the process work"? Hell NO!

"Stay positive?" When, for every one person who makes it out of the ghetto, 100 are lost to the hellholes of mass incarceration? Hell NO!

"Be peaceful?" When the only peace for Anthony Baez, Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant, Manuel Diaz, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown is the peace of the graveyard? Hell NO!

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/the-struggle-against-police-murder-and-mass-incarceration-must-be-intensified-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST POLICE MURDER AND MASS INCARCERATION MUST BE INTENSIFIED

November 27, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The last few days have seen something very very different in this country, something that poses great challenges and rare opportunities for all those who hunger for justice and those who want revolution. Yes, the people have been forced to watch and endure once again the same sneering injustice, the same justifying lies, the same openly racist excuses, same searing hurt, the same intolerable and enraging betrayal, the same shock that is not shocking, the same feeling of being punched in the heart that are all too routine, all too business as usual, in America, as the murderer of Michael Brown walked totally free and the District Attorney who set it up strutted and crowed.

But we have seen something else as well. We have seen more fight, more struggle, more unity, more diversity, and more change in the last three days than in the ten years that went before it. The red hot tears of Michael Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, melted the ice and overflowed the dam of pent-up righteous anger among the people, and that anger finally began to flood into the streets in a way that has been long overdue and badly needed. The anger in Ferguson lit up and summoned tens of thousands of people all over the country to come out of their isolated homes, to raise their too-long quiet voices and their fists, to march for hours, to block traffic, to brave arrests and sprayings and beatings, to stop business as usual and to say, in voices that could finally be heard and had finally to be listened to: “NO MORE! NO MORE!! NO GODDAMN MORE!!! STOP KILLING OUR YOUTH—NOW!!!”

We write this Thursday morning. During the last 60 hours the actions of the people have done more than all the commissions, all the “conversations about race,” all the “programs that (supposedly) ‘work,’” all the et cetera et cetera blah blah blah bullshit of the past two decades. The actions of those who rose up have let hundreds of thousands find their voices and locate their consciences, they have given hope to millions more, and they have compelled tens of millions to confront one huge, taproot part of the ugliness that is America: America’s ghoulish, horrific practice of using people who are supposed to be “serving and protecting” to not just pen in, lock down, abuse, humiliate, and brutally attack its Black and Latino youth, as these heartless monsters do every hour of every day, but to outright murder these youth... under “color of authority.” The people have, in these past few days, taken a big step toward stopping this. Obama, once again, has it exactly wrong: righteous rebellion is precisely what changes things.

STAY IN THE STREETS, GO TO THE PEOPLE

This can mark and it must mark the beginning of a new era. But for that to happen, more must go on. Immediately, this struggle must continue—people must stay in the streets. And this struggle must also draw in more people. We will have more to say in the next few days. But right now, for this very important weekend, we call on readers to do the following:

Friday: unite with the efforts of diverse groups to make so-called “black Friday”—that orgy of shopping—a day of “No Shopping As Usual” by making it BLACK LIVES MATTER FRIDAY. If there are no groups doing things around this in your area, then get some friends and go to Wal-Mart with signs and flyers making clear that outrages like the murders by police of Michael Brown, of Vonderrit Myers, or of John Crawford, a young Black man shot down this August by cops in Wal-Mart for examining a toy gun that was on sale there, MUST STOP!

Saturday: go into the communities of the oppressed, where the police abuse is daily life, and draw out and listen to the testimony of the people, unite with their anger and help give this expression. Hold on-the-spot rallies and marches, and pass out—and lead people to BLOW—whistles against police brutality. Make posters and flyers with the slogan “Ferguson Is Everywhere! Police Murder Must Stop!” and get these out to people. Spend the day getting out flyers and posters and copies of Revolution newspaper to people and bring them together to “speak bitterness” at 5 p.m. near the police stations. Look at this video to get an idea of how powerful this can be. 

Sunday: unite with the call of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and other groups for sermons in churches on the outrageous injustice in Ferguson—the unpunished assassination of Michael Brown. (Go to congregations of non-Christian religions for services on Friday and Saturday as well.) Then organize the rest of the day for the new week, checking this site for news on what next.

In all this, be ready to rush to the scene of any outbreak of struggle. And be ready to defend anyone who gets arrested fighting for justice, with bail and lawyers and political support. In everything: have banners and posters—visual presence is absolutely important to get out clear basic message and where to go for more.

GET OUT THE LARGER PICTURE

In all this, take out the larger picture. Answer people’s questions about WHY these murdering police keep killing our youth and HOW to stop this and WHAT is revolution by letting them know about the website revcom.us. Strip away the legitimacy of this system—that is, show people that the murdering monsters who run this system, these masters of drones and nukes and prisons and all kinds of horror, they who sit on top of this empire of rape, of kidnaping, of genocide, of exploitation, have absolutely no right to rule, no right to keep using force to keep people down, to keep people exploited, to keep them penned in and locked down and on the run. Get out Revolution newspaper, with word of the recent historic dialogue between Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and Cornel West, the revolutionary Christian. Introduce people to the work and leadership of Bob Avakian—wield BAsics, the handbook of revolution, while you are out among people, and have copies to sell people. 

Find the ways to get speakers for the revolution out there. Look for media opportunities for Carl Dix, or other people who can put forward the need for revolution in a compelling way. (This is a good job for people who cannot, for whatever reason, be out among the people.) Make tons of signs for people with the main slogans against police murder and the name of this site, revcom.us on the bottom, and get these out to people.

Make the Revolution Books bookstores vibrant centers of revolution, and magnetic poles for anyone with a radical, justice-hungry bone in their body.

GET ORGANIZED

Call meetings of the Revolution Club—or have meetings on the spot, after going out among the people or fighting the system. Now is the time for these clubs to grow in a big way. Get out what the club stands for, in palm cards if you have them or leaflets if you don’t. Bring in new people. Call up all the people who have been part of the Clubs for the past few years—nobody goes forward in a straight line, and now is the time when people’s flame has been rekindled. (Again, another good job for people who cannot be in the streets.)

Build the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. Many people have shown that they want to fight this genocidal program of murder after murder, of unjust incarceration of a whole people; give them a way to be part of an organization that is RIGHT NOW finding the ways to carry forward the fight. 

Let people know about and build their vanguard, the Revolutionary Communist Party. Right now, in a time of crisis and challenge, the need for a strong party stands out all the more sharply. Think how much more could have been done with a stronger, larger, more widely known party. Then build that party. 

Raise funds—raise funds to get out these materials and to support the revolutionary fighters, to enable people to take off work, etc.

And look to this site every day for plans for early next week. In other words, stay tuned—more is coming!

FIGHT THE POWER, AND TRANSFORM THE PEOPLE, FOR REVOLUTION!!!

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/this-is-far-from-over-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

November 27, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Oakland Day 2:

"This is far from over"

From a reader:

A second night of powerful protest resounded through the streets of downtown Oakland Tuesday night, November 25. About 1,000 marched, full of fury at the grand jury’s refusal to indict and rejecting the assertion of genocidal white supremacy the decision represents. “Black Lives Matter! Latino Lives Matter! All Lives Matter!” rang through the streets of Oakland.

For the second straight night, there were two seizures of major freeways. First, I-980, which runs between downtown Oakland and West Oakland (a historically Black community), was seized. Traffic in both directions was stopped on the freeway (though not for as long as the massive freeway shutdown the night before that lasted nearly two hours, in part because there were fewer protesters involved at this point). When the protesters exited the freeway and poured into West Oakland, people from the area were called on to join the march, and more than a few did. And people also helped marchers evade the police.

The people on the march did not stop after being forced off the I-980 by police. They continued to march through the streets of Oakland, confronting a very large police force that had conceded the downtown streets to the protesters, but were trying to draw the line, to the degree they could, at refusing the protesters entry to the freeways.

After the march made forays testing other possible freeway entrances, which were blocked by the police, there was a second freeway seizure on I-580 (the freeway seized the night before, this time in a different place, near the intersection with another freeway, Highway 24). Both sides of the freeway were closed. By this time, more people had joined the march, which numbered nearly 1,000. Police encircled a large group of the protesters on the freeway; some of them managed to escape, but others were arrested, and some were brutalized by police.

The people involved in this were young, full of energy, very determined to not let this grand jury decision stand, and very determined that a license for police to kill Black youths with impunity will NOT be the way things go. The crowd was multinational: Black, white, Asian, Latino. There were many students along with a few ministers and people of different kinds and ages—including, for example, people who work in middle class jobs in downtown Oakland. The crowd also included a sizeable contingent from Berkeley High School (the Oakland public schools had closed the whole week for the Thanksgiving holiday). The Berkeley High contingent included people who were out shutting down freeways the day before, and some young women who had been involved in a campaign protesting sexual harassment at the high school that day.

People from three different mobilizations joined together in the march.

Organizers called for a third day of protests on Wednesday, November 26. More to come as news comes in.

 

 


 

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/362/to-the-fighters-resisters-and-revolutionaries-en.html

Revolution #362 November 24, 2014

To the Fighters, Resisters, and Revolutionaries:

November 25, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Now is a time when we must act. And now is a time when many, many more people than usual can be reached, and won to act.

SO reach out. There are people who want to resist, who want to stand up, but who need to be given a way TO stand up.

Put out a call. Use social media. Reach out to groups and organizations of all kinds. Grab some friends and go. Find a demonstration or meeting, or just write a sign and go stand at a busy corner in a neighborhood or a campus or downtown area.

But act.

And as you act: let people know about the revolution and, in particular, about the dialogue about Revolution and Religion by Bob Avakian and Cornel West on revcom.us.