SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The PLP has been in the streets repeatedly to protest police murder, from Ayotzinapa, Mexico to Ferguson, from New York City to Oakland. We are outraged by the capitalist system’s murder of our youth and we are inspired by the fightback. We are discussing the events with our co-workers, classmates, and friends, and we aim to take advantage of the situation to expose the system and radicalize the working class.
When the radical students of Ayotzinapa were disappeared by the Mexican government, we distributed a leaflet and protested at the Mexican consulate in San Francisco. Our leaflet linked the state violence in Ayotzinapa and Ferguson. A capitalist system that provides no future for its youth is relying more and more on state terror to keep the working class in line. At the rally we chanted in English and Spanish, “Drug war, No! Class war, Yes!”  (Guerra del narco, No! Guerra de clases, Si!)
Our collective discussed ways to better prepare for these events. As a result, we purchased a megaphone and at the latest Ferguson rally, we led chants like “Indict, convict, send that killer cop to jail/ The whole damn system is guilty as hell!”  To the popular chant, “Hands up, don’t shoot” we added a second line, “Fists up, fight back!”
PLP is taking the situation seriously, fighting to expand our influence by discussing the events with friends and comrades.
The corporate-controlled media is busy trying to convince people that militant protesting is “going about it the wrong way” and that the important thing is to “keep it peaceful.”  We argue that there is nothing “peaceful” about busines-as-usual under capitalism. They killed Eric Garner in cold blood on camera, just like Oscar Grant was killed on camera here in Oakland seven years ago, and now Tamir Rice.
It is not time for silent, peaceful “protests.” It is time for the working class to take direct action against the police state. We applaud the recent action by protesters who chained themselves to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and shut down all train access to and from San Francisco for two hours. Working-class mass action can shut down the system. Communist revolution can smash it forever.