CALUMET CITY, Feb 1—Today’s rally marked another year no justice served for the racist murder of Stephon Watts.
Five years ago, on the morning of February 1, 2012, Calumet City kkkops William Coffey and Robert Hynek forcibly entered the home of 15-year-old Stephon Watts and shot him dead in his basement. The Watts family still struggles with the pain of losing their loved one, and the fact that his racist murderers are still free to terrorize other working-class youth and their families. PLP was active in planning the rally that marked the fifth anniversary of his murder, continuing the fight for justice for Stephon and for all other victims of capitalist state violence.
Shot and Killed for being Black with a Butter Knife
To those who knew him best, Stephon is remembered as a vibrant child who loved working with computers. He was diagnosed at an early age with Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. On the morning he was murdered, his father had called 911, as instructed by medical professionals, to deal with an outburst Stephon was having before school.
The two kkkops, both of whom were familiar with Stephon’s condition, pushed their way into the house although Stephon’s father insisted that the situation was under control by that point. Upon seeing Stephon with a butter knife in his hands at the bottom of the stairs, the racist thugs opened fire, killing the youth instantly.
Despite the outrage and tireless fightback of family, workers, and students, the racist courts soon declared the murder justified and threw the case out. While supporting the family in their struggle, the comrades involved have consistently put forward the communist analysis of the class role of the police and the courts under capitalism. The kkkops are the cutting edge of fascism for the capitalist class, who need racist and sexist terror in order to divide and oppress workers and protect their profit system. In the instance that the racist bosses or their kkkops are put on trial, the courts work hand-in-hand with them to ensure that they receive no real punishment for their crimes.
Working-Class Anger Prevails
Two scores of fighters showed up in support of the 5th anniversary rally, the result of extensive planning work of the family, PLP, and various other community organizations. Stephon’s sister kicked off the event by speaking on the memory of her brother and the need to continue the fight on his behalf.
Two kkkops from the Calumet City department had the gall to walk up to Stephon’s mother and offer their “services” for the demonstration. She quickly shouted them down for their racist crimes. The cops scattered off.
After the crowd was fired up, we took to the streets to march on the Calumet City Police Department. PL’ers sharpened the political tone with chants of “White cop, Black cop, all the same! Racist terror is the name of the game!” and “Racism means, we got to fight back! Sexism means, we got to fight back!”
The majority of those present received a copy of Challenge, and we made some new contacts.
Once arriving in front of the police station, different speakers took to the microphone. A teenager with autism gave a moving speech about the daily struggle of living with special needs under capitalism. Two other mothers of Black youth murdered by the kkkops told their stories and echoed the demand for justice. A number of comrades spoke on the bullhorn about the need to reject the latest reform scheme and instead to help organize the fight for revolution. It was empowering for everyone involved to participate in a direct action blasting the racist brutality of the system.
Justice for Stephon means Communism
As communists, we must never hold any illusions about the plans the capitalist bosses have for our youth. The bosses will only offer the majority of us more fascist police terror and racist wars, because that’s what their system needs to survive. Our goal remains to win more and more workers and students to communism, a world where racism will be outlawed and police terror will only be a nightmare of the past. Justice for Stephon! Justice for the international working class!
For more information on Stephon Watts and ways to contribute to the struggle, please visit justiceforstephonwatts.com.

BERKELEY, February 1—Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the fascist, racist Milo Yiannopoulos who was supposed to speak at the University of California Berkeley campus. The protest ultimately ended in a direct action that shut him down! Although our communist PLP contingent only included seven, it remains vital that we continue to put the line on the line as these anti-fascist fightbacks continue to pop up. From San Francisco to India to Mexico, the Progressive Labor Party will turn out to ensure that there is no free speech for fascists!
Racist Speech Leads to Racist Violence
In the weeks leading up to the event, there had been debates on campus about free speech versus the need for direct action to stop this fascist, sexist, racist, Trump-inspired movement. Yiannopoulos makes a living spewing hateful ideas. He is a senior editor at Breitbart News, a Zionist rightwing company. He has been part of Trump’s movement and often spews sexism anti-Muslim racism. This public figure supports the Muslim ban and talks about how Muslim people are violent and rapists. Most who turned out were convinced to shut it down, especially after the UC administration allowed the event to go forward in the “name of free speech.” Under capitalism, “free speech” is used an excuse to spew racist, sexist hate-speech. More importantly, racist speech translates to racist actions. People like Yiannopoulos embolden racists to attack workers, even if he doesn’t directly tell people to do it. So, PLP says no free speech for racists!
Parts of the crowd used the police barricades to trash the building and attacked the cops who were trying to protect the space where Milo was supposed to speak. Some Trump supporters were present, one of whom got decked.
These actions had a mass character and sympathy from many who were there or watched it live-stream. The actions also left some young people wondering what they should do in a confrontation. Other lay students were there to see “what’s up.” Some Berkeley High School students proudly told us about the walkouts against Trump following the election.  
Mass Protest Creates Opportunity for Communists
Such mass actions are opportunities in PLP’s fight for communism. Our responsibility to spread communist ideas and practice increases. When we have personal or organizational ties with young people, we can move them towards a life-long commitment to fight for an egalitarian, communist world when we involve them in these actions.  
PLP members and some friends came out together.  Our poster with the CD headlines “This capitalist system, Shut it down” (see photo) caught many people’s attention. This allowed us to distribute CHALLENGE and a flyer and gave us opportunities to have deeper discussions about the way capitalism is leading to growing fascism and the need for a communist movement. The interest of workers that we were able to engage with was evidenced by their eagerness to share contact information, and one woman even asked if we had any upcoming events that we were organizing.
Debate has ranged after this event as the mass media tries to lead people to passivism in the face of attack.  The debate is wide open for communist to be involved. It will take mass, organized violence to overthrow this system.

No Free Speech for Sexism and Racism: Milo Yiannopoulos is a court jester dancing on the stage set by the biggest capitalist players (Republican Democrats politicians, Goldman Sachs finance capitals, Breitbart open white nationalists/racists & sexist attackers) Milo‘s hate speech clearly has ties to the highest levels of State Power- He performed at the Republican Nominating convention, Young Republicans are sponsoring a tour of the US campuses, his jokes and attacks echo Breitbart/Bannon and Trump tweeted to stop Funds for UC Berkeley since he could not speak.
Shut Down Alt-Reality:  The role of the bosses’ state in defending fascism is illustrated when the University argues for “free speech” to give “safe space” for organizing a movement to attack workers and students worldwide. Part of fascism is the “alt reality” that Milo and Trump promote: “There is no real racism or sexism in society—it’s all the heads of those who fight back” Spreading of such “alt-reality” is part of the growth of fascist culture and thinking. It is a revolt against science disguised as “alternative” facts (read: lies).

Um al-Hiran, ISRAEL-PALESTINE, January 18— Early in the morning, a large police force arrived at Um al-Hiran, an “unrecognized” Bedouin village in the Negev (southern Israel-Palestine) to demolish the village and evict its residents from the land. They have done this repeatedly over the years to set up a town for rich Jewish people from abroad, which will be named “Hiran.” The cops attacked with brutal violence and massive force. They killed Yaqoub Mousa Abu al-Qia’an, a Bedouin teacher from the village, and wounded many residents and activists, including two members of the Knesset (the legislative body in Israel) from the leftist organization “Joint List.” The cops were armed as if going to war with heavy weapons and body armor. Before the demolitions, the police blocked the roads leading to the village and tried to stop activists from arriving to the aid of the residents.
To cover up their racist murder, the police quickly branded Yaqoub Mousa Abu al-Qia’an a “terrorist”. The story they gave was that he was driving a truck during the demolition of his village, which he used to hit and kill a policeman. He was then killed by police fire. The government claimed that this was a “terrorist attack” aimed at police officers. However, Abu al-Qia’an’s autopsy revealed the regime’s blatant lies. The police shot him first, which caused him to lose control of his truck and hit them. Then they shot him again.
The attacks enraged people all across the country. On the same evening, activists went out to protest in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities. On the next Saturday, activists - both Jewish and Arab - came to Umm al-Hiran to show solidarity with the residents. All of this was done in defiance of the government and its slander of the Bedouins. The boss’ main strategy is to divide and pacify working class anger by scapegoating the most vulnerable. We must defeat this boss’ lies by building multi-racial unity, like the workers did here.
These events are typical of the Israeli government. For decades, its Zionist policy has been the same: give Jews as much land as possible, and take away as much land as possible from Arabs. When Arabs try to resist this, the regime brands them as “terrorists”. Compare this eviction to how the Israeli government wants to “evict” settlers from Amona (a blatantly illegal west-bank settlement) to a nearby hill, after being sued for building on (stolen) private Palestinian land. Each settler family will get 2 million NIS ($500,000) in compensation, and no one will be shooting at them. This hypocrisy is racism at work, plain and simple.
However, Israeli bosses also uses the same tactics against Jewish workers to enrich themselves. In 2015, Israeli police violently evicted working-class families from the Tel-Aviv neighborhood of Givat Amal Bet. The billionaire real-estate tycoon Yizhak Tshuva purchased the land - formerly state land - and decided to build luxury towers on it. Jewish workers housed on this land by the government since 1948 stood in his way, so he sent the cops to throw them out violently, without them having alternative housing.
This is why Jewish and Palestinian (including Bedouin) workers must unite against this racist policy and defend the right of all workers for their homes. The ones who should be evicted from this land are the tycoons, the fascists, and the cops. As long as capitalism exists, justice for workers is a pipedream. We need to continue to be in the fight exposing this racist system and struggling for more multi-racial, revolutionary, working class unity.

SAN FRANCISCO, January 28—The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and friends joined hundreds of protesters at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on Saturday night to demand that all refugees be let in! It is the capitalists who create millions of refugees with their imperialist wars and racist violence. Then they use their borders to divide workers from each other. We need to smash Trump’s racist ban as we fight for a communist revolution that will eliminate all borders and end imperialist wars so that workers can build an egalitarian world without racism and sexism.
We were supposed to have a meeting that Saturday, but we quickly shifted our plans to join the protest. At first some of us were hesitant to cancel the meeting, but as soon as we got to SFO we were all energized. As we entered, people on their way out raised their fists and said, “Thanks for coming! We need people to replace us!” Hundreds of chanting protesters were at the international arrivals gate. The crowd was multiracial and was not divided by identity group or organization.
We joined the chanting, and we even led some chants. The crowd loved our chant, “They say go back, we say fight back!” While people gave speeches, we handed out fliers and CHALLENGE newspaper. After the apolitical women’s marches last weekend, this militant SFO rally was energizing. Mostly, the politics were limited to reforming immigration and criticizing Trump, but in conversations, people were open to making bigger connections. One comrade told us later that someone had responded to getting CHALLENGE with, “Of course the issue is capitalism!”
After the protest, we ate and talked about our experience. A comrade noted that the political vacuum left room for us to take leadership. Many people are mobilized now, but we must struggle to put revolutionary communist politics out front every time we fight back against these racist attacks on the working class. Another comrade agreed, saying that she noticed something similar amongst her friends. Many have reached out to her about politics more in the past few weeks and seem to be seeking political leadership.
As we deal with the fear and chaos so many people are experiencing, we have to be clear that “It’s not just Trump, It’s capitalism!” After all, it was Obama who laid the groundwork for Trump’s racist ban. Obama deported 2.4 million workers, more than any other president ever. Obama was first to list the seven mostly Muslim countries in his racist 2015 Terror Prevention Act (see front page). As those young, Black rebels in Ferguson said “The whole damn system has to go!” Join the Progressive Labor Party to make that happen.