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.
BROOKLYN, NY, November 25 — About thirty students and staff rallied in front of Tilden High School the day after the grand jury decided not to indict racist killer cop Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO. Today began with dozens of students and staff grabbing up PLP’s antiracist buttons to put on their shirts and book bags.
Students made signs throughout the day that said “I am Mike Brown”; “Racism Means Fight Back”; and “NYPD KKK” in preparation for the rally. There were lots of discussions around students’ experiences with police harassment and brutality. This issue hits close to home with a lot of students in this school who knew Kimani “Kiki” Gray well. Kiki was the unarmed, sixteen-year-old who was gunned down by racist NYPD in March of 2013, just a few blocks from the school.
As school let out for the day, students and some staff gathered with their signs in front of the school and began chanting “No Justice No Peace, No Racist Police” and “Racism Means Fight Back.” After the rally, students vowed to make the next one bigger, by organizing more of their classmates.
Only days later, when a grand jury decided not to indict killer cop Daniel Pantaleo for the murder of Eric Garner in Staten Island, students began immediately organizing to be part of the city-wide fightback. Their first action was a “die-in” during the school day two days after the announcement.
Over 30 students circled the hallways, clapping and yelling loudly, and then about 10 students lay on the floor, pretending to die in solidarity with Michael Brown and Eric Garner. After the “die-in,” students walked into their class chanting “I can’t breathe!” over and over. After a few minutes of chanting, they returned to their classwork. Students debriefed the action in classrooms, noting that they should have informed more students about the action. Some students didn’t know what was going on and didn’t participate. Moving forward, students are strategizing future actions. The struggle continues.
BROOKLYN, NY, December 3 — Progressive Labor Party rallied in the Flatbush neighborhood today in the wake of both the Mike Brown and Eric Garner no-indictment decisions. We had organized a small uprising here in response to the murder of 16-year-old Kimani “Kiki” Gray last year. Progressive Labor Party has been fighting against racism in Flatbush for five decades. Throughout our presence, we have been connecting the dots between racist cop murders and the need to carry the fight for justice all the way to communist revolution.
Across the country and around the world, workers and students are moving from calls for reform to raising slogans like “indict the system.” As Obama rushes to purchase fifty thousand body cameras, the clear-as-day video evidence of the determined effort to take Eric Garner’s life by NYPD kkkops reveal the futility of such reforms to bring an end to racist murder.
Our multiracial communist rallies started with just a handful of comrades. We were met with an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response. Dozens of workers and students, young and older, signed contact sheets and joined our picket lines chanting with all their might. On the night of the Eric Garner decision, we moved from corner to corner, pressing the limits of how long we could block traffic despite massive police presence. The cops were hesitant to make a move on us as the crowd of onlookers grew to hundreds of cheering supporters.
Every move we have made has been in unity with the families of Kyam Livingston and Shantel Davis, two young women murdered by the racist NYPD who joined us for both rallies. As these women have reminded us, the NYPD has taken their family members, but it has also created new families, extended families dedicated to the fight to end racist police murder once and for all. Thousands are in motion and millions are moved by that desire. PLP’s growing influence means more are understanding that only communist revolution can fulfill this aspiration. Join the communist contingent at the Day of Anger: Millions March on December 13 at 2 PM in Washington Square Park.
Washington, DC, November 25 — Over 1,000 marchers — Black, white, Latino, and Asian — closed down Chinatown in DC’s central business district as outrage grew over the non-indictment of killer cop Darren Wilson. PLP youth led the communist contingent in the march, with masses of students and workers taking up the militant class-conscious chants sounding over the bullhorn. Over 300 CHALLENGEs and 200 PLP flyers were eagerly taken by protesters. Multiple contacts were made. The night before at midnight, three hours after the verdict, hundreds of Howard University students marched to the White House and then to Congress to protest the racist travesty of justice.
Since then, there have been daily actions trying to halt “business as usual,” with protests at the U.S. Justice Department leading to blockades of roads during rush hour and similar tactics at the major train/subway interchange. The exoneration of the cop who killed Eric Garner breathed fresh anger into the movement, and protests continue.
Students have held many meetings to plan further actions at local sites. At one high school, a PL’er organized a discussion with videos and stories from Ferguson, the link between Ferguson and the struggle at her school, plans for upcoming marches, and the need for bolder action at her school. New students have stepped forward through this work to up the ante at their school. Similar activities continue throughout the region.
Many protesters are beginning to understand that there is no way to end racism as long as capitalism rules society. Stopping traffic by itself won’t stop capitalism, but building a revolutionary party for the long struggle ahead will create the basis for a new anti-racist world! Join and build the PLP.
NEWARK, NJ — The struggle over police terror has sharpened here and it has provided an opportunity for more working-class youth to give leadership. Over the past two weeks, multiracial demonstrations have shut down the main streets in the city and have gotten a lot of support from passing drivers. During one demonstration, after kkkop Daniel Pantaleo got away scot-free with the murder of 43-year-old Black worker Eric Garner, workers left the bus stops and the sidewalks to join the march as it went down Broad St.
On the campuses, students are making plans for more militant actions across the city. As a result, we are starting to see a relationship forming between the college and high school students in the city. This is an improvement for the student movement. While most of the demonstrations have been about education, organizing an antiracist fight against police terror will bring the movement to a higher level.
The Party has been involved in both of these demonstrations. At one, we distributed over 100 CHALLENGEs and 250 leaflets, calling for destroying the capitalist system. Many of our friends were happy to see us out there in response to the misleaders who just spoke about peaceful protesting and urging young people to vote. This is a way of co-opting militant antiracist anger into passive acceptance of the bosses’ system.
Over the past month, we have been able to discuss CHALLENGE and our analysis of racism and police terror to many students involved in this struggle. Many of these young people, while still arguing for a federal investigation, are open to PLP and the need for communist revolution. Through more struggle, we can win them to not only being leaders of the working class but also leaders of our Party.
