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Anaheim: Defying Cops’ Racist Terror; WORKERS, YOUTH REBEL!
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- 01 August 2012 80 hits
ANAHEIM, CA, July 27 — The chants began with “Let Us In! Let Us In!” but quickly changed to “Police Say Get Back, We Say Fight Back” and “No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Police!” as more and more people pressed into the small lobby outside the Anaheim City Council chambers on July 24. As a hearing on recent police killings was starting, PLP and members of the community joined relatives grieving for Manuel Díaz and Joel Acevedo. Both were murdered by the Anaheim police over the previous weekend.
On Saturday, July 21, immediately after Díaz was shot twice from behind, neighborhood friends and families confronted the police. The kkkops attacked the militant crowd — including entire families with children and babies in strollers — using rubber bullets and police dogs.
Then, on Tuesday, Anaheim workers and youth fought back! PL’ers joined the workers and students who refused to “ask” the cops for permission to voice their frustration. Instead, we demanded the jailing of killer cops. The crowd stormed City Hall and confronted the police and Anaheim council members and later marched to the Anaheim police station, blocking traffic and taking over the streets.
People pounded on cop cars and defiantly gathered at street intersections. Back at City Hall others yelled in the faces of cops and some angry youths bumped into the police line. The cops raised their batons and hit teenagers as young as 13, many shielding themselves with their skateboards.
One cop responded to teenagers throwing dirt clods by aiming his handgun at one youth. The crowd surged forward and pushed into the street. A young woman, a relative of one of the men shot execution-style, angrily stalked back and forth along the line of cops, yelling accusations of murder in their faces and jabbing her finger at each of their chests.
The large multiracial crowd grew to about 1,000 and continued to chant and confront the cops late into the night. These workers showed no fear in taking on these racist killers.
Capitalism’s Austerity Attacks Latino Workers
Working-class families have much to be angry about in Anaheim. This racially diverse city, with 53 percent of its population Latino, suffer the same high jobless rates, exorbitant housing costs and vicious austerity measures affecting education and other social services as the rest of California. While Disneyland and other corporations continue to receive large subsidies and public monies, working-class families employed at the “Happiest Place on Earth” get paid poverty wages, and are terrorized by trigger-happy cops. As exists worldwide, capitalism in crisis has only one slogan: “Save the Bosses, Banks and Corporations — Screw the Workers.”
Working-class communities like Anaheim live under repressive policies, anti-immigrant racism and fascist terror that use fear and direct violence to silence residents’ class anger. It’s no accident that Anaheim was California’s testing ground for the federal government’s racist Secure Communities, a program that combines the forces of the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in order to more effectively deport immigrant workers.
Like the rest of the U.S., California’s Latino youth are twice as likely compared to whites to be sentenced to prison. Black workers are six times more likely to be incarcerated. In addition to being imprisoned in both the state jails and in immigrant detention centers, Latino men in Anaheim are murdered frequently on the streets by cops.
Since 2007, these fascist Anaheim cops have murdered 16 people; nine were Latino. With the capitalist crisis deepening here, this racist trend is rapidly increasing. The killing of Díaz and Acevedo brought Anaheim police shootings in 2012 to six; five were Latino.
Many in the crowd asked about our signs, enlarged pictures of the CHALLENGE “WANTED For MURDER!” front page that condemned recent racist killings nation-wide. People readily agreed that police departments systematically terrorize black and brown communities and criticized the city’s suggestions that the recent tragic murders were the result of “a few bad cops.” Many took CHALLENGE, open to the idea that capitalism is at the root of these racist cop killings.
By Tuesday night’s end, 24 people were arrested and scores were injured. Driving past the many police blockades placed throughout the city, PL’ers smelled the smoke and saw the fires. We talked with some teenagers who lifted their shirts to show us the bruises the rubber bullets left on their bodies. They said the cops fired at them without warning.
Cops ‘Protect and Serve’ Bosses Profits
If they had any previous doubts about capitalism’s kkkops and courts, these youth now have no illusions; they know that the Anaheim police don’t “protect and serve” their community, but instead only protect and serve the interests of the bosses and their profits.
In California, unions and politicians are promoting Governor Brown’s “Tax Initiative” as a way to pacify working-class fight-back at our schools and jobsites by focusing on voting. Likewise, in Anaheim politicians and local religious figures are trying to win over residents with promises of federal investigations, policy changes or electing Latinos to the City Council. Many of these public figures are condemning the “violence” by protesters.
PL’ers will continue to support and stand side-by-side with our militant working-class sisters and brothers in Anaheim who showed no fear in fighting capitalism’s fascism and racist killer cops. We will continue to distribute CHALLENGE and build relationships, explaining to our friends why capitalism always needs racism and state violence (here and worldwide) to defend its profit and power by super-exploiting these victims of racism and trying to divide the working class.
From Brooklyn and the Bronx, NY, to Sanford, Florida, and Anaheim, workers must take to the streets and fight back against the bosses’ racism and kkkops. Progressive Labor Party is on the streets, in the schools, on our jobs, in the military — building our class anger and our Party to the fight for communist revolution. Only this can destroy the system that oppresses our class and then erect a society run by and for workers, the creators of all value.
BRONX, NY, July 28 — On July 19, hundreds rallied and marched on Bronx’s 47th precinct demanding the conviction of Richard Haste, the cop who murdered black teenager Ramarley Graham in his own home on February 2. This was the 18th consecutive weekly vigil commemorating each of the years young Ramarley was alive. Once again Ramarley’s parents were militantly out front.
Due to consistent mass, multiracial pressure, Bronx District Attorney Johnson finally indicted Haste, but only on manslaughter charges. The masses have been demanding murder indictments, not only for Haste but for all racist kkkops who supported him.
PLP comrades and others have also called sharply for indictments of Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly, the primary ruling-class architects of the racist terror that has slaughtered one black worker every other month in NYC since last November!
Beginning with our brother Ramarley’s funeral, week in and week out a growing number of PL’ers and friends have become deeply involved in working closely with workers in the neighborhood and in mobilizing our friends for regular mass actions. Because of the trust we’ve developed, we’ve been increasingly able to raise our ideas for multiracial unity against fascist terror, reliance on the working class, not politicians and for communist revolution as the only solution.
Each week PLP distributed CHALLENGEs and PLP leaflets en masse while also regularly carrying a Party banner. During most marches people have often shouted, “Give the teacher the mike!” and one young comrade has led chants against fascist genocide and for fight-back uniting women and men, workers and students, black, Latino, Asian and white.
But nationalists, pseudo leftists, lawyers, preachers and politicians have also constantly hammered various pro-capitalist, opportunist positions, confusing many honest protesters. In effect, they’re laying down the gauntlet for us to widely expand our own leadership in class struggle, with mass CHALLENGE sales and deepening ties with everyone we bring to and meet in the struggle.
This final vigil, march and rally showed clearly how the bosses are working overtime to co-opt and derail anti-fascist struggle. The Nation of Islam speaker urged everyone to kiss the backside of the system: “Do not be disrespectful to those in power above us. We need more strong politicians.” And, in effect, he complimented our work and presence with blatant anti-communism: “We are here only for young Ramarley and his family. Do not try to attach your agenda to this
agenda!”
The New Black Panther Party speaker passionately summoned black people alone to rise up in self-defense, ending with the chant, “Black Power, Black Power,” picked up by some in the crowd. But that refrain rang particularly hollow, given the thoroughly multiracial make-up of the hundreds rallying outside Ramarley’s home.
However, PLP’s deepening involvement in this fight and principled struggle for PLP’s ideas guaranteed our opportunity for rebuttal. Immediately one young PL’er spoke, contradicting virtually every reactionary point the nationalist had pushed! He concluded with a call for unity with the lockout of Con Ed workers, then leading the sharpest fight against the ruling class that organizes fascist terror. He challenged every anti-racist present to join the protracted struggle for communist revolution.
After the rally at the precinct, many participants marched to the Graham family’s church for another rally where capitalist bigwigs were the featured speakers. Led off by the bosses’ media personality Al Sharpton — who years ago informed on black leaders for the FBI — they focused on diverting us into the suicidal gutter of electoral politics. Brooklyn Councilman Williams warmly introduced City Comptroller Liu who unabashedly pushed his mayoral bid.
These are the same politicians who hadn’t shown their faces previously or at the demonstration that night and had pushed for a silent Father’s Day demonstration on 5th Avenue. Imagine if that march had had the militancy of those led by Ramarley’s family!
However, ultimately the working class is very sharp. If we redouble our efforts, more and more will respond to PLP’s ideas and join to bury this racist ruling class. While listening to the crap emanating from the pulpit, a comrade quietly slipped a CHALLENGE and a PL leaflet into the hands of a middle-aged black worker. During several speeches he quietly read the entire leaflet, then folded it carefully, placed it in his backpack along with the CHALLLENGE and walked out of the church with his cane — another of the system’s victims who may join capitalism’s gravediggers for the most joyful funeral in history.
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Angry Parents, School Workers Condemn Racist Budget Cuts
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- 01 August 2012 78 hits
CHICAGO, IL, July 11 — Progressive Labor Party and angry teachers, students, parents and workers came out to Kennedy-King College for one of the three planned Chicago Public School (CPS) budget meetings for the 2012-2013 school year. The racist proposed budget didn’t do much of anything to meet the needs of children in Chicago, just like all other school budgets in working-class communities. It was evident that the budget in Chicago, like many places around the U.S., had significantly less money to use for our students.
The imperialist needs of the U.S. ruling class to maintain oil profits in the Middle East has led to millions of deaths of our working-class brothers and sisters in Iraq and Afghanistan and the wholesale destruction of social services and education domestically. The presentation lasted about thirty minutes, and the board then announced that there would be two hours for the public to speak and ask questions.
The auditorium was ringed by about 12 CPS and Kennedy-King security officers. One by one, teachers and parents and school workers came up to the microphone to angrily denounce the cuts. Teacher after teacher told of over 160 schools with no libraries in them, while Chicago Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard makes over $250,000 a year, plus bonuses. A janitor said they should stop layoffs, reporting that the remaining janitors are being over-worked, which leads to unhealthy and unsanitary conditions for our children.
Parents spoke about the CPS’s disrespect of the teachers and the students. Our children’s schools don’t have heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer as temperatures reach 100 degrees outside and 110 degrees inside. There’s no money for arts and science programs, but plenty for Chicago KKKops and metal detectors to make the schools resemble a prison.
Parents and community members saw that the funding for local public schools goes down but money for the failed charter school system goes up. As they took the mic to address the racist school board, almost every speaker had CHALLENGE in their hand, received from PL members outside the door.
We talked about how capitalism, no matter who is in charge, can never truly educate our children and fulfill the needs of the working class; only communism can. One comrade exposed the CPS’s attacks:
Not only will these cuts hurt every child attending a public school in the city of Chicago, but these budget cuts are racist. Is there one school on the Gold Coast [rich area of Chicago] getting a budget decrease or that has no library or proper heating…No! Are any of your children in any of these charter schools or any public schools on the South or West Side?...No! And why are 95% of the charter schools and school closings on the Southside and the Westside? Does it have something to do with the fact that the Westside and the Southside are majority black and Latino? So this school board is RACIST!
We brought a communist message to the meeting that wasn’t there before. It was no longer about just increasing spending on public school children or supporting this tax or that candidate in the dead-end electoral system.
Instead, the community heard the message that if you truly want change that you must smash capitalism and fight for communism. Joining PLP is the first step toward a society that educates every child and provides them with a safe environment and a better future in which to grow.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, July 30 — Comrades from the Midwest and East Coast joined thousands of teachers at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention in Detroit to expose the dangers of supporting the ruling class liberals. New and veteran comrades joined together for four days of forums, leafleting, selling CHALLENGEs, and meeting teachers nationwide. The peak of our Summer Project was direct political action at the AFT against Vice President Joe Biden (see box).
Capitalism Destroyed Detroit
On the first night, a comrade from Detroit held a meeting to talk about the current state of Detroit. Many of the people of Detroit relied jobs in the automotive industry. Due to the collapse of the auto industry in the 1980s and the recession that followed in the 1990s, factories closed down and many workers were laid off. The initial cut-backs disproportionately affected black workers. The unions in these factories did not fight back against these racist layoffs. As a result, white workers were attacked and lost their jobs as well.
According to our comrade from Detroit, the factories were moved down South and to Mexico where the labor is cheaper and union activity is low. It was a move clearly to maximize profits. Whatever happens to the workers left behind is of no concern to the auto bosses.
Due to the recession, Detroit has suffered greatly. The automotive plants closings led to a sharp decrease in tax revenue. As a result, Detroit ‘sresidents have had to deal with high taxes and cuts to public services such as the fire department, transit system and its schools.
As we drove through the streets of Detroit, we saw the aftermath of the destruction for ourselves. Many of the buildings were either run down or abandoned. Supermarkets are located beyond city limits. There were areas where there was nothing but huge fields of overgrown grass. Some comrades went to Henry Ford high school to do a CHALLENGE sale and noticed that the football field, tennis courts and track field were covered with weeds and overgrown grass.
Fighting Racism in and out of the Classroom
The planning and execution of the Summer Project from the youth leadership of PLP led to the distribution of over 1,500 CHALLENGEs and over 5,000 leaflets that exposed how the capitalists have destroyed Detroit; how the “liberal” Democrats are just as dangerous as the Republicans; and how Diane Ravitch is a ruling-class tool and an enemy of the working class.
Many people, visitors and AFT delegates alike, took notice of our literature and held discussions with us. As the convention went on, some people eagerly took the next piece of literature or could be seen reading CHALLENGE intently. In addition, we received 242 signatures on a petition supporting the struggle in New York to find justice for Shantel Davis, a 23-year-old black woman who was murdered by NYPD detective Philip Atkins.
A forum was held on the limits of unionism, showing the advancements in education past communist revolutions have made. There was also discussion about how the communist revolution PLP is organizing for will be setup to meet the needs of all students.
The horrors in Detroit and the attacks on our children’s education are just a few of many reasons why capitalism fails the working class. What workers need is communism, an egalitarian society based on need, not profit. Progressive Labor Party fights for this goal. Join us in our struggle!
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ATTACK BIDEN!
On the day of Vice President Joe Biden’s arrival, we formed two groups. One stayed outside the hall,distributed CHALLENGEs and a leaflet titled “Democratic Party Attacks Education Workers.” Young PL’ers marched up and down, holding signs reading, “Don’t’ Vote. Revolt!” while chanting loud enough for workers inside and outside to hear.
The second group passed security and snuck a big banner inside that read, “Obama, Biden, Romney: Education Reform for Imperialism. Fight Back with Communism!” With the banner unfurled, we marched together through the convention hall, chanting, “Democrats and Republicans, all the same. Racist terror is the name of their game!”
The Secret Service and Detroit police grabbed our banner. We pushed back to stand our ground. Young PL’ers seized the banner back, raised it high, all chanting. While they were shoving us out the building, we were chanting even louder, “Racist Biden you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide!” We chanted for all of the workers Biden and Obama have murdered worldwide in the name of U.S. imperialism, but the union leadership edited this out of their video. PLP was a striking group of young multi-racial teachers and students in a crowd of majority white delegates.
New comrades stepped up to take responsibility for the Party. There was a qualitative difference in many of our newer comrades after this Project. Many commented on how they realized we have no choice but to fight.
One student used the word fascism to describe the conditions for workers worldwide. He said he had never been taught that word in school and now sees exactly what fascism means.Everyone came away from the weekend politically stronger and more committed to advance the fight for communist revolution.
BROOKLYN, NY, July 16 — Shouts of “Save our patients! Save our jobs!” rang out as hundreds of workers, with red t-shirts flashing in the hot sun, picketed yet again to protest downsizing and layoffs in the Downstate inner-city hospital. Inside, state politicians, SUNY and Downstate bigwigs met. When they came out, the politicians found themselves on the hot seat about racist cuts in jobs and services. Within a week hundreds of pink slips were sent out between the Downstate and Long Island College Hospital campuses of SUNY Downstate.
Are We Winning?
Can we win this fight against powers from Albany to Wall Street? In the 1960s, mostly black women hospital workers decided they were no longer going to stand working for $40/week, below poverty-level wages. For years they organized, picketed, struck, defied courts and police (and sometimes 1199 union leaders) and went to jail, but finally won union representation, a living wage and benefits. Now it looks like the bosses want to push us — still predominantly black, Latino and women workers — back to subsistence wages.
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes you Stronger
There is another kind of victory we can win under capitalism if we have the will to engage in the kind of all-out struggle those workers did. We can become a more savvy, active and united working-class force. Getting involved in this struggle can expand our limits, get us out of our ruts. It can help us identify our enemies: the wealthy and their politicians, courts, cops, media and union hierarchies. It can help us identify our friends. At our June 28 rally, we united workers, the community and three different unions. This multi-racial unity consisted of women and men, black, white and Latino, from professional and non-professional departments.
Taking a step further, we can look beyond our own hospital to see that our fight is the same as that of workers and patients at Brookdale, or Cook County in Chicago.
Taking another step we may feel kinship with the struggle of the ConEd workers who were locked out because they refuse to accept give-backs or even the struggle in our neighborhood against the racist police murder of 23-year-old Shantel Davis mere blocks from our hospital. We could come to realize that workers in Haiti, Egypt, Nigeria or China are fighting the same struggle.
Take It To Another Level
Right now you are reading CHALLENGE, the newspaper of the revolutionary communist PLP. CHALLENGE does not waver from pointing out the enemies and friends of the working class.
We keep our eyes on the prize of finally overthrowing the wealthy ruling classes of the world to run things as the working class, for the working class. Read CHALLENGE regularly. Help distribute it to friends, family and co-workers. Write for it. Join a CHALLENGE discussion group. Contact us at PLP.org.
