Challenge Radio(Podcast!)  PLP @plpchallenge @plpchallenge

    Type 2 or more characters for results.

    Select your language

    • Español
    • Français
    Join the Revolutionary Communist Progressive Labor Party
    Progressive Labor Party
    • Home
    • Our Fight
    • Challenge
    • Key Documents
    • LiteratureToggle dropdown
      • Books
      • Pamphlets & Leaflets
    • New MagazinesToggle dropdown
      • PL Magazines
      • The Communist
    • Join Us
    • Search
    • Donate
    Open slide pane
    1. You are here:  
    2. Home
    Information
    Print

    Parents, Students, Teachers Unite: Confront Bosses’ Racist School Plan

    Information
    04 December 2010 288 hits

    BROOKLYN, NY, November 18 — “No matter how much you want to pretty this up, you can’t fool us; it’s racist!” shouted an angry parent towards one of several cronies the Department of Education (DoE) sent to pacify angry students, parents and teachers at a meeting of parents from two of the building’s schools.
    As reported in CHALLENGE (10/28), our school campus, which now houses four schools, is slated to house a 5th one next September. This new school is in response to a mostly wealthy, predominantly white neighborhood’s desire for a school within the immediate area. The students currently attending all the schools are black, Latino and Asian working-class youth from surrounding neighborhoods.
    The new school will only accept students who received the highest marks, 3s and 4s, on their eighth grade exams; require a writing sample; will not have special education students or English Language Learners; and will receive millions of dollars in start-up costs.
    At a school leadership team meeting, a DoE representative said the new school will replicate a pre-existing screened high school, a highly sought-after school with a mostly white population. If this new school is as popular as the first one, it’s expected our school’s current population will be forced out to accommodate such growth and the wealthy white people will get what they’ve always wanted — black and brown students out of their neighborhood.


    A Record of Racism

    Racial tension between the school campus and the immediate neighborhood is nothing new. Up until this school year, a pizza shop across the street refused to serve our students,  while simultaneously serving white students from the surrounding neighborhoods and schools. Their phony excuse was that students from our campus would crowd the shop, while only one student would purchase something.
    Daily at 3:00 PM, the neighborhood turns into a police state. Students are unceremoniously “ushered” to the train station by school safety cops and NYPD and told to go home.
    Blogs written by neighborhood residents have labeled students “criminals,” “dangerous” and even “animals.” The schools have even been asked to stagger dismissal so as “not rattle the nerves” of the pearl-clutching residents.


    A History of Struggle

    These attacks have not gone unanswered. Students in our campus have walked out over the cell-phone ban, the Sean Bell murder, for immigration rights (on May 1), led budget-cut conferences and rallies and picketed outside the school yelling, “We’re students, not criminals! Metal detectors have got to go!” Over 50 students attended PLP’s May Day dinner last year.
    Teachers, many of whom are CHALLENGE readers, have boycotted the racist pizzeria. They also confronted school safety cops about their treatment of students and rallied against budget cuts. These teachers correctly called them racist, given the fact that the city’s 80% black and Latino school population will be taking the brunt of these cuts.
    Fight Back Now!
    Disgusted by this blatantly racist attack, teachers from most of the building’s schools have been meeting together almost weekly to plan fight-backs. Thus far this has included a debate organized by a PL member and her students (where CHALLENGE was sold), two rallies outside the school’s building and a meeting organized to unite with parents.
    It was at this meeting where parents directed their anger towards the DoE flunkies present over the treatment of students, charging that, “The bathrooms are disgusting, and there are roaches and mice crawling all over the place. Why is it that the building is ‘good enough’ for our children, but not for these new kids? It’s because our children are black!”
    During the meeting a PL member correctly pointed out that teachers, students and parents need to unite together and fight this racist attack, not fall for the DoE’s every-school-for-themselves, divide-and-conquer strategy. Turning her back on the DoE’s mouthpieces, the PL’er called on parents to kick them out of the meeting and begin making our own fight-back plans. Applause and agreement greeted this call. The group then passed around a fight-back sign-up sheet and has been in touch ever since. A second parent meeting has been scheduled.


    Student Unity is Crucial

    In discussing this issue with students the following Monday, a PL teacher asked them to read and respond to the article in last issue’s CHALLENGE. Students were outraged to discover the blatant racist plans to fund a new school while neglecting the already-existing ones.
    Some students’ first reaction was to threaten to beat up the new entering students. But the teacher warned students not to let the DoE’s racism segregate us even further. She reasoned that the new students were not the real enemy, that it was the DoE and all it encompasses, saying they should unite with the new students (if they come) and petition and rally for equal funding.
    Even if we win this struggle, we know that ultimately only the bosses win under capitalism. Like everything else, this struggle is a contradiction: while trying to win teachers, students and parents to join this struggle, we also know that the bosses’ schools can never serve our students. Their main goal is to sift out a few students to become the next Oprahs or Obamas, while steering the remaining students to end up stuck in poverty-wage jobs, or as prison labor or to die in imperialist wars.
    Our goal is to introduce parents, students and teachers to the Party around this struggle, and then to consolidate and recruit them. We will lead with CHALLENGE and fight alongside our class brothers and sisters. We have much work to do and many lessons to learn.

    Information
    Print

    Boston Students Fight Racist Police Brutality

    Information
    04 December 2010 311 hits

    Boston, November 3 — The spontaneous march on October 29th against the vicious police beating of a 16-year-old black youth at Roxbury Community College (RCC) (see
    CHALLENGE 11/3/10) brought together students and faculty who were committed to advance the struggle against police brutality.  Since then, a core group of activists has  organized a mass response. A student petition condemning the police attack was circulated throughout the college community, and a letter condemning the college administration’s silence was distributed among faculty and staff. A mass meeting was called for November 2 to mobilize a bigger march two days later.
    Although the meeting was held on Election Day at an election site (the college), voting was completely ignored. It’s no wonder that 60% of eligible voters regularly stay away from the polls. Working-class issues like police brutality, unemployment, foreclosures and cutbacks don’t get voted on. Direct action is the only meaningful way for workers to assert our power.
    Several Roxbury politicians came to the meeting.  (Roxbury is Boston’s oldest black neighborhood.) Their main role was confining the scope of the struggle by focusing on pressuring the police chief and the college administration to “apologize.”
    Then 25 students, led by two politicians, went to confront RCC’s President Gomes.  Although the meeting gave him the opportunity to repair his damaged reputation for trying to distance the college from the “bad press” the incident would bring to RCC, few if any students left with any illusions about his role as junior partner of the local ruling class.


    Cops: Boses’ Tool to Control Workers’ Struggle


    Two days later, despite the rain, 60 people, mostly students and a few staff, faculty and politicians, gathered at the school to rally before the march to the police station.  One speaker condemned the cops who beat the teenager, but was careful not to condemn all police.  Another speaker explained that killer cops are protected by the police bureaucracy and the courts because the bosses lose control when the authority of their agents in blue is weakened. “The rulers need to keep us afraid of the police because they are the first line of defense against the working class. The cops serve and protect the bosses and preserve their unequal and unjust society.”
    For days afterwards, the activist students wrestled to keep the struggle going. They thought about organizing a bigger march, bringing the petitions to the Mayor’s office, confronting the Chief of Police — anything to get the brutal cops fired.  They worried about how to maintain the current level of political activity without their academic work suffering.  
    As newly-engaged activists, they were grappling with profound questions: Does winning mean getting a few cops fired, even when others will be hired to do the same “bad job”?  Does “winning” mean raising consciousness?  And if so, consciousness about what?  
    Some of them came to a CHALLENGE Reader’s Group and watched a PL video about the 1992 LA rebellions after the four cops who beat Rodney King were exonerated.  The video and the discussion that followed provided a communist perspective for them to consider.  The students could see the limits of reform.  When the LA bosses couldn’t
    control the working class by using the medias’ lies, elections and other methods of deception, they brought in the police and armed forces, using the full power of the state to maintain control.
    Police brutality will continue to sharpen as U.S. capitalism loses ground to its rivals.   Increasingly workers who fight unemployment, home foreclosures and cutbacks will get the same fascist police treatment presently aimed at black and Latino youth and
    undocumented immigrants.  
    Inevitably more young people will be thrust into struggles against the police and other injustices of capitalism.  As at RCC, these struggles open the door to revolutionary thinking like nothing else can. Struggle against the bosses’ system gives us the opportunity to experience the power workers can have when we organize, as well as our lack of power relative to the bosses who control the police, the media, the politicians and the college bosses. When we fight in our own interests, we can more easily see how the bosses maintain control of society to benefit their class and why it is necessary for our class to win power.

    Communist Consciousness Crucial

    The instinct of the RCC activists to want to keep fighting is good,
    but without communist consciousness it will either lead them to burn out or
    into the arms of politicians.   Communist consciousness enables them to stay
    in the struggle for the long term, despite the ups and downs of the reform
    movement. Now, when the level of class struggle is relatively low, whenever there’s an opportunity for a struggle, PL’ers must pull out all the stops to advance it.
    At RCC, the most important development by far to come out of this anti-police brutality struggle is for the young leaders to join PLP. This is the way we can best guarantee more struggles which can become more schools for communism.

    Information
    Print

    Expose Imperialism’s Rape of Haiti at Church Forum

    Information
    04 December 2010 281 hits

    BROOKLYN, NY, November 6 —  “While demonstrating for education for all Haitians outside the Ministry of Education in Port-Au-Prince, a teacher was killed by the Haitian militia.”  There was a gasp from the audience as the details of the assassination were described.
    As the speaker made clear, even though it was a cop’s bullet that ended the life of Louis Jean Filbert on October 9, 200 years of racist imperialism are as much to blame. Haitians have never been forgiven by the rapacious capitalists of the world for freeing themselves from the yoke of slavery. As the speaker finished, it was clear that viewing the current catastrophe as simply the result of a geologic event was seriously one-sided.
    This speaker and others were part of a forum called “Haitians Abandoned,” attended by 80 people, which was held in the chapel of our congregation. Communist ideas are present in this church through our social justice group, which organize activities such as the forum.
    There was an air of expectancy at the beginning of the event. The forum had been collectively organized between the Haitian community and the church community. The event was a success in that there was a great response from the Haitian community. In fact, they outnumbered the church community, clearly pointing out that we have to organize better in our church.
    The speakers also made the point that it is not charity the Haitian people seek, but unity with their brothers and sisters in the rest of the world. The willingness of many hundreds of honest working-class people (including many Party members) to go to Haiti should offer us a small reminder of the Spanish Civil War, when thousands of workers from around the world streamed into Spain in an attempt to beat back fascism. In Haiti, like in every “natural” disaster, the class-consciousness and solidarity of workers pokes its head through the unrelenting individualism and cynicism that capitalism heaps upon us.
    After the two-hour presentation and question time, attendees shared a meal together, supplied by both the Haitian and church communities. The multi-racial unity on display in our church spoke well for the future, not only of the church, but of our class. Armed with communist ideas, a future of multi-racial unity is one that the working class can achieve.
    In one conversation a church member spoke about the horror of 200 years of imperialism that had made Haiti almost the poorest nation on Earth. The visitor, with boundless positive energy  said: “A new day will come. Nobody will put up with this for much longer. “
    The Haitian pate, chicken, salad, fruit and cheeses and the coffee brought conversation to an even deeper and friendlier level. We will continue to work with our Haitian brothers and sisters and within our church. There is great desire on both sides to continue the relationship and to stand together against imperialism and its racism. Coming out of the forum we will organize a CHALLENGE readers group in the church to continue this struggle.
    In a moment of excitement during the forum, one of the speakers called out a Haitian expression which talked of the freeing of the people. The applause was astounding. The echoes will not be forgotten. Those in power had better tremble.

    Information
    Print

    Workers can never be illegal Marchers Unite for Jobs, vs. Anti-Immigrant Racists

    Information
    04 December 2010 284 hits

    STATEN ISLAND, NY, November 13 — “Wherever we live no one is illegal because people can never be illegal!” These words echoed across Staten Island, a place that has seen the ugly face of capitalist racism. In response to more than 17 violent attacks against immigrants in the area over the past year, a multi-racial, multi-generational group of church members and peace activists had come together.
    In the march, PLP’s vision for the future was clearly present: a society where all labels that are assigned to us by the racist, capitalist system will be eliminated. All of these categories: “Black or white,” “citizen or immigrant,” “legal or illegal,” “employed or unemployed.” will disappear in a society where borders are abolished, racism is outlawed and everyone will contribute to society in some form.
    At the first rally a worker from Colombia spoke about the racist media that portrays Colombians as drug pushers and criminals. She said what many workers know to be true: that immigrants are looking for a job, a place to live, and peace. She stood as a figure of strength, not bowed down by the problems she faces.
    The next speaker was the daughter of a worker from Mexico who had been severely beaten in a racial attack. She stood with her child in her arms to speak out against the brutality towards her father and to thank everyone present for standing up and speaking out. She said that all they ever wanted was to work and to live.
    The march was called to order and as we marched we passed many signs of how capitalism is failing workers of the world: a huge bus barn that could employ many hundreds more for public transportation; a parking area for school buses that needs drivers and aides to help students to settle down, feel comfortable on their way to and from school; an ambulance company that could train and use more emergency medical technicians to treat sick workers. But capitalists and their government only care about profit, and so there are cut-backs in all of these areas.
    The signs bobbed up and down as people marched down the street chanting “Asian, Latin, Black, Red, White — Workers of the World Unite”;  “What Do We Want? Jobs! When do we want them? Now!”; “Racism means – fight back!, unemployment means – fight back!”  Although this is not a densely populated area people came out to watch us. Some smiled, some waved, some joined us. Workers stood in shop doorways taking literature, happy that people were speaking out.
    As the march neared its end between a housing project and an elementary school, our message became clearer. There were demands for more hiring in education and elsewhere and an end to racist discrimination.  These people who marched and spoke exposed the boss-inspired theme of  separation. 
    As the march ended one ninth-grader from a high school whose parents are Haitian immigrants, who has had to watch and endure the terrible conditions that have been going on in Haiti since the earthquake, spoke with emotion but without the slick phrases of political leaders. He said we need to be educated; we need jobs and we need to end racist hatred.  These oppressions affect us all no matter what our color. Over the course of the day we distributed 200 CHALLENGE newspapers to workers of Staten Island. They opened the paper to read Our Fight (see pg. 2); We dedicate our lives to smashing capitalism and all the labels it puts on workers.
    

    Information
    Print

    PL’ers Challenge Anti-Immigrant Racism at Public Health Association

    Information
    04 December 2010 313 hits

    DENVER, CO, November 10 — Over 10,000 members of the American Public Health Association (APHA) met this year around the theme of “Social Justice.” Members and friends of PLP, with support from various groups in APHA, challenged the organization to live up to its theme. Our proposed APHA policy statement, “Opposing the Exclusion of Undocumented Immigrants from Health Reform,” hit a raw nerve and triggered a small struggle in the association.
    The liberals who run the APHA don’t want to take any public position critical of the Obama administration. But rank-and-file members, most of whom work with underserved populations day in and day out, have less interest in currying favor with politicians and more gut-level commitment to justice for the communities they serve. APHA bureaucrats used their control over a key committee to block our anti-racist resolution.
    Anticipating resistance from the association full-timers, the APHA members who wrote the resolution (“the troublemakers”) started circulating drafts in the weeks leading up to the annual meeting to all APHA sections (Epidemiology, Medical Care, Maternal and Child Health, etc.) The Black Caucus was specifically targeted through the friends we have made there fighting against racism in previous years. They gave their support as soon as they read it.
    A key part of our strategy was to oppose Obama’s attempt to win African Americans to scapegoat Latinos for the failures of capitalist medicine. After all, it is no small thing that the country’s first black president signed a racist health care bill that doesn’t let undocumented immigrants even BUY health insurance through the exchanges! In the end the “troublemakers” were also able to join forces with the Latino Caucus to keep the policy statement alive.
    This activity, along with open sales of CHALLENGE and raising different anti-racist, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist ideas in presentations,  scientific sessions and one-on-one conversations with our friends, made for a productive five days of meetings. Healthcare social policy clearly has life-and-death implications. The stress of life under an oppressive wage-slavery system leads to high blood pressure, diabetes, premature labor and infant deaths. 
    For black and Latino workers, who suffer the additional layer of racism-caused stress, this disease burden is higher, for some diseases over twice as high. Capitalist poverty breeds diseases and denying access to life-saving healthcare because a person lacks money or is the “wrong race” compounds this murderous injustice.
    This fight has helped to illuminate the way APHA actually works, especially for our younger friends who were a little surprised at the dishonesty of the “progressive” professionals who control key positions in the organization. Small struggles like this can provide important lessons in the “school for communism.” To be most effective, though, the struggles need the context of on-going personal relationships. One friend who always seemed pretty conservative, a federal employee from a section where we have worked for years, heard about the trick to sideline our version of the resolution. “They are starting to run this association like a dictatorship!” he commented.
    At the annual “Troublemaker’s Breakfast,” a number of new friends in attendance were interested in helping us organize more “trouble” at next year’s APHA meeting in Washington, D.C.  Several of our new friends live in cities with PLP clubs, giving us a much better opportunity for more conversations with them.
    Some are ready to connect health problems to social causes and will be open to revolutionary solutions. A central component of our approach will be developing a multiracial group, including both Black and Latino Caucus members, to manage the resubmission of the resolution for permanent policy-statement status next year. Long-term friendships based on the shared need to fight racism will strengthen this work in the years to come.

    1. Mexico: CHALLENGE’s Exposure of Flood Risk Draws Rulers’ Wrath
    2. Obama Asia Trip Flops; Imperialist, Domestic Rivals Add to Trade, Fiscal Woes
    3. Shades of Old Jim Crow Pickets Hit Racist School Bosses’ ‘Separate and Unequal’ Scheme
    4. PL’ers Lead Anti-Sexist Battle Chicago Moms’ 43-day Sit-in Beats Bosses

    Page 698 of 804

    • 693
    • 694
    • 695
    • 696
    • 697
    • 698
    • 699
    • 700
    • 701
    • 702

    Creative Commons License   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

    • Contact Us for Help
    Back to Top
    Progressive Labor Party
    Close slide pane
    • Home
    • Our Fight
    • Challenge
    • Key Documents
    • LiteratureToggle dropdown
      • Books
      • Pamphlets & Leaflets
    • New MagazinesToggle dropdown
      • PL Magazines
      • The Communist
    • Join Us
    • Search
    • Donate