It was a wild scene on campus!
December 5, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Today, the Revolution Club was part of a wild scene on campus, with over 100 students taking on a reactionary Christian fascist. There is a newly forming Revolution Club at this college that has been getting together for just a couple weeks. A few veteran members of the Revolution Club along with a writer for Revolution newspaper went out to their meeting to get more into what this Club is and why. While there are different levels of understanding of those attracted to this Club, one thing that stands out is people are searching and looking for an alternative way of understanding and changing the world. At the most recent meeting questions began to get informally tossed around: why is communism so slandered? What about religion or the military? Can there be gradual change? Students really wrestling with why things are the way they are and can there be another way to exist and be (as a whole).
Usually students silently trickle into the meeting but this time on their way in, several students referred to the Christian anti-abortion and anti-gay demonstrator on campus. People talked about there being a scene developing with students surrounding this lone guy, some challenging and a lot just watching.
People at the Revolution Club meeting seemed really agitated, commenting on the signs that this lone guy was holding: "homosex is a god damned sin" and "abortion is a god damned sin" on the other side. We had planned to get more into the slogans of the Revolution Club to more solidly forge this on campus, and were going to get into the important questions raised at the beginning. But as people were talking about what was going on, those leading the meeting asked people if we should get into this questions more later (as important as they are), and go be part of what was happening, and chant this motherfucker down by challenging his shit. People very quickly agreed and were eager to see the club doing this kind of resistance; it seems, the majority hadn't participated in a demonstration before; and they all wanted to see revolutionaries in action. We quickly practiced our chant: "without this basic right women can't be free, Abortion on demand and without apology!" And we walked into a scene of about a hundred students; chanting—we ripped things open on a different level.
There were all kinds of people there—a group of gay students and gay rights supporters, atheists and secular students, people who were religious but didn't like this kind of bigotry and a lot who were just watching what was happening. Some people were quietly taking him on but when we got there, we started doing loud agitation along with the chanting—getting into the stakes of the fight for abortion, what's wrong with the shaming of gay people, and what this kind of religious fundamentalism represented and why it needed to be taken on. We also agitated about the need for revolution, that people should find out more, hook up with the Revolution Club and find out about the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian.
People cheered as we came in. Along with our agitation, we were calling on people who were taking him on to do it more loudly. One student just stood there agitating "false prophet, false prophet." There was a pretty defiant group of gay youth and their supporters who really got in the fascists' face. At one point, they started chanting "anal sex, anal sex." Or others were yelling out, "God loves homosexuals!", two young gay women kissed right in the face of this Christian fascist and this got resounding applause from all those around.
Many started off curious as to what was going on and quickly had a strong opinion against what was being said by the Christian fascist. Others were arguing we should just ignore this guy and let him be. But people's vocal defiance is what had the initiative that day.
Along with his hateful bigotry against gay people, this fascist vocally upheld patriarchy. In response to the revolutionary who writes for Revolution newspaper, he said, "this is an example for all women of what not to be" and went on that he wanted to clarify some things about patriarchy. He said, "patriarchy is a good thing, women need a strong father and a strong god." This was very helpful self-exposure about what this guy's true program was about. A young guy student yelled out, "no, men and women were created equal." And this outraged a lot of the young women who said they were more than this and echoed what the revolutionary said about being full human beings. This fascist said literally that women should be in the kitchen—this is usually followed up with barefoot and pregnant, as one of the club members added, speaking to the crowd to illustrate the type of horrors in store for women in his vision of the way things should be. We also agitated that fetuses are not babies and abortion is not murder. And made clear that the fight for abortion isn't about babies but about the control of a woman's body.
There were some who really upheld this and others who disagreed. One young guy was both mad at the fascist and mad at us. He pleaded with the fascist that god was supposed to be about love and this guy was going about it all wrong, but also argued against us, saying that it was "selfish to kill the life inside you." We argued that a woman's life mattered more than a bunch of cells that was not yet a human being, that a fetus is subordinate to the life of a woman and that without the right to abortion women will be no more than slaves, with their lives and dreams foreclosed. At a certain point, a young woman said quietly, "yeah, we need abortion to be free and this guy is totally wrong for trying to shame women." Others took this on by arguing about the need for abortion when it comes to rape.
At one point, a woman who seemed to be in her 60s walked right up to the fascist and put her finger in his face, "Fuck you!" she said, "You're a hater!" She marched off but before she left the crowd, turned back around and said, "I'm a professor and I love what you all are doing." And then one more time for good measure, looked at the fascist and gave him the middle finger saying again, "Fuck you!"
There was also debate about the bible and the existence of god. We said there is no god and that we need liberation without gods. This was controversial amongst some students. Some tried to counter the fascist by saying the bible is about god's love and god loves all of us, but the fascist responded that the bible does actually say homosexual acts are sinful and should not be allowed and that women should serve men. On this—he was actually correct and we said so. This is what the bible says—which is why no one should look to that dark ages bullshit. There were other students who took on this biblical garbage as well. One student dramatically illustrated that there is no god by saying: "If there is a god, let him strike me down NOW." He then fell to the ground and pretended to be "smited." This got a lot of laughs from the boisterous crowd. A few others called out other kinds of fucked-up shit and ridiculousness in the bible, including that according to the bible it's sinful to eat shellfish. To this, a young gay student joked loudly about wanting to eat lobster and commit acts of sodomy. Someone appeared with flyers for the Secular Student Alliance which they're trying to form on campus.
Our agitation about communism was also real controversial. The fascist kept calling us communists as an insult but this was more self-exposure on his part. We agitated loudly about what communism is and who BA is and why people need to check him out. A lot of people defended capitalism but had a lot of questions about communism and why we uphold that. And this discussion was going on amidst all the joyful rowdiness of the crowd.
Students seemed to really appreciate the revolutionaries stepping in: many gave us hugs and cheered and we unleashed a lot of debate when we got into what it will ultimately take to end patriarchy—a communist revolution. We passed out palm cards about the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
We held up Revolution newspaper and some wanted copies of the paper: one student said: "is this about socialism, I love socialism." Another student bought a copy of Revolution newspaper and held it up defiantly to block the Christian fascist. Other students were caught up on the conventional wisdom of the communist project. While they didn't agree with much of what is going on today, many don't actually know that much both about the real conditions people live under today and even less about there being the possibility of a real, radical alternative. It took struggle to break through—which did occur with many in the conversations young revolutionaries had with the students. A group of students who called themselves capitalist had much to say about communism and its supposed horrors. A member of the club challenged them by asking them what about capitalism and its horrors and why aren't they loudly proclaiming the need to end a system of mass incarceration and murder of millions in this country and worldwide. While nothing was settled amongst many in the conversation they were compelled to rethink long held beliefs.
We made a call for people to join the Revolution Club on campus and several left a way to get in contact. Through this, those who've just begun to work with the Revolution Club were also announcing their next meeting and letting everyone know who they were with. They were also part of the debate with the Christian fascist and other students—including about the horrors of the world today and the need for something totally different.
A lot of the students had out their cell phones, videoing the whole thing, and a number of people said this was the most fun they'd ever had on campus. People really appreciated the debate and there was truly righteous ridicule of this dark ages fascist.
After about an hour and a half, the crowd was pretty thinned out (as students had to get off to class), and the campus security walked the fascist off of campus. Groups were standing around continuing the debate and discussion and the Revolution Club was letting people know about how to hook up with the revolution and getting a way to follow up with a number of the students. We also announced the event this weekend where people with the movement to Stop Patriarchy are doing a report back from being on the ground in Albuquerque taking on the anti-abortion fascists there.
As we were leaving, one young guy came up to the revolutionary who'd been doing a lot of the agitation and said, "I think I'm in love with you," really appreciating the defiance and revolutionary spirit.
This was a scene rarely seen on campus. It was a truly great beginning and something that needs to spread—on that campus, amongst students overall, and broadly throughout society.
Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution!
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