Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Please note: this page is intended for quick printing of the entire issue. Some of the links may not work when clicked, and some images may be missing. Please go to the article's permalink if you require working links and images.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/voices-of-those-cast-off-by-system-en.html

Voices of those cast off by the system

Revolution issued a call in August to our readers to respond to the 3:16 quote from BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, "An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off." We received many responses written by those the system has cast off, as well as from many others. In this issue we are featuring responses from prisoners, an ex-prisoner and high school students in an oppressed community. We were able to run a small number of these responses into the print edition of Revolution, and many more are being reprinted here. We will be publishing more responses in future print editions of Revolution. We've made every effort to preserve the voices of those who have written to us, making changes only in cases when not doing so might be confusing to the reader, or to protect the privacy of the authors.

From Prisoners

I just received your letter where you're asking me to share my thought, drawings, etc., relating to BA's quote 3:16. I am sharing some of my thoughts on a separate sheet of paper. I appreciate your letter and encouragement. Thank you for listening and your time as well.

I like Bob Avakian's quote 3:16 because he speaks to people plainly, and [des]cribbed things accurately, while never losing his poetic side.

This system and its enforcers have treated us (the vast majority of people) so much as human material waste. They tell us (by their actions) that if we're not rich, our lives are worthless. They tell us that if we don't have any money, we're not worthy of receiving health care, an education, proper housing or any other of life's basic necessities. They tell us that if we want to be somebody in life, we have to adopt their views and morals, which are, to put ourselves above everyone else; to see people being worth more or less than others; to always want more—even if there's people with absolutely nothing! But we have to reject everything that that the capitalist/imperialist try to impose on us. We have to as "BA" so clearly states, "raise our sights above the individual battle to be somebody on the terms of the imperialist, and be the gravediggers of this system and the bearers of the future communist society". Nothing ever stays the same. Things in this world have to be very diffe[re]nt, and they can be—we can/must make it happen.

For so many who have been born and bred in the gutters of society here in America being a "cast off" is a label not only excepted but in some cases it's one that is inviting. For the many who all that is known is a life in the slums to the prison house this existence is the norm. One becomes the oddball in the Barrio to grow up not one of the "cast offs", and for prisoners to lift their consciousness out of the prison cell and take interest in world events, this may also be odd in some prisons but the truth is that even prisoners play a role in 'world events', prisoners have long been seen as "freedom fighters' after all it is the prisoners who are bound in chains (literally) in society, most are also bound mentally to chase the dope sack etc. but prisoners are the one's in a society who once politicized would be amongst the fiercest fighters and the backbone of a revolution. We can see this materialize in looking to past Revolutions where the prisons are emptied to engage in the Revolution and push the peoples momentum forward, yet in Societies where tyrants hold power where the people are enslaved in their own countries and Revolution erupts the state usually will execute all the prisoners, this because it's known the prisoners for the most part are a potentially revolutionary force.

This 'appeal to those the system has cast off' is not a fictional theory or some make believe statement. What occurs in this country is real and millions are 'cast offs'. The Washington Post released an e-mail on march 27, 2011 from the director of Ice Detention and removal operations that he sent back in Feb of 2011 to field offices. in the e-mail he complains that Ice is currently deporting 437 people and is a low number and they are behind and wont reach their goal etc. What is important when information like this comes out is it show's that its not just a matter of a law enforcement agency like Ice deporting people they find, it show's they have numerical goal's to their methods where a certain amount of poor people are not rounded up, someone nudges them to round up more, not for supposed crimes but for not meeting a quota. The fact that millions set in prison cell's across america not because of supposed crimes but probably for some quota become alot more clear. The hyper policing in poor communities is not done by accident it is because the state sees these Barrios and ghettos as areas where undesirables dwell, where cast off's live. This is why most of these slum areas have police patrol cars with military grade surveillance systems, this technology like cameras and iris scanners are becoming more and more common, programs like Guardian, E. Guardian which collects 411 video, diagrams etc opens the door for people to anonymously report their neighbors for suspicious activity, and like any other program designed by the state for poor people it will be abused. The targeting of economically depressed communities with such "programs" is not because the state cares about poor people, not because poor people in its agenda rather it is another way to capture our youth, it is another way to collect any rebellious elements or to put simply it's the state looking at it as cutting their toenails, a matter of maintenance.

The treatment the "cast offs" here in America receive is not distinct to the U.S. for the U.S. see's the cast off's as a global phenomenon. To be truthful here U.S. cast off's actually are treated with velvet gloves compared to the third world cast off's. At this time a million Iraqi's have died since the U.S. occupation. That's 1 million poor people, 1 million cast off's sent to the grave yet we never hear any uproar from the U.S. capitalist media. This should be the gauge for what type of society we are currently living in where the media along with large swaths of the masses have become numb with the savagery of capitalist society.

What prisoners need to do is understand that the Imperialist's do not have our interests in mind, the Kourts offer no chance at justice for poor people in general and the Revolutionary prisoner in particular...

Through the madness of capitalist America, a society in which anything from the state is for sale, where poor people are hunted down like game and have no place to thrive politically only thrown to the dungeon where 2+ million of-us dwell and languish I can say this repression has created something in me that no college classes or Ivy League university could have created for me and it's a breath of humanity and the essence of what the people should be struggling for.

I first started getting into trouble with the law when I was five or six and I've been in jail, on probation or parole, or "at large" for the past fifty years; I learned early this system holds no hope for me nor should I hold any hope for it. And yes, I've tried to play it straight and follow the rules, but you know the game is rigged so there must be a steady percentage of losers in order for the "house" to stay afloat. I have "Enemy of the State" tattooed across my breastbone because I came to realize I'll never be one of the lucky few Bob Avakian spoke about in BAsics 1:11 who manage to slip through the meat grinder of this capitalist system.

I have come to believe Bob Avakian and the Revolutionary Communist Party are the only true friends of we who are forced to live beneath the belly of the beast. Everyone else blames us for our circumstances: We don't wear our pants at the proper height, or our hair's too long (or too short)- all these hoops we must agree to jump through in order to succeed in life- and these are all excuses why we failed and the system didn't. And it's all a pack of lies!

The truth is the government won't save us regardless of how we dress or act. Jesus won't save us no matter how often we pray; nobody is going to save us from this predatory system if we refuse to rise up from the muck and save ourselves. To hope and pray (and vote!) for an 11th hour rescue from above, divine or otherwise, is quite simply a fool's errand.

But it's not necessary for us to live like swine, focusing all our energies on muscling our way up to the trough so we can scarf up more than our brother and sister swine. It's possible to lead a life of dignity and respect- a life with real meaning!- outside of the framework of the present system by dedicating our lives to something greater than ourselves: genuine communist revolution.

I'll be in superseg until I've finished this 25-year-sentence in late 2014, but as soon as I'm released you can be certain I'll be dedicating the remainder of my life to getting the word out about Bob Avakian and the Revolutionary Communist Party because, frankly, nothing else has as much meaning.

I have nothing but love for my brothers and sisters: Black, white, red, yellow, or brown; and I envision a world in which we truly treat each other like the brothers and sisters we are. But I know that world will never come to pass without revolution, and so I'm sending out a plea to everyone who really cares and has the courage to hope (not Obama hope- which is bourgeois hope- but genuine revolutionary hope), please focus on supporting the Revolutionary Communist Party and the truly amazing work of Bob Avakian. If you think about it, I believe you too will find nothing else has as much meaning.

P.S. Hope you're able to use this heart-felt letter to promote your most excellent cause. I have nothing at the present time but empty words and a deep and abiding love, but I'm forever at your service.

Please be advise I would like to raise my sights above the degradation and madness, so I am requesting the following books be shipped to me expeditiously.

(1) BAsics
(2) Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy
(3) Const. for the New Socialist Republic in North America.
(4) Away With All Gods.

I am writing this letter in response to your letter encouraging us to respond to the quote from BAsics 3:16. I am proud to be able to respond and hopefully my words will become part of the October 9th issue.

We are the downtrodden of society--prisoners, ex-convicts, homeless people, poor folks, and minorities. We are the people the so called "Statue of Liberty" called to America "send me your poor...your huddled masses". this so-called promise of freedom for all.

What freedom? The freedom to be beaten, spat upon, called names, discriminated against, incarcerated in record numbers, and killed everytime some cop gets the urge?!? That is the "freedom" we are offered in capitalist-imperialist America.

While the imperialist continue to proclaim that America is the "land of the free", the great bastion of equality, and the land of opportunity: cops somewhere are mudering an innocent, Neo-Nazis are rallying in West Alssis, Wisconsin and around the nation, American soldiers are murdering civilians--men women, and children--in countries across the globe, children are going hungry in the streets and ghettos across America, and hate crimes are being committed by people who consider themselves "patriotic Americans". If this is the freedom, quality and opportunity America offers the Imperialists must have a different dictionary to define these words.

It is time for the down-trodden masses to rise as one with one voice and proclaim "we are done! we are done being victimized by this system, done being beaten, spat upon, name-called, discriminated against, imprisoned and murdered! Done!" This one voice, the voice of the masses is Bob Avakian.

We can be the "gravediggers of this system". We can be the ones who bring real freedom, equality, and opportunity. We can bring forth a new world, a new society, a communist society. We can! we can and we must.

Thank you for this opportunity to respond to the BAsics. Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of all of us. I look forward to continuing to stand with the RCP and Bob Avakian after my release later this year.

What does Basics 3:16 mean to me?—a person who's spent ALL of his twenties and more in prison; who's sustained multiple gunshot wounds by the hands of the police and nearly died; who've personally witnessed many dudes starve of all life after spending numerous years in supermax facilities—some whom committed suicide because they just couldn't take it anymore; who didn't read no more than five books before coming to prison, but once he did, finally discovered many of the circumstances that had produced and perpetuated the contempt he once had for life itself. So again, you may ask what it means to me?—a person who's always felt an omnipresent alienation by this system, but for the longest wasn't capable of placing a definitive circle around that "thing" which was the responsible entity behind that alienation. What does it mean? George Jackson and everybody who identifies with him is what it means. If he was still alive today, I think he would sum it up with the same words he left us in Soledad Brother 40 years ago:

The men of our group have developed as a result of living under a ruthless system, a set of mannerisms that numb the soul. We have been made the floor mat of the world, but the world has yet to see what can be done by men of our nature, by men who have walked the path of disparity of regression, of abortion, and yet come out whole. There will be a special page in the book of life for the men who have crawled back from the grave. This page will tell of utter defeat, ruin passivity, and subjection in one breath, and in the next, overwhelming victory and fulfillment. (p. 86)

This is in response to Mr. Avakian's "An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off." It is the story of a close friend of mine, an immigrant, and I feel it represents the thousands upon thousands of others like her who have also been cast off by the system. I am also including a poem penned by myself. Should you use either in the October edition of Revolution, I give you permission to edit them freely as you see fit. While I give you guys much props for standing for a most worthy cause, it is also every conscious individual's job to awaken the slumbering masses.

While incarcerated on this sentence I serve, a young friend of mine confided in me inside a semi-crowded visitation room that she contemplated selling her body. Now to be a sensitive and thoughtful twenty-five year old mother of two and have been brought to this drastic conclusion in dotcom America seems... out of place. Yet, upon closer inspection so does the continued mass incarceration of blacks and a government that caters largely to the Haves, even while appeasing its oppressed Havenots with gestures that amount to placing "Band-aids" upon "bullet wounds." Still, I was staggered by my friend's revelation, and angered. You see, the reason that brought about her bleak contemplations of becoming a prostitute was she was unable to work and thus unable to provide for her two little boys. The reason she was unable to work was because she is an immigrant and the INS -- in the harsher, post 911 Bush era -- caught and acted upon some discrepancy that was made in her paperwork when she came across from her native [country]. What kills is she was all of six years old at the time and the discrepancy was made by her mother, not her. So the INS decided they would strip her of her citizenship, her green card, and planned to schedule a meeting sometime in the indefinite future to see whether or not she was to be deported to her Mother country, which was not quite as alien to her as it is to me. (I've never been there, by the way.) Oh, and she was told that should she be deported, she herself would be responsible for her children's transportation and care. Yet she was flat broke and, with her citizenship revoked, unable to attain a job. Prior to this, she'd been working at a restaurant, raising her boys as a single parent, and planning to take the required course to become a certified nurse. Her dream deferred, she chose to focus on providing for her children, like any mother would. They were seven and nine, attending school and always growing-out of clothes and out of shoes. She decided to act: at the risk of further penalization, she attained a job at a local bar in which she was to be paid under the table. Her employer propositioned her for sex and one of its patrons sexually accosted her upon her first night there. It was also her last. The second, and final, illegal job came months later when she found work with a small construction business that put up sheetrock. Excluding the boss, the entire crew were all Mexican and also being paid under the table. After earning $600 after her first month she felt ecstatic. Maybe this small victory was just a beginning. Maybe the tide had changed for the best and, hell, maybe the wizard would visit the INS mucks and grant them hearts. However, after her second month she was dismayed and shocked when the boss said he wasn't paying them, that they would have to wait until next pay period -- and, no, there would be no back pay. Another young lady, the only other female besides her, told my friend that he'd done this before, more than once in fact. So, fuming and humiliated, she quit. It was around this time she became diagnosed with cervical cancer and wound up sitting across from me in that visitation room, audibly considering the sacrifice of her body for her kids. Actually considering in earnest what others have hypothetically, due to her circumstances. And what crime did she commit to be left out there, abandoned by her adopted country? None. The fact is America leaves its women defenseless, vulnerable to the wolves, and to quote another author, eats its babies. FIGHT THE POWER!!

These snakes be ticking
These clocks be hissing
As time keeps on slipping into the abysmal distance
Into a promising bright future
That promises to be wholly resistant
To your dark, unholy existence
A white future featuring a black past
Though, what I'm really speaking of is the grey present
And it is not a gift
It is simply an intermediate interval
A rift
The revolution will not be televised
Instead it will be compounded into quarks
Encased inside siliconized parts
And then given a web address
Yes, it will be digitized
But don't goof on your Google search
Or you'll end up with the Revolving Vibrator, parts one and two
And an unquenchable carnal thirst
While the earth is swiftly being stripped
By the needy (greedy) masses
An earthly stripper languidly spins upon her metal axis
Electric hips gyrate as thumping base pulsates
While in a remote village a sudden earthquake utterly devastates
And it is not sexy at all
In war soldiers collide
Indiscriminate bullets fly, vicious surreptitious missiles explode
Then, dead, enemies lie side by side
Faces composed in the most quiescent repose
Having finally achieved in death what was in life fought so vigorously for
Peace-
And a release from the backstage machinations of madmen
Revered leaders who amount to big boys with bigger toys—
Toys that destroy, that is—
Sadmen
However...
A flower emerged, birthed from the
Overburdened earth's womb
While a child, nurtured by motherly love,
Bloomed
The child is the son of a dead soldier
The flower grows atop his father's tomb
And in this way, hope is constantly renewed
Even as it consumes.

Greetings from the Texas gulag! I've been slowly rereading BAsics and it's occurred to me I've somehow been missing a lot of the finer points Bob Avakian has been saying all along. In this light the caveats and misgivings I've brought up in the past look suspiciously like plagiarism; as I say, Bob addressed them and I simply missed it.

There's a saying in the Jewish Talmud: We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are. Mark Twain observed this common projection phenomenon in this way: He wrote, "{w}hen I was sixteen my dad was so ignorant I was embarrassed to be seen with the old man; by the time I was twenty-one I was amazed at how much he'd learned in five short years."

This captures my experience with Bob Avakian perfectly. I'm simply amazed at how much he's learned in the past five years that I've been studying revolutionary communist literature. If he keeps this up it won't be long before he's fully politically literate!

I only have one criticism of BAsics: I think it was a major oversight not to include a comprehensive index in the back of the book for easy reference by topic. I find myself quoting Bob's keen observations often and, it's a pain in the ass without an index.

One passage that really speaks to me is 3:16 (ironically, John 3:16 is a favorite Christian passage I was required to memorize in my youth). Bob addresses the lumpen proletariat—though I've never seen him use that term—"{r}aise your sights above the degradation and madness, the muck and demoralization, above the individual battle to survive and to 'be somebody' on the terms of the imperialists—of fouler, more monstrous criminals than mythology has ever invented or jails ever held. Become a part of the human saviors of humanity: The gravediggers of this system and the bearers of a future communist society." These are profound words spoken by a profound man. These words force me to confront an obstacle and an intense terror for me: I can envision no positive future for myself and I'm absolutely terrified of getting out of prison.

My past life before prison was one of drugs and petty crime—it's really all I know. When I'm released in 2014, I will have been in prison a quarter-century with the last eight years spent in superseg. or permanent solitary confinement; I'll be one month shy of my fifty-eighth birthday. I simply cannot see myself competing in a stagnant marketplace for a living wage with young men & women with a stable work history and no criminal record; nevermind the stress of being abruptly dropped into a totally alien environment after eight years of sensory deprivation. My release is a fucking recipe for disaster! The pull back into a criminal lifestyle is going to be exceedingly strong and, from where I'm sitting, I see no reasonable alternative. I'm too "gifted" a criminal to sleep under bridges...How I wish the R.C.P. had a revolutionary commune or other place for people to live to escape the "individual battle to survive and to 'be somebody' on the terms of the imperialists..."

If a nut job like David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, and other fundamentalist Christians, can build retreats, I know the R.C.P. with its amazing reservoir of brains and talent could create a healthy & wholesome revolutionary environment where society's "incorrigibles" could go to learn and evolve and develop a symbiotic relationship with the R.C.P. I could really get behind something of this nature. In fact, if any of my family has ideas along these lines please contact me—I want in! (I promise I won't ask for money or say anything to embarrass you or myself.)

The point I'm trying to make is: I'd love to be a "gravedigger of this system" but I don't think I can do it alone.

I hope this letter finds you all in the best of health and as enthusiastic as ever about making revolution.

I am one of the many prisoners who depends on the generous donations given to the PRLF. Without those donations I wouldn't have been able to receive this copy of BAsics which I hold in one hand as I write this letter. I want to thank all PRLF volunteers and all the donors who have contributed to the campaign to get 2,000 copies of BAsics inside of prisons.

I also want to urge everybody out there to get their hands on this book and to help get it into the hands of others, not just prisoners, but into the hands of youth who are in danger of becoming prisoners themselves. There are kids out there who actually know that life in prison could be part of their foreseeable future. I know because I was one of those kids. Get this book into their hands now before they end up in a cell next to mine for hurting someone in their own community. Direct them to BAsics 3:16, show them there's another way and bring them forward. Help them unlock their potential and give them a sense of purpose that doesn't involve killing each other. Give them an alternative to the criminal lifestyle that doesn't involve conforming to this horrid system. That is what they need, that is what they ache for. They want to rebel, they just have to be introduced to the correct way to do so. Put them on the path to becoming communists and becoming part of the revolutionary army that [when the time comes] will sweep capitalist imperialism off the face of the earth. Keep up the great work

This is in response to your letter of August 22, 2011, An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off. I am a new subscriber to RCP Publications' Revolution newspaper, and you have provided to me a copy of CONSTITUTION For The New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal) From the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. I have not read BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian.

My involvement in American politics consists of about eight years as a Delegate (or Alternate) to the Texas State Republican Party Conventions in the 1990's. I was one of the ultra-right wing insurgents that hijacked the GOP in Texas and swung Texas to the "Religious-Right" as we presented many of our so-called Family Values resolutions to the platform. I regret much of what we forced onto the agenda at that time, including prejudicial views that limited personal freedoms, over-criminalizations and punitive justice laws. Now, I have been disenfranchised under the criminal justice system of Texas with the lingering hope that human rights advocacy groups will straighten out some of the problems that I wrongfully helped to construct.

Although I cannot say that I am in support of all that the RCP-USA proposes, because much of the material I have seen so far seems a bit idealistic, I appreciate your view of a world to save-and to win. Certainly most Americans are sick and tired of business-as-usual government, or else President Obama's "Change" platform would not have succeeded; yet it appears that effectual change is too difficult from within the political institution of US government.

In WHY GOOD PEOPLE DO BAD THINGS: Understanding Our Darker Selves, the author, James Hollis, PhD, in a Chapter entitled. Lowest Common Denominator, explains the shadow of institutions:

We need to create institutions whenever we need to affirm, preserve, and transmit values, perceptions, agendas, causes and revelations. An institution is a formal structure for the purpose of maintaining and transmitting values. As history bears witness, however, institutions over time gain their own identity, their own momentum, and often ironically outlive their founder's vision and values, even as they continue to grow and complexify from generation to generation. All of us have been victimized by bureaucracies; all of us have felt depersonalized by institutions. Institutions tend to become bloated and top-heavy with administration, and they ultimately evolve their own structure, self-serving values, even if they contradict their original vision. Specifically, in time, institutions devolve to serve abstract principles more than their founding values:

1. The survival of the institution, even after it has lost its raison d'etre, even in contradiction of its founding values.

2 The maintenance, preservation and privileging of its priesthood, whether professors, priests, politicians, or corporate presidents.

So, a question I would ask, and I am sure many of the readers of the RCP Publications' materials would want to know, is: If the proletarian revolution resolves into the New Socialist Republic in North America with its own founding values, how long will it be until it devolves, and what will it look like? Will we be in a better situation under the RCP than under our current form of representative government?

This issue of Revolution newspaper is dedicated to the bearers of the future communist society, many of whom were degraded, demoralized, victimized or trashed by a governmental system that has become contradictory to its own founding values. I hope that those bearers are so enlightened, and their leadership so visionary, as to guard itself from those same practices.

Revolutionary greetings. My name is XXX. I am a California prisoner and reader of Revolution newspaper. I wanted to respond to the call that was made to readers to submit letters in response to BAsics 3:16. Not long before I read BAsics I had been inspired by Bob Avakian and the RCP to become a communist so I'd like make a short statement and hope that it reaches you in time to contribute to the upcoming issue. If not I hope that you can at least post it on your on line edition.

I am one of those this system has cast off and counted as nothing and it is my hope that others like me will answer this appeal. This system never has and never will have anything good to offer us. We've been caught up in fruitless struggles always at the bottom rung of society, always among the exploited and oppressed, trying to get ahead, scrambling for crumbs, or trying to profit off the misery around us. We never gain anything lasting other than lengthy prison sentences, while those who rule over this system that is based on and thrives on exploitation, oppression, and outright murder never have to worry about setting foot in one of these cells. They leave houses empty even while scores remain homeless, they withhold food from starving children even though there's enough food to feed everyone on the planet. The right of a few filthy rich capitalists to turn a profit takes precedence over meeting the most basic needs of billions living in the worst kind of poverty and misery and they don't hesitate to drop bombs on innocent people to keep things this way. Our life could be about putting an end to all this instead of a senseless pursuit to be the baddest muthafucker on the block. The most important and worthwhile thing we can do is answer this call and become "the gravediggers of this system and the bearers of the future communist society." There is a world to win.

The first thing that popped into my head when I received the form letter from you and read the quote from BAsics was a childhood memory I have from back when I was in Jr. High in the mid-eighties. Back then I had to go church a lot with my family, and one evening after bible studies one of the older guys came up to me and started talking to me about the bible. He suggested that I start memorizing scriptures as part of my religious schooling, so he gave me my first one- John 3:16. It's the one that says "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so man should not perish but have everlasting life," or something close to that. It occurred to me how far I had come over the years to the point of now being a proud and open Atheist with a capital "A." From that day on I began the task of memorizing the BAsics quote word for word. A difficult task being that it's so long, but I'm glad to inform you that I've registered it to memory- hopefully for good. It also occured to me that as part of my revolutionary studies (rather than religious studies), I would now start the process of memorizing other BAsic quotes. Not necessarily any of the long arduous ones, but the short single ones. I also suggest that others do the same thing. I don't mean in some superficial, mechanical sense just for the sake of doing so. I mean as part of an educational process. Obviously, it's important, and necessary, to fully comprehend the lessons within the quotes- or any other revolutionary material you come across for that matter. But if we're going to be promoting BAsics as the successor to Mao's Red Book, then we should have certain parts committed to memory so that we're prepared and ready when we're discussing and promoting (even debating) B.A.'s work. That's the reason why religious people memorize verses from the bible, or at least one of the reasons why they do it. And in a sense, BAsics is like a bible- so to speak.

I know this doesn't get to the heart of what the form letter was looking for in regard to what the quote means to me. But at the same time, this is a way of us raising our sights through the educational, and scientific, process. Knowledge is power, and, in my opinion, this is a way of enhancing our knowledge within our individual studies. I've even taken the initiative to memorizing (and fully understanding) the three main points on the second page of every issue of Revolution. I hope this brief and simple suggestion will be of use to some, while I'm sure that others will have a more suitable approach that is in line with their own personal styles of learning. To those, however, who find themselves similarly situated as I am, it's a great and beneficial way to pass the time in a cell. With that said...

From High School Students

A teacher at a high school in an oppressed community, who has read some of BAsics and saw the special Revolution issue on BAsics, invited a revolutionary to speak to her classes about BAsics. The discussion focused on 3:16, "An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off," and the students were asked to write their thoughts about this quote. Out of five classes, about 50 students responded. The following are some of what they wrote:

"Rising above the individual battle to survive." I agree with this quote because as me living in [neighborhood] people/society set us up for failure and a lot of let them when we give up. So us as kids should stand up and show the system we can do it and not let the white supremacist cast us out!

People who are being oppressed need to stand up to their oppressors. Because no one is going to defend them. I think that people of color have a big disadvantage when it comes to being treated inhumane but if people would stand up one by one they could all fight the oppressors that create a huge struggle for a whole group of people.

It's talking about capitalism. It's also saying that communism is beneficial to them. People who are being cast off are people in jail and black and brown people in general. Also people of diff religious/diff beliefs, gays and lesbians. All these people are being treated as human waste material. Become someone in life and come back and help humanity in your own community. We shouldn't be stuck on the American dream because maybe that's not your dream.

I think it's important to become a savior for humanity because it will show that although you came from a poor community you will be a role model for those who think you can't become someone because you come from the "hood." We should become a savior for humanity like stand up to what we think is right and stand up to make a diff like for ppl in 9/11 or war in Iraq.

I think all this is talking about being someone to help out with the revolution. This so called "Revolution" means nothing to me because I personally think it will not succeed, or at least not in my lifetime, because trying to change this government and the world is close to impossible. Even though this government/ country is not even close to excellent it will not change for a while.

This is basically talking about all the injustice in this capitalist society. It's also suggesting how communism can appeal to the marginalized and criminalized groups. However, to become someone who can think of the whole world and its problems, you have to forget about your problems and your conditions. You have to think about everyone else and their suffering too.

This has made me want to learn the basics of humanity to realize what is going on is wrong. I feel like the challenge of becoming the human saviors of humanity can't exist as long as we live for money.

This made me realize that our world is full of many atrocious things. Humanity is going to the wrong path. This motivates me to stand up and do what is right. I feel that human savior of humanity is kind of a good idea because that is a way we can change society but it will be hard because every body have their own beliefs. Me, I'm one of those persons I believe in God!

What the quote "An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off" makes you think about all the problems in humanity. It says that you have to attempt to try to help those with great struggles in their life. I feel that this is a challenge to everyone because there is no unity in this world. A lot of people are just selfish and choose not to do good things only for themselves. I think that we can have a different world for everyone but people need to do something to be somebody and to survive in this tough world we live in.

The government only thinks about themselves. Sometimes or very often criminals become who they are because of the system. The system is unfair and if we don't do nothing about it will be the same or worse. We have to all unite and fight for a better world. Our government has become our worsest enemy and very powerful. If we don't stand up and speak for our rights our government will just become our owners forever.

I feel that this country/nation has lost in what it was founded. The "all men are created equal" in the constitution it seems lost. There's inhumanity all over this country, as if each race can only stand together as one rather than all races. The individual battle to survive is tough. Especially when you're a person of color. In this society you are made to fail.

I feel that sometimes people do go to jail for no reason, but then it's like you were put on this earth to experience life so yeah you go to jail for what you did. That doesn't mean the police can treat you like you're some trash. I feel like something needs to change for our society. Because every day something is always focused on something about a black person or latino person. When there's worse things happening around the world. Things in the police station, jails, prisons everywhere. It's not only black people that need to change it's everyone.

I felt that this lecture was a waste of time because they preach all these global issues to us and doesn't nothing change or no revolution. It's too late for revolution because the system already has us where they want us.

I think what this article talks about is to stand up for a new world. This article is calling out to the outcast of society the people that the law just up and throw away. We need a change in this world.

What I think this means is that they are speaking upon on people who are going through things that need help with something in life. This relates to how black people get arrested for something they didn't do or the police harasses them when they want.

What I think this quote is trying to tell people in the world is to be a leader. They want you to be somebody in life instead of being out on the streets.

This make me want to start a revolution because I'm a young black man from [neighborhood] that always gets harass by the police and seen police brutality happens to the majority of the people I know in my community. When I walk to school or coming from school I fear being stop by the cops. I'm tired of seeing homeless people on the streets people my age going to jail and not getting out until a decade pass or they won't live pass 18 or 21.

When I think about it, the society we are in is getting reckless and out of control. The revolution reminds me of a force that's getting powerful as people get together to join the revolution. It aspire me to join their force and help with society.

You can't change the world if you don't know the basics. You can't change the world if the people in the world don't help make a change or effort. You can change the world but can't change the people in it, but if everyone come together and help make a change this world could be a better place. By changing the world I believe you have to know the basics and what it takes.

In the world I grow up in is sad. There's nothing but violence and madness. I would love to start a revolution to help change society, if I had kids I don't wouldn't want them to grow up in a world like this. I hate everyday how I look around in I see just danger in the world.

There all these people that don't have money, house, food, clothes. Sometime the government don't even care what we go through there a lot of drugs messing up people but the only thing that they don't give is food to the homeless—ever where we go it's hard to survive because ever where we go we need money to buy thing sometime that how people die because they don't have money. People are sick from a small thing they could just go to the doctor and make you better but they don't have money to do that why people die.

I feel as if the government don't care about people in the lower class community and I feel as if we living in this world blind because we do the same thing most guys do sale drugs or gang bang but that's just because when they go looking for a job they see you and if you don't look they way they want you to they won't give you the job and the reason why we stay here in our low class community is because we get talk about and at time people get scared.

"But there is a world to save—and to win—and in that process those the system has counted as nothing can count for a great deal."

I think it means that every person that be picked on can do greater thing to the ones they chose. It matters to people that doesn't really know how to fight back and when to do it.

From Others

Well I am one of those discarded one's. First it happened to me in my country of birth. I had to leave because otherwise I may well have died of hunger. Leaving my children my wife behind. Not knowing when I would ever see them again. I left without a penny in my pocket heading to a place I didn't know. There is no work; we stand on the street hoping someone needs some work done. We are treated like criminals like animals you read in the papers about immigrants killed by racists.

I have raised my sights to where I know that we have to talk to the people that we have to do away with this system.

We can let them trap us into just living to survive, we have to see and live for this. There is a world to save and to win. I have never been in jail but I share the same fate as those who have been and those who still are in jail. We must become an active force no matter where we came from or where we are—we are the discarded ones. We must get to the point where everything we do is part of making revolution to free the world.

Richard Brown, former Black Panther, Member of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR):

Most of us, when we think about prisoners, in our mind we think of them as, "those people," never realizing how much we have in common with them.

If you stop and really think about it, there's not that much difference between us and the ones incarcerated in the inhumane institutions run by CDCR [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation]. The system refers to them as the worst of the worst. While those of us in the large institutions, commonly referred to as (our community), are referred to as thugs, hoodlums, or just plain old undesirables. Stop and think brothers and sisters. There are those in this society who refer to all black people as "those people," and that's when they're being polite. So where's the difference?

You say prisoners are confined to their cells 23 hours a day, well, we're confined to our communities 24 hours a day, and most young black men cannot even leave the block they live on without fear of being murdered. Murdered by some other young black man, or by the so-called police who invade our community like an occupying force—a para-military organization using Gestapo tactics in order to control the masses, (blacks). So where's the difference?

You say prisoners have no rights! Correctional officers can go into their cells at any time, day or night, and search for contraband. Have you forgotten that the so-called police can come into our homes at any time without a search warrant, looking for drugs, and, or weapons. They stop us on the street, and violate our constitutional rights, by searching our vehicles or our person without probable cause, and if you ask why? More than likely you'll end up being arrested. For what you say? For resisting arrest. So where's the difference?

You say most prisoners work for low or no wages, well, most young blacks have no wages at all, unemployment in the black community is ridiculously high. So where's the difference?

It's time for us to stop allowing the system to place barriers between us and our brothers and sisters by labeling them as the worst of the worst. Therefore encouraging society to turn their backs and allow these men and women to be treated as less than human beings. It's time for us to remember that the only real difference between us and "those people" is that our exercise yard is a little bit bigger than theirs.

Throughout my life I have fought to try and show the community how they are being played upon, and how this game of divide and conquer is being used between those locked down inside and those with a little more freedom.

All of us should relate to the words of Bob Avakian and focus on the real enemy and fight for a truly free society.

I know this is asking me to be serious. This is about risking your life, but making it worth it. I know because it was scary to me when the communists came around the first time; and I had to retire! I had to retire, but now I'm back, 'cause we're the ones being asked to make revolution and this is serious. This is more than just about Brownie (reference to a man killed by police in the hood). This is about a whole new world. There might be some who say it would be going too far, but in a way what choice do we have? They're puttin us in jail and keepin us there; and it's just going to keep getting worse until we get serious with our lives.... People need to know about BA.

It's real hard; but I'm down for this revolution. I know they're talkin about me when they talk about no job and no home; and here it is my birthday and I'm having to scrape for something to eat. I'm always saying I got to come first. It's hard to "raise your sights" above all this, but this book (BAsics) is really speaking to me about doing it, being a gravedigger of this system... Something's got to give, but we got to be there, and be willing to sacrifice to make it happen. I know that! I want to see Bob Avakian lead this; and I hope to meet him some day. Yeah it's hard, but it's not impossible; and I'm glad y'all are here.

I first read Revolution newspaper—it was called Revolutionary Worker then—while I was locked up and serving an indeterminate sentence in segregation in a maximum security prison. I was one of those millions upon millions of youth that this system has cast off—my family losing our home when I was a teenager and becoming increasingly caught up in surviving on the streets until I was sentenced to serve many years in prison by the time I was 17 years old. A brother in a cell near me had a subscription to the paper, and he would send them over to me to check out. I was a voracious reader, trying to understand the world and the system that created the hellhole prisons and regime of solitary confinement that I was increasingly resisting. For some years I had considered myself an anarchist, beginning from the rather simple yet visceral proposition that if "the State is holding me captive in these horrendous conditions, then fuck the State" to a more theoretical study of anarchist thought.

One thing that immediately struck me upon reading the paper was the realization that there were actually people seriously organizing to get rid of this system, right here in the U.S.A. Not to "reform away the ills of this system," but to actually sweep it aside and bring into being a radically different society. And another thing that I recall from my initial readings of some of the work of Bob Avakian featured in the newspaper was that "this guy is doing serious work and thinking about how to actually make a revolution!"

Eventually the brother I was getting the newspaper from moved, and I moved to another cell, so I no longer got the newspaper. I continued to develop my thinking and political consciousness, including beginning to see things and analyze things increasingly from a class perspective. And the limitations of anarchist theory were beginning to become more clear to me. As I was approaching being released from prison relatively soon, I once again moved into another cell next to a brother who was getting Revolution newspaper. Revolution presented to me a real analysis of the historical development and functioning of this monstrous capitalist system, a serious strategy for organizing and making a revolution to sweep this system away, and a viable framework in Bob Avakian's new synthesis for actually running society after a revolution: to increasingly break down the divisions of class society as people struggle together to bring forth a liberated future for all humanity and a society where everyone contributes what they can and gets back what they need to live lives worthy of human beings—a communist world.

My thinking and understanding of course did not change overnight. Both before and after my release from prison, I struggled with many questions—and comrades struggled with me—in making the radical ruptures to becoming a communist. But through the course of that struggle and being involved in many different realms of revolutionary work in building the movement for revolution, I've dedicated my life to being an emancipator of humanity.

From oppressed communities under the gun of constant police brutality and repression, to standing with immigrants against demonization and deportation, from discussions in classrooms in high schools and universities to defending clinics and women's right to abortion, from protesting torture and war crimes to demanding liberation for the LGBTQ community—I'm constantly amazed and inspired by all of the places I've been and people I've met and gotten to know while engaged in revolutionary work throughout the course of the few years I've been out of prison.

It has not been without sometimes extreme difficulty, both in dealing with all of the scars from years of torture in solitary confinement as well as political repression from the rulers of this system who deeply fear the power and potential that those of us the system has cast off have as part of this movement for revolution. Yet even while facing a political prosecution and being locked up again as a political prisoner, having the opportunity to bring revolution and communism to others this system has deemed worthless and learning from their experience only served to increase my dedication to the struggle for a liberated future for all humanity.

To all of you brothers and sisters who are still locked down in America's hellholes or locked out in survival on the streets, who hate the horrors of this system and yearn for a whole other future for humanity—get with this Party and Chairman Avakian. Take up the science of revolution and communism, BA's new synthesis. The horrors and crimes of this outmoded capitalist-imperialist system are completely unnecessary and we must step forward to become its grave-diggers and emancipators of humanity.

I am a reader of the newspaper who wants to respond to the quote 3:16 from the book BAsics. I am a person who understands and has lived what the quote by Chairman Bob Avakian says that "all those the system and its enforcers treat as so much human waste material... whose life is lived on the desperate edge."

Imagine that you are a person who lives in the third world and you have to emigrate due to the need to survive. Then when you are here in this country, you face a climate of scorn, humiliation, exploitation, racism, and death. I want to tell a real story about someone who a few years ago immigrated with her husband to the United States due to necessity. Both of them began to work, but soon she began to have trouble finding work, sometimes working, sometimes not. After a year being here, she got sick and due to her legal situation, it was not easy to get medical services, and furthermore, the medical costs are very high. This couple decided that she had to return for a few months to her country to treat the illness and later return to the United States. After getting treatment for the illness, she prepared to return and went to the border and tried to cross, every time she did so, la Migra caught her. She tried to cross several times by the hill, with no success.

At first it was several weeks, which became months, and at one point, she used a false ID and put on makeup to cross the line, but they caught her and sent her to jail for several years. Given their desperation because the money she had was running out and given the threats of the immigration agents, the situation got so bad that she took the dangerous decision to cross through the Arizona desert. Along with two other women led by a guide, they entered the Arizona desert on one of the hottest months of the year. After three days of travel, she was the most tired and they decided to rest one night in order to begin anew in the early morning. When they awoke the next day, they saw that the guide was no longer with them. They wanted to awaken her to let her know that they had been abandoned. She did not respond and one of the women went over to touch her and realized that she had died.

The hellish temperature in the desert and the asphyxiating situation in which the system keeps humanity meant that those final three days of the woman's life were a horrendous torture, bringing her heart to such a limit that it stopped. Some hours later these women were arrested and deported. Back in their country of origin, they called the woman's husband to tell him what had happened. The husband called the authorities, who told him that it was going to be difficult to find the body, because on the same day, something like 15 people had died. Also, that month had one of the highest death tolls along the border. Luckily, the woman's body was found after 15 days. Many of the bodies in the desert are found in an advanced state of decomposition and at times, only the bones are found, and in many cases they can't even identify them.

Due to the militarization of the border, people cross at the most dangerous points, which often leads to death. For that reason, many say that the Arizona desert is a cemetery of bones where men, women and children die an anonymous death.

The mother of the woman who died in the desert remembers that upon saying goodbye to her, she said that she was going to return in a short while. Here we see how the American dream became a nightmare, since she returned in a coffin just like the lives of thousands and thousands of other people.

It is difficult to remember this story, but it must be told, and it makes me think in the part of the quote where it says that this system and its representatives are the "foulest, most monstrous criminals that mythology has ever invented or jails ever held."

Today I understand that the problem is not that people make bad decisions, I understand better that the problem is the system and for that reason, we have to get rid of it and wipe if off the face of the earth.

This reminds me of a discussion I had with a family member a few years ago, when I began to wrangle with the works of Avakian, to read and distribute Revolution newspaper in my free time. A family member told me that she saw something "strange" in my behavior because in my free time, I studied and distributed the newspaper. She got on my case for working too much and instead asked why didn't I rest. She asked me how much they pay me to do that, and then I told her that I was doing it voluntarily. Then, she said to me that I was wasting my time, that instead I should work and make more money. I replied that we have to knock down this system because it causes so much poverty and oppresses humanity. Then she says to me that if I was so concerned about poor people, then why didn't I divide up my paycheck among the poor. Next I replied that if that could really end poverty in this world, for sure I would do it, but that is not the solution. This was the best way I could answer back then, perhaps at that point the thinking of this person didn't get transformed, but I was already beginning to understand that another world is really possible.

Those who manage to cross the border and those who are on the other side: to those who the system has destined to a place in the cemetery of bones in the desert, those people can mean much more – as quote 3:16 says, they can be "part of the human saviors of humanity: the gravediggers of this system and the bearers of the future communist society".

A cloaking seal surrounding my thoughts,
it keeps from thinking, talking, shouting, dreaming;
it traps my aspirations in a whirlpool of darkness.
And though I still breathe, all dies, it's inevitable!
So it feels at school, work, home,
Disease lives, death is felt;
There is no hope, what can you expect?
And afar that voice is heard: "There is a world to win."
Oh, really, where?
incredulous, I hear again, closer, stronger,
I am interested —I AM INTERESTED— I LEARN, ¡I LIVE!
And I discover there was no inevitable death, it was oppression;
there was no disease necessary, it was a system;
There was no darkness, there were ideas.
And now what? Again the darkness appears, the death, the disease;
But, now, I know the truth! The darkness will return —or perhaps not—
But I know that there is a return to the truth.
It's time to return.

Even shame has shame!
¡Of shame!
And, the wall of shame?
Will it be ashamed of itself!
And, they who gave the order to build it,
Will they be shamed by that order?
O, perhaps, will their cynicism be greater
Than their shame?
Oh! What a contradiction and what shame!
They not only applauded, but
They applauded a lot!
When the Berlin Wall fell,
And, now, they are proud
About building the Wall of Shame!
Those acts, do they not involve a terrible
Contradiction?
Those acts, do they not carry great shame?
Or, perhaps, it will be possible within the impossible
That the shame which they now lack
May suffer a terrible metamorphosis
Into unlimited cynicism?
At this moment in time, the Great Wall of China is one of the
Great Wonders of the world,
But, in itself, it does have a diaphanous
And transparent justification.
Its construction was for protecting the Chinese people
From the warring invasions of other peoples.
But, The Wall of Shame!
From what warring invasions is it going to protect
The North Americans?
From the warring invasions of the poor immigrants?
IF is they, by not having resources to survive,
In the land that saw their birth,
Who have been driven and forced to flee, in part,
By the same conditions generated
By Yankee imperialism.
Well, then, whatever they say
The promoters of the Wall of Shame!
Do not have and will never have a clear and
Just justification, its repudiated and vile
Construction.
The Wall of Shame!

Yes, like all gods, so they have been, so they are and so they will be,
Indifferent and with excesses of great cruelty.
What does it matter whether there are many or just one?
The characteristic is always the same,
The cruelty and the bloodiness unite them and merge them together.
Because if they were gods with much goodness,
They would not have allowed all the horrors of slavery,
Of man by man,
They would not have allowed a few parasites
Of their sons to enslave many millions
Of people who were also their sons.
Those gods of immense goodness
Would not have allowed all the horrors,
Massacres and sacrifices bound up
With the slave mode of production,
And the feudalist mode of production,
They would also not have allowed in
Capitalism and in imperialism
The horrible exploitation and super exploitation
Of hundreds of millions of human beings
By a handful of parasites on our planet.
Those gods would also have not done anything
To prevent the warring invasions
Of the imperialist countries against weaker countries
Both militarily and economically
They would also have not allowed the terrible abuse,
The oppression and the degradation of women
By men since ancient times
Up until today.
If women are the most beautiful creatures of the planet!
Why have they treated them with so much cruelty?
Where have these gods of goodness been?
Gods who can do anything!
But they did not do nor have they done
Absolutely anything to avoid those
Abuses of the social classes who have
Held power throughout history
And who, as well, have brought Wars, genocides!
Horrors and more horrors!
The answer is very simple.
Those gods are neither gods of goodness
And they are also not gods of cruelty,
Those gods only exist in the
Imagination of men.
Because the gods were created or invented
Due to the ignorance of men.
This happened since the farthest reaches of the beginning
Of human civilizations.

To all those who are in prison,
To all those who are homeless,
To all those who are sick or addicts,
To all those who are gay,
To all those without work,
To all those dissatisfied:
With the capitalist system,
With the system of exploitation,
With the system of humiliation,
I ask you to bring our strengths together,
I ask you to unite our voices
To tell the imperialists,
All the capitalists,
And all their apologists,
That later or sooner,
They will have to fuck off.

Haven't you asked yourself why the world is the way it is? Why are so many people poor, here and other parts of the world? Why? Why do I have to work so hard yet I can't get any relief? Why has my son or daughter had to join the military and die ? Why do my kids turn to drugs and gangs? Why are the kids shooting each other or being shot by a cop? Will this ever end?

Believe me I have asked these question and many more looking for a way to change this shit. But it seemed there was no way out..

But I found out this is a lie! I found answers to these questions. I found out we can change this shit. I found out that yes this can end.

Bob Avakian has answers to all these questions. If you want to change this world get Bob's new book BASIC'S

Prisons are directly related and connected to capitalism, actually an arm of capitalism. Capitalism functions on how many people it keeps ignorant, poor, and in prison. The prison system is nothing but a natural extension of capitalism. Most people commit crimes out of need, not greed. Most people rob or steal because they can't get money. You still have to eat. Capitalism is the worst possible system that people can live under.

The way to combat capitalism is through unity and organize in a new way, to move people to treat each others like human beings. Prisoners should do it for children, to have a future. This problem will be generational, and has been. A slave plantation and prison is the same thing. The constitution says you're still a slave when you are convicted of a crime. You have no rights which the Federal government or the state has to respect.

In order for this to change you have to organize people. You need people around. Martin Luther King, alone in Mississippi, would have been lynched. You need to organize people around reform, social organizations, etc, but the best way to organize people is around common need, food, clothing, shelter. You organize people around food, clothing, shelter. More have nots than haves.

In African American communities, communism is not new. A Philip Randolph was an active communist in the 1920s. He fought for workers' rights. The problem with organizations, and it's true of religions, civic groups, grass roots, is people might support it from outside but not join. People say—I support from the outside, but if people find out on my job, I might lose my job. That's why few people join organizations; some might support financially but not join. Communism will be one of the things that will help overthrow capitalism, but not the only thing. Some will support it but not join.

Bob Avakian has a crystal clear analysis of the problems facing people all over the world, not just in America. If communism is the latchpin that will overthrow sexism, racism, capitalism, I will support it 100%. Anything working toward the freedom of people, I will support.

This is an unjust society and I think the system wants people to think they count for nothing. But even in the bowels of darkness, they contribute to society.

They make things that make industrial society run, the license plates, sidewalk benches. There's hard sweat and labor off these individuals in these institutions. If you can use people for your own financial gain, why can't they be treated like humans? ...

They're cut off from any kind of productive work or life in the society. The system desperately keeps them away. They're enslaved. I think it's the 14th amendment that says if you're convicted of a felony you can be enslaved and treated as a slave. You know they changed that right!? ...

The American theology is based on equal rights and opportunity. If the system is fair, why would you have it so that you could enslave anyone?

First, This country is supposed to be democratic, which they're not and they go around invading countries in the name of democracy.

I believe in the common man. But opportunity is slowly collapsing. It's impossible to do anything for the people anymore. Society now is based more and more on greed—and societies like that – Greece, Rome – never last. I think what Bob Avakian is talking about is that government does not care about day to day people. They work for the wealthy.

The quote is great. I'm one of those people. I'm not doing anything illegal but still I'm constantly harassed by police, we're stereotyped, I'm always turned down for jobs. It's frustrating. I find a way to live but the system drives people to desperation. I'm all for revising the system that overlooks so many people.

Troy Davis was murdered. That showed not only the justice system ignored the evidence that he was innocent but the system that coerces the youth and railroads Black people. Killing Troy Davis – that was a great eye-opener. And what Avakian is talking about. Well, in Attica [1971], that was a microcosm of the revolution. They took hostages but they took care of them and they didn't hurt them. The system looked at them as less than humans. That was a disgrace what they did killing all of them on sight. They all deserved to be treated like human beings even when they committed crimes.

We don't count for nothing around here. Nobody supposed to be treated like this! I'm afraid for the future. For the children. I'm afraid of walking out my front door. Not because of the kids but these police. Around here you can't walk out your own door. I go through this every day. They in the hallway. When I step out and see one of them they got the nerve to say, "What am I doing?" WHAT THE FUCK YOU DOIN?! I LIVE HERE!" I'm afraid to go back in the house thinking I turn around they gonna shoot me! You know how they are!

Oh it's gonna be a revolution because ain't nobody up in here no animals. We don't deserve to be treated like this. They tell me to calm down but I ain't gonna calm down! People like us we got to speak up. Why is this shit always happening here? Why is this happening to us? It's always gonna happen until we do wake up and speak up!

It was interesting when given the opportunity to contribute to this paper, I was in the middle of reading the autobiography of Malcolm X. An extraordinary African American leader and revolutionary who experienced the same tragedy that too many Black and Latinos face today. After reading the Revolution article about Marijuana Laws in a World of Oppression and Discrimination, I was angry but not surprised. One thing I could always count on in this country is keeping the Black man oppressed, they never strayed far from their agenda. In our society we typically place the responsibility to lead and raise a family to the best of their ability, to ensure that they may have the opportunity to live a financially secure and successful life. What would happen then; if a man is stripped of the very things that lay down this foundation? Preventing them to raise their family, forcing them to not only become part of the system that put him in there but depend on them to fulfill responsibilities they are unable to at the time. This goes way beyond degradation and diminishing them as black men but as human beings. And that right isn't civil but human. To deny anyone of that right signifies a fear, the very root from which RACISM stems from. The capitalist structure that this country was built on also comes with the condition to feel afraid. When people feel threatened by someone or something, they do anything to bring down a force they feel like will harm them whether the threat is real or not. So how do they bring down this force. Strip away not only their rights but their natural resources leaving them weak and forced to depend on them{sound familiar}. A perfect example of this is globalization in Africa, it completely destroyed the country leaving it with so much disease, that you can't even donate blood.

"The struggle ain't right in your face, it's more subtle
But it still comes across like the bridge and tunnel vision.
I try school these bucks, but they don't wanna listen.
That's the reason the system makin' its paper from the prison.
And that's the reason we livin' where they don't wanna come and visit"

"Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation". This is part of a verse from the star spangled banner, you know the country's song. But I feel like they forgot a word or two. It should read instead Praise SLAVERY, LIES and IMPERIALISM, the power that hath made and preserved the small "community" that controls the nation. The ones who get to live on "land of the free and the home of the brave."

"The whole system we now live under is based on exploitation—here and all over the world. It is completely worthless and no basic change for the better can come about until the system is over thrown (Bob Avakian)"-For the prison population in the USA to go from half a million in 1980 to 2.3 million in 2006-an increase of over 450 percent- is due to minor marijuana offenses and the "Stop and frisk act." This shows that if we don't end this cycle, it will be the death of minorities. Capitalism is a business, when they see minorities they see dollar signs -a PROFIT and if that means getting rid of us so that it can happen, then so be it. This is one of the worse cases of a Catch22- They profit when we succeed and even more when we FAIL. So why wouldn't the 37 billion dollar industry use minimal drug offenses as another tool, it's protect their people. And of course it would be a drug predominantly used by Caucasians, yet they only make up ten percent of the prison population. It's interesting to me that when it's sold by the government, it's to test regulated business but if it's sold by individuals, they are criminals, once again they managed to sneak around the fact that they are just as much of a criminal and a drug lord as the criminals and drug lords they choose to persecute and profit from. The smorgasbord of drugs are predominantly found in poor neighbor{hoods} where most minorities occupy and sold in the upscale neighborhoods. Hey it raises job employment but the prison rate as well- Good Ol' Catch 22!

According to Michele Leonhart of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency): "the escalating violence on the U.S./Mexico border should be viewed as a sign of the 'success' of America's drug war strategies." It has not only contributed to gang violence but organized crime as well. In 2008, there were over six thousand deaths related to Mexican drug cartels, this tragedy was caused the policy established by the US. Cartels are the most successful by transferring illegal drugs across the border into the United States. Naturally what the drug cartels are doing is illegal so they are sent to jail to be caged like animals causing of a rage of violence. The US Office of National Drug Policy says that 60% of the profits gained by Mexican drug cartels comes from the exportation and sales of cannabis into the American market. Statistics show that half of the marijuana consumed by the United States derives from outside of the border. Mexico is the US's biggest pot provider (NorML Blog). Because America leads the world in pot consumption, America will continue to remain the primary destination for Mexican marijuana. An economic assessment done in 2007 showed that US citizens consume over 30 million pounds of marijuana annually. This shows exactly how fucked up this system is and what they are willing to do to "dance" around the very system to keep it on beat while the rest of the nation is forced to play musical chairs.

#29 "This system and those who rule over it are not capable of carrying out economic development to meet the needs of the people now, while balancing that with the needs of future generations and requirements of safeguarding the environment. They care nothing for the rich diversity of the earth and its species, for this treasure contains, except for when and where they can turn this into a profit for themselves.....These people are not fit to be the care takers of the earth."

The time to fight is now!!! We need this Revolution, an evolution of change which is necessary and proper for minorities to receive the opportunity to strive as a race without there being some kind of gain. Becoming blind to color where the only race that exists is human.

"Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war and until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes. And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war. And until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained... now everywhere is war."

As a long time reader of Revolution Newspaper, I wanted to make sure I sent in a letter for this upcoming special issue on BAsics 3:16. This quote strikes me as one of the most important quotes in Bob Avakian's new book, as there are literally billions of people across the globe that have been cast off by this brutal and horrific system.

I am currently a college student, but getting to this point was not easy by any means. I spent all of my youth growing up in poverty, surrounded by those "whose life is lived on the desperate edge, whether or not they find some work; to those without work or even homes; to all those the system and its enforcers treat as so much human waste material." Living in utter poverty, I turned to drugs and spent my high school years as an addict. The idea of a revolution seemed far off to me, as it was impossible for me to liberate myself from the ghetto and from addiction. This is one of the many symptoms of the capitalist disease.

However, in this quote, people like me find not only refuge, but also a vision of a better world. Bob Avakian shows us that a communist world is possible. As he says, "there is a world to save—and to win—and in that process those the system has counted as nothing can count for a great deal. They represent a great reserve force that must become an active force for the proletarian revolution."

I have been lucky enough to break free from many of the chains that bound me in my youth, but there are so many more that require liberation. We have the leadership in Bob Avakian to take us there and I encourage anyone reading this newspaper to get with Bob Avakian and the party he leads. We can all become emancipators of humanity.

Over the past several years as I have come to understand Revolutionary Communism the more I want to incorporate it into my daily lesson plans. When I put together a lesson, I think about what Revolution and Bob Avakian has taught me about the dominant economic and social relations. As a result, over the years I have been better able to bring into focus for the youth what this system does to people and possibilities of a radically different world where people contribute to society not for personal gain but to be part of lifting up the living standards of all humanity. The students come to discover that another world is possible and they can make decisions in regards to changing their lives and the lives of others. Specifically, from BAsics the most recent work of Bob Avakian it says, "Become a part of the human saviors of humanity: the gravediggers of this system and the bearers of the future communist society".

However, this has not been easy and the obstacles have been challenging to say the least. For example, getting the students to understand that women do not have to be called "bitches" and "whores" by men including their fellow classmates was an eye opener. Through reading the special issue of the paper on women's liberation and discussing the issue, students came to realize that they do not have to be called these names. Also, male students in class realized that they did not have to call women "bitches" and "whores". The male students became conscious of the idea that women are human beings too. As a result, the atmosphere changed entirely by the end of the school. Again, this was not an easy endeavor and took hours of struggling with students and students struggling with each other to reach this point.

Recently, a former student who was deeply impacted by the struggles over women's liberation visited the school before heading back to college. She told me that Revolution had such an impact on her life that she thought it was important that the paper be available on her campus. This young woman said that she would fight to get it on campus and other former students would do the same. I went home inspired knowing that she is fighting to rise above what so many people are sent off to college to do and that is to get ahead and not to consider the possibility of another world without oppression and exploitation.

Recently, the new year started and getting students to understand that there is a system out there is the first task. Once this has been established then I can start giving examples of how this system brutalizes and degrades people everyday. Just knowing how many children are in poverty is an eye opener for students that think we're in land of "great freedom and prosperity". Next week I plan on showing the quote from the current issue of the paper on the nature of the police. This will allow me to lecture and discuss with the students their experiences with the police. Also, we will get past the notion that the police are there to "Protect and Serve" and get real. In the past students came to understand that the police are there to protect a system and kill people that it finds as a threat. I will use statistics provided in the most recent issue of the paper in regards to the prison population and the harassment of black people. The students will come to understand that police need to oppress the most impoverished people in society because of their revolutionary potential. Without Revolution and the works of Bob Avakian, I would never had been able to do this in the classroom.

With this knowledge and understanding the students can make radically different choices in regards to their future. Also, even if the students go to college to get their careers in order the idea of revolution will always be there with the potential of it boiling to the surface again. Again, without Revolution and the works of Bob Avakain, people would not understand to quote BAsics, "Raise your sights above the degredation and madness, the muck and demoralization, above the individual battle to survive and to "be somebody" on the terms of the imperialists—of fouler, more monstrous criminals than mythology has ever invented or jails over held"

I think that the great majority of the workers, not just in this country but all over the world are treated like human garbage. But here we have this book, BAsics, that clarifies why we are cast out. And that those of us who are considered human garbage have a space within the communist revolution where we can be the saviors of humanity. Our efforts can serve in a creative way to develop society and not to just be used as mere beasts of burden. This is something that only this ideology, this science, the communist revolution is the only one that can emancipate those who have been cast out, and all humanity.

For example, those who work in the garment industry sewing, making only $30-$40 a day, sometimes $50, working from 6 in the morning to 6 at night. They pay them only pennies per piece and the pieces are very difficult to finish, you can't get many done. Even though it is a shit job, a super-exploited job, today there are thousands who are looking for these jobs. What keeps us here then? Why do we stay? Because we can't go back home to our countries, because everyday it's worse, massacres, violence, drug addiction everywhere. Who can stop this? Only a real revolution can transform all this, a communist revolution.

People know they are exploited but most don't know the science that can liberate us. There's people who start to talk "turn to god, this is god's will" and they talk about an apocalypse that's coming in the bible and I tell them, "since I've been able to think I've heard about this gnashing and grinding of teeth and everyone saying we have to repent – and at the same time the whole world is saying 'I can't live on my wages, I can't pay the rent, I'm sick, my son is in jail' an infinite number of things and that's the gnashing and grinding of the masses, the suffering that's grinding them down.

And this is the future that our children face. It's like the slave that is born into slavery, the child of the slave will also be a slave. Like the Chairman says in BAsics 1:13, how our children are born predestined to live this way with brutality, humiliation, exploitation.

The kids in this neighborhood are treated like criminals. At a young age, the police start to verbally assault them, they intentionally offend them. One time there were some kids playing in an abandoned house, a little girl and some little boys and I heard the police say to them "don't tell me all of you are going to fuck her!" Just that stupid. Using those horrible words, what a mentality they have! But that's a reflection, not just of those police, but of the system. They say it's only a few police, but it's all of them, all of them are trained to kill, to attack, to humiliate the people. And the youth who are rebellious and don't conform to their life the way it is, take the wrong path end up in jail. You can hear thousands of complaints from mothers who are standing in line to visit their prisoners. They tell you all the stories from their sons inside: there was a youth who was depressed, who asked for help so intentionally, they took him up to another level in the prison where he was all alone and he hung himself, he committed suicide. There are youth who have 20-30 days with intense toothache and they sign up to see the dentist and they never take them until they speak with a lawyer, and it has to be a private lawyer, who gets a court order, if not for that, they never go to the dentist. Or they make them line up, the sheriff comes and without any provocation, he hits a prisoner with his stick and breaks his foot and later the other sheriffs come around to the other prisoners with a camera in their face "did you see anything?" or "did you see anything?" And nobody saw anything because how are they going to say "I saw that police break his foot"? That's the way they intimidate the people. And this happens all the time. But there's a great potential in the prisoners, especially the youth, they can change their lives. When they read this book, by this author Bob Avakian, it opens a path to follow. It gives the basics, which is like the keys to escape the prison, the darkness that is tormenting the majority of the people in the world.

What does it mean to say the system looks at us as human garbage? It simply means that this imperialist system that has developed, looks at the people as commodities, based on profit. We come from places where there is nothing to live on, not even water, we hear about this nation where there is a lot. So we all come here, but we don't understand why. That's why the program of the Revolutionary Communist Party is so important because it explains why the system created poverty in our nations—and these are imperial programs that are going on today – it creates poverty and disarticulates the nations and develops ignorance in the population, in the whole world, not just in the American continent. It's based in a program to be able to superexploit for profit, and develop the conquest everyday more savagely, put in place programs to turn people against each other. We have the example of Mexico. They've brought in a program to kill the population. They put in an impostor president, and a program designed in the white house to push us into this war on drugs. It's part of the racism of this empire and a part of keeping an advanced revolutionary movement from developing in Mexico. It's an example of what they're doing to humanity.

They put in representatives of imperialism, but not of the nations, and not in favor of the populations. All over the world it's the interests of northamerican yankee imperialism, with their bloody wars.

Here in the United States we see how they oppress the working people and develop their ignorance. That's why they develop ignorance in us, getting us to think that if we haven't studied we have to accept oppression and brutality. But we have to get rid of this thinking because even though we haven't studied we can still organize and fight against oppression. And we have to learn to struggle with ideas, to work with ideas, that's part of the struggle.

Like the quote Basics 3:16 says that all those who the system has cast out and says that are garbage, we are those who can be the spinal column that can break and end this oppressive system and change the course of humanity in favor of the oppressed. But in order to do this we have to overthrow the oppressors in power. And that's the task of this revolutionary communist party. We have to follow it and propagate communism as it really is, not how the empire has distorted it.

We in the United States have a leader who has given all of his knowledge and skill to us and so we have to grasp this, and unite around this leader who has taken our side. And what is this leader's name? His name is Bob Avakian. He is the number one leader in the world, but we have to understand why. You have to check out what he says. You have to study Basics.

We must give our coldest shoulders to the heat-seeking snake that is capitalism, for its oppressive system constricts the liberty and life out of its citizens; and yes, I'm talking about the very same "liberty" and "life" that Uncle Sam and his constitution promises to its people, or rather sheep. Sheep because we allow our natural souls to be herded and counted as dollar signs as per our moral passiveness. And so just as Disney and our corrupt media tell us to count sheep to sleep, Uncle Sam counts sheep to eat; eat his fucking potbelly full of shit and deceit! Stop watching yourselves and your peers run in circles and instead run across a linear path towards TRUTH! Our whole system is based on layers of contradiction and hypocrisy, so open your eyes to them i.e. 1) advertising "liberty" and "freedom" yet leaving America's original inhabitants (the Native Americans) with nothing but "reservations" (casinos); 2) sailing the Seven Seas to rape tons of various cultures and tribes throughout Africa, bring them over as slaves, put them to work, and rape them some more, even impregnating them for the sole purpose of yielding more slaves; 3) funding Egypt militarily $2 billion each year since '79 in exchange for priority access to the Suez Canal, yet they also fund Israel with the same war technology, leaving Egypt and Israel both in a never-ending cycle of constantly having to outdo each other (an arms race)... and the list goes on."

I believe people still have a lot of fight and struggle. We cannot go down in history as retired fighters and let this system and the powers that be get away with extreme crimes around the world. Because we ARE somebody and deserve a better way of life. This is not the time to give up.

A Reckoning

There will be a reckoning.
Enough people have seen too much of
the manifestation of
justice, american style,
to stand quietly in the face
of such hypocrisy.
To go along with the
facade as if this all
makes sense.
(I keep telling this woman that her slip is showing but she just doesn't care)
We are waking up.
Just like an arm or leg that
has fallen asleep and starts
to tingle when its nerves
become active again.
We are waking up.
To the realization that
lies told often enough don't always
become truth
like:
"All men are created equal...."
or
"Only guilty men are put to death..."
or
"Liberty and justice for all..."
I find it difficult to go along.
No longer content to be a
placeholder in your heartless system.
I have rejected your messages
of selfishness and greed.
I am certain there are other ways
of being.
My fight becomes righteous
when it's motivated by love
And I no longer fear
a new day.

Bob Avakian has a solution, and the solution is NOT this system. What he says is not sheer poetry but for the good of this world. He wants people to sit down and see this is not a joke. I have a lot of faith that it will come to be even though it won't be easy.

We have to be an active force for good, and to continue to work at it. What BA says about the system—we do need to make a better system and make it better for everybody. It has to be changed completely.

Bob Avakian doesnt have a whole lot of religion. But it is about intelligent, scientific facts. The future society will be better because of BA and Basics. That Basics book is a good book. (It would be nice if the print was bigger.)

There is a separate issue here about getting the message out. Sometimes you can't really advertise what you are doing, but you have to speak out about how your rights and freedoms are being taken away from you. About how you are being demoralized. This is America, you are supposed to be able to express what you believe. It's supposed to be a free society but its not. People need to be part of bringing about the basic changes, and understanding the system. From the point of view of "I want to do better and life will be better". Standing out, talking about it will get people interested. They have to be shown that it's good.

I believe people's hearts are in the right place with this revolution and they are trying to do good. If you step into it with a small group, step into it more and you'll get more accomplished. Most people don't realize that it is attempting to make a whole new, better world. Most people are not getting a chance to see the good that it is. Get the word out in society. Make it as free as possible to get in the hands of the poor. It takes a lot of money but it needs to be accessible. Revolution on the dot-com, revolution on the shirts and on the hats. I want a emblem to put on my shirt. The bookstore is a good thing. Concentrate on the small booklets and papers that can get around.

Other organizations and leaders may say that you can cooperate with this system. You can't cooperate with this system and get nothing done. Other groups may bring out the history, but this group is getting out a plan to change the world. Others might have religion intermixed in it. The only thing about religion is to try to shape and & mold people, it is not for change, it's a faith. But there is no religion here, with this revolution. It is a science, to bring out the things that need to be brought out, to stop genocide and all the trouble on the people.

I am a middle aged Black man who is struggling with poverty and health issues. My relatives were active in the struggle for many years, before I was born it gone on. They had a bookstore in my house with books on communism, socialism. About Emmet Till. It was hard to find those books at the time. I come to realize something is not right with this system, but then I learned when you pursue it there are those who don't want to discuss it. You go thru a lot of changes when you open up about it, you get more than you bargained for. People want you to understand they don't like it.

There are games played on you to try to box you in. Trying to keep you from being able to go to the meetings, to where you will have no effect. There is only so much you can do from your room. There are those who don't want you to get organized, to get people together.

Some people say "you better not talk about it, you might not get your money". You have to clear up your love for the system to get where you will be able to be free. Tell the truth. Try to express it and keep it going. Don't let the poverty, the demoralization, or any of these things stop you. They may try to work on you on the sly. I call it the "hush tactics". People may say, "let that stuff go, it's nuttin but trouble for you." They may try to fight it down and keep it from being expressed. If you want to be successful, you can't let that kind of stuff go down.

I agree the new world will have some problems, but society needs saving. People might think revolution is detrimental, but that's not true. They might say everything's going to be all right, don't worry. Try to act like they looking out for your betterment. But they are not. Take Afghanistan: it wasn't no real danger to us. But they drummed it up to get this thing going, to try to get it so you cant say or do anything. That's the way it go with this system.

USA needs to be strong for revolution. Let the revolution come on out. If it is good, let the people know, don't hogtie it. I like the idea and do what I can. We are not in this business to be liked, it's in the business of telling the truth, seeing the right way forward. You know it's one of the best. We got a long way to go. We gotta keep our people free. This system will do wrong for the people. Stick with it, don't give up.

For many international students like me, because they are in college does not mean they live well. We have seen how the globalization of the imperialists has caused a lot of problems for the world, and for China.

What I see in the US, thinking about the quote from Basics, about the prisoners and those abandoned in society, I have seen a lot of poor people who have to work very hard. I work in a campus restaurant and I know a student who works many hours because he lives and eats on campus and the rent, the cost is very high. I am 21 so I can live off campus and it is less expensive. For those who live on campus here it costs a lot and it is very hard for the poorer students. I have seen a lot of Black people here that are actually very poor. This society is not equal.

It is very important that we have to unite together. Today. Because of the process of globalization in the third world. People in the US and those in the world, poor people and others must be united together for revolution. We have a lot of people, those who are poor and oppressed, but we are not united. The ruling imperialists, they do not have a lot of people, but they are united.

People must realize the cost of globalization on humanity, the problems brought upon the people. If we continue and do nothing, this situation will soon become very very bad. We need revolution.

The U.S. is already bankrupt. But it is not shut down because imperialism invades the third world and grabs the fortunes for the U.S.

Realize the situation. For some students, the situation is not so bad. I want to talk to the students about this, to talk about the truth of what is happening in the world and the U.S.–but they also have to realize it themselves. They may think they live well because they are in college, they may think "right now I am fine". But they can't ignore what is going on for long because these problems are all throughout society, and they are part of that, so in a way they are already involved. When the situation gets worse, things will be worse for them too.

Students, people in the US need to know that this is their own government that is responsible. Some may think that people in the third world and other countries hate the people in the US. But what they hate is imperialism. People need to understand how bad are the things that imperialism has done to people of the world. For example, in Iraq and other countries, they have lost their families and their lives.

This is why it is so important for people to really understand and be part of revolution.

This is a statement from a Black 80-year-old minister in Detroit. She is part of a church in one of the most run down sections of Detroit.

This whole system is b...s... If you look at the Congress and Senate, they don't care about people. They don't know what people are thinking because first of all they don't give the people an opportunity to speak. They don't know how angry people are.

The Democrats and the Republicans are both bad, but look at the Tea Party; they want to take even more from the poor. Now they have a black man who's running for something as part of the Tea Party. But that doesn't change anything, it doesn't fool anyone. They're nothing but racists.

They think because you're old you're stupid. They think because you're poor and black you're stupid. They're going after the poor; they're taking things away from them.

If you want to get biblical, the bible says that you can't ride on the backs of the poor. That destroys a nation. You need to be alert to what's going on and if you watch world news you see that the US is going down, down, down.

You have a Revolutionary Communist Party that wants to change things and the government and the rich want to kill them. But the Party is right, Basics is right and Bob Avakian is right. They have the right solution, they have the right plan, and they have the right ideology.

People who were active with the Party years ago don't forget what they learned. You may not see them for a long time, but they remember the concepts. But more people need to learn too.

Empire of capital, Civilization, Development
Security, Modernization
"please don't kill me!!!"
Misery, hunger, death
humiliation, desperation, migration,
crime, drug addiction.
We're very sorry but you are fired.
Hands up you're under arrest.
You have 30 days to vacate the property
You are a criminal for crossing the border.
Please give me some money so I can get something to eat.
The honorable court sentences you to...
You can't change the world so enjoy yourself
Don't ask questions just follow the rules
Everything you say can and will be used against you
If you work hard and get an education one day you can be somebody.
If there's nothing in it for you, don't get involved.
This is not a murder it's an execution (by firing squad).
Women are to blame for the fall of men
This is the best we can achieve
May god judge and protect them
Join the army and serve your country.
The United States defends humanity.
Only girls cry.
WAKE UP, GET UP AND REACT
Hypocrisy, lies, consumerism, selfishness, manipulation
Expansionism marked by blood and oppression
No borders, no humiliation, no exploitation, no creeds or religion
Struggle, respect, organization, liberty, dignity, emancipation
One...two...three... REVOLUTION
Down with the damn system, BASICS THREE SIXTEEN
Spread the word and long live the REVOLUTION...!!!

The quote from Bob Avakian really pertains to me. I know perfectly well what it's like to be considered of no value in our society. As a post op transsexual woman, I have sufffered in so many ways. Transitioning to womanhood, I lost my job, most of my friends and most of my family. Even now, when going in a store or restaurant, I never know if someone will shout obscenities at me. I have even had teenagers call me vile names just because I'm a transsexual. I used to fall into the trap of voting democrat. But I now will never vote for any political party. This world needs to be transformed by a true revolution. Two of my transsexual women friends have had hate crimes committed against them. One was in a coma for weeks and not expected to live. But she did live. It is insane that people are harmed just because of their sex, race, sexual orientation, gender expression, financial state or being differently abled. As a vegetarian, I know that it is immoral for humans to eat the flesh of a murdered animal, use household products beauty products tested on animals, and using fur and leather. We two legs should not be harming and killing other animal life. Bob Avakian has my admiration and respect. He is trying to create a world free of misery, poverty, war and violence. TRANSPOWER NOW!!! REVOLUTION NOW!!!

"Because we the people have been lied to by every elected official that has taken office Obama including. The people who have this belief that the government process works, you just have to get the right person in office, and so far from the beginning of this process we the people of the whole world have been lied to by them all. We are in great danger and must come to realize this. Nothing RIGHT for the people has come from this voting process for the vast majority of the people. Between religion and politics we have become stuck in slavery again looking for a leader to give us something better. If any of that worked millions wouldn't be homeless and in jail. The book Basics is a very reality call to all the horrible things that the people are forced to live under. For me to sum it all up I go to BAsics, Making Revolution, #10 from the writings "The Coming Civil War and Repolarization for Revolution in the present Era." It is time for the people to Get, Read and Talk about the Book BAsics and ask yourself, "Do I/we want our children living in a world like this, fighting the same battles that we and our ancestors have already fought for?" Come on, my People, Let's Get Down With the BASICS.

Bob Avakian has said: "Raise your sights above the degradation and madness, the muck and demoralization, above the individual battle..." I would add: Join the Revolution. Because it is only during your involvement in the revolution will you arrive at knowing that as a human being you are the most valued entity in the universe and that it's alright to love yourself, that contrary to what you have been told, you are an intelligent person, that being a revolutionary means you are courageous and decisive. Responding positively to Bob Avakian's appeal, you would have accomplished a major task: one, you would have saved yourself and you would be significantly contributing to saving humanity. Bob Avakian is a good person!

This quote really spoke to me because it points a way out of this madness and hell that this system has millions and millions of people in, around the world as well as here in the belly of the beast. Every day, I am enraged by fresh outrages of this system—whether it is the lynching of Troy Davis or hearing of a young child in Pakistan die from a drone attack or hearing about another person in this country dying from lack of healthcare or housing- basic human needs. But, being enraged is NOT enough because then you can become paralyzed and then demoralized by it.

There is a way out—and there is a leader—Bob Avakian who has pointed out that revolution and Communism is not only necessary and possible. That people do need to resist this system and all of its outrages and fight to bring into being a whole different way of living for humanity and the planet. The fight to stop the legal lynching of Troy Davis has shocked thousands and thousands of people into political life and to step forward and say, "No, this is intolerable". That a mask of legitimacy is being torn off the face of this system. That "Black faces in high places" are turning out to be just as vicious and illegitimate as the rest of the ruling class—ie: Obama, Clarence Thomas, Eric Holder—all coldly go on committing crimes on behalf of a vicious system against millions of people. It is harder for this system to talk about "humanitarianism, justice and democracy" when it carries out such acts. Three years ago, many people looked to the war criminal ,Barak Obama with hope. Now many of these people are disillusioned and paralyzed—but it doesn't have to be that way. It is up to us to show the world that things can be different.

Look at the prisoners hunger strikers in California—their struggle for their humanity has also inspired people to step forward. For prisoners who have been reading Revolution and Bob Avakian and learning about why the world doesn't have to be the way it is—and that there is a way out this madness—this is all very inspiring. That this shows that people who were caught up in street crap and just concerned about survival can look at the bigger picture and begin to transform the world and themselves. This sort of transformation has happened before. In revolutionary China, the revolution healed millions of people who were drug addicts and prostitutes and gave them a chance of a different future. That these people were given medical treatment, were told that an oppressive system dragged them down to the bottom, but they did not have to live that way. Many of them became part of the new society—working and making a contribution to the revolution as full human beings. Some even became revolutionaries themselves and fought to forward the revolution to the best of their ability. So, it is possible for people to transform themselves and bring forth a future that is worth fighting for—to emancipate all of humanity."

Are you tired of the hands that hold you down? The illegal searches and seizures? Being stripped of your rights and dignity? Being thrown in jail by any means necessary? Being isolated by your lot in life to be targets of rogue police brutality?

Being charged with crimes with little hope of proper investigation and representation?

—Babies not having fathers and mothers around? Being disenfranchised and having little chance of getting a living wage job? Keep hearing the same reply.

I wanted to comment on the appeal made by Bob Avakian, to "those the system has cast off." When I look around in my community, I see the end result of a system that seeks to keep people so distracted and disoriented that they are unable to see what is really going on. This limited vision works to maintain the status quo. But those of us who are in the belly of the beast see the workings of the system in a way that many of us have yet to experience. While many people may initially disbelieve that a system could be so corrupt, so unjust, many of us who have lived through it can bring the truth to light. There is nothing like life experience. So while many in this country chose to hide behind rose-colored glasses, spouting out the lies we've been told, there is another group that has a lived experience with which to counter the endless propaganda.

We need those voices. We need to hear the real deal! Enough of the parroted propaganda. Actually, the lived experiences of those in the belly of the beast should be our guiding light informing us, challenging us, and pushing us. It is their experience that reveals the exact nature of this system.

Millions of children will be born this year. If they are Black, Latino, or poor their future is grim. Because they are of the group that has the greatest revolutionary potential, this system has them marked, to be silenced, contained, destroyed. We must find a way to demonstrate this truth: that this system is looking for even more ways to silence them; more ways to contain them; more ways to destroy them. If we are able to demonstrate this, we have a real chance at making real progress toward revolution. Those who have felt the boot of this system upon their necks are the best situated to share this reality with others.

One of the best strategies this system has used is its emphasis upon the individual. The focus upon the individual is hailed as an american virtue. Yet we all know that there is strength in numbers. Individually, we are more easily subdued. Only a system that seeks to keep us weak would program its members to live individualism as an ideal. When you couple this "ideal" with the constant focus upon competition, you see a peculiar recipe. This system wants us to "compete" with each other. As one individual competes (or fights) with another, both fail to see how the system is manipulating both. With unity, we could focus our energies on assessing what is going on. Trying to out-do each other leaves us forever chasing our tails and always focused on the wrong objectives. Certainly, no one lives with the consequences of these strategies more than those of us most victimized by this system.

For those of us who have been cast out, we need you. Your life experience makes you uniquely qualified to help others see that they are being played by this system. Your voice has an authenticity that many of us lack. Those millions of children born this year need to know that this system is working every day to silence them, contain them, and destroy them. The next Fred Hampton, Bobby Seale, or Huey P. Newton that is born needs to be told the truth about this system. And there is none who can deliver that message as powerfully as YOU!!!

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/basics316-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

BAsics 3:16

An Appeal to Those
the System Has Cast Off

Here I am speaking not only to prisoners but to those whose life is lived on the desperate edge, whether or not they find some work; to those without work or even homes; to all those the system and its enforcers treat as so much human waste material.

Raise your sights above the degradation and madness, the muck and demoralization, above the individual battle to survive and to "be somebody" on the terms of the imperialists—of fouler, more monstrous criminals than mythology has ever invented or jails ever held. Become a part of the human saviors of humanity: the gravediggers of this system and the bearers of the future communist society.

This is not just talk or an attempt to make poetry here: there are great tasks to be fulfilled, great struggles to be carried out, and yes great sacrifices to be made to accomplish all this. But there is a world to save—and to win—and in that process those the system has counted as nothing can count for a great deal. They represent a great reserve force that must become an active force for the proletarian revolution.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/PRLF-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Donate to Send BAsics to Prisoners

NOW IS THE TIME to raise the final $15,500 to meet PRLF's goal of 2000 copies of BAsics to prisoners. While about 450 prisoners have received BAsics (including all who requested the book in California) many more eagerly await their copy. The prisoners' response to BAsics has been extraordinary. NOW IS THE TIME for an extraordinary effort by those outside the prison walls—to donate generously, spread the word to others and find creative ways to collectively meet this goal.

[Important note from the PRLF website (www.prlf.net): On Jan. 16, 2012, PRLF's fiscal sponsor, International Humanities Center through which it had 501(c)(3) tax-deductible status, declared financial insolvency and ceased to function. While PRLF searches for a new fiscal sponsor, we encourage you to support PRLF's important work by making non-tax deductible donations online or by mailing checks or money orders to PRLF, 1321 N. Milwaukee Ave, #407, Chicago, IL 60622.]

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/reporters-notebook-occupy-wallstreet-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

"Occupy Wall Street": A New Wind of Resistance

As I was finishing this reporter's notebook to submit to Revolution, I heard that the police had arrested over 700 protesters—people from the Occupy Wall Street action and supporters—during a march on Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday afternoon, October 1. Many of the protesters said that the police had entrapped them; cops allowed the march onto the roadway and even escorted them partway across, only to then start mass arrests. These arrests are outrageous. Any police attack on the Wall Street occupation needs to be strongly opposed by all those who are against injustice and want to see a better world. Go to revcom.us for continuing coverage of the Wall Street Occupation.

A fresh wind of resistance blew into the Wall Street area of lower Manhattan in New York City on September 17 when 3,000 people marched through the financial center of the U.S. empire. And this defiant wind has continued to swirl since then, as 100 or more people have been camped out in Zuccotti Park (Liberty Plaza), sleeping on the ground every night, with hundreds more coming each day and evening to join this action called Occupy Wall Street.

The occupation continues as this issue of Revolution goes to press and online. Protest actions inspired by and in support of the occupiers at Wall Street have sprung up in dozens of other cities across the U.S. and in other countries. (See occupytogether.org.)

The occupation has a website (occupywallst.org), and people all over also follow the news from Wall Street on Facebook, via Twitter, and through various live feeds across the Internet. The website says, "Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%."

The anti-consumerist organization/magazine Adbusters had originally called for people to "descend on Wall Street" to carry out "full-spectrum, absolutely nonviolent civil disobedience the likes of which the country has not seen since the freedom marches of the 1960s." They asked, "Are you ready for a Tahrir moment?"—referring to the protest movement in Egypt this spring, centered at Tahrir Square in Cairo, that led to the ousting of the longtime U.S.-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak.

When I went down to the occupation zone on a recent evening to talk to people and learn more about what is going on, there was a definite sense among the hundreds at the park that they are involved in something new, an action they hoped will be history-making, a departure from protest-as-usual. There had been a heavy downpour in the late afternoon, and the police had forbidden the putting up of tents or any other protective structures. But the spirits were anything but dampened. Along with the palpable determination and resolve, there was a joyous, festive atmosphere. A drum circle pounded out their rhythms at one corner of the park. Knots of people were engaged in friendly but animated conversation all around. A line formed for the serving of dinner. Sympathizers in nearby neighborhoods have been contributing food and cash, and people from all around the world have been phoning in orders to pizza places nearby to help feed the occupiers. An announcement was made for people to sign up on a list for showers at a nearby apartment that someone had opened up for that use. An appreciative response went up from the crowd.

There was a large police presence around the perimeter of the park. The NYPD has—so far—not moved directly to shut down the occupation. But a number of people were arrested when several hundreds from the Wall Street occupation joined many others to march through Manhattan on September 22 in protest of the execution of Troy Davis. Then on Saturday, September 24, an anti-Wall Street march out of the park to Union Square was viciously attacked by the police. About 100 people were arrested, many were roughed up, and videos showed a senior police officer pepper-spraying several women at point-blank range. A commentator on AlterNet wrote, "This is exactly the sort of violence and brutality American authorities routinely condemn when perpetrated against non-violent civilians demonstrating for democracy in Middle Eastern dictatorships, even as they employ horrifying cruelty right here."

But far from intimidating the occupiers, the police attack has only made people more resolved to stand their ground as well as reach out more broadly. There was a march to NYPD headquarters on Friday, September 30. And even as some mainstream media claimed that the occupation is "dwindling," there have been signs of increasing support—from those coming in from outside the city or stopping by off from work, and some well-known figures have come to show their support. The evening I was at the park, Francis Fox Piven and Russell Simmons spoke to the General Assembly, a mass meeting held twice a day to discuss various matters related to the occupation and to make decisions. Cornel West, Susan Sarandon, Roseanne Barr, Lupe Fiasco, Michael Moore, and Immortal Technique have also stopped by.

The occupiers and those joining in are mainly young people in their 20s—students, artists, unemployed, and others—along with some in their 30s and older. Clearly, the idea of the people broadly (the "99%") standing up against the big financial institutions and powerful interests in control (the "1%") has captured their imagination. A New York City College mixed-media student, who had first come to "observe" but now supports the occupation, was making a video of the scene for a class assignment to "deconstruct a myth." And what's the myth, I asked. He explained, "David and Goliath—a small group of determined people, willing to take on a mammoth."

Beyond the "99% vs. 1%" theme, there is a wide variety of views on what the most urgent problems are, and what the causes and solutions are. No set of demands for the occupation have been put forward, though there have been discussions in the General Assembly. A "Declaration of the Occupation of New York City" was accepted by the General Assembly on Friday, September 30.

There is deep disillusionment and anger among everyone I talked to about the reality of the so-called "best of all countries" and the vaunted system of "American democracy"—and a driving sense that some kind of real change is needed in the society and the world. Typical was the sentiment expressed by a college student at the New School, who has been coming to support the occupation every day: "It seems pretty obvious that trying to get politicians to actually carry out our demands isn't working at all... We keep electing people that we think are going to be better. And they keep not doing anything at all, and that's terrifying to someone who's been brought up in the kind of republic democracy that America is. I don't know if I have a clear picture of a system that would work. But I think that it is really important that at least the system as we know it would be totally turned on its head."

Her remark reminded me of an article I'd just read the day before in the New York Times, titled "As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around the Globe," which commented that "from South Asia to the heartland of Europe and now even to Wall Street," protesters share a "wariness, even contempt, toward traditional politicians and the democratic processes they preside over."

People talked of their concerns about a wide range of problems. When I asked a 30-ish man who works as a chef in Brooklyn what had compelled him to join the protest, he said, "There's a lot of things. We need to end the war. We need to end the Fed. We need to audit the banks. We need to stop corporate bailouts. And we need immigration reform. That's my main goal, immigration reform. We need to open the borders, as far as I'm concerned... Let people come in."

An economics student at a Long Island college spoke out against the stark disparity between the rich and poor around the world. When asked what he thought was the cause, he said, "The use of our military to back our trade policies. For instance, we subsidize our agriculture to the point that post-NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement], we drove all Mexican farmers out of business. But we let them produce our clothing and our shoes and whatever other cheap manufacturing products, and in dangerous plants for horrible wages."

I met a number of people from the communities and neighborhoods, including homeless people, who had been drawn to join this occupation. A young Black man, who lives in the projects in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn and works in maintenance on Wall Street, said, "I'm peaceful, but I'm angry. I'm angry at this country. I think our country is failing us. And I'm looking for improvement, I'm looking for change. And I think this movement could do that." A homeless Black woman told me, "It's primarily young people, and I see that as something honorable. Because we all know what time it is, we all know there's a problem in the country. But it took the young people to get up and do something about it, to come out here and make a sacrifice, day and night, rain or shine... And that encourages everybody else to participate."

I came across a young Latino sitting beside his suitcase, who said he had learned about the occupation on the Internet. He had recently lost his job in a town in upstate New York. He told me he has been living with his dad and said, "He told me don't just sit there in your room and be a slug, go out there and do something. Maybe this isn't what he had in mind for me, but I wrote him a letter, and I came out here. My mom is supporting me, I've got hundreds of people behind me on this, all over the country." What moved him to pack up and come? "You know, this place, this so-called promised land, they make promises, but when you come here, it just feels like they lied to you, it really does. It feels like a big lie."

Revolution newspaper distributors have been spending time at the Wall Street encampment and been part of the street demonstrations, getting out the paper and the book BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian. They say they "have found, from the beginning, a real openness and interest in talking about the biggest questions, including why the world is the way it is, and what it will take to change it." (See "'We Are Not Going Anywhere'—The Occupation of Wall Street" at revcom.us)

The fresh wind of resistance, right in the heart of American capitalism-imperialism, is very significant and most welcome, for all who want to see a radically different and liberated world.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/annie-day-at-occupy-wall-street-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

"We Only Want the World"

Mid-afternoon, the rain seemed to be holding off as a couple thousand of us filled the sidewalks. The mood was celebratory as the marches surrounding the Occupy Wall Street movement have kept growing. Hand made signs filled the space capturing a range of sentiments: "How cool is this?!" read one, "We are the 99%" was common, a couple people held up their newly received Revolution newspaper to declare—Revolution.

We marched past City Hall in lower Manhattan and then calmly but with great enthusiasm—and without any objection from the police—we were on the Brooklyn Bridge. At first taking up one lane of traffic and then spilling over with the number of people into both lanes. "Whose bridge? Our bridge!" As you'll learn by talking with those who are part of this movement, there are a million different views and levels of understanding, but there is very broadly a sense that the world as it is has to change, and that the masses of people—here and around the world—have right on our side, and are fed the fuck up!

This fueled the excitement of stopping business as usual in New York... and we marched with an array of chants, even briefly getting one going: "What's the problem? Capitalism. What's the solution? Revolution!" There were also shouts and whoops of sheer joy and exhilaration. Smiles from ear to ear.

Almost halfway across the bridge, we were stopped by a wall of police and wrapped in the now infamous orange mesh netting the NYPD uses to entrap large crowds. Hundreds of us were squeezed tighter and tighter. I was in the middle of this and couldn't see on either side but we could see the faces of those above us on the walkway, chanting "let them go" and one woman screaming at the brutality she was witnessing, "stop brutalizing him!"

There is in this midst a lot of confusion about the nature of the state, and related confusion about the role of the police with many people viewing them as just another section of the workers, people who are also getting screwed because their pensions are being cut, people who should be on the side of the protesters. And there is a lot of ignorance about the way the police actually treat the masses of oppressed people, stop and frisk, police murders... This takes expression in people attempting to reason with the police, or people talking about how the police are part of the 99%. I started agitating in response, "the police are part of the 1, the police are part of the 1." One guy smushed up next to me asked what I meant by that, he was concerned that what I was saying was too antagonistic. I pointed out the irony here—hundreds of us who were fighting for justice and the need for a better world were being penned in by brutal enforcers of a brutal state and detained through force, now who was being antagonistic?

The police are a social force of repression that maintain and enforce the relations of exploitation and domination of the system of capitalism/imperialism. They strip themselves of their humanity when they willingly fill the role of attack dog, and yes, pig for this system. And that inhumanity is laid bare in the ways they attack the most oppressed masses of people day in and day out, and in the ways they go seek to crush those who step into political resistance against this system. Bob Avakian puts this powerfully in BAsics #1:24: "The role of the police is not to serve and protect the people. It is to serve and protect the system that rules over the people. To enforce the relations of exploitation and oppression, the conditions of poverty, misery and degradation into which the system has cast people and is determined to keep people in. The law and order the police are about, with all of their brutality and murder, is the law and the order that enforces all this oppression and madness."

We were arrested one by one—"we only want the world" was a chant that picked up with bounce and rhythms despite being taken away in often too tight cuffs.

We were packed onto MTA buses commandeered for this purpose and driven around for over an hour until it was clear the protesters were being taken to a number of different local precincts instead of central booking. The bus of about 50 of us was full of laughter and discussion—What's your favorite place for a burger? Is Star Wars an anarchist influenced series? Can capitalism be reformed and mixed in with socialism? Aren't communist societies doomed to failure? What's really the role of the police? Why "don't talk" (meaning don't talk to the police or state authorities beyond telling them that what they need to know is on your ID) is an essential point of principle for a resistance movement? What kind of revolution was I talking about, and was it really possible?

And what drew people to the protest? A young couple from Iowa flew in that morning. They felt the need to be part of "our revolution." They work with the Green Party and have been deeply fed up since "the betrayal of 2008." They are surrounded by foreclosures and friends losing their jobs, and they're afraid if we don't stand up and stop this now, things will never change. They were curious about the movement for revolution I was describing, and said they'd look up more about Bob Avakian. A young New Yorker said he came out last Saturday and got arrested then too. He said he'd been reading the articles on Wall Street corruption in Rolling Stone magazine and feels like someone has to stand up against the greed of the bankers. When I asked him if he felt like this was a bigger problem, he said yes, it's capitalism but we may not see that change for another 100 years... we have to set things in motion now. A crew had come up from Philly with different levels of experience in protests (for one young woman, this was her first). They were part of working with Iraq Veterans Against the War and when I talked about the hunger strikers in prisons in California and the conditions in the SHU's, she described the situation in Quantico where soldiers are kept who apply for conscientious objector status—very similar. She said how upsetting it was that the military is "even willing to do it to their own." When I responded that when the soldiers refuse to be party to the U.S. crimes, they have put themselves on the side of the people of the world—in opposition to the U.S. army which enforces imperialism... she readily agreed and drew the parallel to the discussion we'd just had about the role of the police being to serve and protect this system, not the people.

People were part of this from all across the country... two young guys traveled up from Houston, one had hitchhiked from Burning Man^* to come. And they were all proud and ready to stand up for their convictions... uncomfortable and some in pain, but coming to each others' aid... and with a bus full of people in handcuffs, teamwork is required. To scratch each other's noses, get things out of pockets, pick up dropped bags and wallets.

Taken off the bus... booked in the precinct... some of us were put in cells (some with no water)... some remained in handcuffs for up to seven hours. In the women's cells, we could hear the men drumming in rhythm, at one point breaking out in a loud rendition of "New York, New York" to which a cop barked roughly, "enough." Spirits remained high, but there was also some ongoing debate and discussion.

Some of the debate centered around the need for the protesters to understand the importance of not giving information to the state which is set up to harass, surveil and crush resistance movements. Everything you say in their custody will be used against you—whether it be personal details, general information gathering or even a sense of who is who, and what further charges can be brought against you and others arrested with you. The attempt of the cops to be "buddy, buddy" with the people they are keeping locked behind bars through the threat of violence and force needs to be seen for what it is—dangerous bullshit! The NYPD—and police departments nationally—work very closely with the FBI and CIA, in particular in regards to political surveillance. Their sole aim in relation to political movements is to surveil, disorient and crush them—and they have been proven to use an array of tactics to serve this end including drowning movements in blood. One need only look at the history of police departments and the FBI in relation to the Black Panther Party where they committed straight up assassinations, imprisonment, vicious harassment and torture. And in the most recent period, we should learn from the uprisings in Egypt, where the army they were told to trust several months ago has beaten and arrested hundreds of protesters since.

We began trickling out of the precinct at 1:30 am... and as we walked out we were greeted by cheers of the people doing jail support, we were offered water and something to eat. It turns out this crew of a half dozen people had been there since 10 pm waiting for us to come out. But they also were helped by random strangers and people in the neighborhood who knew what was happening at Wall Street and wanted to help. In the building we were in front of, a woman came out and offered her apartment if people coming out wanted to get warm or use the bathroom. Another woman, who'd just been walking down the street, went home and came back out with a pile of clothes to loan those of us coming out to stay warm. One guy who lives on that block came running up with a case of water, a box of graham crackers, and a whole stack of shirts—a picture of Obama with a circle and slash through it. It turns out he designed the same shirt about Bush which became really popular, and he is angry Obama is committing the same crimes. He was giving them free to people coming out of jail (though to give a sense of the contradictoriness of all this—some people didn't agree with that statement and still hold out some hope for Obama).

After we got out, I continued a discussion with a woman who had shared my cell, she came by herself to the protest and said the turning point for her was what happened to Troy Davis. She felt she just had to raise her voice. She'd been part of the several-month occupation of the University in Puerto Rico a couple years back and talked about how she thinks a lot of people in America don't understand the power and righteousness of meaningful protest. She was very interested to be provoked to think about revolution, "I've always thought of the need to change this or that particular, but now that you mention it, we do need to think on that level."

This protest is still in its initial phases, it has spread nationally and there's a powerful determination for it to continue and grow. We've seen what difference it makes when people are able to withstand and advance through political repression—the inspiration and determination it provides for others. We're also seeing the contradictions this means for the rulers—at this point, these protests have gained a lot of legitimacy and if they continue their attempts to crush it, it may backfire... calling further into question the legitimacy of this whole system. And yet, if they let it continue, it may grow and be part of calling into question the legitimacy of this whole system.

Everyone getting out of jail said they'd see each other back at Zuccotti Park—either going back that night to continue the encampment or returning over the next day or two. And everyone felt even more powerful and undeterred. It's situations like this where big questions begin opening up for a whole new generation—what kind of world really is possible and what's it going to take to get there?

I'm eager to go back today and be part of this discussion—bringing out the answers to these questions that Bob Avakian has brought forward—a new synthesis of communism and a strategic approach to revolution, letting people know there is a viable vision for a radically different world and the leadership to get there... debating the content of all that and connecting people up with the movement for revolution. And uniting with the joyful determination of this growing occupation!

* Burning Man is an annual celebration of art and community that brings participants from all over the world to an unpopulated ancient lakebed in northern Nevada. [back]

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/247prisoners-resume-hunger-strike-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

12,000 Prisoners Resume Hunger Strike in California

A very just, very significant and courageous battle is rapidly spreading in California's state prisons—and beyond. On September 26, prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) resumed their hunger strike—in the face of vicious lies and attacks and retaliation by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and other state officials, including Governor Jerry Brown. They had been on a hunger strike from July 1-July 20, demanding an end to the horrifically inhuman conditions they face. On September 29, the CDCR admitted that 4,252 inmates in eight state prisons had missed nine consecutive meals since Monday, September 26, and that state prisons at Calipatria, Centinela, Ironwood, Pelican Bay, San Quentin, and Salinas Valley, as well as the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and state prison at Corcoran, had all reported inmates on hunger strike. (The CDCR won't count a prisoner as being on hunger strike until he or she has refused nine straight meals.)

These officials figures, it turns out, underestimated the number of prisoner hunger strikers. On October 1, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity's website reported, "Numbers released by the federal receiver's office show that on September 28, nearly 12,000 prisoners were on hunger strike, including California prisoners who are housed in out-of-state prisons in Arizona, Mississippi, and Oklahoma." (The website adds, "Representatives of the hunger strikers have previously stated that this will be a rolling strike, allowing prisoners to come off strike to regain strength. Because of this, numbers will likely fluctuate throughout the duration of the strike.")

The strike has also reportedly spread to at least one county jail. The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported that 50 prisoners in the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, east of Los Angeles, are refusing to eat in support of the hunger strike in the prisons. (September 27, 2011)

More than 6,500 prisoners joined the three-week hunger strike in July. Prisoners at Pelican Bay suspended the strike on July 20 after prison officials promised they would meet some of the prisoners' demands and address the main issues prisoners were raising. Then in September, prisoners wrote a statement saying these promises had not been kept: "We remain in SHU indefinitely, deprived of our basic human rights—based on illegal policies and practices, that amount to torture; torture of us, as well as our family members and loved ones on the outside. CDCR remains in denial, and continues to propagate the lies re: 'worst-of-the-worst' 3000 gang generals, etc.—in order to dehumanize/demonize us, so as to maintain the status quo... CDCR's intent is to break us down, and coerce us into becoming state informants! A violation of international treaty law, period! This is not acceptable!" (Go to revcom.us/s/pelicanbay-hungerstrike-en.html for extensive coverage of the July hunger strike.)

These prisoners are now putting their lives on the line again, demanding to be treated as human beings—demanding that the CDCR end the barbaric, inhumane conditions of imprisonment throughout California prisons, particularly in the "Security Housing Units" or SHUs. There, thousands of prisoners are locked in solitary confinement in windowless cells, 7.6 feet by 11.6 feet, for 22 hours or more a day for years, denied human contact. There are 1,111 inmates confined to the SHU at Pelican Bay alone, where the average length of confinement is 6.8 years. More than 500 prisoners have been in the Pelican Bay SHU for more than 10 years; 78 have been in the SHU for more than 20 years!

The prisoners' demands include an end to group punishment, abolishing the CDCR's gang status and "debriefing" policies, ending long-term solitary confinement, providing adequate food and expanding constructive programming and privileges. (See "Prisoners at Pelican Bay SHU Announce Hunger Strike, Revolution #237, June 26, 2011, for the prisoners' five demands.)

Vicious Retaliation Against Hunger Strikers

Prison officials were deeply shaken by the breadth and strength of the July 1-20 hunger strike. This courageous action brought to light the horrific conditions of solitary confinement—amounting to torture—and there was broad support for the prisoners' just demands.

After prisoners announced the strike would be resumed, prison authorities issued two memos to 165,000 prisoners—warning them against going on strike, claiming they were making changes. Disciplinary warnings were issued to thousands of hunger strikers. Supporters of the strikers report that a number of prisoners lost their jobs as punishment for supporting the strike in July, that some received punitive disciplinary write-ups, and some prisoner negotiators were being singled out and threatened with transfers and subjected to cell searches.

A September 29 press release from the CDCR said it "will not condone organized inmate disturbances" and warned: "Participation in mass hunger strikes and other disturbances will result in CDCR taking the following action: Participation in a mass disturbance is a violation of state law, and any participating inmates will receive disciplinary action in accordance with the California Code of Regulations; and Inmates identified as leading the disturbance will be subject to removal from the general population and be placed in an Administrative Segregation Unit."

Matthew Cate, Secretary of CDCR, interviewed by Berkeley's KPFA radio on September 27, threatened prisoners: "If they still want to be on a hunger strike then there will be some consequences to that, because you can't shut down prison operations with no consequences." Cate repeatedly described the hunger strike as a "mass disturbance" and compared it to a riot. Attempting to justify why the media are not allowed access to the prisoners on strike—who are risking their lives to demand an end to inhumane conditions—Cates said it was "the same reason that we don't allow media to have access to Charles Manson."

On July 29 the CDCR released a revision to its Medical Services Program Policy and Procedures regarding a mass organized hunger strike—including criteria for when the force-feeding of inmates will take place. This could mean the CDCR plans to force-feed prisoners to break the hunger strike. The American Civil Liberties Union has written that "force-feeding contravenes U.S. domestic and international law and is universally considered to be a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." (Press Release: ACLU Calls For End To Inhumane Force-Feeding Of Guantánamo Prisoners, January 9, 2009)

In July, the CDCR repeatedly lied, saying the strike was organized by gangs. Governor Jerry Brown, who never said anything about the hunger strike in July, has now publicly attacked hunger strikers and given full backing to the CDCR's policies and attacks on the prisoners, saying, "We have individuals who are dedicated to their gang membership who order people to be killed, who order crimes to be committed on the outside... My recommendation is to deal effectively with gangs in prisons." (California Prison Officials Warn Inmates On Hunger Strike," CBS San Francisco News, September 30, 2011)

Family members of prisoners participating in the hunger strike are having their visits cancelled. And the Prisoner Hunger Strike Coalition reports that Carol Strickman and Marilyn McMahon, both attorneys who have served on the hunger strike mediation team and have coordinated legal visits for prisoners in the SHU, have both been banned from prisoner visits by the CDCR. This is a further effort to isolate the prisoners and prevent the truth of their situation from being known outside prison walls. ("CDCR Bans Lawyers: TAKE ACTION NEW!" Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, September 30, 2011)

Think about what the draconian actions of the CDCR reveal: Who is defending crimes against humanity? Who is lying and justifying criminal violence against human beings? What does all this show about the utter illegitimacy of the prison system—and brutal nature of mass incarceration in the USA? For prisoners subjected to the most isolating conditions, sitting in their cells and refusing to eat is labeled a "mass disturbance." Their demands simply to be treated as human beings are met with lies and threats of even more violence against them. This is completely outrageous and intolerable!

Carol Strickman put it like this: "We're saying they are torturing the prisoners and we want them to stop the torture. The prisoners are so concerned about it that they are going to stop eating. If the response is to increase the torture, then they are just proving who they are and what their values are. This is a human rights issue and they are proving that they don't see the prisoners as human."

There is an urgent need for those on the outside to expose and oppose all these attacks on the hunger strikers and their supporters.

Strickman also told Revolution that there are other ramifications if prison officials declare the hunger strike a "mass disturbance": "They could do lockdowns. That would prevent family visits. That means everybody in the prison can't have visits. That would be another example of group punishment, and abolishing group punishment is one of the prisoners' demands. So what they would be doing in response to the prisoners' demands is to crank up group punishment—the behavior that is being protested. It means people can't go to the law library, people can't get medical visits, can't do classes and programming. In women's facilities they can't go do their laundry. You can't go to canteen. There are a lot of things that flow from a lockdown. That is a serious threat."

Our brothers and sisters are locked up in brutal, inhumane conditions. Yet they have risen up—with great courage, unity and vision. They are shining a light on the nature of mass incarceration in the U.S., and this raises profound questions about the nature and legitimacy of the system responsible for all this. These courageous prisoners are setting an example for everyone who hates injustice. They urgently need our support. Their struggle can—and must—reverberate and gain support across the U.S....and the world!

People on the outside have the moral responsibility to act in a way commensurate with the justness of the prisoners' demands, the urgency of the situation, and the importance of this struggle for humanity. What people on the outside do will be a big factor in what happens now that the prisoners have resumed the hunger strike.

Go to revcom.us for more on the prisoner hunger strike including coverage of support actions, commentary and important updates.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/246/they-murdered-troy-but-we-must-not-forget-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

THEY MURDERED TROY, BUT WE MUST NEVER FORGET HIM!

This system executed Troy Davis—no they murdered him. They delayed his execution a few hours while the Supreme Court considered and rejected a last-minute appeal from Troy's lawyers. The court issued a one-sentence statement explaining why they refused again to reopen his case and look at the mounting evidence of his innocence. It might as well have said Black people have no rights that we are bound to respect! The content of what the system has told us in this case, as they told us in the case of Shaka Sankofa eleven years ago, is that innocence is no bar to execution.

The powers that be say this country is the homeland of freedom. They tell the world that they're the greatest defenders of human rights. Then they turn around and railroad Troy Davis to jail on trumped up evidence, refuse to even consider the mounting evidence of his innocence and execute him on the basis of that railroad.

This was a legal lynching, plain and simple, sisters and brothers. It didn't matter to them that there was no physical evidence tying Troy to the murder of the cop or that seven of the nine witnesses against Troy have come forward and said that their statements were lies, several of them claiming they were coerced to lie by cops who were dead set on frying some Black man, any Black man, for the killing of one of their own. No court has even bothered to reopen the case, listen to the witnesses recanting their statements against Troy, and consider the police coercion that went into his conviction! What else can we take from this but that they're telling us—"We railroaded him, fair and square, and now we're going to strap him down and fry him."

What can you say about a system that would do all this—railroad a man to death row, ignore mounting evidence of his innocence and go ahead with his execution in the face of widespread international protest? The truth is that this system is rotten to the core, and needs to be done away with through revolution.

And this ain't just about Troy Davis. I was at a protest in Harlem the other night, the night of Troy's execution, and during that protest a number of people who were hearing about Troy's case for the first time told me, "This system does that to Black people all the time." That's very true. The legal lynching of Troy Davis concentrates the way this system treats Black people. This system has criminalized our youth, treating them like they're guilty until proven innocent, if they can survive their encounters with cops to prove their innocence, and if they can avoid being framed up in the system's kangaroo courts. Their cops get away with brutalizing and even murdering people, all the time. This has been going on for too damn long. It is intolerable, and it must be stopped!

The future this system has in store for many of our youth comes down to either crime and punishment or joining their military and killing people to keep their global empire in effect. Again, what can you say about a system like this except that it's rotten to the core?

But things don't have to be this way. We could end all the horrors this system inflicts on humanity through revolution, communist revolution. We could get rid of this rotten system and bring into being a society and a world that serves the interests of humanity. And we in the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) are building a movement for revolution to do just that. Get with this movement, sisters and brothers. Join it to help spread revolution everywhere and to mobilize people to "Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution." There are 2 important things going on right now that you need to get involved with as part of doing this.

First, get your hands on BAsics, a new book by Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party. This book concentrates more than three decades of work Avakian has been doing studying the experience of previous revolutionary societies and grappling with everything that stands between humanity and its ultimate emancipation. With this book, we can introduce people to the leader we have for making revolution and bring to a new generation the new and revitalized understanding of how to make revolution and bring into a being a viable and desirable socialist society that Avakian has developed. If you want to see an end to the legal lynchings like we just witnessed in Troy Davis' case, an end to the way that Black people are beaten down and oppressed by the system, and everything else foul this system inflicts on humanity, then you need to get your hands on BAsics. And you need to help spread the word about BAsics and help other people to get a copy of it. If you don't know about Avakian, you need to learn about him, and you need to let other people know about him. Cause you can't change the world if you don't know the BAsics.

And second, Cornel West and I have called for a day of non-violent civil disobedience to Stop "Stop & Frisk." This day is going to be in the week leading into the October 22 National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. The execution of Troy Davis underscores the need for determined resistance to the way this criminal injustice system mistreats Black people. And this day of Stopping, Stop and Frisk that Cornel and I have called for is going to be exactly that kind of resistance, determined resistance.

As the RCP says in its Message and Call, "The Revolution We Need ... The Leadership We Have", "... The days when this system can just keep on doing what it does to people, here and all over the world...when people are not inspired and organized to stand up against these outrages and to build up the strength to put an end to this madness...those days must be GONE. And they CAN be." We have to unite people from many different backgrounds and of different races and nationalities to stand together and say in a loud powerful voice that we refuse to stand by and let them continue to violate people's rights in the way that they've been doing. So get with us around this day of Stopping Stop and Frisk.

Go to the website www.revcom.us for coverage on the execution of Troy Davis and to get more information on everything that I've talked about here.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/annie-day-at-occupy-wall-street-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

"We Only Want the World"

We were arrested one by one—"we only want the world" was a chant that picked up with bounce and rhythms despite being taken away in often too tight cuffs.

* Burning Man is an annual celebration of art and community that brings participants from all over the world to an unpopulated ancient lakebed in northern Nevada. [back]

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/246/ndp-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation

You can be walking down the street, on your way to school, the store, work—minding your own business. If you're Black or Latino and in New York City—where every day, the police stop and frisk 2,000 people, mostly Black and Latino—you have a good chance of getting jacked up. Maybe you got a joint in your pocket, maybe you don't. But anyway, this could end up really bad. This system already don't offer you a future. But this could be the beginning of a horrible, brutal future under the U.S. [NO]Justice System. You might become one of the 2.4 million people imprisoned in the USA. Or you might just end up DEAD.

Look the "wrong way," say the "wrong thing," wear your pants the "wrong way." Or don't do anything even the police can say is wrong. Still, if you're Black, if you're Latino, and especially if you're young, you're automatically, already a criminal in the eyes of the police and the system they serve. You're a target for police murder and brutality. And they can get away with MURDER. They can RUIN your life. They can TAKE YOU AWAY from your loved ones, for something as small as a little bit of marijuana, or for nothing at all.

October 22, 2011 is the 16th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. This is a day for people all over the U.S. to take to the streets, act in many creative ways, and let it be known: We will NOT TOLERATE what the police do every single day.

Look at these outrages listed in the O22 Call for 2011 NDP [www.october22.org]—from just this past year:

The KKK lynch mobs of the past have been replaced by the cops who occupy Black and Latino communities. In the days of Jim Crow, a Black youth could end up at the bottom of a river for looking at a white woman. Today a Black or Latino youth can end up beaten bloody or dead if a cop claims he thought a cell phone, or a bulge in a pocket was a gun.

Part of a Whole Trajectory

Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation is part of a whole trajectory the system throws people into.

You're Driving while Black, Breathing While Brown, Walking while Black, Talking While Brown... Being Black or Latino and young. All CRIMES under this system. Guilty until proven innocent. But you probably won't get a chance to even argue your case. The cops, the courts, the prison system are all unjust, working against you from the git. You end up in prison, even for something minor. Things like "three strikes" laws and mandatory sentencing mean you'll probably get a very long sentence. Once in prison, you get "validated"—labeled a "gang member" on the most capricious, flimsy "evidence." So they throw you in solitary confinement subjected to what amounts to torture. IF you ever manage to get out, you're branded an "ex-con"—which means you can't get a job, access to public housing, food stamps, government loans for education, the right to vote, and more. All this is the result of conscious policies adopted by the ruling class.

The fact that THIS is the future for millions of youth in the USA is an outrage that shows the total illegitimacy of this system.

For a whole section of people in society the system is basically saying: You have NO rights, we can do all kinds of things to you that even under the stated laws of this country are illegal and illegitimate. The U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights and supposedly foundational to the American rule of law, protects against "unwarranted search and seizure" (that is, unreasonable search and arrest). The Fourteenth Amendment, passed after slavery was ended, says that rights under the law and due process apply equally to all, meaning that anyone accused of a crime is entitled to a legal process where they can defend against the charges, and no one is supposed to be punished (by the police or anyone else) when a crime has not been proven. All kinds of statistics and analysis show that these laws and rights do not exist for an entire group of people. For this group—African-Americans, Latinos, and other oppressed nationalities—there is the sharp edge of force, with no effective due process.

This is slow genocide that's getting faster every day. And as Carl Dix says, "If things are allowed to continue on this trajectory, the reality of millions of the oppressed penned up in the ghettos and barrios without opportunity or hope will intensify. Going in and out of jail will remain a rite of passage for millions of oppressed youth, many of whom already look to their immediate future and can see nothing more than prison or death." [Taking the Movement of Resistance to Mass Incarceration to a Higher Level Thru Unleashing Determined Mass Resistance, by Carl Dix of the RCP and the October 22nd Coalition, in Revolution #242.]

All this is being disguised with the lie that "the law is the law" and it's being equally applied—that Black and Latino youth are getting brutalized, murdered and imprisoned because they do more crime. But this is a LIE. For example look at the huge racial disparities in how marijuana laws are enforced, even though usage of marijuana is no greater among Black and Latino people than among white people [see centerfold in this issue].

The Need for Mass Resistance

All this needs to be exposed. Those who say "the youth themselves are to blame" must be challenged with the actual facts and truth of the situation. There must be powerful resistance to STOP all this.

Already many people around the world see the hypocrisy of a USA that goes around claiming to be the home of "freedom and equality"—while its armed enforcers gun down people with impunity, while it has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Mass resistance to all this, right in the belly of the beast, can send a message to the world, exposing the ILLEGITIMACY of this system.

We need varied and creative expressions of determined resistance which demands an end to police brutality, repression and the criminalization of a generation. And which boldly confronts the powers-that-be. And within that mix of resistance and protest there needs to be a powerful revolutionary current. We need to: Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution. We need resistance where people really stand up to, question the legitimacy of the current order and bring forward a different way things could be. And this can play a role in unleashing more resistance and among broader forces, including people who may not be ready to take such action and/or do not think revolution is the solution. This could dramatically transform the political terrain—uniting many different sections of society, and emboldening the victims of this brutality and murder who feel isolated and demonized.

People standing up and working to bring a whole new world into being, heartens other people and gives them a sense that they too can stand up and that such resistance could really matter.

As the RCP's statement, "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have," says: "The days when this system can just keep on doing what it does to people here and all over the world...when people are not inspired and organized to stand up against these outrages and to build up the strength to put an end to this madness...those days must be GONE. And they CAN be."

The O22 Coalition encourages people to: "JOIN US if there is already an October 22nd event in your area. CREATE one if you are in an area where there is currently no group organizing. For listings of activities in your area, check the website www.october22.org. To start building for an event in your area, email info@october22.org"

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/246/stop_stop-and-frisk-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

STOP – "STOP & FRISK"

You're young and Black or Latino. You're on your way out to have a good time, without a care in the world. Or you're going to or from work or school, or just hanging out in your hood. All of sudden cops descend on you. They make you turn out your pockets and show some ID; maybe they disrespect you in the process. If you're lucky, it doesn't go any farther than this.

But only going that far is still too damn far! And it happens all the damn time. The NYPD is on pace to stop and frisk over 700,000 people in 2011! That's more than 1,900 people each and every day. More than 85% of them are Black or Latino, and more than 90% of them were doing nothing wrong when the pigs stepped to them.

What gives the NY pig department the right to stop and frisk you just because you are Black or Latino? Who revoked the part of the constitution protecting people from unreasonable search and seizure for people whose skin happens to be Black or Brown? And these kinds of stops can easily go beyond harassment and humiliation. Remember Amadou Diallo, gunned down in a hail of 41 police bullets because they said they thought his wallet was a gun? This is intolerable! It must be stopped. WE ARE STOPPING IT, AND YOU MUST JOIN US IN DOING THAT!

NY pig chief Ray Kelly says his police don't practice racial profiling. The numbers show that Kelly's statement is a lie. Is he stupid, or does he think we're stupid enough to believe this lie. Policies like Stop & Frisk are why there are 2.5 million people in jails across this country. They have criminalized whole generations of our youth. This is intolerable, and it must be stopped. And we are stopping it!

Figures on marijuana arrests in NYC tell the same story. Despite the fact that NY decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, more than 50,000 people were arrested in the past year on charges of possession of marijuana. Even though the government's own figures say the overwhelming majority of marijuana users are white, more than 2/3 of those arrested for possessing marijuana are Black or Latino!

WE ARE STOPPING ALL THIS—JOIN US IN DOING THAT! In the days leading into the Oct 22nd National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, the Network to Stop Mass Incarceration is calling for Stopping Stop & Frisk. We will target this illegal, unconstitutional policy with non violent civil disobedience.

If you are sick and tired of being harassed and jacked up by the cops, JOIN US. If you have had enough of seeing your brothers and sisters, your cousins, your aunts and uncles and fathers stepped to and disrespected by the cops, JOIN US. If you don't want to live in a world where people's humanity is routinely violated because of the color of their skin, JOIN US. And if you are shocked to hear that this kind of thing happens in this so-called homeland of freedom and democracy—it does happen, all the damned time—you need to JOIN US too—you can't stand aside and let this injustice be done in your name.

This Call is issued by:
Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party &
Cornel West, professor, author and public intellectual.
Herb Boyd, author, journalist, Harlem, NY
Efia Nwangaza, Malcolm X Center, Greenville, SC
Rev Omar Wilkes

Contact Us to Get Involved and/or to Sign This Call:

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/us-assassination-in-yemen-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Unconstitutional... and Ominous

On Friday, September 30, a U.S. drone strike killed Anwar al-Awlaki as he was traveling in northern Yemen, some 90 miles from the capital Sanaa. Al-Awlaki was a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico. Three of his companions, including Samir Khan, another American citizen, were also killed. Al-Awlaki was the target of this U.S. government assassination.

President Barack Obama, top government officials, and the U.S. ruling class were near unanimous in praising—even bragging about—this premeditated, long-planned execution.

Obama and other officials claimed that Al-Awlaki was not simply a radical Islamist cleric and propagandist, but an operational leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who had directly organized attacks against targets in the U.S.

What Obama and the imperialist media never focus on is the basic fact that Al-Awlaki has never been charged with any crime in any court. He's never been put on trial, never convicted, and never sentenced. The U.S. government simply killed one of its own citizens without even any semblance of due process—without any "day in court," as required under the U.S. Constitution. This right is claimed to be one of the pillars of U.S. "justice" and "democracy."

ACLU deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer stated, "The targeted killing program violates both U.S. and international law. As we've seen today, this is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process, and on the basis of standards and evidence that are kept secret not just from the public but from the courts."

Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald writes in "The due-process-free assassination of U.S. citizens is now reality:" "The U.S. Government has seized and exercised exactly the power the Fifth Amendment was designed to bar ('No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law'), and did so in a way that almost certainly violates core First Amendment protections (questions that will now never be decided in a court of law)." (Salon.com, September 30, 2011)

Government Declares: NO Evidence, NO Courts

The U.S. government never provided any evidence, even outside a courtroom, linking Al-Awlaki with any attack. Al-Awlaki was the first American citizen to be put on the CIA's capture or kill list and the Obama administration has vigorously fought to prevent any public legal process examining the evidentiary or legal justification for doing this.

Thirteen months ago, Al-Awlaki's father, represented by the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights, sued the Obama administration and other U.S. officials for targeting his son for death without due process. The Obama administration continued the Bush regime's legal theory that since the U.S. is at war in the so-called "war on terror," the courts have no right to be involved in decisions concerning how to wage that "war," including who's an "enemy combatant," or who's targeted for killing, which are "state secrets." According to the Washington Post (October 1, 2011), "The administration officials refused to disclose the exact legal analysis used to authorize targeting Aulaqi [Awlaki], or how they considered any Fifth Amendment right to due process." ("Justice Dept. Memo Sanctioned Killings, But Officials Avoid 'Due Process' Concerns").

U.S. District Judge John Bates sided with the Obama administration and threw out the lawsuit, saying, "Mr. Awlaki had shown no interest in pursuing a claim in an American justice system he despised." ("Judging a Long, Deadly Reach," New York Times, September 30, 2011)

Harvard Law School Professor and former Bush administration Assistant Attorney General Jack L. Goldsmith claims, "Before someone like Mr. Awlaki is targeted, multiple intelligence sources support the conclusion that he is a dangerous threat, top lawyers from many agencies scrutinize the action, policy makers at the highest levels of government approve the action after assessing its legal and political risks, and the Congressional intelligence committees are informed about the intelligence community's role in the operations." ("A Just Act of War," New York Times, September 30, 2011)

No doubt such top officials and experts—perhaps some of the same individuals cited by Mr. Goldsmith—carefully went over evidence that Saddam Hussein had WMD [weapons of mass destruction] prior to the 2003 invasion now responsible for as many as a million Iraqi deaths.

"Hundreds of men were wrongfully detained at Guantánamo," Michael Ratner, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, writes. "Should this same government, or any government, be allowed to order people's killing without due process?" ("Anwar al‑Awlaki's Extrajudicial Murder," Guardian UK, October 1, 2011)

In short, the President of the United States can decide in secret to kill anyone whom he deems to be a threat, without anything remotely resembling due process.

A Serious Step Toward Fascism... Under the Democrats

This is a major and serious step toward fascism—"the imposition of a form of dictatorship which openly relies on violence and terror to maintain the rule and the imperatives of the capitalist-imperialist system." (BAsics 3:11)

The rulers of this country have killed many people extra-judicially—without due process. The 1969 execution of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton by Chicago police with the behind-the-scenes help of the FBI is one sharp example among many. However, the Al-Awlaki assassination marks something new and very dangerous: the U.S. state is now claiming the legal right to assassinate anyone it labels a threat, whether a citizen or not, and that people so targeted have no legal recourse whatsoever to prevent the full weight of the state from hunting them down and executing them.

"The dire implications of this killing should not be lost on any of us," Michael Ratner stresses. "There appears to be no limit to the president's power to kill anywhere in the world, even if it involves killing a citizen of his own country. Today, it's in Yemen; tomorrow, it could be in the UK or even in the United States." (Guardian UK, October 1, 2011)

Why It Is Pointless—and Worse—to Support the Democrats

Not even Bush, not even Cheney, dared to openly claim this right! Now, a Democrat—and a so‑called "constitutional scholar" at that—has been the one to implement reactionary, murderous policies deemed essential by the imperialist ruling class at this juncture —now targeted assassination of U.S. citizens with no due process at all!

Powerful sections of the imperialist ruling class supported Obama's candidacy: not to bring "change" we could believe in, or "build a movement from the bottom up," but to paralyze and disorient those who hated Bush and the U.S. wars, to rebrand the U.S. empire, and to build political support—or passive acceptance—for endless war and countless war crimes. (For more on this dynamic see "The Pyramid of Power and the Struggle to Turn This Whole Thing Upside Down" by Bob Avakian, Revolutionary Worker #1237, April 25, 2004, available at revcom.us.)

Glenn Greenwald notes, "Remember that there was great controversy that George Bush asserted the power simply to detain American citizens without due process or simply to eavesdrop on their conversations without warrants. Here you have something much more severe. Not eavesdropping on American citizens, not detaining them without due process, but killing them without due process, and yet many Democrats and progressives, because it's President Obama doing it, have no problem with it and are even in favor of it." (Democracy Now!, September 30, 2011, emphasis added)

Greenwald goes on to say, "Well, one thing that is obvious, is that voting for Democrats as opposed to Republicans doesn't help. In fact, if you read the New York Times article from 2010 confirming that Al Awlaki is on the hit list, it makes clear that there's been no instances where George Bush ordered American citizens targeted for assassination, that this is extraordinary and perhaps an unprecedented step under the Democratic president. What people in the Arab world did, when their leaders did things like imprison them, let alone kill them, and their fellow citizens without trials, is they went out into the streets and protested and demanded that it stop. It's hard to see how voting for one of these two parties is going to end these extraordinary excesses in violations of the constitution; it clearly doesn't. Something outside of that system is necessary to address it. That's been proven."

Supporting the Democrats is not the "lesser of two evils"—or merely pointless. It's profoundly harmful! As Bob Avakian has pointed out, "If you try to make the Democrats be what they are not and never will be, you will end up being more like what the Democrats actually are." (BAsics 3:12)

This also points to the truth of the World Can't Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime's original call to action which presciently stated: "That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn—or be forced—to accept."

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/important_notice_to_readers-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Important Notice to Our Readers

With regard to the relationship between the "Occupy Wall Street" movement and demonstrations and the outpouring which must happen on October 22nd, the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation (NDP), and the Movement of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, revolutionaries should be actively developing "the synergy" between them—and, especially in this immediate period, winning people involved in the "Occupy" protests to be actively involved in participating in, and in building for, NDP—in N.Y., but also other cities across the country. Imagine all—or a large part of—the "Occupy" protesters in NYC and elsewhere wearing black on Oct. 22nd—and many taking part in the NDP rallies, marches, etc. In order to maximize this, not only should work toward this objective be done in advance, in building for Oct. 22nd, but on the day itself there should be plans for NDP demonstrations—or at the least a significant contingent of people taking part in NDP—to go directly to the site(s) of the "Occupy" protests and work to incorporate as many people as possible in these ("Occupy") protests into the NDP activities (demonstrations, rallies, etc.). And work should be carried on/carried forward in developing this "synergy" beyond Oct. 22nd as well.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/sustain_the_revolution-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

SUSTAIN THE REVOLUTION! SUSTAIN THE LIFELINE!
GIVE EVERY MONTH TO REVOLUTION NEWSPAPER!

There is a way out and a way forward. There is a leader—Bob Avakian—who has shown that way and a party determined to fight for it.

This is the paper that connects you into that whole different way of understanding the agonies of the old world and the birth pangs of the new... that gives a whole different sense of future possibility... and that serves as a scaffolding for a movement for revolution that is working and fighting to bring it into being.

Now it's up to you to enable this paper to connect its message to tens of thousands more, and ultimately—as things go through great shifts and changes—millions.

Sustain this paper. Get this vision and this movement into every area of the country. Deep into the city cores... broad onto the campuses... into the new movements now fighting to be born... throw out this lifeline to those aching for something new.

Donate generously, and donate every month. Join the movement. Be part of fighting for a different future.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/all_out_for_october_22-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

All Out for October 22, 2011!

National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation

October 22 events are planned for many cities around the country. Go here for a list of O22 assembly points. We urge our readers to use the Revolution poster in support of the National Day of Protest to help build for O22. Reproduce the poster; get it around to the different neighborhoods, campuses, protests, and elsewhere; use it on October 22 itself.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/update_on_prison_hunger_strike-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Update on Prisoner Hunger Strike: Strike at Pelican Bay Ends, Continues at Other Prisons

"The prisoners have cited a memo from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) detailing a comprehensive review of every Security Housing Unit (SHU) prisoner in California whose SHU sentence is related to gang validation. The review will evaluate the prisoners' gang validation under new criteria and could start as early as the beginning of next year....

"The mediation team stated that while the memo indicates statewide changes in the gang validation process for SHU prisoners, the CDCR did not address the status of hunger strikers at Calipatria or Salinas Valley prisons, who are not SHU prisoners. All sources say that at this point, these prisoners will continue to refuse food and stand behind the 5 core demands for all prisoners in California. A recent letter from a prisoner at Calipatria states, 'Men have ... placed their lives on the line in order to put a stoppage to all these injustices we are subjected to day in and day out. People would rather die than continue living under their current conditions. ...It is a privilege, an honor to be a part of the struggle, to be a part of history for the betterment of all those inside these cement walls... I will go as far as my body allows me to go.'

"Gang validation is a practice that the CDCR uses throughout California prisons. Hundreds of prisoners who have been validated at Calipatria have been held in Administrative Segregation (Ad-Seg) for as long as four years, awaiting transfer to Pelican Bay."

Earlier on October 13, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity posted the following example of how the CDCR has been retaliating against the hunger strikers:

"Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity has received letters from hunger strikers throughout the state, which have been severely delayed due to the CDCR's retaliation of tampering with strikers' mail.

"Chad, a hunger striker at Pelican Bay, details some of the retaliation he has experienced for participating in the strike again:

"'In an effort to break my strike, they began withholding my pain medication as leverage. At first cold turkey until I reminded them of the Plata and the federal judge's ruling that it is criminal to cold turkey a long-time recipient of medications for chronic pain. So they issued just enough to clear them, but so minute and ineffective to cause extraordinary pain, from both disease and withdrawal symptoms. When that failed they came to my cell and said I need to go to the CTC [infirmary] because I'm so sick and totally disabled. It's very, very worse than SHU conditions. It freezes 24 hours a day and you are entitled only to the linen on your bed, what's on your back, and a towel.'

"Chad, who suffers from end stage liver disease and hepatitis C, goes on to explain how guards ordered him out of his cell when it was clear his medical condition was worsening:

"'In an effort to ‘help me' and ensure my dire health needs are met, when I refused to go they extracted me. A very brutal act. They did not enter as I prepared for, but instead, with three types of "toys," an overwhelmingly suffocating gas, or like an impenetrable cloud or fog, filled my cell. Then they tossed in a type of gas bomb. Then hit me with a direct spray of another gas. On the verge of passing out I left the cell. Interestingly, all the taunting and provoking challenges [by guards] abruptly ended when the video camera arrived. What happened to me was wrong on so many levels.'

"Chad is currently in the prison's infirmary under the care of the infamous Dr. Sayre, who is notorious for abusing prisoners. Chad ended his hunger strike after ten days.

"Pelican Bay hunger strikers have also been transferred to Corcoran as retaliation for striking. During the first round of the strike in July, 17 strike representatives at Pelican Bay were transferred to Corcoran, a facility unlike Pelican Bay that is permitted to force-feed hunger strikers."

Check back at revcom.us for continuing developments in this very significant struggle.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/voices_of_those_cast_off-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Voices of those cast off by the system

Revolution issued a call in August to our readers to respond to the 3:16 quote from BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, "An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off." We received many responses written by those the system has cast off, as well as from many others. We featured responses from prisoners, an ex-prisoner and high school students in an oppressed community in the print edition of Revolution #247 and posted many more online. The following are new responses we have recently received:

I have raised my sights to where I know that we have to talk to the people that we have to do away with this system.

Richard Brown, former Black Panther, Member of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR):

Most of us, when we think about prisoners, in our mind we think of them as, "those people," never realizing how much we have in common with them.

You say most prisoners work for low or no wages, well, most young blacks have no wages at all, unemployment in the black community is ridiculously high. So where's the difference?

All of us should relate to the words of Bob Avakian and focus on the real enemy and fight for a truly free society.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/prisoner_insight_on_occupy_wall_street-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Prisoner Insights on "Occupy Wall Street"

I wanted to write to the paper and say a little bit about this new social movement, that started with only a dozen or so college students September 17th and now has tapped into a grassroot national sentiment amongst many.

The very name of this movement is insightful to me: Occupy Wall Street. This movement isn't primarily focused on "Occupying the White House" nor "Marching on Washington" as many reform movements tend to do, but instead they've chose to bring their message to the heart of capitalism—those who they feel are the true puppeteers behind the direction of this country and their declining conditions. Nah... this is something very different, I believe.

This particular shift in focus by the grassroots reminds me of a quote by Mao in which he once said that, "Tools are made by men. When tools call for a revolution, they will speak through men." What he meant by that in the simplest terms, is that when people find themselves facing the type of hardships economically, in the type of numbers we see today—after eight million officially lost their job during "The Great Recession" just because they were no longer profitable under this system, while many more are meeting the same fate still or facing similar worries—then, people began to question the legitimacy of the economic system itself, in revolutionary terms. And that's increasingly what we're witnessing today when we see protesters holding signs in front of Wall Street that reads: "Capitalism is the Crisis."

What I see in this Occupy Wall Street movement is a great potential, but the question yet to be answered, is in what direction will this movement ultimately seek to resolve its grievances?—in a reformist direction or in a revolutionary one. The answer to this question has yet to be answered; in which direction it will proceed, isn't inevitable by no means.

On the one hand, one can already find the bourgeois media and petty bourgeois unions, trying to co-opt this movement and contain it within "the acceptable perimeters" of bourgeois politics—in hopes that it will become a counter-trend to the Tea Party movement within a liberal Democratic form. While on the other hand, that outcome is all the more possible since the movement itself is being driven currently by a lot of spontaneity and economist trends—trends that tend to either deny the need for a coherent political line, to put forth leadership in fear that the movement will understandably be subverted from within, and/or is only limited to "economic fairness" within the existing economic system.

Anyone familiar with what Lenin had to say about these type of trends in What Is To Be Done? knows all too well that none of these tendencies are new to new social movements. What is and will be new for many in this movement, however, is to learn that there is another real alternative and solution to the direction of this movement—and that's proletarian revolution. As BA stated in BAsics 3:1:

"Let's get down to basics: We need a revolution. Anything else, in the final analysis, is bullshit.

"Now, that doesn't mean we don't unite with people in all sorts of struggles short of revolution. We definitely need to do that. But the proffering of any other solution to these monumental and monstrous problems and outrages is ridiculous, frankly. And we need to be taking the offensive and mobilizing increasing numbers of masses to cut through this shit and bring to the fore what really is the solution to this, and to answer the questions and, yes, the accusations that come forth in response to this, while deepening our scientific basis for being able to do this. And the point is: not only do we need to be doing this, but we need to be bringing forward, unleashing and leading, and enabling increasing numbers of the masses to do this. They need to be inspired, not just with a general idea of revolution, but with a deepening understanding, a scientific grounding, as to why and how revolution really is the answer to all of this." (p. 71)

Anything short of revolution, I agree, is bullshit. Just like I believe it's bullshit logic to play the board game Monopoly, and not think it's driven by a system of rules that encourages an ever-expanding gap between have and have-nots and unfairness—and actually demands such results. How could that game pan out, in the last analysis, any other way than that? So why do we pretend that capitalism will play out any differently with its system of dog-eat-dog incentives, values, and market demands? If there's anything that Monopoly should teach us analogously, is that all systems have consequences—no matter if that system is a board game or a politico-economical one, as capitalism fundamentally is. To expect any dog-eat-dog system to turn out any differently than the decline and ruin of the majority in relation to the minority population and class who profits from such relations, is tantamount to thinking that in the end, everyone can be a winner at the board game of Monopoly in actual fact and circumstance. Yet such irrationality and deception, though, is what the bourgeoisie constantly spoon feeds the general public about capitalism, when they tell us that all boats will forever rise under their class rule and hegemony. If that was even close to being true, then the average CEO's annual salary in comparison to the average worker's wouldn't had increased so disproportionally from 1980 (42:1) to 2011 (343:1) as it has.

I'm going to end this by saying, though, that I believe these new developments in this emerging movement has presented a very meaningful opportunity to introduce many more disgruntle youth and progressive people to BAsics, while thwarting the varying bourgeois representatives from suffocating this movement before it even gets a chance to reach maturity and become the solution we all desire. This is all a part of what BA means when he speaks about "hastening while awaiting." BAsics 3:7. If we succeed in doing so, Occupy Wall Street in time may morph into something more than just a spontaneous reform movement about joblessness and "economic fairness," but instead may come to represent a real proletarian "preoccupation" with achieving nothing less than state power.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/stand_up_protest_in_chicago-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Making a Difference at the Stand Up Protest in Chicago

Yesterday several thousand, some reports said 7,000, protesters took to the streets in Chicago to protest a group of bankers and financiers meeting at the Art Institute here. Organized by a coalition called Stand Up! Chicago, it was the most diverse protest I've seen in years. Students of all nationalities from many high schools and colleges in Chicago were joined by basic Black and Latino masses, from a homeless organization, unions and many community organizations. An after-school arts program had a marching band, and many others playing drums, horns, bells and whistles gave the march a very young, lively, spirited atmosphere. Chants were in English and some in Spanish. "The people united will never be defeated" was a popular one, and from the Black youth, "No Justice, No Peace."

I was one of several people distributing the special BAsics issue and new issue of Revolution newspaper. I wanted to share some responses I got talking to people:

The most common response to the protest was "It's about time." While most of the signs and slogans were about economic issues, there was a very clear sense that people were there with a long simmering anger over a host of issues and an overall sense that things in this country are thoroughly f'd up and have to change.

Several people I talked to were unemployed middle class people. One woman had worked in an alternative school that worked with ex-prisoners, but had been unemployed for months. There were people there who had lost schools in their communities, and teachers with many students whose homes had been foreclosed.

But not everyone was there because they had been directly affected by the economy. A young woman told me, "I'm not hurting. But I think what's being done to people is a moral issue and that's why I had to come."

A man from Germany said: "I make $75,000 a year. But I'm from Germany, originally East Germany. I saw the wall come down, and it started with Monday protests, started small. So I had to be here. I know people have the power if they just keep it up."

A woman from Argentina referenced the struggle of the people in her country and was elated that at last people in the U.S. were "waking up."

In talking about BAsics and Bob Avakian and the need and possibility for revolution, people expressed both tremendous dissatisfaction and frustration with the current system, and much disappointment in Obama, and openness to what we were saying, but it was clear they had a hard time breaking out of the framework of capitalism and bourgeois democracy. One person asked if we had a leader who could run in the elections. Many people directed their anger at the corporations having too much power, as if this was an aberration. And some said things like we need to remind the corporations of the Constitution. Yet there was real interest that BAsics and our Constitution (Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal)) represent a viable vision for a whole different way society could be.

And people I talked to were very glad to see us be part of the mix. I complimented one young drummer, telling him his playing made a real difference there. He said, "You revolutionaries' presence makes a real difference here."

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/occupy_new_orleans-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

October 6: Report from Occupy NOLA

Revolution received the following report from Elizabeth Cook in New Orleans, who gave us permission to post this at revcom.us:

Over 100 folks turned out at the beginning of the march at Tulane and Broad, to protest the prison planet that New Orleans, and Louisiana, has become. New Orleans, with double the national average of incarceration, and Louisiana with the highest incarceration rate in the nation, made Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) an excellent starting point to expose the underbelly of the capitalist system. Sheriff's department staff were out and watching with curiosity. I shouted to one group of staff as I walked to the march that Sheriff Gusman allowed people to drown in OPP after Katrina. This is a cover-up that has never been exposed adequately. In the course of my activism after Katrina, I ran into many former OPP prisoners who witnessed drownings during the chaos of Katrina in OPP.

Some chants revolved around shutting down our school-to-prison pipeline system. Many more chants called for the rich to pay, and abolish the Federal Reserve. Personally speaking, the abolish the Federal Reserve folks, out in full force, got a bit annoying. More on that later.

Several African-American activists helped lead the chants in a spirited manner, including Malcolm Suber, Sharon Jasper and her two daughters, Kawana and Shannon, Reverend Brown, Leon, and Sam Jackson. Suddenly Sam and Reverend Brown led the marchers onto the street, and it began. I followed in my truck so that I could ride folks who couldn't march. As we turned onto Basin Street from Tulane Ave., I noticed that it took several minutes for the marchers to make that turn. The crowd had swelled impressively. I later estimated the crowd to be around 500 folks.

Once in Lafayette Square, marchers occupied the statue of Lafayette there and began handing around a bullhorn for folks to speak. A couple of folks who want to abolish the Fed tried to hog the bullhorn a bit but got shouted down eventually. Some of them declared themselves as Ron Paul supporters, and behaved as expected, with a bit of fanaticism evident. They got roundly booed when Ron Paul's name was brought up. In my view, abolishing the Federal Reserve as an antidote to our nation's ills just isn't enough. One of those same protesters tried to shut Sharon Jasper down at OPP when she tried to bring up affordable housing issues. New Orleans has the highest rate of homelessness per capita in the nation, since Katrina. Sharon brushed her off, of course. Ron Paul's shrinking government message is not the answer to our problems, and this country's problems, btw, didn't start with the creation of the Federal Reserve. Once you abolish the Reserve, you still have a cadre of politicians in Washington, D.C. sold out to corporate interests.

Students spoke about mounting debt, which prompted a great deal of cheering from these young protesters. I would say the average ages of the protesters favored the youth. Many spoke of corruption in the financial industry, and the need to keep this movement rolling. Spirited debates in the crowd broke out here and there. I happened to be standing at the base of the monument to Lafayette, near some of the old guard who obviously were advocating reform of the capitalist system, and near a crowd of young anarchists who successfully shouted down and led a chant against the message of "voting" as a form of protest. Their point was that the electoral system is completely compromised by capitalism, and voting is not going to solve our problems at this point. I have to say I completely agree with them.

One older man began chanting, "tax the rich, tax the rich," at which time I started chanting "eat the rich, eat the rich," and then a young woman joined in and chanted "snatch the rich, snatch the rich." It was a bit playful that way. An older woman standing near me preached about the need to vote, that if you don't vote, you won't be seen or heard. I interjected, vote for whom, which sold-out party or politician do we vote for? The young anarchists were in complete agreement.

I think that debate hinted at a broader division in the Occupy Wall Street movement that is flying below radar, which is probably a good thing at this point. The utilization of consensus building in the occupation gatherings gives folks of disparate views an opportunity to work together on projects. Clearly though, there is the camp of we can reform capitalism, and there is the camp of we need to oust capitalism and create a different form of self-governing system that isn't necessarily a representative form of government, but more related to direct democracy. These disparate groups have largely stayed clear of each other, but are now coming together realizing of course, that we can't ignore each other any longer. These encampments give the groups a chance to learn to work together on common goals, leaving aside differences for the moment. The differences aren't going to go away though.

Anarchists, college students, middle age activists like myself, mostly young though, attended an assembly at Duncan Plaza next to City Hall at 6 pm. Duncan Plaza was the scene of a homeless occupation for several months in 2007, before being disbanded by police on the day the New Orleans City Council voted to demolish public housing, after violent rejections and abuse of protesters in and outside of that meeting. We are returning to our contemporary activist roots by setting up in Duncan Plaza. I heard a news report this morning that stated the NOPD will allow protesters to camp there, for now.

About 150 people were in attendance; it was an impressive turnout. I spoke to a couple of women who had already moved out there with the intention of encamping. I also spoke to a college student from LSU who intended to sleep out there the first night. The meeting utilized the techniques developed in New York for running meetings without a bullhorn, mic checks, hard blocks, etc. The meeting kind of got bogged down with disagreements over process, consensus, the definition of nonviolence, etc. One young man suggested that rule by majority vote actually allowed for a platform that tolerated more forms of dissent within the group, which I found to be a fascinating analysis. Frustration at the slowness of the meeting and coming to consensus agreement was expressed, and one wonders how long the consensus model will last. Nevertheless, these discussions offer an opportunity for folks to get to know each other, exercise their own thought processes within a group, and learn what it means to function in a community such as this. I think the difficulties in communication have an opportunity to bond people, if they stick it out to work it out. There will be growing pains, and hopefully folks won't be discouraged by this. As one young woman said, the Arab Spring is changing into America's Fall. It's about time.

I couldn't stay for the entire meeting, but I suspect there will be a meeting each night at Duncan Plaza, probably at 6 pm, as long as the encampment remains.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/what_is_capitalism-youtube-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

"What is capitalism?" now on YouTube—Watch and spread the full chapter from Bob Avakian's Revolution talk

"What is capitalism?" the full chapter from Bob Avakian's Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About is now available as a YouTube playlist. Take these 1/8 sheet fliers to Occupy Wall Street gatherings near you, to students and professors, to the neighborhoods, and everyone thinking about and debating these big questions. Use the QR code to watch and discuss on the spot.

For the complete Revolution talk audiobook, download from iTunes and at revolutiontalk.net.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/bob_avakian_on_what_is_capitalism-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Bob Avakian on "What Is Capitalism?"

As many thousands are out in the streets of New York and elsewhere in a new wave of resistance, anti-capitalism is very much part of the discourse, with different views on what is capitalism, what is the problem and what is the solution.

Bob Avakian brings a sharp, vivid, and scientific analysis to this question in "What Is Capitalism"—an excerpt from his talk, "Revolution:Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About."

This audio clip and the entire talk are accessible online at revolutiontalk.net. To listen to "What Is Capitalism," scroll down to the third row, left column.

Listen to the clip, spread it around, hear what people have to say, get into discussions and debates—and write to Revolution about what you are learning.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/are_corporations_corrupting_the_system-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Are Corporations Corrupting the System... Or is the Problem the System of Capitalism?

The following is a rush transcript, slightly edited, of a talk given by Raymond Lotta on October 7 at Occupy Wall Street in New York City:

My name is Raymond Lotta. I am a political economist and writer for Revolution newspaper. And I promote the new synthesis of communism of Bob Avakian.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a great and momentous event. It is a fresh wind of resistance. We're protesting multiple outrages of this system, not just one. Occupy Wall Street is throwing up big questions about the source of these outrages and how to bring about a radically different and better world. And it's created space for us to talk about all this! So I'm really happy to be here with you

My brief talk here is titled "Are the Corporations Corrupting the System, or is the Problem the System of Capitalism."

Of course, people are right to be outraged by what the corporations and banks do.

* Look at what BP did in the Gulf of Mexico last year: It was responsible for the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

* People are right to be outraged by the banks which profited off financial operations that resulted in millions being evicted from their homes. And when Goldman smelled the rot of subprime lending, they moved into food commodity futures—contributing to the rise on global food prices and greater hunger and starvation for millions in the Third World.

* You know, Steve Jobs just died and he's being eulogized for his "pursuit of the dream of perfectionism." But there would be no Steve Jobs, there would be no Apple—without a global network of exploitation. I'm talking about a corporate supply chain managed from the Silicon Valley. I'm talking about contract manufacturers like Foxconn that assemble the iPhone and iPad in China—at factories where people are forced to work 60 hours a week, where they are poisoned by hazardous chemicals, denied basic rights, and where workers in desperation have committed suicide.

Corporations and Banks Part of Something Bigger

But, you know, if we hate what the corporations and banks are doing, and we want to stop it, we have to look at what they are part of. They're part of something bigger than themselves, a system of capitalism that operates according to certain dynamics.

Think about this: Corporations and banks don't exist forever: they're bought and sold. They merge, like JP Morgan and Chase, or Texaco and Chevron. They go bankrupt as a result of competition and crisis, like Lehman Brothers. They move in and out of different product lines, like what happened to IBM and the PC, or Apple moving into Google territory.

A transnational corporation or bank, with huge global assets, embodies the economic system we live under. Transnational corporations are units for the production and accumulation of profit, like Toyota or Exxon-Mobil assembling cars or drilling for oil. In the case of banks, they're units for maximizing financial profits from far-flung operations. A corporation is an instrument for the organized exploitation of wage labor. It is an instrument through which markets are penetrated and cornered, through which resources are grabbed, like the oil companies going into the Arctic. These corporations and banks are instruments—but not the only instrument—of ownership and control by the capitalist class.

The point I'm making is that these corporations and banks are pieces—and not the only pieces—on a global chessboard of capitalist-imperialism. And this chessboard, this brutal playing field, operates according to certain rules of the game. It's like basketball or soccer: there are rules of the game. If a basketball player kicked the ball like a soccer player to get it down-court, the whole game would break down. Let's look at those rules:

Capitalism Operates According to Certain Rules

RULE #1: Everything is a commodity and everything must be done for profit. Everything under capitalism is produced in order to be exchanged, to be sold. They have to be useful to be sold. But what's actually produced is measured and motivated by profit: whether it's housing, computers, medicine, energy—whatever. And profit comes from the exploitation of billions of human beings on this planet.

Criminally, under capitalism, the environment—like the rainforest in Ecuador where Texaco drilled for oil—is something to be seized and plundered for profit.

RULE #2: Capitalist production is privately owned and driven forward by the commandment "expand or die." Exxon-Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, or Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Chase are fighting each other for market share. They are driven to extend investments and cheapen costs, not mainly due to personal greed, but because if they don't expand and keep accumulating profit and more profit for their war chests, they won't stay alive—they'll go under or be gobbled up.

Competition runs through this whole system. It's beat or be beaten. When BP was cleaning up the oil spill, you didn't see other companies coming to share expertise and oceanographic equipment. No, these other companies wanted to take advantage of the situation—Shell and Exxon-Mobil were reportedly "licking their chops"—at the possibility of gobbling up BP. This "expand or die" compulsion leads to bigger and more powerful units of capital.

RULE #3: Is the drive for global control. Capitalism is a worldwide system. There's a great divide in the world between the imperialist and oppressed countries. On this global playing field corporations and banks compete for global influence and control, like the oil corporations going off the coast of West Africa or Nigeria. But the most intense form of rivalry is between contending world powers for strategic position and advantage—over regions, markets, and resources. This has led to wars of conquest, like what the U.S. did in the Philippines, or the French in Algeria, or the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And this drive for global control and domination led to two world wars.

So these are the three rules of the game: profit based on the exploitation of labor; expand or die; and the drive for global dominance.

In the book BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, there is a really good quote, 1:6, that sums up capitalism-imperialism:

Capitalism and State Power

These economic laws that I've laid out are at the root of the capitalist system. But the preservation and extension of this system requires a state power. You see, capital is private and competing. But the capitalists of a given country, like the U.S. or France or Russia or Germany, they have common interests. The state power in France acts to safeguard the common strategic interests of French capital—and so too in Japan or Russia.

The capitalist class dominates the economy. It controls the major means of production—land, raw materials and other resources, technology, and physical structures, like factories. The government is a key part of a state power that is controlled by the capitalist class, no matter who is president. But this state plays a special role in society. It's not acting in the interests of this or that corporation or bank. It acts to protect and expand the economic system and to keep the whole society functioning as a capitalist society. What are the key things the state does?

* It holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. It deploys the police and courts and prisons to suppress any resistance from below. We saw in the 1960s how the government moved to crush the Black Panther Party. Here in NYC, the police arrest antiwar demonstrators, and each year stop and frisk three-quarters of a million Black and Latino youth as part of exercising social control.

* The state taxes and spends to create infrastructure, it provides a central banking system, it sets laws for the exploitation of labor power, it subsidizes new industries. It negotiates treaties and agreements with other powers. All this serves the interests of U.S. capital.

* The U.S. state acts to safeguard a global empire. It builds up a huge military machine of death and destruction; it has established over 700 bases in over 100 countries to enforce political conditions that are favorable to investment and to suppress resistance in other parts of the world.

* The state acts to legitimize the system. It holds elections which serve to put a stamp of "popular approval" on the policies of the capitalist ruling class. You know, the idea of "consent of the governed."

The U.S. government and state power have functioned consistently, from the time of the founding of the Republic and the Constitution, to serve the expansion and consolidation of a national market. The government and state power have functioned consistently to protect a property rights system based on the control of producing wealth by a small capitalist class that exploits wage laborers.

This state power has functioned consistently to serve the rise and extension of a global empire that rests on exploitation, plunder and war: from the theft of land from Mexico to the annexation of Puerto Rico and the occupation of the Philippines to Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan.

And when the system goes into deep economic crisis, the state acts to protect it from collapse. This is what FDR did during the New Deal. When economic crisis hit in 2008-09 the state under Obama acted to bail out and shore up the banks—not because these corporations or banks had special influence. The bailout was designed to prevent a huge breakdown of the system and to protect the financial institutions that are key to the dominant position of the U.S. in the world.

This was a bailout of the capitalist system. And they're doing that at a terrible cost to humanity, at great cost to not only the poor and exploited in this society but to broader sections of people. And at great cost to the ecology of the planet.

And now people have to choose between rent and healthcare, and that's a choice that no one should have to make. And young people don't know if they're going to have any kind of future worthy of human beings.

I started by posing a question: Are the corporations corrupting the system, or is the problem the system of capitalism? My answer is that capitalism-imperialism is the problem—and we need a revolution to create a new system fit for humanity.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/prison_hunger_strike_entering_third_week-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Standing Strong—Up Against Cruel, Inhumane Retaliation

October 9, 2011: At this writing the prisoner hunger strike is entering its 13th day, with hundreds—perhaps thousands—still on hunger strike in prisons across California. The prisoners are standing strong in the face of cruel, inhumane efforts by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to crush this courageous and historic struggle by prisoners.

"I'm ready to take this all the way," J. Angel Martinez, one of the Pelican Bay State Prison hunger strikers, said in a message this week, quoted in the New York Times (10/7). "We are sick and tired of living like this and willing to die if that's what it takes." ("California Prison Hunger Strike Resumes as Sides Dig In")

Earlier this year, over 6,500 prisoners across California participated in a hunger strike that lasted for 20 days, from July 1-20. The prisoners are demanding to be treated as human beings; to end barbaric, inhumane conditions of imprisonment—particularly in the SHU's—and to stop long-term solitary confinement as a form of torture. (Prisoners' demands at prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/the-prisoners-demands-2/)

On September 26, the hunger strike resumed, with nearly 12,000 prisoners in different prisons joining in right away. The prisoners went back on hunger strike because the CDCR had not fully fulfilled the concrete promises it made when the hunger strike was halted in July – it had not taken any serious steps to address core issues like gang validation and solitary confinement it had promised to review, and instead launched a campaign of disciplinary retaliation against and vilification of the hunger strikers. (See "12,000 Prisoners Resume Hunger Strike in California—Outrageous Retaliation by Prison Officials," Revolution #247, October 9, 2011, revcom.us/a/247/247prisoners-resume-hunger-strike-en.html)

For instance, in his August 23 testimony to the California State Legislature, CDCR Undersecretary of Operations Scott Kernan claimed they couldn't allow the media into the prisons during the hunger strike because "we simply don't allow the media to talk to individual inmates for fear of them sensationalizing their crimes. To do so will have folks like Charles Manson or Scott Peterson having media inquiries all day. We're not the press coordinator." This typifies what has been the stance of the CDCR –vilifying the prisoners, treating them as sub-humans who deserve to be tortured, who people on the outside should not support, but fear. (See www.whatthefolly.com/2011/09/12/transcript-cdcr-undersecretary-of-operations-scott-kernan-solitary-confinement-in-california-prisons/)

The prisoners rightly understood all this as signaling that the CDCR was never serious about meeting their demands and announced that they would resume the hunger strike. Now they are once again risking their very lives to demand to be treated like human beings.

On October 7, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity reported "Medical Conditions of Hunger Strikers Worsen, Strikers & Supporters Keep Fighting Back":

"The hunger strike representatives at Pelican Bay who were kept in the D Corridor of the SHU were moved to Administrative Segregation at Pelican Bay. Lawyers who were finally able to have one visit last week (after some lawyers of the prisoners' mediation team have been banned) report that the CDCR has the air conditioning on high in 50 degree weather. The hunger strike representatives continue to be willing to risk their lives in order to win the 5 core demands.

"The CDCR's numbers also appear to be low due to guards falsifying records of hunger strikers. At Calipatria, for instance, hunger strikers report they were finally given their liquids after filing medical requests (even though they were still denied liquids for the first several days of the strike). Now, however, guards have been delivering liquids on the prisoners' food trays. Once strikers take the liquids off of the trays, the guards record they are not striking (CDCR counts strikers based on who touches the state-issued food trays and who doesn't). [See below for more on the CDCR's claims concerning the number of hunger strikers.]

"Medical conditions are also worsening for strikers throughout the state. We've received reports that after 12 days of no food, prisoners are once again losing severe weight and fainting. One hunger striker at Pelican Bay was denied his medication and consequently suffered from a heart attack and is now is an outside hospital in Oregon." (prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com)

Attorneys representing prisoners told Revolution, "We received a report that a prisoner at Pelican Bay, who was on hunger strike and deprived of his meds, had a heart attack and was taken to an Oregon hospital. Then we heard he was back at Pelican Bay. The most disturbing thing we have heard is that the air conditioning is turned on in Ad-Seg [where the CDCR has transferred prisoners they consider leaders of the hunger strike] and that the prisoners are freezing. It is already cold outside—in the 50's—and they report their clothing and bedding is thin—wholly insufficient for the cold. We are hearing that, like before, pain medication has been discontinued. They were not weighed until missing 18 meals. No vitals are being taken. No vitamins being given."

Ronald Yandell, a hunger striker at Pelican Bay, told an attorney, "We're freezing... The air-conditioner is blowing. It's like arctic air coming through, blowing at top speed. It's torture. They're trying to break us." (New York Times, 10/7)

Since the hunger strike started on July 1, the CDCR and Gov. Jerry Brown, with help from much of the media, have deliberately downplayed the breadth and significance of the hunger strike, and spread all sorts of lies and misinformation about the prisoners' struggle—including saying it is simply a "gang" action, that prisoners were being forced to participate, that many were eating while claiming to be on hunger strike.

On September 30, Gov. Brown fully backed the CDCR's assault on the hunger strike, saying: "We have individuals who are dedicated to their gang membership who order people to be killed, who order crimes to be committed on the outside. My recommendation is to deal effectively with gangs in prison."
(sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/09/30/california-prison-officials-warn-inmates-on-hunger-strike)

The New York Times reported "The new hunger strike drew 4,000 people last week across the state. But that number had drifted to fewer than 800 by Friday, according to corrections officials." But in reality, CDCR's internal figures, which were sent to Revolution and other hunger strike supporters, show that a total of nearly 9,000 prisoners at 10 separate CDCR institutions went on hunger strike on September 26, over 11,400 on September 27, and nearly 11,900 on September 28. The CDCR has not widely publicized these numbers, claiming prisoners are only counted as being on hunger strike after missing nine consecutive meals.

One attorney representing prisoners told Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity that since CDCR doesn't "begin monitoring for 8 days, there are probably a lot of prisoners who go on and off hunger strike without ever being counted among those monitored."

Finally, after the first round of the hunger strike, the New York Times reported that the CDCR instituted "new protocols" seeking "to isolate inmates participating in the strike from those in the general population and potentially subject them to disciplinary measures, while prisoners identified as strike leaders could potentially be denied contact with visitors and even lawyers." Since the hunger strike resumed, the CDCR has further isolated the prisoners who are the main organizers of the strike and cut prisoners off from their mediation team, family members, and journalists.

Then, after working to isolate the prisoners, CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton claimed to the New York Times that the department "remained willing to negotiate, but that leaders had not approached them with a new list of demands. ''Everything we said we were going to do, we did,' Ms. Thornton said. 'We are kind of puzzled about why this action was taken again. The review takes time, but we are on track.'" This disinformation is being repeated in the press, despite the fact that prisoners issued a public statement in September clearly articulating their reasons for resuming their hunger strike and exposing that the CDCR is not addressing their demands. (See ("Tortured SHU prisoners speak out: The struggle continues, hunger strike resumes Sept. 26," San Francisco Bay View, September 13, 2011, sfbayview.com/2011/tortured-shu-prisoners-speak-out-the-struggle-continues-hunger-strike-resumes-sept-26)

All this is outrageous and ominous. It further exposes the cruelty, inhumanity, and illegitimacy of the CDCR's actions, and the justness of the prisoners' struggle. And it underscores the urgency of broader and more determined support for the prisoner hunger strike.

Supporters and others are continuing to demonstrate, organize, and speak out against inhumane treatment and in support of the hunger strike. Among coming actions:

* On Wednesday, October 12, Revolution readers and supporters of the prisoner hunger strike will be holding "A Reading of Prisoners' Letters / A Visual Protest—Support the Prisoner Hunger Strike—Demand an End to Torture," 10:30 am–2 pm at Sather Gate on the UC Berkeley campus.

* On Thursday, October 13, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity will be holding its weekly Bay Area vigil at 24th & Mission, San Francisco.

* Other actions are taking place in other cities, more are being planned, including future trips to prison gates, and many more protests and statements of support for the hunger strikers are urgently needed. Actions are also being planned linking the prisoner hunger strike to the battle against mass incarceration and the October 22 National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. (For actions in other cities, see prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/take-action/demonstrations-actions-events-in-the-us-canada)

* On Tuesday, October 18, 6-7:30 pm, a briefing and panel discussion, "The Dangerous Overuse of Solitary Confinement: Pervasive Human Rights Violations in Prisons, Jails & Other Places of Detention," will take place at the Church Center for the United Nations, United Nations Plaza, 44th Street Entrance—Second Floor Conference Room, in New York City.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/press_conference-support_prisoner_hunger_strike-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Los Angeles Press Conference: Support the Unprecedented CA Prisoner Hunger Strike

The invitation to the press conference at West Hollywood City Hall put it like this:

"Unprecedented CA Prisoner Hunger Strike! Support the Unprecedented CA Prisoner Hunger Strike—Stop Torture in the CA SHU's and Stop Retaliation on the Prisoners and the Targeting of Legal Advocates

"...Torture is unequivocally unacceptable under any circumstances. But what has been unfolding in the SHU's is a systematic use of torture by the state for years and decades: torture of both the minds and bodies of many thousands of prisoners to 'break them' and to either have them die in long term solitary confinement or be driven insane through the psychological torture of years and decades of isolation. Such torture is an affront to human dignity. People on the outside have the moral responsibility to act in a way commensurate with the justness of the prisoners' demands and the urgency of the situation. What people do on the outside of prison will be a big factor in what happens now that the prisoners resumed their hunger strike..."

A significant array of organizations and people accepted the invitation, spread the word, and built for the press conference. Speakers (and participants) included: Mayor Pro Tem, West Hollywood, Jeffrey Prang; ACLU of Southern California; Peter Eliasberg, Legal Director; National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT); Virginia Classick, Member, Board of Directors, NRCAT; Progressive Christians Uniting; Peter Laarman, Executive Director; Edward Asner, actor (sent a statement); Wayne Kramer, Jail Guitar Doors USA, Co-Founder; Blasé Bonpane, director and founder of the Office of the Americas; Clyde Young, revolutionary communist and former prisoner (sent a statement); Family members with loved ones in CA SHU's and isolation units, including Kendra Casteneda, Terese and Richard Amen, Daletha Hayden. The press conference was moderated by Michael Slate, KPFK radio host and writer for Revolution newspaper. Support at the press conference included Eisha Mason, Interim Regional Director, Pacific Southwest Region, AFSC; Rev. Rick Reed and Rev. John Cager. Press/Media included Associated Press (AP), La Opinion, Univision, Press TV, USC TV and Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.

The press conference took place on October 5, the 10th day of the resumption of the CA prisoner hunger strike. The following are transcripts of statements given/read:

The first round of the prison strike had a little more that 6,000 people participating. And now, a little bit more than a week and a half since it resumed, there are almost 12,000 prisoners participating in about a dozen prisons. If people have the press release they can see the five core demands which are nothing less than or more than demanding that they be treated as human beings, and standing up against this barbaric, savage torture that's been brought down on them by the state.... And when they've raise their voices, there's been severe recriminations. As people have heard, there's been attacks on the legal advocates; a number of families have been denied visits. They've been labeled "security threats" to the department of corrections. There's been petty recriminations as well as very heavy recriminations against people.

Their voices can't be heard, but at this point we on the outside, people who recognize what's going on here and see the common bond we have, even with people who are buried deep down in the darkest holes in the prisons of this country, we have a common bond and we have a responsibility. This is the spot where epistemology meets morality. It's an extremely important point, and this is the spot where we recognize that we have a moral responsibility to stand up and help to amplify the voices of these prisoners. That's what we're hoping to do today with this press conference and with the press coverage that comes out with this, and in the future, as long as this strike is going on, to help amplify and to bust through the walls of silence that have been built even bigger and heavier around the striking prisoners.

As people throughout the country, nay the entire world rise up to protest the harsh unjust conditions of life, it is fitting & wonderful that those who have less voice than the free, band together to protest the harsh conditions of their daily & yearly lives. And they do this at the risk of even harsher punishments. Unlike their free countrymen, they can enumerate the means to lessen their burden:

- abolition of group punishment
- using manufactured evidence for greater punishment & suffering
- offering the carrot of 'squealing' on their fellows
- employing the recommendations of the US Commission regarding long-term solitary confinement
- more and better food, schooling, phone calls, warmer clothing akin to that provided in federal prisons and other states.

Controlling law breakers is no easy task but it need not entail cowardly, craven tactics to perform it. It is beneath the dignity of our state to do so. May your protest not fall on deaf ears or hard hearts."

Wayne Kramer, guitarist and co-founder of Jail Guitar Doors USA:

Good morning. My name is Wayne Kramer and I am here this morning to talk about the hunger strike in California's prisons. I am co-founder of Jail Guitar Doors USA. We are a 501c3 non-profit group based here in Los Angeles. We are the United States arm of an international independent initiative with our co-founder, Billy Bragg, in the United Kingdom. We are musician-founded and musician-operated.

What we do is simple. We find people who work in prisons who are willing to use music as rehabilitation and we provide them with guitars. We also work for justice reform and prison reform. And that is why I am here today.

I am known mainly as a guitarist, but for a couple of years, I was known as 00180-190. I am also an ex-prisoner.

I can speak for all of the musicians, actors. artists and activists we know, when I say that we stand behind this historic hunger strike and we support the prisoners' courageous efforts.

When Grover Norquist and Newt Gingrich and their colleagues on the far Right line up with prisoners, progressives and hard-core Lefties, you know something is out of kilter in America. There is a disconnect between who we say we are, and how the reality of our policies play out.

But leave it to the lowest of the low, the prisoners of America, to step up and show us the contradiction.

Change always starts from the bottom up and there are no people that our society casts lower than those sentenced to live and die in our prisons. They are disproportionately people of color and of limited economic means. And they are showing us who we are. To paraphrase Senator Jim Webb, "'We are either the most evil people on the face of the earth, or we're doing something wrong about locking people up."

Here in the Golden State we have incarcerated our fellow citizens in a frenzy for the last 30 years because it was politically expedient. Mass incarceration served the career goals of politicians and the powerful prison guards union.

The drug war, the death penalty, the extraordinarily severe sentences have combined to create a perfect storm of misery and defeat for over 2.5 million of our fellow citizens now in prison. These aren't the eyeball-tattooed freaks on TV's "Locked-Up". These are our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, husbands, sons, daughters, cousins and friends. They are us. We are them.

There is an emerging lower caste of felons that will have more difficulty fitting into the mainstream of American society that has ever happened in our history. We have locked people up for decades in institutions that inculcate them into a world of fear, violence, racism and defeat. For decades now. the entire focus of America's prisons has been on punitive incapacitation.

But 95% of the people we lock up are one day released back into our communities and they will live next door to you and me. And what good did their time in state custody do them or us? They are now worse, not better, for the experience. We have supported these policies at our own peril.

In the final analysis, the Left and Right agree, we cannot afford it, neither fiscally nor ethically.

We spend 200 billion yearly on locking people up. The federal government is broke. California is broke. Some states have already begun reforming incarceration policies. But we can't afford it on a deeper, more important level.

The hunger strikers are not starving themselves to protest their convictions, or the drug laws, or the sentences the courts have given them. They are reaching out for civil rights and most importantly, human rights. The right to human dignity.

To not be denied health care. To not be tortured, isolated, intimidated. starved and cut off from contact with their families and friends inside and outside of the fence.

The least powerful among us are giving us—and we hope giving to the most powerful among us—a lesson in what it means to be civilized. For that, we should thank them and we should carry the message that human rights must come to California's prisons along with justice for all Americans.

I'm really proud that West Hollywood is the host of this press conference this morning. People throughout California, throughout the United States and the world look to West Hollywood as a leader on issues of civil rights and social justice. So it's appropriate that we have this press conference here today in City Hall. You're going to hear from a lot of very important speakers who have a great deal of knowledge and information to convey that I hope we will all take to heart and help convey this message to the people of California.

I just wanted to say, as a public policy leader in California, how concerned I am about the challenges the State of California has with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, one of the challenges that we have in California that has led to the problems of torture and abuse in the criminal justice system. We essentially have a revenge-based criminal justice system in the State of California. We have a State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation where the "R" is not really a part of their mission. The department is under siege under a consent decree from the federal government, and the stories that we read in the newspaper about medical care, about abuse, indicates that this department is broken, and is in desperate need of a fix. And the fact that we can stand here in America in this day and identify that there are conditions of torture existing in the California criminal justice system is just egregious and calls out for an immediate response by the community.

I'd like to call upon the governor and the legislature to move with all deliberate speed to address these serious issues in the California corrections system.

I'm pleased to be here with an array of religious leaders. I won't introduce all of them but I hope that you will speak to them about their deep-rooted concern for this crisis that we face.

In our religious traditions we believe that nothing that is done in secret will not be brought to light. We are here on a dark day to bring some light to this grim, unspeakable horror of mass incarceration, including human rights abuse in the state of California. I think that many Californians simply tune this out and say, "Well, it's bad, but those are bad people and that's how the world has always been."

What's going on in our prisons now and what the hunger strikers are lifting up for all of us, as our sisters and brothers, is the fact that this is not about law enforcement, it's not about public safety, it's certainly not about rehabilitation. It is about abuse. And every time a prisoner's put into these circumstances, whether it's in Pelican Bay or in Guantanamo or in Bagram Prison or any place, all of us are diminished. All of us are diminished. We cannot separate the excruciating torture of our fellow human beings, we can't do that without being diminished and losing part of our spirit and part of the god that is in us.

So my plea today is that we will understand that people who are incarcerated, the principle there but for the grace of god, god's light and god's goodness shines in every human being. It's just that simple. And it's embarrassing. It really is embarrassing in 21st Century America to have to go through this, to have to explain how foundational that is. We're saying this morning that we may be on the outside but a part of us is on the inside, too. And we're not going away until we're all together. The principle of one of the main prison reform groups, All Of Us Or None, applies here. It applies this morning. So I'm very grateful to the National Religious Campaign Against Torture for stepping into this situation. For the most part that movement began with a concern about U.S. torture abroad. But there's absolutely no reason not to bring the same perspective right here, right here to these prisons. We absolutely must let the governor and our legislators know that we will not tolerate this great evil hiding in plain sight.

So that's it. It's about visibility. It's about solidarity. And frankly, it's about struggle. Tearing down these walls is going to be a struggle. It's not going to be over when this particular hunger strike is over. We have a long way to go.

I hope that our message gets out there. And we're determined, not to let this simply slip out of sight. Because it's never out of mind, and it's never out of god's mind. Thank you.

I'm here today to express on behalf of the ACLU our solidarity with and support for the hunger strikers and what they are standing for. In a just society, and a just society can and does sometimes take away people's liberty, although lord knows, in California, we're doing far too much of that to far too many people. But the issue here is not whether there is a basis to put somebody in prison. The question is, how do you treat them when they're there? And in prison or not, and no matter what crime you're convicted for, everyone is entitled to a certain basic level of human dignity, and not to be tortured, and not to be abused.

Malcolm X was a prisoner. Jesus was a prisoner, and many others. Most of the prisoners in the California prison system today will come back to our communities, to our families, and they are us. Long-term isolation, solitary confinement, is a form of torture, and it is inconsistent with the principles of a just society. Also the kind of group punishment that we regularly see imposed upon prisoners where many are punished for the act of one: whole cell blocks and modules are basically punished for one person acting out or doing something wrong. That is inconsistent with our basic notions of due process. We don't do group punishments in this society, but somehow or other the California prison system seems to believe that it is OK to behave in this manner.

So we are here today on behalf of the ACLU to speak out, say that it is time for the governor and for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to stop these policies and to recognize that they are inhuman, and they are also counter-productive. Because in the end, so many of the people in our prison system will be back in our communities, and treating them in this way and dehumanizing and treating them without any dignity will not serve or benefit the society and it will not help those of us who are outside welcome these people into our communities when they come back.

We're very proud of the prisoners that are in the SHU today that are on their hunger strike. We're in solidarity with them. They're giving a great example to all of us, calling attention to a mean-spirited system. As you know if you look at it, it's very closely connected with the war system. Both systems are systems of cruelty. Both systems include torture. Both systems include the humiliation of people. And that's why we see prisoners around the world now in solidarity with them. The prisoners in Palestine are in solidarity with the prisoners in the SHU, as of this morning.

There are structural problems and solitary is one of many, and it certainly can be categorized as torture. Together with that we have the situation of the plea bargain whereby someone is accused and states that they would like to give a plea of innocent, and they're threatened immediately: If you do that, we're going to throw five charges at you. However, if you give a guilty plea, we'll only throw two. So if you go to jail innocent for a couple of years, then you won't have to go to jail for twenty years. So you have your choice. This is literally unbelievable. This will be studied years from now as an absence of justice of any kind. The way the plea bargain is used has give the prosecutor far more power than the judge. And that's the situation we're in today. You will give a guilty plea, or we are going to punish you. So that is certainly not an acceptable thing.

Any sociologist can see that we have a clear system of class punishment and class justice. We do not have liberty and justice for all. We could say that as a prayer, and of course, I don't believe in state-sponsored prayer, so the Pledge of Allegiance for me is a state-sponsored prayer that some day we might have liberty and justice for all. We do not. We have one system of justice for the poor and for people of color, another system of justice for those who have private attorneys and who are most often Caucasian. This is not liberty and justice for all. And this is what we're dealing with at this time and it's not acceptable any more than the war system is acceptable.

I'd like to say a word about my sister, Sister Mary Anne of the Sisters of Social Service. She's been rehabilitating delinquent children for over a half century. She's had enormous success. She takes them from the courts and the court gives them a chance not to be locked up, but to go to her assistance. She has had enormous success, no recidivism to speak of. Someone called my mother and said, "How is it that Sister Mary Anne is running the most effective children's rehabilitation system in the state of California?" And my mother said, "She treats them as human beings." That is the answer. She treats people as human beings. And we just don't seem to get it.

So we're here today to make these demands, together with the people at City Hall, together with the people at Wall Street, together with the people who will begin marching tomorrow in Washington, DC. This is an international cry for humanity instead of cruelty, instead of fear, as the glue of a corrupt political system.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/letter_on_trip_to_pelican_bay_prison-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Taking Prisoner Hunger Strike Support to the Gates of Pelican Bay State Prison

Late Friday night, September 30, as reports came out of threats and retaliation against the prisoner hunger strikers, and their lawyers, three of us, including a UC Berkeley student, set off from the SF Bay Area for Pelican Bay State Prison, over 350 miles north.

When we got there the next morning, we headed straight to the main gate of the prison and unfurled our large banner: "Support Pelican Bay Prisoners Hunger Strikers. Prisoners Are Human Beings."

While we were chanting in support of the Hunger Strikers, and doing a live radio interview with KPFA radio back in Berkeley, prison guards surveilled us with a video camera.

Our chants went like this: "We support the courageous hunger strikers. From Pelican Bay to Guantanamo Bay, End torture now....The whole world is watching.... The courageous prisoners crossing racial lines in unity together...Pelican Bay Brothers, we support your courageous stand."

That evening we were invited to a share dinner and to speak to about 75 people about the hunger strike at a CopWatch event in Arcata, a seaside college town 90 miles south of Pelican Bay. We gave each person there a copy of Revolution #244 and signed up several people for online e-subscriptions. We told people about the significance of this struggle, the vicious retaliation they were facing by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) for a non-violent hunger strike, and how their action is challenging others to assert their own humanity by building and spreading support. And we shared the incredible news, which we had just heard, that over 12,000 prisoners in California and elsewhere had joined the strike. Afterward, a young woman asked us if she could join us the next morning.

As we arrived on Sunday, we not only brought our banner, but a very powerful bullhorn. We announced our presence and that we were supporting the courageous hunger strikers. The sound echoed off the concrete of the human warehouses in the distance. Then we blasted out the news of 9,000 California prisoners on hunger strike and 3,400 more in Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi. When we paused, we could hear cheers in the distance. They must have been coming from prisoners, somewhere in the sprawling prison complex!

A woman hung a U-turn in her car and joined us. She lived a few blocks from the prison, had been in prison herself, and wanted to show support. As we were leaving, a local blogger chased us down on his bicycle to do an interview. Both said they wanted to help organize support for the hunger strikers.

Families were not permitted to stop at the gate to talk to us. So, both days after we left the front gate we set up the banner, at a wide spot further down the road. We also displayed a sign, "Prisoners' families, please stop and talk to us!" We gave all the families that stopped copies of Revolution #244 and #246, and encouraged them to get an e-sub.

Two different couples were from Oregon. One, a Mexican woman and her son were very glad to see the protest and had lots to say about "justice" in America. They carried on passionate conversation with one of our crew who spoke Spanish—how their relative, an artist who does indigenous cultural drawings, has already been in Pelican Bay in the general population for 12 years, but was now under threat of being sent to the SHU because he had been accused of doing "gang art." They said he had to stop doing all art to try to avoid being put in the SHU.

We had seemed surprised that we had run into two families from Oregon. "No," the man said, "in the prison we meet families from all over, every state and all over." We handed him a copy of Lo BAsico and turned it to the quote 1:14, "why do people come here." He was shaking his finger at the page as he read. "This is true!"

Two families were traveling together from Southern California. One family was denied a visit because their friend was on hunger strike. The other family was allowed a visit to someone who had been on the hunger strike during the first round, but was too ill to continue the second. He told them of the leaders of the hunger strike being removed from their cells, and having all their things taken and placed in other SHU cells in a different part of Pelican Bay. As he told his family, "we are all in a hole, but they have put them in a Hole within a Hole." They donated $40, which will be used for a Revolution subscription to their loved one through the PRLF (Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund).

Our presence at Pelican Bay was very visible and out of the ordinary. Many people exhibited strong emotional responses, both positive and negative. Welcomed by the families and some others, not so welcomed by others in a town whose main economy is based on incarceration and torture.

One of our crew said that during the weekend, "I talked to over 40 people. Half of them asked me what I thought about Occupy Wall Street and if there is something happening in S.F. around that."

During the exhausting 8 hour drive home, it caused us to imagine what it is like for families to travel 16-22 hours or more, for that precious short visit with their son or father or husband through thick glass—or the bitter cruelty of being denied that visit. What kind of a system would do any of this!?

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/building_support_for_hunger_strike-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Taking Out and Building Support for the Prisoner Hunger Strike in Atlanta

We first talked about the prison hunger strike at the discussion at Revolution Books and it was very saddening to see the conditions that our brothers live in daily. We are humans but we treat our brothers less that human because we have the power over him at his most vulnerable state. My revolutionary family and I took to the streets over these inhumane atrocities to our fellow comrades. We were in the streets of Atlanta and we passed out our newspaper "Revolution" and spoke with the people about the 12,000 strong prisoner hunger strike in California and the injustices committed by this system every day. When I informed the people on the streets that the prisoners' courageous hunger strike was only for the most basic of human needs, the people were outraged. I met people from all spectrums of society, students, and teachers, the unemployed, street vendors and secretaries. I also met 10 people that could not read, but they told me to please relay their message of solidarity with the prisoners on strike. What surprised me the most was the failure of the media to even attempt to cover a story like this, very few people even knew about the hunger strike and the appalling conditions these humans are forced to endure for years some even decades.

All the prisoners request are 5 basic demands: 1. An end of group punishment and administrative abuse; 2. Abolish the debriefing policy, and modify active\inactive gang status; 3. Comply with the U.S. Commission on safety and abuse in America's prison 2006 recommendations regarding an end to long term solitary confinement; 4. Provide adequate and nutritious food; 5. Expand and provide constructive programming and privileges for indefinite SHU status inmates.

I informed the people that the real criminals are on Wall Street squandering people's life savings, fighting private and personal wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and making cuts to programs in the U.S. that the public so desperately needs.

These are some of the things that the people of Atlanta had to say to the people on hunger strike in California and there horrible inhumane conditions.

"I am waiting to help put a stop to the mistreatment of all prisoners and help fulfill an active role in this movement."

"I believe that all these demands should be met, no human being deserves to be treated as an animal." Amber C.

"It is unfair to the prisoners to have them suffer for what they need." Brinanna C.

"The way you treat those prisoners is lower than humans should be treated, this will not be overlooked...... bullshit will not be tolerated under the eyes of man." Nicole B.

"Stop the brutality what about the U.S. Constitution, why slavery? Democracy now!"

"I completely understand why this is wrong and I am willing to help if I can." Shanika K.

These are the voices of the people, and the voices of the people shall not be silenced. Let's prepare for Revolution!

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/occupy_wall_street-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

The Defiance, Determination and Resistance of Occupy Wall Street

October 10, 2011: Occupy Wall Street is a most welcome fresh wind of resistance blowing through New York and beyond. As of October 8, the Occupy Wall Street website reports that 1,000 cities in the U.S. will be involved by the end of the month along with hundreds more internationally.

In just three weeks, what began as the determined action of dozens who camped overnight a few blocks from the first Wall Street demonstration has grown to a powerful outpouring of many, many thousands, giving heart to millions more here and around the world.

The protests have tapped into a profound wellspring of widespread anger, alienation and disillusionment with the enormous and deepening inequities of American society. Students staring at the prospect of no jobs to pay off enormous college debt; teachers, public employees, laid-off workers, those who have lost homes and health care, and many others express a deep disquiet, a feeling that the future hangs in the balance, and it is up to us to bring about a different future. People are drawn into resisting the crimes of capitalism and they are drawn to an ethos of resistance in the encampments and the demonstrations that is compellingly opposed to today's frantic American ruthless, cut-throat economic and cultural wasteland. The comment of a Pennsylvania woman quoted in the Los Angeles Times captures the feeling of many: "I've been waiting for this to happen for years... Finally, an awakening!" A student who quit school to live in the NYC encampment said, "It's the movement I've waited all my life for."

In New York, thousands have defied police beatings and pepper spray and mass arrests, refusing to back down. And this has inspired and opened the way for many more to act. There is a very important and inspiring character to Occupy Wall Street: the fierce determination of a core of people who are willing to put a lot on the line to bring to the surface and resist the intolerable economic, political and social situation in U.S. society (and the world); and the continuing determination of the occupiers at the heart of a broader movement to not retreat in the face of threats, physical attack and attempts by powerful voices to marginalize and discredit them. All this has brought forward many thousands more to join and support this movement, and has lifted the hearts of millions more, giving a sense of new possibilities for how society and humanity can be.

This past week, on Wednesday, October 5, an enormous support demonstration of union members, church people and students marched for several hours through downtown New York City. Mainstream media reports said the crowd was 15,000-20,000. Over 1,000 students from the New School, New York University and other campuses walked out and marched raucously through the streets to join the massive march downtown. Every day, hundreds and thousands of people of all ages and walks of life, from youth from the oppressed communities to tourists from around the world to Wall Street entrepreneurs, come to observe, support and participate in the encampment. Prominent figures like Michael Moore, Cornel West, Susan Sarandon, Chris Hedges, Naomi Klein, Slavoj Žižek and many others have come out in support and to lend their voices to the debate and discussion of the world and how to go forward. People are traveling from around the country to join in.

The atmosphere in New York (and at encampments in other cities) is politically charged with mass debate over what is the problem and what is the solution. Is the problem corporate greed and the high-jacking of "our government" by the corporations, or is the problem the capitalist system? And what does that mean? Anti-capitalism and revolution are very much part of the political currency, with widely ranging views of just what are capitalism and revolution. Revolutionary communists are in the midst, and need to be much more working and struggling through the big questions with young people and others thinking and questioning in brand new directions, connecting people with the strategy and leadership, in Bob Avakian and the Revolutionary Communist Party which he leads, for a re-envisioned, radically liberating revolution.

A cacophony of voices from various quarters of officialdom and the mainstream media whine that this movement has "no demands" and insist that a concrete policy platform be adopted by the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Obama and the New York Times in its October 9 editorial indicate a position among sections of the ruling class more concentrated in the Democratic Party of seeking to channel the broad discontent being expressed into a popular mandate for congressional action like Obama's jobs bill and other "policy measures"—in line with how this section of the ruling class sees maintaining and extending American capitalism-imperialism in this time of international economic crisis.

The "demand for demands" coming from ruling class voices and the mainstream media appear to be seeking the means, political will and rationale to make the occupations and the movement END—which could occur in various ways: whether through outright repression and physical attack, or through the suffocating embrace of powerful forces seeking to channel deep discontent back into the official arenas of political discourse—and ultimately into the electoral framework providing a popular mandate for the next commander in chief of U.S. imperialism.

Part of the power and great potential of this upsurge has been its disaffection with the official political framework. Many people are taking to the streets manifesting broad and deep disdain for a political system that they see as a vehicle for the interests of a powerful minority. This is, in fact, contributing to undermining the legitimacy of a system founded from its inception down to today on oppression and exploitation of people the world over. That this is connecting with and spurring on action among many, many more who are dissatisfied and looking for a way to fight back—is very threatening to the system.

The essential spirit—and the essential demand—of Occupy Wall Street is important and just and should be fought for and supported! That is: to stay, to manifest and to spread resistance to what these new resisters find deeply intolerable in America's destructive and oppressive capitalist way of life. The determination to stay and resist, and to expand the resistance, as long as intolerable horrors continue, should be embraced and deepened, as new challenges inevitably emerge. Any attempts to shut down, confine or physically attack the occupation and the demonstrations cannot be allowed to stand. And the challenges that would reduce the resistance to a political footnote on the official political machinery of American empire as it goes on chewing up lives and the earth need to be met as well—with insistent, determined and expanded mass political resistance.

The deep questioning, discussions and urgent debates at the occupation sites in New York and across the country; the hopeful explorations of real and radical solutions breaking through onto the normally suffocating American cultural and political terrain, at dinner tables, in workplaces, projects, schools—this all holds great promise.

Revolution newspaper will continue to cover the occupation in New York City and the broader spreading movement, so keep checking back at revcom.us.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/occupy_wall_street_spreads-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Spreads Across the U.S. and World

The ongoing Occupy Wall Street action in New York City has caught the attention of people around the world. (See "Occupy Wall Street: Showdown and Victory – This Is So Not Over!") There have been protests and occupations inspired by and in solidarity with the Wall Street occupiers in many cities in the U.S. and all around the world. (See occupytogether.org.)

Revolution newspaper distributors and Revolution Books have been out in the midst of all this, supporting and participating in the occupations—and getting out the special BAsics issue (#244, August 28, 2011), introducing people to Bob Avakian and the movement for revolution he is leading; and engaging in all kinds of discussion and debate over "what is the problem and what is the solution."

The following are brief reports Revolution has received from readers about "Occupy" actions in a number of cities in the U.S. This page will be updated as we receive new reports, with the latest at the top.

San Francisco and Oakland

Oct 16 - SF Bay Area. Thousands took to the streets in San Francisco and Oakland on Saturday, October 15, as part of an international day of protest. In San Francisco a crowd estimated by the local Pacifica station to be about 3,000 walked from the Occupy encampment in front of the Federal Reserve Bank to the Civic Center where a rally was held. In Oakland, the rally of several hundred at the City Hall plaza included the mayors of Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond as well as actor and activist Danny Glover.

In both places the crowds were diverse—all ages, nationalities and professions. People were excited that so many people had come out for the day. For many it seemed to be their first time at a protest or march. The emphasis on the international character of the day brought out people from other countries—France, Italy, Germany, Iran. One Iranian woman said she hears so many stories of people losing their homes through foreclosures, getting laid off after working many years, increasingly difficult situations around getting health care and mental health care. She commented that this bad picture is "not in accordance at all with what the government says this system is about—freedom and justice for all." The whole idea that there is a way out of this through revolution and there is a leader to get us there really moved her. She got a copy of BAsics to begin learning about this leader and wants to be part of the movement for revolution we are building.

Danny Glover and others said the movement needs to be bigger, that the day was good, but that it needs to grow and who knows how far it will go. What was happening Saturday, he said, was about humanity and treating people like human beings. That sentiment was echoed in a home-made sign in S.F. that said: "A new system is being born—All over the planet the people will be respected." One young man told us that "this is back to the roots. This is like the 70s again. This is cool." Others compared the day to Woodstock.

In Oakland, the encampment on the City Hall plaza is made up of about 70 tents (in S.F. tents have not been allowed). Most are young people who are wrangling day and night over what is the problem and solution. An "alternative" community is being set up there as in other Occupy sites with a library, food, first aid areas as well as their own security. Many say they are clear that capitalism is the problem but not so clear on the solution. And there is great openness to learn about what BA is saying, to engage, and BAsics was sold broadly.

On Saturday there were many new people from all walks of life who were coming to S.F. and to the Oakland encampment to check it out -- unemployed youth and workers, some professionals, City College students. It really attracted supportive curiosity from all kinds of people. October 22-NDP organizers [National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation] were there and one young man who has been part of the Oakland encampment from the beginning has been organizing people to be part of NDP on October 22. Some Occupy Oakland protesters signed a banner that said "Occupy Oakland fighters support the People from Bayview Hunters Point to Fight the Power." One comment on the banner was "stop hiding unemployed people in prison."

Many people we talked to thought the problem was the politicians being bought off by the corporations. Others thought capitalism was the problem while others said capitalism was fine but it wasn't working well. We showed one person the BAsics quote about how there is no right to eat under capitalism and how it would fall apart if there were such a right. He didn't agree but eagerly engaged with us. People seem to be open and excited to be talking about these topics -- as though a kind of dam burst and their thoughts and frustrations about the way things are come pouring out. One young man said the problem was that 'we're not organized; the banks own us; most of my friends are $20K in debt." There was a current throughout of disillusionment with Obama, and an often expressed demand to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many signs talked of revolution and thought what was happening in the streets the past month is the revolution. And many said they think this movement can continue to grow.

Seattle

October 20—Five thousand people turned out on October 15 in Seattle at Westlake Park for the international day of solidarity with the Occupy movement. For three hours an amazing variety of people poured out their hearts about why this movement has spoken to them and moved them to act. There was a contagious, generous spirit passed among people as one man from the stage told everyone to look at those standing next to them and say, "I'm with you"—a little glimpse of what a cooperative world would look like. Isolation being broken down, a love for humanity and connectedness developed. A woman and her daughter came to the Revolution Books table and both were in tears. The staffer asked if they were alright, they could barely talk. The woman just held her heart and she shook her head, yes, she was just so happy.

Thousands marched to Chase Manhattan Bank. Youth burned dollar bills and cut up their bank credit cards while others tried to withdraw their money and close accounts. That evening over 100 tents were set up in defiance of orders and previous arrests by city authorities. All that night and the next day the park was a scene—"young high school kids making their own protest signs, parents with their kids, a huge banner stretching along a main street through downtown saying "Occupy Seattle" and another saying, "War is Terrorism." Intense discussions were going on among knots of people from very different walks of life—'"a teach-in on the Tar Sands Pipeline protests, workshops on racism, revolutionaries engaging people over the Revolution special issue on the environment and struggling over the difference between Bob Avakian's new synthesis communism and Castro's or Chavez's "socialism." A young college student holding a sign saying "This is the shit Marx was talking about" was excited to learn about Revolution newspaper and got the BAsics special issue. The issue got out to many who had never heard about BA or this revolution.

On October 17, the city moved against the encampment, removing all the tents and arresting eight people. Night after night police have moved through the encampment carrying billy clubs and dangling handcuffs, shining lights in people's faces, harassing people and waking them up so they couldn't rest. Despite arrests, harassment and threats, the encampment and the spirit among people continues despite disagreements and some sharp differences. There has been growing discussion and debate about what the police's role is in society and there are many questions. Won't the police have a reason to attack us if we protest them? Yes, they do bad things but they are part of the 99%, aren't they, and so can't they be won over in time? If the police are part of the system, what does that say about what kind of change is necessary? Everyone is learning a lot. The National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality on October 22nd has been endorsed by Occupy Seattle and will start at the Occupy site.

Los Angeles

October 13—It's been almost two weeks since Occupy Los Angeles (OLA) began in downtown L.A. at City Hall. In some ways it has the feel of a liberated zone, with all kinds of people forging an ever-growing community with tents now filling the North & South Lawns, where strangers have quickly become close friends, bonded by the common ideal of creating a different ethos based on cooperation and peace, not competition or commodities. On the OLA website's live feed that is giving 24-hour on-line coverage, a woman captured some of the sentiments represented here when she said, "This is not a movement of homeless and hippies; this is a movement of humanity...and homeless and hippies are part of humanity." And a little later, she talked about an issue very near to her, "I won't send my son to kill another mother's son. Are you kidding??"

Committees have sprung up to meet the needs of the people and the encampment: education, food, political action, media, etc. Young people are stepping up to take responsibility for things they've never done before, and the genie is out of the bottle and there is great determination that it never be stuffed back in. The oppressive weight of "permanent necessity" has given way to an infectious spirit of "We can challenge and change everything."

Though the preconceived notion of communism has at times been contentious, the aspect of From Each According to Ability, To Each According to Need, often unconsciously, is very attractive to people who have been drawn to OLA. One woman drove a distance with her massage table, offering her services to those sleeping on the ground. After a tiring day she was beaming, saying that where she lives no one's thinking about others or the world, and she finds the atmosphere here invigorating. A man bought a BAsics button for $5 and asked that four of them be given to whoever wanted them but couldn't pay. There has been a continuous flow of donated water, food, and other items. Two students from France stopped by to soak up the scene, and were happy to see communists here. But many who have lost faith in the system don't see an alternative other than reform, and think communism can't work because people are too fucked up, that it's human nature. Others point to China as an example of how communism goes bad, and an anarchist chimed in, "I'm more anti-authoritarian than anti-capitalist!" All this has opened a wide door to introducing many people to the work of Bob Avakian and this re-envisioned communism, and there is a refreshing openness to revolution and communism. We're trying to get more creative in spreading these politics, and one fun thing we did was rent a small generator and at night projected a powerpoint cycle of quotes from BAsics, the book's covers, and the image of Bob Avakian on a wall of City Hall.

Debate and discussion is a constant, late into the night. One issue has been about the police: are they part of the 99% or the armed defenders of the 1%? Many in OLA pride themselves on the fact that so far, unlike nearly every other major city's encampment, this one has not been messed with. Some of the organizers attribute this to the meetings that have been held and the agreements made with the police. But meetings and agreements have been held many times here, only to have police riots like that experienced at the immigrant rights march on May 1, 2007. Right now the behavior of the LAPD has much more to do with the in-fighting among various sectors of the state which has resulted in front-page stories of police brutality, and there is a scathing new ACLU report, "Cruel and Usual Punishment," documenting the savage gang of sheriffs in the LA County Jails who have committed many brazen instances of abuse for decades, even worse than the notorious Ramparts Division and the beating of Rodney King seen around the world. Right now all eyes are on these armed thugs, and there is some "good cop" public opinion that they are trying to create at OLA.

But there are many others at OLA who are well aware of the daily and systematic criminalization that especially targets Black and Latino youth, and they are waiting for the LAPD's real colors to shine through at any time. One young Black man we met has been a part of OLA from Day One mainly because of his outrage at the legal lynching of Troy Davis, and knowing that revolution is no game, asked who's going to be on the side of the revolutionaries when they inevitably get vamped on. He jumped at the chance to spread the word about a discussion on the Strategy for Revolution essay in BAsics, and told us how to include it on the line-up of topics that are advertised on the bulletin board at the camp. We chose a time, made flyers with the Strategy statement to distribute throughout the encampment, and made some human-amplified "mic check" announcements (when a person speaks, others shout the message phrase-by-phrase to enable many more to hear it). We met with a small group of people who wanted to dig into it. The discussion was very lively, and there was a lot of debate. What kind of revolution are you talking about? Does it have to be violent? How do you stop the reversals of revolutions, like what happened in the Soviet Union and China? What's the deal with leaders—do you need them, and if so, what kind of leadership? What do we do now if we want to make revolution?

These are times that give a glimpse of Lenin's point, that during a revolution, millions and tens of millions of people learn in a week more than they do in a year of normal life. We can't stand aside of that!

And in the midst of all this wrangling around politics and ideology, people are seeking to act, especially with marches through the nearby financial district. Recently, with the consensus (after some back and forth) of the several hundred strong General Assembly, there was a very moving speak-out and vigil in support of the prisoners hunger strike on the steps of City Hall. Several hundred people listened to 20-30 speakers, including some who have family members in prison. One woman's son called from prison and with the cell phone pressed to the microphone he told the crowd how heartening it was to know that this support is out here. Wayne Kramer, co-founder of Jail Guitar Doors USA, said, "What we do is simple. We find people who work in prisons who are willing to use music as rehabilitation and we provide them with guitars. We also work for justice reform and prison reform. And that is why I am here today. I am known mainly as a guitarist, but for a couple of years, I was known as 00180-190. I am also an ex-prisoner. I can speak for all of the musicians, actors, artists and activists we know, when I say that we stand behind this historic hunger strike and we support the prisoners' courageous efforts." He brought his friend, singer/songwriter Jill Sobule, who sang a defiant song for the crowd.

Some passers-by stepped up to speak about their own experiences in jail; one white man said his jaw was broken because he refused to join the Nazi group in prison. Another former prisoner told the crowd not to believe the lies on the TV shows, like Cops, which portrays prisoners as less than human. A woman spoke about how even animals aren't caged like her brother is in the SHU. One of the letters in Revolution newspaper was read from a prisoner who answered Bob Avakian's "An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off." A candlelight vigil ended the transformative event, and family members spoke emotionally about how much it means to link up with others because they have felt very isolated.

On a very related note, there was consensus at the General Assembly to join the Oct. 22 march against police brutality, repression, and the criminalization of a generation, and a contingent will leave from OLA to the assembly point on that day. A participant at the speak-out called on people at OLA to go out to high schools in the coming week to build for a very strong Oct. 22 march. Imagine the power and significance of young people from neighborhoods which face police brutality on a daily basis marching together with some of these energized OLA'ers!

Chicago

October 16—Approximately 250 people were arrested by the Chicago police in the early hours of Sunday morning as they attempted to establish a new Occupy Chicago encampment. They had marched to the new site from their previous set-up at the Federal Reserve Bank in the heart of Chicago's financial district, where they had been forced to move every few hours and sleep in their cars.

Hours earlier on Saturday evening, about 2000 people marched shoulder to shoulder with Occupy Chicago from their location at the Federal Reserve, taking the streets and chanting "We are the 99%" and "People over Profits." The crowd then converged at a spot on the edge of Grant Park, right off of Michigan Avenue. Many groups and organizations took the mic, including the Chicago Teachers Union and other local unions, immigrant's rights movement, Anti-Eviction Campaign, World Can't Wait, the Ad Hoc Committee for October 22, and Revolution Books. In the midst of the speeches and this roaring crowd, tents began popping, hidden under an American flag and surrounded by people, so that there was little the police could do to stop the brave encampment at that point.

The Occupy Chicago protestors linked arms and refused to leave their new encampment despite pronouncements from the Chicago Police Department. Their exuberant spirit inspired people on sidewalks across the street to join their chanting, and events at the new encampment were live streamed and twittered widely. The fact that this was part of a global day of protest added tremendous strength and determination to the crowd. One popular chant came via cell phone from friends protesting in Times Square New York: "We are unstoppable, a better world is possible." Another rallying cry was "One: We are the people. Two: We are united. Three: The occupation is not leaving." Both were set to conga drums. People who hadn't known each other a few hours earlier were assessing the situation together, debating moves and views, and sharing fears and dreams.

The police invoked a vagrancy ordinance and claimed that a large apron of concrete adjacent to the sidewalk was part of the park proper. After hours of deliberations and preparations, they surrounded the two dozen or so tents, cut some of them with large blades they had ready for the purpose, and carted the occupiers off to jail one by one, where they were held overnight and charged with ordinance violations.

Through the course of the march and rally, over 1000 of Revolution newspaper's Special Edition on BAsics were distributed through the crowd of mainly young people that also included families, veterans, and older activists inspired by this young movement. Many of the people in Occupy Chicago are very new to political struggle; for most it is their first involvement in protests.

People from the Ad Hoc Committee for October 22 held a banner with photos of people killed by the Chicago police that people were constantly taking pictures of. They distributed over 2000 fliers for the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation and got many new contacts.

The Chicago Tribune reported that as people were arrested, some chanted that the police are the instruments for the 1%, while others urged the police to join them as part of the 99%. This was one of the most controversial issues among occupiers. As they were released from jail Sunday morning, the protesters said their civil disobedience marked a new stage in the movement and they would definitely be back.

Boston

October 16—The big news was the arrest of 141 people, which took place around 1:30 in the am Tuesday as hundreds expanded their encampment to a nearby park in downtown Boston. This came in the wake of a major march involving thousands of college students during the day which ended up at the encampment with a surge of new energy and supporters. People set up tents in the new area and hundreds rallied around the perimeter of the park anticipating that the authorities might try to evict them. More supporters came over as the night set in, including a contingent of Veterans for Peace. When the police made their move after closing off adjoining streets they immediately went at the Veterans contingent and pushed them to the ground and then went through the crowd arresting 141, including a legal observer, and later scooping up all the tents and gear and trashing it. People were held for hours and most were given the option of paying a $50 ticket or getting a court date, and a number of cases are pending. Adding insult to injury, Mayor Menino told the media "civil disobedience will not be tolerated in Boston," and blamed "a minority of troublemakers" for causing the problem.

Following the arrests people are angry. ( The sign "Boston cops are cool" no longer greets you at the entrance to the main encampment.) There is concern that the mayor will next try to evict the original camp and people are upset about the police taking videos of activists. (Thursday, a cop was seen walking by a workshop on civil disobedience training and panning the crowd with a video camera.) Many youth have taken to wearing bandanas over their faces. Thursday saw a support rally with a hundred union members, many from the Verizon group currently working without a contract, as well as Vets for Peace. Saturday saw an even larger rally and march of 3,000-4,000 people around opposing the wars which ended up at the plaza by the camp and involved many Occupy activists. Saturday evening at the general assembly facilitators called for a moment of silence for the 20 people killed in Yemen for standing up for freedom there. There is a growing determination to stay strong and people are working to strengthen the camp itself to stand up to the rain and cold, and a lot of support is coming in the form of blankets, ponchos, etc., as well as food. Efforts are being made to get the occupation to join in with October 22 day of protest, and people are very open to this initiative.

Houston

October 16—Occupy Houston continues; an encampment has been ongoing in Tranquility Park for the last week, and on October 15 several hundred people marched through downtown Houston. More activities are scheduled for this week. Central Houston is the home of many oil and energy companies, and they along with city officials had earlier arranged to hold an "Energy Day Festival" on the 15th. The Occupy Houston demonstration marched around the festival several times; some of them with home made signs with statements denouncing large corporations but upholding capitalism; others focused on the environment. Many of the protestors had put bandanas or dollar bills over their mouths, symbolizing the 99% of people with no voice in the political system. A banner carried by a team of revolutionaries saying "capitalism has no future for the youth, but the revolution does," was very popular. The demonstration was predominantly youth, but included professional people and a small number of basic masses.

A range of political/ideological viewpoints are getting thrashed out – and solutions are being sought – by participants. There has been a lot of receptivity to revolution, and to October 22. People came up to the revolutionaries asking for Revolution and O22 flyers to get out. Some youth said they had just been talking about why police brutality and incarceration has been getting so bad. Several of them took up distributing flyers for O22 on the spot and took more to get out to their friends and in their neighborhoods. For them it was like, the problem is the economy and more – the repression, the environment, and the wars. There was also discussion and debate around whether capitalism would work without corporations, and can capitalism be "democratized."

A couple of other things that stood out: several people bought the special issue on the environment and said that they were surprised that communists have a solution to the environmental crisis. They said they wanted to read about how socialism can solve the environmental crisis, and they want to be a part of something that challenges the whole system. The other was that some people were very interested in the issue on the strategy for revolution, and how is it possible to make revolution, particularly communist revolution.

Eight people associated with Occupy Houston had been arrested earlier in the week, for "criminal trespass," during a demonstration at the Mickey Leland Federal Building. But the youth and others are undeterred. More events for Occupy Houston are planned for this week, including a talent show for October 16 ("One Rule: Thou shalt not bore – make it political, make it 'apolitical,' just don't make it boring"), and an art show for the 17th.

October 6: Report from Occupy NOLA

Revolution received the following report from Elizabeth Cook in New Orleans, who gave us permission to post this at revcom.us:

I couldn't stay for the entire meeting, but I suspect there will be a meeting each night at Duncan Plaza, probably at 6 pm, as long as the encampment remains.

Reports below were posted October 10, 2011.

Occupy S.F. has been going on since September 17. The initial call for the encampment stated, "We are a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. The idea of protesting and camping in the square: 1) As a way of demonstrating against a dominant and oppressive system, lead by a political class working for banks and big corporations; 2) As a way to promote new initiatives of political, social, economical, artistic and cultural organization."

On Wednesday, October 5, there was a march that drew some 800 people. In the evening on Thursday, October 6, the SF Bay Guardian reported that the police distributed flyers to the 200 or so people: "The fliers stated that we were in 'violation of one or more of the following local ordinances or state laws,' and then listed six laws, including open flames on a city street without a permit, lodging in a public place, preparing or serving food without a permit, and violating the city's sit/lie ordinance."

Around midnight 60 riot cops descended on the camp, cordoned off the tents and supplies and proceeded to steal everything: from donated food and water to cooking supplies and equipment. But the people stayed, regrouped and more donations started coming in.

The numbers fluctuate. That Thursday (October 6), at the bottom of Market Street, we found about 50 people encamped and maybe 20 more hanging out (mostly ages 16-26) with tents, tables, music, picketing and in excited political conversations and debates. Some of the youth were "travelers" (young people who go from town to town) who have now become part of the core. On Friday, October 7, the antiwar rally protesting the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan—with many older people—marched to the encampment.

All of the people protesting seem to feel that the economic crisis is extreme, and the disparity between the 1% and the 99% is not only wrong but intolerable.

Thousands of people gathered at Los Angeles City Hall Saturday, October 8, as Occupy LA entered its second week. Hundreds of tents and other shelters crowded the lawns around City Hall. Debates, meetings, workshops, and the random exchange of thoughts and ideas start in the morning and continue after midnight, including nightly General Assembly (GA) meetings involving hundreds. There are groups making signs and stenciling T-shirts, and other artists just creating beautiful works of art. Every day, there are marches, rallies and protests. Many occupiers participated in an October 6 march on the downtown banking district, blocking traffic. Eleven people from Make Banks Pay were arrested sitting in at a Bank of America. More actions in the financial district are planned.

People have come to participate from Riverside, Orange County, Whittier, Palm Springs, Rancho Cucamonga and other communities throughout southern California. People supporting the occupation drive by and drop off tents, tarps, bungee cords, donations of food and money. Ron Kovic, Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, Roseanne Arquette and Danny Glover have come to the encampment and spoken at rallies. Tom Morello, The Nightwatchman, played an energetic set Saturday.

"Occupy Chicago" started two weeks ago after people coming from the gathering of outrage at the murder of Troy Davis set up camp at the Federal Exchange Bank. The police stopped people from sleeping overnight on the sidewalk and the compromise was to let people sleep in their cars nearby. The number of people has varied, from a few dozen to a couple of hundred.

All of the originators had been following the Occupy Wall Street protest in NYC and felt they had to do something. This was expressed: "No one is happy out here but they don't know where to go to do something. We are giving people a place to go." A number of them said that they felt that they were starting a revolution right then—some thought it would be happening very soon, but there were a lot of different ideas about what that revolution meant.

We have heard quite a few people say, "Capitalism is the problem" and condemning the profit motive in the economy. "People over Profits! Occupy Chicago" is a major slogan of the encampment—along with "We are the 99%". [Windows in the nearby Board of Trade arrogantly displayed signs "We are the 1%."] One couple in their 30s welcomed the fact that finally one could criticize and condemn capitalism without being considered certifiably insane.

The overwhelming number of people at the Occupy Chicago are young and new to political action. Many are students from the University of Chicago, Columbia College, School of the Art Institute, DePaul, Loyola, and law students. There are also working artists, young professionals, and unemployed youths with at least some college background. A number of people have come from outlying areas in ones and twos; several said that they had felt they were all alone until they heard about this. One college student said he had just quit going to class because this was so important.

There is an attitude of solidarity with anyone struggling against the way things are. There is a lot of support for the prisoner hunger strike in California and many people joined a rally and demonstration on September 30 in support of the prisoners' demands. Occupy Chicago protesters also brought new vitality into the protest against the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war on October 8 when 100 of them formed up a contingent in the march.

Occupy Seattle is going strong despite dozens of arrests for camping by Seattle police and other harassment. The arrests caused all kinds of new people from different backgrounds to come down to join the occupation and created debate and interest in the action much more broadly. Hundreds continue to occupy the center square in downtown Seattle at Westlake Park. The mayor outrageously tried to claim he supported "free speech" and then sought to justify moving against the occupation by claiming it would infringe on the rights of other protest groups who had upcoming protests! In response, World Can't Wait and ANSWER, who were holding a protest October 7 on the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war, spoke to the press in support of the occupation and linking up the opposition to the U.S. wars of aggression to people standing up in the occupy movement. Hundreds from the occupation joined the antiwar marches on the 7th. One thousand people marched through downtown October 8. An "all city walkout" has been called for October 12 and Occupy Seattle has listed October 22nd National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality on its calendar.

All kinds of people are coming out to stay for a while or stay overnight and people who you don't normally see talking to each other are having serious conversations about big questions facing humanity. People are determined to see this through to some kind of change, even as their ideas of what kinds of change are needed and possible are transforming. A fresh wind is blowing indeed and people don't want to go back!

A sentiment we're hearing often, especially from young people, is a yearning for real human connection, where people come together to solve the problems they're facing as opposed to a society where people are walking around in their own isolated bubbles, sitting in coffee shops tuned into their iPods and smart phones and not even making eye contact, let alone talking with the people sitting beside them. The occupation is striving to relate to each other and the surrounding community in a way that is the opposite of all that. People are grappling with big questions: Is the solution to grow this occupation larger as an alternative society? Can capitalism be reformed or not? What's the relation of the corporations to the government? What's the role of the police? What will it take to have a totally different world? There is much concern over the environment, and the lack of a future for themselves in terms of jobs, their children, the planet.

Occupy Houston began in late September with a small assembly in a downtown square. A group of young people inspired by the Occupy Wall Street actions in New York called for people to reassemble on October 6 in the square. They spread the word via Facebook and Twitter—and on the 6th, hundreds of people, mainly youth but including people of very diverse backgrounds and all ages rallied in the square. They marched and rallied in front of skyscrapers housing the headquarters of various oil corporations and banks, and set up an encampment in a park at the end of the night. Similar events were held in several other Texas cities that day—Austin, Dallas, El Paso, McAllen, and San Antonio. The Houston encampment has continued despite heat and rain—holding assemblies nightly, dividing up responsibilities, planning further activities, and discussing issues they are confronting. People come in and out of the events, but the overall number of participants seems to be growing.

Many, probably most, of the people had never been involved in any type of protest before. A team of Revolution distributors reported "a real sense of openness and a welcoming atmosphere ... a real desire to work collectively, and to engage different ideas without the typical antagonisms that go along with this in U.S. society." A common theme among the protesters is "We are the 99%," and Revolution distributors reported that people "really loved" BAsics 1:5. Occupy Houston participants have been confronting and wrestling with a number of big questions—the wholesale destruction of the environment in pursuit of profit, the execution of Troy Davis, the undermining and under-funding of the public education system. Some topics that occupiers and the revolutionaries engaged included: the reality and lessons of the first wave of communist revolution, both its great achievements and its shortcomings, and how Bob Avakian's new synthesis can take humanity to a whole other place; how science and education will be different under socialism; is there a human nature that makes it impossible to eliminate the horrors of capitalism; and is there a system that is at the root of all this, or can we reform capitalism, or develop some mix of socialism and capitalism.

On Friday, October 7, in the wake of an all day antiwar presence marking the 10th anniversary of the war on Afghanistan staged by peace and justice groups in the heart of downtown Atlanta, the start of Occupy Atlanta attracted an excited and diverse crowd of up to 700 participants. Two signs among the many homemade placards grabbed our attention: one from a hip-hop group declared "Lock up the Wall Street Criminals," another from a middle-aged white woman declared "Know your real enemies, Know your history, It's past time for revolution." After several hours of speak-outs, tents were pitched in defiance of the gathering of police who normally clear all city parks at 11 pm, and the park was "officially" re-named Troy Davis Park!

During the speak-out, Democratic Congressman John Lewis wanted to speak, but a collective decision was made not to allow him to speak. An organizer explained the decision—that it was motivated in part by the movement wanting to distance itself from the Democratic Party and to reinforce the idea that everyone is equal. Their General Assembly formalized this when they passed out their draft of 11 demands and read their preamble: "We hold this truth to be self-evident: that the 99% deserve equal rights, equal protections, equal access and equal opportunity as the 1% who benefit disproportionately from the current system. We therefore freely assemble to assert our rights and demands." The last demand was that "we denounce a criminal justice and for-profit prison system that relies on mass incarceration, especially when it reinforces the marginalization and disenfranchisement of people."

Occupy Cleveland started on October 6, with up to 300 people gathering downtown. There have been rallies and marches ever since. We asked people why they were moved to hook up with this new movement. One young guy said that he's against all the greed in society. He works with Food Not Bombs, which brought food and beverages for the people. He also said that he had heard about the California Prison Hunger Strike from his minister, who did a whole sermon about it. Another young woman said that she never graduated from college and has a low level job with the county, and is very afraid she will lose her job. She added that a lot of her friends did graduate from college, and now they're sleeping on her couch since they can't find jobs. Two young women came all the way from Akron to share in this sense of community, against consumerism and waste. An older unemployed Black man who had been in prison twice came to see what the message of this protest was all about. An economics professor from a college an hour away took a day off from work to come observe and try to understand this in the context of a response to the economic crisis. There were many people who traveled a long distance to be part of this, including from some more rural areas. And a number of college students from Case Western Reserve University joined the protest, some helping to lead it. Overall, especially among younger people, there was a real sense of people hating the consumerism, the mean-spiritedness of society, and wanting to live in a world where we help each other. There was also a broad sentiment against war for empire.

Some people really connected with Revolution #247, "Voice of those cast off by the system"—with responses to the 3:16 BAsics quote from Bob Avakian.And people were very moved by the California Prison Hunger Strike, and saw this as being of common cause with them.

Hundreds of college-aged youth began their encampment in the heart of the Boston financial district last Friday (September 30) and are now in week two. Opening night began with a gathering of 1,000 on the site itself, with honk bands playing, drum circles, a number of groups talking politics and strategy, and a lot of electricity in the air. Around 100 camped out in the drenching rain and more have joined since. Each day marches take off from the site to the Federal Reserve Bank, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America offices, where hundreds have staged sit-ins and off and on blockades outside the main doors. So far there have not been any arrests. Wednesday a hundred youth sat down in the street for a bit before getting chased off by the police. Wednesday afternoon 100 Northeastern University students walked out and marched down to the encampment and a contingent from the Massachusetts Nurses Association. also joined in for a support rally that was addressed by Cornel West. A motion was passed to rename October 10 "Indigenous Peoples Day."

Check back at revcom.us for ongoing coverage of the spreading Occupy Wall Street movement.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/notes_from_occupied_territory-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Notes from Occupied Territory: A New Wind Blowing

Revolution received the following correspondence on October 5 about the Occupy Wall Street protest in NYC:

Four hundred-plus NYU students gathered in Washington Square Park on a bright, sunny autumn day where the air seemed to crackle with their exuberance. Students walked out to go to the Occupy Wall Street march and some professors told their entire class they had the option to go. Probably the majority of students had never been part of anything like this, never even thought of doing something like this. A green-haired freshman chanting "this is what democracy looks like" stopped to take a copy of the special BAsics issue of Revolution. (#244, August 28, 2011) "Cool," she said. She came out because she supports Occupy Wall Street and it felt like the right time. Another freshman stood in the middle of everything looking around, he came down just to figure out what it's all about and why people are occupying and angry, he wasn't sure yet what he thought.

Another 300 or so people from the New School came marching down 5th Avenue to join us in the park. We cheered with glee and then the march was off to Foley Square to join the union- and faith-based community march in support of Occupy Wall Street. As we go an African-American woman in her early 30s said, "I'm not a student but I came down here to join y'all 'cause I like your energy." She was vocally defiant of the police from the very beginning. As they lined up along the march she said, "I didn't come out here to get beaten and pepper sprayed." Later, as the cops tried to prevent students from taking the streets, she stood in the way of the police and the students saying, "You try and take me down, I WILL FIGHT BACK!!" A Latino woman in her late 20s carrying groceries joined in, grabbing a copy of Revolution newspaper. I guess she must have abandoned the groceries because later I saw her holding the newspaper high with both hands. The march took to the streets chanting, "Whose streets? Our streets." There was also, "We are the 99 percent!" and "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street!" People lined the sidewalks, and windows up above in apartment buildings quickly filled with people taking pictures, many waving with excitement, giving a thumbs up or a fist in the air in support. There is a feeling that the occupation has punctured a hole in the atmosphere and through this opening the anger and frustration of the people is pouring out around the economic crisis, most certainly a very deep anger around that, but with this an all-encompassing felt desire for a different world. This included opposition to the war in Afghanistan, the occupation of Palestine by Israel, patriarchy, attacks on education, the murder of Troy Davis, the repressive force of the police, the environmental crisis, and disappointment in Obama. There were many creative displays of opposition to all this.

We reached Foley Square to find it filled with thousands, probably tens of thousands, of people and from there a determined and long march went down to Zuccotti Park, site of the occupation. In the midst of this, fliers around the initiative to "Stop Stop & Frisk," called for by Cornel West, Carol Dix, and others [see statement here: revcom.us/a/246/stop_stop-and-frisk-en.html], were distributed. There was in the crowd a section of young people, mostly Black, Latino and Arab, who displayed an immediate recognition of the importance of this and a desire to take it up. It also became apparent as we got this into the hands of young people of every nationality that the most common response we were getting from white youth was that they had never heard of this. They had no idea what Stop & Frisk is, how this is used by the NYPD to harass thousands and thousands of Black and Latino youth on a daily basis. And as they learned about this, they became deeply concerned and alarmed.

One of these concerned white youth turned out to be an artist I know. He kept asking questions, first, "What do they do? Is it more common in certain neighborhood?" then as he started to get a picture of what was going on, "They can just get away with this? No one tries to stop it?" We told him that's what this initiative is aiming to do, it's not going to be a gimmick, we aim to put a stop to this illegal and harmful activity by the police.

We got to talking further about BAsics, about revolution and communism and he's working at an art gallery where a lot of eclectic and controversial work comes through. So I showed him a quote from BAsics 3:24 on the need for a radical revolt against this revolting culture. This resonated deeply with him, he talked about how increasingly in society, "Everything's defined by consumption, there's not any place to have space to just be or to think." He's a passionate skateboarder who came up in that whole culture and he talked about how the place for that kind of expression is increasingly limited and there's a feeling of culture being stymied. We made plans to stay in touch and talk further about creating a culture in opposition to all that.

The sun had set and as a rousing brass band threw energy up into the night sky, I stepped into occupied territory...

There is a really fresh wind of resistance that's extremely important for the movement for revolution to unite with and spread and connect with the leadership of Bob Avakian. When you spend any amount of time here, it has a "Woodstock feel" as far as people living and relating to one another in a different way as part of opposing the current direction of things in society. It's an amazing thing to walk into. The park is filled with people of all ages and races from all walks of life; there's people whose homes have been foreclosed, students, youth, older folks, artists of many types, people of all races, very much integrated and working and living together. There's various stations for things like information, food, medical, art and culture. Everywhere you look there seem to be helpful signs posted and new things that have been donated to help people function, like a phone charging station and tonight there was great excitement because there was a large barrel of fresh coffee!!! It's a particularly lively night at the occupation because of the march and music, and singing seems to be coming from every direction. Everywhere you look there are smiling faces, creative energy and activity. The mainstream, bourgeois media has characterized things with everything from hostility and hatred to dismissal to an air of smug cynicism and annoyance. But this is a place where people are getting organized in various ways to oppose the current political and social moment and find ways for the people who are willing to drop everything and put a hell of a lot on the line to come together and live and really wage a fight, and in all this people are beginning to relate to each other differently, not based on what you're worth as a commodity or what's on your résumé or how many people you've slept with, but who are you and what are you about and how can we all contribute to the fight to change this shit and let's talk about the planet, and its future. It's a very beautiful thing.

Hundreds of people had a back and forth about whether to march again. This was done via human sound amplification (the much-reported method of the crowd to circumvent the police ban on amplified sound—repeating whatever an individual says so it can be heard by the large group) for probably upwards of an hour. After this, a section decided to march.

A discussion with a group of artists brought up some of the well-known questions of human nature, of whether human beings could carry out such radical transformation. Two young artists brought up some of how they've been wrestling with this. Like is it the reemergence of property relations when individuals at the occupation want to have personal space, and even set limits, "this is my space I've set up, please respect that." We found a spot to eat our delicious and healthy free meal and talk more. He posed that he's been reading Marx and Lenin and Trotsky and he's trying to figure out different things, he's attracted to anarchism, but he's also attracted to the "4 Alls" from Marx¹ He asked, "Some people say that you get to communism by making revolution throughout the world and it all happens at once and you're there, other people say you need a transition, can you break this down for me, which one is it?"

I talked some about how Bob Avakian has been working on this and how the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal) lays a framework for this. He said, "This is really interesting, I just have like five more questions now!" He is thinking of starting a philosophy and ethics discussion group at the occupation and plans to get and read BAsics as soon as he can.

These guys were part of a walkout at their community college where they said probably close to a hundred people walked out. They said this was part of statewide walkouts and that now they were here to stay at the occupation for a week. One of them said they came "because I'm a socialist" and the other because "I support the occupation." Another young guy came from out of state with his sleeping bag and backpack and a T-shirt that said "Occupy everything." He quit his job and came out indefinitely, "because it's the movement I've been waiting all my life for." I asked what movement is that and he seemed to think about this for a moment and said, "Well, you look at all these police out here and people have been nonviolently protesting all day and they bring violence. People can't get any jobs, they don't have anything they need, and when they [the government] say they're going to give back to the community they just take, they say they're going to give people healthcare and they can't get it, people can't get an education for their children, I'm tired of it."

A young student who was at the April 11th celebration of revolution on the occasion of the publication of the BAsics book, rushed up to give me a big warm embrace, "It's the revolution we've been waiting for!" He put his arm around me and looked out at the park, "I'm so happy," he said. He dropped out of school this semester because he said, "My friends have degrees and they're working at McDonalds and I'm just like, What's the point? And I wanted to be here as much as possible, I feel like I'm learning more here." At the same time as there is this righteous joy and resistance there is a lot of back and forth with him and others around the role of the police and the quote from BAsics on that topic—with him saying, "I agree with that, but they should be on our side." There was a lot of struggle about the real nature of the police and the state. There was also much grappling with how to bring about revolution and a new world and the contradictions involved in that.

There's a lot of this kind of openness and back and forth and there is a moment here. We cannot allow this occupation to be repressed or snuffed out, it needs to be supported and spread and go forward. This revolution and the leadership we have needs to be brought to this in a major way. Whether people who are waking up through this occupation find out about the way out of this is incredibly important. People who support Occupy Wall Street and know about the leadership of BA and how it speaks to all the critical questions people are wrestling with and how to "Fight the power, and transform the people, for revolution"—how to bring into being a whole different and far better world—should donate to get BAsics and the other works by Bob Avakian into the Library at the New York occupation and the occupations popping up all over the country. Donate to support revolutionaries and youth spreading this and being in the mix. Find ways to connect this revolution with the occupations and support and join in this new wind of resistance!

As a group of us huddled together watching TV on a screen set up by an occupier who left a major corporate job to come participate, a middle-aged guy came by and asked, "Are you a student, are you guys students? I came down here to support my kids." He works as a security guard at one of the campuses and today he asked the kids, "Why are you walking out?" and they said, "We're walking out for you." Something about this had struck this guy so deeply that he had come down there at 11 at night to stand with these students. They had roused him and he wanted to be part of this and share his ideas about how things could be changed and what they needed to do.

1. The 4 Alls: the abolition of all class distinctions, of all the production relations on which those class distinctions rest, of all the social relations corresponding to those production relations, and the revolutionizing of all the ideas that correspond to those social relations. [back]

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/subscribe-and-sustain-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Subscribe To and Sustain Revolution Newspaper

This is a call to our readers to subscribe to and sustain Revolution newspaper... and to take part in building a movement of sustainers for Revolution.

Right now, we need: many more sustainers of Revolution from people with all different means... and 100 new monthly sustainers of $50-$100 or more. Today, October 6, we are beginning a concerted three-week drive to qualitatively expand the network of sustainers and financial support for Revolution.

People across this country are stirring. Tens of thousands of people who've felt the heavy weight of the way things are, who have only dreamed of real freedom and what that might look like, are resisting and beginning to lift their sights. From the streets of New York to cities and campuses across the country, to the maximum security cells in California's infamous SHUs, there are outbreaks of protest and struggle. Tens of thousands of people are stepping out and standing up to Occupy Wall Street, to demonstrate outrage at the legal lynching of Troy Davis, to protest police brutality, the torture of prisoners and the destruction of the environment. People are protesting the ongoing U.S. wars; there are new stirrings among students. And in all this, people are asking big questions and searching for real answers... and many people are open to radically new and different ways of looking at things.

Revolution is not only reporting on all these events, it is bringing into these struggles communist analysis, politics and philosophy. Revolution newspaper is essential to reach into and bring the real revolution to those who are refusing to accept things the way they are. It is essential to fighting the power, and transforming the people, for revolution. It fills people with an irresistible desire to resist—but more, it gives people the means to think and act together, toward an objective they can more and more clearly identify as a radical and truly liberating alternative—toward revolution and communism. It enables them to recognize where different programs will lead and brings them the leadership which is so sorely needed to really break through the bounds of the way things are and advance towards that future.

Key to all this, the paper brings the work of Bob Avakian to many thousands. This newspaper is the critical hub and pivot in building the movement for revolution that is taking shape around what BA is bringing forward. And it needs to reach, especially now, exponentially more people. Already thousands nationwide have received and read the special BAsics edition of this newspaper. Debates and intense discussion have jumped off as quotes from Bob Avakian challenged the dominant culture and ways of thinking. People's yearnings for a radically different world are finding air to breathe. Today, in the midst of these outbreaks of struggle, the current issue featuring responses to BAsics 3:16, "An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off" (BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian) and tens of thousands of the special BAsics edition need to be massively distributed. And we should be meeting and engaging with people as we jump into the fray, challenging everyone to wrangle with just what kind of change is necessary, possible and desirable.

We must think big and be very creative in finding many ways to continue the engagement and developing the pathways for people to join in this movement for revolution. As a very important part of this, people should now be urged to read, subscribe to—and financially support—Revolution newspaper. Ongoing financial support is urgently needed for this newspaper to continue to publish—and to expand its reach.

This is a time when the necessity for the growth in readership and financial support for Revolution newspaper stands out all the more starkly. Here is how the Revolutionary Communist Party's statement, "On the Strategy for Revolution," describes the indispensable role of Revolution:

"This [newspaper] plays a pivotal role in carrying out our strategy. Through publishing works of Bob Avakian, and through many different articles, interviews, letters, graphics, and other features, Revolution enables people to really understand and act to radically change the world....It gives people a living picture and scientific analysis of what is going on in the world, and why....It exposes the true nature of this system, and shows how major events in society and the world are concentrations of the basic contradictions of this oppressive and putrid system....It brings alive the need and possibility for revolution and a whole new society and world....It heightens the ability of growing numbers of people, in all parts of this country, to act politically in a unified way, and to wrestle with and help find solutions to the problems of our movement, on the basis of a growing revolutionary consciousness....It is the key instrument in developing an organized political network, among the most oppressed and other sections of the people, which can have a growing impact on the political scene and the society (and the world) as a whole, building up the forces of revolution and influencing ever broader numbers of people....It provides a foundation and a means for extending the 'reach' of the revolutionary movement and building up bases for this movement—in neighborhoods, where people work and go to school, and wherever people come together—and especially where they resist and rebel against this system."

The truth of the matter is, we cannot make revolution without this newspaper. Revolution newspaper is the foundation, guideline, and organizational scaffolding for the movement we are building for revolution. When people engage with the work of Bob Avakian, and when they read this paper over a period of time, their views about the world—and the possibility of a far better future and the ways to get there change. Revolution plays a crucial role in building up—and linking up—the forces for revolution and influencing ever broader numbers of people. It enables people to act together to change the world. As you read the current issue of Revolution with the responses of prisoners and students and others to BAsics 3:16, think about the impact that the lifeline of Revolution—and especially the work of BA—has had on these individuals. Think about how their understanding of the revolution we are making changes—and how their contributions to this revolution are blossoming. The movement for revolution is being born. These are shoots of what can—and will—happen throughout society when cores of people read and look to this paper to understand the world, the ways and means to change it—and the future it is possible to bring into being.

But the reality is that this newspaper can't play this crucial role without a solid and growing base of financial support. This newspaper must meet its overhead expenses each month; it must support reporters, translation work, and more. And it must expand its reach, including by completing the process of transforming the revcom.us website so that it can reach people hungry for its content around the entire U.S. and all over the world. This kind of financial support does not yet exist—and it is an urgent need.

Fundraising should not be viewed as a burdensome or onerous task which puts the cash nexus between you and friends and others we rightly respect. Just the opposite. It is, in reality, an opportunity to discuss, debate and work with all kinds of people. It is an opportunity to build long-term ties and relationships, to give people a very concrete and important way they can be part of the movement for revolution. As the article from a reader put it, "When we raise funds for these specific projects, we also build the movement for revolution. We are giving people a way—a very important way—to be part of this movement. We are organizing people, now, to be part of changing the whole world."

Nor does sustaining Revolution mean that people must agree with the need for revolution and the role of this newspaper in achieving this goal. Already, the people who do support and sustain this paper do so with different levels of unity—but all with appreciation for the unique role of this newspaper. We should forthrightly discuss what is put forward in the statement on strategy with people. And take four or five issues to people... let them look these over and read the articles... get the sweep of what this paper addresses over a period of time. And then, on that basis, allow people the space and openings to contribute regularly for their own reasons, coming from their own concerns and views. Let people know of the real need that must be fulfilled and then ask them whether they think that this voice needs to be strengthened in society, and where they might fit into that.

Everyone who reads Revolution should become a sustainer. And there are many more people in society who are just encountering this movement for revolution for the first time who can and should subscribe and sustain right away. People from all corners of society, with different means, and with different levels of agreement—can make a difference. Sustaining is an important task for circles and groups organized around the paper—including developing ways to collect money every month and turn it in. A half dozen people who live in the projects each contributing a few dollars a month. Or a group of people holding a monthly fundraiser (a potluck, car wash, and more). Professionals, academics, or artists contributing $100 or $50 a month. Teachers and students taking up monthly collections among their colleagues. These and many other creative forms of sustaining Revolution newspaper must be unleashed all over the place. It is a challenge—and it should be a lot of fun! Regularly contributing to this newspaper, and often at great sacrifice, is precious to our movement. Not only will this guarantee the continued publication of this paper, but it will build up a strong financial and political base for Revolution and actually can contribute to fostering a broader culture of radical opposition. And this is an extremely important part of accumulating forces for revolution.

Subscriptions can be sent to RCP Publications (P.O. Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654), ordered online... or arrangements can be made with your local Revolution distributor or Revolution Books (if there is one in your area) to get your copy each week. It will be important to make arrangements as well to turn in your monthly sustainer... through your local distributor or bookstore, or directly to RCP Publications with a money order or check (please note that this is a sustainer). Contributions can also be made online at revcom.us

And we want to hear from you! Send in lots of correspondence and ideas and suggestions, testimonials about why people are donating (to any or all of the projects), and share positive and negative lessons. When you are out in the world, taking this fund drive out broadly to people on campuses and in neighborhoods, take pictures! And send them to Revolution.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/to-all-subscribers-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

To all subscribers, old and new:

We are beginning a month of great promise. Suddenly, there are signs of life in America! In just this past issue, we covered:

AND... in the midst of all this... the correspondence sent in by dozens of people responding to the challenge issued in BAsics by Bob Avakian.¹

Right now many more people are beginning to question and resist what they usually accept. They need to hear and learn about the movement for revolution; they need to learn about the vision and theory brought forward by the movement's leader, Bob Avakian; and they need to get connected with it. Without in any way hyping this, what is done—and what is not done—this autumn can have great consequences for all of our futures.

We are building a movement for revolution—and you are needed, right now, to play an active role in this movement.

[Find out how a revolution could actually be made in a country like this. Check out "On the Strategy for Revolution," by the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, also available in BAsics pp. 103-112. And find out what such a revolution would do—including very concretely how a new state power could be set up and how it would function, to begin the transition to a world where people everywhere would be free of relations of exploitation and oppression and destructive antagonistic conflicts, and could be fit caretakers of the earth—read the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic of North America (Draft Proposal).]

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/prisoner_hunger_strike_in_11th_day-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Prisoner Hunger Strike Now in 11th Day

Prisoners Vow to Continue in Face of Outrageous Repression
Support Urgently Needed

"Over 1,200 prisoners continue to refuse food in an effort to force the CDCR [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] to address their five core demands, in particular those related to long term solitary confinement, gang validation, debriefing and group punishment. Over the course of the last week, nearly 12,000 prisoners participated in the strike from thirteen California prisons, as well as California prisoners housed out of state in Mississippi, Arizona and Oklahoma, making it one of the largest prisoner hunger strikes in US history. From the very northern most tip to the very southern most tip of California, prisoners in Security Housing Units (SHUs), Administrative Segregation Units (Ad‑Seg) and general population are starving themselves because their human rights are being violated,' says Dorsey Nunn, executive director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, 'We are not going to stand by while the CDCR tortures our loved ones.

"Advocates have significant concerns about some of the measures that the CDCR is implementing in response to the strike. 'Prisoners are being denied both family and legal visits, they are receiving serious rules violations and their mail is being stopped,' says Carol Strickman, a legal representative of Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition, 'CDCR is clearly trying to further isolate the hunger strikers in the hopes of breaking the strike.' Other reports indicate that striking prisoners throughout the system are being moved into Ad‑Seg. 'We don't know if they are being removed from their cells to some other location or transferred. It's really terrifying that your loved one could be taken away like that for participating in a peaceful protest,' said Irma Hedlin, who has family members in the Pelican Bay SHU. While communication has been limited, recent letters from hunger strike representatives indicate that they remain committed to moving CDCR and winning the five core demands."

The CDCR has confirmed to Revolution that "Fifteen inmates were removed from their Security Housing Unit cells and placed in the Administrative Segregation Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison after they had missed nine consecutive meals.... The 15 inmates were inmates identified as hunger strike leaders and their cellmates." This represents a blatant effort to attempt to crush the prisoners' struggle. By further isolating prisoners who have already been subject to conditions of isolation in the SHU, the CDCR is, in effect, further torturing prisoners who are non-violently protesting torture.

In an October 4 statement calling for "swift implementation of reforms to California security housing units," Amnesty International criticized the targeting of hunger strikers:

"Amnesty International is concerned by reports that the California corrections department is treating the current hunger strike as an 'organized disturbance' and disciplining those who participate. Such disciplinary action reportedly includes removing prisoners in the general population who support the strike to solitary confinement in Administrative Segregation units. The organization has written to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to urge that prisoners seeking humane conditions are not subjected to punitive measures."

Amnesty International noted that the hunger strike was protesting "conditions in the SHUs at Pelican Bay and other facilities, where several thousand prisoners are held in isolation, confined to windowless cells for more than 22 hours a day, with minimal human contact and no work, recreational or educational programs," conditions which even U.S. courts had found "may press the outer bounds of what humans may psychologically tolerate." (Amnesty report available at: www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/085/2011/en)

Prison officials claim the number of prisoners on hunger strike is dropping. However, there is no way to independently verify these numbers as access to the prisons is severely restricted (and many prisoners take up the hunger strike for a period, then go off hunger strike and then come back on). Further, a family member with a loved one in Calipatria State Prison writes that she can "confirm from numerous letters I have received within the last few days from Calipatria men," that "There are MORE than 63 inmates [officially reported] currently on hunger strike in Calipatria. Close to 150."

"The men at Calipatria segregation are also being denied medical treatment, being denied Medication and Calipatria Administration Staff is threatening the medical staff that they will lose their jobs if they help inmates.

"Men are falling to the ground as other men are screaming and calling out 'MAN DOWN' and their yells and screams are ignored by staff therefore there could be men already dead in segregation but medical is not allowed to help them.

"I can confirm this is what has been written since day 8 of the hunger strike at Calipatria State Prison. The men are going until they die they have said. It hurts so much because my loved one is one of those men in there... "

"We are currently housed in Calipatria State Prison, in Southern California, where hundreds of men are going on day 8 of a 'solid food hunger strike' in protest of the cruel and unusual punishment and the abuse of authority this prison has been doing.

"For over 20 years CDCR (California Department of Corrections and—'so called'—Rehabilitation) has been targeting all races amongst its prison population and handing out 'indeterminate sentences' in segregation like it's the thing to do. This means that we're being placed in solitary confinement against our will secluded from the world; isolation. We are labeled as validated gang members who are alleged to have ties with prison gangs.

"CDCR has their institutional gang investigators (I.G.I.) determine whether a person's a 'validated gang member' or not. They have been known to be conspiring with one another and fabricating evidence to falsely prove a validation. Their main sources are debriefers (snitches) who will sale out their own mother if they had to once validated, one can only find their way out of this 'torturous and inhumane' act of punishment by breaking people down by giving us three options – 'Parole, Debrief, or DIE.'

"It costs tax payers $56,000 to house an individual in segregation annually and there's over 3,000 'clients' confined in isolation, do the math. What we have here is CDCR's vague and misconstrued justification of their interpretation to their policies. Their objective to validating us as 'prison gang members' isn't to protect the General Population, rather to insure and guarantee that Hotel California's Segregation Units have no vacancies so CDCR can keep those fat checks rolling in.

"Like we mentioned in the beginning, we write this with inspiration from reading about the men and women standing up in unity to peacefully protest for what they believe in. As the world revolves so does the generation of human rights. It doesn't always take war to get your point across, which is why we stand strong in solidarity on this hunger strike.

We have three options... and if our voices aren't heard the third option will be the likely one.

"Respectfully, Fellow hunger strikers at Calipatria State Prison ASU unit, 10/2/11"

All of this makes clear that the stakes of this new round of the prisoners' courageous hunger strike are very high and the CDCR is striking back. The CDCR's assault on the hunger strikers is further exposure—and proof—of the barbaric, illegitimate nature of the U.S. prison system.

An outpouring of support for the prisoners and condemnation of the CDCR's attacks on hunger striking prisoners is urgently needed right now. People must demand that all human rights and legal rights groups, and all people of conscience, speak out NOW against the attacks unfolding before our eyes against prisoners non-violently hunger striking in California's prisons.

Stay tuned to revcom.us for further posts on the strike and situation in the prisons.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/support_the_hunger_strike-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

October 2, 2011
Support the Hunger Strike and Just Demands of Prisoners at Pelican Bay and All California Prisons

Once again, with tremendous courage and determination, prisoners at Pelican Bay's Security Housing Unit (SHU) resumed their hunger strike on September 26. The strike has now spread to twelve California prisons and to prisoners from California who are incarcerated in prisons in Arizona, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. The strike now encompasses an estimated 12,000 prisoners.

The initial hunger strike started at the Pelican Bay SHU on July 1 and subsequently, over a three-week period, spread to prisons throughout the state of California, involving more than 6,000 prisoners at its height. The strike ended on July 20 with promises from correctional officials to make changes consistent with the just demands of the prisoners, "faithful" promises which were not kept.

Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a super-maximum security prison located in an isolated part of northern California, twenty miles from the Oregon border. There are more than 3,000 prisoners confined at this prison. More than a thousand prisoners are locked down in the SHU at Pelican Bay, where they are subjected to isolation, maximum sensory deprivation, and brutality.

Imagine being confined to a tiny, bare, tomb-like, windowless cell for 23 hours a day, robbed of sensory stimulation and human contact. Imagine being "locked down in cells where the senses are deprived, with nothing to see, no one to touch and nothing to do." Imagine being in a cell hardly larger than a small bathroom, containing only a toilet, a sink and a slab of concrete protruding from the wall serving as a bed. Imagine guards cavity-searching you and cuffing you before you can get out of your cell for a shower or for exercise in a bare concrete space; and imagine guards violently extracting you from your cell for a minor offense, such as refusing to return your meal tray. Imagine being denied exposure to sunlight and to music.

Long-term isolation can and does have a devastating effect, destroying the body and, especially, the mind. This kind of treatment is barbaric and is nothing less than torture. Many prisoners are driven insane as a result of long-term isolation, and it is especially cruel when prisoners who are already suffering from mental illness are subjected to such confinement. In California, approximately 5% of the total prison population is locked down in isolation—but 69% of prisoner suicides occurred in these units in 2005. Tens of thousands of prisoners are confined to isolation units throughout the country. Isolation over long periods of time and sensory deprivation violates international anti-torture laws.

The following core demands are being circulated in a "final notice from prisoners on D-Corridor" at Pelican Bay:

1) End "group punishment" where an individual prisoner breaks a rule and prison officials punish a whole group of prisoners of the same race.

2) Abolish "debriefing" and modify active/inactive gang status criteria. False and/or highly questionable "evidence" is used to accuse prisoners of being active/inactive members of prison gangs who are then sent to the SHU [Security Housing Unit] where they are subjected to long-term isolation and torturous conditions. One of the only ways these prisoners can get out of the SHU is if they "debrief"—that is, give prison officials information on gang activity.

3) Comply with recommendations from a 2006 U.S. commission to "make segregation a last resort" and "end conditions of isolation."

4) Provide Adequate Food. Prisoners report unsanitary conditions and small quantities of food. They want adequate food, wholesome nutritional meals, including special diet meals and an end to the use of food as a way to punish prisoners in the SHU.

5) Expand and provide constructive programs and privileges for indefinite SHU inmates—including the opportunity to "engage in self-help treatment, education, religious and other productive activities..." which are routinely denied. Demands include one phone call per week, more visiting time, permission to have wall calendars, sweat suits and watch caps (warm clothing is often denied even though cells and the exercise cage can be bitterly cold).

Prisoners who are locked down in solitary across this country are considered by prison officials to be the "worst of the worst" and correctional officials "justify" the barbarous and inhumane treatment of prisoners on that basis. Such attempts to justify torturing prisoners demonstrates the utter illegitimacy of this system. As the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal) put out by the Revolutionary Communist Party makes clear: things do not have to be this way; in a radically new and different (socialist) society, prisoners will be treated humanely and will not be subject to torture or cruel and unusual punishment.

Contrary to the vilification of prisoners as the "worst of the worst," prisoners, even those who have done bad things, can transform and can make profound contributions to bringing forward a qualitatively different and better society. As Bob Avakian has written in BAsics: "Masses of different strata, including the basic masses—we cannot have the idea that they are capable of less than they are capable of. They are capable of terrible things, yes; some do terrible things, too, as a result of what this system has done to them; but that doesn't mean that this is somehow their 'essence' and all that they are capable of. Speaking of the broad masses, including some who have gotten caught up in terrible things, they are also capable of great things...It is the responsibility of those who are the vanguard to lead the masses to realize this potential...And, yes, that means struggling with the masses to, first of all, recognize their own revolutionary potential, their potential to become the emancipators of humanity, and then to act in accordance with that potential." (BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, "The Revolutionary Potential of the Masses and the Responsibility of the Vanguard")

There is a profound difference between what is said here and the "worst of the worst" "justification" for torturing people. During the upsurge of the 1960s, hundreds and thousands of prisoners turned their lives around, getting out of a life of crime and getting into the revolution. I am an example of someone who made that kind of transformation while imprisoned during that period. There was a back and forth between the struggles in prison and the revolutionary upsurge in U.S. society.

The inhumane and dehumanizing treatment of prisoners in the SHU at Pelican Bay State Prison is totally unacceptable and the prisoners there are showing a lot of courage and determination in standing up and demanding to be treated like human beings. Their example of standing up in this way has the potential to inspire millions.

They are risking their health and their lives in going on an indefinite hunger strike, and they are raising demands that are entirely just and legitimate.

The prisoners are shining a spotlight on the horrific and unacceptable conditions existing inside the corridors of solitary confinement units in California; thousands of prisoners of all nationalities have now joined the renewed hunger strike.

The California Department of "Corrections and Rehabilitation" (more accurately, the California Department of Punishment, Torture, and Dehumanization) is showing its true colors in response to what prisoners have made clear is a peaceful hunger strike; correctional officials, surprised and stung by the hunger strike in July, have characterized the strike as a "mass disturbance" and are lashing out in mean-spirited fashion, retaliating against the prisoners, denying family visits for prisoners and banning two legal representatives from communicating with the prisoners and from entering the prison. Correctional officials are doing all this in response to the just and legitimate demands of the prisoners, who are courageously resisting years and decades of torture and dehumanization.

The hunger strike must become a major focus of resistance in society, drawing forward widespread support, both domestically and internationally. There is an urgent need for people of conscience, students, academics, youth, ex-prisoners, civil and human rights advocates, family members of prisoners, and countless others to join this struggle in support of the just and legitimate demands of the prisoners.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/two-constitutions-two-futures-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Debate and Controversy at Harvard: Two Constitutions, Two Futures

In the week leading up to the conference, we were out on the main Harvard campus, with a 4' x 6' placard of the new Constitution and an Open Letter to the Harvard community from political economist and writer for Revolution, Raymond Lotta. We were meeting hundreds of students -- many of them first year, who got the Open Letter and began checking out the new Constitution. Things really started to heat up once an op- ed from Lotta, "Two Constitutions, Two Futures," appeared in the official student paper, the Harvard Crimson, the Thursday before the conference. We immediately printed up the op- ed in quantity and made a large poster out of it, while an artist made a large image of the cover of the new Constitution.

Most students didn't even know the conference was going on and were extremely upset about the Tea Party being invited onto campus. Many were still checking things out and wanted to read the op- ed before considering getting the new Constitution. Even though they were upset, some didn't think it was that big a deal. "Harvard is always hosting these kinds of events," was a common refrain. We had to point to what it meant that the reactionary Tea Party was getting this kind of platform and legitimacy in the name of dialogue.

The op- ed took on a life of its own. For almost a week it remained one of the top five read articles online at the Crimson, for a time reaching number one (competing with "Harvard's 15 Hottest Freshmen" and "Harvard Scientist Questions 'Faster than Light' Particle"). Within a week of its appearance, there were over a 160 posts. This is almost unheard of at the Crimson. One editor said most opinion pieces usually only get 30 or 40 follow-up posts. Other websites started picking it up. One progressive professor told us that several of his colleagues had read the op-ed and asked him what he knew about Raymond Lotta.

Most of the posts were anti-communist, repeating conventional wisdom and standard distortions about the history of communism. But embedded in the conversations were very serious questions: around the defeat of the previous socialist revolutions, whether people could be motivated by something other than material incentive and what would be the new socialist state's attitude towards dissent. A number of posters, including people opposing the editorial, went to the new Constitution website and drew on sections to make their arguments.

Even before the appearance of the op-ed, we had taken the new Constitution to an organizing meeting for the October 6 antiwar demonstration planned for Washington, D.C. There were about 20 students, with a number of veterans of the Alberta Tar Sands protest action. Afterwards, I was talking with one first-year student about coming to Harvard -- what were her aspirations, how were they being realized. She bluntly told me that her aspirations for a better world were not being met and she bought a copy of the new Constitution, while signing up to go to D.C. We ran into one another later on the campus and I asked her if she had started reading it. She said she had only cracked it but gave me her phone number and said we would talk more once she got into it--maybe on the ride down to D.C.

That weekend, a team went to the conference itself. We weren't sure what to expect but we dove into it, handing out the op-ed to participants as they came in. There were people from all over the country from as far away as the west coast and the southwest. We mainly talked with people at breaks and lunch outside. While a number of backward Tea Party came out, I was struck by the number of progressives and liberals who had come with an almost desperate desire to find some basis to struggle over answers to bigger social question.

I approached people with a copy of the op-ed, "Two Constitutions, Two Futures," and the new Constitution. Most of the participants were not from the campus and had not seen the op-ed or had only gotten it that morning.

One of the first people I met introduced himself as a libertarian from Vermont who supports Bernie Sanders, the only self-described socialist in Congress. Before we even began to get into the Constitution, he told me how the recent Hurricane Irene had devastated his community, a small town nestled along a river in one of the many valleys of the state and he had just been able to get out the day before after three weeks of digging out. "I woke up and it sounded like a semi idling outside my door. I looked out and there was a river where the street had been." He told me that he was a town official and they had spent the first three days after the hurricane combing the mountains above the town for survivors. He described how there had been little to no government aid to date and how it was only because of the initiative of people from other parts of the country that they had got as far as they had.

This led into a back and forth about what the new Constitution says about organizing the economy of a socialist society and how you could actually organize a society so that the interests of the people were at the forefront and where responses to natural disasters would be approached in a fundamentally different way by the government and society as a whole. We got into the government's murderous clampdown in the wake of Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti and he expressed some real anguish and frustration over what was continuing to happen in both places.

When he bought the new Constitution, he told me he probably wouldn't agree with a lot of it but kept coming back to the leaders don't care anymore. If it was left to the leaders in Washington nothing would ever change. I told him that it is the system of capitalism that "doesn't care" about the interests of the people but also that we do have a leader in Bob Avakian, who not only cares deeply about the people, but has also applied all his resources and thinking to determining a way out of this. He left promising to read the new Constitution and think about what we had talked about.

I had heard that in the last plenary before lunch, Raymond Lotta had spoken from the floor, calling on participants to take up the new Constitution and sharply admonishing the liberal and progressive organizers for seeking common ground with the proto-fascist Tea Party Patriots. As I approached a group eating lunch after a plenary, I asked people what they had thought of Lotta's comments and if they had read the editorial while showing them the new Constitution.

One of the men immediately responded by saying that we had lost all credibility with him after Lotta spoke. "He was too strident and too dismissive about the people at the conference from the Tea Party. This conference is about having a civil dialogue to address serious problems in this country. How can we ever get anywhere, if we can't sit down together and talk? How could your guy get up and accuse them of being racists and anti-immigrant? He doesn't even know who they are!"

When I started to respond that we know plenty about the Tea Party's political agenda and program, their anti-immigrant rants in Arizona, their call for a return to "States' Rights" he shot back, "I don't want to debate you!" Another man nodded in agreement.

I turned to the other guy and he acknowledged that maybe it was good that Lotta had raised some issues of content and not simply the form because the conference organizers were all talking about setting aside all political and ideological differences to have this civil dialogue and he wasn't sure how that was possible.

We went back and forth and it became clear that both guys were actually very progressive and cared deeply about issues of the environment, imperialist wars of aggression and the oppression of women. I kept coming back to the fact that the Tea Party had a political agenda, which is vicious and reactionary -- no matter how "civil" their representatives at this conference were -- these were the people who cheered when Dr. George Tiller was murdered by anti-abortionists, who have accused Obama of being a socialist (which he isn't) of all things! The real debate needed to be over "two different Constitutions, two different vision of the future" because the problem wasn't simply the Tea Party but that the original Constitution itself is an exploiters' vision of freedom.

Finally I asked the one guy, "In the days leading up to this conference of 'reasoned discourse' on getting back to the intent of the framers of the original Constitution, the state of Georgia executed a 42-year-old Black man, Troy Davis (even though there was overwhelming reason to believe he was innocent). The leading Republican presidential candidate and Tea Party favorite Rick Perry, applauded this execution, while Obama, the current Democratic president and supposed representative of the progressive people, said nothing at all. This was all done legally, under the framework provided by The Constitution of the United States. There is something deeply wrong with a society where this is allowed to happen and on a regular basis. There is a point where people know enough that they have to take action and it is not acceptable to turn their eyes away. This new Constitution presents a radically different model of how society can work and radically different terms on which people can relate to one another -- radically different and far better. It is a roadmap on how to get rid of this kind of bullshit once and for all. You need to engage with it. Are you prepared to do that?"

When I had mentioned Troy Davis's name, he started nodding his head and was clearly very moved in thinking about what had just gone down in Georgia. As he bought the Constitution he vowed he would read it and try to communicate his thoughts around it.

A number of other people in and outside of the conference bought copies of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic of North America (Draft Proposal) and it turned out that the sharp contestation inside had not just "turned people off" but actually clarified for some what the real terms of debate were and need to be. And many participants left feeling it was a good thing the revolutionary communists had jumped into the fray. One of our mottos going forward should be less civility and more reality!

Those of us who had spent a lot of time on the campus are still striving to assess how to bust this out more here and beyond. The combination of the editorial and our presence on the campus has generated a real buzz and a number of people commented to one another that we were the same people promoting BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian (one guy visiting from Switzerland told us he had gotten a copy of BAsics from someone on the street in New York City). But we have a ways to go. One person described the situation where there is a lot beneath the surface but we still haven't achieved the synergy where all the different aspects and facets of building a movement for revolution come together to really bust this open. This is our challenge.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/reality-television-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Reality television in a revolutionary world

In the DVD, "Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About," there is a section in which Chairman Bob Avakian asks the audience to imagine a different world. In my mind, I imagine a different world often, and so I wanted to share some Imagining I have done lately. This imagining has been based on reality tv. Now, I am fully aware that if there was a revolutionary world, with new ideas, fresh minds speaking up and new plans being made and a whole different mentality leading the world, there may not be reality tv. Hopefully, people will have better things to do with their time than to watch so much tv. But, just in case there is, I have some ideas for some shows. And even if not, seeing a different direction may help us all go forth in it.

New show idea #1: Instead of Extreme Makeover Home Edition we could have a show called, Teach Everyone How to Build Housing! The show would profile different communities working together to build sustainable housing. The show would offer a tutorial for others in different methods of building and would feature not one "lucky" family but a whole community using resources that were created by them, for everyone to use, not manufactured by children in China for a small elite group of individuals. Teach Everyone How to Build Housing would provide an edited overview of housing being built for a community and the big move that bus moment, wouldn't be necessary because everyone would have taken part in it. Maybe the ending is a huge party that gets thrown to celebrate hard work and the peace of mind that comes with such a simple thing as a roof over our heads.

New show idea #2: No More Real Housewives, Wife Swap or Nanny 911. How about a show called Real Family Work! There needs to be babies in any society and imagine there was a show that taught people how to take care of children of various ages. The show could feature recipes using locally grown fruits and vegetables that could be made for groups of families collectively. The recipes would be focused on healthy eating and build stronger people of all ages. There could be a part of the show that helps people make collective decisions and provide tips on how to raise the children. Better yet, this program could feature the older people of the community—let their wisdom have its rightful place as a part of the community.

New show idea #3: Forget dating shows like the Bachelor, Elimidate, Matchmaker, and Parental Control. Let's have a show about relationships--revolutionary relationships. In fact, that sounds like a perfect name for the show! One that helps people understand how to talk to each other and relate on different terms. Currently, many people are taught to relate to people in a "how can I use sexuality to manipulate you." Imagine if people saw themselves as more than sex objects and people came on a show to talk about how that changes relations between people. Imagine if this show debated the old way and the new way and openly talked about what it felt like to be objectified. Right now, there is no voice like this. And there are too many people who are settling for so much less than they are capable of achieving!

New show idea #4: I say down with shows like Hoarders, Addiction, and Celebrity Rehab. These shows actually do not help people make changes that are really needed in their lives. How can we blame the hoarders when we are bombarded from so many angles with the idea of buy buy buy? What makes people feel like drug and alcohol abuse is the only way to live life? We need a show that profiles art, music, writing, experiments, discoveries, and thoughts. We need to spread knowledge about how amazing this world is and how much potential human beings really have. We need to get together on Friday nights and learn about how to make the revolution successful and bring a new society into being.

And instead of Toddlers in Tiaras...well...actually, there should be no show ever again like Toddlers in Tiaras. What that show documents children doing is absolutely heart-breaking. Toddlers in Tiaras should actually be, if for no other reason, the reason a revolution should happen. These beautiful young minds are being warped as early as two to believe that nothing more matters in life than how pretty someone else will judge you to be.

Wow! We need a Revolution! We need a whole new way of running things. We need a new way of relating to each other. No more Donald Trump and Celebrity Apprentice! We need more people working for the things that matter—not for the accumulation of capital but for the future of all people! We need a revolution, we need the leadership of Bob Avakian to get us there and we need you! Imagine that!

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/from-reader-campuses-waking-up-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Campuses are waking up again...

Campuses are waking up again. The recent Occupy Wall Street movement and the others that have followed in its footsteps are causing a stir. For the first time ever, I've been able to talk with a variety of students on my campus about something and they actually know what's going on! For one reason or another, this particular movement has really hit on something. Many students are talking about how they know that when they graduate, the debt they have incurred from student loans is really going to kill them. Add to this the really, really poor employment prospects for many college graduates today, and students are getting caught between a rock and a hard place.

I was in Chicago recently, and I spoke with protesters at the Occupy Chicago protest near the Chicago Board of Trade. One man told me how people are coming from all over the region to join in the protest, which goes 24 hours a day. One of the main problems facing the Chicago movement is that the police are not allowing anything to stay still; this means that all the supplies of the protesters must be constantly moving; the police are not allowing a base camp to be set up. This is incredibly draining for the protesters, and is a clear attempt by the forces of counter-revolution to wear down the protesters.

There have also been university walkouts all over the region. There is a clear and growing solidarity on behalf of students and the protesters, even if they are separated by hundreds of miles.

While these protests are clear evidence of the crisis that parasitic capitalism-imperialism is facing on its home turf, we also have to learn from the example of Egypt. While the people of Egypt were able to effect change, the system of exploitation in Egypt remains fundamentally the same. The RCP, its members and supporters, have to actively work to expose the system we live under for what it really is; we have to make clear that there is an alternative. If we hear someone talking about the protests, or if we are able to actually get to the protests themselves, we have to be spreading the message of the RCP and of Bob Avakian. Getting out there with BAsics can show people who are actively resisting the system right now that we have a real alternative. These movements have to be greeted joyously, but we also have to see them as opportunities for us to spread our message too.

People are talking now about these protests, the Wall St. one in particular, being America's "Tahrir Square." Let's get this straight; we need more than Tahrir Square! We don't just want a change in who the exploiters are, we want to end exploitation! Keep struggling in any way you can. Make sure everyone around you knows what's happening with these protests.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/call-for-un-recognition-palestine-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

The Call for UN Recognition of a Palestinian State...
... And the Demands of a Besieged Empire

On September 23, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas made a long-anticipated address to apply for UN membership for a Palestinian state—comprised of small parcels of Palestine, chopped up and militarily dominated by Israel. While such a resolution does not lead in the direction of ending the oppression of the Palestinian people, U.S. President Barack Obama still declared—in his speech to the UN two days before Abbas'—that the resolution wasn't going to happen. Abbas' speech was followed by a belligerent rant by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who dismissed the UN as "theater of the absurd" for (watered down and toothless) resolutions that have condemned Israel's ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from their homeland.

As we wrote in the last issue of Revolution, "The UN resolution poses critical questions of the nature and role of the state of Israel, the root causes behind the oppression of the Palestinian people, and what it will take to achieve justice and liberation for a people who have suffered generations of subjugation and brutal occupation." ("The UN Vote... the Occupation of Palestine... and the Struggle for Liberation," #246, September 25, 2011)

Obama and the U.S.—Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Obama addressed the UN in the context of a region in upheaval, with the domination of the world's sole superpower challenged by a whole range of rivals, outmoded Islamic fundamentalist social forces in the region as well as by the mass struggles of people demanding freedom... And with U.S. support for Israel widely (and correctly) perceived throughout the region as shameful and outrageous.

Attempting to position the U.S. as the champion of democracy in the region, Obama made a gesture of portraying the U.S. as an even-handed broker between Israel and the Palestinians. He declared, "It is precisely because we believe so strongly in the aspirations of the Palestinian people that America has invested so much time and so much effort in the building of a Palestinian state, and the negotiations that can deliver a Palestinian state."

A recent article in the New York Times revealed the nature of this "investment." It describes a meeting, arranged by the Obama administration, between Republican congressmen and Netanyahu to convince the congressmen to vote to continue funding the Palestinian Authority. It says, "One of the members of Congress who attended the meeting with Mr. Netanyahu ... said that it was carefully explained to the delegation that the money would be used for training Palestinian police officers who work closely with the Israeli government." (New York Times, September 21, 2011)

Whatever paltry assistance the U.S. would include in a package for social services or government functioning, it is those "Palestinian police officers who work closely with the Israeli government" that are the essence of the U.S. "effort in the building of a Palestinian state" that operates as an enforcer for Israel (and beyond and behind that, the U.S.).

The Godfather and His Enforcer

Immediately after laying out the U.S. "investment" in some version of a Palestinian state, Obama's tone shifted to the threatening demeanor he takes when lecturing rivals, or the oppressed: "But understand this as well: America's commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable. Our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring. And so we believe that any lasting peace must acknowledge the very real security concerns that Israel faces every single day."

The nature of this "deep and enduring" relationship is that since its birth, literally on the bones and homes of the Palestinian people, Israel has served as a rabid enforcer of U.S. interests around the world. When there was an apartheid regime to be propped up in South Africa, Israel was there. A genocidal Christian fascist dictator in Guatemala—Israel supplied guns, training and transport. Operation Green Hunt—a war of terror against indigenous peoples and Maoist guerrillas in India... the U.S. has called on Israel to provide support and training.

Obama went on: "Let us be honest with ourselves: Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it."

First, it must be said that these wars have all been provoked, if not launched, by Israel, and have been extremely one-sided in death and destruction. Beyond that, whited out from Obama's profoundly distorted narrative are the basic facts that Israel was built on ethnic cleansing and maintains an ongoing state of terror throughout the region.

Finally, Obama played what is supposed to be the moral trump card in defense of Israel and all its crimes: "The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile and persecution, and fresh memories of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they are. Those are facts. They cannot be denied."

But who was responsible for the pogroms—orgies of violence against the Jews in Europe? It was the old reactionary ruling classes of Europe. Who carried out the Holocaust against the Jews in Europe? The Holocaust was unleashed and carried out by the German imperialist ruling class. And the ruling classes of "the Allies" were in the main complicit with that, turning away Jewish refugees attempting to escape from Hitler, while diverting them to Palestine, and refusing to militarily attack the trains to the death camps.

The actual lesson of the Holocaust is that pleading ignorance or impotence is no excuse for failing to oppose crimes against humanity. And that applies now to Israel's crimes against the Palestinians.

Opposing U.S./Israel Attacks... Bringing Forward Another Way

In the midst of the uprisings sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, there have been inspiring elements of the people of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and other countries marching to and even crossing the borders of Israel (and Israel responding with one-sided violence, killing many protesters). These developments, and the emergence of a growing struggle around the world against Israel's crimes against the Palestinians, have shown a glimpse of the potential for the people of the world to break through and beyond the deadly paradigm where the dead-end of Islamic fundamentalist jihad and outmoded social forces associated with that have been positioned as the main force opposing the U.S. and Israel. The uprisings in the region can be an environment in which a genuinely revolutionary alternative to the whole current world order gets on the map, including an understanding of the actual nature and role of Israel.

It remains critical that as debate and struggle erupts around the bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state, the truth about the role and nature of Israel, its fundamental illegitimacy be brought to light and into the swirl of controversy. And that moves by the U.S. and Israel and their lackeys in the region to clamp down on and lash out at the Palestinian people be politically opposed.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/246/sunsara-taylor-abortion-on-demand-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

In Defense of Abortion On Demand and Without Apology

Several years ago, I was approached by a young woman after giving a talk examining how patriarchy is at the core of the world's dominant religions and calling out the Christian fascist movement to criminalize abortion. As she told me of her abortion, her demeanor suggested she was rather settled about it. But then suddenly she stopped talking, her face flashed with emotion, and she burst into tears.

I tell this story precisely because this young woman was a confident and articulate atheist. She had been raised pro-choice and still was. Her boyfriend was supportive. She received great medical care. Extremely important: she made clear she had never felt guilty.

She explained, "Until today, I have never in my life heard anyone say that it is okay to have an abortion and even feel good about it. For two years I have gone around feeling like there must be something wrong with me because I never felt any remorse."

Stop for a moment and think about that. She didn't feel bad about her abortion. She felt bad about not feeling bad!

I responded very firmly that there is nothing wrong with her. There is nothing wrong with a woman terminating her pregnancy at any point and for whatever reason she chooses. Fetuses are not babies. Women are not incubators. Abortion is not murder.

There is, however, something profoundly wrong with a society in which millions of young people have grown up never having heard abortion spoken of as something positive and liberating. There is something deeply wrong not only with the movement which has viciously and relentlessly fought to criminalize, terrorize, and demonize those who seek – or provide – abortions, but also with the mainstream of a "pro-choice movement" which has repeatedly conciliated and compromised with this madness.

Lets be clear, the notion that women are full human beings capable of participating fully and equally in every realm of human endeavor together with men is historically an extremely new idea. It is also under extreme, and increasing, fire. The fight to not only defend, but to expand and to destigmatize abortion and birth control, must be seen as a central battle in the fight to make good on the full liberation of women.

What's the big deal about abortion, anyway? Together with birth control, abortion enables women to not be enslaved by their biology. It enables women to delay, restrict, or forgo altogether the decision to make babies. It enables women to explore their sexuality free of the fear that an unintended pregnancy will foreclose their lives and their dreams. It opens up the possibility for women to enter fully and equally into every realm of public life and human endeavor together with men.

Of course, the possibility of full equality for women doesn't exist merely because of the technological, or even the legal, existence of birth control and abortion. These reproductive rights would not have been won – and wouldn't have had the earth-shaking repercussions they've had – without the tremendous struggles of women demanding their liberation. Despite popular misconceptions, it was this righteous struggle, together with the broader revolt of the 1960s and 70s – not some sudden flash of enlightenment on the Court – that most influenced the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Further, the liberation of women requires more than reproductive rights and a radical shift in the culture. The need for an all-the-way revolution that goes beyond even the best of the revolutionary experience of the last century – including as pertains to challenging traditional gender and other chains that bind women – is a key element of Bob Avakian's new synthesis of revolution and communism. Explicating this more fully goes beyond the scope of this article, but interested readers can learn more by reading, A Declaration for Women's Liberation and the Emancipation of All Humanity.

But even the specter of women's liberation – and the important advances that were made – were too much for those who rule this country. The backlash really coalesced and gained initiative under Reagan. The reassertion of the "traditional family" became an indispensable part of not only reasserting patriarchy but also stitching back together the reactionary fabric of society that had been significantly frayed. Christian fascists – people fighting for the laws and culture to conform to a literal interpretation of the Bible, including its insistence that women bear children and obey their husbands (1 Timothy 2:11-15) – were given powerful backing by ruling class forces and unleashed to hound and harass women who sought abortions. They bombed clinics. They killed doctors. They pushed the shame and ignorance of abstinence-only education into the schools and went to war on the scientific fact of evolution.

Through this period, the most mainstream elements of the women's movement came to be identified broadly as the only outlet for those concerned about the oppressed status of women, even as this bourgeois feminism more and more subordinated itself to the ruling class, and the Democratic Party in particular.

To quote from the above-mentioned Declaration, "This absorption of the 'official women's movement' into the Democratic Party, and its utter subordination to the confines of electoral politics, has done incalculable damage. For over two decades now this 'feminist movement' has encouraged and influenced progressive people to accommodate to a dynamic where yesterday's outrage becomes today's 'compromise position' and tomorrow's limit of what can be imagined. The defensiveness and cravenness of this 'movement' in the face of the Christian fascists in particular – its refusal to really battle them on the morality of abortion, to take one concentrated example – has contributed to the disorientation of two generations of young women, and men as well."

What has this looked like? It looked like Hillary Clinton implying there was something wrong with abortion by insisting it be "safe, legal, and rare" and then these becoming the watchwords of a "pro-choice movement" that even removed "abortion" from its name. It looked like spokespeople for NARAL and Planned Parenthood repeatedly insisting they are the ones, not the Christian Right, who prevent the most abortions, even as women scramble nationwide to access the dwindling abortion services. It looked like a strategy focusing almost entirely on the most extreme cases – endangerment to a woman or fetus's life, rape or incest – rather than standing up for the right of all women to abortion.

It looked like the 2006 congressional elections where the Democrats insisted that to beat the Bush-led Republicans they had to run hardline anti-abortion candidates like Bob Casey. And while many registered complaints, not a single major national pro-choice "leader" called for mass mobilizations of protest in the streets. It looked like broad "feminist" celebration of President Obama even as he, too, insisted on reducing abortions and finding "common ground" with fascists and religious fanatics. Now he has now presided over the greatest onslaught of abortion restrictions introduced at the state level since Roe v. Wade.

All this is why a new generation has, almost without exception, never heard anyone speak positively about abortion. This has led to thousands of women feeling guilty or ashamed of a procedure which is necessary for women to live full and independent lives. This has let to a situation where activists fight piecemeal at the edges of each new major assault while losing ground overall.

If we do not seize the moral high by boldly proclaiming the positive morality of abortion, if we don't begin now to change hearts and minds among this new generation in particular, if we do not refuse to be confined by what is deemed "electable," then not only will we fail in fighting back the restrictions, we will compound this legal defeat with an ideological and political defeat as well.

Millions and millions of women feel absolutely no remorse about their abortions; it is time for all of us to speak out boldly in support of this attitude. Its also time we stop bending over backward to validate the feelings of guilt or shame that some women feel over their abortions. Millions of women feel guilty and ashamed after being raped, but while we acknowledge their emotions, we also struggle for them – and everyone else – to recognize they have done nothing wrong and have nothing to be ashamed of. It's time we do the same around the stigma that surrounds abortion.

It is absolutely a great thing for women to have – and to exercise freely – their right to abortion. The doctors who provide these services should be celebrated! There is nothing "moral" about forcing women to bear children against their will, but there is something tremendously moral about enabling women to determine the course of their own lives. This is good for women and it is good for humanity as a whole.

Sunsara Taylor is a writer for Revolution Newspaper, a host of WBAI's Equal Time for Freethought, and sits on the Advisory Board of World Can't Wait. She has written on the rise of theocracy, wars and repression in the U.S., led in building resistance to these crimes, and contributed to the movement for revolution to put an end to all this. She takes as her foundation the new synthesis on revolution and communism developed by Bob Avakian. Her most recent campus speaking tour – "From the Burkha to the Thong; Everything Must – and Can – Change; WE NEED TOTAL REVOLUTION!" — made stops at Barnard, UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, NYU and other campuses.You can find her impressive verbal battles with Bill O'Reilly and various political commentary on things from abortion to religion to cultural relativism by searching "Sunsara Taylor" on youtube. Contact her about a new movement to "End Pornography and Patriarchy; the Enslavement and Degradation of Women" at sunsara_tour@yahoo.com. Read her blog here.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/samantha-berg-response-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

On the feminists-in-underwear walks—Samantha Berg responds to "The Thing About Slutwalks... and a World Without Rape," by Sunsara Taylor

Revolution welcomes comments/responses to articles in our newspaper. The following was written by Samantha Berg in response to Sunsara Taylor's article, "The Thing About Slutwalks...and a World Without Rape" posted at revcom.us http://revcom.us/a/244/thing-about-slutwalks-en.html. Samantha Berg is National Coordinator for the feminist organization Stop Porn Culture www.stoppornculture.org and founder of www.Genderberg.com, an anti-prostitution activist community and resource center since 2005.

On the feminists-in-underwear walks

I tried to avoid writing an essay on SlutWalks. I've left pieces around the never-ending party that is the internet, but I'd rather be stomping out johns than criticizing essentially well-intentioned women.

The initial trigger shot off when Sunsara Taylor wrote an essay for Revolution titled, "The Thing About Slutwalks... and a World Without Rape" and requested my opinion. My respect for her diligence has only grown since we got to know each other at the Stop Porn Culture event in July and she deserves a thorough response.

The anecdotes she offers of women gathering and speaking with each other are potent, and I believe when she says it was an overall inspiring occasion for the women involved. What I question is if that's enough to mitigate all the other stuff. Anti-woman traditions are often ameliorated with "Well at least women are befriending each other." For example, polyamorists focus on what good friends multiple wives become and women point out the friendships of the Sex & the City gals when confronted with the show's misogyny. Personal connections are good, but are they good enough to exact necessary political change?

While I accept Sunsara's recounting of how crucial camaraderie and baby step introductions to feminism are, I have to deny that SlutWalk represents a new surge of feminist energy. In 2004 I reported on the March For Women's Lives for The Portland Alliance newspaper, and since then I've not just participated but planned other public actions. Thanks to Facebook, I know of half a dozen feminist protest marches this summer. A few, like Take Back the Night and Reclaim the Night, are annual events on some campuses around the world. Others dwelling in my Events folder are the Freedom Walk, Walk a Mile in Her Shoes (men walk in women's shoes), and the Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence Walk in honor of Maria Aguilar.

None of these, and more I'll never hear about, will be covered by the mainstream media with a droplet of the fervor given to SlutWalks and we all know why.

Declarations of supposedly watershed moments in women's liberation are frequent, and they usually revolve around women acting more publicly sexual. How many times have we been told that the public presence of libertines like Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Raquel Welch, Madonna, Lil Kim, Britney Spears, Jenna Jameson, "Samantha Jones" and the entirety of fuckme feminism's twenty year rule would usher in less sexual oppression for women? The theory has not become reality because men have women where they want them and not Mae nor Marilyn nor Madonna have managed to change that despite delusions of pussy power grandeur.

I have seen the word 'slut' so many times in the past few months that despite my overt rejection it has seeped into my brain. When I think and write, the word interjects. I recognize the effect from researching pornography, though porn's images intrude far more aggressively than news-safe pictures of SW.

One day the word jumped out of my head deployed as an 'ironic' adjective to achieve sarcasm, possibly the purest form of Freudian slip. A linguist, I know something of how language works, and I know people can't look at a word without reading it and recalling its dense social content instantaneously. I can't see 'slut' frequently put before me without unconsciously referring to everything I've learned about it, and neither can you.

When feminists hold signs declaring "sluts say yes" and "call me a slut too" signs, they are making a public statement for womankind. Unfortunately, men are not taking up the sign-holding women's offers with only the sign-holders. SlutWalkers tell men it's okay to call me a slut and to call my sisters sluts from now until they bore of it, and men desensitize to desiring harsher words quickly. The explosion of porn-inspired words made to hurt women is a lesson in never underestimating men's creativity when it comes to destruction, and women had better learn the lesson because Future Sam will not write about why I can't support CumguzzlerWalks or CocksocketWalks.

In 2008 frat pledges at Yale held signs declaring "We Love Yale Sluts" in front of the campus Women's Center and in 2010 another frat's pledges chanted, "No means yes. Yes means anal!" Young pornfed men have been giving women proof long before Slutwalks that positively sexy feminist tactics aren't working. "Yes Means Yes" is a useless strategy for stopping men who are turned on by the thought of violating a woman's 'no'. Such men view women enthusiastically wanting sex as a challenge to find something more degrading than they believe merely poking a woman vaginally already is (in this case anal sex is the next level) and will never be happy with hordes of lovely ladies begging for it. Like the global appeal of sex with virgins, the whole point is to break something irreplaceable.

The final incident spurring me to write was encountering a young survivor of prostitution who was not beaten into The Life by a pimp or forced by her impoverished family. The most common of reasons compelled her, the need for money, and she met a woman who told her about the big bucks to be made in pornstitution. She said she was a feminist.

"Desperate for money (for food) and sold down the river by women I trusted. Now I'm not saying that I am a moron and do whatever someone tells me to do, what I am saying is that women who I respected, who were older then me, more experienced then me, and in every way I could see amazing feminists sold me on the idea that it was an ok thing to do for money."

Being recruited—maliciously or not—by other women into professional sluthood is how most of the prostituted women I personally know were coaxed in the door.

Tied into SlutWalk is the confusion of sex-focused feminists telling men they can use women as prostitutes in an "I'm rubber and you're glue" way that bounces off the not-for-saleable proclaimers and, once again, sticks to me and my sisters. They could be telling men about a revolution sweeping the world from Scandinavia since 1999, a woman-centered movement the mainstream media has actually given a huge amount of attention to under the generalized name of trafficking. However, the Nordic feminist revolution has been declared not just unsexy by these sexiest of feminists, but worthy of active resistance and called a menace to sexual freedom.

The organizer-acknowledged truth of SlutWalks is the same tragic "make feminism sexy" edict that has failed us since that ship set sail. I certainly don't lay all the blame for labiaplasty, ass-to-mouth porn, and the growing use of the phrase "child sex worker" on misguided feminists, not in this male supremacist world. Right now I'm looking at the contemporary phenomena of Slutwalks and taking in the positives of women organizing under a 'slut' banner while keeping an eye on relevant negatives.

Feminists who pressure women into accepting themselves as sluts and prostitution as a beneficial form of work have the good intention to lessen the damages these two nasty manifestations of sexism inflict. This particular road to Hell is not a paved path but the roof of a tall building with young, questioning girls ringing the edges and Full Frontal Feminists standing behind them. They look over the side scared and wondering if they should take the plunge when from behind a trusted voice chirps, "You can fly, sexy bitch!" So like Lost Clown they try, and they drop, but it's too far down for the Rosie WeCanDoIts to hear the wet thuds on the street from the center of the roof.

The pornographic pushback of recent years is the expected response of misogynistic men to women hitting their stride. Less expected was liberal feminists accepting men's abusive insults on faulty premises of reclamation. Radical feminists will continue to have our unsexy marches against sexual violence and they will continue to be mostly ignored. Young women on the edges will still be vulnerable, but if they scream "I'm a slut!" and jump off our roof, we have a rope of bedsheets tied together and a team of radfems ready to pull her up.

Samantha Berg is National Coordinator for the feminist organization Stop Porn Culture and founder of www.Genderberg.com, an anti-prostitution activist community and resource center since 2005.

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/247/rebuild-revcom-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

We are building a movement for revolution...
That movement needs a website...
We need your help to make it happen

This is a world crying out for revolution. Over a billion people on this planet live on less than $1 a day. The earth's critically endangered ecosystem is under profit-driven assault. In one form or another, everywhere in this world women are degraded as commodities. Creativity is marginalized, coopted, or squashed. And killer police and unjust wars serve and protect all this...

This is a world crying out for revolution. But it is a time when revolution, and specifically communist revolution, which is the only thing that can deal with problems so immense and deeply rooted, is the furthest thing from most people's minds. We aim to change that. Bob Avakian is the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, and he has brought forward something very new and critical in the realm of ideas—something that anyone who cares about the future of humanity has to really check out seriously. Because of Bob Avakian and the work he has done over several decades, summing up the positive and negative experience of the communist revolution so far, and drawing from a broad range of human experience, there is a new synthesis of communism that has been brought forward—there really is a viable vision and strategy for a radically new, and much better, society and world, and there is the crucial leadership that is needed to carry forward the struggle toward that goal.

Revolution newspaper, which is the voice of the Party he leads, takes this work as its foundation and framework and takes as its mission building a movement FOR this revolution. Hot on the heels of developments in the world, Revolution cuts to the bone to tell WHY things are happening... to show HOW it doesn't have to be this way... and to give people the ways to ACT to change it. The website revcom.us will be the place to access the current issue of Revolution newspaper as well as its archives. If you haven't read our paper, visit revcom.us or pick up a print copy from sellers on the street or at Revolution Books. You'll be surprised and intrigued...and challenged.

For more on Avakian and his new synthesis on communism, bobavakian.net; for more on Revolution newspaper, revcom.us.

Revcom.us is also a site where people can find out about the RCP—and it is the place where people from this country and all over the world can access major documents put out by the Party like COMMUNISM: THE BEGINNING OF A NEW STAGE, A Manifesto from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. And this is where people can learn about, engage with in many different ways, and become part of the movement for revolution we are building.

This revolution needs a website which will make the whole of this revolution and its leadership accessible to all those who want to know why the world is the way it is—and all who dream of changing that world. A new revcom.us will be a way for people to access and explore the key dimensions of this revolution... to find out what they need to know about its theoretical and political foundations and principles... its leadership... its activities.

We are embarking on a major re-design and re-development of revcom.us. We need your help to get it done.

Here's an intolerable irony: At a moment when the world needs revolution, all the unique revolutionary content of this newspaper is essentially buried online! A reader of Revolution recently wrote to us: "Right now, the [revcom.us] website as it is currently constructed is a fetter on involving more people. I'm not saying a bunch of flashy animation needs to be created each week (or ever). I'm saying, a simple, straightforward, easy to understand structure... [which] incorporates the principles... pertaining to visual assimilation of written material needs to be put in place. And that will go on to enable more people, not less, to engage with the material and want to be involved."

The mission of this web project is incorporate the current content at revcom.us and to radically re-frame and redesign that in an inviting and accessible form that really brings the message to life. To be attractive and compelling to students at elite universities and inner city residents... to rebels in England, Egypt, Greece and Spain.... to dissidents, peasants, oppressed and outcasts in every realm of society, in every part of the world. The site will be fully bilingual English/Spanish.

Some of us have been working at this project for a while. We've found template-based technical solutions and approaches problematic in relation to the message, and the flexibility, creativity, attractiveness, and grassroots involvement this site needs to incorporate and project. We have some ideas and plans we want to discuss for addressing these challenges—in the realm of artwork, page design, technical production, and (Spanish) translation. We need experts, and we need people regardless of Web design and development skill level (or lack of). And to do this the way it needs to be done, we need to raise substantial funds through both all kinds of fundraising activities and donations from people with financial resources. All of this is essential to accomplishing the mission of bringing this website to life, and to building the movement for revolution.

"For those who have hungered for, who have dreamed of, a whole different world, without the madness and torment of what this system brings every day...those who have dared to hope that such a world could be possible...and even those who, up to now, would like to see this, but have accepted that this could never happen...there is a place and a role, a need and a means, for thousands now and ultimately millions to contribute to building this movement for revolution, in many different ways, big and small—with ideas and with practical involvement, with support, and with questions and criticisms. Get together with our Party, learn more about this movement and become a part of it as you learn, acting in unity with others in this country, and throughout the world, aiming for the very challenging but tremendously inspiring and liberating—and, yes, possible—goal of emancipating all of humanity through revolution and advancing to a communist world, free of exploitation and oppression."

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/246/affirmation-at-berkeley-en.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Affirmation at UC Berkeley: College Republicans' white supremacy “bake sale” powerfully challenged by students

Cupcakes: $2 for white students, $1.50 for Asian students, $1 for Latinos, 75 cents for African-Americans, 25 cents for Native Americans, and 25 cents off for women of all races. This was the UC Berkeley College Republicans’ idea of a provocative statement against Affirmative Action and in particular, a California State Senate bill that would allow (but not mandate) California public universities to consider race, gender and ethnicity in admissions decisions. See, white people and men are being discriminated against, just like with Affirmative Action! And these undeserving minorities are getting things practically for free! What an outrage! NOT.

One would have to be completely ignorant of the history and present day reality of this country to buy that line of reasoning. As a flyer from the Revolution Club put it: “The Real Price... Native Americans: Near genocide; cultural annihilation; and broken promises. African-Americans: Millions of lives in the Middle Passage; whips, nooses, and slavecatchers; segregation and KKK terror; employment discrimination; mass incarceration and demonization; systematic police harassment, brutality, and murder. Latinos: Stolen land; ruthless exploitation, terrorized by the migra and forced to live in the shadows; systematic police harassment, brutality and murder. Women: Half of humanity treated as “less than,” degraded, demeaned, beaten and raped, looked at as sex objects or nothing more than a breeder of children.” And you want to say that white people and men are being discriminated against by Affirmative Action?!

As soon as the Republicans set up a public Facebook page for their “Increase Diversity Bake Sale,” students were outraged. An emergency meeting was called and hundreds of students, almost entirely students of color, attended. Students felt angry, hurt, under attack, their struggles mocked, their experiences ridiculed. One Black student wrote on his Facebook page:

“Since my years in college the world has just really veered its disgusting, racist head directly into my chest! This has just been one week of complete tomfoolery. First, Black UC Berkeley students get threatened with water hose after being denied entrance to a UC Berkeley white frat house party while standing on public property. Second, Troy Davis is executed with no physical evidence.... Third, at my very own regressive institution of higher learning the Berkeley College Republicans WILL host a ‘Diversity Bake Sale’ in dishonor of affirmative action by literally devaluing minorities with the sale of cheap cupcakes. They feel no remorse.... If there was ever a time to shake off the dust of complacency and stand for something, it is NOW! Needless to say enough is enough. EMERGENCY TOWNHALL MEETING in response to the ‘Diversity bake sale’ @ 6 PM tonight.”

“It’s clear that soooo many people who walk around UC Berkeley's campus and the US, thinking that they are some of the most brilliant thinkers and leaders clearly have a distorted view of America's social, economic, and political history. therefore it allows them to make extremely racist comments and engage in racist demonstrations because they have no reason to challenge the status quo which protects their privilege--they have no incentive to do so. I AM TIRED OF WORKING TO INSTIGATE A CONSCIOUSNESS IN A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO ARE UNWILLING TO HEAR! Post Racial Society?! Right...how can anyone even fix their mouth to say something like this! This Country is just as racist as it was before, only it’s become privatized like this University is gradually doing. They may not call me and my folks niggas to our face but they cast us out of schools from the playgrounds in elementary to Sproul hall here at UC Berkeley...sounds like the same song to my heart, just in another key!”

After California proposition 209 (banning Affirmative Action) passed in 1996, UC Berkeley saw a 50% decline in admissions for Black, Latino, and Filipino students. And now, between the tuition hikes and the budget cuts (targeting departments like ethnic studies), things have only gotten worse. A toxic, racist environment is brewing on the campuses, and many students of color feel under siege.

But on Tuesday, September 27, the day of the “bake sale,” people had enough. The protest was called “The Affirmation.” Many hundreds of students, mostly Black and Latino but also others, wearing all-black, walked silently, holding hands, into Sproul Plaza where the Republicans were selling cupcakes. When the clock struck 12 noon, students lay down and covered the plaza with bodies, dramatizing the fact that they weren't going to be stepped on any more. Students lay there on the ground for an hour, in the hot sun, as volunteers came around offering sunscreen and water. Others held up signs that read “Don't UC us?” and “UC us now!” At 1pm, students got up, raised their fists, gathered into a circle and did a call and response, getting louder each time: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom, it is our duty to win, we must love and protect each other, we have nothing to lose but our chains!” Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lwhjSRAU4c

Despite the national media attention that magnified the Republicans’ smug little bake sale, and limited attention that the opposition got, there was widespread support on campus for the protests. A group of Native American students made a banner that talked about what the U.S. has done to the indigenous people of this land. A prominent political science professor tried to buy out the College Republicans' cupcakes to put an early end to their bake sale. Other students gave away “conscious cupcakes.” But most significantly, the normal oppressive campus climate was punctured by a powerful student protest, that literally stopped traffic for an hour through Sproul Plaza . In this scene revolutionaries distributed many copies of the special issue of Revolution newspaper about BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, a flyer from the Revolution Club, and a card with the first quote from BAsics, “There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery. That is a simple and basic truth.”

Permalink: http://www.revcom.us/a/246/new_york_police_murder_john_collado.html

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

NY Police Murder of John Collado

On Tuesday, September 6, John Collado stepped out the front door of his apartment building in the Dominican neighborhood of Inwood at the north end of Manhattan in New York City. According to accounts of neighbors, he saw an unidentified man grabbing a young next-door neighbor. Suddenly, the unknown attacker pulled a gun and shot Collado. That attacker turned out to be an undercover cop.

John's older brother, Pablo Collado, told NY1 news, "My brother went to help and said 'Get away from him,' and I guess he grabbed the guy, my brother grabbed him. He didn't know he was a policeman." Neighbors told us, "El oficial nunca se identifico y que la policía siempre encubrió los hechos desde el primer día." ("The cop never identified himself, and the police always act to conceal their deeds from the first day.")

But the outrageous crime was not over yet. Collado's niece, Banayz Teveras, heard the shots and came out to the street. As she told Daily News, "I look out and see my uncle with a gunshot wound on the floor." Banayz, a month away from becoming a registered nurse, rushed to provide emergency medical care for her gravely wounded uncle. But the cops—now on the scene in force—not only denied her access but arrested her and held her overnight.

Collado was taken to a hospital and died 12 hours later. What words had he spoken, if any, that might shed light on that deadly encounter he had with the police? What was his condition, and how was he treated during those 12 hours? None of this has yet been revealed, let alone independently verified, because the police denied his family any access to him during that period. Collado's family is demanding an independent autopsy.

The police attempted to justify the shooting by claiming that Collado had the undercover cop in a chokehold and the cop fired in self-defense. However, the Collado family's lawyer has announced that they have obtained surveillance video of the scene that night, and that it clearly shows that Collado was not choking the undercover cop.

This shooting comes less than 11 months after the NYPD killed 24-year-old Emmanuel Paulino, just four blocks away.

Anger Pours into the Street

On Saturday, September 18, there was a protest organized by John Collado's family and neighbors. For many, this was their first act of resistance. Some voiced that they had long supported the police but that the NYPD's murder of a well-respected person like Collado really shook their sense of the legitimacy of the system and its enforcers. Many carried a poster/sign made by family and neighbors organizing the march with John Collado's photo above the words "Please be advised that the abuse of authority by the NYPD is claiming innocent lives! Stop the abuse!"

What began as a march of 100 grew to over 200 as the protest went through the community to the notorious 34th Precinct. For some people, this was their third march to this precinct to protest a murder by the police. This sharply posed the question: How many more such murders are we going to protest before we STOP this? How many more lives are going to be stolen by murdering cops? The words of the RCP's Message and Call "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have," which we distributed on the march, speaks to that:

"The days when this system can just keep on doing what it does to people, here and all around the world... when people are not inspired and organized to stand up against these outrages and to build up the strength to put an end to this madness... those days must be GONE. And they CAN be."

Revolution #247, October 9, 2011

Voices of those cast off by the system

From Prisoners

From High School Students

From Others

A Reckoning

BAsics 3:16

An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off

Donate to Send BAsics to Prisoners

"Occupy Wall Street": A New Wind of Resistance

"We Only Want the World"

12,000 Prisoners Resume Hunger Strike in California

Vicious Retaliation Against Hunger Strikers

THEY MURDERED TROY, BUT WE MUST NEVER FORGET HIM!

"We Only Want the World"

National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation

Part of a Whole Trajectory

The Need for Mass Resistance

STOP – "STOP & FRISK"

Unconstitutional... and Ominous

Government Declares: NO Evidence, NO Courts

A Serious Step Toward Fascism... Under the Democrats

Why It Is Pointless—and Worse—to Support the Democrats

Important Notice to Our Readers

SUSTAIN THE REVOLUTION! SUSTAIN THE LIFELINE! GIVE EVERY MONTH TO REVOLUTION NEWSPAPER!

All Out for October 22, 2011!

Update on Prisoner Hunger Strike: Strike at Pelican Bay Ends, Continues at Other Prisons

Voices of those cast off by the system

Prisoner Insights on "Occupy Wall Street"

Making a Difference at the Stand Up Protest in Chicago

October 6: Report from Occupy NOLA

"What is capitalism?" now on YouTube—Watch and spread the full chapter from Bob Avakian's Revolution talk

Bob Avakian on "What Is Capitalism?"

Are Corporations Corrupting the System... Or is the Problem the System of Capitalism?

Corporations and Banks Part of Something Bigger

Capitalism Operates According to Certain Rules

Capitalism and State Power

Standing Strong—Up Against Cruel, Inhumane Retaliation

Los Angeles Press Conference: Support the Unprecedented CA Prisoner Hunger Strike

Taking Prisoner Hunger Strike Support to the Gates of Pelican Bay State Prison

Taking Out and Building Support for the Prisoner Hunger Strike in Atlanta

The Defiance, Determination and Resistance of Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street Spreads Across the U.S. and World

San Francisco and Oakland

Seattle

Los Angeles

Chicago

Boston

Houston

October 6: Report from Occupy NOLA

Reports below were posted October 10, 2011.

Notes from Occupied Territory: A New Wind Blowing

Subscribe To and Sustain Revolution Newspaper

To all subscribers, old and new:

Prisoner Hunger Strike Now in 11th Day

October 2, 2011 Support the Hunger Strike and Just Demands of Prisoners at Pelican Bay and All California Prisons

Debate and Controversy at Harvard: Two Constitutions, Two Futures

Reality television in a revolutionary world

Campuses are waking up again...

The Call for UN Recognition of a Palestinian State... ... And the Demands of a Besieged Empire

Obama and the U.S.—Between a Rock and a Hard Place

The Godfather and His Enforcer

Opposing U.S./Israel Attacks... Bringing Forward Another Way

In Defense of Abortion On Demand and Without Apology

On the feminists-in-underwear walks—Samantha Berg responds to "The Thing About Slutwalks... and a World Without Rape," by Sunsara Taylor

On the feminists-in-underwear walks

We are building a movement for revolution... That movement needs a website... We need your help to make it happen

Affirmation at UC Berkeley: College Republicans' white supremacy “bake sale” powerfully challenged by students

NY Police Murder of John Collado

Anger Pours into the Street

An Appeal to Those
the System Has Cast Off

SUSTAIN THE REVOLUTION! SUSTAIN THE LIFELINE!
GIVE EVERY MONTH TO REVOLUTION NEWSPAPER!

October 2, 2011
Support the Hunger Strike and Just Demands of Prisoners at Pelican Bay and All California Prisons

The Call for UN Recognition of a Palestinian State...
... And the Demands of a Besieged Empire

We are building a movement for revolution...
That movement needs a website...
We need your help to make it happen