The Fascist Shitshow… The Resistance Continues… The Need to Drive Out This Regime

August 31, 2020 | revcom.us

 

History is potentially in the balance. As Bob Avakian says: 

It is not conceivable that all this will find any resolution other than in the most radical terms and through extremely violent means. The question yet to be determined is: will it be a radical reactionary or a radical revolutionary resolution, will it mean the reinforcing of the chains of enslavement or the shattering of the most decisive links in those chains and the opening up of the possibility of realizing the complete elimination of all forms of such enslavement.

Your Guide to This Issue…

This prospect played out with power and fury, dread and hope, in the past week. We tried to cover it, every day, as it happened; and we will be trying to do this every day, from now until the election … and beyond. Please check back in every day. Let’s take a brief survey:

The fascist shit-show: In just one week, Trump opened up his party’s convention by declaiming supposed chaos and violence in “Democrat-run” cities, praising “Second Amendment people” (that is, racist militias), and saying that he could “solve the problem in an hour.”  

We saw him say that any result other than his victory could only mean the election was rigged—and that presumably he would not go along with such a result. And then it got really ugly.  

Bob Avakian (BA) says in his statement ON THE IMMEDIATE CRITICAL SITUATION, THE URGENT NEED TO DRIVE OUT THE FASCIST TRUMP/PENCE REGIME, VOTING IN THIS ELECTION, AND THE FUNDAMENTAL NEED FOR REVOLUTION: “We have witnessed his continual encouragement of white supremacist thuggery, by police and by ‘Second Amendment people’ and other ‘very fine people,’” in the latter instance referring to Trump’s comments on the white supremacists of Charlottesville.

For key commentary on the convention, go here and here and here; and to get a deep sense of the dynamics of the Christian fascist character of what was going on—and what will be going on —go here and here. And check out these short videos here and here that break down what was really going on.

A big theme of the RNC—the law and order of fascism juxtaposed against the lawlessness, the chaos, the anarchy and the violence of the protests in the Democratic-held cities. This was a two-pronged attack—against political opponents of the fascist regime, i.e. Democratic mayors, and against the masses of people including their very right to dissent, protest and exercise basic rights of free speech. These attacks are a characteristic of fascism, which as Bob Avakian has said in his Statement, is not “just a matter of horrific policies but of a qualitatively different form of rule, based on brutal repression and violation of what are supposed to be the most basic rights.”

Trump’s “heroes” nearly kill another Black person … but people say NO!: Trump and others in the RNC referred to the righteous—beautiful—protests as “looting, vandalism, violence,” [See this video.] and he continued this theme in his first post-Convention rally in New Hampshire, saying, “They’re anarchists, they’re agitators, they’re rioters, they’re looters.” Vicious and vengeful, he incited violence—of the white-supremacist thugs who are an integral part of the fascist rule, and program. In this context:  

Two heroes—heroes in the struggle against fascism, peoples’ heroes—were killed in Kenosha. Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum were killed in the midst of the righteous protests against the wanton shooting of Jacob Blake Jr., by the fascist mobilization to “protect property.” They tried to intervene to prevent further deaths and murder by the fascist thug alleged to have committed these murders, Kyle Rittenhouse, according to his own social media postings, a fan of the cops and a fan of Trump, a synthesis of “cops love Trump, and Trump loves cops.” Rittenhouse was carrying an AR-15 style assault rifle. A third hero, Gaige Grosskreutz, was wounded in the attack.  

Scores of pickup trucks, populated by white-supremacist fascists, armed to the gills with pepper spray, paint-guns, and other “soft” weapons mobilized across the Northwest to go into Portland to break up, disrupt and inflict violence on the protests in Portland. There is a direct line from Trump’s informal edicts to acts by his thugs, evoking the Taliban as they marched into Portland in pickup trucks. 

This IS fascism, and as BA states, “at this late and crucial hour, to treat as ‘alarmist exaggeration’ the fascist nature of this regime and its very real parallels with the horrors perpetrated by previous fascist regimes—this is to ignore not only vital lessons from history, but also the extremely dangerous reality of the current situation” … going on to state:

If this regime is able to further consolidate its power and make further leaps in implementing its horrific objectives, this will result in a devastating setback for any attempt to resist injustice and oppression, and will very likely lead to the brutal repression, and even annihilation, of defenders of democratic rights and proponents of any meaningful progressive reforms, as well as any organized forces fighting for fundamental revolutionary change.     

Resistance Does Not Stop…  

In Kenosha, even after the killings of Huber and Rosenbaum, and after an initial “chill,” people came back night after night, day after day. There was a huge protest called by the mainstream activists and the family of Blake which attracted thousands and the world media. From what we understand, there were shortcomings—in not fully recognizing the danger humanity confronts in the regime, in what is to be done, and in the heroic sacrifices of Huber and Rosenbaum—but the manifestation itself was a repudiation of those who would shut it down.

Washington, DC manifested in protest at the closing of the RNC, offering a split-screen of protest against Trump’s remarks in the White House, and the weekend leading into the anniversary of MLK’s speech. 

Millions—and millions—hate what is represented by Trump and want an end to the NIGHTMARE.

Other voices have joined in the fray: 

Professional athletes and their teams, across the board, as evident in the statements of people like Doc Rivers, Chris Webber and LeBron James, who stated “Fuck this man,” leaving sufficiently ambiguous the implications of both the intolerability of police brutality and murder in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting and the open white supremacy of Trump. 

Jewish organizations in support of Black Lives Matter such as the joint letter signed by over 600 multi-racial Jewish denominations, organizations and synagogues that represent over half of Jewish people in the U.S., declaring in no uncertain terms, “Unequivocally: Black Lives Matter.”

And many, many, more … 

But Will It Go Where It Needs To?

While the people have NOT backed down, cowed into submission—MUCH, much more needs to be done, to broaden, strengthen and focus the struggle to DRIVE out this regime from power, as in the call from Refuse Fascism, #OutNow!

In Portland, they stood firm in the wake of the fascist assault—and this is needed, even more than ever, coming back STRONGER, BIGGER, AND ANEW with each attack. 

This is how ALL struggles—for justice, for radical change, for revolution—advance and will be required. 

As we stated in the article on the Democratic National Convention, with the Beautiful Rising, “overnight, the impossible became possible, in so many ways,” and this continues including in the broad manifestation around the anniversary of MLK’s speech.     

Bob Avakian states in the Statement, given the challenges we confront: “At this critical hour, every appropriate means of non-violent action must be utilized to remove this regime from power.” This includes voting, but not solely relying on it, especially in the wake of Trump undermining the integrity, de-legitimizing the process and threatening to not abide by the results. 

This is fascism, and mass political resistance is needed to drive out this regime!

60 days of sustained and growing non-violent mobilization has been called by Refuse Fascism—starting September 5th and going into and through the election. 

Everyone, everywhere:

SEPTEMBER 5th

Protest and Demand:

TRUMP PENCE OUT NOW!

Launch 60 Days of Struggle

Mass Non-violent Protest everyday

Tell the world: we are uniting, we are organizing, we are determined, we are preparing to struggle with all we’ve got, starting now and not stopping until the Trump/Pence Regime is driven from power and its fascist program brought to a halt.

And read, return to and spread BA’s important statement.

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