The Haditha Massacre Concentrates the Nature of the US War on Iraq

June 4, 2006

The foul massacre perpetrated by US Marines at Haditha must be condemned by everyone who opposes injustice. This incident concentrates everything that's wrong with the US war in Iraq,including the attempt to bury the murders with the lie that the victims of the massacre were killed by bombs exploded by Iraqi insurgents. (Do these lies remind anybody of Bush's claims of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq?)

After a US soldier was killed in a bombing, Marines gunned down several men who were near a check point. They went into a house and killed an entire family. And then went into other houses. When the massacre was over, five hours later, 24 people -- men, women and children, ranging in age from two-years-old to grandparents had been killed, some of them execution style.

Despite government claims to the contrary, this was no isolated incident. Stories about other massacres committed by US troops are starting to come out. These atrocities reflect the nature of the war the US is waging. Remember how they began the war with massive bombing runs they called "Shock and Awe?" Remember the times that Iraqis were gunned down at US-manned check points? Remember the leveling of Falluja? Remember Abu Ghraib?

This is what an unjust war comes down to. An imperialist power wielding high tech weaponry to pound an oppressed country into submission. Occupying troops committing atrocity after atrocity against the people.

We've seen this before -- I know about this from the Vietnam war. I was in the US army back then, and they gave me orders to go to Vietnam. I decided I had to find out what I would be a part of if I went. I talked to everyone I could find who had done time in 'Nam. I already knew about the My Lai massacre where US troops destroyed a whole village-killing hundreds of men, women and children and burning down the whole village. What I learned from talking to GI's was that the foul massacre at My Lai concentrated Standard Operating Procedure for US troops in Vietnam - that it seemed like everyone over there was the enemy, so everyone was fair game to be killed or brutalized, including women, children and old people. All this is why I refused to go to Vietnam--because I refused to be a part of the criminal war the US was waging in Vietnam.

I got sent to jail for two years for refusing to go to Vietnam, while the real criminals--the officers who ordered the My Lai Massacre, the GI's who participated in it, to say nothing of the architects of the whole war -- basically went unpunished. But I have no regrets. The stand I took, to refuse to fight in an unjust war, was the right stand to take during the Vietnam War. And this experience was a big part of how I came to see that this system is rotten to the core -- and a big part of how I became a revolutionary communist.

The war the US is waging in Iraq is, like the war in Vietnam, a criminal war. No one should be a part of this kind of war. And people who oppose this war need to support the troops who refuse to fight in it.

May 1: Another World--A Communist World--Is Possible!

Proclaim Our Vision, Celebrate Our Achievements, Intensify Our Struggle

May 1 is the revolutionary holiday. Red flags flying, we proclaim our vision:

A world free of the rule of capital; a world, instead, in which the needs and wants of the people--and NOT the never-ending search for ever more profit--determines what and how things get produced and distributed; a world where the planet is cherished, rather than plundered and even destroyed...

A world free of the social relations that divide people into exploiter and exploited, oppressor and oppressed... a world free of the prisons, the torturers and cops, and the armies that march over the planet to extend and enforce those social relations; a world, instead, in which people confront each other as freely interacting human beings...

A world free of the thinking that flows out of and reinforces the division into classes and the institutions of oppression--free of the fear and ignorance spread by religion; free of the bigotry that can imagine nothing higher than lording it over someone else; free of the constant me-first calculations imposed by daily life under capitalism... a world, instead, where people come together to confront and understand reality with open inquisitive minds, taking joy in the search for truth ...

A world free of the division between those who work with their minds and those who must work with their backs, free of borders, free of the domination of women by men ...a world, instead, where people come together cooperatively and voluntarily, working with both hand and mind, to transform the world. . . and to transform themselves in the process...

In short, a COMMUNIST world.

The Dream Can Be Realized
Humanity can do this. The class divisions and oppressive institutions and ideas that weigh on people today have NOT been here forever. Nor are they part of “human nature.” They came into being at a certain point in history--and they can also go out of existence and be replaced with something far better.

For tens of thousands of years people lived in small, communal societies, unable to produce much beyond their immediate needs. But as people’s knowledge developed over generations, it became possible to create a surplus over and above what was needed for survival. With that, the basis arose for one part of society to compel the majority to work for it, and to control the wealth they created. And that’s what happened, in several different parts of the world--humanity divided into antagonistic classes: master and slave, exploiter and exploited.

The new ruling classes monopolized knowledge for themselves, and generated new oppressive institutions--from the subordination of women in the family, to the rise of armies and prisons, high priests and kings. And they generated new oppressive ideas to justify those institutions. Through all the history which followed--as capitalism replaced slavery and feudalism as the dominant mode of production, and as presidents and parliaments took command of the instruments of repression from kings and emperors--people have never stopped fighting to get free, and never stopped dreaming of a better world.

Today, we can do more than dream--and the freedom we dream of and fight for can be something very different, and on a far higher level, than even the loftiest aspirations of the past. Today’s forces of production--which include the technology and the knowledge that people have, and people themselves--could produce abundance for everyone. Moreover, these productive forces are, for the first time, highly socialized. That is, many people must work together to utilize and even create these means of production. But these productive forces, though now socialized, are still privately owned and dominated by capitalists, and this fetters, distorts and perverts their great potential.

Confronting these capitalists is the proletariat--the new exploited class whose members work together on the huge, globally integrated productive forces, but own nothing. Before the proletariat arose the oppressed classes of earlier times could fight heroically, but their victories ultimately resulted--and due to the relatively crude and small-scale nature of the productive forces, could only result--in new forms of exploitation. But the proletariat can only achieve its emancipation by seizing today’s highly socialized productive forces for all of society, and by leading society to put an end to all forms of exploitation and all forms of oppression and all the ideas that correspond to and reinforce them: a revolution to emancipate all of humanity.

May 1 is a day to renew and deepen and proclaim everywhere that vision--that this communist world IS the other world that is possible, the new world straining to be born within the death-agonies of the old, the red flower pushing up through the concrete.

Revolution--And A Radically Different State Power
To do all this requires a revolution, led by the proletariat and involving tens of millions of people, to establish socialism. That revolution would be a great and liberating leap in and of itself, and an opening of the pathway to full emancipation. And that revolution--and the whole historical epoch of transformation which it begins--in turn requires a Party, drawing in people from all parts of society who take up and dedicate themselves to the communist outlook and cause. The exploiters and oppressors of centuries must be overthrown: their instruments of dictatorship--their armies, their prisons, and so on--must be shattered, and their grip over the people broken. And all this must be led.

Surrounded by imperialist countries and contending with overthrown exploiters, dealing with the “birthmarks” of the old society, the victorious proletariat will still need a state and instruments of suppression, or dictatorship. But this must be a state of a radically different kind--a state that serves the masses and suppresses the exploiters, one that fosters the elimination of exploitation and exploitative relations, and the elimination of all oppressive divisions, institutions and ideas, and NOT their fortification and extension. A state that meets the basic needs of the people for housing, healthcare, education etc, and doing this in a way that builds up the material and the social and ideological foundations for communism. A state that not only defends itself against attack, but also supports revolution all around the world, aiming for a global society of freely cooperating people. It must hold firmly onto power--and it must go as far as it can, at every point, to involve the broadest numbers of people in wrangling over and running things, as part of getting toward communist society, where neither state nor party will any longer be required. But until communism is reached, there must be a state: and this state must be the dictatorship of the proletariat. It means democracy for the masses on an unprecedented scale in conjunction with the suppression of exploiters, old and new.

On May 1, we celebrate our achievements in this world-historic struggle and especially the first great milestones on that path: the October Revolution of 1917, where the proletariat for the first time seized and held power for nearly 40 years in what became the Soviet Union; and the Chinese Revolution, and especially the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, in which the proletariat not only seized power but in which the masses themselves, led by Mao and revolutionaries within the Chinese Communist Party, later rose up to prevent the restoration of capitalism by new exploiters who arose within the communist party itself. Both of these revolutions emancipated people in a way never before seen in history, achieving incredible things; but both were eventually defeated by the still-remaining and formidable strength of imperialism.1 We draw inspiration from these revolutions, and we must learn all we can from their amazing achievements under severe fire; that isoverwhelmingly the main thing. At the same time, we must analyze their shortcomings and push further in our thinking, and in our practice.

Today Bob Avakian, Chairman of our Party, has re-envisioned communism and developed a “new synthesis”--that is, a new comprehensive and systematic understanding--of the experience of the whole first wave of proletarian revolutions and of Marxism itself. He’s developed a model of socialism in which the proletariat both holds firmly onto power but also fosters and promotes dissent and critical thought and “struggle from below” as essential elements in the struggle to reach a communist society. The leadership of the new society would encourage and fight for a critical and scientific approach to understanding and getting at the truth--with plenty of room for awe and wonder and imagination. As part of that, this radical new kind of state would embrace scientists, intellectuals, and artists--they would do intellectual and artistic work, raising questions and searching for the truth, even as they were led to contribute to breaking down the barriers with other sections of society, especially the formerly exploited and oppressed.

The new society would forge a new morality, one that rejected the me-first dog-eat-dog ways of capitalism and instead cherished the lives of the people of the world and stood for equality between nations and peoples and between men and women. This new morality would value and encourage struggle against the oppressive relations that would still remain, not resignation and surrender to them. There is a complexity to Chairman Avakian’s thinking on this that we cannot do justice to in a short essay like this. But we can say that engaging deeply with Bob Avakian’s thinking on all this is absolutely essential to getting to a better world, and his crucial, critical contributions are also something to celebrate on this day.

Two Worlds In Struggle
May 1 is, finally, a day to take the next steps in this monumental struggle. To make a revolution, you need millions of people who are willing to put everything on the line, a party with a correct strategy and deep ties among the masses, and a deep crisis in society itself. We don’t have that situation now; but we do have the opportunity and the urgent necessity to do the political preparation that can hasten that time.

Things today are very sharply posed. You could almost see it as “two universes.” Their universe poses a future--and a present--of greatly heightened worldwide exploitation and the destruction of whole peoples in the process; of imperialist war and occupation, with threats of even worse to come; of religious fundamentalism running amok all over the planet, including the real threat of a Christian Fascist theocracy within the U.S. itself, all serving to tighten the chains on women and to clamp the blinders of ignorance on everyone; of intensifying racist oppression, especially within the U.S., as shown by the government response to Katrina and the attacks on the immigrants; and of the destruction of the environment in a profit-driven frenzy to plunder the earth.

But there is another “universe,” one made up of people whose most fundamental interests stand opposed to all this and many of whom already want something different, something better. People who are sick of the lies and brutality and suppression. Who can’t stand the way that this society exploits and dogs and diminishes people, and who want to see--who yearn for--a society where people in their great masses could really flourish. Who have been shaken by the events of the past several years, and hunger for new directions and new thinking. Who are willing to dream of, and critically think about, what a different world might look like and how we might get there. People who say no and, in saying it, say yes very profoundly. People who resist. People who are ready to reach out to and challenge those still in the grip of the system’s madness, or locked in fatalism and paralysis, and win them over.

The stakes in all this are very high. There is the horror that “life as usual” under imperialism means for billions; and there is the intensified horror of all that wedded to a new Dark Ages, as the imperialists move to make radical changes in the ways in which they’ve carried out their domination. But as these imperialists move to radically restructure their rule, there is a real chance to wrench out a revolutionary opening for a different kind of radical change. But only if the people struggle, and only if they do so increasingly conscious of their own interests, reaching out ever more broadly and resisting the pull back to the confines of the system that got us in this situation in the first place.

* * *

It is fitting that May 1 takes place in the heart of spring, when the new and arising defies--and triumphs over--the dead hand of winter. So let us celebrate this occasion as we should--in the streets, banners high, proclaiming our vision, new life surging in our voices as we get the word out far and wide. There is a world to win!



1. Even though China still calls itself socialist, and even though the ruling party there still claims the name of “communist,” they have since a coup in 1976 been a capitalist country with communist trappings. back to article

Support March 14 Washington DC March Against Katrina Evictions!

For a report, go to www.KatrinaMarch.org/; and for more photos, go to www.isisimagery.blogspot.com/
March for Justice

This was a march on March 14, 2006 in Washington, DC, to demand housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina and a moratorium on evictions. This is a march to save lives, and to prevent thousands
from homelessness.

NO EVICTIONS! REAL TRANSITIONAL & PERMANENT HOUSING FOR ALL TO RETURN HOME!

March 14, 2006 in Washington, D.C.
1-2 p.m. Press Conference, Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2237
2-3 p.m. Mardi Gras Style March for Justice from Capitol South Metro Stop to White House
3-Midnight Rally & Protest at Lafayette Square Park

Send messages of support and solidarity to protest@hiphopcaucus.org. More more information: 202-545-0113 or 888-545-0113. Go to www.KatrinaMarch.org/

International Women's Day 2006 Speech by Carl Dix in Solidarity with the Great Walk Against Anti Women Laws In Iran's Islamic Republic

Photo: The Great March in Dusseldorf on March 7th

Editor's Note: This speech was delivered on March 8, 2006 in Jackson Heights, New York.

It is of great significance that we're out here today marching in solidarity with the Great Walk Against Anti-Women Laws in Iran's Islamic Republic. This MARCH opposes the inequality that the Iranian regime and other Islamic fundamentalists are imposing on women. And it opposes imperialist domination all over the globe and the oppression this domination brings down on women. And it's significant that we're doing this on March 8, International Women's Day, one of the most important holidays of the revolutionary proletariat.

Today women all over the world face lives full of poverty, brutality and misery. In many parts of the world, women are subjected to mass rape in military conflicts. Many women are forced to watch their children die of diseases that could be easily prevented or cured. Today in countries like Iran where Islamic fundamentalists hold power women severe restrictions like--death by stoning for violating anti woman laws, public lashing of women, forced veiling and more.

US imperialism and its mouthpieces give us a steady drum beat of claims that their set up is the best of all possible worlds, and they say especially the best set up for women. They tell women, and men, that if you are outraged at the subjugation Islamic Fundamentalists impose on women, then you have to support them and their "War On Terrorism." These are cruel and deceitful lies. The US rulers enforce outrageous oppression on women here in this country. Women constantly face the threat, and reality, of physical violence & sexual abuse. And the Christian Fascists grouped around the Bush regime have their sites set squarely on eliminating the right to have an abortion. And they also are backing up and further unleashing forces they subjugate women in the name of Islamic fundamentalism, like the rulers of Saudi Arabia or reactionary forces in Iraq. The imperialist rulers of the US are essentially saying to people, whose form of slavery do you want, ours or theirs?

As RCP Chairman Bob Avakian has pointed out, "While it may take some different forms, brutality against women, inequality and subordination and degradation in every sphere of society is no less a fundamental and indispensable feature of 'modern' bourgeois-imperialist countries than it is in 'Islamic' and other societies where there are significant aspects of pre-capitalist forms of oppression and exploitation."

Things don't have to be like this. We don't have to choose between regimes where Mullahs search the Koran for justification to enslave women or a regime where the Bible as interpreted by suckers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell is enforced as the law of the land and used to justify the subjugation of women. There is a real way out of the madness imperialism inflicts on the people of the world today, all the ways it subjects women to inequality and degradation and all the other oppression and exploitation it forces the world's people to endure. That way is proletarian revolution, millions of people rising up to get rid of this imperialist system all over the globe and building a whole new world on the ashes of this messed up one. A world where the division of society into a handful of rulers and the great majority of people who get ruled over is ended once and for all. And where all the exploitative economic relations, degrading social relations and backward ideas that were promoted under imperialism are also done away with.

The oppression of women is an integral part of the kind of world imperialism forces people to live in. Subjugating women is an integral part of the morality that imperialism enforces. And the liberation of women is a cornerstone of proletarian revolution. The revolution that it is the mission of this class to bring about, and that our party, the RCP, exists to give leadership to, aims at breaking all the chains of oppression. It cannot and must not break all the chains except the one that binds women into subjugation.

This kind of revolution is not a pipe dream. The masses in the Soviet Union and China rose up in revolution and overthrew their ruling classes and began the process of totally transforming society and themselves. These societies achieved miraculous things while the working class held state power, and one of the miracles was that the situation and status of women was greatly changed.

Before the revolution in the Soviet Union women could be bought and sold as brides and servants. Women were treated as beasts of burden, on farms and in menial sweatshop jobs. In the new socialist Soviet Union, the question of womens liberation was widely discussed and struggled over. Oppressive and patriarchal customs were criticized and challenged. Measures were taken to free women from the tasks of childcare, cooking, and cleaning.

In revolutionary China a new marriage law put an end to arranged marriages and child brides and gave women the right to divorce. Women's associations struggled against those who expected women to do all the housework and childcare. Women organized to confront and take strict measures against wife beaters. Practices like binding the feet of women, which broke the bones in the feet and crippled women in the name of making them more attractive to men were ended. And there were many more great achievements made when our class held power.

We can accomplish miracles like this through making proletarian revolution today. And we can go even further in remaking society and uprooting the oppression of women than was achieved in past revolutionary societies because today we have the leadership of Bob Avakian who has re-envisioned the Communist future and how to get there.

Bob Avakian has re-envisioned a future socialist society as one where people are educated in a scientific outlook that will enable them to find real solutions to the problems of transforming the conditions of the people and overcoming the great, historic divides between city and countryside, mental and manual labor, women and men. He has put forward that in this society the revolutionary leadership must foster an atmosphere of diversity, initiative and creativity that not only allows dissent but encourages and fosters it. Because it is only in this way that we'll be able to get the deepest possible understanding of reality and on that basis be able to transform it.

In today's world where the alternatives are posed as either imperialist so-called liberation or suffocating feudal tradition, our choice must be -- NEITHER. Neither reactionary alternative has anything in common with the emancipation of women -- or anything in common with the interests of the great majority of people of the world, men as well as women.

Our choice must be to fight the oppression of women and all the other shit imperialism brings down on people around the world. And we in the RCP do this as part of building toward the time when people can rise up and get rid of this system once and for all through revolution.

Acting on this is very urgent. The Christian Fascists grouped around the Bush regime are moving rapidly to enforce a fascist theocracy in the US, which would pose great danger for the world's people. At the same time, their moves to impose this theocracy are jolting many, many more people into political life and into opposition to their foul agenda. This is creating real openings to drastically alter the way forces in society are lining up in ways that are more favorable to building resistance and making revolution. The future is not yet written. whether we end up having a fascist theocracy shoved down our throats or are able to fight through to bring a better world into existence is up to us.

Break the Chains!
Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Revolution!

IWD Solidarity 2006: IWD Event NYC- Solidarity with the Great Walk Against Anti Women Laws in Iran's Islamic Republic"

IWD Solidarity 2006: IWD Event NYC- Solidarity with the Great Walk Against Anti Women Laws in Iran's Islamic Republic"

Break the Chains!
Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Revolution!

Here in NYC, on March 8th, 2006, International Women's Day:

Stand in unity and solidarity with the "Great Walk Against Anti Women Laws in Iran's Islamic Republic" in Europe!

This week, starting March 4 in Frankfurt, Germany, women and men are marching through city centres and will rally at the Hague on March 8th. The call from the organizers of the European Great Walk (Campaign for the Abolition of All Misogynist, Gender-Based Legislation & Islamic Punitive Laws in Iran) starts with:

"If you are against death by stoning!
If you are against forced veiling!
If you are against the prosecution and imprisonment of women!
If you are against lashing a woman's body!
If you are against any form of patriarchy!
If you are against the medieval laws of Iran's Islamic Republic of Iran imposing inequality on women!-
Join the [European] great walk against anti-women laws in Iran's Islamic Republic on 8 March 2006!"

(European Great Walk: www.karzar-zanan.com, www.8mars.com)

----

In New York on International Women's Day, March 8, we will bring together a multinational gathering of women, men and young people in solidarity with the Great Walk in Europe.

A future of Islamic Fundamentalism vs. the Bush regime's "McCrusades" is a brutal disaster for the world's women and people, and we cannot and will not accept it. Support those risking their lives to oppose barbaric Islamic fundamentalist laws and practices against women -- be part of bringing forward movements of women and people the world over to reject both deadly and crushing ruling orders, instead fighting for relations of equality between women and men, and against domination and plunder of the world's nations and countries by a handful of imperialist powers.

To those who still wonder whether George Bush and his regime can deliver some kind of liberation to the women and people of the Middle East or any corner of the globe -- as one of the Great Walk statements says: "The American government has declared that it seeks to liberate the women of the Middle East from the yoke of Islamic fundamentalism. This is a ridiculous claim that makes a mockery of real liberation and is an insult to the women of the Middle East. The march of events in Afghanistan and Iraq should have helped those who were taken in by these self-styled liberators of Middle Eastern women to realize how badly they were fooled. If anyone still believes that George Bush and his ilk are liberators of women, please talk to American women fighting to prevent him from taking away their right to abortion as well as against the efforts of the Christian fascists to dominate every aspect of the lives of women in the U.S. What George Bush is taking away from the women in the USA he will not deliver to women in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan or any other country."

Join with us in supporting the Great Walk in Europe. As their material states: "In this rally there is a place for all freedom-loving women and men, all political and progressive and revolutionary forces, who want equality between men and women in every aspect of life, a place for all those who oppose gender discrimination in any form." And: "Celebrate 8 March 2006 with us and help us to build the independent ranks of women against U.S. imperialism as well as the reactionary states governing these countries."

Wed, March 8th, 2006
March: 5:00 PM Starts at 83rd and Roosevelt Ave.
(7 train to 82st St.)
Rally: 6:30 PM 73th Street and Broadway
(7, E, F, R, G trains to 74th St/ Roosevelt)

Join up with us immediately!
Tel: (917) 553-4704

Email: iwdsolidarity2006nyc@yahoo.com
Website: http://iwdsolidarity2006nyc.blogspot.com

Break the Chains!
Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Revolution!

February 4th Speech at the Bush Step Down and Take Your Program With You! Rally, Washington, DC

Note: Go to http://www.worldcantwait.net/ for reports on WCW actions on January 31st and February 4th.
* * *

First off, I want to give big props to everybody who's thrown themselves heart and soul into this effort to forge this movement. A movement that aims at nothing less than Driving the Bush regime out of power. What we are doing is historic. We're aiming at nothing less than forging a movement that can drive a sitting president out of power.

We are locked in a political battle for the future. We face a tough fight, but what we're doing is right. We are speaking for and acting for millions out here today. There's nothing too horrible for them to inflict on the people. As the World Can't Wait call states, "the Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come." In the wake of the wiretapping revelations and the Alito appointment, can anyone doubt it?

If you want further proof, look at Bush's state of the union speech. He began it by going on the offensive and justifying the war and his wiretapping. Then he declared that the only people he would listen to are those who are trying to help accomplish the goals he has set out. And as he neared his conclusion, he vowed to deal with the AIDS epidemic by channeling money for treatment through faith based organizations. Based on the dictates of the Bush regime, this approach has been implemented in places like Uganda, and it has led directly to the deaths of thousands of people.

Yet with all this being shoved down our throats, most of the top democrats support the war and the Patriot Act. Even on things they differ with Bush on, they almost never put up a real fight. And even then the fight they put out was pitiful.

We have to rely on the only thing that has ever changed this world: the people, struggling for their real interests against their real enemy. If we are to really drive out this regime brothers and sisters we must reach out to those millions; and we must mobilize thousands upon thousands of them to join in this movement. And together with them we have to take up the kind of actions that can tap into the dreams of those millions to change the direction of society and can inspire them to join in the resistance. Our actions today can do the same.

That's why it's so important that we're out here today. And that we carry thru and build off of what we do today to continue to mobilize people to drive the Bush regime from power. Our unity in this fight and our determination to carry it through till Bush & Co. are gone must challenge and inspire many, many others to join in.

BUSH STEP DOWN AND TAKE YOUR WHOLE PROGRAM WITH YOU!

Crimes Against Humanity IS the Issue!

January 20, 2006

Friends,

I'm writing to let you know about an exciting and important event--the final session of the International Commission of Inquiry into Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration. This session will be held on Jan 20-22, this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The first two days, the session will be at Riverside Church (see details below), and the final day it will be at Columbia Law School. It will hear testimony from government whistle blowers, experts and eyewitnesses speaking about the war and occupation in Iraq, torture and indefinite detention, attacks on global public health, destruction of the global environment and the lethal nature of the Bush administration to Hurricane Katrina. At this peoples' tribunal, people who know will speak the unspeakable--that the many foul things the Bush administration is doing aren't the result of well meaning mistakes or inept bungling. That they come down to crimes against humanity and war crimes!

Participants will include: former Abu Ghraib commander, Gen. Karpinski, former UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, attorneys for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Detention center, Iraqi journalist, Dahr Jamail. The Katrina session will feature survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Attorney Chokwe Lumumba will head this prosecution team. The judges at the session will include South African author, Dennis Brutus, and former US diplomat, Ann Wright. Harry Belafonte will make opening remarks on Friday night.

The content of this tribunal can play an important role today. It can help give shape and further impetus to the debate that's raging in the US and around the world about how to look at the Bush administration and what to do in response to its actions. And it has added significance because of the times it's occurring in. Coinciding with the confirmation vote on another fascist Bush is putting on the Supreme Court, the exposure of Bush's domestic spying program, court cases over secret camps, torture and indefinite detention. Also this weekend, as controversy rages over New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin having said that his city should be a majority Black one, this tribunal will present witnesses who will make clear that Bush & co are looking at Hurricane Katrina as an opportunity to drive Black people out of New Orleans.

All this points to the danger Bush & Company pose to people around the world and in the US as well. And it underscores the critical importance of the kind of testimony that will be presented at this tribunal. I want to especially call to your attention the session on an indictment of the Bush administration for the lethal nature of the Bush response to Hurricane Katrina on Sunday at 3 PM at the Columbia Law School. We will hear from survivors of the hurricane, from experts on flood control and the environment and from activists, who will lay bare how the actions and inactions of Bush & Company caused massive suffering and loss of life before, during and after Hurricane Katrina.

I urge you to spread the word on the Bush Crimes Commission to everyone interested in justice and everyone who wants to know what's really going on. The Commission's sessions this weekend are as follows:
Friday, 5:30-9:00 PM at Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Avenue entrance at 119th Street, Manhattan. (#1 IRT to 116th or 125th Stations.)

Saturday, 10:15 AM - 5:00 PM at Riverside Church (see address above).

Sunday, 1:00 PM - 6:00 PM at Columbia Law School, 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan. (#1 IRT to 116th Street Station.)

For more information, please go to www.bushcommission.org.

In Struggle

Carl Dix, national spokesperson, Revolutionary Communist Party
----------------------------
Crimes Against Humanity IS the issue

Jan 20-21 The Riverside Church
Jan. 22 Columbia University Law School
Friday 6:00 Keynote by Harry Belafonte
On January 20, 21, and 22, 2006 an unprecedented line-up of witnesses will present their evidence before the International Commission on Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration.
The Commission hearings will be held at The Riverside Church and the Columbia University Law School in Manhattan
The proceedings will powerfully raise the central issue of our day, the issue those in power have declared out of order and out of bounds: Is the Administration of George W. Bush guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity? This act of conscience, defiance and truth can change the way millions see this administration, and help reshape the entire debate about the Bush administration.
Testimony from internationally-known experts and whistle-blowers, including
former commander of Abu Ghraib prison Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, former British ambassador Craig Murray (speaking for the first time in the U.S., and quoted January 16 by Al Gore), ex-UN arms inspector Scott Ritter, and many others, will be delivered before a distinguished jury of conscience.
Go to www.bushcommission.org for the full schedule and to register online.
FRIDAY EVENING and SATURDAY: The Riverside Church , 91 Claremont Avenue , Manhattan
SUNDAY, January 22, 1 - 5 pm, Columbia University Law School, 116th Street & Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan
The indictments allege war crimes and crimes against humanity authorized by the Bush Administration in relation to:

1) Wars of Aggression, particular reference to Iraq and Afghanistan;
2) Torture and Indefinite Detention ;
3) Destruction of the Global Environment, distortion of science and obstruction of efforts to stem global warming;
4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights , potentially genocidal effects of enforcing abstinence- only, global gag rule; and
5) Failure of Bush administration, despite foreknowledge, to protect life during and after Hurricane Katrina.
The commission was organized by the Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience and is endorsed by: Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, After Downing Street.org and others, including Former Sen. James Abourezk, former British MP Tony Benn, authors Gore Vidal and Howard Zinn, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and actor Edward Asner.

www.bushcommission.org

THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT--DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!

URGENTLY NEEDED, MASSIVE RESISTANCE ON NOVEMBER 2ND!

Editor's Note: The below op-ed piece was a late submission to the Final Call newspaper, and was not printed.
---

With all that's going down today, massive resistance is indeed urgently needed. George Bush and co. are inflicting untold horrors on the country and the world. And they have plans to enforce even more horrendous things if they're not stopped. Stopping them needs to begin immediately, and there's a call for the kind of resistance that's needed. There's call to mobilize massive resistance to everything the Bush regime represents on November 2nd. On that day, in cities across the country, people will take to the streets in determined action to drive the Bush regime from office.

There are many, many reasons why this is what urgently needs to be done today. Already the US is waging an illegitimate and immoral war and occupation in Iraq, and they're threatening war against Syria and Iran. The Bush regime has decreed that it has the authority to detain without charges or the possibility of review by any court anyone they deem a threat as an enemy combatant. They have also legitimized torture. And much more.

What happened in New Orleans before, during and after Hurricane Katrina underscores the horrors the Bush agenda have in store for Black people. 10,000's of people, most of them Black were left in the path of the hurricane without emergency evacuation. After it hit, they were left for days without food, water or message, and the authorities made no attempts to rescue them. Kanye West said that this showed Bush doesn't care about Black people. This is true, and it's even worse than that. Bus drivers from Houston organized a convoy of several hundred buses and came to New Orleans to bring food and water to people and take 1000's of them to safety. But they were stopped and sent back to Houston without being allowed to rescue anyone. Health professionals who volunteered to treat people were blocked from doing so. Companies that donated emergency supplies for people weren't allowed to
bring them in. And when the people of New Orleans organized themselves to get the emergency supplies they needed to save their own and others' lives, Bush called them "criminals" and "looters."

And I'm not hyping this one bit. Look at what Bush & co had to say about the situation in New Orleans. Bush told Michael Brown, the crony he appointed to head up Federal Emergency Management Agency, "Brownie, you're doing a hell of a job" while untold numbers of people were dying and suffering needlessly. Republican Congressman James Baker of Louisiana said: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did" The general in charge of the troops who came into New Orleans right after the hurricane when 1000's of lives were at risk from flooding and lack of food and water said: "This place is going to look like Little Somalia. We're going to go out and take this city back. this will be a combat operation to get this city under control." Bush's own mother had this to say about the horrendous conditions the survivors of Katrina faced in the Houston
Astrodome: "So many of the people in the arena here were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them." The genocidal implications of all this should be clear.

The events in New Orleans represent a murderous coming together of the oppression this system has forced Black people to endure since the 1st African was dragged to these shores in slavery's chains and the concentration and of that oppression that the Bush regime represents. Clinton contributed to the misery people faced in New Orleans thru his role in ending welfare as we know it. But it is real that Bush's agenda represented an intensification of all this. And his regime is moving to intensify it even further. Jeb Bush, governor of Florida and George's brother, has just received federal authorization to impose an annual cap on Medicaid payments. This means that more poor people will die from lack of access to medical treatment. We can't go thru 3 more years of this. New Orleans can't wait. Iraq can't wait. The World Can't Wait!

All this is why people need to join the mobilization on November 2nd. Our actions on that day must make it the beginning of the end for the Bush regime. Doing anything good for the people requires that Bush & co. be repudiated and driven from office. To get more information on the November 2nd mobilization, go to www.worldcantwait.org, or call (347) 693-3319.

* * *

Carl Dix is the initiator of the statement--New Orleans - A Time To Resist. He is also a co-founder of the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation and the national spokesperson for the Revolutionary Communist Party.

October 22, 2005 Message: 10th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality

Photo by www.suzakaphoto.com: October 22, 2005 National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality March in New York City

Editor's Note: This statement from Carl Dix, national spokesperson of the Revolutionary Communist Party; a co-founder of the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, and member of its national executive committee, was read at the New York City rally on October 22, 2005.
* * *

First, I want to send Revolutionary greetings to everybody taking to the streets today on October 22, 2005, the 10th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Can't be physically with you today because I'm involved in a hearing being held to determine whether Bush & Co. are guilty of crimes against humanity for their actions and inactions re Katrina. [Editor's Note: This is in reference to the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration, which met at its first session from October 21st through 22nd. For information, go to www.bushcommission.org/]But rest assured, I'm with you in spirit.

In its nine years, our coalition has hammered home the fact that we're dealing with a nationwide epidemic of police brutality and police murder. In fact, we have documented this in the book, Stolen Lives. Our coalition has provided the victims of police brutality and police murder and their families a platform from which to speak the truth about how their lives have been devastated. And our work has helped bring forward allies from many different sections of society to stand together with those who live their lives under the guns and billy clubs of brutal murdering pigs.

This wasn't easy to do -- when our coalition was formed it had to contend with those who said you couldn't fight Police Brutality on a nationwide level. More recently we've had to go up against an atmosphere where the authorities have, in the name of their War On Terrorism, unleashed an all encompassing repressive clamp down. And a situation where even criticizing the actions of the police has become taboo.

Well that's a taboo that the October 22nd Coalition has never bowed down to, and must continue not bowing down to. The events in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane show how timely our coalition's themes remain. Police Brutality -- Again we saw it live and on video tape when the cops beat a 64 year old Black teacher in New Orleans. We've seen the militarization of the police big time as the cops there collaborate with an all out military occupation of the city. Criminalization--You had every level of government joining in the demonization of Black people who heroically took it upon themselves to get the emergency supplies -- food, water and medicine -- they and others needed to survive. Emergency supplies that the authorities refused to provide and even tried to stop others from providing.

It is more important than ever that the fight to stop police brutality, repression and the criminalization continues and even gets stepped up. The agenda of Bush & Co. -- an agenda that has at its heart a drive to impose a Christian fascist theocracy, where the bible as interpreted by assholes like Pat Robertson becomes the law of the land -- involves a whole lot of brutality, repression and criminalization. This must be fought. They aim to, and have gone a long way towards, putting in place so many foul things that people will never be able to reverse what they've imposed. We can't let that happen.

I want to bring to everyone's attention a CALL aimed at doing just that -- the call FOR a massive mobilization on November 2nd -- The World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime! This day must mark the beginning of the end for the Bush regime. And everybody who hates the war on and Occupation of Iraq, who hates the USA PATRIOT Act and sees the many other foul things Bush & Co. have inflicted on the people here and around the world needs to be out in the streets on November 2nd. As a revolutionary communist, I am working to mobilize people to be out on the streets on November 2nd working to drive out the Bush regime as part of building toward being in position to seize any chance that arises to go on to rise up and make revolution and end once and for all the rotten capitalist system that is responsible for police brutality and all the other foul things that people are forced to endure here and around the world.

In closing, let me say again that the work out coalition has done -- in making October 22nd the day to take to the streets, to organize in our communities, schools and work places, to hold teach ins and cultural events--all aimed at building resistance to police brutality -- is very important. It saves lives today, and it can be part of the work that needs to be done to put the people in a position to seize a bright future out of the madness of today.

Stop police brutality, repression and the criminalization of a generation!
The capitalist system is the problem, and revolution is the solution!

[For more information on the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Police Brutality and the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, go to www.october22.org/, and to www.octber22-ny.org/.]

As a matter of record...

Akil Bomani was, for a certain period time, part of the Revolutionary Commust Tour as a member of the Chicago Revolutionary Writer's and Artists Collective. However, after a certain point it became clear that Akil Bomani actually has very significant disagreements with the viewpoint and aims of the Tour and of the RCP, and since early October 2005, he has no longer been a part of the Tour and has had no political association with the Tour or with the RCP or Revolution newspaper, nor does the Tour or the RCP have anything to do with any artistic or other endeavors Akil Bomani may have undertaken.

Letter from Carl Dix: Support Carl Dix and Clyde Young's Trip to Gulf Coast Area


September 14, 2005

Dear friend,

I have embarked on a very important trip, along with Clyde Young – another of the comrades in the "Revolutionary Communist 4 Speaking Tour" currently underway. Clyde and I are going to the Gulf Coast areas of Louisiana and Texas that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The situation there continues to be very critical. New Orleans and other areas are under military occupation – nothing can be done without the okay of the military or the police. People are being stopped from providing desperately needed food, water and other forms of relief if they don't have approval from the authorities. And the authorities and their mouthpieces in media continue to
demonize people as "looters" and "thugs" when they take things into their own hands to get what they and others need to survive.

Clyde and I will take the message of the statement: "New Orleans: A Call To Resist!" to the people who were and are in the eye of the storm--that it was the Bush regime's criminal actions (and inaction) that is responsible for the death and suffering people have endured in the wake of Katrina. As the statement says, “New Orleans is an extreme example of what the Bush regime has meant for Black people in this country. This can't be tolerated any longer.”

"New Orleans: A Call to Resist!" calls out the government for its more-repression-less-relief actions. It demands that the government not only meet the needs of all those displaced, but also calls upon the government to cease its criminalization, arrests and roundups of survivors seeking relief and sustenance in New Orleans and other devastated areas. The statement also calls for political action to "drive out the illegitimate Bush regime."

While we're down there, we will link up with the people who bore the brunt of the storm and are still bearing the brunt of the authorities' attacks. We will find out what's really going down on the ground. We aim to help break through the media whitewash of the situation and spread the stories of the heroic efforts people have made to meet their own and others' needs. And we will join with people in building resistance to the many ways the authorities are continuing to put people in harm's way. This kind of resistance will dramatically change the situation.

For this trip to be a success, I need your involvement and assistance. First off, it would be great if any of the signers or supporters of the statement could join us down on the Gulf. (Please contact us by email at atimetoresist@hotmail.com.) If you can't make the trip down there, you can still help. We need people to contribute money to offset the cost of this trip. (Airfare alone will cost $2,000. On top of that, it will cost hundreds more for living expenses, traveling around the area, producing materials, etc.) We also need you to continue and escalate spreading the statement to others and encouraging them to get involved in this effort. The hearts of millions go out to the people who were trapped in New Orleans and other devastated areas. People hate the way many thousands were put in harm's way and then demonized by the Bush regime. Our statement provides an avenue for people to express their concern and join the fight for what the survivors need to survive. Our demands speak to the actual situation people have been forced into, and what’s needed to help ensure their survival. Our call for resistance is right on time. It is turning out that it takes a fight even to get food, water and other necessities to people who desperately need them.

I want to be in touch with as many of you as possible while we're down on the coast. Feel free to give me a call to talk about how things are going, what we're finding out and what kind of mass resistance we're involving in unleashing. Keep me up on what you have been able to do with the statement, what kinds of people you're getting it to, what they think about it, and what media you've been able to get to cover this effort. What are your ideas on how to take this effort to a much higher level?

This battle has just begun, and we need all that everyone can do to make our efforts a success. You can get copies of the statement and the cover letter by writing us via e mail at: atimetoresist@hotmail.com. You can also write to us at P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station, New York, NY 10002.

If you want to support the trip Carl Dix and Clyde Young are making to the Gulf Coast you need to contact us by email at atimetoresist@hotmail.com.

NEW ORLEANS: A CALL TO RESIST!

Note: "New Orleans: A Call to Resist!" was initiated by Carl Dix. For a complete list of signatories, please write to < atimetoresist@hotmail.com >.
---

New Orleans: A Time to Resist! P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station, New York NY 10002
Telephone: 866-482-2539 * Email: atimetoresist@hotmail.com

September 9, 2005

Dear Friend,

We are writing to ask you to add your name to the signatories of the statement below and circulate it to others and encourage them to sign and circulate it.

The actions and inactions of the Bush regime have been criminal. They are responsible for the many lives that have been lost and the suffering that 100,000's of people have been subjected to in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. To add insult to injury, the very officials whose actions put peoples' lives at risk
demonized people as "looters" and "thugs" when they took it upon themselves to get the food, water and medicine they needed to survive. People are rightly angry at all this.

Think of the difference it will make if thousands of people who have histories of fighting against the oppression of Black people and other injustices people have been forced to endure here in the US and around the world join together to condemn the criminal actions of Bush & Co. And if they're joined by many other people who burn with hatred at the actions of the Bush regime.

So sign this statement. And get it to others and encourage them to sign it, circulate it more broadly and promote it in any and every way they can. Many, many people in the devastated areas are still at risk. One of the things they need is broad condemnation and massive resistance to the crimes of Bush & Co.

Signed:

Carl Dix, National Spokesperson, Revolutionary Communist Party
New York, New York

Nicholas Heyward Sr., Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Foundation
Father of Nicholas Heyward, Jr. -- killed by NYPD, September 1994
Brooklyn, New York

Yuri Kochiyama, Long Time Political and Social Activist
Oakland, California

Rev. Lawrence Lucas, Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church*
New York, New York

Efia Nwangaza, Nat'l Co-Chairperson of the Jericho Movement to Free U.S. Political Prisoners
Greenville, South Carolina

Juanita Young, October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality (New York Committee)*
Mother of Malcolm Ferguson -- killed by NYPD, March 2000
Bronx, New York

* for identification purposes only.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW ORLEANS: A CALL TO RESIST!

The actions of the Bush regime in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast amount to mass murder, whether by incompetence or design. This is an urgent situation, calling out for urgent action.

We remind all people that this regime illegitimately came to power in the first place through the disfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of Black voters. We remind all people that this regime contains highly placed officials and
influential supporters with histories and viewpoints that are not only racist, but in some cases downright genocidal.

What happened in New Orleans indeed calls into question the whole history and nature of America and the national debate on this needs to rage. At the same time, New Orleans is also an extreme example of what the Bush regime in particular has meant for the masses of Black people in this country. None of this can be tolerated any longer. There can not be three more years of what happened in New Orleans.
There cannot be one more day. WE CANNOT WAIT!

The initiative of ordinary people in rescuing and supporting people at risk has been heroic. The outpouring of support from all walks of life shows where people?s hearts are. But we also need, very badly, RESISTANCE.

Therefore, we call on people to mount a massive movement to politically drive out the illegitimate Bush regime. We call on people everywhere to bring this demand out wherever you go, to build and support all actions aiming to do this, and in this way to not only defend the people from even worse horrors but to begin to build a movement that can change the course of history.

At the same time, we call on all people to support and mount actions around the following demands on the government in the current crisis:
1) Intensify the rescue operations. Stop the repression of those volunteers who are attempting to rescue people.
2) Immediate and safe evacuation for all who want it. Provide support for all those wishing to remain in New Orleans. Stop the forced dispersal of people from the New Orleans area and provide assistance to people who wish to return.
3) Stop the killing and shooting of people attempting to meet their basic needs. Stop the demonization of Black people as "looters." Stop the aggressive actions of the National Guard and Police. NOW. And an immediate apology from Bush for
his "zero tolerance for 'looters'" remark which lent force to all this repression.
4) Stop the censorship of the people of the affected areas. Bring out the full truth of what is happening, what did happen and how this came to be. And hold those responsible for this criminally accountable.
5) Immediately end the racist slander coming out from politicians and the media.

-end-

____ Add my name to "New Orleans: A Time to Resist!"

____ Contact me immediately, I can help get this initiative out there.

Name ______________________________ Address ____________________________
City ________________________________ State _______________
Zip ____________
Email _______________________________ Phone/Fax __________________________

New Orleans: A Time to Resist! P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station, New York NY 10002
Telephone: 866-482-2539 * Email: atimetoresist@hotmail.com

* * *
The initial signers of this statement are:
Carl Dix, Nat'l Spokesperson,Revolutionary Communist Party; Robin D.G. Kelley, Columbia University; Yuri Kochiyama, long-time political activist; Rev. Dr. Earl Kooperkamp, Pastor, St. Mary's Episcopal Church; Father Lawrence Lucas, Our Lady of Lourdes Church*; Efia Nwangaza, Nat'l Co-Chairperson of the Jericho Movement to Free U.S. Political Prisoners; Rev. George W. Webber, Professor Emeritus, New York
Theological Seminary*, Cornel West, Princeton University; Juanita Young, mother of Malcolm Ferguson, killed by NYPD; Nicholas Heyward Sr, father of Nicholas Heyward Jr, killed by NYPD; Rev. Luis Barrios, St. Mary's Episcopal Church.

From Slave Ships to the Superdome in New Orleans

Revolution #13, September 4, 2005, posted at revcom.us

New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. People trapped amidst squalor and chaos in the official shelters. People facing death from starvation and disease on the streets.

Most of the people trapped in the misery and chaos of post-Katrina New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast were Black. When people took what they needed to survive, they were condemned as animals and dangerous criminal gangs by the authorities. What were they supposed to do -- just die quietly?

This is what the authorities must have thought. In a hundred thousand ways Katrina laid bare the unequal and oppressive relations Black people are forced to endure under this system.

Why are the two major oil pipelines running out of the New Orleans Gulf area called the Plantation line and the Colonial line? This underscores the reality confronting Black people in this country. Black people remain concentrated on the bottom rungs of this society. This is the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow segregation and continuing oppression of Black people as a people. The sight of thousands of Black people packed into sports arenas brought back haunting visions of the holds of the slave ships which forcibly dragged millions of Africans to the shores of the New World in chains.

But the masses weren't going out like that. They defiantly went into the streets to see to their survival. Some organized efforts to meet not just their own needs but the needs of groups of people trapped in the mass shelters like the New Orleans Convention Center.

The New York Times reported that: "On Friday morning, some young men broke into the kitchen of the Marriott Hotel, across the street from the center, fixed a gigantic batch of scrambled eggs, grits and bacon and served it to storm victims." A retired teacher at the Convention Center praised these youth as "Robin Hoods" -- bringing food to the people.

It is especially outrageous to watch federal and state officials threaten people who were put in this desperate situation by government inaction with imprisonment and even death. The Governor of Louisiana said, "I have one message for these hoodlums. These troops (being sent into New Orleans) know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so if necessary." The Mississippi State Police Chief promised to deal ruthlessly with any looters. This is Mississippi, where the police used to arrest people and hold them for the KKK to lynch—where sheriffs and judges and preachers would often join lynch mobs in carrying out murderous deeds. And this is New Orleans, where a person's racial ancestry was calculated down to great-great-great grandparents. Being found to be even 1/32nd Black would subject someone to a life as a second class citizen.

George Bush said there should be zero tolerance for any lawbreaking. What about zero tolerance for a system that has not and cannot end the oppression of Black people? Or a system that now threatens people facing starvation and disease with official violence for trying to feed themselves and others? These rulers have shown what they and their system are capable of in how they dealt with this hurricane. As long as power is left in the hands of these capitalist exploiters, we’ll continue to see the kind of suffering seen in New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta area in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It's Way Past Time To Throw Off the Chains of Oppression and Get With the Emancipators of Humanity!

On the RC4 Tour: An Interview with Carl Dix by Michael Slate, KPFK-FM

* * *

Beneath the Surface, KPFK, July 19, with Michael Slate

Michael: You know that there's a lot of people, especially when you're going out among a lot of Black people, and a lot of Black people one way or another, they're going to be saying things like, 'You know what? "We’ve got to take care of Black people first."' There's Black nationalism. There’s a basis for it, and people arguing that. How do you answer this? It's a leap to go from fighting against the oppression of Black people to fighting for the emancipation of all humanity. It's much easier to get people when police brutality comes down and people will stand up and fight against that. Then when you start talking to them about, 'Look, we're talking about going up against the whole thing,' then that’s a whole other leap that's required.

Carl: We say two things to that. The first thing we say and the basis for getting into that, is, 'Look, what's the fundamental problem in this society? Where does everything else flow from?' That fundamental problem is the fact that millions of people all around the world gotta work together, labor in common to produce everything that society needs. In fact, they can produce enough so that everybody in the whole could have enough food, clothing, shelter, medicine, everything they need for a decent way of life. But what stands in the way of that is that there's a handful of capitalists who own and control the means to produce wealth when the overwhelming majority of people around the world work together to produce this stuff, it belongs to these capitalists.

They use that power to determine the way the whole world runs. And that's where everything flows from. Even the oppression of Black people fits into that in terms of, it's a way in which the imperialists, the capitalists get extra profits from the super-exploitation of Black people and they brutally suppress them to maintain those profits coming in. So we're going to situate that oppression of Black people in the context of the fundamental problem of capitalism and say that what needs to happen is, we need a movement that can aim to get rid of that fundamental problem, that can take care of the source of this problem, and that that's what we need to do. On that basis, we're challenging people to become emancipators of humanity.

Then what we say to people who want to come at it like, 'Well, look, I can see the need to fight to get my people out of this,' we say, well, look, what's the way to do that? How can that happen? We think that we need to unite everybody and bring forward and emancipation movement that is aiming to emancipate all of humanity. If all you're looking at doing is liberating your people, you've still got to say how's that going to come about? Is it going to come about by in some way trying to patch up this system, and get your piece of it, or trying to set up another system which would fundamentally work like this? Or does that exploitation and oppression that's characteristic of capitalism need to be done away with?

So that's how we would come at that, and we would engage in a lot of debate and discussion around it and we've been doing that through the course of this tour because. While it's going to take a big leap when we actually have the event this Saturday, we've already begun that conversation and that discussion. We've been meeting with people. We met with a couple of dozen people just a day or two ago and we had a lot of this debate. We've been meeting with people in different cities across the country, and there are even people who are coming at it from the thing of, 'I want to liberate my people,' but are seeing that the kind of struggle and debate, the kind of questions that are going to be gone into and struggled around, and the challenge that’s going to go out to the masses to get up out of stuff like being all about bling-bling and 'gettin' rich or die trying,' or representing 'your hood,' in struggle against another hood that's made up of oppressed people just like you who've got everything in common, whether that's a rival gang set or whether that's conflict between Blacks and Latinos, getting out of the stranglehold that religion has on too many oppressed people. That kind of struggle and challenge to break out of that would be a positive thing that they want to see even though they don't embrace the entire revolutionary communist message we bring down.

Note: For more information about the RC4 Tour, please write to rc_speaks@yahoo.com.

Report from the LA Stop of the RC4 Tour

The following report on the first stop of the RC4 Tour is from the Los Angeles Writers Collective via the Revolution newspaper:

A brief look into the first stop of the RC4 tour:

Los Angeles Saturday, July 23rd -- The RC4 tour hit the ground running this week in Los Angeles.

Stirring controversy wherever they spoke -- on the airwaves, in house meetings, and at a full panel discussion at Cal State Dominguez Hills -- the RC4 kicked off their visit here, bringing straight to the people the compelling vision of the communist revolution developed by Bob Avakian.

The RC4 made a deep case as to why people have no interests in protecting or putting up with this rotten system. And they challenged people to take up the fight for the emancipation of all of humanity through communist revolution.

They spoke to the need --and the real possibility -- for the masses of people in the ghettos and barrios, the factories and neighborhoods -- the masses of oppressed and proletarian people -- to rise to the challenge of leading millions and millions of people in this country to break the chains that are literally choking this planet and keeping people all over the world trapped in a horrible life.

In a word they challenged all who heard them to become the emancipators of humanity. And they struggled hard -- and with a lot of love -- for people to cast aside the mental chains that hold them back from fulfilling this great need.

LIBERATION WITHOUT GOD

At the Cal State panel, Akil Bomani spoke passionately and powerfully about how he gave up religion to take up communism after reading Bob Avakian's Preaching From a Pulpit of Bones that contrasted Biblical morality and communist morality: "I was introduced to the revolutionary vision of communism, and this all sparked my criticism of the world and the way out of all of this madness.

"It was when I myself took to doing something that the Bible and Christianity explicitly forbids -- that is questioning reality and asking why and how -- it was then that I was able to take a critical look at the world, at this system and at the immense and unspeakable anguish it has caused billions to this day.

"I was able to take a critical look at the prospects of actually overthrowing this system and end all the forms of exploitation and oppression attached to this system, forms of exploitation and oppression that the Bible does not denounce but upholds in many ways. I was able to take a critical look at how that could actually be done and at the writings of Bob Avakian."

REVOLUTIONARY LEADERSHIP

The RC4 confronted the nationalism and identity politics that are so prevalent among the masses -- and struggled with people to look at things from the point of view of how we're going to free all of humanity -- a communist viewpoint -- and not from the viewpoint of freeing "my nation, my people" -- and ultimately the "me first" mentality.

Revolutionary leadership and what qualifies someone to be a leader was a hot question. Some people made the argument that they don't want to follow a "white man." Carl Dix said that the caliber of a leader should be judged by the content of what they are bringing forward, not by their nationality. If people were locked in a horrible prison for life and someone came along who knew the way out, would the prisoners say, well I don't want to know how to get out of here because you are the wrong nationality!

"Look, here's the deal. There is a leader who has come forward, who is pointing to the way out of this, who is pointing to a future that we can get to, and is showing us the way to get there.

"The challenge for people is to look at the content of what the leader is bringing forward. That's what we gotta grab hold of. Because if you want to get out of all this mess the criteria for leadership is not, what nationality is the leader, what race, or what gender. But instead, what is the content of the vision that leader is putting forward, and, what is the program they're putting forward to realize that?

"You see, that is the challenge. We are not saying, 'follow Bob Avakian blindly' or 'follow the RCP blindly.' We're saying, grapple with the content of the vision of the future society being brought forward. And grapple with the program that's being brought forward to realize this."

Clyde Young came at this same question from a another angle. He said when a leader of the caliber of Bob Avakian comes forward, that is something to celebrate. He said that Bob Avakian is the flower and fruit of the struggle of the masses during the 1960s, but he's much more than that. Bob Avakian is someone who has gone on to develop the revolutionary science of communism -- critically building on the achievements of the past, re-envisioning socialist society under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and taking up problems of how to build a revolutionary movement of millions and millions of people that can actually transform dreams into reality.
"Leaders like Bob Avakian are very rare and special leaders. When an outstanding leader comes forward like this I think it is very important for people to recognize that leader and to learn as much as they can from that leader, to promote that leader, and to defend that leader?

"Some people have said to us: 'This is just going to mean we just have to go along with everything he says and it leaves no room for us to contribute and for us to be part of the revolutionary struggle and to bring our ideas, and creativity to the table.'

"But I think that it is important to recognize that when revolutionary leaders like this come forward -- it opens up the possibility for the masses of people's creativity and the masses of people themselves to come forward and contribute on a whole other level, in a whole other way than they can under this system.

"That is, unity between people coming forward and learning from leaders, but at the same time contributing as much as they possibly can to the revolutionary struggle --contributing their understanding and contributing all they can to the revolutionary struggle as well -- there is that dialectic, back and forth?"

In short, Clyde made the point that when a leader like this emerges they are inextricably linked to the masses realizing their revolutionary potential -- and ultimately the people of the world realizing the potential of moving to a communist society.

Many questions popped from the audience: A Black youth wanted to know "What is the proletariat?" He also asked, "So how you gonna reach the majority of proletarians when most of them are all religious and it's clear to me that none of you guys are religious, so how are you gonna sway them to be communists?"

Another person focused on the question of the proletariat in power and wanted to know how the RCP would not allow "power to corrupt," but instead stay on the road to communism.

Later, someone else asked about the role of immigrants in the revolution given that many of them are undocumented.

Joe Veale told Revolution what this tour is aimed at trying to bring forward: "Look, the problem in the world is that there is all this wealth, all this technology that's controlled and dominated by a class of capitalists.

"All this technology and all this human wisdom could be used to benefit the masses here and all over the world.

"Everybody on this planet could have a decent life: no one has to go cold during the wintertime, no one has to go hungry, no one has to die for lack of water, everybody could read and write and be enriched in sports and culture.

"And the only thing standing in the way of that are these capitalists who rip off all this wealth, and use it to enrich this system.

"We need a revolutionary communist movement that is in the struggle and knows that this is the problem -- we need millions and millions of people who realize that if the masses could take power and come together to share in all of this wealth and knowledge in a collective way -- this represents the solution and the way out. So this is a part of what this tour is about: to begin to build the kind of revolutionary communist consciousness out here now that can prepare to lead the masses to change the world."

The RC4 TOUR WILL BE IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA THROUGH THE END OF JULY. NEXT STOPS: NEW YORK AND CHICAGO.

E-mail: rc_speaks@yahoo.com

SUPPORT THE RC4 TOUR: send checks and money orders to: "RC4 Speaking Tour," and tax-deductible contributions should be made out to: "A Gathering of the Tribes d/b/a RC4 Speaking Tour", and mail to P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station, NY, NY 10002-0900, Phone/FAX: 866-841-9139 ext 2670.

Also contact Carl Dix at comradecarl@hotmail.com