RNC: The Moment, the Repression, and the Need for Resistance

"A handful of people have tried to destroy our city by going up and yelling at visitors here because they don't agree with their views...this is the city for free speech if there ever was one and some people think that we shouldn't allow people to express themselves. That is exactly what the terrorists did, if you think about it, on 9/11. Now this is not the same kind of terrorism, but there's no question that these anarchists are afraid to let people speak out."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in the September 2 New York Times

The narrow-mouthed ghouls that rule this land desperately needed for the streets of New York to be silent as the graves their bombs dig. New York City, which has had a seriously increased presence of police and National Guard since 9/11, was to be so locked down, the security so tight, that any protest against the RNC was supposed to be minimal or isolated. They tried to create a climate of fear, warning about possible terrorist attacks during the convention and even equating protesters with terrorists.
The rulers of this country are seeking to carry out an endless, unchecked war on the world, free to rain down destruction at the push of a button. And in order to do this, they urgently need the silence and the acquiescence of the population here.
But the powers-that-be have a problem: Millions of people here and around the world loathe George Bush and what he represents. In the wake of the massive anti-war protests around the Iraq war, Bush and his team lost a lot of legitimacy, which they desperately need to regain. So they brought out an unprecedented level of repression to ensure that this most hated ruler would be given the ground to be "re-legitimated," "crowned," and "mandated."

The "New Normalcy"

First, the city denied United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), the umbrella group organizing Sunday's "NO" march, a permit to rally in Central Park. There was a campaign of insinuation saying that the UFPJ should be held responsible for police who had been injured at previous demonstrations. It was also hinted that by calling out crowds of protesters, they were giving potential "cover" for terrorist attacks.
For a week or more, the media promoted the idea that people should fear black-clad anarchists, who would wreak unwelcomed havoc on streets, cause traffic jams, be violent, and simply make people's lives unbearable. This is the same media that hides the truth from people about the violence, havoc, and completely unbearable living situation of the people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world, through U.S. sanctions, invasions, and occupations. The ruling class knows that it's dangerous for them when people start to concern themselves en masse with these realities.
Before the protests, the NY Daily News ran screaming editorials equating anarchists and other protesters with terrorists. And during the RNC week, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that protesters yelling at Republican delegates was "exactly what the terrorists did.on 9/11."
In coordination with such slander and dissent-bashing in the media was the extreme levels of police-state mechanisms and apparatus that was deployed. Even before protesters arrived in town, cops with automatic weapons and flak vests began appearing in the subway stations. Nearly all of the NYPD's 37,000 cops were deployed during the convention week. The cops warned everyone to expect searches at any time, especially those traveling on subways and trains. They brought in new weapons and tools, such as hand-held radiation detectors, mechanical barriers, nets (normally used on construction sites), to arrest hundreds at once. The Associated Press reported that the NYPD would be using a Long Range Acoustic Device (used by the military in Iraq!) that can blast 150 decibels of painful sound. According to the Aviation International News , this is the equivalent of standing next to a jet engine as it takes off. In addition to all this, there was open involvement of federal agents in the infiltration, stalking, and interrogation of activists and the security surrounding the convention itself.
All this is part of what Dick Cheney has called the "new normalcy." Cops in military gear in the subways that are full of signs warning riders to "report suspicious activity or persons." Unmarked cars and undercover cops skulking around the city. Helicopters buzzing overhead. New York Police Commissioner Kelly openly bragging to the New York Times : "There's strategic intelligence and tactical intelligence. You can get that a variety of ways.. We have scouts running around, the blimp in the air, helicopters, cops in static locations."
The authorities fought to create a suffocating atmosphere during the RNC week--forcing immigrant vendors and others to guard their words and talk in whispers. When teams went out to store owners with flyers that read "NO" to be displayed in windows, more than one owner said that they would like to put them up--but they were afraid of repression just for displaying a flyer! One immigrant told us he couldn't wear a "NO" sticker--he was afraid he would get arrested and be deported.

The Reality Behind Police "Restraint"

The police started their crackdown early, even before the big Sunday march, to set the tone that if protesters so much as thought about moving an inch in the wrong direction, they would be arrested. On Friday, Aug. 27, Critical Mass, a monthly mass bike ride, was attacked and 250 bicyclists were arrested for "obstructing traffic."
Nearly every single protest during RNC week was attacked by the police in some way. Sunday's march, which drew out more than half a million people, was portrayed in the media as a remarkable sign of "police restraint." (This is after the authorities had tried to hem in the entire protest within their terms; to divide protesters into "peaceful" and "violent"; and to corral protesters into a long, narrow trap of a space between the West Side Highway and the Hudson River.) The organizers fought successfully for a march route that went right past Madison Square Garden, the site of the convention. But the entire march was hemmed in on every side by barking NYPD and metal barricades, and not one deviation from the route was permitted. Helicopters buzzed overhead, undercover police officers milled through the crowds, and snipers waited on the roofs above. More than 250 were arrested that day, and some groups of protesters were charged with assault after officers got injured charging at them.
If this is what they call "restraint," we should be very afraid of what would happen when they get "serious."
Over 1,800 people were arrested during the entire RNC week. Tuesday's day of direct action alone saw several unpermitted marches all over the city, resulting in more than 900 arrests. This set a NYC record for the largest number of people arrested in one day.
Most of those arrested were taken to a cavernous former bus garage on Pier 57, complete with barbed wire, chain-link fences, arrestee pens, and floor covered with motor oil and grease. Water, food, and medical attention were given out on the whim of the police. When confronted about the conditions at Pier 57 by the New York Times , the president of the prison guard's union issued a thinly veiled threat that if detainees at the pier didn't like conditions there, they could always be taken to Rikers Island Prison, with "rats, roaches, mice, alleged rapes and sodomies. They should count their blessings." (See the report "Gitmo-on-the-Hudson" for more on the arrests.)
A press release from the Independent Media Center said that one protester was maced in the eyes and then left in a hot van for two hours, heat blasting, windows shut, in the 80+ degree summer heat. Cops taunted him, saying that he deserved this treatment for allegedly spitting on a cop; another jeered that they planned to let this guy's contact lenses "melt onto his eyelids." When he was finally allowed to wash out his eyes, he had to be taken to the emergency room for eye damage and a scratched cornea.
And while the police were doing all this, they continued in their murder and terrorizing of the basic masses. In the space of one week, the NYPD shot three people, killing one. On August 30, Brooklyn police shot two youth who were accused of stealing $36 from a car wash--one died. On Sept. 4, Brooklyn police shot and wounded a mentally ill man, Richard Figueroa, for allegedly waving a weapon at the cops.
The police--uniformed and not--were everywhere you turned. Members of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade were arrested for selling the Revolutionary Worker newspaper and "I Say NO" T-shirts. Activists reported to the New York Times that they had been followed around the city by undercover cops who knew their names. Barely disguised police cars cruised around anywhere activists converged.
Union Square became symbolic of much of this. All throughout the week, this place was at once a gathering spot, a debating circle, an organizing center, and a meeting point. People played drums, sold a never-ending supply of creative anti-Bush T-shirts, listened to planned and unplanned speakers. Whenever people got too lively or too many were gathered around one place, the cops' ears would perk up and a uniformed officer would slink over.
If anyone is tempted to think that the police state was not in full force during the RNC week because the tear gas and beatings were not as prevalent as some had feared, they need to understand that what many are now calling the "Kelly Doctrine" (after the NYC police commissioner) is not a lighter level of repression, but a much heavier and much more sophisticated one. They employed everything from blatant police infiltration (the police admitted to the New York Times that they infiltrated protest groups and spied on their communications) to the massive weight of the entire NYPD, buttressed with other kinds of police. (Bloomberg bragged that over 23 different agencies were employed in the week of the RNC.)
The cops' main tactic was simply to immobilize protests before they even got anywhere important. Many marches during the week did not have permits. The cops would often announce that they were planning to tolerate the march, or would give the appearance that they wouldn't crack down. They would then "escort" the march, appearing to give it safe passage by riding along ahead, clearing traffic with their motorcycles and blocking traffic from side streets. Nearly every time, this was revealed to be a trap--the protests would turn a corner or reach the end of the block and find that they had been led straight into a barricade or a net, with cops closing in right behind them. And any time a protest might have gotten near Madison Square Garden, where the vampires roamed freely, the cops slammed their metal barricades and blocked passage.
On Thursday night, Sept. 2, thousands of protesters marched from Union Square to the Garden, where supposedly a rally permit had been granted to UFPJ. When they got there, it became clear that the "permit" meant the "right" for people to weave from blocked street to blocked street, looking for an entry to one of the "free speech zones"-- a single block area, surrounded by highrises, metal barricades, and uniformed cops. A protester on the scene remarked, "This is what it looks like when they're rounding people up before they take them away on trains with undisclosed destinations."
If all of this is what they call "restraint," we cannot allow them to get serious.
In addition to the crackdown on demonstrators, it is also clear that the state kept a close eye on independent and radical news services and websites. Many reporters, especially those with cameras, were attacked or arrested, and their equipment damaged or "lost." Calyx, the ISP that hosts the website of NYC's Independent Media Center (IMC), was hit with a government subpoena because someone anonymously posted the names, phone numbers and hotel locations of the 2,200 delegates and people running the Republican convention. According to the New York Times , "The subpoena seeks subscriber information and contacts and billing records for the Indy Media site." Calyx has refused to speak to federal agents and is fighting the subpoena--a courageous stand that should be supported and promoted.

Fascistic Police-State Measures

These attacks on protesters during the RNC should be seen in the context of a whole new effort to legitimize and extend police-state measures and apparatuses in the wake of 9/11. The same FBI that has been stalking and interrogating RNC protesters has been knocking on immigrants' doors in the middle of the night and disappearing them, gathering up book-lending information from libraries, and investigating clinics who perform late-term abortions. This is the same FBI that conducted the COINTELPRO program during the upsurges of the 1960s and '70s, which surveilled, hounded, even killed activists and revolutionaries.
The Bush administration has created the Nazi-sounding Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that functions as a clearinghouse of security forces and information, combining 22 federal agencies into a single operation designed to wage the "war on terrorism" at the U.S. borders and within those borders. Recently, the New York Times reported that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (which is under the DHS) now has the power to snatch immigrants right off the streets if they can't show proper identification and proof that they have a "right to exist" in this country--and deport them without a hearing.
The climate of fear and criminalization of dissent is ever-growing. It's not just the Michael Moores, the anarchists, or the communists who are feeling it. Meryl Streep, one of the most respected actresses in the United States, has been viciously attacked in the media for a remark at a John Kerry fundraiser: "Through the shock and awe, I wondered which of the megaton bombs Jesus, our president's personal savior, would have personally dropped on the sleeping families in Baghdad."

We Must and Can Resist

The intense repression during the RNC week revealed something about the reality of "free speech" under this system. Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, pointed to an aspect of bourgeois democracy/dictatorship by paraphrasing a Bob Dylan song: "As long as you don't say nothing, you can say anything you want." (From his historic talk "Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About," available on DVD/video from Three Q Productions.) Any time you get to the point where your speech or actions might actually influence the direction of things in a real way, you come up against one or several arms of the state--the police, the political police, the FBI, and so forth--as well as the distortions and outright lies in the media attacking you and your cause.
This is especially sharp now because of the times we're in. As Lenin pointed out in "The Collapse of the Second International," in times of war the bourgeoisie more than ever needs the tame silence and the acquiescence of the populace. But it's also true that the more the forces that rule this country repress the people, the more they reveal their true nature.
The week of the RNC, protesters encountered new levels of police-state repression. But people stood up to this with creativity and determination. In one example, at the end of the week one group of three protesters wrapped themselves in orange netting, ridiculing the tactics of the NYPD, and snuck into the hall of Madison Square Garden itself, shouting messages before being tackled down.
Tame silence is what the rulers need the most--and it is what the people need to deny them. All through the week of the RNC, the rulers got anything but such silence. Despite the best efforts of the rulers, the streets of New York echoed with the fierce, determined and exuberant NO! from hundreds of thousands of people. We can celebrate this and be inspired to take things much higher--to fight for a world we all would want to live in.

By Linda Flores and Osage Bell

"Gitmo-on-the-Hudson"

The following is from a report by a Revolutionary Worker correspondent in New York City:

For those arrested during the RNC week, the overwhelming majority on summary violations, there was a "processing" time that amounted to preventative detention. People arrested were taken to the squalid Pier 57, an old bus terminal. Protesters called the place the "Gitmo-on-the-Hudson"--after the U.S. military detention center at Guantánamo, Cuba. As one man who'd been arrested reported to the TV and radio program Democracy Now ! (which aired people calling in from the facility), "We are like a hundred.people in a very small room. It's surrounded by fence and -- it's almost like rats in a hole. There's nothing, there is just a floor which is very dirty, which is a lot of oil and all dust in it, all our clothes are dirty, our hands are dirty. We had to eat an apple with our extremely dirty hands because we have no tissue paper, nothing to clean our hands with. We are just basically packed. Nobody can sit down. They don't even give us a plastic bag to sit on. They don't even give anything to lie down on. We just have to lie on the hard floor, basically. And there is not enough space for everybody to lie down because we have to sit so close together. It's cramped. And we were freezing before and people were actually coughing, they were getting cold and nobody paid any attention, nobody gave them even a blanket, nobody gave them even a plastic bag to cover themselves with." There were various reports--from sources such as the Independent Media Center, Anarchist People of Color, and the New York Times --that arrestees developed rashes and other skin problems because of the chemicals abounding at the site. Before the RNC, the police bragged about their ability to handle 1,000 arrests a day (and informed the District Attorney to be prepared for this). But when it actually came time to process people they arrested, the police acted as if they were overwhelmed--claiming at one point that it was because the fingerprint checks were being held up. This particular excuse evaporated when the authorities in Albany (who check prints for local police) pointed out that they'd been able do checks within 32 minutes of receiving them. This fact itself reveals a whole other layer of repression. Hundreds of people, including people who were simply bystanders, were being fingerprinted, and having their prints checked against the FBI's database--and quite likely having their prints put into the database as well. The detentions were so blatant that even a judge eventually intervened. By law in New York, no one is to be held for more than 24 hours without seeing a judge. As 24 hours turned to 36and for some people 60, a judge ordered the city to release 560 people on Thursday, September 2,the last day of the convention. He also fined the city $1,000 for every person held overtime. Playing the Terror Card Shortly before the start of the convention, the NYPD played one last "terror card." On Saturday, August 28, they announced--conveniently enough--the arrest of two men they claimed were plotting to blow up Herald Square (near Madison Square Garden). Not surprisingly, beyond the blare of the initial headlines, came what is becoming the norm with these type of stories. As the New York Times later had to explain, "[NYC Police Commissioner] Kelly and other officials stressed yesterday that the men had obtained no explosives and had set no specific time for any attack, and that it was unclear how far their plans had actually progressed. A news release announcing the arrests said they were not connected to earlier intelligence that al-Qaida was seeking to attack financial targets in New York before the election." In other words, this was mainly about reinforcing the climate of fear--to give the police more maneuver room. Other Attacks It wasn't just police in the street that were doing theattacking. On August 30, in the heat of the RNC, an article was posted on the reactionary Frontpage.com website. The article put out fabricated charges that Not in Our Name was planning a confrontational demonstration for the last night of the RNC. The article specifically named the RCP as well as Mary Lou Greenberg (spokesperson for the RCP, NYC branch) and other people working with NION to try and cast them in a conspiratorial light. (The article claims the supposed evidence for the story came from an unnamed informant.) The point of the article was to not only target NION for police attacks during the convention, but also to further lay the basis for attacks on the RCP.

Interview with Sunsara Taylor, by Luciente Zamora

Luciente: Hi Sunsara. How are you?

Sunsara: I’m fine Luciente. How about you?

Luciente: I’m sure you’ll agree with me, but I’m still high off the big NO! on August 29th. We just experienced something truly historic that can change the future of our planet.

I’d like to hear from you-what do you see as the significance of delivering that big No! on Sunday?

Sunsara: It’s kinda funny. We’ve been in New York in the middle of so much intense organizing and class struggle, honestly. Right now the state of our planet is . . . look, there are two futures contending.

One is that of King W for a New Rome and a Global Empire-the so-called War on Terror which is really a war for empire to have them be the sole superpower of the planet.

On the other side, you have the fact that there are millions and millions of people on this planet who have come out and resisted that over the past two years. It’s been incredible.

You’ve had people come out at great personal risk, which proves that they are willing to risk it and fight for something that is bigger than themselves. As you look at all this resistance you can see that there’s a whole different future that can be wrenched out of this moment in history.

There are people who are fighting for a just and liberated planet. You have both of those things contending and they came together in a very concentrated-and they are coming together this week-during the Republican National Convention. The whole world was watching when the people came out on Sunday.

It’s important to say that on Sunday there was a sea of humanity. It was a whole river of humanity that passed Madison Square Gardens. It was something that went on for hours and hours-the marchers were miles long. Of course the NYPD said that the sky was off limits, so there’s no aerial shot and there’s no confirmable record of how many people were really there, but the estimates are definitely upwards of half a million.

It’s important to say to people who are not from New York what the atmosphere has been in this city for the past 3 weeks.

The permit to protest at Central Park was denied. Everyday the front page of the news paper talked about "protestor violence" "protestors are terrorists" "protestors are coming to cause destruction."

There was a whole whipping up of fear and trying to equate protest with terrorism and trying to get people to leave town. In the face of that they said, ‘Anyone who comes to Central Park in groups of 20 will be arrested.’

They really went all out to prevent this and people came out anyhow in huge numbers-and people came out with a spirit of defiance. This was a live, angry, and defiant protest. There were soooo many people-and this exceeded many or the organizers expectations. Even the organizers didn’t see how deep the well of hatred is for the Bush agenda.

You really do see that there is a section of people who are contending for the future and who don’t want to live in a new Rome. I thought it was beautiful.

We still have a collision course ahead. The future is not determined yet. Right now, we have a lot more to wrench out of this moment. There’s a vision for the culmination of the week, this Thursday, to make the NO! unmistakable.

This week the New York times had a picture of the protest on the front really big and you could see the mass of people with all their homemade signs and at the bottom right hand corner it had a picture of Dick Cheney-he was shoved in the corner! I think that’s a really good thing. We have to struggle the rest of this week. Is he going to stay in the corner and are we going to push him to the back page and have the people’s resistance continue to burst forward in a way that the people of the planet can see it? It was a very good start and it indicated how much fight people have in them. We have a lot of work to do.

Luciente: Earlier today we were talking about how all around the city there are people wearing "No Bush" t-shirts and buttons-it’s undeniable. I’ve interviewed a lot of people in these past few days and I found that many people who were solid Democrats were aching for answers. They were looking for someone to lead them out of everything that Bush represents.

There’s a highly politicized atmosphere where everyone from cab drivers, to architects, to lawyers, and students, and there were masses of people engaging in deep discussion about important matters.

There were upward of 500,000 people in the streets-and within all that our newspaper has been out there. I mean, there was no where you could turn where you didn’t see the cover "See Bush…Think Revolution." What’s the potential that exists here?

Sunsara: Part of the situation that we’re living in is that there’s this global grab for power that Bush and his gangster crew are doing. It’s not how people think that this country is supposed to operate.

People are taught that we live in a democracy and that the elections are the way you voice your opinion. Here you have a situation where you have a president installed by the Supreme Court not by an election.

Then there’s talk about canceling the election-there’s no choice between these candidates, between Kerry and Bush. It’s one war candidate versus the other at a time when millions and millions of people want the U.S. out of Iraq and people don’t want to go along with this war. You have basic assumptions that people have held to be true their entire lives torn open. You have Bush calling millions and millions of people in this country and around the world a focus group! That doesn’t compute for people.

On the one hand, you have a people who are really outraged and really shook. You can see the basis-just look at Sunday-to change the whole direction of things. People are beginning to see that the only way you can challenge this is if you go out on the streets.

What are you going to do? Are you going to align yourself to a ruler who is moving further and further to the right? Or are you going to say ‘No way!’ That’s what you say on Sunday that’s really important.

And within that you see the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade. Our Chairman, Bob Avakian, said that to talk about democracy without talking about the class content of that democracy and what class it serves and what dictatorship it’s a part of is meaningless and worse.
Many people are coming to see that we do live in a dictatorship and that their voices are not part of the decision making process-in fact you are criminalized and locked out of decision making.

Look they are criminalizing protestors and stalking protestors and they are terrifying people from coming out. They’re trying to hide the truth from people so they can be puffed up and rule over the planet. People are looking for answers and we have a Party and we have a leader who has an analysis that makes sense of what’s happening to people.

Like you were saying, our paper has gotten out to tens of thousands and it is connecting. People are coming back to us and saying, "See Bush...Think Revolution." People are talking about Niemoller and what direction things could go and that it’s up to us to take things in a different direction. People are getting a sense of what a different world would actually look like and what it takes to get there-but not just to make revolution but how do you run society so that it’s a society that we actually want to live in. A world where a place like Central Park would be open for sports, for picnics, and yes, for political gatherings…

When we run society we need to take responsibility for involving people in political life who are locked out of it today. We need to be talking to people about how different things would be if we were running society and what it would be like. Here’s our Chairman Bob Avakian who’s leading us to deal with these questions today, as part of us making good on our promise to bring about a better world.

Luciente: Can you speak to the crucial role of revolutionary communists, the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade in taking out and promoting and popularizing our Chairman Bob Avakian.

Sunsara: Let me say this on a personal level, there are a lot of things I hate in this world and that have outraged me over the years and been moved to do something about. But it’s a big leap you make when you decide to be a conscious revolutionary communist.

Our Chairman has said that it’s one thing to criticize, it’s another thing when you’re running society and it’s all on you-and all the problems that humanity faces and that we’re criticizing today, we’re also responsible for solving them.

Somebody told me this when they heard his talk, Revolution, Why it’s Necessary, Why it’s Possible, What it’s all About, they said, ‘You think if he’s trying to sell you on revolution, he wouldn’t make it sound so fucking hard!’

My friend told this person when we were all talking, ‘When he tells you all that’s involved and all the problems, it actually makes [revolution] sound a lot more possible than you thought before.’

When you hear him talking about how we would run society and how we would handle the contradictions that people face today, in a way that involves people and expands the ‘we’ who is running society and holding society and creating a vibrant society where there is debate and diversity.

A society where people are discovering themselves and learning how to rule; where people are deciding what direction society should go. When you hear him talk you start to get a taste of that world and you actually feel more passionate to fight today-and this is what I think is something unique about the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade and those of us who are followers of Chairman Avakian-it’s not just how horrible the world would be if we don’t resist, but it’s how things can be beyond the bounds of what we can fathom today and what a liberating world could be like . . . and that it’s actually realizable.

That’s a vision that not enough people have. It’s a vision that we need if we’re going to bring that world into being. It’s a vision that people need if they are going to fight today as seriously as they can-in a way that gets us in a position to really involve people in all the complexity of things.

Luciente: Can you tell me more about this vision?

Sunsara: Many people have the impression that, and I know because I learned this in school, that communism is a gray and boring world where you’re sent to re-education camp if you disagree. You hear all this bullshit about what communism really is.

First of all, it’s not a hellish totalitarianist society and it’s not a nice idea that would never work. It’s also not that everyone has to share everything including toothbrushes or that you don’t have any kind of privacy or diversity . . . or whatever. All of that is the furthest thing from the truth.

Today we live in a world now where diversity and creativity and languages are being destroyed all over the planet by globalization and imperialism. Whole cultures and languages are being lost. People can’t really express themselves.

In a socialist society and in a communist society, there won’t be antagonisms between people-but there will be struggle. Our Chairman describes that there will always be struggle for new truths and understanding to be learned about the world. There will be struggle about what we should do with the resources that humanity has produced.

We will have to struggle against other ideas . . . You may have a section of people that will want to build more hospitals and another section of people that want to build more parks.
Some people will want to put out a new form of art production . . . who knows, but things like that will come up. But in the future people will be able to share in the production of society and share in producing the things that people need. The peoples’ needs will be met for the first time in history.

People will have shelter and food and all that we need. But it’s not just that. People will have those needs met and they will not be working in sweatshops. Technology that today further enslaves people will be a way to make work easier to liberate people from laboring. People will have more time to participate in running and administering society and working in the realm of ideas.

Today there are so many lives that are scripted before they are even born-they don’t even have an option. In the society we’re talking about, people will be able to work with ideas and be a part of scientific inquiry and studying things to find out more about the natural environment and the stars and things about nature and reality and creating and producing art. We’ll have the biggest flowering of creative expression-writers and comedians and dancers and painters.

People will share in a common abundance. In the RCYB we talk about no more men oppressing women, no more white supremacy, no more one class forcing another class to slave for them, no more one country trying to run the globe. Instead you’ll have freely associating human beings. It’s just so wildly different from what we’re used to today.

Luciente: In your article "The Future is Waiting . . ." you quote Chairman Avakian when he says that we don’t have to hide from the future because the future belongs to us. Can you speak more on that?

Sunsara: Before I was saying that there is a lot of sense of outrage among people about what’s happening-globalization, police brutality, militarization of the border, and the criminalization of immigrants in this country, and unending war. There is a lot of outrage and anger about that, but there is not enough sense that the future does belong to us.

The truth is that if you try to put yourself in their shoes for a minute-imagine if you were trying to run the planet and everybody hates you-and literally people hate what they are doing. So they have a certain gangster logic and they have to go pummeling ahead and intimidate everyone-but the truth is, as vicious as they are, they are holding on to a world that is moving past them.

You see a new world bursting forward in the resistance of people around the planet and in people fighting back. You see it in people refusing to be a broken people. You see it in Palestine. You see it all throughout Latin America. All over the planet you see people fighting back and looking for the ways to fight back.

Here you see people not acting in their own individual interests. The Chairman wrote that we have to give people a sense that we represent the future and that there is a class of people who can ensure that everyone has enough to survive. Our class, the proletariat, produces everything people on this planet need-everything we eat, everything we wear, everything we use to transport goods. We have the ability to make those things in a way that meets the needs of the people around the world. It’s not inevitable that we’ll get to socialism and communism, but it is inevitable that this system is not going to last for very long.

Let me think, the future belongs to us if we dare to rise up . . . it’s a challenge to us. That’s the importance of promoting and popularizing our Chairman.

When you hear what he’s talking about and when you listen to his speeches or read his writings you really get a sense-through everything that he does-that he proceeds from the understanding that a better world really is possible and that’s the direction history is tending even if it’s going to mean a wrenching struggle. From that perspective he looks at the problems we are facing today and how to solve them.

When you really understand where you’re going and what’s in the interests of the masses of people and you can win people to the truth, then you can win people to fight more fiercely and you can help show people the way out. That’s what our Chairman is doing.

When you hear him speak-this is going to be the closest in our lifetime that we’re going to taste what a communist world will be like. He has such a love for the people and such an interest in humanity and reality and in the truth.

He’s a real searching person. He always interrogates himself and interrogates others. If he doesn’t know something he doesn’t pretend to know. He tries to find out and lead others to find out and teaches them about the methods to solve the problems. Part of that is his willingness to take on the most fucked up empire in history-we need to have strategic contempt for our enemies and know that they are not all powerful even though they like to pretend that they are AND strategic confidence in the masses of people.

Luciente: You’re a proud follower of Chairman Avakian and you’re also a very creative person and a critical thinker. You write beautiful poetry and your articles in the Revolutionary Worker are inspiring. How does the leadership of Chairman Avakian unleash such creativity and critical thinking-and unleash people to be revolutionary leaders of the masses?

Sunsara: Now, I’ve had to go through a lot of struggle around this. I’ve never done that many interviews before, to be honest. In the past few weeks I’ve done a lot of interviews and first you’re really nervous and trying to remember all your points. But then I started thinking about how the Chairman approaches everything-he approaches things from the standpoint of fulfilling a great need. Not how you do really well yourself . . . it’s like he says, you don’t go out to make a great work, but to fulfill a great need.

I started to think about what his whole life’s work has been. Like when you recognize a contradiction or a problem-you must lead people to solve it and it’s something that you should joyously and willingly and voluntarily and consciously take up. I had to do a shift in my thinking and to think, ‘How does he do what he does?’ I mean he’s shouldering so much and it gave me a lot of confidence to say, ‘Do the masses of people deserve to have their interests expressed?’ Well the answer is an undeniable ‘yes!’

Because I have followed and studied Chairman Avakian I do have answers and something to say to people!

To know that there is somebody that we can have so much confidence in . . . let me tell you, things can get really crazy in the middle of such an intense struggle.

We need to shift things-are we going to have Bush all puffed up and ready to rule the planet or are we going to have him with his pants pulled down in front of the world looking humiliated and naked?

It’s easy to stress in the middle of all this, but it’s important to step back for a minute and see that he is leading us to solve all these problems. He’s somebody who is voluntarily and very eagerly is saying that he will give his life to the people . . . and there’s a lot riding on what he does. But he doesn’t stop and complain. He solves the problems and he leads people to solve the problems. I try to emulate that and it makes a big difference.

Another thing that stands out in the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, and those of us who are really trying to embody and take up the way to bring a whole other world into being, is that it’s not just about getting work done.

Let me explain. The other night, after this huge protest and after we’ve busted our asses for weeks and after we’d all lost our voices-we came together at like midnight until the wee hours of the morning to have a party!

Even in the most intense times we have to have intellectual and artistic ferment and struggle and creative process and exchange. It’s not just about getting the work done, but we have to ask ourselves what kind of world we want anyhow. Don’t we want a world that gives people the ability to be creative and imaginative and to explore all the things that human beings are capable of?

He really gives me the appreciation that all along the way we need to enjoy the struggle-that we must lead people in a way that is consistent with the type of world we want to live in.

I’ll be honest, I quit writing poetry for a while because I was very involved. I think a lot of people do-there are so many demands that the world needs and you’re always fighting and fighting and fighting. But he struggles with us and says that the people can’t just put their heads down and struggle, but we really have to wrangle with ideas and engage in different spheres and we have to make music and write poetry.

Before we end, I have a few more thoughts.

I woke up today feeling that the weight of the world is on my shoulders, but then I went through my day and talked to people in the RCYB and different people who have been out at the protests and watched some of the coverage in the media. I was really amazed by people.

I woke up feeling that there’s a lot we need to do. Then I walked through my day and thought how impressed I am by people. I thought how glad I am that we have our Chairman and that we have a lot going for us. I don’t think we’d be where we are right now or have a chance to get out of this mess without him . . . and I felt that the future does belong to us.

With Our Sights on the Future

Thurs., Sept 2, 11:30pm -- I am sitting here, listening to the frat-rat-crooked-mouth-murderous-lying monster who carries the unenviable title of President of the United States. As the hot night gathers in the city, and the lights and sounds of choppers break through, he gives his acceptance speech to continue as a crowned emperor of the mightiest of empires. A crowd is cheering him and it comes through the radio like storm-trooping static -- and "USA!" is being yelled in the background. He had to get to MSG with the largest motorcade Tom Brokaw said he had ever seen.

I have just come from a rally of thousands just blocks from MSG, a "permitted" rally in the "Free Speech Zone" that was penned in, surrounded by thousands of riot police, and surveilled from the sky by two choppers. A "permitted" rally of thousands of people in "the land of the free" who, as I was leaving, were being kept from exiting the pens and vans of police were arriving, empty buses driven by cops with clear purposes, and two fire trucks.

Someone told me, "This is what it looks like when they're rounding people up before they take them away on trains with undisclosed destinations." And why? Because while Bush gives his nomination speech to culminate the RNC, thousands of people had come to NYC --transforming the political, cultural and emotional landscape-- daring to say they don't want to live in a new Rome. Because--on this night, just blocks from the RNC and the most hated U.S. President--thousands had gathered to show that dissent and dreaming is alive and well --in the streets, but not inside Madison Square Garden.

The sounds of a police state still fill my ears as I sit here and listen to George W's speech.

*****

Two futures went head to head in the ring of NYC this week, because it is becoming clear to many that the future being promoted unapologetically inside the RNC is disastrous for humanity and there is no way it can be allowed to go forward. So multitudes of people, in different ways came forward to bring out into the open a tremendous amount of diverse and layered resistance--from marching in the streets to street theatre to "traditional" theatre and art shows--throughout the city and got a significant amount of heartfelt support from New Yorkers. This succeeded in breaking out and breaking through, becoming the big story of the day, including reaching people outside the country.

First, I look back at this week, and I recall the vibrations of hundreds of thousands pounding the streets with their hopes and determination held up in tightly-clenched fists that pumped in the air on August 29.

I think of the 5,000 anti-Bush bicyclists who rode headstrong into the wind and faced more than 260 random arrests. But what heart they gave! When they rode down to Union Square on Aug. 29, where Not In Our Name was holding their rally before the march, the crowd ran over to them like heros arriving home from a liberating battle, and cheered and clapped for them. Because we are living in times where heros are needed. And along the whole march route on the 29th, were New Yorkers on the sidewalks, hanging banners from their windows, sitting on their fire escapes, watching and cheering people on. And average New Yorkers were what filled the streets that day as well. And Not In Our Name's rally -- with its rebel music, Courageous Resisters, and earth flags waving in the clear blue sky -- was so beautiful. A mass outpouring emerged to clearly and loudly send a message that we stand with the people of the world.

The sweep of it all is just dizzying!! Our resistance turned NYC into a place where people smiled at you because you were wearing an anti-W button or an "I Say No!" t-shirt. I think of the young man who said, whenever he sees a store or home with Not In Our Name's "NO!" in the window, he thinks, "Safe Space". Because we are living in times where Safe Spaces are needed. Instead of walking with our heads down, avoiding eye contact, feeling alienated, we have stepped closer together, run through the streets together, done jail solidarity (or sat in jail) together, and we have said NO! NO! NO! together. The city became a place where resistance and resisters were just everywhere, and the fear that once gripped the city got seriously challenged.

I think about Union Square being turned into a gathering space for resisters, where people went to discuss and debate different issues and face off with the cops or recuperate. Poets, dreamers, hip-hop heads, revolutionaries, anarchists, voters and pacifists together -- in the face of all those who have told us we can't. In the face of being told it's not "in our nature" to treat each other as friends rather than commodities. In the face of being told only those in power can actually run society and the rest of us are supposed to just live with it (or "leave!"). And we weren't sitting with some bland, whitewashed and meaningless unity, but struggling and even vehemently disagreeing over our differences. I see "old Germany" in MSG and a new future in the streets. I see people who would actually value and encourage dissent, if they ran society - and I see how that could be, if they got with our Chairman's vision of such a future.

And for the last week -- people had a daily opportunity to get with that vision - spend two hours with a leader that actually isn't scared to expose Bush, bring people together, and challenge us to dedicate ourselves to transforming the whole world. A leader who isn't running to catch up with an ever-more fascistic consensus in the ruling class.

This was because the DVD of Chairman Avakian's speech was shown in theatres and poetry cafes throughout the city for anyone to come and get a glimpse of a totally different future. Anyone who went got the rare opportunity to hear a leader who has never sold out the people, doesn't limit himself to a small-group of lobbyists or special interest groups. His special interest is a Communist future and the untapped potential of humanity.

*****

Not one day went by without some kind of reminder that people were in town to oppose Bush's agenda. There were plays, concerts, and art exhibits to entertain, inspire, strengthen, and move people. Two-hundreds artists marched in Harlem. An art exhibit put on by American Friends Services Committee at Union Square showed the Human Cost of War with piles of shoes representing all the dead soldiers ad Iraqis.

A single-file "unemployment line" of people holding large pink slips, dramatically represented the millions of unemployed. Civil disobedience rocked the city from Ground Zero to Herald Square - where people performed die-ins wearing hoods like the victims of Abu Ghraib, not letting anyone forget what horrors an occupying army can exact.

There was a flurry of banner drops, stores decorated with anti-Bush elephants and signs that said, "NO!", and naked AIDS activists held up traffic. And delegates couldn't go practically anywhere peacefully -- from Broadway shows to Chinatown. People were really creative. In one example, people poured red dye into dozens of fountains throughout the city, because, "In memory of the innocent who have died since the US war on Iraq began, the fountains that adorn New York City’s parks, museums, and landmarks will flow with red dye today. The red represents the blood of the innocent -- the blood that is on the hands of the Bush administration and the GOP...For the United States Government, murder is the price of empire...As delegates tour museums, parks, and historic landmarks, they will see red pouring brightly from the fountains at Washington Square Park, Union Square Park, the Metropolitan Museum, Lincoln Center, and many other locations throughout the City. "

On August 31, amidst all the civil disobedience, a Poor People's March took to the streets one night to deliver a symbolic arrest warrant to George Bush -- delivered by a predominantly Black, proletarian crowd who are treated like criminals by the system on the daily – delivering an arrest warrant to the real criminals. This happened at the same time as the Still We Rise march -- and both marches were defiant in the face of not having a permit and were attacked by the police. A march of 16,000 men and women across the Brooklyn Bridge called Bush out on his anti-abortion, anti-woman politics.

People gathered tonight for a vigil at Union Square during Bush’s speech – some carried “Bush Lies, People Die” posters, while others carried homemade “delegate” signs (like the ones at the DNC/RNC that say, “State of Florida”) that read, “State of Anxiety,” “State of Mourning,” “State of Emergency,” and “State of Loss.” And all this was going up against a backdrop of tremendous fear-mongering and repression, and "threats" (promised by Tom Ridge) of the potential for "terror attacks" and a climate where protesters are blamed for the "danger" of the moment. And there is real danger. There is real danger that this whole Bush agenda could be extended -- no matter who is elected to carry it out. But a giant, impossible-to-be-ignored NO was delivered this week, and the basis for a real, determined resistance to that agenda was laid.

And need I remind you we took Central Park, with thousands celebrating our success from the day, in the face of being denied a permit?

With all their repression, the powers-that-be continue to prove they are not fit to care for this earth or the world's people. Just think about the AIDS activists who had to sneak into the RNC events to be heard and were not only shouted down and arrested, but assaulted by pro-Bush attendees. Silenced and assaulted! Think about what kind of system this is where people fighting for the recognizition and cure for a disease are treated like this.

And where was Kerry? Did you hear him denounce these blatant attacks on civil liberties? Did you hear him call out Bush for silencing this dissent? Did you see him come out and stand with even the pro-Kerry folks who were in town? HELL NO. He can't and won't. And not because he needs to appeal to some conservative majority of voters, but because he is appealing to a ruling class that has decided we can't vote against the war; that has decided if you want to get rid of Bush, you gotta pick Bush Lite. There's a whole system at stake he's got to defend. Whatever differences he has with Bush, they're not significant enough for him to call into question all these injustices.

Can we talk now about democracy being just a form of dictatorship, as our Chairman has said?

Every single march and gathering that has occurred in this city, permitted or not, has been attacked in some way. Becaue we live in an era of pre-emption, people were pre-emptively arrested by cops using plastic orange nets to scoop up whoever they could: bystander, reporter, or protester. It didn't matter to them. More than 1,000 people were arrested in one day, and the total got up to nearly 1,900 for all the days. And they were held at the "Guatanomo-on-the-Hudson" where unhealthy conditions made people sick. Even the large, significant, history-shaping march on the 29th, did not have an ending rally because the city refused to allow them a permit for a rally -- because they claimed the life of the grass was at stake?! While in their own twisted logic, their manicured spaces are more valuable than the lives of the people of the world, we all know they don't care about the environment. And let's just say - these marches and gatherings were attacked because we were having an impact!

*****

My mind tunes back to the radio and I hear W say they're a force for good on this earth, and my insides leap up to jeer him -- this earth knows no good has ever come from their hands! And thousands have come together to the "city that never sleeps", to show exactly that (often not sleeping!).

The Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade-- with more than 65 youths nationwide here in NYC-- was an inspiring example of this; running in the streets all day to bring out the millions of people who don't want to live in the new Rome, struggling with people over the need to resist, as well as the potential to destroy all the shackles on humanity, and then staying up til late in the night discussing the theory advanced by our Chairman and how to get to a totally possible and radically different future. This was a unique strength they brought to these struggles.

*****

It's is close to midnight and I hear there are two marches pulsating through the streets, filled with people who've refused to sit home while the biggest murderer in the world gives another lying speech. One of the marches is coming from the rally outside MSG, where it had looked like people were going to be rounded-up. And the second march left from Union Square to join them. The sounds of sirens are in the distance. And I hear that Code Pink protesters succeeded in disrupting Bush as he spoke - not just once but three times! Just as protesters had interrupted Cheney and others!! Even inside their sacred halls of the RNC they are being opposed! And anyone watching on TV or listening to the radio saw it!

*****

Friday, Sept.3, 10:38 a.m. – The last 10 days or so have been victorious for the people here and around the world. Bush & Co., were not able to come here and feel welcomed in their emperor's regalia, replete with lying tassles, conquering cowboy hats and blood-dripping sneers. They were exposed, naked and ugly and brutal for all to see, and it is clear there is a people here who refuse to be fooled. The next few months will no doubt be challenging, as they kick up their battle against resistance and put the focus on their Evil v. Lesser election.

*****

I can't help but reflect on the Revolutionary Writers & Artists RNC collective I got to run with this week. It was a tremendous first we accomplished in having it. Communist writers, film-makers and photgraphers from several different cities coming together to capture the big picture --zooming out---and the hearts, dreams, signs and sounds of different people--zooming in, and bringing it out for people here and elsewhere. It was such a tremendous experience and training to run as a team of revolutionary journalists, running through the streets of NYC from 8am to 3am half the time, running on little more than excited adrenaline and caffeine. Trying to apply the methods of our Chairman, based on his vision of how people can work together in ways that raises each others' consciousness, master new things, learn from everything around us, getting a sense of the questions facing people, and an extreme confidence that we can accomplish so much when we come together with all that. All based on the future we are trying to get to.

My mind has been spinning from taking in this city in a whole new way. I know people from other cities couldn't believe they were here, and were spending every moment trying to soak up all they could, and I couldn't believe this was happening in my city either. So, definitely expect more from us here. More interviews with revolutionary leaders, an exciting film and perhaps more poetry, too.

Luciente Zamora Interviews Roberto Ava an RCYB Organizer

Roberto is an organizer for the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade in Los Angeles. He’s been organizing the masses in the Nickerson Gardens Housing projects ever since he answered a call from the Revolutionary Communist Party to join the masses in the dawn of a new day—the 1992 Rebellion.

In 1996 the masses in Nickerson Gardens stood up to protest the beating of Alicia Soltero, an immigrant woman, at the hands of the police. The people held signs that said: Alicia Soltero and Rodney King—The Same Thing. The police attacked the protest and arrested seven people—who later became known as the Nickerson 7. Six were facing misdemeanor charges and Roberto faced two felony counts—or two “strikes” that equaled thirteen years in jail (in California 3 strikes gives you to years to life imprisonment). After a determined legal battle and the support of the people to defend this revolutionary leader, the state was forced to drop all charges on Roberto.

For over a decade he has proven to be a dedicated revolutionary leader of the masses—he’s the kind of leader who encourages you to build on your advances to make further leaps and will also wage sharp political struggle with you when you make mistakes so you can make further advances—he does both with his arm around your shoulder.

The following is an interview with Roberto that took place after a presentation he gave a group of volunteers at Revolution Books in New York.

* * * *
Luciente: Hi Roberto. It's good to have the opportunity to interview you after having known you for several years now.

In that time I've known you to be a genuine revolutionary communist leader. Can you tell readers a little about yourself? And also, if you can speak to what has kept you on the revolutionary road?

Roberto: My name is Roberto. . . and I like to call myself a follower of Chairman Bob Avakian. That’s who I am.

Two things have kept me on the revolutionary road . . . someone was recalling a story about me when I first volunteered to come to L.A. after the L.A. Rebellion in 1992. They remembered when I called them up and I told them I had fallen in love. The person said, ‘You’ve only been down there for 6 months—how could you have met a girl already and fallen in love?’

I said, ‘No. I’ve fallen in love with the masses of people.’

Now, I think that is genuinely true. I believe that things don’t have to be this way and that people can rise out of this and bring forward a new world. I really do have tremendous confidence in the masses ability to transform the world and themselves in the process. But this confidence is based on something.

The most important and decisive component for me has been the leadership of the RCP, and the science of MLM, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and the path-breaking contributions in this science that has been brought forward by Chairman Avakian—these things have allowed me to continue forward, and to continually learn what’s required, and how it’s possible to do the system in and bring about a whole different kind of society—a communist world. It’s the Chairman’s leadership that has sustained me for a long time.

Luciente: The future of the planet is on the line at this time. Many people are coming into motion. Right now, in New York there are many groups, organizations, and individuals who are here to protest the Republican National Convention.

What does the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade and what do revolutionary communists bring to this battle?

Roberto: As I said in a presentation to RCYB volunteers, Chairman Avakian says that we’re living in heavy times. These are times of tremendous opportunities and the necessity for the people all over the world to resist this juggernaut of war and repression and as a part of that, to really bring about a different kind of a world.

But these are also times of tremendous danger-- the imperialists are trying to carry out their world domination and domestic repression, in the way they have been trying to bring about a new Rome—or as I like to characterize it—like a Nazi Germany and Rome combined.

The imperialists have ambitions of recasting and re-polarizing things on a whole other level, in a way so that they are top dog for years to come. I think the analysis this Chairman Avakian is bringing forward is setting a context for everything that is happening at the RNC and beyond.

Lenin says that years can get concentrated into days or into weeks. I can definitely see how this is the case now in the RNC. A lot of people are coming forward from all over the country. They are aiming for a million strong here to protest and say NO to Bush and all he stands for. And this time concentrates a lot, in terms of the whole direction society can go.

Many different people will voice their outrage to that program of Bush and the ruling class, but what’s unique about the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade is that we’re about real communism. We’re about a society were no more men oppress women, no more one group dominates others and makes them work for them to make them richer and more powerful, no more one nation dominating another nation, no more one class dominating another class. We want a society where oppression and exploitation is done away with in every form.

And, we have a leader that leads this Party -- that is a leader of the revolutionary communist movement. We have a leader in this country that is putting forward what it’s going to take to get to this communist future. He’s really bringing forward, not only a vision of what things can be like, but building on the accomplishments of our class in power that has come before in the Soviet Union and in China. He’s learning from that deep experience, both the positive and negative and figuring out how we can and must do better next time around.

In his leadership, in what’s he’s bringing forward in his theoretical work and his method and approach, he is a link to that future communist society. What we have to bring to people is communism and this communist leader-- Chairman Avakian. That’s something that people need and it’s something that people desire – a world where no more oppression or exploitation exists.

People have questions out here about how we can we have a different kind of world--- How can there be a better world than this? Why is there so much oppression? People are right for asking those questions, those are really good questions. But we feel we have solutions to these major questions, even as we are learning more deeply and discovering in a more ongoing way, and deepening our understanding of what is required to bring forward this communist solution.

And we think that this Party and Chairman Avakian, in particular, are providing crucial answers to these questions. He has a new DVD out, Revolution: Why it’s necessary, Why it’s possible, What it’s all about—which takes people on a historical journey on what revolution is about and why it needs to be made and why you can’t reform this system, you have to do away with it.

It’s very nature and existence will give rise to oppression—whether it be slavery and lynchings or police murder in the streets or the plunder of native people and genocide or the Vietnam war or the Iraq war. This [system] will continue to give rise to misery and suffering and horrors and it cannot be reformed—it has to be overthrown in order for any fundamental change to really be brought about.

He also talks about when you make revolution and after you seize power, your state power needs to be a new kind of state power and radically different. It needs to be something that is aiming to get at the 'no mores' that I spoke of just a second ago.

How are you going to end the oppression of women? Look that’s a heavy contradiction, one out of every 3 women is raped . . . the figures are outstanding and brutal. They have more shelters for animals than they do for women who get beaten by their spouse or abused. How are you going to get rid of that oppression? This is a part of what your aim should be and that’s what Chairman Avakian is leading people to see as part of their aim. Those are real knotty contradictions. He’s bringing forward the methods and the actual means to resolve these types of contradictions, and others.

Luciente: One young woman who just hooked up with the RCYB said that what attracts her the most about the RCYB and the Chairman is that we’re not just busy bodies, but that we’re actually looking to the future. She’s worked with other anti-war organizations and said that she was always unsatisfied because they were always busy making signs, printing flyers, making banners—and that those things were important—but the vision of a radically different kind of world was absent from that.

The Chairman talks about how our future aims must guide everything we do. How do you lead with tomorrow in mind?

Roberto: Well, first I try to learn from him and how he does things. He’s this bridge—a link between today and the future communist society—he’s always thinking about what we’re doing today and how that’s going to get us to where we need to go.

Communists are always accused that the ends justify the means, but we say that the means have to be consistent with the ends. Is what we’re doing today fitting the masses of people to rule by putting those knotty contradictions in people’s minds?

Are we working with people in a way in which they are both unleashed to struggle and resist the system and oppression that’s coming down and build organization against that oppression?

Are they being worked with in a way that they realize and are conscious of what the real problem we’re facing is? And what the solution to deal with all this oppression?

Are we really working to develop the consciousness of people by bringing them Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and connecting them to the work Chairman Avakian is doing? Are we doing all that in a way that is going to contribute all the way through the process—whether you’re talking about today when you’re at the anti war movement or if you’re in the housing projects organizing against the different egregious abuses that come down there like police brutality?

Are you doing that all in a way that is going to help us get into a position to do this system in, when that situation comes about? And are you doing it in a way that enables people to continue forward after power is seized to uproot the millennia of oppression – forward to a communist world.

Look, New York chapter of the RCP has ordered 50,000 RW’s for distribution, and this is a new thing—a very good thing, but a very challenging thing.

Imagine if all those 50,000 papers got into the hands of all the people out here. Imagine the guidance that would provide them in having a communist understanding of what the problem is and what the solution is.

Imagine connecting them to the guidance Chairman Avakian is bringing – for instance on this question of Democracy and Dictatorship. The work Chairman Avakian has been doing on this question is extremely important– he's saying, if in today’s world you talk about democracy without talking about the class content and character of democracy is meaningless, and worse.

The question is, does your society, or democracy seeking to put an end to exploitation and oppression, or fortify it. It isn’t whether a dictatorship exists, it exists wherever democracy does, it’s the rule of one class over another. But the question is does this dictatorship and democracy aim to get rid of classes and the division of society into class, or fortify it? And this is being seen here, in overt forms, at the RNC. So imagine if this analysis got into the hands, and was spread because people are reading the RW.

But also imagine the debate that that would stir. Imagine the questioning that would bring forward. Imagine the illusions that would strip away. Imagine how essential that is to preparing people to be fit to rule—to both seize power when the opportunity does arise, but also when that does occur to be in a position to carry it forward.

We talk about the huge contradiction between mental and manual labor. Look, there are basic proletarians in the housing projects that are locked out of the running of society. How are you going to raise the level of consciousness of those people—because they know the bankruptcy of this system on one level, they experience it every day. But they need to know how a different solution can be brought about, how to become involved in bringing about radical change.

The more people understand what’s possible—in terms of the future communist society—and that’s it’s not just based on some fantasy, but that it’s based on reality, the more they find that things are intolerable. That gets expressed in the most concentrated way through Chairman Avakian and the work he is bringing forward. He’s always standing in the future communist society and doing everything to push things forward in the direction of that future society at any given point. That’s how I look at it.

You have to proceed from that society back and all the way through make sure that everything you do is consistent with that goal—fitting the masses to rule, placing contradictions in their hands for them to solve and bringing them into the decision making process as also resisting oppression. But this requires leadership, and the leadership the Party is providing, under the leadership of Avakian, is essential – without it, the masses desire for another world will never fully be realized.

Luciente: In your presentation you discussed a concept that the Chairman has been wrangling a lot with and been focusing a lot of attention on —the solid core with a lot of elasticity. Since your presentation, there has been a lot of formal and informal discussion about this.

How would you apply this concept of a solid core with a lot of elasticity in this moment?

Roberto: This is a principle that he has been focusing a lot of attention on over the last period in particular, but over a long time in a lot of work. How do you allow for a lot of diversity and a lot of ideas for how things could be done and questions of dissent while getting to the communist world that we want to get to?

Getting back to the RW example—I think we can see this . . . we have 50,000 issues we want to get out. This will provide the direction—the hard core. A core that is leading things to where they need to go and providing overall direction to things— on the crucial questions of the day that need to be taken up that are diving line questions to where we need to go, while lifting people’s sights to major questions concerning the overall revolutionary process, like what I was just trying to speak of with the piece on Democracy, in this RW, by Chairman Avakian.

All the while, also stirring up a lot of creativity and debate and ferment and tumult and all these kinds of things. The paper plays a role in enabling people both to understand—for instance, this war and juggernaut of repression and what it’s all about, not from a narrow standpoint, but like it says on the cover of the RW: See Bush…Think Revolution. This should unleash of lot of thinking from others on how they see the war, and how we need to fight against it, and develop resistance.

Not everyone will agree with what we are saying, that is fine – but the paper should unleash a tremendous amount of debate, and it should lead people to deal with, and take up the challenge of the many different things that will go into bringing forward a different world.

This too, can be related to the Chairman’s piece on democracy, people will want to dig more deeply into exactly the type of dictatorship that we live under, but they should also be grappling with what he is bringing forward – this new type of power I was speaking of – what it must be like, which includes a tremendous amount of tumult, of truth coming forward from many different sources and directions, and the ways they think we can do differently then our class in power has done before, or just how they see moving society forward.

I think it gives people direction and it gives them a class-consciousness. It enables them, as well, to get out there and resist. I think this paper is a collective organizer for people. If other people are taking this paper out and it’s getting into other people’s hands, then people are getting connected to the Party, and people are being brought into the process and expanding the “WE”—those who are actually taking responsibility for changing things for the better. But it also gives rise to a lot of elasticity and allows for a lot of ferment and tumult. Not everyone is going to agree with us or what the paper is bringing forward and that’s ok, but it should give rise to questioning, and unleash people thinking and fighting spirit.

We want people to take responsibility for the forward motion of society, this is what we want—and in the process of that we will sort things out in terms of how they may be seeing some things wrong, and we will learn a lot from people on how we can do things better, and they’ll learn about how they can be part of the “WE” who are taking responsibility.

This is the kind of dialectic that you want to get going—the solid core, focusing a lot on the crucial questions and the forward motion of society and the world, toward a communist world, while providing for a lot of elasticity and a lot of ferment and tumult and running with a lot of different ideas—while constantly expanding the solid core which gives rise to more elasticity.

If we don’t do that, this is what Chairman Avakian has taught us, if we don’t do this we won’t reach communism. If we don’t have a solid core that is firm on leading this and providing leadership, the masses will never lift their heads and be free of exploitation, because that won’t happen spontaneously.

But, if there isn’t the elasticity it could turn into it’s opposite, and more, we’ll never really be able to arrive at the most comprehensive understanding of objective reality, or discover the truth, and move society forward based on understanding reality. How are people going to be brought into these things? Not just in the sense of questioning, but actually taking responsibility if they don’t feel that don’t have the freedom or the necessity of taking these questions up . . . people need to see the freedom to do this and the necessity. That’s what doesn’t happen in this society—that’s what happens in this society the masses of people are kept of that.

If we aren’t getting that going and it isn’t being led to where it needs to go—then we aren’t going to reach this communist society.

Luciente: There are many revolutionary leaders in the RCP and in the RCYB that are very important for the masses.

Recently, we’ve been focusing a lot on Chairman Avakian and promoting and popularizing him. What’s the importance and significance of doing this in a much bigger way?

Roberto: It’s really very simple and great thing.

There’s a leader in today’s world that embodies the future communist society and can take people there. That leader is Chairman Avakian.

Through his method and approach and through everything he has done, and is continuing to do, he’s bringing forward a tremendous understanding of the kind of society we live in and how things can be different.

There’s a leader in the world today that exists that can take people to where they need to and, would like to go. That’s something we should celebrate. That’s something we are very proud of, and proud to promote and let the whole world know – like that song – “shout it out loud.”

It’s something that people should embrace. That is the significance of it. If we fail to recognize what we have in Chairman Avakian, then we won’t really be taking up the path breaking contributions he’s bringing forward. We have to dig into what he’s taking about and who he is in order to understand what a rare and unique individual this person is.

What does he embody, and why is that important to recognize?

As I mentioned earlier, the masses will resist – as Mao said where there is oppression, there is resistance. But Mao also said in one his works that the Chinese peasants have resisted heroically for thousands of years, but it wasn’t till a Vanguard Party – setting it sights on communism – came along, that this rebellion could actually be more, a revolutionary struggle to end all forms of oppression and exploitation. Something to that affect.

In this leader is concentrated the very ability for the masses to move forward to a whole different world. Through a combination of his own personal development as a revolutionary, and his life experience, a very complex process – history has brought forward a rare and unique individual who is not only capable of leading a revolution, but whose contributions, and this is important, his continuous contributions – concentrate the most far-sighted vision of what a communist society would look like, and whose leadership is essential to the fight for that communist world.

It’s not that he’s just has his sight set on communism, although he does, but it’s that every thing he’s doing, what gets concentrated in his leadership, in his theoretical work and understanding, is the link to that communist world. What he concentrates is the way for people to get there. And he does it without being a typical commie. He’s extremely funny, and has a tremendous sense of the people and their mood and sentiments for change, and he relentlessly and restlessly pursues the truth by learning from others.

This doesn’t stand in the way of the masses taking initiative and creatively thinking and figuring things out – in fact, the Chairman’s leadership unleashes these types of things.

He’s always calling on people to investigate, engage in the different spheres of science – physics for example – to learn from others in that sphere, but to apply the most penetrating science of revolution to those things.

Individual leaders provide an anchor – people know that a leader exists who not only takes up the hard questions, but IS providing the crucial answers – and can lead them. This gives people some ease of mind, things are in good hands, you know. But that alone doesn’t do it. He’s saying, yeah, I know this is a tremendous responsibility, and I’m ready for that, but it’s only by people consciously taking this up, wrestling with all the different things that go into revolutionizing society – it is only by this can we actually reach communism. So, the individual leader and leadership objectively provide the means for the masses to take history into their hands, and do something good with it. This is the nature of communist leadership.

Look, did it make a difference that Mao led the masses of people to make revolution in China? You’re damn right it did. Did it make a difference in the world whether a Mao Tse Tung existed? You’re damn right it did because he had a tremendous understanding of both the nature of the system on the one hand, and on the other was able to apply the method of Marxism and Leninism at that time to those problems and to bring forward the answers to the problems. Yes, he did this in conjunction with the people – with the Party and the masses and their revolutionary struggle, but he was leading the whole process and the synthesis that led the masses of people to make revolution. That was a billion people who made revolution in China—that’s no small thing.

The same is true for Chairman Avakian. He is that kind of a leader who’s doing that kind of work—and he exists in our lifetime! That’s a decisive thing that the people have on their side. That’s something that’s a great and tremendous thing. That’s why we take to Chairman Avakian in the way we do. We want people to know about him and follow him to where he’s leading us – a whole different type of society. We want people to take up the leadership that he is providing and get other people to follow him and be leaders. The more people understand what’s possible, through grappling with the science of Marxism Leninism Maoism and Chairman Avakian – the more they recognize what exits in this leader, and take up the method he’s bringing forward, then the more they’ll be taking responsibility for the whole revolutionary process.

In a simple and basic way: a leader exists who can take people to a whole different society. We think that people should follow him to that place, and in that respect be leaders in taking responsibility, as Avakian does for getting there too.

Beautifully Cataclysmic

They say we are all made of star stuff
Every atom in our bodies burst into form in the furnace of a star or the cataclysmic explosion of supernovas
“And, for every atom belongs to me, as good belongs to you”
Every breath I inhale was once exhaled from you
The moon I stared at outside my window once sang you to sleep
“Hands I have taken, faces I have kiss’d, mortal I have ever touch’d, it shall be you”
Each time I wake, stretch in the dawn, squint at the morning sun, always hoping its Saturday -
Someone somewhere is going to sleep, reaching for the covers and diving into their dreams
And somewhere
in Iraq
a prisoner
in a country of prisoners
is tortured
a woman is raped (she screams for her mother who will hopefully never hear her cries)
a man is stripped naked by men wearing uniforms of the country I was born in
Yes, sad to say, born here
Yes, disgusted to say, born in
this country that has never done anything good for humanity
What do you think has become of the young and old men, the women and the children, the grandmothers, uncles and aunts? The people whose lives we’re told to forget? What do you think has become of them?
I lie on the grass, the tip of each blade prick my flesh, like a thousand machetes raised in fight
Defiant and unwavering
Proud and undeterred but
now it seems to me the "beautiful uncut hair of graves "
the soil
a dark and moistened burial shroud
for a whole country under the boot of this one
where the dust and stones from what was once their homes break uncovered feet and fill nostrils til it becomes too hard to breathe
Too hard to breathe, to
Wake up and take in the air that is owned by most of the world’s largest corporations
Who fill the-handful-who-own-everything whose pockets we line
While our hearts slow and our bellies empty in this country where
You have the so-called right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” but not the right to eat
Because food is grown on land that is owned by a few, processed through their factories, sent on their ships or trains and sold in their stores
In a world where dying of hunger isn’t a crime, but stealing food is
Cuz we live in a world where profit is king
Where trees aren’t valued until their flesh is torn and pulverized into paper
their worth represented by nickels, dimes and dollar signs
not by the oxygen they give
or the shelter they provide in their tall, over-arching, awe-inspiring, heaven-busting canopies
a world where water is bottled and sold but repression always comes for free
Nothing extra for shipping and handling, this travels the world in style, with an imperialist army
I close my eyes, dreaming of wildflowers and butterflies that have no respect for borders
The grass waves “like the flag of our disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven”
out of resilient dreams and fire-breathing anthems
out of passionate resistance and the unrelenting imagination
of a people who travel to work before sun-up
who clean and paint your homes
sing your children lullabies
we are the people you refuse to see
who grow your crops
pick the fruit
stuff them into barrels to be counted and shipped and we are the ones who pack the shelves, run the registers and load your carts
full of food we birthed but never can afford
but – that’s not even the half of it – because we want so much more
and someday we
will run the world
I hate to be so straightforward, but even poems must tell the truth
About a future where the majority will benefit and flourish
Where even sunsets will look different because
man-made borders will be destroyed, turned to a source of ridicule and historical shame;
passports recycled, or placed in children’s museums -- “look, honey, there used to be these things called nations!”
and when the child tilts her head, looks confused, and wonders, someone will whisper to her –
“they were terrible things”
today will be so long ago she won’t even remember how we ended it -- and it is up to us to end it -
that day
–her past our future-
when we finally broke up with this 200-year abusive relationship with bourgeois democracy – ended the lovefest with the illusion / when the choice between evil or lesser was just thrown out all together
because people chose to live in the reality of dreams instead of the nightmare of reality
because it became clear to all that the powers-that-be, soon to be the powers-that-were are not fit
to be caretakers of the earth
but we are – we love the smell of the grass and cherish the depth of the soil --
and one day, deep beneath the seeds of the future planted in the defiant and vibrant flowerbeds of today
--where the sweet scent of roses bursting through concrete now gives us strength --
we will bury this system
and the planet will thrive
the people will thrive

-Osage
inspired by Bob Avakian, Walt Whitman, and the Battle for Central Park

you claim to know something of beauty...

You claim to know something of beauty
with your compassion for a great green lawn
stretched out wide and uniform...majestic and manicured, growing with permission
encircled - as you prefer all things of nature - by fences and concrete, regulated and neat
but around you the world is convulsing
the heavens raining death
heathens stealing breath
and the breathing are bedridden
heaving with headspinning
on your axis of evil
millions of people
watch

and what have you to say to the children across the sea?
their beauty twisted
weak and withered, without water,
because they grow without permission
amid broken fences and busted concrete
the angry earth throws itself at their feet
because they are hungry
playing with sticks and stones and trouble
building castles out of rubble
finding beauty in the dust of what once was their homes.
They own with pride the feat in the soldiers' eyes behind the guns, inside the boots, beneath the helmuts and the sneer - they own the fear and laugh over it
suppress the memories of their father's last words
Brag how they never even trembled, jab each others' skinny ribs, making fund and boasting - they fancy themselves men, now that all the real men are gone - they boast and laugh at death, because leaving here is itself an act of defiance.

you claim to know beauty as you swap pictures of torture
the shame pressed into her frame
free at last from your dungeons but even more afraid of release.
She was now a woman violated, no longer any good.
She crept in at night, quiet and afraid of the man who married her, ready for death at his hands but wanting to see her children just one last time.
She hid in her own home, counting the minutes till she had no home,
bracing for the beating with cold stone
when the men found her
the tears slid down her cheeks
never had she known such raw emotion, she felt naked
the men of her own village, the eyes that always looked through her
they paraded her through the streets
all the children came to watch
the women she went to school with
even her father
he looked her in the eye and told her she was beautiful
and then the whole town called out her name
broked and battered the spell of shame
the children let out a cheer
and together they celebrated
welcomed this woman home like she had never been before
they slaughtered three goats
played music and danced for
three days
they cherished this furious victim
the pride of the village
their daughter and their future they cheered her
called her beautiful
do you remember this scene?

You claim to know something of beauty
but don't recognize the song of summer and love
the rhythms of hearts pumping blood, faster not for fear but because it might be their last
pumping fast, last chance before spilling, staining the earth,
tell me, what do you do as the bombs fall
as the humvees roll through blaring "leave town or die" as my son clutches a rifle, for his brother
as the buildings fall around you and the earth shakes with anger
do you hold your child's hand, try to comfort him back to innocence
do you cook an exquisite meal with a few dried herbs and your last hen
do you taste the sweat on your lover's flesh, cradle his head in your lap?
stay up to watch the sun beat back the night
do you close your eyes to dream or do you fight?
do you pray?
Tell me, how do you mark the days - when each beauty could be your last
I want to know, how do you choose?

You claim to know something of beauty as you snap pictures of mushroom clouds
send postcards of lynchings
write anthems of bombs bursting
and manicure your grass
covering the patterns of mass graves and murdered slaves
and all the death that scars our planet
and your band plays on
if this is what you know to be beautiful
if this is what you know to hold beauty
crawl back into the halls of history
with your icicle heart and criminal mind
fall down in the furnace of forever
let your body give off heat
and the flames shed some light

let your ashes spread from the skies over Baghdad
let it bring nutrients to the land
and we promise
i swear
on everything that i know to hold beauty
on the skies and the earth as it spins blue and green
of the heavens and stars and the breath of my child
we'll plant the msot beautiful field of wildflowers and free people
we'll sing from rooftops and pour old souls into tomorrow
and call forth beauty
i tell you
beyond the bounds you can fathom

we'll call forth beauty
i promise, surpass the dreams of our children

we'll call forth beauty, i swear to you
in a promise pressed in place by boots caked in mud
scraps of life, bits of blood
caked in dreams, stepped on but not disgraced
we'll call forth beauty that sends
spasms into space
and runs marathons in one place

we'll call forth beauty
with our beating hearts and breathing chests
our beauty will outlive you and out sing you
it will dance in warm rains
and saturate the air
so why should we care
about your grass?

- Sunsara Taylor

What we saw at the women's march

Pro-choice marchers took Brooklyn Bridge, Saturday, August 28, a day before more than half a million delivered a No to Bush and everything he stands for.
This was the largest march New York City has seen through its streets on pro-choice, a young woman we spoke to said it had taken her an hour to cross the Brooklyn Bridge because of the huge turn-out.
This is the second time this year that people from all sections of society have taken the streets in a significant number to demand a woman's right over her body.
In April, close to a million woman marched in Washington D.C. in the largest pro-choice rally this country has seen in 12 years.
Moving toward the site of the rally for "March For Women's Lives" on an empty road, after getting off the train, we walked passed a group of 20 or so with signs that read, "Abortion kills," among other typical bible thumpimg slogans.
Just around the corner the 20 who had received us at the march turned into ten thousand people that had come out on to the streets for another reason: to display their rage against the attacks on a woman's right to have an abortion.
Women marched side by side: Mothers pushing baby strollers, radical cheerleaders in colored hair and covered with piercings, young militant anarchists, older veteran activits, and Women's healthcare professionals.
"Oh gosh, where do I begin?!?," said a young nursing student dressed as a nurse when asked if there had been anything regarding womens' rights that have made her feel outraged in recent years. "I am outraged with the threat [of making abortion illegal] that has occured in the past few years."
Another woman in her sixties, and a veteran of many demonstrations, said, "I think they're trying to reverse Roe V. Wade and that's what worries me."
"To outlaw abortion would be to subvert it [and take it back] where it was in the 70's where a lot of woman died having back alley abortions," added the "nurse."
There were reasons for this fear. Last year Bush signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 that made it illegal to perfrom specific abortion procedures. Attorney General John Ashcroft also made it clear that he would subpeona private medical records of thousnads of women who have had abortions.
Clearly, the thought of having to go back to the times of backalley abortions was on most people's minds.
In case some people did forget how horrible those times were for women, a woman who came all the way from Alaska carried a sign that would remind them. It was a simple sign. Just a picture of a coat hanger with the word/question, "Remember?" written under it.
It must have sent a chill to the women who saw it. It made me think of the lyrics to a song by the female-fronted L.A. punk band, Naked Aggression. "But these people don't seem to care/ Operation Rescue, what do you want me to do?/ Shove a coat hager up my cunt?/ I had an abortion in a back alley/ I had an abortion in a back alley.../And now I'm bleeding to death on the killing floor."
* * * *
In between the men and women who walked the demonstration's route was a woman who stood out from among the others.
It was the color of her hair that called my attention, it wasn't pink or blue not even red instead it was silver.
Beth a 75 year-old New Yorker stood alone cheering on the marchers as they walked passed her,"Women have to be free to make their own choices," she said.
Beth arrived to the march on her own because she felt it necessary to stand up against the oppression of this system, but she also echoed what many are beginning to realize as the only solution "We would need to have a real revolution," she said about the possibility of Bush being re-elected to continue his reign of christian righteousness.
Just a little past Beth was the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade with the Revolutionary Worker newspaper in hand. On the cover it read, "See Bush...Think revolution: No to the new Rome," something Beth seemed really interested in taking home to read.
* * * *
One day, there will be no need for women to march in protest angry that their right to abortion might be taken away; in a city where they are afraid to walk in at night; surrounded by thousands of cops in riot gear; past billboards of "models" wearing little clothes and high heels; and newstands filled with degrading pornography and magaiznes that feature anorexic celebraties that are meant to be beautiful.
One day, women (and men!) will sit around and talk about how it used to be and wonder how the hell people even put up with one minute of it. They will even laugh at how silly and dumb some of the old ideas sound.
We want this day to come. And we want to do everything posible to make sure it happens soon.


-By Nikolai Garcia and Nadia Rojo

JOIN THE CITY OF NEW YORK IN DELIVERING A HUGE, UNMISTAKABLE NO!! TO THE BUSH AGENDA!!

This past Sunday, 750,000 people flowed past Madison Square Garden, and many thousand turned up in Central Park, in spite of police harassment and a denial of a rally permit. The mood was defiant and celebratory.

Thursday, Bush is coming to NYC to be crowned the Republican nominee.

We have an enormous opportunity to ride this wave of momentum to continue delivering a huge NO to Bush and the entire Republican agenda.

People are looking for a way to act together, and we must flood the city with NO, to show the world that Bush and the Republicans are most unwelcome in New York City.

This week culminates with Bush’s speech on Thursday night. We must continue resisting in these next two days, we must create a NO that spreads far and wide; that reaches way beyond the movement, to all the thousands who are so disgusted by the Republicans and all they represent.

Everywhere you look, on tens of thousands of T-Shirts, on stickers, posters, hanging from banners and written on walls, in many different and creative ways, must be the simple and defiant word NO! Some had the opportunity to protest in the streets. For those, and for the millions who were not in the streets, but were affected and inspired by the massive rejection of the Bush agenda seen on Sunday, we suggest:

Wear a T-Shirt with the word NO. Buy one, or make your own.
Hang a poster in your window
Chalk NO on the streets
Write NO on your rooftop
Organize your neighborhood to shout NO! at 8 pm when Bush will deliver his “coronation speech”
Participate in one of the many protest events organized for that day.

Dream up your own creative, visual piece of resistance using the word NO and let us know!!

For more information on this effort, contact
The Not in Our Name Project at (212) 760-1722
Email: info@notinourname.net

Delivering The "No" To Bush And Everything He Stands For

NEW YORK AUGUST 29, 2004 -- I heard the roar before I actually saw the crowds.

Turning down a side street to get to the avenue where the march was starting, I heard what sounded like huge ocean waves crashing against rocks and felt what could have been a giant subway train rumbling beneath the street. And then I saw them…hundreds of thousands of people creating a river of humanity that rocked and moved with the angry yells and spirited shouts of people who urgently wanted something more. More than living in a society built on fear. More than living in an empire – a new Rome – that puts itself before and on top of the rest of the world. More than being forced to rely on a lying, murdering president. They came despite the tremendous repression – the threats from city officials, the massive police presence, the stalking of protesters and the painting of them as terrorists. They came to feel, again, the full force of their collective power – in one unified voice, crying, "NO!"

They were told they could not rally in Central Park, so they burst the concrete seams of the city, filling more than 40 blocks, saying NO with their very bodies to being corralled or silenced into barricaded, isolated protest ghettos. It was hammered at them again and again that dissent is criminal, that thinking critically under a system that promotes fear of thinking is outlawed and dangerous. And that being so "radical" as to visibly disagree with the Bush regime is extremist or worse.

So, of course, the people didn’t listen.

Instead, they poured out into the streets of Manhattan in their hundreds of thousands, with their baby-strollers, their grandmothers, sisters, even their pets -- to fight over the direction of the country. They held signs high above their heads declaring their non-complicity with this juggernaut of war and repression. They refused to be "good Germans." They wore shirts that said, "BUllSHit" or carried plastic effigies mocking Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft and Rumsfeld.

Many started the day by come to the Not In Our Name rally at Union Square. They grabbed up earth flags, "I Say No!" t-shirts and copies of the Not In Our Name Pledge of Resistance. They came here because Not In Our Name had come to the fore in the lead-up to the day for fighting to send an uncompromising NO to the Bush agenda, and making that the message of the day; they made a point of not making elections the dividing line, and saying resistance is what all people must take up. They made it out into the media to shot that people had to make our opposition visible and undeniable.

The most reviled, hated, distrusted, disliked, ridiculed president in the history of this country inspired what the New York Times called the "most emphatic" election year protest "since Democrats and demonstrators turned against each other in fury over Vietnam in Chicago in 1968."

With great urgency and intensity, people came out to show they would not go quietly or obediently into Bush’s future. They came to declare that another future, another world, is possible, desired and very much needed.

And none of this was supposed to happen.

King George W Bush was supposed to come to New York and capitalize on the grief of this city from 9/11 for imperial aims. Instead, the city had to build a fortress. He was supposed to be able to come to this city and feel welcomed and congratulated for the internationally-deeply-hated war and occupation of the people of Iraq. At this moment, when the power structure needs the backing of the people – where they need to say this is a unified homeland – he was supposed to come to the "city that never sleeps" and celebrate in the glory of all their red-white-and-blue balloons. But just as the hopes of the American occupiers -- who were supposed to be greeted with flowers by the conquered but "grateful" people of Iraq -- were shattered, so the hopes of King George for a warm welcome by the people of New York City were shattered on Aug. 29.

*****

Claiming that the Republican National Convention was a target for terrorists, the city created an atmosphere of fear around the protests. The level of repression and focus from federal agencies was unprecedented. The head of the Department of Homeland Security himself, Tom Ridge, came out to show off the level of security forces in the city – their new weapons, the use of all 40,000 cops in NYC, the more than 30 police agencies working together -- and touted the island city as being covered from "land, sea, and air." They brought in the National Guard. They created a "frozen zone" in the blocks around Madison Square Garden, where the RNC would be; and in that 19-block radius alone, they were going to concentrate 10,000 cops. On the 29th itself, they had cops on foot, on bikes, on horses, in helicopters, and in armored-type vehicles.

The FBI came out in the weeks before the RNC with an announcement that they were going to have serious surveillance on 56 groups and individuals. And they went out stalking and interrogating protesters (some in other parts of the country), even interviewing their families. They wanted to intimidate these individuals, as well as scare the broader forces who wanted to come out.

Two futures were converging on this city simultaneously – and like polar opposites, they couldn’t just peacefully coexist together, tolerant and equal. No – these two futures are diametrically opposed to each other. So, they pushed against each other, fighting to win out, and one side won out on the 29th. The protests dominated the nightly and daily news – in both English and Spanish media.

There were so many people it took six hours for the march to be completed – the front had reached the end of the march route before the back of the march had even begun to move. Everywhere you went, on the subways, in and around the different parks – you saw anti-Bush protesters. And the majority were not people who are actively and regularly involved in politics and political struggles. Most were everyday people, largely democrats who simply could not stand by as the country accelerated on its path to swoop up the world in its imperialist net.

With great determination and passion, they came to say no to prison torture in foreign lands and round-ups of immigrants here. Fists pumped in the air against bedroom police and the outlawing of same-sex love. Wearing the I Say NO! t-shirts, lifting the Earth flags and holding the signs from Not In Our Name, declaring "NO!" Jumping up and down to drums, trumpets and make-shift musical instruments, they declared protest to be liberating and war to be criminal. They came from Hawaii, Ohio, Montana, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina, California, Texas, Arizona, Chile, Canada, and Germany, and more.

And they are so sick of the lying. Of the manipulation and deceit. Of not being able to trust their government or rely on politicians. One contingent marched with 1,000 coffins with U.S. flags draped on them, representing the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many marchers were angry they had to come out into the streets – because their very own Democratic Party has refused to mobilize them against the war.

And there were many others -- rebel youths wearing masks and revolutionaries from the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade showing people that they don't have to settle for "Anybody but Bush" -- that they can fight for a radically different and completely liberating future. Everywhere you went, you saw red flags or people with the Revolutionary Worker newspaper, and could hear the chant: The earth is quakin'/ Follow Bob Avakian/ The empire's shakin'/ Follow Bob Avakian!

*****

On August 29, in New York City, a visible and powerful NO was delivered. But this NO needs to be expressed -- in signs and symbols, in the streets, online, on our t-shirts, in our windows, and in acts of resistance -- making it very clear that millions of people are determined to say NO to Bush and everything he stands for, and that whatever happens on election day, the fight for a whole different direction in the country and the world will continue.

*****

As the afternoon gave way to evening, I watched the tall buildings stretching beyond the heights of the trees in Central Park; the city lights bouncing against the dusk. The city had denied us a permit to rally here, but the fight for the park and the refusal of people to be penned up in an official protest site on the West Side Highway had caused a furor and made a lot of people mad. As the march ended, people defiantly filtered into the park until we numbered in the thousands. Some lay on the grass, while others played on the baseball diamond, drawing anti-Bush slogans in the dust with our fingertips. People crowded around drummers and trumpet players, dancing to the rebellious and joyous rhythm. As the march ended, people defiantly filtered into the park until we numbered in the thousands. We listened to poet Saul Williams read the Not In Our Name Pledge of Resistance on the radio, and we promised, along with him, that, "Another World is possible and we pledge to make it real!" This is a celebration, a coming-together, a moment to reflect on what we are bringing forward.

There's just something about being in a large park with thousands of others who represent how the world could be different; all kinds of people joining up to celebrate a day of fighting for the future. This is what parks will be like in the future.

On my back on the thick, green grass, my eyes searched to see stars in the city-glow sky, and I hear the poet Walt Whitman in my head. Whitman once wrote that grass is "the beautiful uncut hair of graves" and I think of the people around the world who needed this day to happen -- who needed to see that there are so many here who stand with them and not Bush…who have been struggling to see the truth through the thick lies that tell them America is united. The millions who wake up each morning in Iraq and Afghanistan seeing more of the country in ruins; all those desperately needing to see the American empire come tumbling down: this day held so much for them.

And it is also because of them -- and the very future of this world -- that August 29 needs to be a beginning. A spark. A dawn of a new movement of resistance that builds itself with its sights set on stopping all this -- putting an end to the predatory wars for empire, the fear, the repression and hatred -- and at its core, we need hearts filled with dreams of a world where the ideas of nations dominating one another and the whole dog-eat-dog way the world works now will be something people read about in history books. There must be a growing rhythm of fearless desires that gives us strength and spirit; a nourishing vision that shows we are the seeds of a future that is so possible and so necessary.

As we left the park, the smell of the grass was sweet, and the roar of the crowd was still in my head.

-Osage

How History is Made -- by Akil Bomani

NEW YORK, AUGUST 29, 2004 -- In aching anticipation, masses of individuals awaited this day to take their frustration into the streets. After months of rigorous organizing, tedious legal battles over permits, and a hatred growing stronger each day against the direction that this country’s leaders are taking society, the people would be able to deliver the big "NO" to the Bush administration and the juggernaut of war imposed upon the world, as the Republican Party gathered for W redux. Despite the attempts at intimidation through heightened security and "possible terror threats" no amount of repression would suffocate the resounding cries of discontent that radiated the sentiments of the people.

This day, it came, and it was nothing less than an epoch point in history. Hundreds of thousands flooded the streets extending more than forty blocks in length. With every imaginable clever form of mockery and outrage on picket signs and rally chants toward Bush and everything he stands for, the people paraded intrepidly.

In the face of so much intimidation propaganda, possible yellow, orange and red terror alerts, and thousands of NYPD police, it is certain that no one knew how this march would unfold. At any given moment, the armed authorities, in the name of “homeland security” could discontinue the march more than likely inflicting reactionary violence on the people in doing so. Moreover, under the fascist political terms set by the government and the ruling class it represents, its army of pigs would have declared themselves justified in doing this. All of this points toward the stakes involved within the anti-war movement.

A great many of the participants of the march were disgruntled democrats, individuals who looked desperately to the Democratic party to take a real stand against this reign of terror that the Bush administration has invoked on the world. However the Democratic party have made themselves very clear as wanting no part of these demonstrations, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of their base is against the war on Iraq themselves. Imagine the disgust, the disillusionment, the disdain and especially despair that hundreds of thousands of masses felt when the people they look to as their leaders not only refuse to take a stand against tyrannical conquest, but denounce them from doing so as well! Imagine the outrage, frustration, confusion, disappointment and uncertainty that these masses felt! Not allowed to receive a formal hearing through the so called representatives of the people, the masses were left with no choice but to take this outcry to the streets.

*****

The majority of the half-million protestors were democrats of different types. But there was a wide diversity of political and ideological viewpoints. This ranged from anarchists, various socialist parties, grassroots and anti-war organizations, college contingents, and artists -- as well as individuals who saw a huge gathering of dissent and felt compelled to support. But to a great extent, contestation of Bush and the Republican Party appeared to be the center that held in common.

The presence of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (RCYB) at the protest could not be overlooked. In fact it was difficult, if not out right impossible to not see the evidence of their seeming omnipresence at the rally. Comrades did their best to saturate the people with the truth of the Revolutionary Worker newspaper. Many thousands of papers were distributed. The blaring yellow and red front page reading “See Bush…Think Revolution” was seen in the clinched hands of many. Public opinion was being creating right before our eyes. Stepping forth boldly as tribunes of the people, revolutionary communists took every opportunity to unite all who could be united, from the disappointed social democrats who carried the line of “anybody but Bush” to frustrated youth who longed for a better world, yet unaware of its possibilities. The effort to paint the big picture of capitalism and the repressive police state was constantly engaged, as the line of MLM was unapologetically put forward in manifold ways.

In the midst of all this, Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, was connected with tens of thousands of people through the pages of the Revolutionary Worker and through the promotion of all kinds of screenings of the film of the historic talk Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible and What it’s All About that are happening around New York this week. Scores of youth running with the RCYB were bursting forth with bold enthusiasm to connect this unique revolutionary leader with the people and working tirelessly to make this happen.

When asked why they had come to the march, many of the protestors expressed more than just simple hatred for Bush, though this hatred and frustration characterized much of the march. There was also expression of disgust, covering the systemic and integrated array of elements, that characterizes the current societal direction.

Two young protesting women stated their compulsion to come was because they felt that this was “the only real way to get their voices heard by the people.” A group of artists came to display a beautiful collage painting that told the story of American imperialism in Colombia – the presenter expressed his conviction to tell the hidden truth of America's war on drugs and how it is underlined by the compulsion of imperialism.

One response given by a young protestor was that he was there simply in “search of others out there who felt like he did” regarding the oppressive climate around issues of racism, sexuality and capitalism in general. A group of students stated how it simply “just felt good to be among such a broad range of political orientations and social backgrounds all united in protest against the present order of things.”

Throughout each of these comments there remained a consistent thread of sentiments that set the theme for the protest. The thread of sentiment was desperation for something effectual beyond the formal method of democratic expression.

Stepping back and realizing the relationship between this massive outpouring of sentiment and the formal method of democracy involving the electoral process, it becomes objectively clear that the masses are experiencing a deficit in the efficiency -- I would say "legitimacy" -- of this process. The very fact that 500.000 people, many who are more than likely registered voters, found it necessary to take their grievances out into the streets reveals at the very least a broad section of society who feel betrayed by this process. And the fact that so many feel compelled to undertake an alternative method to this answers the question of how history is really made. In asking one protestor his opinion of the effectiveness of the electoral process compared to this sort of expression of mass dissent his explanation was simply. “I wouldn’t be here right now if elections in this country actually worked.”

*****

In times like these, people begin to search for an alternative vision of the future. It becomes clear the necessity for tribunes of the people to rise to the occasion, and it becomes clear the necessity for a leadership and a leader who does represent the interests of the people to be presented to the people.

This protest drew from many different forces, and served to invigorate and inspire many, many more. Huge questions about the direction of the country and the world are up for millions of people. And they are being increasingly driven into political life, compelled by the workings and "non-working" of the system -- which is objectively outmoded.

Half a million came out on the New York streets to deliver a decisive "NO" to Bush and everything he stands for. This was critical.

In the context of the unfolding of this next period, the role of the people's resistance will be decisive. This movement of resistance, full of debate and discussion over the course of things, must continue and build. The people of the world must see and feel more and more that a whole section of the people in the U.S. are opposed to the whole Bush agenda. People within the US who are disgruntled, betrayed, victimized, outraged and angry need to continue to find each other and say "NO!" To be continued….

The Rumbling of the Coming Future....

The ground under my feet feel the approaching rumble of the train. People rush up the stairs from the train station, down the stairs from apartment buildings, from main streets and side streets-- everywhere you look there are people coming out with all their creativity saying No! to Bush and Co.

Two babies with a "Babies Against Bush" mini-banner hung across their stroller are looking at the thousands gathered at that one intersection blowing whistles, banging on drums, and shouting "Move Bush, Get Out the Way, Get Out the Way Bush, Get Out the Way."

* * *

Three women sit outside on a sidewalk patio enjoying lunch. It's their Sunday afternoon retreat from their daily 9 to 5 routine.

One says, "So, what do you think-- do you want to go with the protesters after?"

The two women look at each other. One answers right away, "Sure."

The other isn't sure, "No I don't think so, not today."

Her friend says, "C'mon if not now when?"

* * *

Rosa and Dolores are from Chile. Rosa is an architect and Dolores is a lawyer. They're both wearing statue of liberty crowns on their heads. They are carrying a painting with both Bushes, Rice, Rumsfeld, Cheney and the rest of their click in a face off against Jesus Christ. Rosa's hobby is painting. She started painting to vent her anger against Bush saying that God supports him and this war. Before the Iraq war she's didn't take part in demonstrations, she's always been a devoted housewife and mother-- but she said that she wouldn't miss the big No! on August 29 for anything in the world.

"I've never been involved in politics. But as soon as the war started we started going to anti-war demonstrations. I mean, I'm an architect and a mother of three . . .This country used to be democratic and I love this country, but the problem is that right now we're living in a dictatorship in this country. I fear that many people are loosing their freedom, " said Rosa who says she's disappointed that the Democrats aren't that much of an alternative to Bush.

Dolores jumped in, "What we need is a third party. There isn't much difference between the Democrats and the Republicans-- it's like a two headed snake. There's no real political discussion here. What exists now is a ruling class. Look, Kerry is like Bush-- they're wealthy and their part of the same circles."

* * *

Miguel is sitting on a bench reading the new issue of the Revolutionary Worker.

I sit next to him and said, "So, you got the latest issue of the paper."

"Yeah. I've never read anything like this before . . ." Miguel is 14 years old and lives in Queens. He's traveled to several countries and loves reading history books. He loves to talk to strangers and to share his observations of the world.

"It's so hypocritical that they call this a democracy . . . It's not just Bush but it's all of this . . . But there is global dissent against Bush-- I talked to someone about this when I went to Spain on vacation.

"Look at all the people marching, you don't see any one person twice . . . But look at the Democrats they're saying that they don't support our protests, you know just in case there's a riot or something, then they can keep their hands clean of it. But if everything goes peaceful, then they're going to say, 'Oh, yeah, we had people there.'

"I guess it's like this: we have a Pepsi and Coke challenge, only this is about Presidents. And they don't taste any different to me."

* * *

It was a beautiful day. Hundreds of thousands filled the streets full of love for humanity. The big lawn at Central Park was alive with joy and celebration-- drum circles and a small marching band. People played basketball and threw frisbees.

Everywhere you turned people were left with this on their minds-- and it came straight form the Revolitionary Worker : SEE BUSH THINK REVOLUTION.

Let me share this, I've been reading and writing for the RW for a while now. I can conceptualize and visualize what it means to get this paper into the hands of the millions who need it, but here, at this decisive moment in history there were thousands checking out our press-- in just this park alone.

I think about a woman I met today, Josie. She told me she hates what Bush is doing to the planet. She wants a better world for her baby girl-- a world where her baby girl with soft black curls and bright black eyes can grow and be free to walk down the street without fear.

She asked me, "But why can't that be?"

Everything is treated like a commodity-- it's like we're being stripped of our humanity. We're only worth what part of us is for sale-- whether it be our labor or bodies or creativity. I told her this sytem is like a big boulder in the road that keeps us from reaching the potential of humanity-- communism.

"But how do you have enough people to push the boulder out of the way? And how do you know that what's ahead is better than this?"

At a time when the future of our planet is in the balance-- what direction will things take? When millions are losing faith in the system . . . and everyone longs for a different kind of world, what difference will it make for people to meet a leader like Bob Avakian.

As we enjoy a beautiful day at the park I think about what Bob Avakian says, "We don't have to hide from the future because the future belongs to us if we dare to rise up."

- Luciente Zamora

Faces of Defiance

August 28th 2004
Saturday Night 11:28pm
The steps of Union Square
at edge of the night, on the verge of a day
like we have never seen before.

A montage drifts through my mind.
Made up of words and pictures, like people passing.
Faces I feel I know are painting a picture of this city
unlike any History book has told.

They whisper to me of this afternoon when my friends arrived.
At dusk hot heavy air escalated into pouring rain
with big fat raindrops we wanted to play in the storm
longing for childhood innocence,
in love with the grass and the trees.
And my friends say "Tell us about the trees Alice!"
And I say "Central Park is a wilderness at the center of this city, tomorrow you'll see."

without meaning to I'm stumbling on images of police blockades. Tensions mounting, their closing in and all these eyes are searching and angry.
How will we lead? We must have faces of defiance!

They whisper to me about a row of photographs scattered on a wall.
Pictures from Iraq.
People gather thick muddy water from a broken main.
A child atop broken down tanks painted with floerescent graffiti.
The body of a young Iraqi man lays in a coffin.
Killed by American's who've invaded his home.
Crowds in the street with eyes full of pain and indignation.
Sadre city: 2 million in poverty, suffering at the vile hand of this country.
A fraction of the people we fight with and for.

They whisper to me of a young woman dressed as a dove.
She would not settle for a world with such misery
She declares before her death; "This has to stop.
I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything
and devote our lives to making this stop."

They whisper of rage, creativity, determination
knowing we will do the same thing everyday
again and again until this world is ours!

And then a song, although we're taught our voices are small, we should be shy, but we sing along "There's something inside so strong..."and we love to clap our hands.

They whisper dreams of brilliant red flags draping the city

They tell me that sometimes they events of twenty years will happen in a single day

Leaning in closer looking into my eyes,
They show me the image of a wide black oak with
thick roots and intricate branches:
their society and its grip on humanity, and its dying.
At the base of the trunk -Revolution- breaks through it's bark.

They whisper the words of our Chairman...

"We don't have to be afraid of the future, because the future belongs to us if we dare to rise up."

In the middle of the night hundreds of people pass by while I sit on the steps
Dreaming of historic destinations
Looming above like the moon is tomorrow

I see our footsteps on a bed of grass, I remember the way it felt between my toes as girl, the way it feels to have my fist in the air, to find the truth, and to fight for the future of humanity!!!

Alice.

Oh NO! Here we go!

Recently I found a highschool report I did on the Democractic Convention. This particular report, which was quite extensive and part of a bigger history fair project, covered the protests during the convention. Its been well over 12 years since I wrote that report but when I reread it all kinds of shit came flooding back to my memory.

I remember finding characters like Abby Hoffman, who kept his principles up until the time he died.I remember being struck by pictures of youth rebelling against a whole repressive atmosphere and protesting against the US war in Vietnam. And Bobby Seale, one of the founders of the Black Panther Party, going on trial with the Chicago 8 and being bound and gagged in the court room by that cold mutherfucking judge Julius Hoffman. It all impacted and politicized me even more than I was already. And it gave me dreams of that kind of struggle happening in my life time. In fact this was true for many of my friends as well who got turned on to all those sixties stories and dreams of resistance.

So jump ahead to 2004 - NEW YORK CITY ya'll. Here we are, hundreds of thousands of people in the streets to protest the Republican National Convention, and in particular the whole Bush agenda of war and repression. (And as I've been learning the anti-woman Bush agenda - the anti-environment Bush agenda - the anti-humanity Bush agenda etc. etc.)

Every time I come to New York, I swear the side walk breathes. It is just so fucking alive. And this is even more true now. It's hot too, everyone is glistening and sweaty. It's "hot" and the "heat" is "repressive". Yea, that too. But the people aren't deterred. In fact half a million came out into the streets yesterday - compelled by the workings of this system. Which reminds me, I gotta get that shirt I saw in Union Square which read "The System is Wack".

I think our revolutionary writers and artists collective is running on pure revolutionary adrenaline - trying to capture this moment in all its radiant color. And we are learning so much. Many of the folks who came out the main march yesterday were sort of "disgruntled democrat" types. They're very pissed and frustrated and rightfully so. The people who claim to represent them and the guy they are suppose to getting behind, Kerry, not only won't speak to these protests - against the war, against the attacks on a women's right to choose, against the repression and more - but the head of the Democratic National Committee actually came out publicly and said strait up "we" don't have anything to do with the demonstrations.

And there is a weird sort of irony which shows you how the debates among the ruling classes are different than the debates among the people. Here many, many people represented by these protests are sick to death of Bush, pissed cause they have lied to and lied to again, fed up with this unjust war and occupation, concerned about the whole gutting of civil liberties etc., etc., ....And what are the politicians talking about? What are they debating? Kerry's fucking war record! Did he kill sufficiently for the empire - was he a good soldier or a punk ass chump. Because that is after all, as Chairman Avakian has pointed out in a recent talk, part of what makes one truly Presidential.

So you end up feeling bad for all these folks who are frustred and again doing the "lesser of two evils" game. Trying to shape Kerry into something he's not - like a wife trying justify her abusive husband. "Oh, well he's not that bad really, you just got to give him a chance." And you can understand the desperation because there is a serious danger if Bush is elected. Were the bourgeoisie feels they can go with him and all those he represents. That they get a mandate to continue the conquest and empire building. What that will mean for the people of the world, the untold horrors beyond what's happened already. What that will mean for the people here in this country.

We have talked for some time about this "battle for the middle" and it is very alive in the streets of New York. The bourgeoisie is not going to represent these folks. But the proletariat will unite with them and can lead them to a different future. One I think that they actually desire. It strikes you how deeply people need to connect, to dream and travel with Bob Avakian. People are looking for leadership. And that is another deep lesson we are learning.


The whole time coming out here, our long and exciting trip in the car, my mind has been racing with anticipation. What will this moment be like? What will characterize the different lines and view points? What will the repression be like? Where will I sleep, will I sleep? But what is more - will the masses of people deliver the NO! That is so needed. And yes indeed they did - and are continuing to do as the week roles on. They took the streets, took the park, took the streets again, have stood up to brutal pigs and much more is to come. I can't believe it's only Monday.

The battle is on....
The battle for the summation of the anti-war movement
The battle over how to change society and how to stop fascism
The battle to stop fascism
The battle for the NO! To the whole Bush Agenda
The battle for the to get folks to really check out what Chairman Avakian is saying,
to travel with him, wrangle with him, get challenged by him and dream with him.
The battle over the future....it is on! Right here in the gritty, sweaty, hot, tangy,
sleepless streets and breathing blocks of New York City.

Philip Watts

Critical Mass

Manhattan -- In the early evening I catch the beginning of the New York City Critical Mass, coasting through the street with a jubilant glee. Bystanders cheer on the side walks. This monthly event is done in cities all over the country. Bicyclists come togethor to make a political statement about the inefficiency of automobiles in the city and celebrate and enjoy biking. Many use this to express themselves regarding other issues as well. Like a middle-aged woman in white cotton from head to toe and a large straw hat, who drifts by shouting "The Republicans are Coming! Protect your intelligence and your innocence!"

Every other month this event is carried out smoothly and sucessfully, but this week is a different story. This week the NYPD is taking major steps to establish a new order. Before the riding begins the NYPD passes out a flyer warning bicyclists of various stipulations like this: "It is illegal to ride a bicycle in a procession on the public streets within New York City if a permit for the Procession has not been issued by the New York City Police Department." and "Bicyclists may not impede pedestian or vehicular traffic. Intentiaonally impending government and emergencey vehicles is a serious offense." and concluding " Violators of the foregoing are subject to arrest and bicycle seizure." So here they have clearly set up a basis to arrest people particpating whenever they please.

A few hours later, I'm in Union Square and groups of police cars and vans go whizzing by, six to ten at a time. There's Helicopters fluttering above us with some kind of jet plane beaming lights down a few streets away, and an NYPD blimp offensively hovering through the skyline. I find out from bystanders arriving with bikes that this was the air surveillance following Critical Mass through the city. Bicyclists tell me they were cut off at 34st and 7th Ave. People were waiting for the cops to move so they could disperse. At this point cops started surrounding groups and arresting without any explanations. Pushing bicyclists down, grabbing bikes, and picking out people at random and arresting. There was nothing to instigate this.

This is a crude and outlandish display of aggression and authority in preparation for the weekend's historic protests. A testing of power that should not be accepted as setting a precedent for how things will go this weekend. We can't let this dishearten or intimidate us, we should make an example of bicyclists who told me they came out tonight, despite their fear of arrest, which would put their jobs and lives in jeopardy. They came out anyway because this is what they do. By their example we should not allow the NYPD to dictate our actions. We should make an example of bicyclists who came back exhilirated and with a sense of accomplishment because they had made it to Time Square and cheered with their hands in the air as they whizzed through the neon lights pouring down on them.

-Alice

An Open Letter to the Movement from Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolutionary Worker and an organizer with Not In Our Name

History Demands That We See Each Other In the Park!
August 29th when the whole world will be watching

Right now there are two futures coming into sharp contrast right before our eyes: a future of unending wars and police state restrictions where even the right to question is criminalized, or a future where the people, defying the threats and intimidation by the police and FBI, grow in our strength and resistance and stand together with the people of the word to bring about a new way of relating to each other with equality and respect.

These two futures are on a accelerating collision course and only one or the other will gain the upper hand. No where does this take more concentrated --expression than right now during the RNC in NYC very, very soon, including especially the need to deliver a huge NO! to Bush and all he represents in Central Park on August 29th.

To be blunt: If we do not want the world cast under the shadow of a New Rome and to live in a razor-wire police state here at home, then people must be in the park. Many, many, many people. Together we must say NO!

No more sending the NYPD across the country to intimidate and stalk protesters. No more equating political protest with terrorism. No more using the so-called "War On Terror" to justify wars - like the ones on Iraq and Afghanistan - which were already planned. No more labeling resisters as "extremists" or creating false specters of "lawbreakers" and "violence inciters" when no one even comes near the Bush Regime when it comes to extremism, trashing the rule of law or inflicting mass violence. No more attempts to hide our opposition so that whatever war candidate wins they can claim, as they prosecute this course of war and repression that they are acting on our behalf. No more fearing the people of the world when it is our own government that is raining terror down on whole countries and through whole communities of immigrants within our own borders. No more! No way! No how! Just NO!!!

On August 29th we call on everyone to act together with courage and much love for the people of the planet and with great joy and confidence in the better world that we can bring closer by resisting. Join us at 10:00 am at Union Square for the Not In Our Name Kick-Off Rally with Steve Earl, Saul Williams and others. Walk with us past the convention center with the thousands of other groups and organizations protesting. And, in the afternoon, lets see a beautiful day in the park.

Let us make clear to everyone in power, everyone in this country, and everyone in the world that we are on the move and picking up speed. Lets give people the sense of right and collective strength that we will all need to continue to fight until the whole juggernaut of war and repression is decisively derailed. Let us show everyone, and give them a way and the confidence to join in, that we aim to rip the future out of the hands of the empire-builders and the police state engineers.

When the eyes of the world will be watching, lets be in the Park in our numbers, with our dreams and our consciences in tact. Lets make good on our pledge, to the people of the world to take responsibility for the actions of our own government. Our promise that a better world is possible and our pledge to make it real.

Criminalizing Dissent

Last night, Critical Mass, a group that gathers frequently in this city to show that bike riding is a way to get around that is good for the environment, gathered last night -- numbering in the thousands!-- to ride through the city to protest the Republicans in town. The NYPD basically went straight there to arrest people and they reportedly arrested over 200 people. For being traffic! Their mere presence was treated as a crime. Some of the charges were disorderly conduct, not dispersing, obstructing gov't administration, and illegal parading. A traffic jam in New York City is now a crime, apparently.

All sarcasm aside, though, the city and much of the media is really trying to make the general public feel like to be a protester, you must be an extremist, and if you protest, you are alying yourself with extremists. But they hide the content of the politics and the future that is at stake. Yes, there are extremists on both sides - some are for deepening and extending the repression and increasing a fascistic morality- while others are about liberating all of humanity. Yes, both are extreme. But they are extremely different, too.

There must be a standard set in the resistance that anyone and everyone who hates Bush and the direction of this country is welcomed and encouraged to resist. This is crucial if we are to build a viable resistance that can set its sights on stopping the juggernaut and liberating the world.

But then the news last night did an "artful" job of contrasting their presence in the city to a "prayer" demonstration of the Christian Defense Coalition. The news tried to make the Critical Mass bicyclists look "bad" --because they ride…bikes…in traffic….-- and the christian fascist CDC look like the "kind of protester you want to see here". The news reporter even said, "if only all protests could be as peaceful as this," referring to the CDC.

Oh, so we should welcome fascists as long as they’re peaceful, but don’t welcome the people who want a better world?

Besides, you want to know why the CDC were "peaceful"?? Because they weren’t protesting the RNC! They were praying to some non-existent god to protect this gathering of exploiters and murderers. They agree with the goals and methods of these bloody-jawed wolves. Why would they dare do anything disruptive? And let’s be real here - let’s look at the program of the Christian Defense Coalition. Just who are these "peaceful" motherfuckers?

These are the folks that defended the Ten Commandments monument outside the state's judicial building in Birmingham, Alabama. They (are and) have ties to christian fascists such as Operation Save America, who have been known to harass doctors and patients outside abortion clinics, according to the Biblical America Resistance Front (barf.org). The group's director, Rev. Pat Mahoney, was the one who called for the protest at the steps of the Supreme Court on the 25th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade in 1998 - opposing women's liberation.

I was there in 1998 - in fact, it was the first protest I ever went to - and I was completely stunned by the signs that called for the murdering of abortion providers (even including their names and addresses), as well as signs that depicted fetuses as children. I had no idea people like them existed, and it was actually their existence that made me dedicate my life to opposing everything they represent (Luckily, I found the writings of Bob Avakian around that tme and I became a revolutionary communist soon afterwards, as I searched for answers about the roots of women's oppression and how it can fundamentally be done away with).

At the judicial building in Alabama, when the question of the 10 Commandments was being decided, Mahoney called on the MEN of his organization and other MEN to pray and fast (I'm sure the women were given orders to do something else) against "religious tyranny". Mahoney told CNN: "Fifty years ago they put -- they tried to put Rosa Parks on the back of the bus here and a civil rights movement was birthed. Today they are trying to put religious expression on the back of the bus we are praying that a new movement of religious freedom is birthed in America." But religious freedom to them is a literal interpretation of the bible enforced nationwide.

The CDC appears to be a key part of the repressive movement to move women into positions of subservience to god and husband and have America be ruled by a literal interpretation of the Bible. This is a real movement, with a real agenda, that cannot be ignored or deemed crazy and irrelevant. These fascistic politics are right now dominant in the ruling class, with representatives such as Ashcroft, Kar Rove, and Bush himself.

Under socialism, religion and religious practice won't be outlawed, but you better damn-well believe christian fascism will not be allowed to flourish and lead people to do the dirty shit they are given free reign to do now.

Chairman Avakian, in a recent talk on The New Testament, Christian Fascism and Resistance (available on CD through Revolution Books - 212-691-3345), talked about how groups like this are the face of fascism in America and you can't defeat them through tolerance. They have a very serious program that does have to be understood, resisted, and then ultimately defeated. He talks about how we can even win over some of their cadre who have been brainwashed, if we really go at them with the truth, about how the world really is, and how the bible, if followed literally as the word of some divine being, only serves a repressive, misogynist agenda. The talk includes a Q&A afterwards - people should check it out - because there is a real need to unite broadly to creatively and boldly take on these fascists and defeat their program.

Tens of millions of people really hate this agenda of the christian Right, and if they are brought forward as part of a resistance movement against this juggernaut of war and repression (which includes the use of traditonal morality as a weight on people and as a weapon against women and gays, etc) -- just imagine what kind of future could be created.

-Osage

Interviews from the streets of New York—by Luciente Zamora

New York’s Financial District

Manny is a native New Yorker. I spotted him walking past a press conference where Sunsara was giving an RCYB statement. He walked by one time. He stopped. He stood watching along with other people who were passing by. But as she read her statement he moved closer and joined with the RCYB and raised his fist.

He says that as a New Yorker he welcomes all coming to town to protest the Republican National Convention and all that it stands for.

"You talk about painting the town red . . . that’s what people need. They need to wake up! When I heard this I thought, ‘Oh shit! That’s what I’m talking about.’ Hearing her talk made my hair stand up! I felt an energy—I saw nothing else but that group [the RCYB]. I heard you say, "Live for the people, Fight for the people, Die for the people, Power to the people!" and it’s true without the people there is no power.

"The RNC coming to NY is a problem—they aren’t helping us, they’re against us. They say that either you either roll with them or roll against them. I don’t even vote for that reason—because I know my ballot is just going to be thrown in the air. It’s like I’m voting for nothing. I used to have tape over my eyes, but now I’m seeing the truth—there’s like a new world order . . . I say rest in peace for everyone who died in 911, but that gave them the green light to handle their business—war is their business . . .

"Here there aren’t too many of you guys, but you can see that the cops want to stop you because they don’t want people to see your message. They want to keep people blind to the fact that people can get together standing for what they stand for. They don’t want people to open their eyes. If people want to speak their mind and stand up for a good cause . . . this is a so-called ‘free country’ then why not have freedom of speech? Not too long ago there were KKK members protesting, what kind of shit is that? But now they want to come after people who are standing up for something that is right?! It’s bullshit!"

The Village
I’ve heard about and read about the Courageous Resister Awards presented by the Artists Network of Refuse and Resist! But being in that audience in times when the future of the planet is at stake—sent an electrifying shock through me that sent my mind racing and thinking about the millions who have the desire to turn the whole world right side up.

In the photograph on the event program she looks so strong and beautiful—with both fire and love in her eyes. I thought about the decision she made to stand with the Palestinian people and against the occupation—she dropped everything to stop a great injustice because she knew what she did mattered and it’s what was needed of her.

After the awards I walked up to Cindy and Craig, Rachel Corrie’s parents, and talked to them about how much Rachel, her life, and the importance of what she did. Cindy was excited to be on stage with all the resisters:

"Being here is very energizing and I’ve heard about a lot of these individual people on the news, but to hear everyone gathered together and to hear their stories and share their experiences . . . It makes you feel hopeful about the fact that there are people out there who are really paying attention . . . I really admire their willing to take a stand.

"I remember two days after Rachel was killed we were in Washington DC. The Iraq war was starting Rachel was afraid that things would get much worse in Palestine. I thought about how much she wanted to be in Gaza because she worried about Palestine now that there was a war in Iraq. I knew she felt that way and I knew I needed to be a spokesperson for her . . . I was afraid at that first press conference because I didn’t know how people would respond to it. There were a lot of people who responded with a lot of anger, bust mostly people responded with a lot of support.

"But I remember the fear taking that first step. There comes a time when people need to make a decision, there comes a point that people need to do more than just think about it or talk about it. People need to take a step. It’s real momentous when people do that.

"This is a challenging time in this country. We have a lot to be concerned about. We need to be really vigilant about civil liberties and I think that we need to thoughtfully question what’s going on and take a stand when it’s necessary. This is a time for people to think about this."
She handed me a piece of paper. It read:

"This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and
devote our lives to making this stop. I don't think it's an extremist thing todo
anymore. I still really want to dance around to Pat Benatar and haveboyfriends
and make comics for my coworkers. But I also want this to stop."

* * *

Dr. Pendegraft has been providing women with abortion services for decades—he has never backed away from his belief to a woman’s right to abortion despite being imprisoned for 7 months.

"I got my award in 2001 and tonight was tremendous and it rejuvenated me to do the work that I do.

"From the beginning it’s been very simple to give women who need my care the best service. That’s the way it’s been from the beginning and I’ve never retracted from that. I enjoy what I do and that’s what I pursue. Women not only in Florida or in the country, but women internationally from different countries come who need my service and I’m going to give it to them. . .

"People are trying to demonstrate for something that is legal and positive [at Central Park]. It bothers me that when you have organizations that are trying to do something with purpose but not in favor of someone’s political agenda to deny them access to something that they should have access to. . . .I think there are things people can do to gather together and do what they think is right in their hearts and their minds . . .

He was very moved by the stories of other people who received awards.

"The award given to Camilo for what he did and what he has done . . . he’s a brave individual and I feel his pain because I’ve been through what he’s been going through. I’ve been there. He has the support of his family and his friends--- as long a he has that he can make it and survive. That’s what I needed the 7 months that I was wrongly put in prison.

"[Rachel Corrie] was over run by a bulldozer for something she believed in; a peaceful protest to prevent houses from being destroyed and they destroyed her life, but out of that destruction continues to grow a candle that will grow to be more and more powerful.

"All these people are connected in that they were all put on the spot . . . and they didn’t back down and they did what they knew in their hearts and minds was right . . . When you’re doing what’s right you can’t fear anything.

"Here you have people who have no fear at doing what they know and believe is right."

With Their Bodies They Said NO!

As we hurried across Central Park, toward the Great Lawn, I could see what looked like an informal game or something through the trees. I didn't think we were in the right place. But as we got closer, we realized it was about 3 dozen people lying on the grass. We could hear them chanting, "This war on the world is not in our name!" Then, we walked out into the field and saw they spelled out the word: NO. Organized jointly by Not In Our Name and the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, the day inspired all kinds of people to come together --even people who just happened to be in the park that day -- to, "have a picnic in the shape of a human "NO!" that can be seen and photographed from the skies."

The call for this said, "The idea that during the most important political convention of our time, when millions want to make their voices heard, that people are not allowed to peacefully gather in Central Park for the whole world to see, is WRONG and must be respond to.We aim to make a massive, visible NO to make it clear to people that this ruling was wrong and to give heart to those who are going to be showing up in the park on Sunday anyway."

The people who came together really seized the moment -- as Sunday approaches and word gets out that, despite the Judge's ruling and the fact that the government is trying to silence dissent by dictating where, how, and whether people can protest -- to show that many people say NO - this isn't about the grass, it's about our future, and we will gather here to express our dissent and outrage on Sunday. And they amde it onto the 5:00 news on three major networks!

One woman I met, Justine from Queens, who was lying on her back as part of the "O", told me she is planning t come to the protests on Sunday, with a sign reading, "I'm not a Republican or a Democrat, Just a Fed-up American." So, asked her what made her so fed-up. She said she doesn't want to live under capitalism. "They say we're all under a democratic system, but that's true. I'm an educated agitator. I think right now direct action is more important than voting. Votign is important, too, but look what happened - it can be taken out right from under us. We need to take to the streets to take back our country."

She said she thinks it's time for a revolution. I asked her what she meant by that, and she told me, "Doing away with capitalism. Power to the people and the brainwashing we get from the media. I want our kids to grow up to be critical thinkers who can think for themselves, but the curret administration doesn't want that. They don't want kids to learn to question and think for themselves - you can see that with the standardized testing system." She then told me she's here for her 18-year-old daughter and her daughter's boyfriend, because politicians have talked about reinstatig the draft.

Another young woman, from NJ, who happened to be in the park, told me that she came today to "defend the right for protesters to be in the park." She told me when she first heard about the judge's decision, she was really upset. She said, "The government isn't listening to people adn the people aren't standing for what' going on [in the world], but the government's going ahead with it anyway. This isn't a democracy."

Corinna, a tourist from Germany who's interning at a local museum told me she wanted to support because she knows the bad things going on in the world are being caused by Bush, not the American people. And she said that she's expecting many people to come to the Park Sunday because, "that's the New York attitude. And that's good."

An activist with Not In Our Name from Oakland told me, "Today, we're setting a precedent - we're saying - see? you CAN come to the park and not get arrested! It's okay to come here."

People are seeing the future bound up in the struggle for the Park - which is why people can't - and aren't - backing down or giving in.

-Osage

Courageous Resister Awards

Last night in a beautiful auditorium across from Washington Square Park a few hundred activists, artists, courageous resistors, and their friends and family gathered to award those who have stood out in resisting the injustices that run rampant in this society.

The night started out with a Big Bang --pun intended-- when Aaron Lebowits was awarded for standing up against a resolution to teach creationism at his high school. Each Resister's determination and will was as inspiring as the next. I felt a sense of wonder at the incredible abilities of human beings. Amongst a crowd with a vast array of backgrounds there was a spirit of the utmost respect. And there were both a variety of different view points about how to resist and how to solve the problems of the world that face us, but unity in our love for humanity.

It's very deep to come togethor in the times that we're in and really appreciate the capabilities of the people and the great potentials and opportunities that we have. In the audience, I dream about a world where people consciously taking responsibility for society does not have to be a grueling and uphill battle full of tragedy, fighting against a system that works against our goals in every way, but one that is working in the interests of all the people of the world.

Such visions that might seem lofty are grounded and possible, and this is especially apparent tonight. Here are what I found to be some highlights.

Toni Smith is a high school basketball player who turned her back on the American Flag during the National Anthem and received a barrage of threats and harassment because of it. Camillo Mejia who is in prison serving a maximum penalty for desertion. Both of these youth made huge contributions to resisting this government at a time where this is becoming increasingly dangerous to do.

All of the artists were interesting and entertaining. I especially liked a piece called "Re-Imagine." composed by Vijay Iyar. This was a sweet and sad "re-mix" of John Lenon's Imagine that was very dark and deep. Iyar commented before playing that it is difficult in the times that we're in to actually Imagine about the things in Lenon's song.

It's not the sixties anymore, although there may be similarities, but now there is more at stake and more to fight for. I also enjoyed Beau Sia's self-deprecating post-modern poem which was humorous in its pessimism and suprising at they end when optimism and reality prevail.

In my eyes the most inspiring and moving Courageous resistor was Rachel Corrie, who was murdered by Israeli Defense forces while defending a Palestinian home in an occupied territory. This is a young woman who would not tolerate the state of this planet and was filled with a love and devotion for its people. Here is part of a letter she had written to her parents:

"This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and
devote our lives to making this stop. I don't think it's an extremist thing to
do anymore. I still really want to dance around to Pat Benatar and have
boyfriends and make comics for my coworkers. But I also want this to stop."

Another writer commented after the awards that this is something the RCYB could relate to, and this is very true. But more and more this needs to be an urgent feeling for increasing numbers of people. Rachel's death is awful and unnecessary and as much as it inspires it also fills me with complete hatred for the people who run the world. And I too feel "this has to stop." I want to scream it. I want to do everything I can to be a part of tearing down this society and building a new one in its place.

-Alice.

Look for more about the awards and comments from Courageous resistors, coming soon to the RWteam blog.

Planting the seeds of the future!

I rushed down to the garment district for a midday press conference at the United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ) office. In a stuffy crowded loft space-turned-activist-center, a crowd of journalists and reporters gathered to get further details on the Central Park Battle.
I got an overall sense from the press and the people speaking that there was tremendous support for protestors and a simmering frustration and defiance at the decisions this city has brought down. Basically people are trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and the government is doing a fantastic job at revealing more and more in its unjust methods.

UFPJ reported on their attempts to make negotiations as far as what would happen after their march past Madison Square Garden. Protestors are being directed to go back down fifth avenue to Union Square and then disperse. The organization upheld this as somewhat of a small victory. Really it is nothing of the sort in the context of this moment and with the stakes at hand, but they did express frustration and concern regarding the domestic repression in this country. Leslie Cagan from UFPJ stated, "There's one thing for NewYork to be afraid of and that is the on-going policies of the Bush administration." There is a lot of truth in this statement, and it is urgent that we unite with this to stop the atrocities that are going on. Leslie also declared that she would go to the park, as it is the right of any person to do.

I aked her what was driving them to continue to battle for the park. She explained that despite the overwhelming proof that a protest in the park would be at the right and will of the people, they still said no. And to this she added:

"We wondered about the state of Democracy in this city and in the country."

This was something very profound to me. I think its on a lot of people's minds. The whole city is awakening and asking questions, trying to figure out what's going on in the world, and asking if it really has to be this way. There was an echo in my mind of Sunsara Taylor, quoting Bob Avakian in her statement at the Tuesday press conference;

" But the reality is—as our leader, Chairman Avakian says, that to talk of democracy without talking about dictatorship is meaningless and worse. This includes U.S. democracy, which is really a dictatorship over the people by the capitalist class."

It brought to mind a lot of what Sunsara said, which seems to get to the far deeper truths of the contradictions developing and the Historic times we are right in the middle of. Here's what she had to say, revealing just how this issue of the grass plays into the "democracy" in this country:

"What about Central Park? The fact that this city does not willingly and eagerly provide a space for people to express their outrage at the most reviled U.S. president ever, and that the NYPD is stalking protestors and the FBI is interrogating organizers, shows that this country does not base itself on the will of the people. It tries to hide our will because it is a dictatorship dead-set on creating a new global hegemony with the U.S. permanently on top and unrivaled."

Her message shows that there is a group out there boldly answering these questions and daring to tell the truth, and it is lead by Chairman Avakian -- its message is out there, represented by Sunsara Taylor, with the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade in the streets of New York City every day.

We must see clearly that this battle for the grass with UFPJ on one side and the City of New York on the other, is just one issue in a fight for our future! It is very clear that UFPJ and many other organizations are part of a group which the people running this city care nothing about. And they are fighting for rules and rights which the rulers of this country care nothing about.

Under this dictatorship there will never be a place for people to truly be heard. And they will attempt to undermine, demean, and disregard us (at the very least) by claiming an issue that is as big as the voice of millions, against a murderous and repressive agenda, part of an exploitative good-for-nothing system, is a matter of fucking landscaping.

And this compells me to end with a defiant shout that will be heard in this city from now until Sunday, as a message of unity with the people of the world...

See You In The Park!

See You At the Park!

8/25/04 RCYB Press Conference; Sunsara Taylor speaking

Statement from Sunsara Taylor, spokesperson for the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, NYC:

For all the hype about protestor violence and extremism—it must be said that none has trashed the rule of law, been as extremist, or done as much violence as the Bush regime.

They claim to be brutally occupying Iraq in the name of spreading democracy. But the reality is—as our leader, Chairman Avakian says, that to talk of democracy without talking about dictatorship is meaningless and worse. This includes U.S. democracy, which is really a dictatorship over the people by the capitalist class.

But what about elections? The spectrum of views of the candidates helps answer that. They are both war candidates—both want to extend the U.S. empire in the so-called “War on Terror.” Despite the millions who have come out to oppose this whole direction—you are not allowed to vote against it because this is a dictatorship!

What about Central Park? The fact that this city does not willingly and eagerly provide a space for people to express their outrage at the most reviled U.S. president ever, and that the NYPD is stalking protestors and the FBI is interrogating organizers shows that this country does not base itself on the will of the people. It tries to hide our will because it is a dictatorship dead-set on creating a new global hegemony with the U.S. permanently on top and unrivaled.

The occupation of Iraq and the decisions of this government are unjust and arbitrary authority. Neither Bush, nor Kerry, nor the capitalist class they represent for has the right to rule our country or the world.

For our part, we in the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, want state power. We want a radically different form of democracy based on a radically different form of dictatorship—the dictatorship of the proletariat. Chairman Avakian has shown us how only this will ensure that the most basic and fundamental rights of the people will be respected—the right to come together and collectively solve the problems humanity faces.

When we run society, people won’t be threatened or denied the right to dissent. Parks will be a place for play and sports and yes—political gatherings. Not only will this be allowed, it will be encouraged and we will take responsibility for involving people in political life who have been locked out of it for generations.

Because only by increasing involving more and more people in the running of all spheres of society can we finally achieve a communist world. A world of freely-associating human beings with no more men oppressing women, no more white supremacy, no more small class of capitalists forcing billions to slave for them. No more one country trying to run the globe.

This world is achievable with the leadership of Bob Avakian. And we are down for the whole thing.

Today that means that we and a million others will not run in fear or stay home or go along on August 29th. Our love for the people of the planet is too deep and there is too much at stake. We refuse to allow the U.S. to become the new Rome—-so, as the RCYB, we say, “We’ll see you in the park!”

8/25/04 RCYB Press Conference; Sunsara Taylor speaking

New York City (tiny) statue in Subway. It's a cop staring down at a homeless woman.

Authorities Intimidate Frying Pan Into Cancelling Critical Mass AfterParty

This is an Urgent Announcement from OUTERNATIONAL

(Please forward and post freely):

Outernational -- the baddest band this side of the revolution -- was scheduled to perform at the Time's Up after-party on Friday August 27th at The Frying Pan on Manhattan's Hudson River. The show was to be the ending spot for the Critical Mass bike ride, which itself is part of the resistance and protests against the Republican National Convention. After first threatening the Critical Mass ride itself, the NYPD told the owner of the Frying Pan that there would be four thousand riders with no place to go and there would be trouble, and then the Coast Guard told the club that there could be a terrorist attack against the club (which is on a barge).

Outernational is in the thick of the people's resistance to deliver a big NO to Bush and all that he stands for. We refuse to be intimidated and will respond to the repression by fostering and fomenting a culture of resistance.

We intend to still play the Critical Mass after-party. We are calling on all supporters and fans, people's organizations and independent media to spread the word and help secure a location for the Critical Mass after-party on Friday night. Please let us know about any spaces or venues where we can hold this show.

Let's be clear. The current rulers are illegitimate and in fact are the biggest terrorists on planet earth. At this moment, millions of Iraqis are living under the occupation and brutality of the US armed forces. On the 'homefront' the people's resistance and dissent is met with ever greater repression. That being said, we cannot let a precedent to be set where the government can deny the people the right to manifest resistance in Central Park or at a nightclub. We do not want to live in the new Rome!

Discussion of the police harassment of Critical Mass:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/feature/display/103268/index.php

For more information, to help, or to schedule media please contact:
info@outernational.net

- The Outernational Crew
www.outernational.net
www.times-up.org

Storm brewing...

Aug. 25-26 --- We are less than 5 days away from the big day – Sunday, August 29th, when the eyes of the world will focus on New York City (as they are already starting to) to see where the people stand – and whether they will hear the voices of more than a million saying NO to Bush and all that he stands for.

And already, you can feel something brewing in the streets of the city. Starting this week, there is something about the coming protests in the news every day, as well as coverage about the repression the city is getting into place. When I step out from the subway station at Union Square, I can hear the voices of those questioning the police state atmosphere – yelling and drawing in crowds who sit and listen and nod as young people take the mic and spout different attacks at the repression and fear being promoted in society. They have been there weekly for a while, but now these speak-outs are part of a whole atmosphere where different people are seen standing at the subway entrance as well – dozens selling anti-Bush t-shirts, or giving out the Indypendent newspaper, with its special pull-out section of anti-RNC events, or revolutionaries selling the Revolutionary Worker, with its bright yellow cover that says, “See Bush…Think Revolution. No to the New Rome.” On every street in the Village (aka Downtown), there is some kind of anti-Bush sticker or sign.

Today (Thursday), there's marches happening from Columbus Circle to Union Square. A group of anti-debt activists stood naked near Madison Square Garden (where the RNC will be) with "Drop the Debt" written on their back. And some people did a banner drop on the side of the Plaza Hotel, with one arrow pointing one way, reading "TRUTH" above another arrow, pointing in the opposite direction reading, "BUSH".

And going around the different neighborhoods, you get a sense that people are waiting to hear and see what will happen -- "I heard there's going to be lots of police. Are you still going to protest?" Young people have come from all over the country, and have been attending conferences like one called, “Life After Capitalism,” where hundreds came to discuss how the world needed to be changed and whether it could really be different.
Some had the view that it was going to take getting involved in electoral politics, like running for office, and others were into the idea of revolution - into doing away with capitalism altogether.

Many came on Tuesday to hear an organizer of the RCYB from Los Angeles speak at Revolution Books about setting our sights on a whole new Communist world -- challenging ourselves to get with the vision of Chairman Avakian, whose writings on socialism invite us to stretch our brains and imagine a totally different society– one with a firm communist core at the heart giving leadership and vision, but an expanding, elastic outer core that grows and moves and is filled by all sections of society taking responsibility for transforming the world and ourselves. And tonight, many came to hear Travis Morales, a supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party and writer for the RW speak about resistance in preparation for revolution – how many people can – and need to – come together to make trouble for the increasingly-fascistic ruling class, and not allow them to continue in the direction they’re going.

On the news all day Wednesday (and today) was the decision of the courts to not force the city to grant United for Peace & Justice a permit for a protest in Central Park on the big day.

At first, the first editions of the different city papers yesterday were showing one movement leader saying that if the Court didn't grant them a permit for Central Park, that they were going to cancel the rally and just have a march. But, as the day dawned, and different people woke wondering what the decision would be, and the media began to gather at the steps of the courthouse, Sunsara Taylor, spokesperson for the RCYB was outside the courthouse saying, with the unison of the RCYB behind her, "We'll see you in the Park!" This sent a different message that the Mayor had to recognize that millions of people were going to be in the Park, and they needed to listen to the will of the people - not oppose it. But this isn't a democracy for the masses, it's a dictatorship, and the city and its courts have given us yet another example of this in denying people the permit to gather together at the Park.

Sunsara also said (to paraphrase her), “The Bush Administration is claiming they’re occupying Iraq in the name of democracy. But as our Chairman Bob Avakian has said, to talk of democracy without talking about dictatorship is meaningless or worse. And that goes for American democracy, where there is a dictatorship over the masses by the ruling class. …And what about Central Park – the fact that the city didn’t eagerly and willingly provide a space for people to express their outrage at the most reviled US president ever, is indicative of this dictatorship and a slap in the face of the will of the people. … The war and occupation in Iraq and this court decision and the whole juggernaut of war and repression is unjust. Neither Bush nor Kerry nor the entire capitalist class they represent have the right to rule this country or the world. But we in the RCYB, we want state power and when we run society, parks will be used for sports, art, and play, and, yes, political protest. Because when we’re in power, we will take responsibility for drawing in and engaging the masses of people who have been locked out of political life for generations. Only by involving the active participation of the masses of people to take responsibility for the problems and contradictions facing the world is the only way we will get to a communist future; through a different kind of democracy that relies on a different kind of dictatorship, that will ensure the right of the masses to run society.”

The government – both the local NYC officials, the courts, and the federal government – is making it more and more clear that they do not care what the will of the people is. This is not a country where there is democracy and the freedom of expression for the masses – it is where the need felt by millions to defy the horrors they see is not encouraged, but stifled and repressed.

Millions clearly hate what the Bush administration has done and the future of horrors they represent, but officials are doing everything possible to limit the ability of these people to come together, get a sense of their strength, and actually demand a better world. Some of us – the revolutionary communists and others – see this as yet another example of how this system is a dictatorship – where those on top have the freedom to go wherever they please, say whatever they want, while limiting the voices and actions of the rest of society. They don’t just want the city to be kept “clean” and “safe” and keep the grass from getting damaged, even if that's their "official story". They know the future is at stake – and they have a stake in a particular future that is in complete opposition to the future that millions of people want – one where they are one with the world, and not a target or New Rome. They know what the country could look like if millions here and around the world see a full force of people gathering together and taking a stand against the whole juggernaut. They may discuss this in terms of “billions of dollars to repair the grass” and they may try to talk about violent protesters, but they are just masking their real motives. And they are telling us what’s appropriate to say, how to say it, and where we can say it – they want our protest against them to be on their terms!

And in trying to set their terms, they have unleashed a two-pronged fear-mongering attack on people. On the one side, they talk about the massive increase in police (with even Tom Ridge, director of Homeland Security himself, making a public appearance to “check out” the RNC’s security), basically telling people they will get arrested and possibly beaten if they dare come out. And then, on the other hand, they are trying to intimidate people into fearing the protesters and/or terrorist attacks and therefore, telling them if they want to be safe, they have to rely on this intimidating, repressive, violent police state.

The media kept asking the RCYB if we are willing to get arrested – “if you’re going to be going to Central Park no matter what, and defy the lack of a permit, you’re risking arrest - are you willing to do that?” but they just want people to be scared. They want people to think they have to be willing to risk arrest and bodily harm and be nothing short of “hard core” to come out on August 29. They want people to be scared and focus on themselves and their own lives, but this is about the future of the planet. Millions of people are fed up, and those millions must feel welcomed, must feel like they have a place to be, and a role to play, and a resistance to hook up with. They are not alone. And, so, they should also feel strengthened by the fact that they are a potential force that, if they come together, could send a message to the world. And that message would give heart and strength to those under attack, who live beneath the skies filled with American planes; homes with U.S.-bomb-made craters; and streets lined with machine gun-toting occupiers. As well as the immigrants and others living in this country who fear detention, interrogation and deportation – who, even in “normal” (before the new normalcy) times were treated like unwanted, illegal animals who didn’t belong on the planet, never mind in this country.

And these are the forces preparing to gather in the streets of NYC this Sunday, Aug 29 – the two futures will confront each other – the nightmare that Bush & Co. didn’t create but have worsened vs. the various dreams of millions for something better.

So....We’ll see you at the Park.

Osage

Running with the RCYB -- asking, "Are You Saved?!"

For my first time taking out the paper with the YB there was a creative street theater sort of approach in development where the Christian Fascism behind Bush and the whole direction of this country are challenged boldly and with humor by preaching the Bible for what it really is. Here's my account of our first day out in NYC.

New York City, Union Square. This is one of those city spots that’s lively all the time. Since 9/11 it has blossomed into a location where people come to be politically engaged. In the morning there’s a farmer’s market. The air is filled with the scent of cilantro and basil. The baskets of peaches stand out crimson and gold amidst concrete and green. I can’t help but wonder, who picked them and where they came from. How are they connected up to the productive relations in this society?

In the afternoon the park at moments is tranquil. Beneath sweeping blocks of buildings people nap in the grass and read on the steps.

Today the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (RCYB) is out to challenge religious and spiritual beliefs -- particularly the oppressive lies and deception of Christian fascists and the bible- bringing forward to the masses a materialist outlook that reveals the true source of oppression in the world and the real need and basis for a revolution.

In the midst of city noise the park dwellers hear a shout:

“Bush and his Christian Fascists are coming to town and they say you have to follow the bible that spreads this. ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his slave, nor his ox, nor any thing that is thy neighbors.’ Nowhere does it talk about ending oppression and slavery, and in fact is promoting it. This book is filled with lies and crap like this. This is what the rulers of this society want us to believe. But we need a whole other way of looking at the world and we need a revolution!”

Heads turn and eyes pop up from their books, conversations come to a halt. Some people are hesitant to get involved. Hands reach out for a flyer that reads in bold letters:

“Are You Saved? Of course not! Nobody is! There is NO god!”

We’re not shy getting this message out. We don’t hold back and why should we? People need to know there is a different way of looking at the world that doesn’t tell them they were born sinners. A way that can lead you to a whole different kind of society without things like racism and women’s oppression.

A colorful confetti of perspectives and beliefs flutters through the debate. There’s Christians, Mormons, Agnostics, Jews and many more. A Black woman who’s a minister argues that god is not about organized religion but more about an individual's relationship to god. A Mormon youth tells me I will never change his mind, but “its interesting to hear about other points of view.”

Another guy is irate and says the only place to find hope and truth is from the “Lord” and in the Bible. He claims we can’t always know things for sure, that our “faith” proves that God exists even though we can’t see him. A Youth Brigader challenges his logic, he argues that you can prove things exist even when you can’t see them. He holds up a plastic bottle and releases it from his hand. It drops to the ground. He concludes that gravity is an invisible force that exists and you can prove this in the material world, but there is no such evidence of any god or spirit world existing in any way. Our friend is not convinced and holds on fiercely, but we continue a struggle with him and others to really get into it and look for the truth.

How do you know the truth? Well we say there is an objective truth that you can identify and understand. And this is true! The history of slavery and brutal oppression of Black people in the United States is an example of an objective truth. There is no objective indication in reality that any god or spirit world exists, and if the people are going to take hold of society for themselves they must realize it is up to them to overcome the lies and exploitation.

These are some of the points we struggle for on a sunny August afternoon amidst the political terrain of Union Square. But we seek to do this without losing unity with spiritual and religious beliefs that are used to justify overcoming oppression and fight for the rights of the people. And we find that with this method we can have serious debate, make real connections, and bring the paper out to the people.

By the time we’re there for an hour a few other organizations have set up. There are bright yellow and orange banners speaking out against the Police repression that is hovering over our heads, along with shouts on a megaphone against Bush, War in Iraq, and the whole direction of the country. Other activists catch people as they flood out of the train stop at the edge of the park, promoting they events of the next two weeks.

I step back for a minute, there’s voices all around me in a whirlwind of dissident energy. Flyers in the hand of almost every park dweller and questions in their eyes. I know that on Sunday August 29th hundreds of thousands if not millions will come out to say no to the direction of this country, despite the attempts to scare people away and suppress the feelings of outrage and uncertainty. The world will see our determination to make this statement clear. I imagine what this park will look like in just a little over a week, on a historic day, with unprecedented resistance, on a radically different kind of Sunday. I think of all this and of a Revolutionary Communist vision of a different world, coming through loud and clear, and I feel a part of something very real.

-Alice

Welcome to our blog!

This is a new Blog created by a team of young revolutionary writers, editors and photographers who are running as a team during the upsurge against the Republican National Convention that is coming to NYC from Aug. 29-Sept. 3. A lot of us have written for the Revolutionary Worker newspaper, but this blog is unofficial and not a formal project of the paper or the RCP.

This Blog will be featuring journal-style entries, interviews, commentary, news articles and up-to-the-minute, on-the-street, in-the-thick-of-things reports from the perspective of people who want to fundamentally change the world to benefit all of humanity!

We will be in different neighborhoods throughout New York City -- bringing you the voices of and getting a sense of the mood of the people -- from Jackson Heights, Queens, with its collection of Indian/Pakistani/South and Central American immigrants to Harlem to the East and West Village in Manhattan, and to Arab, Mexican, and Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn. We'll also be going to the convergence spaces, and the cultural and political events held by the people who've come to this city to protest Bush and all that he stands for. And, of course, we'll be in the streets. If you want to know what it's like to be in New York City right now, hearing the voices of the people here -- from a revolutionary point of view -- this is the place to be.

This is a collective effort, so you will hear from different people -- all part of a new generation that is inspired by and contribute to the Revolutionary Worker newpaper - http://www.rwor.org/

See you on the streets!