Skip to main content

What Are They Afraid Of?!

Editors' Note: On June 3 the LA Sheriffs reversed themselves and granted the march permit. Go here for the news flash.

LA County Sheriff's Deny Permit for Revolution Club March on June 12

The Revolution Club Says this March Will Go Forward

People Begin to Raise Their Voice to Demand the Permit Be Granted

As plans are coming together in Los Angeles for the Revolution Club March on June 12, “Show the World: We Are Getting Organized Now For REVOLUTION, NOTHING LESS!,” there has been an outrageous attempt at political suppression by the LA County Sheriffs who have arbitrarily and unjustly denied the permit.  This is unacceptable, this march will go forward and a range of legal and political voices are raising the demand that this permit be granted!

This march will start at Southwest College in the Westmont neighborhood of South Central, it will march through the neighborhood and arrive at the LA Sheriff Station South, and it will send the basic message: “WE ARE FIGHTING TO EMANCIPATE ALL HUMANITY—For a World Free of All Oppression and Exploitation! No More Antagonistic Divisions Among the People. THIS SYSTEM CANNOT BE REFORMED—IT MUST BE OVERTHROWN!”

“What is the message that has gotten these LA Sheriffs all shaken?

“June 12th … a force that is getting ready to actually get rid of this system!”

Comments from Noche Diaz, national spokesperson for the Revolution Clubs, at the June 2 press conference.

The Revolution Club received a formal denial signed by head Sheriff Alex Villaneuva with the bogus reasons given that, 1. this Sheriff's station “does not have a sufficient number of patrol deputies... without inhibiting normal police protection to the rest of the unincorporated region nearby” and that 2. “Past demonstrations within the last year at South LA Station became unruly, which ultimately resulted in injury to persons and property.”

First of all, the only reasons these protests became “unruly” is because of the wanton brutality from the pigs themselves. After these Sheriffs murdered 18-year-old Andres Guardado and 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, there were a series of protests at this Sheriff’s Station. These protests were met with vicious brutality—the Sheriffs tear-gassed legally assembled protesters, including young children at a press conference; they shot rubber bullets aimed at injuring protesters, aiming for people's groins, hands and faces, and arrested dozens of people. Second, the basic right of the Revolution Club to deliver this urgent political message is not dependent on how many pigs they can dispatch to direct traffic!

BAsics 1-24

 

The Revolution Club chose this political target because, “The LA County Sheriffs—like the other police forces and the military—‘serve and protect’ THIS SYSTEM—the system of capitalism-imperialism. The system that rules this planet. The system that destroys lives and crushes spirits… that treats all kinds of people as ‘less than human’… that hunts down and drives down our youth in so many ways… and that threatens the very existence of humanity.”

The LA Sheriffs terrorize people throughout LA County, murdering at least 330 people since 2000. After killing people, they stalk and aim to silence the families of victims of police murder who speak out about the killing of their loved ones. There are open white supremacists within the LA Sheriffs, with organized gangs that get special badges and tattoos for murdering Black and Brown people.

With this rejection, the Sheriffs are making clear that they cannot tolerate the people getting organized to deliver this message. And in this, they are showing the NEED for this march in the first place: because their violent repressive force is illegitimate. The Call for June 12 says, “This system must go! So, Let’s Get Down to Basics: We Need A Real Revolution!” This march is about standing up to this system and raising a beacon that there is an organized force here in this country that is serious about revolution and a whole better world. “This revolution is possible. We are in a rare time when this really could be. But only if we get organized.” This is urgently needed!

The Revolution Club is not only not backing down—but is reaching out throughout all of society, to all those—coming from a range of political backgrounds and perspectives—who “want a better world,” and who see the need for the basic right of people to make this political statement.

In the face of this attempt at political suppression, a range of people coming from different perspectives have signed a letter demanding the LA County Board of Supervisors (which oversees the LA Sheriffs) reverse this denial and grant a permit. Those who have signed include Marjorie Cohn, the former president of the National Lawyers Guild; Mike Davis, professor emeritus, U.C. Riverside and author of books that have exposed the brutality of the LA police; Jim Lafferty, the executive director emeritus of the National Lawyers Guild, LA Chapter; Jorge Rodriguez, co-chair of the 50th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium Planning Committee; Stephen Rohde, an interfaith activist and retired First Amendment lawyer; and Rev. Frank Wulf, pastor, Echo Park United Methodist Church.

The Revolution Club will be holding a major press conference this Wednesday, June 2, at 11 a.m. to demand this permit be granted, and will be involving people throughout Los Angeles and across the country who recognize the justness of this basic demand.

CALLS TO ACTION:

  • Add your name to THIS letter demanding the LA Board of Supervisors grant the Revolution Club a permit to march.
  • Call Holly Mitchell, Second District Representative from the LA County Board of Supervisors, to demand the Board of Supervisors grant this permit: 213.974.2222
  • The Revolution Club will be holding a major press conference this Wednesday, June 2, at 11 a.m. Send a statement to: getorganizedforrevolutiontour@gmail.com
  • Make a financial contribution to the National Revolution Tour to spread the word about this protest and support the work of the Tour and Revolution Clubs!

To LA County Board of Supervisors

On June 12, the Revolution Club will lead a rally and march in South Central LA to “Show the World: We Are Getting Organized Now For REVOLUTION, NOTHING LESS!” The Revolution Club is calling for this to involve all those “who want a better world.” They are marching from Southwest College, through the Westmont neighborhood to the LA Sheriff's South Station near Imperial and Normandie.

The LA Sheriff's Department (LASD) has summarily rejected the Revolution Club's First Amendment permit application for this march. This constitutional violation cannot stand and must be reversed.

Those of us signing this letter condemn the violation of the Revolution Club’s right to protest. We demand the LA County Board of Supervisors grant the Revolution Club the permit it has applied for, reversing LASD’s unconstitutional determination.

We are especially concerned the LA Sheriffs, who have a long history of violence against political demonstrators—from the Chicano Moratorium 50 years ago to the attacks on protesters last year in the wake of LASD shootings of Andres Guardado and Dijon Kizzee—are deliberately creating a dangerous situation for this protest. Such unconstitutional repression is unacceptable.

The flyer for this June 12 March states: “We Are Fighting to Emancipate All Humanity—For a World Free of All Oppression and Exploitation. No More Antagonistic Divisions Among the People. This System Cannot Be Reformed—It Must Be Overthrown!”  We, the undersigned coming from a range of perspectives, appreciate the basic right of the Revolution Club to march under this banner. We demand that the LA County Board of Supervisors immediately reverse the LASD rejection of the First Amendment permit and grant the permit the Revolution Club requires.

Signed:

Anthony Bryson, Civil rights activist, LA
Isabel Cardenas, American-Salvadoran/U.S. Citizen and Community Activist
Marjorie Cohn, former President, National Lawyers Guild
Mary F. Corey, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of History, UCLA
Mike Davis, Professor Emeritus, U.C. Riverside
Robin Derby, Associate Professor, Dept. of History, UCLA
Noche Diaz, National Spokesperson, Revolution Club
Koko Dodson, Activist, City Committee Member
Stephen Dumars, Twin Cities member of Communities United Against Police Brutality
Shepard Fairey, artist
Kyla García, Artivist, Poet, Actor, Director
Chris Giaco, owner, Page Against The Machine bookstore
Harriet Harmon, Retired LAUSD Teacher
Danny Haynes, Nurse and Activist
John Hedlund, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University
Ernestine Henning, Civil Rights and Community Activist
Andre Henry, Activist
Chantelle Hershberger, member, Revolution Club LA and former #Freeway9 defendant/Refuse Fascism
Melvin Ishmael Johnson, Director of Dramastage - Qumran Veterans Theatre Workshop
Dan Kapelovitz, criminal defense and animal rights attorney and 2021 candidate of Governor of California
Robin D.G. Kelley, professor of history, UCLA
Michael Kolodziej, PhD Candidate, University of Chicago
Jim Lafferty, Executive Director Emeritus, National Lawyers Guild, L.A. Chapter
Elly Levy, Attorney and Anti-Fascist Activist
Wendy Lujan, Activist
Reynaldo F. Macias, Professor, César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies*, UCLA
Rev. Nathaniel Martin, National Action Network, President, LA Chapter
Sequarier McCoy, aunt of Dijon Kizzee, killed by LASD in 2020
Alyssa Milano, Actor/Activist
Rev. Cecil Murray, Former Pastor of First AME Church, Los Angeles, CA; Civil Rights Activist
Rev. Drew D. Murray, Civil Rights Activist
Professor Arturo O'Farrill, Professor Global Jazz Studies, UCLA
Matilda Oberman, Co-Founder, Respect Your Roots
Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, Filmmaker
Emanuel Padilla, Activist
Melina Paris, Journalist
Rich Procida, Bible Study for Progressives
Mary Ratcliff, publisher, San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper
Jorge Rodriguez, activist, civil rights leader, co-chair of the 50th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium Planning Committee
Stephen Rohde, Interfaith activist and retired First Amendment lawyer
Chaitali Sen, Writer
Cliff Smith, Coalition for Community Control Over the Police*
Steven S. Smith, musician/health care worker
Edward Soto, Attorney and Activist
Ruth Strauss, Healthcare worker LA
Joe Veale, former member of the Black Panther Party, part of the National Tour to Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution
Paul Von Blum, Civil Rights Activist; Senior Lecturer, UCLA African-American Studies and Communication Studies
Cornel West
Amir Whitaker, Founder/Director of Project KnuckleHead
Rev. Frank Wulf, Pastor, Echo Park United Methodist Church


STATEMENTS DEMANDING THE LA SHERIFF GRANT THE REVOLUTION CLUB A PERMIT TO MARCH ON SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2PM, SOUTHWEST COLLEGE THROUGH THE WESTMONT NEIGHBORHOOD TO THE LA SHERIFF’S STATION SOUTH

DONATE to revcom.us
DONATE to the revolution.

From the genocide in Gaza, to the growing threat of world war between nuclear powers, to escalating environmental devastation… the capitalist-imperialist system ruling over us is a horror for billions around the world and is tearing up the fabric of life on earth. Now the all-out battle within the U.S. ruling class, between fascist Republicans and war criminal Democrats, is coming to a head—likely during, or before, the coming elections—ripping society apart unlike anything since the Civil War.

Bob Avakian (BA), revolutionary leader and author of the new communism, has developed a strategy to prepare for and make revolution. He’s scientifically analyzed that this is a rare time when an actual revolution has become more possible, and has laid out the sweeping vision, solid foundation and concrete blueprint for “what comes next,” in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

The website revcom.us follows and applies that leadership and is essential to all this. We post new materials from BA and curate his whole body of work. We apply the science he’s developed to analyze and expose every key event in society, every week. Revcom.us posts BA’s timely leadership for the revcoms (revolutionary communists), including his social media posts which break this down for people every week and sometimes more. We act as a guiding and connecting hub for the growing revcom movement nationwide: not just showing what’s being done, but going into what’s right and what’s wrong and rapidly learning—and recruiting new people into what has to be a rapidly growing force.

Put it this way: there will be no revolution unless this website not only “keeps going” but goes up to a whole different level!

So what should you give to make 2024 our year—a year of revolution?
Everything you possibly can!
DONATE NOW to revcom.us and get with BA and the revcoms!

Your donations contribute to:

  • Promotion of BA on social media and the Bob Avakian Interviews on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show
  • Strengthen revcom.us as an accessible, secure, robust website able to rise to the challenge of meeting the extraordinary demands of navigating the storms and preparing for revolution in this pivotal, unprecedented year
  • Fund revcoms to travel to national “hotspots,” where extreme contradictions are pulling apart the fabric of this country and creating the possibility of wrenching an actual revolution out of this intensifying situation
  • Expand the reach and coverage of revcom.us
  • Printing and distribution of key Revcom materials including the Declaration “WE NEED AND WE DEMAND: A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM” and the Proclamation, “WE ARE THE REVCOMS (Revolutionary Communists)

Comments:

(Comments entered here are moderated and may not be visible right away.)