Connecting the Movement for an ACTUAL Revolution With the Encampment at the Minnesota Governor’s Mansion

July 14, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader

July 14, 2016: We are in the midst of the encampment in front of the Governor’s mansion in Minneapolis. The crowd has been growing from 40 to now over 200 people, mainly young, multinational and full of energy and spirit to fight for justice for Philando Castile whose murder by police has erupted in protest along with Alton Sterling all over the country and even in different parts of the world. Before Philando was murdered he had been stopped by the police 52 times! Each one could have been a death sentence.

The fence of the mansion is draped with protest signs from one end to the other; Statement of love for Philando, banners calling for stopping police brutality, Black Lives Matter signs, statements, poems, art work, the Stolen Lives banner from revcom.us and poster of the “Land of the Thief Home of the Slave” and the centerfold from Revolution Newspaper.

Cop cars are situated on each end of the block watching as people come and go. Periodically they will bring in more cops to stand around and watch. The cops and garbage trucks swept through the encampment two nights ago, smashing people’s belongings, taking food, medical supplies, banners, and sleeping tents that were set up demanding everyone leave. There were no arrests this time. Obviously everyone did NOT leave.

The proclamation “Time to Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution” was taken out to everyone we came in contact with. The current murder of Philando had shaken people. Many were at a loss for what to do. They wanted to make changes, but this murder had pushed them to the point where people were losing their faith in the government to really do anything about it. This came from both young people and old. One prominent lawyer who is part of the Black Lives Matter movement has said publically that she has no confidence in the DOJ bringing any justice. She welcomed our materials and said she’d look for the article on the DO(injustice) at the website. She took photos with people in front of the Stolen Lives banner.

One young Black woman said we have to keep protesting and pushing out peace. Her friend said that she had thought about revolution but “didn’t have a clue” about what that would entail. We walked through the proclamation point by point. They thanked us and said they had never heard of how one would actually go about organizing for a revolution before; now they said they at least would have something they could evaluate how that could possibly come about.

 An older white man said “I’m glad you are talking about the ‘system’, people just focus on this or that but don’t look much further,” he was definitely going to the revcom.us to check out Bob Avakian. He went on to say “This country has never fessed up to what they have done to Black people or Native Americans”. He continued, “This is hard to get across to people and I have been teaching for years”. He loved the poster of the Land of the Thief Home of the Slave and said he would put it in the window of his house.

We made several connections with Native American people at the encampment. We ran into people who had been at a Stolen Lives—victims of police murder—event in Los Angeles, they immediately said “here are the revcoms” and pointed to the web site on the banner. They took a stack of proclamations to get out to people in the Native American community. A young artist from California who is now in Minneapolis was familiar with Revolution Books in Berkeley, and had read some BA and gone to the website. He was very thoughtful and had some interesting thoughts on controversial questions—like whether the first stage of socialism was a good thing or a bad thing. He definitely thought it was a good thing, and added “it’s still early in the development of socialism.” He wants to get with the Revolution Club.

Find out more about the revolution         Find out about BA, the leader of the revolution

People are really determined out here to fight for justice. Young brothers and sisters were receptive to the proclamation and some wanted to get into it a little later. One of the main organizers made it clear at one of the mic checks that he would refuse to “lie down and die like road kill, that “the revolution (as he saw it) will not retreat”. Most of these young people and many from different parts of the world were also standing up against any attacks against women and any gender at the encampment.

One high school student had read the proclamation “Time to Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution” during the day. At first he focused on how clear and concise it was, and when asked for content, he said he liked the part in the first paragraph about the problem referring to mass incarceration; he liked the opposition to misogyny, and the inspiring definition of communism. He said “we don’t want classes.” In the points of attention for the Revolution Club, he started with #3 saying “we don’t want borders.” Then he pointed to #4 “we stand with the most oppressed.” We asked what about the other part “our responsibility to lead them to do that?” He said that it’s hard for white people to understand the situation of Black people, and “the oppressed should lead us.” I went back to “The leadership: Bob Avakian” and how it takes the scientific analysis he’s made to understand and to lead around the problem and solution. It took a while before he even got the concept that the masses need leadership to fight for emancipation. I think this is a widespread view out there, to say the least.

Some people listened to BA on the role of police and elections off our phones; they dug it, said it was powerful and we continued to encourage people to go to the website. Some want to get together around the Revolution Club.

We reached a young Black recent college grad who has been involved since the police murder of Jamar Clark, and has engaged with revcom.us. When asked if she has been going to BA and to the website; she exclaimed “of course—and especially in times like these!”

At one point a minister from a church in this very upscale neighborhood came over and said that the church (actually two churches) had opened its doors to people for use in any way they could. As the night went on it got more festive, people danced, sang, chanted.

We are writing this quickly as the Funeral for Philando Castile is today along with a huge community gathering in the afternoon. Philando had worked in a school cafeteria and the family wanted to serve food to people as part of celebrating his life. More to come.

 

 

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