While the future hangs in the balance, reaching students and youth with revolution and a challenge to resist

January 8, 2020 | revcom.us

 

From the Revolution Club, Los Angeles

The Revolution Club in LA has been out for two days out at UCLA and noticed an important shift: in the wake of the act of war carried out by Trump on Iran, assassinating Soleimani, more people are asking big questions and wanting to understand why the U.S. is in the Middle East in the first place, what is driving the push towards war and what is our responsibility in relation to this.  A significant number of international students, who sometimes walk on by because they feel “politics in America” isn't their concern, were coming up to talk to us, wanting to know what's happening, furious about the role of the U.S. in the world and upset about how much American chauvinism they are encountering among their fellow students.

Now is a time to reach students and youth who are confronting the existential crisis of looming nuclear war—as a serious danger—with a demented bully at the head of a fascist regime with his finger on the nuclear trigger.

In the spirit of the excerpt from The New Communism, by Bob Avakian, reprinted at revcom.us: Internationalism—Revolutionary Defeatism, we had a banner “America Was Never Great. This System Must Be Overthrown” agitating about the fact that the real criminals are the U.S. empire, the people of Iran are our people and that we have a responsibility to stand up against the war crimes being carried out in our names.

We found a new openness to revolution and a number of people who expressing having had it with the whole system—they don't see any hope there and know that this country is world's number one terrorist.  Others expressed a real frustration with how many people aren't talking about what's happening with Iran and just going about their day to day like it's normal.

While this still wasn't happening anywhere on the scale needed, it is an important shift. 

A student with family from the Middle East talked about how upset she is that her American friends talk about war as an abstraction and on social media, some are making jokes about WW3, because—as she argued—the effects of America's wars have only been felt by people in distant lands.  Others were struck by hearing about the connection between their standard of living and those same U.S. wars.  For many, this is something they have a vague sense of, but don't know in depth and wanted to hear more about.

Yesterday, there was a small protest on campus against India's fascist attacks on Kashmir.  A march of about 20 people, mainly—but not only—South Asian.  We talked more deeply to one of the protesters who is very worried about what's happening, recognizes the similarities between Trump and Modi and is upset that no one she talks to has any idea of what's even happening there.

We made a lot of use of the BEB centerfold on America's crimes—walking it through with people—and a few students left on a mission to challenge their peers with the centerfold, asking them why they think it's ok to keep going along with all that.  We showed some people clips from Bob Avakian's talk: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America, A Better World IS Possible.  In particular, there is really urgency for people to engage the clips “Free Yourself from the GTF!” and “America: the leader of the free world? When was that ever true?”  Tomorrow, aim to make much more use of these.  Also, while there were some collective discussions today, aiming for a real collective process tomorrow.  Students need to hear and see each other wrangling with the problems—why is this happening and what do we need to do about it?

We're working for a number of student speakers to represent at Saturday's #OutNow! protest and for a sizeable UCLA contingent. 

 

 

Clips from a talk by Bob Avakian: THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO! In The Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America: A Better World IS Possible!

America: the leader of the free world? When was that ever true?

Free yourself from the GTF!