The Women’s March rallies Oct. 8th were aimed at channeling people’s anger at how the right to abortion is being ripped away into the midterm elections instead of actual struggle in the streets. At the rally of 200 people in Los Angeles, there were speeches from politicians and workshops on campaigning for Democratic candidates. The revcoms intervened in all this with a flyer sharply challenging all this, with the title,

At first organizers tried to stop people from distributing this flyer and threatened to call the police, but backed off after the revcoms got on the mic and exposed this. People welcomed the flyer but were really challenged by it. And there remains the work and ferocious struggle with people to shake and break them from the ways of thinking that have the decent people sleepwalking to disastrous and harmful dead-end “solutions.” The revcoms brought to people the truth that radical change is coming — and it will either be enslaving and reactionary OR — depending on what we do together it COULD be revolutionary and emancipating. The reality of working for revolution was really brought home when people were introduced to Bob Avakian with the point from the flyer, “He is loved and followed for the same reason he is attacked and vilified: because he is about, and because he is leading, a movement to make a real revolution.”

In Santa Monica, a rally and march of about 50 people had more of a sense of urgency, bringing out the fascist danger to women’s lives. Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights co-MC’d the rally and a revcom challenged and invited people to discuss and struggle over the content of the revcom flyer.

Texas Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights activists brought the much needed GREEN WAVE to a Women's March's "Snatch 'em by the Vote" rally of about 250 in Austin  sponsored by the Women's March. Before and during the rally both Rise Up and Revcom tables attracted those not satisfied with just voting, but looking for a way to continue this fight.  Some knew about the green wave in Latin America, some didn't.  But all were inspired to spread it here. About 85 bandanas, several hundred stickers, and half a dozen "Forced Motherhood = Female Enslavement" tshirts were gotten into eager hands.  Some copies of BAsics and the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (CNSRNA) were sold. One woman said she desperately wants the oppression she sees everywhere to end, but is afraid it would be replaced by the chaos of  everyone being out for themselves. After a brief discussion of the concrete vision for socialism Bob Avakian has developed, she bought a CNSRNA. As the rally ended a call was put out to take the fight for abortion rights to the street and about 200 took off on a march that went through Austin to the entrance of the Austin City Limits festival, underway that weekend. 

Around 200 people came and included young women with Planned Parenthood t-shirts on, people from voters rights organizations, etc., college students, Reproductive Rights For All, Ruth Sent Us, and a number of older women angry that we have to fight for this again, but determined to do so. Many are deeply into the elections but also are very angry and want something that refuses to accept this as normal and responded to RiseUp4AbortionRights speech (based on RU4AR statement with the Fact Sheet woven in) with cheers and chanting. Many people took up the green bandanas.