by Joe Veale
Revolution #018, October 16, 2005, posted at revcom.us
I've been to the Houston Astrodome talking to people who were the victims of Katrina, and then victim's of Bush's genocidal response. People are asking: what the hell is going on? Are they trying to kill all the Black people?
They are on to something.
These are extreme times we are living in. And THESE times demand that on November 2nd we launch a massive, powerful, uncompromising movement to DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME because, as the call puts it--THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT.
People are asking me - can we really drive out the Bush Regime? And how? An important part of the answer is the role that the basic people, kept down and on the bottom of this society can and must play on that day.
Special to Revolution
We saw a taste of this, something in birth, during 4 days of outrage and protest a couple of weeks ago. From Thursday, September 29 through Sunday, October 2, our Party called on people, especially the basic masses, to protest what this system did - AND IS CONTINUING TO DO - to the people of New Orleans. People wore black ribbons. They made banners to send to New Orleans. They put up the "Bush Regime WANTED" poster (on back of this issue of Revolution) everywhere. What we saw and learned tells you something about how we can drive out Bush.
More than once, when we took "Wanted Posters" of Bush to people, they were moved to tears of rage. Finally, someone was telling the truth and giving people a way to do something about it. In a Dominican neighborhood in New York City, people marched through the community after church, after a minister asked people to hold up the "Bush Regime Wanted" poster and rally the community to stand with the people of New Orleans against the murderous crimes of the Bush Regime.
In Chicago, in places like car washes and McDonalds, thousands of "Bush Regime WANTED" posters and flyers to drive out the Bush regime were taken around and posted up. People asked - did they leave thousands to suffer and die in New Orleans on purpose? In the Cabrini Green housing projects people made t-shirts out of the "Bush Regime WANTED" poster and then took flyers to drive out Bush to their churches, their jobs, and corner stores to get out to the community.
In Detroit, artists made beautiful banners of people in New Orleans, wading through hip-high water with all their possessions in a bag, saying "Stand with the People of New Orleans - don't let the system get away with murders." They took them out on the street corners and the people of Detroit wrote messages to send to New Orleans.
At DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, students wore black in solidarity with the call to resist, and sent a banner to New Orleans saying "From the BX to the New O - A Call 2 Resist." Dozens of students wrote messages including "Stay strong, New Orleans!," "Keep ya head up," and "We Can't Let Bush Stay in Office."
In Oakland, students at Laney College made black protest ribbons, and wore them in class. One Black woman student wrote on a banner to send to New Orleans, "this government doesn't care but we in Oakland do." Oakland High students put up "Bush Regime WANTED" posters, and their bus driver told them, "We need another '60s." At a flea market in Oakland, victims of Katrina were telling their stories of being driven out of New Orleans by state troopers, national guard and police, and how so-called "hoodlums" had saved people's lives.
In Watts, dozens of people from the projects and elsewhere gathered to protest and speak out on a basketball court. One woman said,
"It's unacceptable to sit back while this president stole not one election, but two. It's unacceptable for us to succumb to these types of circumstances. What has happened here is pure and blatant discrimination. And what about this radio commentator [Bennett] that talked about killing all the Black babies. That's just another example of what we face in this society... This country was built by slaves! So how is it okay that there are those who are saying we can contribute nothing but crime."
And she said,
"Look at Mrs. Bush's comments, 'They're better off now than they were before.' What kind of response is that to make, for this woman who used to be a First Ldady? How can she say that about people who are in a dome... that they are better off now than they were before?"
A Black man from the projects said,
"Now people are really starting to realize what Bush's mission is. They have a whole plan and they're moving ahead with it. This is waking up the masses. Their plan is genocide... I've seen these types of things and I know that this system has never gave a fuck about me. That is nothing new to me. It didn't take the blood down there [in New Orleans] for me to realize that the system doesn't give a fuck about me. But it took all that for a lot of other people to recognize that this is how it is."
School kids in Watts brought out a sign that said "Bush Must Go," and said,
"We were walking around the projects passing out flyers because we think that he has to go. He's letting people [in New Orleans] drown and not giving people food or something to drink. He needs to go because a lot of people are dying because of him."
In another school, students passed around a book where they wrote messages to the people in New Orleans. One Latino student wrote,
"President George Bush is a bad president, he shouldn't be representing USA. I say this because instead of sending food supplies and clean water he is just sending military troops and that's wrong."
Revolutionaries took a banner out to Harvard Square in Boston, where all kinds of people hang out on a Saturday. Not just basic people took a stand with the people in New Orleans. A Black student from Harvard Business School (HBS) signed the banner saying "HBS is With You." Tourists and people from other countries signed the banner. One middle class person signed the banner,
"You're not being ignored any more! And Bush's depraved indifference has cost him tremendously politically. Hang in there. You have the country's support!!"
Special to Revolution
From Thursday, September 29 through Sunday, October 2, the Revolutionary Communist Party called on people to protest what this system did – AND IS CONTINUING TO DO – to the people of New Orleans. Around the country, people responded. They wore black in protest and solidarity. They made banners to send to New Orleans. They put up the WANTED poster (see back of this issue) everywhere. In Watts, people gathered at a basketball court with a sign saying “Bush Must Go.” One woman said, “It’s unacceptable to sit back while this president stole not one election, but two. It’s unacceptable for us to succumb to these types of circumstances. What has happened here is pure and blatant discrimination. And what about this radio commentator [Bennett] that talked about killing all the Black babies. that’s just another example of what we face in this society... This country was built by slaves! So how is it okay that there are those are saying we can contribute nothing but crime.” A Black man in Watts said: “Now people are really starting to realize what Bush’s mission is. They have a whole plan and they’re moving ahead with it. This is waking up the masses. Their plan is genocide.”
These stories give you a little taste of what is different about right now. Think about the person in Harvard Square who wrote, "Hang in there. You have the country's support!!" People all over the world and in this country from every part of society have been jolted awake by Hurricane Katrina. How it showed the cruel and cold impoverishment that large numbers of Black people are subjected to every day under this system, and the brutal racism they experience daily. It showed something else they always try to keep hidden. That there is one America for the rich and powerful at the top and another for the poor and powerless at the bottom. It showed everyone that this capitalist democracy with its 'free markets' that they love to brag about is an unjust, oppressive, and murderous social order.
What this means is that other people in society are listening right now in a way they usually don't and they need to and want to hear from the people who are the most victimized by this unjust social order. It gives others hope. Inspiration. And fires them with determination to carry the fight all the way through.
Why is this? Because people at the base of society - the have nots - the propertyless class of proletarians - have the potential - once they begin to act as a class - to re-make and organize society in a whole new way. To usher in a whole different future for humanity.
In issue #15 of Revolution, we made this key point:
"It's not like normal times, when people on the bottom are demonized and isolated. Now is a chance to break down that isolation, and find allies. Think about it. People all over the world and in this country, from every walk of life, have been jerked awake by the hurricane. They are thinking about what is wrong with society, in a big way. But they badly need to know how people at the very bedrock of society see this outrage in New Orleans. They need to hear the voices of the people who are usually ignored, or told to shut up, putting out their views on the problem. They need to see just how angry people are, just how intolerable this is, and they need to see people on the bottom acting. At times like this, struggle coming from the people on the bottom can change the thinking of people all through society, and it can compel them to act in a positive way.
"But moments like this don't last forever. The media works on people's minds, there is repression, there is the daily grind, and pretty soon things don't just go back--they get worse. Unless...unless all that is contested and fought (and ultimately made part of a larger movement). And that is what we are calling for."
Special to Revolution
New York City
We must not allow the Bush Regime to get away with this mass murder. We must hold them accountable. They must be made to pay for this crime. They must be made to feel people's anger. Even before Hurricane Katrina everything the Bush gang is doing had millions of people thinking about what is wrong with society and what can be done about it. Now this has intensified.
What's needed is: RESISTANCE. If we don't resist it will say the rulers can do these things to the masses and suffer no consequences.
It's like when the police beat up Rodney King. If the people had let that stand it would have made things a lot worse for people in so many ways. The police would have gone on even worse rampages than they did, and people would have felt powerless and degraded. But people DID resist and because of that not only did those cops have to do time but there was a whole new attitude amongst the people, a new spirit of resistance that spread throughout society and even around the world.
It's like taking on a bully. You can decide to do it. Knowing there is no guarantee that you are going to win. But, knowing that most everyone else hates a bully too, and if you do the right thing, that's the basis for others to step out and bring down the bully. Or you can play it safe and hope the nightmare the bully is causing you will go away. But it does not go away. Instead it gets worse and worse. There are no guarantees that we will win. But we must understand the historical moment we are acting on. A moment when the actions of thousands can call forth the actions of millions.
Look at what the actions of Cindy Sheehan touched off. One woman camped out in front of Bush's ranch in Texas after her son died in in the army in Iraq. And millions of people rallied to her side. That is just a taste of what is possible.
When you look out there trying to see this movement, it cannot be seen--not all together in one piece, and not yet. That's because we are creating something that does not yet exist. But you can see sparks of it in what I was describing during the Four Days of Protest around the country. And, building on that, we change the terms of things by what we do. We have to get out in front, in that scary place that has no guarantees.
What we have is the masses of people in their millions and millions who hate the direction the Bush Regime and the Christian fascists grouped around them are taking society - but who don't yet see a BOLD, AUDACIOUS, STRONG ALTERNATIVE representing a different way.
We got to be that alternative. If we get out there and act, take on this giant with feet of clay, other's will FEEL WHAT WE BRING TO THIS and have the chance to join us. It is in their interest to come. If we don't act others will not have a chance to act and we will never know.
Again as REVOLUTION #15 says about November 2nd:
" This plan is visionary. It is bold. It is audacious. But here's the main thing: it actually corresponds to the danger we face; and nothing else can unlock the potential energy among literally tens of millions of people that still remains dammed up. It can make a difference. Thus, in its boldness and audacity lies its strength."
Special to Revolution
Highschool students in the Bronx.
What if we succeed, all of us who see what is going on, in driving out the Bush Regime? Trip on that for a minute. Think about it...
If we bring forward a powerful movement and drive this regime out, we would be living in a changed situation. We would be in a situation where there's an aroused population prepared and able to deal with whatever the system brings against the people, instead of people who are passive and playing it safe. We will still be up against a vicious system, but it won't be that easy for the rulers of society to come in and exact revenge.
The atmosphere in society will be one where people are debating and discussing what future is possible. The separation and isolation of different sections of people will be broken down, and people will be discussing what kind of future we should be going for and how to make it real with others who before they've never discussed anything with! Communism and revolution will much more powerfully be part of that mix. If we drive out this regime, the possibilities of revolution will start to look much more realistic. A new society will be more in our reach than what it is now. And if revolutionary possibilities open up, we'll be in a much better position to seize them.
If we move in this moment, there are no guarantees of driving out Bush, but WE WILL HAVE A CHANCE. If we do nothing, there is a guarantee - that the masses of people are going to go through hell, on a whole other level than anything we've seen in our lives. The future of humanity is in our hands and we must seize the moment.
Let's go all out and bust our hearts and put all our energies into this. Into winning.
We MUST and WE CAN drive out the Bush Regime. We can because millions and millions desire it.