The Power of the Youth at the DNC
"Youth Are the Future, We Demand a Better World!"
by Michael Slate
Revolutionary Worker #1071, September 24, 2000
Five days of protests at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles this summer left me with cascading images and memories: The power and beauty of the biggest march for Mumia Abu-Jamal ever held in L.A.—led by the Watts Drums Corps and tagged at the end with a flat bed truck carrying the band East L.A. Sabor Factory. Walking down Grand Street in Bunker Hill, I remember hearing the first big DNC protest march well before I could see it. I remember that swell of emotion—joy and pride—as the huge river of people tumbled over the hill on its way downtown. A circle of Korean drummers dressed in traditional clothes hammering out a beat during a pause in one of the marches with a Latino youth breakdancing in the middle of their circle. I remember what is was like to see 15,000 people giving the Clintons the finger during the Rage Against the Machine and Ozomatli concert at the opening night protest rally. And the image of nearly 100 cops on horses, galloping into the concert site, trampling and beating people, is forever seared in my mind. It’s hard to forget the sounds of that Monday night—the kick-ass music, the pop-pop of the rubber bullet and gas guns and the quick clomp-clomp of horse hooves running on blacktop. So many images, so fast, they almost blur.
But there is one memory that will never blur—the way the people came back at the system on Wednesday, and especially the way the youth march organized by the "Youth Are the Future, We Demand a Better World!" coalition stood up to and backed down the system and then rolled right over it with all their anger and enthusiasm, hopes and dreams.
One of the coalition organizers told me later, "One of the things that really enraged a lot of people is that the police were running through the streets on Monday chanting ‘Whose streets? Our Streets!’ I think Wednesday we made a big giant ‘SAY WHAT!’ We’ll be damned if these are your streets."
The whole DNC protest scene was 75% young people. When you walked through the Convergence Center headquarters for the protests you saw a new generation coming alive, driven to stand up against all the injustice they see around them. And in the middle of this mix, one group of youth really stood out. They came from more than a dozen different political backgrounds, beliefs and organizations. They were anarchists, nationalists, revolutionary communists, resisters, pan-Africanists and even some Nader supporters. They came together to protest, but even more, to demand a future and a better world. When they hit the streets they turned them into big thick, crackling electric wires. This is their story, in their words.
***** Five days of protests at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles this summer left me with cascading images and memories: The power and beauty of the biggest march for Mumia Abu-Jamal ever held in L.A.—led by the Watts Drums Corps and tagged at the end with a flat bed truck carrying the band East L.A. Sabor Factory. Walking down Grand Street in Bunker Hill, I remember hearing the first big DNC protest march well before I could see it. I remember that swell of emotion—joy and pride—as the huge river of people tumbled over the hill on its way downtown. A circle of Korean drummers dressed in traditional clothes hammering out a beat during a pause in one of the marches with a Latino youth breakdancing in the middle of their circle. I remember what is was like to see 15,000 people giving the Clintons the finger during the Rage Against the Machine and Ozomatli concert at the opening night protest rally. And the image of nearly 100 cops on horses, galloping into the concert site, trampling and beating people, is forever seared in my mind. It’s hard to forget the sounds of that Monday night—the kick-ass music, the pop-pop of the rubber bullet and gas guns and the quick clomp-clomp of horse hooves running on blacktop. So many images, so fast, they almost blur.
But there is one memory that will never blur—the way the people came back at the system on Wednesday, and especially the way the youth march organized by the "Youth Are the Future, We Demand a Better World!" coalition stood up to and backed down the system and then rolled right over it with all their anger and enthusiasm, hopes and dreams.
One of the coalition organizers told me later, "One of the things that really enraged a lot of people is that the police were running through the streets on Monday chanting ‘Whose streets? Our Streets!’ I think Wednesday we made a big giant ‘SAY WHAT!’ We’ll be damned if these are your streets."
The whole DNC protest scene was 75% young people. When you walked through the Convergence Center headquarters for the protests you saw a new generation coming alive, driven to stand up against all the injustice they see around them. And in the middle of this mix, one group of youth really stood out. They came from more than a dozen different political backgrounds, beliefs and organizations. They were anarchists, nationalists, revolutionary communists, resisters, pan-Africanists and even some Nader supporters. They came together to protest, but even more, to demand a future and a better world. When they hit the streets they turned them into big thick, crackling electric wires. This is their story, in their words.
WE DEMAND A BETTER WORLD
Pulling together the "Youth Are the Future, We Demand a Better World!" coalition was as much of a trip as seeing it out in the streets for the first time. A few phone calls got the core together and within weeks the meetings were standing room only. J., an anarchist organizer in the L.A. area, talked about some of the things that brought so many different kinds of people together.
"A lot of it has to do with the criminalization of the youth that we’re experiencing. There’s a war today on people of color and on youth. So, when the word got out, it spread like wildfire. If you came to the meetings you were hooked. The meetings were vibrant, full of energy and full of life. There was a lot of rhetoric from all sorts of ideologies but I personally have been an activist for years and I’ve never seen meetings so energized and full of unity. After the meetings we would go outside and debate and it was all helpful debate. It was in more of a camaraderie sort of debate."
The biggest discussion came up around what the demands should be. Everyone spoke about the things that brought them there and that they felt should be included —from police brutality to the environment to imperialism and globalization. In the end, the coalition decided to focus things up around their main demand—to have a future. "I think a lot of the youth, regardless of whether they call themselves revolutionaries, believe that there needs to be a revolutionary change in the system because the system that exists is nothing but a bone-grinding machine that is there to consume human beings, our spirits, our ideas, our bodies, and to break us. A lot of us realize that there needs to be a revolutionary change in society in order for human life to exist. The youth contingent not only had a sense of revolution that people could feel but also a sense of urgency. To us that is very real. To us it is very urgent that the society changes. It’s our lives that are being destroyed.
"One of the things we wanted to do with our contingent was to bring out this energy. We wanted to bring out the vibrant beliefs and passion that the youth have. There’s nothing like that. If the left is going to be powerful, if it’s going to change the world, if it’s going to shake up the foundation of this system, then you got to have the youth involved. You got to have that energy, that celebration. You’ve got to have that dancing in the streets and the happiness and desire to be alive and realize the moment. At the same time, you’ve got to have the wisdom of the older generation. You’ve got to have both. You have to make sure that neither one of them are extinguished. You’ve got to take and learn from both."
WATTS IN THE HOUSE
The two big protest days for the youth coalition were the Mumia march on Sunday and the Wednesday protests against police brutality. Some of the members of the youth coalition came from Watts and on Sunday they marched with the Watts Committee Against Police Brutality in the Mumia march. The whole march was led by the Watts Drum Corps. You could see a sense of mission and excitement in the faces of the shorties in the Corps as they banged out their beats and led the chants. And they were prepared—they had practiced their beats and their chants, they had talked all about Mumia and how he was connected to the people in Watts.
DC, an RCYB member in Watts, told me how the youth in Watts built for this march. "We took the flyers and the RW out to people all down here in Watts and got real good responses from people. Some people knew about Mumia and some people were just hearing about him. A lot of people talked about him along with Shaka Sankofa and what happened to him. People watched videos about Mumia that told his story. And the word got out that the same thing they doing to Mumia, they can do to everybody out here. It was cool. There was posters up everywhere down here, on phone poles and walls. There was a piece on a wall of the projects about Mumia and the August 13 march. Somebody even posted up that comic strip from the RW that told the story of Mumia.
"We were going there, Watts was gonna be in the house and we were going to unite with all these other people from all over who support Mumia. And we were saying we won’t stop until this brother is free. When we got there we marched in saying ‘Watts in the House—Mumia Is Fearless, So Are We.’ It was like we kicked down the door when we came in, we were blowing our whistles and chanting and we had the drum corps with us. We got a real good response from people. It was real beautiful to be a part of that.
"The Watts contingent had a real good impact on the rest of the march too. We brought proletarian feelings to it and all. It was interesting to be there with all those people putting their different views out. It was cool for all the different classes and all their different programmes to be out there fighting for Mumia’s life. But we got to be there too, the people from Watts and all the ghettos and barrios. And I’m a communist—we need to be out there. We can’t save Mumia’s life if we not all out there."
CHALLENGING THE SYSTEM
C. is a young Black woman who describes herself as a Pan-Africanist and a very spiritual person. She came into the coalition very skeptical about being able to work with all these other groups. She came to one meeting and dove head first into the coalition. "We came together saying we are going to respect all forms of protest. I didn’t know much about anarchists. When I think of anarchy I think of what’s going on in Somalia and I think it’s messed up because it’s caused by our government. But the brother who came from the anarchists was a wonderful person, a great brother to work with and I didn’t see why we shouldn’t respect anyone who wants a different system cuz the one we have now is not working. I could be down with that. I was willing to learn and I did learn a lot.
"Refuse & Resist was there and they were really good and brought a lot of information about Mumia’s case. Revolutionary communists were there. There were people who went to Philly and came back and brought that energy to us. Also, a lot of people there were totally against globalization."
C. marched with the contingent on Sunday’s Mumia march and on the Youth March on Wednesday afternoon. On Sunday she loved the size and diversity of the whole march. But she especially loved the energy and enthusiasm of the Youth Are the Future, We Demand a Better World! contingent. And she had very little patience with people who wanted to fence in the youth, especially when they wanted to limit the level of their political protest. C. commented on an incident that developed at the end of the Mumia rally on Sunday. "I was hurt when one of the organizers of the day was telling people to get off the fence and not burn the American flag. The flag is a symbol of oppression. I thought that sister was right to go on the mike from the stage and unite with that. We needed that. People need to get out that kind of spirit. It’s good visually and it’s right on cuz if you’re going to challenge a system then start with the symbols of it. There were too many police around and that was a good way to be against it. To me, that act of defiance can be totally affirmed. I really think there has got to be continuous challenging of the system. I think if we’re gonna talk about progress we need a new type of leadership that doesn’t side with the status quo and the people who are doing a lot of damage to our communities. We need to connect with the people, that is powerful. Revolutionary is one hell of a title to call yourself. I think that I strive to be that—but what’s really gonna prove if I am, is my life."
The system had an army of cops out trying to intimidate people week long. On Wednesday they wanted to beat and break the youth march, but they failed! And the youth summed it up quick. C. put it this way: "To me what that said is that the State has a lot on their side—money, arms and people employed by them. But when you have got right on our side—when you got god, the ancestors and you got the times on your side—when you’re at that point in the natural process where things are ready to move and you got to decide are you going to be with that force, are you gonna roll with that force or are you gonna roll up under that force. And I think the youth—the force is coming through us and we are ready to let that force come. It is the times! People are sick of this and they are ready for a new system. You can have all this money and all these troops and all this media behind you but you cannot battle the times. You cannot battle when it is just the right time in history and when people are ready and people can feel that their lives will not be in vain as long as they decide to fight."
FROM PHILLY TO L.A.
Z. works with the Youth and Student Network of the October 22 Coalition. Z. helped to make hundreds of black bandana masks with the words "Free Mumia" printed in yellow. This was intended to be one of the ways people could find the contingent in the huge crowd expected for the Mumia march. Z. told me the story of the bandanas.
"The main point for us was that we wanted to do this not only to keep the police from being able to single people out and come after them but also we thought it was a really good way to get Mumia’s name out there. People saw all these youth running around with these masks on and everybody wanted to know what this is about, it was something different than what everybody else was doing. And then people would see this big Free Mumia across people’s face. It also represented how Mumia is the voice of the voiceless cuz it covered up people’s mouths but it still couldn’t keep them quiet cuz it had Free Mumia written across it, like shouting it out. Everybody loved these masks. The original idea was that people would be able to find the youth contingent by these bandanas—that’s what we said on our flyers. It ended up that we couldn’t actually do this because every single person who saw us wanted one of them. We ended up having to pass them out all over the crowd and not even all of us got one."
Z. is a little new to protest movements but got a good taste of things at Philly Freedom Summer, and the RNC protests in Philly before hitting the DNC in L.A.. He loves the way the youth contingent runs. For Z., running captures the liveliness and action of the youth. It shows "how fired up we are" and how waiting for phony band-aid solutions to things like police brutality just won’t cut it. Z marched on Wednesday afternoon and thought it was great. Z talked a little about the stand-off with the police at the Staples Center and why people refused to follow the police orders to take the march into the protest pit (the officially designated "protest area").
"When we got to Staples Center we didn’t want to get locked up in that little cage. This was symbolic of what goes on all the time. Like with voting, people go out there and think that there getting their word across but they’re not cuz they’re in this little cage of the system. We’re always locked in these little barriers. We wanted to break out of that. The cops wanted us to move into the cage but we didn’t want to do that. They kept coming at us but we wouldn’t back down. At a lot of the marches when you see the cops attack with billy clubs everybody starts running away. But when the cops charged us we all stood our ground. Nobody budged, nobody moved back at all."
Z. is kind of stretching his political legs right now and he’s exploring what the real solution is to this mess in the world. The contingent gave him a lot to think about. "It was cool in our contingent. In the beginning we actually had introductions and asked people why they were here. Almost everybody there was like saying fuck this system, we need revolution to overthrow it. There were some Nader people and some pacifists with us—but the overwhelming feeling was that we need a revolution to change stuff. And like what happens afterwards is different for a lot of people and we did have discussions about that. We had a lot of discussions about what a better future was and what was the better world we are demanding. But the overwhelming thing was for revolution. A lot us today are able to see that this system has been here for hundreds of years and like nothing has gotten better for people and a lot of us realize that shit isn’t gonna get better until this system is overthrown. A lot of us see that clearly cuz we are under the gun more and more. We don’t see a future under this system cuz this system is just putting us in jail and killing us off. This system is trying to execute 14-year-old kids and shit. It’s like we can’t sit back and say oh, well, we can vote. Voting is what got us in this predicament we’re in right now."
BRIDGES AND UNITY
Everyone talked about the diversity of the contingent. They talked about it being the most mixed group of people out there during the whole DNC protests. They talked about the mix of nationalities, backgrounds and political beliefs. There were youth who are already veterans in the contingent and some who were brand new to this whole scene. Y., a Chicana more familiar with nationalist politics and cultural movements, talked about why she joined the contingent.
"I got hooked up with the youth coalition because I was checking out what was going on around the DNC, the protests against the DNC and I heard about this. So I went to a meeting and I couldn’t believe how everybody was on the same page as me. I was really impressed by the way people were thinking and the ideas that were coming out. I liked the talk about unity and getting out of the passive way of looking at things and really being strong about their political views. I loved the energy—everyone was really pumped up and very passionate about their ideas and what they were thinking. That’s where I fit in cuz I’m very passionate about my ideas. A lot of people want to stigmatize this by saying, ‘no, you’re too radical.’ But I can’t escape these feelings and to find people who actually feel the same way and want to carry it out the same way—it’s great!
"We’re very much ignored because we’re youth. They say we don’t know what’s right for us, we don’t know this, we don’t know that. But we all know that a lot of decisions are being made for the future. They are trying to devalue our voice and dehumanize the person that we are. It’s very, very important that we had our contingent out there. The conditions for youth are getting so much worse now. More than ever, if we don’t have a voice then no one else is going to speak out for us. So I think we needed this whole day for us. We’ve been through a lot of stuff these last few years that we can’t stand any more. Everything from skateboarding to tagging —they want to police every action that we do. People don’t understand or know how deep this is, but it is terrible. The more people see it, the more the truth is shown, then people can speak up.
"We’re young and we’re still not sure about all the ways to go about fighting all this but what we do know is that we hate it and we’re gonna work together. I think the mix we had was great. It reflects what we are. Everyone has different experience and as a movement we have to build upon this. We’re trying to build bridges and unify everyone. As long as that respect is there, we can pretty much do anything."
MLM AND RELYING ON THE PEOPLE
P. is a revolutionary communist who helped pull the whole coalition together and lead people out in the streets. A couple of weeks after the protests P. sat with me in a friend’s living room talking about the whole experience. She detailed the enthusiasm the youth had for the battles and the way that people were not only searching for the causes of all the suffering in the world but are beginning to come to some conclusions.
"Everyone had a lot of different views but revolution was a big part of it. In fact, it kind of became hard to fight for a broadness we wanted in the coalition. Like when we were putting out the point about anti-imperialism in our flyer, anti-imperialism became a real big dividing line. This wasn’t put out by revolutionary communists but by people like this Pan-Africanist sister who came out around wanting to represent for the African masses devastated by AIDS and like by other youth talking about things like globalization and connecting that with imperialism. People really wanted to be part of a group that wasn’t trying to suck concessions from the Democrats and stifling people’s forms of dissent."
"Some of us in the coalition are revolutionary communists and we learned a lot about how to apply Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in practice through this whole thing. We went into things thinking we’re gonna roll with the masses, rely on the people. We were gonna lead the people but we’re gonna do it with them. What we did depended on the mood of the people. The march was clear that we weren’t going to be caged in. When people were at the intersection and people asked the people what they wanted to do, the people were loud and clear. We took the streets. We held our ground cuz this was our day. People were resolute—even though the police brought a lot of stuff out against us. Nobody wanted to leave, no discussion about that at all. This is what we wanted to do and they understood why. We set the terms, not the cops. This was our day.
"It was important to have this youth contingent because this is the generation that is gonna make revolution. This is the generation that made itself felt—this is what they want. Whether or not they are consolidated or understand what revolution is or what it will take to carry this out, they don’t want to live like this. For the youth in our coalition it’s really clear. They didn’t have illusions about the pigs and what they’re about or about the Democrats and what they’re about. Their existence and reality is being beat down and locked up…
"This voice needs to be on the stage today, to have this is to have all the determination and heart and revolutionary potential that has to be brought out. And people have to see that this is actually possible. A lot of organizing is about holding all this in—but all of our organizing was how to let all this explode onto the scene. How we gonna bring all this determination and all this straight-up hatred for the other side—how we gonna manifest that the best we can in the streets.
"To me it’s important because if these youth can’t come out and fight and make their voices heard then they ain’t gonna be able to make these further leaps necessary for the whole revolutionary movement to come into being. These are the ones who are going to be leading this revolutionary movement. To me, they brought the edge and heart to the week. Everybody out there that week had heart and all but the youth brought what it is really gonna take to change the world. That’s what it’s gonna take, this kind of heart and love for the people."
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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