For a Labor Party, For a Worker s’ International OCTOBER 2016 Vol. 25, No. 10 SOLIDARITY PRICE: $1 CLINTON vs. TRUMP: NONE OF THE ABOVE! INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Freedom Manifesto Points Way Forward!
The Time Is Now for SOUTH AFRICA: Independent Working Special Report on the Class Political Action! “Fees Must Fall” Student Strike EDITORIAL (see pp. 14-15)
As we go to press, the nation — or, to put it more aptly, the dwindling number of people across the nation who bothered to tune in — was treated for a third time to the sorry spec - tacle of a “debate” (call it mud-slinging) be - tween Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Hot words about “rigged votes” and “acting as a puppet of Putin” were bandied about, with lit - tle, if any, discussion of the substantive issues facing working people. Throughout the 18-month presidential elec - tion campaign, the working class majority ex - (See Excerpts and Interview pressed its deep-seated rejection of the with Nnamdi Scott, pp. 7-10.) “Shoot Down Fees, Not Us!” traditional politicians of the twin parties of capitalism: the Democrats and Republicans. This took many forms. Inside the Democratic Party, Bernie because they wanted single-payer healthcare, cian,” which earned him a stronger following Sanders, who presented himself as an “out - a real wage increase, an end to Wall Street than most people expected. sider” (but was really an insider), was seen by hegemony over the body politic, a halt to the All the traditional G.O.P. politicians — a large number of discontented voters, prima - Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, from Jeb Bush to Jon Kasich — fell by the rily among the youth, as a means of express - and more. wayside, as a rightwing populist upsurge, fu - ing their aspirations. Within the Republican Party, Trump pre - eled by massive job losses and white-su - Fourteen million people turned to Sanders sented himself as the outsider, the “non-politi - (continued on page 3) Time For a New Party! (from a statement by the Labor Fightback Network)
WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE STAND FOR
The Organizer is the publication of Socialist Organizer, the U.S. fraternal section of the Fourth International. Since we began publication of The Organizer in February 1991, we have focused the newspaper on helping to ad - vance the struggle for independent politi - cal action by the working class and all the oppressed — at home and abroad. [Note : Following are brief excerpts from Philadelphia, where anti-Clinton street That focus governs all the activity of a statement by the Labor Fightback Net - marches brought together hundreds of peo - Socialist Organizer. It is the reason be - work titled, “It’s Time for a New Political ple, including Sanders delegates who had hind our persistent advocacy of a Labor Party.” ] walked out of the convention. The Demo - Party based on the trade unions and cratic National Committee did its best to With each passing year, elections in the stage-manage its convention so that those rooted in struggles of the working class United States have been increasingly in - protests were invisible, but they had lim - and all the oppressed sectors of society, a sulting of working people’s intelligence. In ited success. Labor Party that charts a clean and deci - 2016 working voters are fed up to the The largest independent electoral initia - sive break with the twin parties of the teeth, and they are unleashing their anger tive — not counting the right-wing Liber - bosses, the Democrats and Republicans. on the political elites of both major politi - tarian party — is the Green Party, whose cal parties. candidates are Dr. Jill Stein for president Consistent with this view, The In polling, both Clinton’s and Trump’s and Ajamu Baraka for vice president. Vari - Organizer is a Forum that is open to disapproval ratings exceed their approval ous polls show Green support at between all individual and currents in the ratings; Trump’s net disapproval exceeds four and eight percent, considerably higher workers’ movement seeking to build a Clinton’s. It is clear that in 2016 the voters than the support that the Green Party re - Labor Party and a Workers’ International. will be voting against a candidate rather ceived in 2012. The Organizer (ISSN 1059-2369) is than for a candidate, and the campaigns are The Green Party platform raises many reflecting the negativity, as Trump rants important issues. But what we need today published bimonthly for $16 per year by about “Crooked Hillary,” and Clinton is a political party that is based upon and The Organizer, P.O. Box 40009, counters with “Dangerous Trump.” It’s the represents the organized working class, San Fran cisco, CA 94103. Periodi cals same old political game, and American through its own organizations, the trade Postage Paid at San Francisco, Calif. working people are sick of it. unions. It is up to social-justice-minded Our website is: If there was ever an opportunity for an trade unionists to fight within the unions electoral alternative to Big Business’s twin for the perspective of such a new political www.socialistorganizer.org parties, it is staring us in the face, right party, rather than trying to use one of the You can reach us at Tel. 415-913-7428 now . big business parties in a vain attempt to or by email at: Unfortunately, the leadership of the win a few concessions.
2 The ORGANIZER - OCTOBER 2016 ... Clinton vs. Trump: None of the Above! premacist racism, came to the while more than half have supported fore. and donated generously to Clinton’s But now that’s all a thing of the campaign, particularly in recent past: Sanders has delivered on his weeks. promise to turn over his 14 mil - A Wall Street Journal survey of lion voters to the candidate sup - 45 former members of the White ported and financed by Wall House’s Council of Economic Ad - Street and Big Business: Hillary visers found not one who would en - Clinton.[1] Long forgotten is dorse Trump. All are supporting Sanders’ tirade against Wall Clinton. Street. For her part, Clinton has If anyone is still not convinced made little effort to court the that Clinton is THE candidate of Sanders voters or even voice their Wall Street in November, the re - concerns. cently released emails in the files of Meanwhile, the Trump cam - Clinton campaign chairman John paign is imploding. Podesta should put those doubts to As the election campaign rest. comes to a close, the Republican In the documents made public by Party, to quote The New York WikiLeaks — none of which has Times , is “on the verge of civil 10 issue of the New York Times by Steven Rat - been disavowed — Clinton tells a war,” with G.O.P. leaders distancing them - tner, a Wall Street executive and Times con - gathering hosted by Goldman Sachs that “as selves from Trump as fast as they can run. tributing opinion writer, “not a single chief a Senator I represented and worked with so Trump’s rating are dropping so quickly that executive of a Fortune 100 company has do - (continued on page 4) the G.O.P. leadership is now worried that their nated to Trump’s campaign or endorsed it,” party will lose its majority in the House and Senate on November 8. Trump’s tirade against Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan is no less vicious than his tirade against Hillary Clinton, expressing “A Hard Rain of Increased Trump’s growing understanding that his ship is sinking. Even his own ticket is in shambles: War Is About to Fall” While Trump warns that he may not accept the outcome of the November presidential elec - If there were even the slightest doubt because security is the primal interest of tion, his running mate, Mike Pence, has stated about the increased war drive being pre - each State, conflicts between nation that, of course, the G.O.P. will honor the re - pared by the top brass of the U.S. military, States are virtually guaranteed at some sults of the vote. with the approval of Hillary Clinton, one point. And today, today we are in the mid - This unprecedented election campaign — need only read the speech by Army Chief dle of yet another major geopolitical where a largely unknown Bernie Sanders took of Staff General Mark A. Milley on Octo - change. … the Democratic Party frontrunner almost to the ber 4, 2016. Warning that wars will be “So in short, the next 25 years are not wire and where a TV celebrity outscored all spreading across the globe, Milley threat - going to be like the last 10, and not like the Republican Party frontrunners — is a sign ened to crush militarily any nation or the last 25. The keen challenge that we of the growing discontent with the two-party force that might oppose U.S. policies. He face is the changing character of war; it is system, but it is also a refraction of a capitalist targeted in particular those voices that unlike anything our actual force has ever system in deepening crisis. have spoken out in favor of “dismantling experienced in intensity and lethality. Karl Marx wrote that, “government is noth - NATO and the European Union.” “A noted class historian (Victor Dadid ing but a committee for managing the affairs Milley went on to add: Hanson), recently wrote that he sees an of the whole capitalist class.” Today, this ad - “All the countries, Russia, China, Iran, increase in nationalism and regional ministrative committee in the United States is and North Korea went to school on us. armed forces, unresolved territorial in profound disarray, with a much-reviled, un - They closely watched how we fought in claims, sectarian and disputes, and return popular presidential candidate as its only vi - 1991 and 2003. They studied our doc - to 18 th Century balance of power politics able candidate. trine, our tactics, our equipment, our or - of spheres of influence. And he concluded Ruling-Class Drive to Elect Clinton in ganization, our training, and our that there is a light breeze in the air, and it Full Throttle leadership. And in turn, they revised their may turn into a storm. And he concluded own doctrines, and they are rapidly mod - at the end of his essay that a ‘hard rain is As we approach the final weeks of this ernizing their military today to avoid our about to fall’.” seemingly interminable 18-month presidential strength in hope of defeating us at some This warning could not be clearer. Both election campaign, the U.S. ruling class is put - point in the future. … presidential candidates are tearing each ting its electoral machinery into overdrive to “Unfortunately, war between nation other apart. But the Army Chief of Staff get Hillary Clinton elected to the nation’s states, in my view, is very unlikely to re - knows full well that whichever of the two highest office. From the vantage point of the main relegated to the history books. And candidates is elected, this war without end ruling class, Trump is a serious liability. because there is no higher authority, and will continue and deepen. According to an op-ed piece in the October
OCTOBER 2016 - The ORGANIZER 3 crisis of the capitalist system is what spurs its growing political crisis. ... None of the Above! Once Again on “Lesser-Evilism” In this context, it is especially troublesome to see the top trade union leadership, even its most progressive wing, urge its members to mobilize to elect Hillary Clinton. Josh Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), one of the most progressive unions in the country, wrote the following in an editorial published in Califor - nia Teacher (Sept-Oct 2016): “We can’t be cavalier about who will be the next president. … Unfortunately there is no viable labor party in this country, so we know the next president will either be a Democrat or a Republican. Electing Donald Trump would be a catastrophe. Hillary Clinton is our best choice to advance a progressive agenda, and her election must be our number one goal.” And Pechthalt concludes: “We can’t be complacent about our vote for president. Even if our electoral votes are not in doubt, this is not the time to squander a vote on Jill Stein or any third-party candidate.” This decades-old “lesser-evil” argument has been used time and again to justify support for many on Wall Street, and I did all I could to East? one candidate of the corporate class against make sure that they could prosper.” A Crisis Rooted in the Capitalist the other. Today it’s the fear of Trump’s “hate- At another moment, Clinton told the Wall System Itself filled views” that is being raised to justify a Street banksters not to worry about her public vote for Clinton. declarations in opposition to TPP or in support The dispute between Hillary Clinton and There can be no doubt that Clinton and of Social Security. In her line of business, she Donald Trump is not over ultimate objectives; Trump have sharp disagreements on a number insisted, it is necessary to have a “public” pos - rather it’s over how to implement them. The of subjects. Trump openly spouts the most re - ture and a “private” one. She needed to take a crisis that has dislocated the summits of polit - actionary, racist, and war-mongering rhetoric. “public” stance on many issues dear to the ical power in this country is due to the fact that Clinton’s discourse is different. the economic basis of the capitalist system it - working class majority to get elected, she told But once elected, will Clinton not pursue self has been profoundly destabilized by the them, but once in office she would carry out the war without end, will she not continue the 2008 crisis, with no recovery in sight. her “private” policies, in sync with her Wall very same policies of social and racial dis - Street donors. It’s a fact: Despite the Obama administra - crimination which, under the Obama admin - This last point is particularly important to tion’s $8 trillion-plus bailout of the major istration and all previous administrations, the trade union movement. Throughout her banks and financial institutions, despite the as - have triggered the police killings of Black presidential campaign, Clinton has insisted tronomic sums injected into the economy in people? that, “I oppose the TPP. I’ll oppose it after the the name of Quantative Easing, despite the Isn’t it a fact that the reactionary wave that election. And I’ll oppose it as president.” But massive number of jobs cut in industry after has lifted Trump is simply the result of the in a $225,000 speech to the Wall Street industry, despite all budget cuts in social serv - anti-working class policies implemented over banksters in San Diego, she said that her ices — despite all of this, there has not been the past eight years by the outgoing Demo - “dream is a hemispheric market, with open an economic recovery. cratic Party president? trade.” The IMF has recognized this situation, de - The inconvenient truth (for some) is that Can there be any doubt that Clinton, once claring: “The U.S. economy has lost its vita - Clinton is really a traditional Republican in office, will do everything possible to enact lity over the course of the most recent masking as a “centrist” — at times even as a the TPP — mind you, with a few cosmetic trimesters; the expansion predicted for the se - “progressive” — and that she only has a changes to make it appear that she is really on cond semester of 2016 did not materialize.” chance of winning this election because she is the side of the working class? Even the $5.4 trillion invested in shale oil facing a buffoon named Donald Trump. Can there be any doubt that she will move have only gone to inflate a speculative bubble The inconvenient truth is that we are faced to promote the “reforms” to Social Security that is even greater than the sub-prime bubble. in this election with a choice of two of the that the speculators have all been demanding, The root of it all is the very crisis of the ca - most unpopular political figures in U.S. his - or that she will continue to promote, even pitalist system. It’s a system that’s incapable tory because of the continued policy, pursued deepen, the privatization and deregulation of developing anything other than parasatic over decades by the top leaders of the U.S. policies of all past administrations, including fuel rods to keep the economy afloat: the mi - labor movement, of “lesser-evilism.” With that of Bill Clinton? litary-industrial complex and war, on the one hand, and unbridled financial speculation, on each consecutive election, “lesser-evil” poli - Can there be any doubt that she will accel - tics has only pushed the political spectrum fur - erate the drive toward war, with more U.S. the other. troops on the ground, throughout the Middle The ruling class’s inability to surmount the (continued on page 5)
4 The ORGANIZER - OCTOBER 2016 ther and further to the right. The view that Clinton will be a vehicle for workers to “advance a progressive agenda,” ... None of the Above! as Pechthalt argues, could not be further from the truth. How Do We Get There From Here? Like many progressive labor officials, Josh Pechthalt is in favor of a Labor Party, at least in theory. But if this is your goal, the question becomes, how do you get there from here? Many labor partisans of a Clinton vote argue that we must first stop Trump, and only then can we confront Clinton and compel her administration to meet working people’s most pressing demands, including the demands of the Black Lives Matter movement. This, they argue, will ultimately create a mass social protest movement that can become the caul - dron for the creation of a third-party move - ment, including for a Labor Party. But this logic is not borne out by historical ize a vote for Clinton in November will be Clinton” will be portrayed as doing the work experience. The record shows that when the wielded, in a different form after her election. of Trump and his minions. Democrats are in office, the top leadership of Social protest movements will be urged to No! If the working class — and especially the labor movement exerts all the pressure it hold back in their criticisms of — and mobi - its most oppressed Black and Latino sectors can muster to quash all social protest move - lizations against — Clinton, lest this add fuel — is to prevail in defending its rights and in - ments. to the grist of the Trump rightwing forces. Any terests, and if it is to make new gains, it will The lesser-evil arguments used to rational - actions that could be seen as “destabilizing have to affirm its independence at all times; it will have to act on independent class grounds both in the electoral arena and in the streets. This has to happen before and after the No - WikiLeaks Confirms that Hillary vember 8 election Working people are ready and looking for a Clinton Sold Weapons to ISIS change. Reports from our readers speak of general scorn in the workplace for the two gency for regime change in Syria. mainstream candidates. They speak of wide - Under oath Hillary Clinton denied she spread unwillingness by labor activists to take knew about the weapons shipments dur - Hillary Clinton door-hangers when getting out ing public testimony in early 2013 after the vote for ballot propositions and candidates the Benghazi terrorist attack. for local, state and national office. They speak In an interview with Democracy Now, of anger by Black activists, particularly Black Wikileaks’ Julian Assange stated that youth, with all politicians, whatever their po - 1,700 emails spanning the time from June litical stripe. Julian Assange, the founder of Wik - 2010 to August 2014 contained in the While it is a fact that this aspiration for an iLeaks, revealed publicly that Hillary Clinton cache directly connect Clinton to authentic working class political alternative Clinton and her State Department were Libya to Syria, and directly to Al Qaeda cannot be expressed at this time in the elec - actively arming Islamic jihadists, which and ISIS. toral arena for all the reasons explained above, includes the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. Assange stated, in part: these reports from our reader — and there are Clinton repeatedly denied these claims, countless others — underscore a simple truth: including during multiple statements “The Hillary Clinton emails create a the deep aspiration for independent working while under oath in front of the U.S. Sen - rich picture of how Hillary Clinton and politics is not going away; in fact, it will con - ate. But the WikiLeaks documents, which the U.S. Department of State operated. tinue to seek every avenue to find a way for - have not been disavowed, tell another So, for example, the disastrous, absolutely ward. story disastrous intervention in Libya, the de - No doubt, many, if not most, of the union - In Obama’s second term, Secretary of struction of the Qaddafi government, ists and activists will vote for Clinton, but State Hillary Clinton authorized the ship - which led to the occupation of ISIS of their contradictory attitudes express a great ment of U.S.-made arms to Qatar, a coun - large segments of that country, weapons frustration with ruling class politics and a try beholden to the Muslim Brotherhood, flows going over to Syria, being pushed search for a real working-class alternative.[2] and friendly to the Libyan rebels, in an ef - by Hillary Clinton, into jihadists within The road to independent working class fort to topple the Libyan/Qaddafi govern - Syria, including ISIS, that’s there in those party will not be linear. The formulation by ment, and then ship those arms to Syria in emails. There’s more than 1,700 emails in Karl Marx that the emancipation of the work - order to fund Al Qaeda, and topple Assad Hillary Clinton’s collection, that we have ing class will be the task of the workers them - in Syria. released, just about Libya alone.” selves rings true. Clinton took the lead role in organizing For all the details concerning this im - The working class will need its historic or - the so-called “Friends of Syria” (aka Al portant disclosure, go to the WikiLeaks ganizations — primarily the trade unions — Qaeda/ISIS) to back the CIA-led insur - website. (continued on page 6)
OCTOBER 2016 - The ORGANIZER 5 dependence and confidence in their own strength as a class.” ... None of the Above! These words apply not only to Black work - ers, but to the entire working class. Never has the task of advancing independent working class political action been more urgent.
Endnotes
[1] Whether Sanders succeeds in his ven - ture of turning all his voters over to Clinton is far from certain, however. While most Sanders voters will no doubt “hold their noses” and vote for Clinton, many others will vote for other candidates running for high office — or they will simply not vote at all. [2] Others will vote for Jill Stein, not nec - essarily because they support the Green Party, but because they see a Stein vote as the most effective protest vote against the two-party system. Others still will vote for one of the many socialist candidates running for presi - dent — be it the Socialist Party, the Party of Socialism and Liberation, or others. But Stein and the Green Party are not the alternative that working people need if they to break with their reliance upon the Demo - stated in the interview with The Organizer are to win their demands. The Green Party is cratic Party to champion the interests of the published in this issue. “What this means is not a working class party; it does not view so - working class majority and chart the way for - that the political organization of Black work - ciety as divided into opposing social classes ward toward a Labor Party. ers as a class needs to take place. It is not with contradictory interests; the Stein and Linked to this struggle, Blacks will need a enough to have a movement. There will be no Green platforms are based on the notion of a Black working class party to advance their im - Black liberation without our organization.” “civil society,” where class lines are blurred. mediate and national interests, such as advo - Scott argued for stopping to “petition or Although many of the planks put forward cated by Nnamdi Scott, the independent Black leverage the capitalist parties” and to “plot our by Jill Stein point in the direction of progres - candidate for city council in Baltimore of the way toward independent political struggle, be sive social change, working people — espe - Ujima People’s Progress Party (UPP). that in the electoral arena or in the grassroots cially the oppressed Black masses fighting “It is necessary to understand the relation - arena; there has to be a conscious effort by against police brutality and for self-determi - ship of the Black workers to capitalism,” Scott Black workers to have their own political in - nation — will need a class party to prevail.
Response to a MoveOn Posting on the “Political Revolution”
Trump is a right-wing bigot and unaccept - and NATO invaded – with mass lynchings able as president, but Hillary is a right- and murders of non-military Africans wing butcher: Libya and Iraq are just two working in the oil fields. This was no dif - to her credit. There are more, like Hon - ferent from the lynch-mob antics in the duras and Haiti. U.S. South.’’ When the Democrats took office in Thanks to Clinton and Obama Africa is 2008, there were fewer than 100 nations now the site of 28 U.S. military bases: across the world with U.S. occupation AFRICOM. At home, meanwhile, troops. Today more than 150 nations have Africans in the United States were sub - U.S. troops on the ground. Secretary of jected to the Bill and Hillary Clinton Om - State Hillary Clinton was instrumental in nibus crime bill and the destruction of the this U.S. military expansion. welfare system. Today there is a legal By COLIA L. CLARK Every time the images of Black men slave system in place; it’s called the school being hanged come to mind, I see Libya to prison pipeline. I received a posting from MoveOn urg - under invasion and the scores of Africans There is a never a righteous human mo - ing me to keep the “Political Revolution” from south of the Sahara who were housed ment when we must decide between which going by supporing Hillary Clinton. in Libya being hanged and slaughtered be - of two evils. MoveOn, we who believe in But Clinton is the most anti-revolution cause of Clinton’s and Obama’s policies. liberty, justice, and human rights want real candidate in this race. It is regrettable that The United States funded and controlled change. Words do not make revolutions. Bernie Sanders has sold the people out. the illegal invasion of Libya, while France We demand more!
6 The ORGANIZER - OCTOBER 2016 OPEN FORUM FOR DISCUSSION ON INDEPENDENT POLITICS
Nnamdi Scott: “ We must plot our way toward independent political struggle, be that in the electoral arena or in the grassroots arena”
[Note : Following is an interview con - articulating a vision. This is an important step tance to understand the key role of the work - ducted by The Organizer with Nnamdi Scott, in advancing consciousness. ing class as the leadership of the anti-capitalist independent Black candidate for City Coun - Still, in my view, there has to be a more ac - struggle. It is important to understand that the cil in District 7 in Baltimore, Maryland .] tive participation of the Black radical left in workers themselves are victims continuously helping the young cadre that are emerging in of direct harassment, whether it turns into po - The Organizer : Since our last interview the Black Lives Movement to have a stronger lice murder or brutality. This is the day-to-day with you [see July-August issue of The Or - analysis of the contradictions of capitalism interaction that most African workers have, ganizer ] the police killings of Black people and the rule of Capital over working people. because they as a class bear the brunt of police have continued unabated. First it was Terence T.O.: There is a plank in the Visions docu - containment and force. Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the list goes ment around community control. There is a It is necessary to understand the relationship on. What is the state of the movement against plank demanding independent Black political of the Black workers to capitalism. And what police brutality? Here in the San Francisco power. There is a plank around Black self-de - this means is that the political organization of Bay Area, the national anthem protest by termination. These are all very advanced no - Black workers as a class needs to take place. Colin Kaepernick has caught on; the entire tions. My next question has to do with the role It is not enough to have a movement. There Mission High School team took a knee to that you feel the Black Left Unity Network will be no Black liberation without our organ - protest the police killings. (BLUN), of which you are a member, can play ization. Nnamdi Scott : The consciousness of the in helping to advance the political thinking T.O.: This raises the issue of building an in - general masses is being heightened. We see it and actions of this emerging movement. dependent Black political organization, an in - within the Black Lives Movement, which ini - Do you see the document that BLUN is put - dependent Black political party. tially didn’t have a very clear understanding, ting forward — the “Freedom Manifesto” [see Scott : Exactly. This is very important, so let alone goals, about how to deal with police excerpts in this issue] as a contribution to the that we decide not to just petition or leverage brutality in a capitalist state. But now this broader discussion that is taking place within the capitalist parties — which I am not an ad - movement has kept growing and has become the Black Lives Movement? In your view, can vocate for — but that we actually start to plot more consistent in its messaging. The move - your Freedom Manifesto help these activists our way toward independent political struggle, ment is taking its first steps in summing up clarify and concretize some of the ideas pre - be that in the electoral arena or in the grass - what they are trying to do. And this has im - sented in their Vision document? roots arena. There has to be a conscious effort pacted athletes, artists, and musicians. Scott : Yes, absolutely. We think that our by Black workers to have their own political T.O.: The Policy Table of the Movement Freedom Manifesto can help these emerging independence and confidence in their own for Black Lives Matter, the united front of forces. We took the older version of our own strength as a class. more than 50 organizations that was forged in document and added more content to make it T.O. : This poses the question of the leader - Cleveland just a year ago, just put together a more relevant today to the Black Lives Move - ship of the Black working class, but it also policy paper titled “A Vision for Black Lives.” ment, as a way of addressing what we think poses the question of its alliance with the anti- What is your assessment of the document? are some of the weaknesses still present in racist white working class, which is also ex - Scott : This document represents an impor - their Vision movement. ploited under capitalism and has to be won tant step forward. As I said, initially this This whole question of class, for example, over as an ally in this struggle to overthrow movement did not have any clear goals and really hasn’t been addressed in any depth yet objectives. Now you have a movement that is by this movement. And yet is of vital impor - (continued on page 10)
SPECIAL SECTION OF THE ORGANIZER NEWSPAPER OCTOBER 2016 - The ORGANIZER 7 Freedom Manifesto: A Draft Manifesto To Rebuild the Black Liberation Movement
[Note : Following are brief trial complex produces weapons for im - excerpts from a document pub - perialist wars and all forms of military lished in August 2016 by the aggression including the violence in our Black Left Unity Network. The cities. All too often our churches be - full text can be obtained by come appendages to this, preaching writing to Twenty-first Century money over morality. Books and Publications at How does capitalism exploit the [email protected] or to the world? The 1% uses military interven - Ujima People’s Progress Party tions supported by global organizations at [email protected]. ] such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World The Black Liberation Move - Trade Organization. Everywhere they ment has reawakened. Militant capture cheap labor and important raw activists are fighting against po - materials. They use the United Nations lice terror, for jobs and a livable and NATO to justify imperialist military wage, for housing for the home - aggression. This way they keep moving less, against environmental wealth from poor countries to rich ones. racism, for quality education, for human rights for our LGBT Can we defeat the capitalist system? brothers and sisters, and more. Nothing lasts forever. Slavery ended. This manifesto is a contribution Feudalism ended. Capitalism will end as toward uniting our diverse well. More and more, humanity has no forces into one mighty move - stake in the capitalist system and is rap - ment for Black liberation and the idly growing to hate it and struggle transformation of the entire so - against it. Outside of the U.S., resistance ciety. is explicit in rejecting capitalism. But Our movement has been pow - here we face the soft terror of media and erful and it is becoming power - government. They are obsessed with ful again. We just have to sum up putting a gag rule on any alternative dis - our practice in struggle — past, course. The end of capitalism will only present and future — and think come with our militant unity of action together about the problems we among and between movements of re - have and how we can solve sistance by the working class and op - them. This manifesto, read and talked about fat while we starve. In its monopoly stage of pressed nations and people, including by people and groups all over, can contribute development, capitalism became imperialism, the movements of Afro-American people. to a national consensus to be ratified at a Na - a global system of exploiting countries all Strategic Working Class Unity Includes tional Assembly for Black Liberation. over the world. the Leadership of the Black Working Class How is the origin of U.S. capitalism based Our Fight Is Against Capitalism Why the working class? The majority of on slavery? The wealth needed for the origin people in the U.S. are working people. We are The Black left is fighting on all fronts of the industrial system in the U.S. was cre - all exploited by the capitalist system. People against all forms of oppression. A central point ated out of the super profits taken from the know this and spontaneously oppose it in so of unity is that all of our struggles can advance sale and labor of the slaves, especially in the many ways. only to the extent that we mount a full assault cotton fields. This slave-based wealth has Of course there is a racist national chauvin - on the capitalist system as a racist system of funded many corporations and banks. This ism that turns some white workers into ene - class exploitation, national oppression, patri - wealth has propped up wealthy families that mies of Black people and other people of archy, and imperialism. Capitalism is how the inherit and maintain control over social and color, especially working and poor people. 1% control society and the world economy. It cultural institutions such as private universi - Mainstream media broadcasts the lie that we is the source of our misery. ties, especially in the Ivy League. Black workers are the cause of their misery. What is capitalism? Capitalism is an eco - How does capitalism exploit us? Today As people fight in their own interest against nomic, social, and political system that ex - capitalism is transforming and replacing the bosses, conditions are created to expose ploits the labor of working people and feeds human labor with “smart” machines. If people the role of white supremacy to divide the the greed of the corporations and the rich who are not working for a wage, the market system working class, defend white privilege, and jus - own the factories and the machines. People for circulating goods and service breaks down. tify the exploitation and oppression of Black work and create value by turning raw materi - Without a job, you can’t buy what you need, people. We have the chance to win significant als into usable products. We are paid far less and they can’t sell it. numbers of white workers to an anti-racist than the value we create — just the minimum. So capitalism has turned to making money working-class unity. This is worker’s solidar - Most of the rest is surplus taken by the corpo - on death. That includes bad food. Bad health ity. rations as their profit. Workers and owners care. All varieties of drugs and alcohol. TV Thinking globally, more allies of the Black struggle over who gets this surplus. They live culture that kills the mind. The military-indus - Liberation Movement are the militants in the
8 The ORGANIZER - OCTOBER 2016 and fix a broken system that can’t be fixed with minimal reforms. But electoral politics is a terrain of struggle where debate and discussion can raise the con - sciousness of people. This can present people with an alternative to the hypocrisy and illu - sions of mainstream politicians. The move - ment must remain autonomous from state and NGO control. On the other hand, Black power at the local level can be used by the move - ment, especially if we build the independent power of the forces in struggle for unioniza - tion, livable wages, eminent domain to house the homeless, money for public schools not charter schools, and so on.
The Strategic Role of the South
international working class movement, espe - reform struggles with the vision and coordi - cially from the oppressed nationalities and nation to end the capitalist system once and peoples. The enemy of my enemy is my for all. We are in an all-out war: capitalists friend. against the masses of workers and poor peo - Black labor organizations. The first Black ple. They will always cheat us. Capitalism worker organization was the 1866 Colored means exploitation. That’s how their game is National Labor Union. Frederick Douglass played. was one of its early leaders. Working class ac - Our Fight for Reform Is Linked to a tivists have engaged in every stage of organ - Revolutionary Strategy izing the Black liberation movement. We have The day-to-day struggle. The idea of a rev - The majority of Black people have al - witnessed the struggle for inclusion of Black ways lived in the Southern region of the workers in the CIO unions of the 1930s, the olution is abstract, but the fight for one is not. People fight back in daily life, at workplaces, US. This has also been the region of the largest, most significant organizing of U.S. most oppression against Black people. It workers. We have seen the League of Revolu - the unemployment office, the grocery store, school, church and more. Big political ideas continues to be the region most hostile to tionary Black Workers (1969), the Black organizing workers with right-to-work Workers Congress (1971), the Coalition of take shape in on-the-ground practice. When the fight intensifies everybody can get edu - anti-union laws. Increasingly capital Black Trade Unionists (1972), Black Workers from all over the world joins US capital for Justice (1981), and the Black Workers cated, get political, and begin to think about the link between the reform struggle and the in patterns of extreme economic exploita - Unity Movement (1985). Today we have tion in the South. But more than that many rank-and-file Black caucus groups, revolutionary leap that is necessary. In this context a Black left can be grounded in our there is the structural patterns of racism, workers centers, and the Southern Workers and the lowest quality of life in all areas Assembly. people, in the very fight they wage them - selves. We join them. We embrace their lead - of human existence. Anti-imperialist unity with Latinos. Na - ership. We link their fight with the fight of The southern region is a strategic loca - tional oppression and extreme capitalist ex - others. We help sum up and learn lessons from tion for the Black liberation movement, ploitation of Latinos makes them close allies victories and defeats. We train militants to in - the workers movement, and the general of Black people. This is especially true for crease their ability to sustain the struggle. revolutionary forces because it is so cru - people with roots in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Fight back every day! Link the fight for re - cial for the existence of the capitalist sys - elsewhere in the Caribbean and the Americas. form to revolutionary goals! tem. The social, economic and political The capitalist strategy is to divide workers extremes of the region make the fight for and play them against each other. The most The response to racist attacks. Every racist reform an essential component to build - desperate among us take the lowest wages. attack must be opposed and mass resistance ing a movement for fundamental social Our class unity must take a strong position built to end it, just as we raised the slogans No change. against this capitalist ploy and unite Black and More Trayvons! and Black Lives Matter! We On the one hand it is essential for the Brown workers in a common cause. To defeat do this as part of massive nationwide mobi - Black liberation movement’s fight for imperialism we must unite struggles against lization. So must we continue on higher and African American self-determination, class exploitation and national oppression at more coordinated levels. This is a key task of while at the same time advancing the role home and abroad. rebuilding a national Black liberation move - of Black workers in leading the move - ment. Class struggle and Black liberation. Ini - ment. tially, the fight of workers is first and foremost The electoral struggle. The capitalist state This class perspective strengthens the a fight to make wages and working conditions is a rigged game controlled by the ruling class. anti-capitalist character of the national better. This includes benefits and pensions. They don’t play fair and we can’t win by get - Black liberation movement and is an es - People fight as individuals, work teams, work - ting in it and trying to reform things. All too sential part of fighting for the unity of the places, and entire industries. All of this is nec - often we have been lured into local politics as multi-national working class. essary. And we can go further and link these mayors and city council officials, only to try OCTOBER 2016 - The ORGANIZER 9 ... Nnamdi Scott on Independent Politics the capitalist State. what we’re struggling for is not Scott : We have done some - going to be solved through the elec - thing here in Baltimore that is an toral process, that we have to get or - attempt to be the first Black ganized to fight for our demands workers-led electoral party. It’s a every day of the week. Our goal is party that is open to all nationali - to help people get involved with the ties to participate in, but we do Ujima People’s Progress Party. not hide that we have a leadership T.O.: Is there anything you that is from the Black working would like to add, especially in re - class. This is something that is lation to how people can get in - hard for even white liberals to di - volved and help out your gest. They are so used to a certain campaign? kind of relationship to Black Scott : We’re not running a workers, a relationship that for protest election. We’re trying to run too long has created a kind of a principled, strategic election to welfare mentality for Black help chart a way forward. workers. We would like our campaign to The question of Black working provide other Black left radical class leadership is critical. The forces with a blueprint for how we history of our struggle in America shows that organizations is already very positive. can go out and engage people more widely. Black people, Black workers, fighting for so - T.O.: How is your own campaign going? We are now able to go to churches, to recre - cial justice, for human rights, has opened the Has it caught the attention of workers and or - ation centers, to people’s homes with our pol - door to all other social forces, whether it’s ganizations elsewhere across the country? itics. women, or gays, or people with disabilities. Scott : Yes it has. We’ve been lucky to get We haven’t changed who we are. I think The strategies and tactics that we’ve used, the some support from different parts of the coun - this is a perfect example of what the left needs very example of our tenacity, has opened the try. And we are very thankful to your organi - to do if we want to be more influential, not doors for everybody. zation and to The Organizer newspaper for just during election time but more important There needs to be an understanding about getting information out about our campaign. in organizing a movement. how capitalism impacts us all differently. Yes, Local media forces have been able to help. We are still fighting for the $15 minimum there are ways in which we are impacted sim - Left-leaning media have helped. We’ve been wage, which didn’t get passed, so we need to ilarly as a class, but the ways we are impacted able to get material and financial support. continue that struggle. We just had the city differently are not always understood by white Locally this has raised our profile. We’ve give $660 million to Kevin Plank, the billion - workers. Black workers are the most devas - been invited to speak at rallies to get our mes - aire owner of Under Armour, a company that tated, most incarcerated, most oppressed sec - sage out. The response has always been very does not pay its workers a livable wage. So tor of the working class. We can’t build a warm, which has reaffirmed that it’s the right there is a lot of work that needs to be done. movement where everything is glossed over. politics. And, yes, we’re always calling for re - We have to understand what motivates differ - In these elections in a capitalist system you sources, for volunteers. If you have readers in ent social forces correctly. also need money. We’re not able, of course, to our area, please have them get in touch with It can’t just be freedom for white workers run the same kind of campaign as the Democ - us. We can be reached at our website while everyone else is still being incarcerated rats in Baltimore. We recognize what will hap - at www.nnamdiscott2016.com. You can also and attacked by capitalism. pen at the end of the day in terms of the vote. send messages to: We try to do this in Baltimore, to make our But our goal is to help people get connected [email protected] work open to all social forces. The relation - to our platform. Our goal is to help organize and/or visit the UPP facebook page at: ship we have built with left-leaning non-Black those people and help them understand that UPPMarlyand/. Aiana-Koli: “The People Are Tired of Oppression!”
[Note : Aiana- InfoInter : Hundreds of thousands of As Martin Luther King said: Koli, aka AniLi - Black people and their supporters have been “You know, my friends, there comes a Mars, is a demonstrating for months to the cry of time when people get tired of being trampled 23-year-old Black “Black Lives Matter!” What are the causes by the iron feet of oppression.” Lives Matter ac - behind the development of your movement? The people are angry and are tired of the tivist in Philadel - Aiana-Koli : Police killings have been corruption and oppression. phia. She is also a happening for a very long time. When a musician and videographer. She is one of Black person is killed every 28 hours by law The people DEMAND JUSTICE and many U.S. delegates who will be attending enforcement, we must look at the system EQUALITY for ALL. the Mumbai Open World Conference Against that is allowing this to continue. Our government is supposedly fighting for War, Exploitation and Precarious Labor. The government is not upholding the prin - democracy and human rights overseas, but Following are excerpts from an interview ciples of the Constitution, which are sup - how can this be when at home it tramples with InfoInter , the weekly newsletter pro - posed to cover ALL citizens regardless of upon the rights and very lives of Black peo - moting the Mumbai conference. ] race, class, sexual orientation, etc. ple.
10 The ORGANIZER - OCTOBER 2016 We Stand with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe! Indigenous Rights are Workers’ Rights! #NoDAPL!
the continued genocide of Native peoples waged for the past 500 years on this continent. The struggle against colonization and indige - nous rights goes hand in hand with the strug - gle for workers’ rights. Like the liberation struggles of Blacks, Chicanxs, women, and other oppressed groups, the fight for indige - nous emancipation is a fight against capital - ism. Many individual workers have joined the ranks at Standing Rock and workers’ organi - zations have also expressed their solidarity with #NoDAPL including the National Nurses United (NNU), Communication Workers of America (CWA), the United Electrical Work - ers (UE), and SEIU 503. Despite this, AFL- CIO President Richard Trumka declared the While news of the fight at Standing Rock ecosystems in its path along with the flora and AFL-CIO in support of the Dakota Access has not infiltrated the mainstream media, on fauna inhabiting them. It will destroy the very Pipeline. It exposed the shortsightedness of the ground and throughout the country, soli - resources humanity depends on for life. union leadership and their capitulation to cor - darity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe The strength of the movement led by the porate interests. The AFL-CIO statement re - continues to grow. Supporters have flocked Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has highlighted gurgitated the corporate narrative that pits from all over the world to stand in solidarity the role of government in protecting corpora - workers and their families against Native with the tribe at Standing Rock as they protect tions over its own citizens. While the Obama rights. their lands, water, and sacred grounds. Indige - administration and the Army Corps of Engi - We join the ranks of those calling on the nous leaders as far as the Amazon have joined neers symbolically back injunctions and de - AFL-CIO to retract this statement and declare the ranks of the Sacred Stone and Red Warrior clare support for the Tribe, North Dakota solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. camps, proving that indigenous struggles are Governor Jack Dalrymple has called on the We, Socialist Organizer, declare our own sol - ones without borders. National Guard to threaten the water protec - idarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a tors. Dakota Access has continuously harassed with the water protectors, and with the indige - massive 1,150-mile project of Dakota Access and violently attacked water protectors, in - nous peoples fighting against capital and its LLC meant to carry crude oil from North cluding children. colonizing forces all over the world. Dakota to Illinois. The DAPL, and many like Although portrayed as a battle for water it across the world, is a recent example of the rights, what’s really at stake at Standing Rock • No Dakota Access Pipeline! lengths the ruling class will go to ensure their is much larger. Standing Rock represents the • Clean and safe water for all! profits. The DAPL threatens the Missouri forefront of indigenous struggle in the United • Sovereignty of all Native peoples! River and its many tributaries. It will destroy States. A struggle for sovereignty and against
Activists Protest Police Murder of Joseph Mann in Sacramento, Calif.
By LINDSAY CURTIS tapes they had (including the 911 calls). There is no doubt the Bee ’s move forced the For decades, October 22nd has be - reluctant hand of Sac PD. come known more and more as a na - Sacramento activists and general commu - tional day of protest against police nity members will not forget what happened brutality. Sacramento, California had to Mann and numerous others at the hands of plenty to protest this year, with the untrained and/or egomaniacal police officers focal point of Saturday’s protest and acting as tools of the ruling class. rally highlighting the police murder of Joseph Mann. Multiple groups and individuals have Mann was experiencing a mental come together to form a list of demands, cur - health crisis when he was shot by po - rently taking on the form of a petition. Its lice 14 times in July. He was armed goal is to change public policy at the state level. with a knife and acting erratically, PD more than two months to release the which police are using to justify attempts by footage and audio of the murder. Not even the The proposed changes would alter the hir - officers to run him down with their vehicle be - family were allowed to view it. ing and training processes of officers, would fore putting 14 bullets into his body. The Sacramento Bee newspaper eventually give communities a say in how they are po - A rally was held in South Sac to draw atten - obtained and released alternative footage from liced, and would ensure that officers who dis - tion to yet another example of police murder, another source. Almost immediately after that, charge their weapons at people go through an as well as to the fact that it took Sacramento the police department finally released what investigation, testing, and oversight process.
OCTOBER 2016 - The ORGANIZER 11 Toward the Mumbai World Conference Against War, Exploitation & Precarious Labour (November 18-20, 2016) U.S.-NATO Out of the
By DOMINIQUE FERRE Middle East Now! The governments of the Western powers, with presidents Barack Obama and François Hollande in the lead, are denouncing the slaughter in Aleppo —but their hypocrisy knows no bounds. Let us not forget that these major powers (United States, France, and Britain) and its allies in the region (Gulf monarchies and the Turkish government) were the ones that initiated the war of ag - gression against Syria in the first place. In September 2015, the military interven - tion of Putin’s Russia (which seeks in partic - ular to defend its only military base in the Mediterranean port of Tartus) simply fol - lowed the lead of the military intervention by the coalition led by the United States, which has bombed Syria since August 2014. How dare they try to make us believe that only Russian bombs are hitting the civilian population, while U.S., French and British bombs are saving lives? The hypocrisy of Obama and Hollande goes even further. Just as Aleppo is being de - stroyed by bombs, the U.S. and French gov - ernments are overseeing a major assault against the Iraqi city of Mosul. This is a city of more than 1 million people that was taken over in June 2014 by Daech [ISIS]. Iraqi refugees cross the Tigris River in Northern Iraq in 2014 en route to Syria. Today Using the presence of Daech as a pretext, the massive numbers of displaced peoples from the offensive initiated by the imperial - a broad coalition of heavily armed forces ist powers in Mosul are expected to create an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. with often-conflicting interests has launched the assault against Mosul. UN diplomats in the region warn that a ment.” lamic State-type formation will be created.” major humanitarian disaster is about to be The U.S. military and its allies are not All these forces, each driven by their own unleashed. “If more than 150,000 people are alone in this attack on Mosul. Other military objectives, risk turning a so-called “liber - displaced in the coming days and weeks, no forces include the Iraqi Army, formed by the ated” Mosul into a battleground of bloody institution in the world can handle them; the United States; the armed forces of the au - score-settling that will transform the city risks are huge and there has been very little tonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan; Shiite into a mass cemetery. preparation,” said the humanitarian coordi - militias (some supported by Iran and others “The only thing that we can say for sure,” nator of the UN in Iraq. not), Sunni militias; and the Turkish Army, stated a politician in the region, “is that after In addition to jihadist militias entrenched which is allied with Iraqi Kurdish forces, but the first shot is fired, nobody knows what is in the city, the coalition forces led by the which seeks to establish a back-up post going to happen.” United States are on the ground, reinforced against Kurdish forces linked to the PKK in From Aleppo to Mosul, from Yemen to by the arrival of 600 additional U.S. GIs. Syria and southeastern Turkey. other “theaters” of war no longer on the The U.S. administration does not hide the This is an explosive cocktail of military front pages of our press, the tragedy be - fact that it needs the “trophy” of taking forces, especially given the fact that Mosul, falling the peoples of the Middle East and Mosul to justify an intervention that has according to a Kurdish military official, is “a Africa has one and only one origin: foreign been increasingly rejected by the American city populated by a large array of ethnic and imperialist intervention spearheaded by the people. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton religious minorities. If one of them is mar - U.S. administration and its proxies. Carter has declared this “a decisive mo - ginalized in one way or another, a new Is - U.S.-NATO Out Now!
12 The ORGANIZER - OCTOBER 2016 Healthcare Activists Mobilize Across Mexico on Oct. 23 To Defend their National Public Healthcare Systems
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Mexico’s southeast region in support of the Organization for Economic Cooperation striking healthcare workers under the ban - and Development (OECD). ner of #TodosSomosPalenque (We Are All Everywhere banners could be seen call - Palenque). ing for the defense and improvement of the Messages of support were sent to the ral - national public healthcare institute (IMSS) lies in Chiapas and Mexico City from the and the public sector workers’ healthcare organizers in India of the Mumbai Open system (ISSSTE). World Conference Against War, Privatiza - In the town of Palenque, in the state of tion and Precarious Labor, as well as from Doctors, nurses and other healthcare Chiapas, the local chapter of Section 50 of healthcare unions and officers in France, workers in 70 cities across Mexico staged the National Union of Healthcare Workers Germany, Canada and the United States marches and rallies to demand the repeal of (SNTSSA) has been out on strike since (where the California Nurses Association, the “Sistema Universal de Salud” (Univer - May 23 to press for their community’s the National Union of Healthcare Workers, sal Healthcare System) — a healthcare pri - healthcare demands [see accompanying and Labor for Single Payer Healthcare na - vatization law enacted by the government story]. Marches and rallies were held in tional organizer Mark Dudzic, among many of Enrique Peña Nieto at the behest of the five other towns in Chiapas and across others, sent solidarity messages).
On Sunday, September Against War, Exploitation 25, an estimated 300 trade and Precarious Labor, was unionists and activists gath - invited to address the ered at a rally in Palenque, Palenque rally as a keynote Chiapas, in support of the speaker. He explained the members of the local chap - fundamental problems with ter of Section 50 of the na - the U.S. healthcare system, tional healthcare workers’ which is based on the U.S. union (SNTSSA) who had private-insurance model. been out on strike to de - The Mexican government, in mand a halt to the health - the name of “healthcare re - care “counter-reform” law form” and the creation of aimed at privatizing health - “universal healthcare,” is care in Mexico. (At this seeking to impose the U.S. writing, the workers in model and to destroy the Palenque are in the 155 th Mexican public healthcare day of their strike.) system. In Chiapas the implemen - Because the rally partici - tation of this law has led to Speakers at the September 25 Solidarity Rally with the Healthcare pants were convinced that the drastic reduction of workers in Palenque, Chiapas are (from left to right: Mayra Ocampo only the working class, at a medicines and medical sup - de la Torre, Daniel Martinez, Melquiades Velueta (standing), Russell national and international plies for patients, with the Aguilar Brindis, Alan Benjamin, Helena Caeri Baca Leon (behind), level, is capable of forcing request that patients help and C. Callejas. the bosses and the govern - cover the costs of these ment to bend to their de - scarce items — when all mands, the assembly issued healthcare costs at the Mex - an International Appeal ad - ican Institute of Social Se - Striking Healthcare Workers in dressed to workers and their curity (IMSS) and at organizations in Mexico and ISSSTE (for government internationally, calling on workers) had been free up Chiapas (Mexico) Support them to support the struggle till now. of the healthcare workers in The striking healthcare Mumbai Open World Conference Chiapas and throughout workers were joined by Mexico public-school teachers from Also, because the question Sections 7 and 40 of the National Teachers their outposts, and their children are dying. of the independence of the trade unions was Union, or SNTE-CNTE. Nine speakers ad - Many of them walked up to six hours to the posed, the participants in the Palenque rally dressed the gathering [see accompanying main roads, where they took buses or jumped agreed to endorse the Mumbai Open World photo]. on trucks to get to the rally. Conference and to mandate a representative of Among those assembled was a contingent the rally to attend the conference in India. The A Rich and Far-Reaching Discussion of Ch’ol indigenous people from the “ comu - rally chair noted that the Mexican delegation nidades de base .” As a result of the healthcare Alan Benjamin, editor of The Organizer to Mumbai was being put together from “counter-reform,” they have received no med - newspaper and member of the Organizing within the struggles and mobilizations of the icines or supplies for the past six months at Committee of the Mumbai Conference workers and their community allies.
OCTOBER 2016 - The ORGANIZER 13 Urgent Appeal in Support of Striking South African Students from Mumbai Conference Organizers
Fall”! They have received support from the sisiwe Cathrine Seabe and All Our Com - National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA). rades Now!’” [See interviews on this struggle in this Please join us with actions and delegations issue.] to embassies and consulates of South Africa Their struggle is legitimate. across the globe to demand that the South But the government’s answer has been to African government stop the repression unleash brutal repression. On October 14, in against the students immediately, that they Dear friends and comrades the world over, Johannesburg, the police gunfire sent several release and drop all charges against the ar - students to the hospital. Four days later a rested students, and that they repeal the tu - On September 19, thousands of university trial began in Johannesburg involving sev - ition fees’ increase, so that the promise of students across South Africa went out on eral students, including Busisiwe Cathrine free higher education can be fulfilled. strike against the decision by Minister of Seabe, one of the spokespersons for the stu - In struggle, Higher Education Blade Nzimande to allow dents. Nambiath Vasudevan universities to increase their fees by 8% Delegates from South Africa to the Mum - [roughly between US$2,000 and $4,000 – bai Open World Conference sent us a mes - On behalf of Organizing Committee of the Ed. note]. sage to inform us that, “all over the country, Mumbai World Conference Against War, Ex - Tens of thousands of South African stu - students are being arrested, and the move - ploitation and Precarious Labor (November dents have mobilized to demand “Fees Must ment is deepening to demand, ‘Release Bu - 18-20, 2016)
[Note : Following are excerpts from an Question : A delegation sent by young interview with Mandla Phangwa, a young people and workers in Azania will be at - activist in South Africa (Azania) and dele - “Fees Must tending the Mumbai Conference Against gate to the Mumbai Open World Confer - War, Exploitation and Precarious Labor. ence. The interview is reprinted from What is the relevance of “against war and InfoInter No. 11. exploitation” in Azania? Fall!” Mandla Phangwa : This slogan is fully Question: A new wave of student relevant to the youth and student move - demonstrations involving mostly Black ments in Azania as it echoes #Fees Must youth has swept South Africa (Azania) Fall. For university workers who are sub - against the increase in university fees. jected to extreme exploitation with mea - What is the meaning of this movement ger wages and unsafe working conditions, that is standing up to fight the ANC gov - this slogan echoes theirs: “Out-sourcing ernment? must fall!” Mandla Phangwa : The attitude of the “Against War and exploitation” also party in power, the ANC, regarding the speaks to the unemployed youth of Aza - students’ fight against the increasing cost nia, who, through desperation, find them - of education is an anti-youth and anti- selves being subjected to precarious labor Black working class attitude. It seems to as a refuge against poverty. mirror the policies of the previous regime We also understand that South Africa is under the white National Party [of much involved in imperialist wars and Apartheid]. The struggle for free educa - troop deployment in the neighboring tion is in opposition to the ANC’s poli - countries, and it is the same youth who cies, which are driven by profits and the are recruited to the Army to represent im - exploitation of the Black working class ma - have promised to back the general secretary perialist interests in the Central African Re - jority. of the SACP — Blade Nzimande, the Minis - public, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Question : Black students are up against ter of Higher Education — who announced Rwanda and Mali, where such deployments the Minister of Higher Education, Black Nz - the increase in university costs. result not only in the escalation of crises in imande, who is also the general secretary of And on the other hand, there is a confus - those countries but also have an agonizing the Communist Party (SACP), which is a ing situation inside the Young Communist impact on the working class and the youth member of the coalition in power, the ruling League of South Africa (YCLSA) over the there. Tripartite Alliance, together with the ANC question: Should we defend the general sec - The slogan also speaks to the efforts we and COSATU. But the Communist Party is retary of the SACP, or should we defend the have been making as Trotskyist youth ac - in crisis. demands of the students? This crisis has ex - tivists in trying to call for a united front that Mandla Phangwa : The Tripartite Alliance posed the cracks in the Stalinist bureaucracy must put at its center the solidarity among in power is on the verge of imploding. On that has been running the SACP and has led the youth, workers and the students’ move - the one hand, the leaderships of the SACP to class collaboration with the henchmen of ments towards a real fight for a Black Work - and the COSATU trade union federation imperialism. ers Republic of Azania.
14 The ORGANIZER - OCTOBER 2016 Former COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzanlema Vavi Speaks Out in Support of Striking Students
[Note : Following is an interview con - tional Student Financial Aid Scheme). native federation; we are still in the embryonic ducted by La Tribune des Travailleurs But NSFAS is not a solution. It is a loan that stages. (Workers Tribune) with Zwelinzanlema Vavi, gets paid back at the end of the term of the stu - So there is a general crisis of representation past general secretary of the Congress of dents, and therefore we are asking that a free and legitimacy. That’s why there is not a sin - Trade Unions of South Africa (COSATU). education be introduced. We are arguing that gle forum where there could be direct negoti - La Tribune des Travailleurs is published free education is possible in South Africa. We ations between the students, the parents, the weekly by the Democratic Independent are arguing that the government has sufficient government and even the employers. We are Workers Party of France (POID). This inter - resources now to do something about free ed - on autopilot politically in this country, and view was published in Issue No. 61, Oct. 26. ] ucation. It’s not a matter that can wait until a that’s why this university protest is a manifes - commission reports back, and all of that rub - tation of a broader political crisis in South Workers Tribune: The staff of the unions bish. We want free education now. Africa today. fighting for a New Union Federation, as well WT : What is your characterization of the WT : These past few days, there has been an as the National Union of Metworkers politics of this government? important increase in the international solidar - (NUMSA), have taken a clear stand in defense Vavi : There is a general political crisis in ity with the South African students and their of the South African students and their de - South Africa, a crisis of legitimacy and a crisis struggle — from students groups but mainly mand for free education — as well against the of representation. The government itself, led from working class organizations around the repression by the government. Could you ex - by the ANC, the former liberation movement, world. Do you think this is important? plain why it was important that the organized no longer has the moral authority that it once Vavi : We are absolutely encouraged by the labor movement in South Africa took this enjoyed; there is no Nelson Mandela. More increasing demonstrations and picketing of stance. and more people in South Africa no longer South African ambassadors all over the world, Vavi : These students are our children. We, participate in the formal elections. The major - including in France. This is quite encouraging. the fathers, provide for their school fees; we ity stays at home as the majority feels unrep - We welcome and appreciate these very impor - cannot afford them and as a result, many of us resented. tant messages of solidarity for the students in are victims and living testimonies of the im - There is a crisis also in the representative South Africa. And we would like to encourage pact the high university costs and registration system of students. Most of the students con - other student formations and movements all fees will have on the students. We know this sider that the School Representative Councils, over the world to take up this struggle. as parents and as former students ourselves. or SRC’s, are not legitimate. They have had This is not a South African struggle; this is So that’s why we are supporting the students. played no role whatsoever in the recent strug - a struggle of all working people all over the This is a working class battle. Workers, and gles. world. Those who cannot afford the punish - the Black majority in South Africa, are the The trade union movement is going through ing, high education fees must now join hands, victims of the exclusions — even though there its worst crisis, a crisis of representation as both in the poor and the most developed coun - has been an increase in the intake of working well. COSATU has imploded. The once-pow - tries, to say: Education is not a privilege, but class and Black students as a result of the gov - erful trade union federation has been divided a right that must be enjoyed by all the citizens ernment’s intervention through NSFAS (Na - by the ruling elite. We plan to form an alter - of the world!
OCTOBER 2016 - The ORGANIZER 15 WOMEN IN THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION WOMEN IN REVOLUTION
as the patriarchal and feudalistic system Initial List of Supporters of this Appeal: APPEAL FROM makes them third-rate citizens of society. RUBINA JAMIL Women also face heightened violence at home BELGIUM: Françoise Cambie , worker; and in the work place. Laetitia Coucke , student activist; Nathalie Dear Comrades, Sisters and Brothers, So let us join together to break all those Leloup, trade unionist; Monique Lermusiaux , chains, and let us celebrate March 8th with As you all know, by celebrating Internatio - retired trade unionist; Laura Moraga Moral , great zeal and raise our voices against all nal Women’s Day on March 8th, we comme - teacher unionists; Claire Thomas , teacher trade forms of discrimination, exploitation and in - morate and pay tribute to those brave women union delegate. BRAZIL : Christiane Granha , justice. Let us join together to pay great tribute who took up the struggle for bread, peace, and member Workers Party (PT), member, Justice to the working women in Russia who, in 1917, freedom — and also for an end to the war — Committee for Anderson. BRITAIN : Jane rose up to demand bread, peace and freedom. in Russia in 1917. We all are proud that Doolan , Public sector trade unionist; Doreen Mc - I call on all women the world over to mobi - women workers were in the leadership of Nally , Secretary, Association of Dockworkers’ lise massively to fight for peace and to break those struggles. Wives. FRANCE: Julie Beguerie , teacher, femi - all our chains of bondage. Let us celebrate In - Katel Cor - Comrades, as a woman activist and trade nist trade union and political activist; ternational Women’s Day on March 8th, side duant , trade unionist; Christel Keiser , city unionist in Pakistan, I would like to celebrate by side with all workers, by raising our voices council member, POID; Christelle Leclerc, trade with you the 100th anniversary of the Russian to say, “Women do not want war! They want unionist; Geneviève Marchal , trade unionist, Revolution, which remains a great benchmark peace and freedom!” Collective of Widows and Wife of Mineworkers; for all the working class, for all the peasants, I call upon you to join with me in setting up Isabelle Michaud , city council member, PCF; for all the oppressed peoples, for all the youth an International Committee to organise these Marie-José Montout , activist for the defense of and women workers. The Russian Revolution rallies and actions on International Women’s medical gynecology; Marie-Luce Mouly , activist remains a great inspiration to all of us. th Day against war, exploitation and injustice – for a break with the European Union and the 5 Today, we women are victims of violence in continuity with the Mumbai Conference Republic. GERMANY: Sidonie Kellerer , Aca - by the State, in our homes, and by the wars. Against War, Exploitation and Precarious La - demic (Köln). GREECE: Vassiliki Frangou , In my country, Pakistan — and also in Afgha - bour on 18-20 November 2016. writer (Athens), Eva Kallitsi , student (Athens); nistan, India, and Sri Lanka — women are fa - Let us join together in the struggle – side by Maryse Le Lohé , activist in Laiki Enotita cing the worst kinds of violence. Thousands side — to put an end to violence, war and ex - (Athens); Sotiria Lioni (Naples). HUNGARY: of women are killed in terrorists attacks — a ploitation. Anyiszonyan Klàra , retiree, chemistry; Somi terror that imperialism is responsible for – at Judit , editor of Munkas Hirlap. I TALY: Valeria the same time they are victims of traditional Long live the working class! Busicchia , teacher; Monica Grilli , teacher trade and social norms only applicable to women, Long live international solidarity! union delegate; Elisabetta Raineri , teacher trade union delegate. MEXICO: Liliana Plumeda (Mexicali), Alejandra Rivera (Tijuana). RUS - PHOTO ABOVE: Mass demonstration SIA: Aliona Glazkova , activist and left-wing of women in Petrograd on March 8, journalist. UNITED STATES: Colia Lafayette 1917. On front lead banner, one can Clark , National Coordinator, Judicial Violence read, "Increase the rations for the fami - Symposium, civil rights activist; Nancy lies of the defenders of freedom and Wohlforth , Secretary-Treasurer Emerita, OPEIU; peace among the peoples." On the back Lindsay Curtis , Editorial Board, The Organizer newspaper; Melina Juarez , student; Itzel Calvo banner, one can read, "Feed the fami - Medina , immigrant rights activist; Millie lies of the defenders of the homeland!" Phillips, Socialist Organizer.
16 The ORGANIZER - OCTOBER 2016