Word of the Left

In the past couple of months I've been pretty busy. I've become increasingly active with the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA and found that the past 3 or so months were very crucial on all fronts to step up the pressure against alot of the shit we see the state doing. Because of this, I got distracted and found very little time to sit down and blog. While I was away I read alot, from Lenin to Mao, to Stalin and beyond. I helped get out the message for the March on the Pentagon and nearly got arrested when we attempted to actually march to the pentagon not into the parking lot, I marched on May day for immigrant and workers rights, and I took a bus down to Philly to show solidarity with Mumia Abu Jamal on his last court date. I've been hitting the streets getting out Revolution Newspaper with other RCPers and I've been generally active on all fronts as much as I could really be. The title of this piece is not taken lightly, as everything I have witnessed while active in the past months has really reinforced and even I think to a large extent, made me even more aware of the situation we're currently in: a rise in the fascistic and religious elements of this government and the increasing evidence of this.

The Christian Fascist Attack on Womyn's Rights

The bible taken literally is a piece of literature which is oppressive and degrading to womyn. There are countless undertones of womyn being inferior and weaker than men and thus must stay home. According to the bible in fact, womyn were basically the mutant spawn of a rib of Adam because he couldn't reproduce with other animals! While I have nothing against people of faith, and openly work with progressive religious people, this is among the reasons WHY I am an athiest. The fact that the bible is wrong! One of my favorite resources on judging the bible is the Skeptics Annotated Bible which I encourage people of faith to check out and engage with because it really exposes line by line what is plain wrong with the bible.

Now in relation to the attack on womyns rights, the current issue and issue #86 of revolution newspaper deals with how we are seeing a attack on the womyn's right to choose. Last week the Supreme court voted to uphold the ban "partial-birth abortion". The ban will force womyn, against their will to commit to a life changing decision which they are not ready for based on the idea that the state thinks it is in its interest because it "traumatizes" womyn. Despite the fact that there is no evidence proving it! This is the exact logic behind the fascist ideology which seperates from all others. The idea that the state knows what's best for the masses and that the masses exsist only to serve the state. In fact the only place that this suspicion was voiced, the idea that it traumatizes womyn, was from a far-right militant christian group which convinces people out of the "sin of abortion" through a telephone hotline.

All of this represents a the crackdown on people's rights in fascistic way based on so called "religious morality" a concept that has been bankrupt for centuries. What future does the bible taken literally hold for womyn? For homosexuals? For non-christians? The answer? A nightmare

The Fascist Assault on Human Rights and the move to a Police State

Another Gitmo detainee comitted suicide today for "unknown reasons". Unknown reasons? Perhaps it has something to do with what it's like living in Delta Camp at Guantanamo Bay. Since the camp opened in 2002, it has been a horrific example of fascitic terror. Inmates are tortured, beaten, denied basic human rights like proper places to rest or the right to a lawyer. Very few of the inmates have even been charged with anything at all. What's worse is that its not just Guantanamo, these type of secret camps have been set up throughout Afghanistan and Iraq and represent virtually a leap towards a global police state in direct corralation with America's system of imperialism.

On the homefront the police murder of Sean Bell and 2000+ others have been documented in a project started by the October 22nd Coalition Against Police Brutality and the Criminalization of a Generation called the Stolen Lives Project. Overwhelmingly these murders have been caused by a simple abuse of authority and nearly always the police get off free. What's worse is that these cases are almost always directed at working class people. Why? Because it is the working class which the state is most afraid of. The primary purpose of the Police Department as an institution is to be the frontlines of the system, the protectors of property relations and the oppressive system that it creates. In particular the people who are being killed, brutalized, and attacked by police are Chicano, Hispanic, and African American peoples. This is proven in my very own city, where a recent report by the NYCLU has confirmed what we already know: That minority working class neighborhoods are patrolled by police like an occupying military force would. In NYC alone, about 86% of all people frisked in 2006 were black or hispanic. If anymore evidence of what is fundamentally, a budding police state is necessary, please tell me because I'm at a loss for words.

What do we do?

There are many more examples of my point then I can name here. I really want to go into the Patriot Act as well as the resurgence of the Creationist and Intelligent Design movements which are making a real comeback in many states in regard to education, but the point of this piece is not to be a resource but just a alert of the situation we're in. I often get critiscized for holding this position from both sides. Marxists tell me its just captialism and capitalists tell me don't worry about it, its in freedoms name and against terrorism. But the facts remain and this is not a society which is "free" or "safe" for us. It's not a society I want. Thus It's important that people get active. Join local Anti-Fascist, Anti-Imperialist, and Anti-Racist Groups. Contact others who hold similiar views as you do and start a club or committee in your town, workplace, school, or neighborhood. Recently I did this and while it seemed like an unrealistic task, there are lots of people out there searching for something better and it sometime takes struggle but struggle is necessary when you live in the belly of the beast. Look for a Part II later : )