Monday, 11 September 2017

NIGHTMARE

For the majority on the planet , the amerikkkan dream is actually their worst nightmare. This is becoming even more apparent every day, as trump deflects the blame from the rich motherfuckers to poor immigrants, who are just trying to survive. Sadly, millions of fucked up racist amerikkkans buy this shit, even though they themselves would not work in sweatshops, in the fields picking fruits and vegetables, or cleaning office buildings in the middle of the night for less than minimum wage.
   Read this.

Protests in the Streets Across the Country Denounce Trump Regime’s DACA Decision

Updated September 11, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

In response to the Trump/Pence fascist regime’s announcement that they were ending the DACA program, there were protests in the streets across the country. Among the protesters in different cities were many courageous “DREAMers,” young Latinos/Latinas who are in the DACA program and who face deportation—and being torn away from their families, friends, education, and jobs—if the Trump/Pence regime is able to carry through with ending DACA.

September 9 and 10:

Marches and rallies continued over the September 9-10 weekend in support of the DACA program and condemning Trump’s decision to end it.
Oakland, California

Thousands rallied in Oakland on Saturday, furious at the ending of DACA by the Trump/Pence regime. People held signs like “No ban, no raids, no wall.” After rallying they poured into the downtown chanting “Sanctuary for all” and “Stand Up, Fight Back!”
A16-year-old youth, credited with organizing the demonstration, said she convened the rally to “attack the decision [to end DACA] and attack the ignorance” about the decision. A young man told the crowd, “I’m the proud son of a Mexican immigrant, and with the repeal of DACA, it is horrifying to see Trump blame this country’s problems on immigrants.” And another youth whose father came from Mexico said this country chewed his dad up and spat him back out. A speaker representing Sikh and Punjabi immigrants from India told of the intense discrimination that immigrants face in this country.
Los Angeles

Thousands of people took to the streets and parks of Los Angeles Sunday afternoon to defend DACA and to oppose building a wall on the border. The march wound its way through the streets where immigrants live. People came out of their apartments to wave to and support those who were in the streets chanting “Immigrants are here to stay.” The march started after a short rally in MacArthur Park in the heart of the Latino immigrant community and then marched through neighborhoods to Echo Lake Park for another rally. The march then continued downtown to La Placita at Olivera Street for a final rally. The crowd was a microcosm of LA, with a lot of Latinos but also including people of all races and nationalities. There were families with children of all ages. Students from UCLA, USC, Loyola Marymount University, and Cal State University at Fullerton were identified as being in the house. Professors from UCLA marched to support their students. All sorts of political and community organizations were there, including a contingent from Refuse Fascism. The mood of the march was defiant, and people were saying that they are going to remain in the streets to stop any attempt of the Trump/Pence regime to deport any DACA recipients.
Boise, Idaho

Nearly 1,000 protesters turned out at the State Capitol Saturday against the Trump/Pence regime’s decision to end DACA. The headline of the Idaho Statesman read “Emotions run high at Boise DACA rally.” An organizer of the rally said, “A lot of my friends and family members are DACA recipients, we just can’t stay quiet.” She said about the large turnout, “This is a community coming through. We want to show our Dreamers that we care about them.”
Hicksville, Long Island, New York

Scores of demonstrators marched on Saturday against Trump’s decision to end the DACA program. They gathered at the Hicksville Long Island Railroad station and marched for a mile to Governor Cuomo’s regional office. The organizers estimated that there are 10,000 Dreamers living on Long Island. Some of the groups taking part were Long Island Jobs With Justice, the Long Island DREAM Act Coalition and Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates.
“I have a lot of friends who are undocumented,” said a woman from Romania who came to the U.S. at age four. “I can relate to the immigrant experience of parents relocating and migrating to provide a better life for their children.” A high school teacher who fled the U.S.-sponsored war in El Salvador when he was 15 held a sign saying “Education Not Deportation.” He said that Dreamers “are a part of my story.” And a young woman said, “I’m here for justice, equality and fairness. Everyone in this country deserves to be here.”
Petaluma, California

About 250 people rallied and marched on Sunday in this small community north of San Francisco to oppose the ending of DACA by the Trump/Pence regime. An organizer from Indivisible Petaluma said, “This administration has applied a systematic attack on immigrants, and we are not OK with that.” A young man who came from Guatemala when he was two carried a sign that read “We might not run the country but we sure as hell make it run.” Many of the protesters came to stand with their immigrant friends.
NYC: Thousands at “Rally for DACA and All 11 Million Immigrants”

Watch video HERE—September 9 protest in NYC.
Video by Video Elephant
On Saturday, September 9, in New York City, there was a large outpouring of immigrants and those defending the rights of immigrants. Initially called by Movimiento Cosecha, the “Rally for DACA and All 11 Million Immigrants” drew a very diverse crowd of several thousand people for a rally in front of the Trump International Hotel. As it grew, it turned into an impromptu march up Central Park West until police loudspeakers threatened people with arrest, and it then turned into Central Park for a rally/speak-out. Many spoke, including a representative of Refuse Fascism who powerfully drew the connection between this battle for DACA and immigrants and the overall urgency of driving out the Trump/Pence regime and pointed to the call for November 4—It Begins, which was warmly received.

Thursday, September 7:


Harvard University: Professors and Others Arrested and Hundreds Rally Against Trump’s Cancellation of DACA
From a reader:
Just a day after several hundred students and supporters had rallied on the Harvard University campus in support of DACA, over 30 people including a dozen professors from Harvard University as well as Babson College, Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Tufts University, were arrested on Thursday, September 7 for forming a "human chain" blockading Massachusetts Avenue outside of Harvard University in Cambridge, MA at rush hour, in protest of the Trump/Pence regime's rescinding of the DACA program. Prior to their arrest, the blockaders were surrounded by 400-500 hundred students, staff and other supporters.
Before the action, hundreds rallied on the nearby Harvard campus and heard from a number of speakers, including Reverend Jonathan Walton, Minister of Harvard's Memorial Church, and Harvard history professors Walter Johnson and Kirsten Weld, all of whom were subsequently arrested.
Johnson, author of River of Dark Dreams, Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, cited Charles Sumner (a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts prior to the Civil War and a leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts), quoting Sumners's response to the federal government’s support for slavery and the need for civil disobedience. Reverend Walton, harkening back to the civil rights movement declared, "They don't have enough jails to hold us all." Demonstrators chanted "Education, not deportation" and "Hey hey ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go."
The demonstration was saturated with the Refuse Fascism Call for November 4—It Begins and the broadsheet with the 7 Indictments of the Trump/Pence Regime, and students and others were signed up on the spot for the 4th.

Queens, New York: Hundreds Protest the Ending of DACA
Thursday, September 7. Tonight, some 250 people—Dreamers, immigrants, Latinos, and others— marched through Queens, a very diverse borough in New York City, condemning the Trump/Pence regime’s ending of DACA—Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. “Todos Somos DACA/We’re all DACA,” “Trump listen up, we’re going into struggle,” and “If we don’t get it—shut it down” were some of the chants. Protesters also sang “We are the immigrants, the mighty, mighty immigrants...” One sign read “You May Say I’m A Dreamer, But I’m Not the Only One.” Another—“I’m a teacher, not a criminal.”
The march was organized by the Jackson Heights, Queens chapter of the immigrant rights group Make the Road. A real effort had been made to bring forward immigrants—the documented and the undocumented—and the route went through neighborhoods with a high concentration of recent immigrants from Latin America, mainly Mexico.
A number of Dreamers on the march spoke of what a deep, terrible shock the ending of DACA was for them, throwing their whole lives and futures, and everything they’d hoped and worked for, up in the air. At the same time, those on the march felt it was urgent that they fight—“I’m not going back in the shadows”—against this outrage.
“Trump/Pence Must Go” was broadly welcomed in the march, and most took Refuse Fascism fliers announcing November 4. The word is spreading. Those at this march represent important sections of the people that must be mobilized and brought forward as part of the thousands, growing into many thousands and ultimately millions, who take to streets and public squares beginning on November 4.

Tuesday, September 5 and Wednesday, September 6

In Washington, DC, hundreds gathered outside the White House in the hours before Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, made the announcement. People chanted, sang, clanged cymbals and banged on drums, holding signs like “We want education, down with deportation.” When word came of Sessions’s announcement, there were shouts of “Shame!” People marched to the Department of Justice and then to Trump International Hotel for a sit-in.
In New York City, hundreds protested midday at Trump Tower in Manhattan. Several dozen people—including DACA recipients—sat down in the middle of 5th Avenue to block traffic and were arrested. A 30-year-old woman, originally from Mexico, who was among those arrested said, “Trump is trying to scare us into hiding, to get us to back down. We’re not going to back down.” Another protester, a young Latino, said, “We’re gonna have to be in the streets, daily, if that needs to happen. We’re gonna be here every day. You’re gonna hear from us.”
As of early evening, thousands were gathered at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, and the word was that people were going to march across Brooklyn Bridge.
In Los Angeles, Tuesday afternoon several thousand people rallied and marched in protest of the Trump/Pence regime ending the DACA program.  The crowd was very diverse with the largest section being young Latinos.   The rally started at La Plaza at Olivera Street in the old Mexican section of downtown.  The march went past Union Station, the ICE Detention Center, and through the streets around the downtown LA Civic Center before ending up at City Hall.  The marchers were spirited, angry, and defiant as they chanted all the way.  Passing cars on Alameda Street honked in support.  Refuse Fascism was in the mix with signs—“November 4 It Begins; NO! This Nightmare Must End!”  The Los Angeles Revolution Club was in the march selling Revolution newspapers.
In Denver, hundreds of high school students at multiple schools walked out of classes to protest the move shortly after the announcement. KUSA reported that many of them carried messages that read "Defend DACA" and "Our Dreams Can't Wait." Other DACA rallies in Colorado were planned for Colorado Springs, Boulder, Longmont and Glenwood Springs.
In San Francisco, 1,000 people protested in the plaza outside the federal building. According to the SF Chronicle, “The crowd spilled into the street outside the federal building, shutting traffic on Seventh Street between Mission and Market streets and shutting Mission Street between Seventh and Fifth streets.” Among those blocking the street was a group of clergy people. One speaker at the rally said, “I should be allowed to stay because I’m your friend, your sister, your daughter. Let’s show them they chose the wrong people to mess with.” Across the Bay, several hundred people rallied at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus and marched down Telegraph Ave.
In Chicago, “thousands of protesters took to the street,” according to local CBS News, gathering at the Federal Plaza in the Loop and marching through the downtown streets to the ICE offices and Trump Tower.
There were also protests in front of Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Phoenix and in Miami.
In Los Angeles, marchers are gathering in various parts of the city.
Stay tuned for updates on the protests.

Denver, CO Twitter pic @SaysHummingbird
View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter
INSPIRING SUPPORT FOR DREAMERS! ✊

RT to show SUPPORT for Denver STUDENTS who have WALKED OUT of school to protest Trump announcement.

San Francisco, CA:

Los Angeles, CA:

Brooklyn Bridge, NY:

Civil Disobedience, NYC:

Loyola University, Chicago:

San Francisco, Tuesday: Clergy block 7th Street in civil disobedience to support DACA. Credit: twitter/@breyeschow



Sunday, 10 September 2017

CHAOS/DISASTER

Two days ago I ran into an old friend who I hadn't seen in many years. He told me he had bought the new CD at Supreme Echo , and that he loves it. He also told me his favourite song is one called " Chaos / Disaster ", which my son had come up with when he was 5 years old. I thought to myself, " 31 friggin' songs on the CD and he loves the one written by my  5 year old ?!" I really can't blame him, as it's a catchy song , but it just goes to show you that sometimes the best things are the simplest things. Maybe I'll get the boy to write the entire next album.
   In the meantime, go to Supreme Echo. Buy something from Jason. Today.

Thursday, 7 September 2017

AMERIKKKAN REALITY

This is the real amerikkka. The real shit they are trying to export to every corner of this planet. And this is the amerikkka that must and will be brought down.

“I can only imagine what Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Charleena Lyles felt.”

Michael Bennett, an NFL player who refuses to stand for the national anthem, had a pig in Las Vegas threaten to “blow my fucking head off.”

September 6, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

From a Reader:
“I can only imagine what Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Charleena Lyles felt.”
Michael Bennett, an NFL player who refuses to stand for the national anthem, had a pig in Las Vegas threaten to “blow my fucking head off.”
Below is a letter posted on social media by Michael Bennett, who plays for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL and has refused to stand for the national anthem in protest of police brutality and murders of Black people, and who had his life threatened by a Las Vegas pig. (See TMZ video at http://www.tmz.com/videos/0_2i42pk8o/)
Dear World,
On Saturday, August 26, 2017 I was in Las Vegas to attend the Mayweather-McGregor fight on my day off. After the fight while heading back to my hotel several hundred people heard what sounded like gun shots. Like many of the people in the area I ran away from the sound, looking for safety. Las Vegas police officers singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
A police officer ordered me to get on the ground. As I laid on the ground, complying with his commands not to move, he placed his gun near my head and warned me that if I moved he would “blow my fucking head off.” Terrified and confused by what was taking place, a second officer came over and forcefully jammed his knee into my back making it difficult for me to breathe. They then cinched the handcuffs on my wrists so tight that my fingers went numb.
The officers’ excessive use of force was unbearable. I felt helpless as I lay there on the ground handcuffed facing the real-life threat of being killed. All I could think of was “I’m going to die for no other reason than I am black and my skin color is somehow a threat.” My life flashed before my eyes as I thought of my girls. Would I ever play with them again? Or watch them have kids? Or be able to kiss my wife again and tell her I love her?
I kept asking the officers “What did I do?” and reminding them that I had rights they were duty bound to respect. The officers ignored my pleas and instead told me to shut up and then took me to the back of a nearby police car where I sat for what felt like an eternity until they apparently realized I was not a thug, common criminal or ordinary black man but Michael Bennett a famous professional football player. After confirming my identity, I was ultimately released without any legitimate justification for the officers’ abusive conduct.
I have always held a strong conviction that protesting or standing up for justice is just simply, the right thing to do. This fact is unequivocally, without question why before every game, I sit during the national anthem—because equality doesn’t live in this country and no matter how much money you make, what job title you have, or how much you give, when you are seen as a “Nigger,” you will be treated that way.
The system failed me. I can only imagine what Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Charleeena Lyles felt.
I have retained Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris to investigate and explore all my legal options including filing a civil rights lawsuit for the violation of my constitutional rights.
Sincerely,
Michael Bennett
Bennett was recently called an “activist disguised as a football player” in an article in The Undefeated. (See http://theundefeated.com/features/seahawks-michael-bennett-is-an-activist-disguised-as-a-football-player/.) (Also see, “Michael Bennett, NFL football player, supports the women’s strike on International Women’s Day,” in Voices of Conscience and Resistance in the Time of Trump-Pence, Revolution newspaper, March 7, 2017, @ revcom.us, and see “Pro Football Player Michael Bennett Refuses to Be a Shill for Israel,” in Voices of Conscience and Resistance in the Time of Trump-Pence, Revolution newspaper, February 14, 2017, @ revcom.us.)
His brother, Martellus Bennett, who plays for the Green Bay Packers, responded to Michael’s letter saying, “I’m glad your voice is one of the ones being heard. You are as real as they come, well at least how they used to come. I encourage you to continue telling your story and the stories of those that came before. I love you very much.”
Colin Kaepernick, who led the anthem protest in the NFL, tweeted out, “This violation that happened against my Brother Michael Bennett is disgusting and unjust. I stand with Michael and I stand with the people.”
After Michael Bennett’s letter was posted, all the sports networks have been putting this out front, and it has been a major topic of conversation today in the world of sports.
Keyshawn Johnson, former NFL player, said on ESPN that the same thing has happened to him.
Domonique Foxworth, who played in the NFL and writes for The Undefeated, spoke on ESPN about the police, and said his experience shows him that this is not about “good apples, bad apples.” (See “If It’s Just A Few ‘Bad Apples,’ Then How Do You Explain THIS?” Revolution newspaper, September 5, 2017.)
He said, “I’m not surprised that this happened.” He brought in Charlottesville and how “this type of hate exists.” He said that “the idea that there are bad apples—I don’t feel comfortable with using that as an explanation. The issues we have with race are pervasive that is engrained in the way many of us think. When those things [police murders of Black people] continue to happen, at a certain point in time we have to accept something is wrong with our culture and not just point at the officers and say that that officer is bad or the people [Neo Nazis and KKK] marching in Charlottesville are bad and I’m good. No! This a problem that continues to exist in our society that we allow to continue, to pervade, and to influence the decisions that we make.”

Wednesday, 6 September 2017

LIBERAL FUCKING MORONS

I have often said that these condescending fucking liberal soft left morons are more insidious than the right. With the right, you know what you're getting. They're assholes, and proclaim it fucking loudly. With the fucking whiny liberal types, they will speak such wisdom as " I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it ". Fuck that, and fuck them. You will defend with your life the fascists' "right " to organize for fucking genocide ? You're a fucking moron. Read this lengthy article. It will clarify all of this shit.

Why the Attacks on Antifa Are Shameful—And Why These Attacks MUST BE OPPOSED

September 4, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

For the past week, “Antifa” has come under a sustained and many-sided political attack, including from liberal and some “progressive” voices. These attacks would be almost laughably idiotic if they were not so dangerous and deadly serious. These attacks echo Trump, as well as other organized forces. (“Antifa” refers to a range of anti-fascist and anti-racist groups with varying viewpoints, who act in different ways to defend against and take on fascist and white-supremacist thugs, on the street and on the internet. Significant sections of Antifa identify themselves as anarchist in some way.)
A sample of the range of the attacks: Noam Chomsky, the progressive anti-imperialist, and a self-identified “anarchist” himself—shut out of the major media for decades—suddenly finds himself quoted in every corner of that media for saying that Antifa is a “gift to the right.” Chris Hedges, the “progressive” commentator, echoes similar themes. Liberal democrats warn that Antifa is causing the legitimacy of the government’s right to the exclusive use of force and violence to come under question. A former speechwriter for Donald Rumsfeld takes to the Washington Post to loudly assert the “moral equivalency” between Antifa and the Nazis whom it takes on. (Rumsfeld, as George W. Bush’s “Defense” Secretary, directed the utterly unprovoked and illegitimate war against Iraq that has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and still counting.) Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Party leader, rushed to denounce them, calling for arrests and prosecution.
At week’s end came the punch line to this vicious show—an article on the liberal-Democratic Politico website announcing major FBI and “Homeland Security” investigations (and no doubt actions) against Antifa.
Let’s pull the lens back here and get some clarity.
Point Number One: The mobilization of organized groups of fanatical thugs is integral to fascism
The Trump/Pence regime is a fascist regime.1
The Trump/Pence regime has step-by-step taken dramatic draconian moves, stripping away democratic rights, targeting group after group, and suppressing dissent and resistance. Trump himself whips up and foments hatred and vicious violence at his fascist campaign rallies: “take ’em out on a stretcher,” “punch ’em in the face,” referring to protesters, and systematically going after the press as “enemies of the American people.” Trump signaled to the whole world his support of the fascists in Charlottesville. When fascists march with torches chanting racist, anti-Semitic, anti-gay, and outright NAZI slogans—in a country with historic and vicious white supremacy and male supremacy—people opposed to all this should wake the fuck up!
In states like Iowa, fascist militia groups like the Oath Keepers—“retired” law enforcement and military personnel—come armed to Trump rallies and even congressional “town halls” to intimidate opponents. Trump trolls on the internet “dox”—publish private, identifying information about those opposing Trump, and use this information to hound them. Everyone can—and should—go online to watch the three videos released by the National Rifle Association (NRA) in late June and early July that were essentially propaganda and recruiting tools to prepare Trump’s supporters to act as storm troops (the paramilitary street-fighting force that served as an arm for Hitler’s rise to power in Germany). Charles Blow of the New York Times has likened this to raising an army for extralegal purposes.
Meanwhile, “progressives” like Aviva Chomsky2 write articles attacking Antifa, posturing “from the left”—without even mentioning the word fascism and only mentioning the name Trump once in passing. This would be like writing an article condemning the communist resistance tactics in Germany in 1933—after Hitler had come to power—without mentioning Hitler or the Nazis. For anyone who doubts this is fascism, monstrous and grotesque in its implications for humanity, the work has been done—on what this regime has already done and what it has in store, in policy and in lawThis is not a “pendulum swing” to a more right-wing Republican administration; this is a fascist regime—now aiming to consolidate itself, in opposition both to mass opposition and opposition from within the ruling class.
It matters that Antifa—along with other groups and individuals, including revolutionary communists—stood their ground and fought back in Charlottesville. Who among the so-called “leftists” and liberals would have preferred the outcome had they not? More bodies in the morgue? Names added to the courageous roster which now includes Heather Heyer? More broken bones? Worse yet, the picture of an openly fascist, racist mob rampaging unchallenged for the weekend would have been a tremendous political victory for the fascists: It would have demoralized those who oppose the regime, and would have emboldened still more backward racists, misogynists, and America-number-one-ers to join their ranks.
Instead, Charlottesville served as a stirring example of what people MUST do in this period. It re-polarized society in a very favorable way, with even forces in the ruling class deserting government institutions associated with Trump. But Charlottesville—including Trump’s insistent defense of the “good people” marching with Nazi insignia and Klan flags—should also have served as a serious wake-up call. To those who now shake their fingers against Antifa and related groups: please take your goddamn heads out of the sand. Recognize the depth and urgency of what is going on.
What is wrong when people amass to prevent fascists from doing their shit when they announce their intent to do it again—as happened in cities after Charlottesville? Absolutely nothing. To the contrary—we have compared this on our site to those who would act forcefully to prevent a lynch mob from assembling, and that comparison is exactly right.
Point Number Two: There is still time, but there is not much time, to drive out this regime through mass political action. But that will require breaking with the “norms” of ordinary bourgeois-democratic rule.
Fascism has not consolidated its rule (for more on this, see revcom.us articles here and speeches given by Refuse Fascism at the recent organizing conferences here and here). The Trump/Pence regime has not yet succeeded in crushing the opposition from the people, overcoming opposition of different kinds from other sections of the ruling class, and fully imposing its program. There is still time—and a “window”—to drive out this regime with mass political action. This is why Refuse Fascism’s call for November 4 is critical. Unless the time is seized, as quickly as possible, it is all too possible that the window for such mass action will shut, and the Trump/Pence regime will succeed in fully consolidating their clampdown.
But such action will require breaking with “the way things are done,” the “norms” of familiar ways of doing things. It will require breaking with the kind of thinking articulated by Peter Beinart, a liberal-democratic commentator, in his attack on Antifa:
Antifa’s perceived legitimacy is inversely correlated with the government’s. Which is why, in the Trump era, the movement is growing like never before. As the president derides and subverts liberal-democratic norms, progressives face a choice. They can recommit to the rules of fair play, and try to limit the president’s corrosive effect, though they will often fail. Or they can, in revulsion or fear or righteous rage, try to deny racists and Trump supporters their political rights. From Middlebury to Berkeley to Portland, the latter approach is on the rise, especially among young people. [emphasis added]
        
One problem: The Trump/Pence regime does NOT play by the “liberal-democratic” rules, those “norms.” Trump proved this repeatedly throughout his campaign—and throughout his presidency so far, disregarding and trampling on the orderly “cherished” norms of “how things have been done,” including by those in power. As Trump and his regime assaults and destroys these “norms,” Beinart acknowledges this, but then pleads with “us,” the “movement” of opposition, to work within them. “How things are done” includes perhaps some resistance, but in service of channeling into elections and waiting till 2018 and 2020—or protesting each new outrage of the fascist regime as their clampdown tightens. This will have catastrophic consequences. As the Call for Refuse Fascism sharply states:
We must recognize that the character of fascism is that it can absorb separate acts of resistance while continually throwing the opposition off-balance by rapidly moving its agenda forward. The Trump/Pence regime will repeatedly launch new highly repressive measures, eventually clamping down on all resistance and remaking the law… IF THEY ARE NOT DRIVEN FROM POWER.
At a time when these liberal-democratic norms are breaking down, with the struggle of the people, the acts of the fascists, their divides with other sections of the ruling class, and overall intensifying polarization in society, Beinart aims to recover these norms, to “hold the center.” This whole deadly logic—along with the roots of fascism in this country and the traps that hem in the thinking of people in confronting this danger—is analyzed in Bob Avakian’s new talk, “The Problem, the Solution, and the Challenges Before Us,” which we urge our readers to listen to and/or read.
Beinart elevates the functioning of this system—of which Donald Trump and this fascist regime is a product—over the monstrosity represented by this fascist regime, gravely underestimating its horrors, dangers, and consequences.
What, Mr. Beinart, do you advise if Trump does do all he has said he will do and the organized fascist thug forces grow, cohere, and become more empowered to act with impunity? Note that in every city, the police have stood aside for fascist forces, escorting them safely to their cars, and then gone after the forces who oppose the fascists. What, Mr. Beinart, do you advise when the Trump/Pence regime throws millions of Black and Latino people off voter rolls in the name of combating “voter fraud” and effectively engineers an electoral victory even before the elections? Defies judicial orders that go against their executive actions? Institutes martial law in the ghettoes and barrios of this racist nation? Rounds up the “young people” (and others) whom you worry do not recognize the government’s legitimacy? Launches war against North Korea or Iran or Venezuela, and rounds up everyone opposing it, or of targeted ethnicities? Should we end this nightmare or wait to see how this unfolds? Substitute “chancellor” for “president” and “Hitler” for “Trump” in the above paragraph you wrote and it would be a prime example of how the road to the death camps got paved.
There is not going to be a cut-rate, no-sweat, play-for-time-and-wait-till-it-blows-over way to deal with the situation we face: a fascist cabal intent on consolidating unchallenged rule, with the ultimate obliteration of all democratic rights, and genocidal measures, including perhaps literal genocide.3 The best thing to do is to act right now as if not only our lives, but the interests of humanity, depended on ousting this regime—because they do, OK? It is worth noting Trump has his finger on the nuclear button; Hitler did not have nukes!
This has historically been true with previous fascist regimes, and it is proving so with the Trump/Pence regime. Even as they face obstacles, they seek to impose different and more oppressive cohering norms in society, trample civil and legal rights, and mobilize violent fascist social bases, like Trump does with his “rallies.” Fascism is hammered in place from above, and by the thugs. Terrified progressive critics of Antifa—and really of all serious resistance—don’t confront this reality and dynamic—of fascism. Willfully blinding themselves, they propagate foolishness, blinding others. With this dynamic of fascism on the move, the scope and space for protest is undermined, weakening the basis for the people to fight, to resist―even as the horrors of fascism accelerate and accentuate!
What is needed is what Refuse Fascism is calling for, beginning on November 4, for people from all walks of life and many differing points of view to
gather in the streets and public squares of cities and towns across this country, at first many thousands declaring that this whole regime is illegitimate and that we will not stop until our single demand is met: This Nightmare Must End: the Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!
Our protest must grow day after day and night after night—thousands becoming hundreds of thousands, and then millions—determined to act to put a stop to the grave danger that the Trump/Pence regime poses to the world by demanding that this whole regime be removed from power.
In this light, it is important to recognize that the more that fascist groups roam the streets unchallenged, the stronger they become and the more energized they are in imposing fascism, including seeking to crush opposition and resist efforts to oust this regime.
There is still time to drive out this regime—but NOT if people allow themselves to be bound by the very rules that enabled the rise of the regime. NOT if—to paraphrase Yeats—“the best lack all conviction” (and worse yet, condemn those who do righteously act on conviction), and “the worst are full of passionate intensity.” This will not be without sacrifice—those who are so fond of pointing to the civil rights movement as a way to shake your finger at the youth today should really think about what was actually involved in Birmingham, in Selma, and in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Point Number Three: It is unconscionable to cooperate in treating anyone opposing the fascists as the equivalent of the fascists.
The critics of Antifa have failed the most elementary test of both politics and morality: drawing a clear line between those who are carrying out great crimes (in this case with the backing of the state4) and those who are opposing those crimes. This has to be a bright dividing line in any movement that has any hope of stopping the monster. To quote a statement on the Refuse Fascism website:
Don’t allow the ruling forces, or any other force, to divide us or pit us against each other. Don’t fall for “divide and conquer” schemes and divisive actions, reject and rise above petty disputes and sectarian squabbles—reach out BROADLY to UNITE ALL WHO CAN BE UNITED, from different perspectives and viewpoints, around the great unifying objective of driving out, through massive, sustained political mobilization, this regime which has already done such great harm and which poses a grave threat to humanity.
In fact, to answer Noam Chomsky, it is precisely the “divide and conquer” devices of isolating sections of the resistance to fascism, to conciliating in its repression, that are a “gift to the right!” Let’s get right down to it here. The people who joined in, or allowed themselves to be used, in the attacks this past week are taking Martin Niemöller’s famous verse5—starting with “first they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so I did nothing, then they came for the Jews, etc.”—and making it even worse: “then they came for the Antifa, and I joined in the attack.” Wake the hell up! Don’t do this!
Point Number Four: It is, in fact, not enough to just stand up against Trump’s minions in the streets and develop networks of solidarity. There must be a major political movement, drawing in everyone from Antifa to Indivisible to democrats, liberals, and disaffected and disgusted Republicans, going into the streets in a determined way, night after night and day after day, refusing to be “turned around.”
It is time now for everyone who is sickened by this nightmare of a regime, no matter what your project today or your vision for tomorrow, to come together for what might well be one of our last best chances to END THIS NIGHTMARE. It is time to get organized. It is time to be part of November 4, to throw in, to give your all to it to drive out the Trump/Pence fascist regime.
Humanity—today and in the future—is counting on us.

1. The following has appeared at www.revcom.us:
What IS Fascism?
Fascism is the exercise of blatant dictatorship by the bourgeois (capitalist-imperialist) class, ruling through reliance on open terror and violence, trampling on what are supposed to be civil and legal rights, wielding the power of the state, and mobilizing organized groups of fanatical thugs, to commit atrocities against masses of people, particularly groups of people identified as “enemies,” “undesirables,” or “dangers to society.”
At the same time—and this can be seen through studying the examples of Nazi Germany and Italy under Mussolini—while it will likely move quickly to enforce certain repressive measures in consolidating its rule, a fascist regime is also likely to implement its program overall through a series of stages and even attempt at different points to reassure the people, or certain groups among the people, that they will escape the horrors—if they quietly go along and do not protest or resist while others are being terrorized and targeted for repression, deportation, “conversion,” prison, or execution. [back]
2. “How (Not) to Challenge Racist Violence,” CommonDreams.org, August 21, 2017. [back]
3. Carl Dix has recounted how the fascists in Charlottesville came up to him, and others, and said “We have an oven for you.” [back]
4. It is quite clear—indeed it was clear at the time—that the fascists in Charlottesville carried out their rampage with the conscious connivance of the police. And then, of course, there is the support they received from Numero Uno himself, Trumpf. [back]
5. “First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
“Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
“Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
“Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
“Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.” [back]


Tuesday, 5 September 2017

VINYL ENVY

I don't know how many of you go to the record store Vinyl Envy , but they are a cool record store who don't mark up the prices on local releases ! Which of course means they make no money off of them, they are doing it to support the locals. They do not have tons of punk/hardcore stuff, although I did get an awesome record by Out Cold there. Go there, and buy our new CD for 5 bucks. Do it.

Monday, 4 September 2017

DON'T BELIEVE THEM

As I've said many times on this here forum, the west is fucking lying and distorting the real picture as to what's going on on the korean peninsula. I often hear otherwise well meaning and intelligent people talking about the north korean "threat " to "us". This is all bullshit and reality turned upside down. Read this.

What We Aren’t Being Told, but Need to Know About New Dangers of War in Korea

Updated September 3, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

In the latest dangerous development around the Korean Peninsula, the North Korean regime announced on Sunday, September 3, that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb for its intercontinental ballistic missiles. This is North Korea’s sixth testing of nuclear bombs, the first since Trump became president, reportedly the most powerful one they have exploded.
Trump fired off a series of tweets on Sunday morning about the test, calling North Korea a “rogue nation.” And Trump blasted South Korea, the country the U.S. claims they are “protecting” against North Korea, saying “their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!”
A few hours later James Mattis, Trump’s Secretary of Defense, appeared before the media at the White House to declare, “Any threat to the United States or its territories including Guam, or our allies, will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming.” He said that there was a “small-group national security meeting” with Trump and Pence in the morning. Mattis also said in the short statement that “we are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said we have many options to do so.” Note that Mattis stated “any threat” would be met by the U.S. carrying out “a massive military response.” The fact that Mattis said “any threat”—as opposed to an actual attack—would be a trigger for a U.S. war is a huge, dangerous escalation. The U.S. could declare any action by North Korea—more nuclear tests, missile launches, or even verbal statements—as a “threat” that justifies a military response, which could include the total annihilation of North Korea—a country of over 25 million people!
This follows the August 30 firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile by North Korea 1,700 miles into the western Pacific Ocean. The missile passed over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, ratcheting up the threat of a war that would likely result in tens of thousands of deaths just in the first few hours.

Take the Korea Pop Quiz: What do you REALLY know about the Korean War?

But Who’s Threatening Whom Here? And What Do People Need to Do?
Here’s the basic reality that you are not being told. This is the reality you need to know in order to act in the interests of humanity...
  • North Korea’s nuclear program was developed as what the country’s rulers perceive to be their only hope of deterring an attack by the U.S., which has an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons. (See “Why Do the U.S. Rulers Consider North Korea “Dangerous”—and What Does That Say About the Danger of the Trump/Pence Regime to Humanity?”)
  • The North Korean missile test was in response to U.S./South Korea “war games” that North Korea’s rulers, with good reason, see as practice runs for an invasion of the North.
  • The U.S. keeps North Korea in a constant state of siege and terror through economically cruel sanctions, and incessant “fly-by” runs of U.S. bombers within miles of the North Korean border.
  • The U.S. (under the formal guise of a “UN Resolution”) slaughtered three million Koreans in the Korean War in 1951-1953, and still refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the North Korean government. (See “American Crime Case #93: U.S. Invasion of Korea—1950.”)
  • Donald Trump claims North Korea is demonstrating “contempt for its neighbors,” violating “minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” and “threatening and destabilizing” the region. This is Donald Trump!—who repeatedly asked a national security expert: If we have nuclear weapons, why can’t we use them!  (See the 7 Indictments of the Trump/Pence Regime by refusefascism.org, especially “The Trump/Pence Regime on People of the World...”)
  • It would not be a good thing if the U.S. was able to bully North Korea into submission, even short of actually setting off a war in which at least tens of thousands of people would die in the earliest moments. The North Korean regime is a (small-time) oppressor. But the objectives of the U.S. are to preserve and expand an unjust global empire of sweatshops and slums, exploitation and oppression. The interests of humanity lie in a revolution that overthrows that system, here and around the world, and defeats suffered by the rulers of this country can be part of the conditions that make such a revolution possible. (See “Genocidal Monsters Promise to “Protect” the People of the World”)