On the Occupation Movements
To my comrade anarcho-communists (and by way of this, to all critics of the Occupation Movements)
What's going on, I think, is on a parallel with the '60's. The migrant workers play the role of the marchers in the Civil Rights Movement bringing to the fore the question(s) of race, language, nationality, and the other ways we are divided. The Black and Brown Riders recall the Panthers and the Brown Berets. The occupation movements run parallel with the Viet Nam-era anti-war coalition in its limited leftism but also in its ability to attract the young, students, activists and some revolutionaries. Other revolutionaries (yesterday it was the Spartacist League and others; today, unfortunately, it is some of my comrade anarchists) infantilely stand outside picking this or that point (with the homogenous i.e. diverse large but seemingly directionless (not leaderless) activities for the sake of activities.) History repeats itself but the second time need not be a farce nor the tragedy that became of the first. There is an alternative. There is winning.
The difference is--and this is why this time is different--is that in the '60's we did not have an economic depression.
What is needed is for dedicated revolutionaries concerned about this question to stop talking about what they (the Occupiers) are not doing and either start their own or to enter into these ‘would-could-be centers for the development of class consciousness' as absolutely nothing educates like class struggle. Class struggle that is implicit even in the rather simplistic the notion of the "99%".
Comrades, if you wish enter into these movements and work to change our friends’ (allies’) opinions by setting a comradely example. If you are concerned about what is or what is not happening in the occupation movements then go there and express your concerns. Or form your own commune and give life to these concerns. "99%" might not be exactly right but its damn sure in the ballpark. A lot, most, the overwhelming majority--right now--have not the vision that you, the people's heroic street fighters, have. We are not born with that vision, your vision, our vision. We are and have been born into not a vision but a nightmare and need education to come back to our senses. Senses that have been warped and twisted by capitalism until up is down and wrong has become right. Our vision needs be laid before our brethren suffering this dementia. And for that we need not 'leaders' but examples.
Radicals-turned-revolutionaries are not born; they are fashioned into steel in the heat of the ovens of the class struggle. The occupation movements present not the only but certainly one of the models for fashioning the revolutionary machinery, the soviet, the commune
I am not a member of an occupation movement. But we at RAC-LA are fashioning the same steel but by a different methodology. RAC-LA has been working for 4 years now to establish a commune in MacArthur Park. And on the point being made here, I do not speak for RAC-LA but only for myself. But speaking for myself I am heartened by the rise in class-consciousness as exhibited in the occupation movements. As the crisis unfolds and the layers of society one-by-one come to be affected (loss of jobs, 'good' wages and/or the loss of one's house as a result, for examples), as these 'privileges', as we say, are taken away and they find themselves trying to scratch or hustle out a living--as blacks and browns, especially, have had to do for decades--then these, the former 'privileged', without the benefits of class struggle, will find themselves available to continue to be snookered by the system and join up in the vehicles the ruling class finance as insurance against its exposure as a fraud: 'Conservative', 'Tea Party', 'Nazi'. This is the short path of the continuum of ruling class activism; an activism standing in direct contradistinction to our efforts to organize.
We must assist in the joining up to these movements of the vast majority of the people, if not the "99%". Many of whom still have illusions fostered by their experiences in a life cloaked by the veil of capitalism. As example, cops are not people. They are armed automatons--acting on the orders of the ruling class--who are dangerous and deadly to our activities. This is but one of the complaints about the Occupiers that I have heard--of cooperation with the police--Some people believe that the police are not like that. Discussion with comrades and the inevitabilities of the class struggle will change that impression. And a bust on the head clears all illusions about the police and its role as the first line of defense of capitalism. And mind you, THERE WILL BE CONFLICTS.
Engage, struggle and work with these friends who might become comrades. Barring that begin the communization of your own neighborhoods. And leave others to work out their own solutions. It is the right of all to be the judge of themselves.
JAI
Member, RAC-LA
To all our families and companer@s in the struggle
Saludos/Greetings
I share my words with all companer@s and anyone who will have them.
The last couple of weeks have presented many opportunities for people to mobilize in response to the economic hardships we suffer everyday. Many across the country have taken to the streets and participated in the Occupy Wallstreet marches and occupations now happening nation- and even world-wide..
Here in Los Angeles a very large occupation on Tongva land continues unacknowledged.
Here in Los Angeles an occupation within an Occupation has started calling itself Occupy LA.
Our struggle against ableism, authority, capitalism, homophobia, sexism, racism and other ism’s are far from over. People of color in Los Angeles and across the nation have been invited to the table to once again add color to the dinner party but not invited to speak beyond being allowed to give token praise nor are we included in the decision making process.
Social movements are sweeping across native land to further the occupation of native lands and colonize the hearts of the non-believers. The economically poor, working poor, the unemployed, those who suffer the brunt of the successes and failures, of capitalism and white supremacy.
Facebook movements please remember however useful and insightful, you will need more than Zuckerberg’s technology to get free.
We who are ignored, forgotten, disregarded.
We who are attacked in our homes and in our communities.
We who figuratively represent the bottom.
We are not numbers. We are not the 99%.
We are human.
We are brothers and sister, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, in between and outside.
We are economically poor. We are ageless young and old!
We are houseless and housed!
We are workers! We are part of the formal and informal economy!
We are others! We are also other Others!
We are queer!
We are from here, there or from else somewhere!
We are documented and undocumented!
Inside our chest pumps a heart of blood, love and rage.
Inside our minds spark thoughts and ideas that live for more than change.
We have been and continue to be assaulted and brutalized by the bankers! But they did not/do not act alone.
We have been and continue to be assaulted and brutalized by the Corporate World! Again they did not/do not act alone.
We have been and continue to be brutalized and assaulted by slum lords and liquor store owners! Again they did not/do not act alone.
We have been and continue to be assaulted and brutalized by City Councils, Superintendents, County Supervisors, Mayors, Governors and Presidents! Again they did not/do not act alone.
We have been and continue to be assaulted and brutalized by Republicans and Democrats! Again they did not/do not act alone.
We have been and continue to be assaulted and brutalized by the Police! Again they did not/do not act alone.
We have been and continue to be assaulted and brutalized by I.C.E. Again they did not/do not act alone.
We have been and continue to be assaulted and brutalized by the C.I.A., F.B.I., Homeland Security! Again they did not/do not act alone.
They murder us with impunity as the whole world watches!
Those who organize the 99% and ignore the realities of our communities, your movement by not raising our demands to the fore- promotes violence on us!
We’ve been trained to speak as those who profit from imbalance would have us speak, internalizing the violence that is perpetuated in language that rapes and pillages wounds and maims in the name of Capitalism. Commodified for business purpose we detach meaning from our own lives in order to be.
We don't simplistically classify ourselves the 99%. We will not willingly reduce ourselves to figures or characters that minimize and distort the oppression of Our everyday.
We are not a trend and cannot be summed up in a single sentence or two.
We are here to work for our freedom, and through our example, demonstrate that on whatever level, small or large, a movement organized by others for others, we can begin the work that reflects another world.
These words spill from my heart as an invitation to all the Others!
We are human and we are much more. Surviving day to day just to get by has brought us here. Experience and this moment in time invite us to begin to Live again.
In your home, in your school, in your community, in your hood. Anywhere you are needed:
Love yourself and love all Others!
Words nourish the mind but leave our stomachs empty. Share more than speeches or words.
Solidarity in Action.
All Power to the People! All Power through the People!
Join us and Organize, Organize, Organize!!!
Revolutionary Autonomous Communities Los Angeles
M
RAC LA
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