Two Big Social Faultlines: Police Brutality and Israel

Revolution #212, September 26, 2010

This week:

Revolution newspaper is the key way that we lay bare the big social "faultlines" beneath the surface of society. These faultlines are the oppressive conflicts and tensions—the contradictions—which this system works to contain and misdirect. They are painful... but they are also the stuff which can boil up to crack the surface suppression of society, and out of which righteous struggle can emerge. The paper enables people to understand the turmoil beneath the surface—and it gives people a way to act on it all.
For the next month, we’re going to focus on two big faultlines: the murdering and vicious police brutality that runs rampant in the inner city; and the actions of that U.S. attack dog in the Middle East, a/k/a the state of Israel.
1) This week the paper lays bare how the police harass and brutalize and unjustly imprison and, yes, murder innocent people in cold blood. It shows how they knowingly violate even the professed laws of the system itself, and how they lie and cover up when they are caught. And this issue of the paper shows how people are resisting this, in different ways. It gets the word out about the big national day of protest against this coming up on October 22. It gives people the chance to "bear witness" on the way that they, or people they know, have been brutalized.
So, take this paper—get it out, in different ways, in the communities that are under the gun. Make sure that it ends up widely available—turning up in high schools, laundromats, and wherever people gather in these communities. And get it out as well on the college campuses—where students need to hear what it is like to live in the hellholes of America. Break down barriers—and build a whole different kind of movement as you do so. Make use of the back page poster in this issue—win people to posting this where they live and work. And spread the word about "Bear Witness"—this paper’s effort to get people to tell their stories about the brutality and crimes of the police.
Then, especially (but not only) in the week beginning September 27, put some focus on taking out the Message and Call ("The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have") in its beautiful new edition, along with word of the October 22 protests, to the high schools in these same oppressed communities, and in the suburbs as well. Meet students and teachers, talk with them, and build up the influence and organized ties of this paper at these schools. Get people ready to wear black on October 22 and to figure out other ways to make that a day of ferment and foment in the high schools. Make sure that people have literature and other ways to spread the word on October 22.
Let people know that, as the Message and Call puts it:

The days when this system can just keep on doing what it does to people, here and all over the world...when people are not inspired and organized to stand up against these outrages and to build up the strength to put an end to this madness...those days must be GONE. And they CAN be.

2) The state of Israel was implanted in the Middle East by the imperialist powers—the U.S. and Europe in particular—as a way of controlling that strategic region and keeping the people who live there under the thumb of imperialism. Israel has maintained the Palestinians in what are little more than open-air prison camps for decades—and in the land that until very recently was theirs. And right now, on top of that, the Israeli regime is threatening to attack Iran, waging yet another in a long line of wars against nations in this region. But most people don’t get what’s actually going on in all this.
So opposition and resistance to this must grow, and for that to happen, the real facts and underlying dynamics must be exposed. And this knowledge about, and opposition to, these outrages must grow in particular on the campuses—where new and oppositional ideas first catch hold. To this end, we are doing two things, immediately:

• On October 4, we’re publishing a special issue focused on Israel—its history, its role, and the role of the U.S. behind it. This issue will go deeply into the facts and show the underlying connections between the facts.
• Right now, in this issue, and to get ready for that, we are publishing a special quiz on Israel. Get this quiz out on the campuses. Find professors who will let you get it out in their classes; see if there are student associations who would help distribute it. Then be sure to write the paper with the results—with the responses you got, and with the actual answers to the different questions.

As the article 'Background to this Quiz' shows, even just raising these questions can cause controversy. This kind of controversy is badly needed on campus, to break the deafening—and deadening—silence and complicity on this. This quiz should also get people ready for the October 4 issue, where we’ll print the answers. The answers are also available online at revcom.us. Then, on October 4, get this special issue out on the campuses, in a big big way. Off of that, there should be openings for more discussion and debate.
So, to recap:
From September 21 to 27, get this paper out big in the communities that directly suffer from police terror, spreading word of October 22 as you do, and turning people on to the whole movement FOR REVOLUTION—especially as concentrated in the Message and Call of the RCP. At the same time, also get this paper out on the campuses—and where we can, let’s lead students to go to the communities, and people from the communities to come to the campuses. While you’re doing that, spread the Message and Call, as well as literature about October 22.
From September 27 to October 4, put the focus on getting the Message and Call, along with word of October 22, out to the high schools. At the same time, organize cores—and work with people who are already concerned about this question—to get the Israel quiz out on campuses.
Beginning October 4, mobilize to get the special issue on Israel out onto the campuses. Reach out to people already active and working on this question, and work with imagination and science to have a huge impact.

This Week:

Revolution #211, September 12, 2010

• September 8-15—Get this issue of the paper, with its powerful exposure of the ugly fascist tea party movement, out in a big way on campuses and to the high schools. This issue digs into big questions that people are debating—they need to get this newspaper and its revolutionary analysis. This will be the first week of a two-week issue.
• September 15-21—Appearing during this week will be a new four-page bilingual spread of the full-length Message/Call, "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have." The powerful sweep of this statement in its full-length form will be a very important way to bring the campaign to as many youth and students as possible—at high schools and universities. Distribute it broadly on campuses and then focus in on some key departments, dorms, or areas of the campus to thoroughly saturate with the statement. BA image cards, posters and T-shirts should be a visible part of the whole mix. Don’t forget the fundraising buckets—raise funds as you go! 
• Sit down with all the people who attended the Memorial Day campaign conferences, as well as those who couldn’t come and those who’ve learned about the campaign since. Ask them to read the full-length statement again and discuss the powerful message that comes through and the need for this to get out everywhere. Talk to them about all that we and they have been doing to spread the campaign and to let people know about the leadership we have in Bob Avakian. Get their ideas and thinking and make plans for getting out to the campuses or other ways of distributing the statement and image cards and helping with the campaign. Talk to them about the urgent need for funds to get the Message/Call out everywhere and to support Revolution newspaper. Ask them to donate toward the printing of the new, attractive full-length version and/or to become a monthly sustainer of Revolution newspaper. 
• Fundraising needs to be a big part of this whole effort and it’s a great way for people to contribute to the campaign and get involved. Work together with people who have been part of or support the campaign to come up with ideas and plans to raise funds—a yard sale, a bake sale, car wash or picnic—or other kinds of activities. 

A Report from a Campus on Getting Out the Message and Call

Revolution #211, September 12, 2010

Our overall goal for this campus is 4,000. Today we got out over 1,000 at the campus.

• 60 were distributed by a teacher to his classes. 1,000 were distributed all over campus by 3 people, in every major building, in every lounge and to groupings of students who were encountered as we went along. Slipped under the doors of professors' offices. Put up on bulletin boards. Image cards placed and stickers in noticeable spots. Also taken to a nearby coffeeshop and pizza place.
• Folded up and put into books in the library stacks, especially in the poli science, communism, social sciences, and arts sections, and in the current issues of the New York Times.
• At the computer terminals, one person went to each student at each computer and gave them a BA image card. As they looked at it, flipped it over, compared with the person next to them and question marks seemed to hang above their heads, the next person came by with the Revolution talk stickers and left one at each computer. So whether they took the sticker with them or not, the internet address was right there for people to look up.
• We had good interaction with a group of Arab students in a lounge, who at first were just joking around about it but became more serious as they heard, "We really ARE building a movement for revolution in this country," became curious about Bob Avakian and agreed to read the message and get together next week and talk with us in depth about it.
• Our team today included one new activist who is also going to get the broadsheets out to another campus where he goes to school. He took 100 broadsheets for starters.

In the neighborhood where the Revolution Books is—middle class people, artists, Black youth—we went out for an hour in the evening. The crowd was somewhat more sparse than we were hoping for, but we had some good interaction and debate going with youth in the area. Not able to get students to take bundles on the spot, but some youth in a band from a nearby town made plans to friend the bookstore on Facebook, and follow up with thoughts, questions and plans to get materials out in their area. 200 were distributed here.

Bring "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have" into the schools and onto the campuses

Let's be part of making "back to school" what it should be—a time of big ideas, of broadening horizons, of digging into the new and challenging the old, experimenting and imagining, rebelling and dreaming. Whether it is at high schools or on college campuses, elite universities or community colleges—be part of "bringing revolution to a campus near you!"
Why was, and is, there an oil catastrophe in the Gulf? Why are millions of immigrants in this country being criminalized by this system? Is the war in Afghanistan really bringing liberation to the people of Afghanistan, and especially to the women there? Why is racism still a burning question in America in this "age of Obama"? Does the world really have to be like this? These are some of the big questions which many youth and students are up against—and some are bringing these questions, and their search for answers, back to their campuses and schools this fall. We need to be there, with Revolution newspaper—and with the Message and Call. This statement is a critical way to speak to students and a concrete way to expand the national campaign focused up on "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have."
"Anyone who has thought seriously about revolution knows that the role of students and youth as well as the overall ideological, intellectual and political life of campuses as a whole, is of strategic significance." Getting the statement onto college campuses and into the high schools is part of challenging these youth on what their lives are going to be about, cracking open mass debate and ferment on why is the world the way it is, taking on the "time honored" verdicts on revolution and communism. "We must bust open widespread radical ferment broadly and organize within that—and as an anchor to that—a growing core into the movement for revolution at various levels and in a myriad of ways." ("Bringing Revolution to the Campuses," Revolution #174, August 30, 2009)
As an integral part of all of this we need to learn much more about what the students and youth are thinking about—how they view the world and their role in it. In the wake of getting "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have" out broadly, sit down, talk with and listen to some students on campus, or youth from the neighborhood. See what is on their minds as well as what they think about the Message and Call. Learn from them, and then write to Revolution about what you are learning.
And let's bring together different sections of the people. How much do college students, in particular at elite universities, know about the "lived life" and aspirations of the hundreds of thousands of oppressed people who often live within blocks of their campus? How could it change the terms of campus debate if Black and/or Latino youth whose only apparent options in life are prison, death or the military and who are now considering what it would mean to become "an emancipator of humanity," came to talk to students about their lives, and what they think and believe is possible. Or if those same students left campus and went into some of the urban neighborhoods and talked to—and listened to—people speak about how they understand the need and possibility for revolution. Or if they watched clips from the Revolution talk together. With the statement and the campaign as a framework, this kind of mixing it up could have very profound impact on all involved and give people a concrete sense of how all of this is part of building a movement for revolution.

• Take out this issue of Revolution newspaper broadly the first week of this two-week issue. The newspaper can—and must—play a very dynamic role in this whole mix.
• The second week, get "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have" into the hands of as many youth and students as possible, including focusing on a few key areas to seriously saturate.
• Post "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have," Revolution articles (and especially the centerspreads, the front and back pages) on billboards around the dorms and/or other places on campus where literature can be posted.
• Find out what today's students think about the world, and revolution. Just sit down with a couple of students and find out what is important to them and why, what do they think of the latest movies, their classes and professors, the wars in the world. And send the results in to the paper.
• Have a special Open House at Revolution Books for teachers and professors to come and meet each other and Revolution Books. Wrangle together over what needs to be done to bust open the debate about revolution, communism and the revolutionary leadership we have.
• The memoir From Ike to Mao and Beyond is a great introduction to Bob Avakian, especially for youth who are looking for role models and figuring out what their lives should be about.

These Next Few Weeks

Special Efforts with this Issue #208 of Revolution newspaper; Followed by Five Days of Saturation with the Message and Call; and Another Web-A-Thon, Sunday, August 8, 4-10pm (EST) and 1-7pm (PST)!

1) The next 10 days:

This issue of Revolution newspaper has particular importance: it puts the vicious fascist offensive against immigrants from Mexico and Central America, and against Latino and other people of color generally, in the context of revolution, and it gives direction to that struggle. It needs to go out far and wide. We should, in doing this, get subscriptions, and find stores, community centers, etc. that would carry the paper and show the Revolution talk DVD (see special sub blank).
There are also plans to make a big deal of a clip from Bob Avakian's talk on Revolution—a section entitled "Why Do People Come Here From All Over The World?" We're going to project this voice into the whole debate around immigration and the struggle against this anti-immigrant offensive, especially on July 29, when the new fascist law in Arizona goes into effect. Check the Facebook site "Revolution: A Film of a Talk By Bob Avakian" (facebook.com/revolutiontalk) for plans.

2) July 31 through August 5:

In the wake of that effort, we then need another concentrated push, nationwide, of really getting out the Message and Call. Take time now to talk to everyone who participated in, or who you have met during or since, the last big effort, in early June. Figure out with them the best way to help the effort: some people like to really get these out on their own, some like to be part of a big team, other people may want to help in other ways. Listen to what people say, and learn from it. And raise funds as you go—make sure that there is someone agitating for funds, and shaking the bucket.
This should give impetus to ongoing local plans to get out the Message and Call, and reach our goal of one million through the summer. It should also be seen as part of ongoing efforts all over the country, including to get it out big-scale at important festivals, concerts, etc. (People should make sure to send the results of their efforts since the June push, and as we go forward, to the paper.)
At the same time, there should be a special effort to popularize the new image of Bob Avakian. Everyone should be wearing the T-shirts during this period (along with some people wearing Revolution T-shirts at the same time); everybody should be getting out palm cards and buttons, and there should be efforts to do light projections of the image on walls. Send in pictures!
Return to one area you went to last time; and choose a new area. Use the best saturation techniques you developed from last time.
Have the saturation captain report in figures every night during this period, as they did in early June.

3) If we are doing our work right, we should be provoking interest in Bob Avakian. People want to know what this leader stands for, and who he is. So everyone should purchase a couple of copies of Bob Avakian's memoir, From Ike to Mao...And Beyond, and backpack it, and leave a copy around on your coffee table, etc; when people express interest, sell it to them, as well as friends, relatives, and others.

4) August 8, 4-10pm (EST)/ 1-7pm (PST): Web-a-thon, to raise money for special projects to popularize Bob Avakian's leadership, especially the Revolution talk, and for the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund. Recruit people to help phone-bank for this.

5) At all times: seek out ways to give life to the slogan, "Fight The Power, And Transform The People, For Revolution."