l.a. writers collective

Back from Iraq—and Shot by the Police

2006-02-14T16:28:00.000-08:00

(The Following article was published in Revolution #035, February 19, 2006, posted at revcom.us)

On January 29, Elio Carrion, a 21-year-old on leave from Air Force, was in a car being driven by his friend when they crashed into a fence in a neighborhood in Chino, 40 miles east of Los Angeles.

The two friends had just left a party celebrating Carrion's return from a six-month tour in Iraq. It is not clear what happened before the crash — but it is very clear what happened when a sheriff deputy arrived, because the late-night encounter was taped by someone that lives in the neighborhood.

In the video you see Carrion on the ground, his face illuminated by the flashlight of the sheriff hovering above him, just a few feet away, his gun pointed at Carrion. You can imagine a similar scene happening in Iraqi cities like Fallujah or Mosul. In fact, cable news channels have brought images like these to people all across the world: Images of heavily armed U.S. soldiers breaking down doors in the middle of the night, holding M-4 rifles above the heads of defenseless Iraqis.

According to the L.A. Times, the sheriff was yelling profanities at Carrion, telling him to "shut up." The sheriff then ordered Carrion to "Get up, get up." In the video you can see Carrion following the deputy's orders and hear him say that he was unarmed and in the military. At one point, Carrion says, "I'm here on your side." But his words, in this situation, meant nothing to the man holding the gun. In Iraq Carrion was part of the military that occupies an oppressed country and treats the masses of people as "the enemy"; and then he returned home to become the enemy.

"I'm going to get up," Carrions says in the video. But as he pushes himself up, the sheriff fires his weapon at him, striking him three times. Mariela Carrion, Elio's wife, later said that her husband was also kicked in the head, handcuffed and dragged after he was shot.

But this was not the end of the outrage. Elio Carrion was taken to the hospital as a result of three bullet wounds, one of which shattered his femur (the large bone extending from the pelvis to the knee). The day after he was supposed to be released from the hospital, detectives arrived to Carrion's parents' house without warning and demanded to know where he was.

And like in some other cases of police brutality caught on film, the man who taped the encounter, Jose Luis Valdez, is now sitting in jail, arrested days later after the shooting on an eight-year-old warrant in Florida. His fate is not yet known -- he is a Cuban citizen and was taken to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office after his arrest.

Meanwhile, the man who shot Carrion is walking around on paid administrative leave with no charges pressed against him, even though his murderous actions were caught on video.

The mainstream media has been doing their part to make sure the cop goes unpunished, putting on police officials and other talking heads to defend his actions with remarks like, "He was nervous" and "He really meant to say 'Get down,' not 'Get up,'" or that the deputy did what he did because he feared for his life (even though he was the one holding the gun).

Elio Carrion joined the Air Force straight out of high school and served obediently in Iraq. And, on that night in Chino, Elio Carrion did everything he was "supposed" to do in these situations--he obeyed commands, he didn't move without permission, and he told the deputy "I'm going to get up now," hoping that he wouldn't surprise or startle the man holding the gun. And he was shot anyway! Think about what this tells you about how this system views people, especially Blacks, Latinos, and other oppressed nationalities. This is a blatant and cold-blooded statement: "We'll shoot whoever we want, for whatever reason and in whatever circumstances we want, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Nov. 2nd Introduction/ Interview

2005-11-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

This is the initial coverage that I have written for November 2nd. First, is a short interview I did with this really cool young woman from Bravo Medical Magnet in East Los. She said some really good stuff and seemed like she had a good orientation going into Nov. 2nd. Following are short reports from different high school from throughout the L.A. County area. (The only thing is that they are listed here from last to first, so scroll down and read "Students, Not Soldiers" first).

N: My name is Natalie and I go to Bravo Medical Magnet in East L.A.,
Boyle Heights

NG: How did you find out about Nov. 2nd, and what kinds of things went on, on your campus to build up for it?
N: A week ago flyers were passed out. But at the last minute, a lot of people decided not to risk it--not to risk getting in trouble. We were getting threatened by the administration. And seniors, like myself, we would get graduation taken away, we would get all our senior activities taken away (which, actually they can’t legally do because we looked into it). It was supposed to be all these people, but only 15 or 20 people came. But the 15, 20 people that came, we feel like we made a difference.

NG: Were there individual people organizing on campus, or was there clubs on campus organizing?
N: There’s an underground club on campus, which means we’re not official. We tried organizing people to come, and a lot of people that are in this club came despite the consequences.

NG: Why did you decide to come even when they made it seem like you had a lot to loose, especially since you’re a senior?
N: I’ve always believe that you can fight authority, you can break boundaries and make a difference. It doesn’t matter if you’re being told that you can’t make a difference, because you can. I mean, look at all these people here today. You think their administrators said, “Oh yeah sure go ahead.” A lot of these students decided to stand up for what they believe in.

NG: The people who have been organizing Nov 2nd have been talking about it like it’s not your usual protest where you go to a march and then go home. They’re talking about it like it’s the beginning of a movement. What do you think?
N: There’s a lot more protests coming up. I do see it like, it’s not just one protest and that’s going to be it. I think it’s going to be a lot more, and it does take a lot more to let your voice get heard.

NG: Did you decide on yourself that you needed to be here, or did you have some encouraging word from other people to help you decide?
N: No, I wanted to come. When there was a walk-out (against the war)three years ago when I was a freshman, I walked out. I really wanted to come to this and I don’t care what I have to lose. I rather know in my conscious that I did something right. I do have friends that came today, but it’s not because of them that I came.

NG: What about you friends? Did they need to see the importance of coming here?
N: Not really. Some of them were a little worried about losing their senior privileges, but in the end they were like, “Screw that. This is more important!”

NG: The way I look at it, is even if you do get a ticket for walking out or some kind of punishment, what’s that compared to what’s happening to the people of Iraq. Also, I think, people forget how much a walk-out can mean. The East L.A. high school blow-outs in 68 had a very big impact, as did the walk-outs against prop 187 did back in the 90’s.
N: These actions do make a difference. For people that backed down or didn’t come because they think it doesn’t make a difference: it does! People do remember and it will come up in the future. They will look back at history and say, “These people did it, why didn’t you?”

"His Lies Killed Thousands"

2005-11-08T09:57:00.000-08:00

By Nikolai Garcia (based on interviews)

Over on the Westside a group of students from New Roads School, a small private school in Santa Monica, organized a walk-out. They met on their quad and left their school, from Olympic and Stuart, and marched to 3rd Street.

A group of young girls from the school said there was no trouble from administration and one of them said, "It's kind of unfortunate because it would've been nice to go against authority." They talked about walking out a couple of years ago against the war in Iraq and getting Saturday detention. Another girl said, "They told us, 'It's going to go on your record that you walked-out for peace,' which is okay beause I want people to know that."

They all had reasons to want to drive out the Bush regime. One girl who was worried that women would lose their right to abortion had a sign she made which said, "Keep your rosaries out of my ovaries." Another girl talked about how disgusted she was that the U.S. could just go over to another country and force a different government on them.

The call to drive out the Bush regime felt right to them. "Clinton got impeched because he had sex...and this guy's lies killed thousands and thousands of people and we can't impeach him? That's ridiculous," said one of them.

One of the girls who was aked why she thought Nov. 2nd was different from other protests said, "I've been to other protests before where you go, you state what you're there for, and then you just go home and don't really do anything about it. I really hope that this time things change...that every single day, whereever you are you go out and protest for this war to stop." One girl said, "we need a social revolution."

“Forget That, We’re Standing Up!”

2005-11-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

By Nikolai Garcia (based on interviews)

As soon as they got to school, the students of Van Nuys High School knew they would have a battle on their hands as they noticed a larger police presence than usual around their campus. More and more police arrived as the time for the walk out approached.

During the nutrition break students gathered their friends to get ready to walk out. Administration locked all gates and worked to make it as close to impossible. One youth reported that after going into the main building he saw that the front doors were closed with a red rope. He said he and a friend opened the doors and let about 30 people out.

Cops were outside waiting for them threatening them with fines and arrests. The kids still went on and that’s when some youth were arrested or pepper-sprayed. Inside the school many hundred more students were being cornered by deans and principals. About 60 students decided that jumping over the fence would be their only way out-and they did it!

The first wave of students who went through the front doors was told that pictures would be taken of them and they would be expelled the next day. “They told us, ‘If you go to this protest you will get suspended and get expelled,’ but we were like, ‘Forget that, we’re standing up!’”

At first, some of the student organizers thought that the majority of students who walked-out were doing it just for fun, but were glad to be proven wrong when they recognized their fellow students at different rallies throughout the day.

Other students got really creative in escaping from campus even after
the school went on lock-down and teachers were forbidden to let students out of classrooms. One young women said she was able to get out of her P.E. class, found a fence to jump (with the help of two other youth) and hid inside a donut shop until her mom could pick her up and drive her to meet up with friends.

Military Horror at Jefferson High School

2005-11-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

as told to Nikolai Garica (by a Teacher's Aid that works at Jeff)

"I went to school today and everybody was talking about the walk-out; there were stickers and flyers everywhere! There were a bunch of students who were walking out at noon and as we were walking into the quad we notice that there are military recruiters everywhere! It turns out they made today military recruitment day. The student--hundreds of students--were so afraid to walk-out of the school because they saw military everywhere!

"People were ready. Almost everybody had stickers on their clipboards and folders and everybody was talking about it in the hallway. 'Noon! Noon! Noon,' people were telling each other. But they saw the military recruiters and they went back into their classes. It got very quiet, people were just so dumbstruck at seeing so many military recruiters. There had to have been more than 50 recruiters from the army, the navy and the marines."

Students, Not Soldiers!

2005-11-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

By Nikolai Garcia (eyewitness account)

Students Not Soldiers Struggle won out over spontaneity in Montebello on Nov. 2nd. Since no walk out was called for, a group of 30 plus students from Montebello High School decided to meet up at a burger stand near the campus to join up with actions along Wilshire Blvd. Not long after 8 a.m. the group got restless--wanting to hook up with other students--and decided to go to the bus stop, for the journey out of the Eastern suburb and into the Downtown L.A. area.

As the group walked towards the bus stop, cars started honking at them. It was clear that having some sort of march would make an impact. At the bus stop, the question was raised: Should they just take a bunch of buses downtown? Or would they march all the way to the busy East L.A. corner of Atlantic and Whittier and take the bus from there?

The majority of students agreed that if they took the bus, it would only mean that they ditched school that day. They saw that having a march, even if small in numbers, would make a bigger impact on the community. Indeed, people came out of their homes and businesses to see what the students were up to, grabbing flyers and cheering them on. One man even got out of his red pick-up to applaud the youth.

They marched down Whittier Blvd. for at least a mile, taking a small detour into a large shopping center with lots of people. They stopped only once when they saw a homeless man pushing around a shopping cart full of items, including an American flag, which the youth bought from him and “decorated.”

All through the march, the students were loud, their biggest chant being, “Students, Not Soldiers!” This was in part due to the intense actions at their school the past two weeks, which had been filled with organized protest inside the school against military recruiters. In fact, they got the administration to keep recruiters off campus for at least a month.

The highlight of their march came when they finally got to Whittier and Atlantic and hopped on the bus. As the bus driver was told where the group was going, she said, “Oh I know. My daughter is going to be down there too.” She didn’t charge them fare and the students cheered.

I'm baaack!

2005-11-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus, I have returned to the nether world of the internet. Very soon, I will post some very cool stuff about all the action here in L.A. in driving out the Bush regime! In the meantime, check out www.worldcantwait.org and look up the youth ans student section to see some of the cool and daring things that we have been doing on campuses around the country and plans for AFTER November 2nd.

3 illegal entrants, Katrina evacuees, could be deported

2005-10-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Not sure about the date on this, but damn, capitalism sure likes to kick you when you're down!

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - After heeding the Bush administration's call to seek help regardless of status, a handful of illegal entrants who fled Hurricane Katrina have been ordered to appear for deportation hearings.

Three undocumented immigrants were met by immigration agents at the El Paso airport when they were flown in from the Gulf Coast along with other evacuees, said Leticia Zamarripa, Immigration and Custom Enforcement spokeswoman in El Paso. A fourth person, a permanent legal resident, was questioned and released, she said.

The immigrants went through background checks and fingerprinting and were released with orders to appear for deportation hearings, Zamarripa said. They were allowed to go to other shelters in Texas, said Ouisa Davis, an attorney for one of the immigrants. She did not have details, including the date of the initial questioning.

In another instance, state troopers in West Virginia called in immigration agents on Sept. 4 when a woman alleged that she was sexually assaulted by another passenger on a bus carrying evacuees to Camp Dawson, agency spokesman Dean Boyd said Monday.

The accused passenger and a companion, both from Central America, were taken into custody, Boyd said. When immigration officials interviewed the woman, she refused to press charges or testify. The accused immigrant denied her allegations. He and his companion remained in custody.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Homeland Security Department encouraged storm victims, including illegal entrants, to seek help. The appeal was made in English and Spanish.

The agency stopped short of assuring that information about immigration status would not be shared with authorities.

The law enforcement actions have left at least one group concerned about lending its influence to the federal government's efforts to reach immigrants affected by the storm.

The White House was "actively communicating to us and the Spanish-language press that everyone could come forward," said Cecilia Munoz, a vice president for the National Council of La Raza, the largest U.S.-based Hispanic advocacy group.

"If federal authorities are using this as an enforcement opportunity, it creates a moral dilemma for us in how do we advise our constituents," Munoz said. "We are getting mixed signals."

Munoz said she supports law enforcement action when a crime has been committed.

Kanye West Rips Bush During NBC Telethon

2005-09-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

Although Kanye is making hip-hop less and less about "gangsta" I'm not really a fan of his stuff. However this article and some of his recent comments on homosexuality in rap are making me want to give his work a second listen.

September 03, 2005, 11:50 AM ET
Kanye West Rips Bush During NBC Telethon

It began, fittingly enough, with jazz from New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis. But "A Concert for Hurricane Relief," a heartfelt and dignified benefit aired on NBC and other networks last night (Sept. 2), took an unexpected turn thanks to the outspoken rapper Kanye West.
Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."
The show, simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper's outburst to go out uncensored.
There was a several-second tape delay, but the person in charge "was instructed to listen for a curse word, and didn't realize [West] had gone off-script," said an NBC spokesperson.
West's comment about the president was cut from NBC's West Coast airing, which showed three hours later on tape.Comedian Mike Myers was paired with West for a 90-second segment that began with Myers speaking of Katrina's devastation.
Then, to Myers' evident surprise, West began a rant by saying, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."While allowing that "the Red Cross is doing everything they can," West declared that government authorities are intentionally dragging their feet on aid to the Gulf Coast.
Without getting specific, he added, "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us." After he stated, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.
Concluding the hour a few minutes later, host Matt Lauer noted, "emotions in this country right now are running very high. Sometimes that emotion is translated into inspiration, sometimes into criticism. We've heard some of that tonight. But it's still part of the American way of life."
Then the entire ensemble performed "When the Saints Go Marching In."In a statement, NBC said, "Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him, and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks."
It would be most unfortunate," the statement continued, "if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion."

read the rest at: www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054572

"It's A Long Way From Sweden to South Central"

2005-07-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

Distasteful, ugly and cheap
That is how you make me feel
Capitalism stole my virginity

The L.A. Writers Collective (well, most of them) had an impromptu get-together last night when we found ourselves outside the door of the Poison Apple, a new punk club in South Central L.A., hoping we would ALL get in to see the best thing to ever come out of Sweden, The (International) Noise Conspiracy. Dozens of people were standing outside the door as 11 o' clock neared. The reason being that many were left without the opportunity to buy a wristband and gain entry to the show. And this happened because a) T(I)NC hasn't done a proper tour of the U.S. in at least two years; b) the show was only $5 (when it could've easily been $15 at any other venue) and c) T(I)NC is one of the best bands to see live! Knowing all this, I arrived an hour (6:30) before doors opened, (and even then there was still a big line), to get a wristband.

The same cannot be said about my comrades who called me an hour after the venue had stopped selling wristbands, while 50 other people stood outside hoping there was still a chance they could gain entry. I thought there was a better chance of running into a group of nonsectarian Trotskyites who don't liquidate the National Question, than of my comrades getting in. But, they came anyways, and they braved it out in the alley, (unlike MANY who had their hopes crushed and left), and ended up getting in while T(I)NC played their first song. And man, was it worth it!!!

"It's nice to see you all dressed up," said Dennis Lyxzen, T(I)NC's singer, who then warned everybody that by the end of the night we would all be just a "sweaty mess." (Indeed, as it must have been 90-something degrees in the small, packed venue with no air conditioning). The crowd grooved to some of the bands less popular material, but then got really into it when they heard the familiar first notes to Smash It Up: "I wanna smash it up for the workers/ who spend hours into nothing/ I wanna smash it up for my sisters/ who got caught up in this funky system."

"It's along way from Sweden to South Central," said Dennis, and everybody cheered! He talked about the difference and importance of being able to play at this small all-ages club in South Central, as opposed to some big venue on the Sunset Strip. The last time I saw T(I)NC play, (about two years ago at the Glass House), they were matching outfits and everything. This time, however, there was no time to worry about mod fashion, as the singer took off his shirt almost as soon as he got on stage. It was so hot inside that a group of people who had been near the front of the stage ended up rushing out of there during the middle of the set to get some air outside.

Not only does T(I)NC have good political stances, but they also have a good stance on supporting the local music scene. When most big bands tour, they usually bring along bands that their labels are trying to promote. But, in this case, they consciously made sure that all the bands that played before them (Holy Hydraulics, the Divided Lines, The Tender Box) were all local bands.

Their set was only 45 minutes long, and it only ended because of the heat. "I don't want you to die [because of the heat], and I know I don't want to die in South Central one way or another," said the singer before announcing their last song, (which they dedicated to all the bands that played that night and the people who put on that show), a song called Capitalism Stole My Virginity--and then the room exploded!

Robbed out of our bleeding hearts, smashed our illusions, tore them
all apart
Now we are unsentimental and unafraid to destroy this culture
that we hate
Tired of being nothing when we should be everything
And on every forehead of every little whore there's a sign that says:
Baby, we're all born to die
Distasteful, ugly and cheap
That is how you make me feel
Capitalism stole my virginity

RC4 TOUR HITS LOS ANGELES

2005-07-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Revolution #010, July 31, 2005, posted at revcom.us

Revolution received the following correspondence from the Los Angeles Writers Collective:

A brief look into the first stop of the RC4 tour:

Los Angeles Saturday, July 23 rd --The RC4 tour hit the ground running this week in Los Angeles.

Stirring controversy wherever they spoke--on the airwaves, in house meetings, and at a full panel discussion at Cal State Dominguez Hills--the RC4 kicked off their visit here, bringing straight to the people the compelling vision of the communist revolution developed by Bob Avakian.

The RC4 made a deep case as to why people have no interests in protecting or putting up with this rotten system. And they challenged people to take up the fight for the emancipation of all of humanity through communist revolution.

They spoke to the need--and the real possibility--for the masses of people in the ghettos and barrios, the factories and neighborhoods--the masses of oppressed and proletarian people--to rise to the challenge of leading millions and millions of people in this country to break the chains that are literally choking this planet and keeping people all over the world trapped in a horrible life.

In a word they challenged all who heard them to become the emancipators of humanity. And they struggled hard--and with a lot of love-- for people to cast aside the mental chains that hold them back from fulfilling this great need.

LIBERATION WITHOUT GOD
At the Cal State panel, Akil Bomani spoke passionately and powerfully about how he gave up religion to take up communism after reading Bob Avakian's Preaching From a Pulpit of Bones that contrasted Biblical morality and communist morality:

"I was introduced to the revolutionary vision of communism, and this all sparked my criticism of the world and the way out of all of this madness.

"It was when I myself took to doing something that the Bible and Christianity explicitly forbids--that is questioning reality and asking why and how--it was then that I was able to take a critical look at the world, at this system and at the immense and unspeakable anguish it has caused billions to this day.

"I was able to take a critical look at the prospects of actually overthrowing this system and end all the forms of exploitation and oppression attached to this system, forms of exploitation and oppression that the Bible does not denounce but upholds in many ways. I was able to take a critical look at how that could actually be done and at the writings of Bob Avakian."

REVOLUTIONARY LEADERSHIP
The RC4 confronted the nationalism and identity politics that are so prevalent among the masses-- and struggled with people to look at things from the point of view of how we're going to free all of humanity--a communist viewpoint--and not from the viewpoint of freeing "my nation, my people"--and ultimately the "me first" mentality.

Revolutionary leadership and what qualifies someone to be a leader was a hot question. Some people made the argument that they don't want to follow a "white man."

Carl Dix said that the caliber of a leader should be judged by the content of what they are bringing forward, not by their nationality. If people were locked in a horrible prison for life and someone came along who knew the way out, would the prisoners say, well I don't want to know how to get out of here because you are the wrong nationality!

"Look, here's the deal. There is a leader who has come forward, who is pointing to the way out of this, who is pointing to a future that we can get to, and is showing us the way to get there.

"The challenge for people is to look at the content of what the leader is bringing forward. That's what we gotta grab hold of. Because if you want to get out of all this mess the criteria for leadership is not, what nationality is the leader:what race:or what gender. But instead, what is the content of the vision that leader is putting forward, and, what is the program they're putting forward to realize that?

"You see, that is the challenge. We are not saying, 'follow Bob Avakian blindly' or 'follow the RCP blindly.' We're saying, grapple with the content of the vision of the future society being brought forward. And grapple with the program that's being brought forward to realize this."

Clyde Young came at this same question from a another angle. He said when a leader of the caliber of Bob Avakian comes forward, that is something to celebrate. He said that Bob Avakian is the flower and fruit of the struggle of the masses during the 1960s, but he's much more than that. Bob Avakian is someone who has gone on to develop the revolutionary science of communism--critically building on the achievements of the past, re- envisioning socialist society under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and taking up problems of how to build a revolutionary movement of millions and millions of people that can actually transform dreams into reality.

"Leaders like Bob Avakian are very rare and special leaders. When an outstanding leader comes forward like this I think it is very important for people to recognize that leader and to learn as much as they can from that leader, to promote that leader, and to defend that leader:

"Some people have said to us: 'This is just going to mean we just have to go along with everything he says and it leaves no room for us to contribute and for us to be part of the revolutionary struggle and to bring our ideas, and creativity to the table.'

"But I think that it is important to recognize that when revolutionary leaders like this come forward-- it opens up the possibility for the masses of people's creativity and the masses of people themselves to come forward and contribute on a whole other level, in a whole other way than they can under this system.

"That is, unity between people coming forward and learning from leaders, but at the same time contributing as much as they possibly can to the revolutionary struggle--contributing their understanding and contributing all they can to the revolutionary struggle as well--there is that dialectic, back and forth:"

In short, Clyde made the point that when a leader like this emerges they are inextricably linked to the masses realizing their revolutionary potential - and ultimately the people of the world realizing the potential of moving to a communist society.

Many questions popped from the audience: A Black youth wanted to know "What is the proletariat?" He also asked, "So how you gonna reach the majority of proletarians when most of them are all religious and it's clear to me that none of you guys are religious, so how are you gonna sway them to be communists?"

Another person focused on the question of the proletariat in power and wanted to know how the RCP would not allow "power to corrupt," but instead stay on the road to communism.

Later, someone else asked about the role of immigrants in the revolution given that many of them are undocumented.

Joe Veale told Revolution what this tour is aimed at trying to bring forward:

"Look, the problem in the world is that there is all this wealth, all this technology that's controlled and dominated by a class of capitalists.

"All this technology and all this human wisdom could be used to benefit the masses here and all over the world.

"Everybody on this planet could have a decent life: no one has to go cold during the wintertime, no one has to go hungry, no one has to die for lack of water, everybody could read and write and be enriched in sports and culture.

"And the only thing standing in the way of that are these capitalists who rip off all this wealth, and use it to enrich this system.

"We need a revolutionary communist movement that is in the struggle and knows that this is the problem--we need millions and millions of people who realize that if the masses could take power and come together to share in all of this wealth and knowledge in a collective way -- this represents the solution and the way out. So this is a part of what this tour is about--to begin to build the kind of revolutionary communist consciousness out here now that can prepare to lead the masses to change the world."

The RC4 TOUR WILL BE IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA THROUGH THE END OF JULY.
NEXT STOPS: NEW YORK AND CHICAGO.

WATCH THE RC4 WEBSITE www.rc4tour.info FOR NEWS.

E-mail: rc_speaks@yahoo.com

SUPPORT THE RC4 TOUR: send checks and money orders to:
"RC4 Speaking Tour"
and mail to
P.O. box 941
Knickerbocker Station,
NY, NY 10002-0900

Phone/FAX: 866-841-9139 ext 2670

Also contact Carl Dix at comradecarl@hotmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolution Online
http://revcom.us
Write: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497

Murdering Enforcers Have No Right to Rule, Word from the RC4, On the LAPD Massacre of Raúl Peña and His 18-Month-Old Daughter Suzie

2005-07-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

Revolution #009, July 24, 2005, posted at revcom.us

On July 10 an LAPD SWAT team steamrolled into Watts and savagely butchered Raúl Peña and his 18-month-old baby Suzie.

These murdering enforcers have no right to rule the world! The brutal, bloodsucking capitalist system they are sworn to serve and protect has been in effect over us for too damn long. It's got to stop. Every day in many different ways we see the brutality and misery their rule brings down on the world. And on July 10, in Los Angeles, the LAPD hammered it home again.

One hundred cops took over a neighborhood and surrounded a scared, desperate, and mentally ill man and his baby daughter. Then they cut them into ribbons by firing more than 60 gunshots into an office no bigger than a closet. No one could've survived their murderous assault.

They say they came to help, to save lives and protect the people. They even say they wanted to save the baby. This is a cold lie. But it is more than a lie. These are the words of enforcers who think they have the right to gun down the masses of people and walk away to do it again.and again.and again.

We're sick of their lies and we know what happened. It was cold-blooded murder, plain and simple.

All kinds of people saw what happened. Family members and friends tried to stop it. When Lorraine Lopez tried to plead for the life of her baby daughter and Raúl, who is her life partner, the police drove her away from the scene. They had no interest in anyone doing anything to try to resolve this situation. Their only interest was in blowing him away. They even put a gun to the head of another woman who tried to help by talking to Raúl.

Piling insults on top of lies they turned around and blamed Raúl for his daughter's death. At first they said Raúl had shot Suzie. Then they said he tried to use Suzie as a human shield. Lies on top of lies.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the L.A. County Coroner found that there were three bullets in Suzie's body--three bullets from police assault rifles. Suzie died from a police bullet in her brain.

The biggest lie was when the police chief said some of his cops were so shaken by what happened that they wished they could trade places with the baby. No!

Why do these police kill like this? It is because they are trained to shoot first and defend their actions later. They are trained to look at the masses of people as "the enemy" and they are trained to think that people like Raúl and Suzie are disposable and dispensable. They are trained to terrorize the people who the system they protect rules over. And they are trained to make it very clear that if anyone dares to defend themselves against their murdering fire--whether they are in a state of mental upset, as Raúl was, or whether they are just defending themselves--that the only ones who have the right to use armed force are the enforcers of this system.

What kind of society would allow an atrocity like this to happen? What kind of system would endorse its enforcers committing a foul murder like this? A bloodsucking capitalist/imperialist society. They do this to keep the oppressed masses and the proletariat in a situation where the capitalist system can exploit them--and if they can't exploit them today, then they want to make sure they can exploit them tomorrow!

How can anyone look at the murders of Raúl and Suzie and think this system has any legitimacy at all!

These cops had a choice and they chose to kill Raúl and Suzie.

Look, people go off sometimes, they get sick and go off, especially living under all the pressures this society puts people under. That's what happened to Raúl. We want a new world, a world where people are free from all oppression and their lives matter.

How would we handle something like this in a society where power was in the hands of the proletariat? We've seen how this system handled it--they blew Raúl and Suzie away. In a revolutionary society, we would handle a situation like this completely different. Instead of holding a gun on people who wanted to help, we would mobilize the neighborhood to figure out how to handle the situation. Our people's police would sooner put themselves in danger than kill an innocent person, especially a little child. This is the way the proletariat has handled this kind of thing in the past when it's been in power and it's how we will handle that in a future revolutionary society right here in the belly of the beast.

The police terrorize people with murders like this. This time it backfired. In fact, things are cracking open. People are taking to the streets in outrage, and they're dealing with big questions. People are talking about unity between Blacks and Latinos. People are talking about changing the world, and they're looking for leadership.

We, the Revolutionary Communist 4, know this. We're in Los Angeles to speak to people about what needs to be done and how to do it. We're going to be dealing with people's hardest questions about why the world is the way it is and what needs to be done to totally transform it. It's going to take millions of people rising up in revolution and a communist understanding of the world to get beyond the misery and degradation this system brings down on people and create an entirely different future.

We're going to bring to people the leadership we have to realize this future--Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party. And we're going to challenge people to break with the things that stand in the way of them becoming emancipators of humanity.

The World Can't Wait-- Thoughts on Driving out the Bush Regime

2005-06-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

by Sunsara Taylor

Revolution #007, June 26, 2005, posted at revcom.us

Every day I think of Dilawar. I picture his 22-year-old body chained to the ceiling of a U.S. military prison in Bagram, Afghanistan as the seconds stretched on into days until finally he couldn't wait any longer. Neither can we.

As men are blindfolded and dragged from their homes in Iraq, as Arabs and Muslims are rounded up and detained in the U.S. without charges, and as youth from South Central to the South Bronx are imprisoned in record numbers, brutalized by police, and targetted for correction by Laura Bush: the world can't wait.

As villages are emptied of people by AIDS in Africa and China, as families in the ghettos and farmlands of the U.S. lose children in a war based on lies, and as immigrants are hunted by racist vigilantes on the Mexican border: the world can't wait.

As religious fundamentalism threatens to enslave women, treating them like incubators and denying them the right to make the most intimate and profound decisions about whether or not to have a child, as gay couples are denied marriage and their children are harassed, as the rule of law is replaced by religious dogma and the rule of the Bush regime, and as science itself is suppressed at great risk to the planet: the world can't wait.

THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT!

THE PEOPLE NEED TO DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME.

Now I know a lot of readers are thinking 'if only we could.' and I can just see some people shaking their heads and saying 'that communist girl has really gone over the edge this time.' But being a reality-based girl— who is coming from a scientific place in terms of how we are going to emancipate all of humanity—I have some reality-based ideas on how this could be possible.

And one of the most important things people need to do in order to even imagine the possibility of accomplishing such a monumental task is to break out of the confines of the political-process-as-usual.

Everyone who does not want to live in the "world according to Bush" needs to break out of the dynamic where the terms and the issues and the leaders are defined and limited by various representatives and defenders of this bloodsucking system. And progressive people and oppressed people really need to break out of the confines of the institutions, organizations, and political thinking dominated by the Democratic Party.

Frankly, too many people are suffering from the disease of looking-for-leadership-in-all-the-wrong-places. And as a result, too many people who want to change the world remain locked in a dynamic that stifles their ability to really see a whole different world, squanders their energies, and channels imagination into dead-end paths of conciliation with intolerable injustices.

And it is so very urgent that millions of people break out of the death-grip of all this politics as usual and come together to do something really unprecedented. Millions of people need to un-clip their wings from the Democrats and from the strategies that give backing to their efforts and take independent historic political action.

Together we need to create a whole new dynamic based on acting on principle, telling the truth, doing what's right and actually mounting a real fight to save the future and the planet!

*****

Reality check: More than a million people defied a stifling jingoistic atmosphere, repeatedly and courageously taking the streets against the Iraq war. Yet the debate in the presidential election remained over who could make the best Commander-in-Chief, how the war started, and how to continue the occupation of Iraq. Kerry never once said the simple and obvious fact that millions knew in their hearts: that Bush had lied through his teeth about everything .

Over a million people marched in D.C. in a March for Women's Lives and to defend abortion. Yet the debate in Congress and Senate and among presidential hopefuls remained over how much to restrict abortion and how strongly to condemn it, and not a single voice spoke up to say a world where women are reduced to incubators is intolerable!

82% of the country objected to Congress and the President intruding upon Terri Schiavo's deathbed. Hundreds of towns passed ordinances against the Patriot Act. In over 100 cities people organized protests against the end of the filibuster. And yet both ruling parties came together in Congress to pass a "Palm Sunday Compromise" to intervene around Terri Schiavo, to legitimize torture, and to accept a filibuster "compromise" which paved the way for openly racist judges and judges who want to impose biblical law.

What does this tell us? It is time to wake up to reality. Because the world can't wait.

*****

Some have spoken of a pre-civil-war atmosphere in the U.S. And millions of people are really distressed about how the Democrats are unwilling and incapable of mounting any serious opposition to the Bush regime on anything that matters.

My thinking on this whole situation has been informed by the analysis of Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and based on a scientific analysis of the world situation, he has made a powerful case for the need and the possibility for the masses of people to wrench a dramatically different future out of this dire situation.

Bob Avakian has analyzed the major changes in the world and transformations in U.S. society that have created a situation where the Republican strategy for how the U.S. empire should dominate the world has a certain edge within ruling class circles. These underlying economic, political and ideological factors in the world—combined with an aggressive, arrogant and relentless drive to impose their agenda— have led to the situation we face today where the Bush regime has cynically used the events of 9/11 to hammer into place a global reality suited to the interests of their bloodsucking system. And they are on a roll.

So the way I see it, either the people in this country remain locked in a deadly dynamic, while all around us a rising crescendo of Christian fascist foot-soldiers provide chilling glimpses of their nightmarish "new normalcy." Or, people urgently and decisively establish OUR own dynamic based on the understanding that the world can't wait and the people must drive out the Bush regime. a different dynamic based on principles, on seeking the truth, and rallying millions to take independent historical action.

We need to spread a spirit of being "politically at war"—which means a commitment that there is no common ground with intolerable injustices and literal horrors. We need to be building mass protest and upsurge against everything this Bush regime stands for. And we need to develop communities of resistance that can have each other's backs and withstand the counterattacks that are sure to come.

On November 2, when the Bush regime will be strutting and celebrating the anniversary of their re-election and bragging about how they are remaking the world in their image—we need a nationwide outpouring to declare: THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT. We need to send a message to the world—that a new movement of resistance has arrived to DRIVE THE BUSH REGIME FROM POWER.

The world can't wait. We need to start now, building a solid core of people whose real and profound discontent, anxiety, and anger about the whole direction of society and the world trumps their commitment to remaining confined within the existing political framework. I am firmly convinced there are today millions and millions of such people. And on the basis of that solid core, through our creative energies, imaginations, and courage, we need to be constantly expanding and drawing in people from every sphere of society and every part of the country—and saying to millions more: "Come with us. We know where to go and we know how to get there!"

We have a choice to make. The world can't wait. Its time to drive a regime from power.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolution Online
http://revcom.us
Write: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497

Al Otro Lado--To The Other Side

2005-06-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

By Nikolai Garcia

Note: None of the quotes in the following review are verbatim, as I was not taking notes in the theater. Everything is from memory.

Al Otro Lado--To The Other Side
Directed by Natalia Almada

Magdiel is a very talented song-writer. Throughout this documentary you see him composing corridos on the spot. Unfortunately, not many people outside his small town of La Reforma, in Sinaloa, Mexico, know about his talent. His town offers him no future. Although he and his father work hard in the fields and in the sea catching shrimp, they barely manage to brake even. The residents of the town say that the only people who have anything (money) are the ones involved in drug trafficking. Magdiel says he could be in that business if he wanted to, but he wants something better. He knows he is talented, but says that no one will come looking for him. He has to go to the other side in order to find his fame and fortune.

To understand Magdiel's story you must have some understanding about corridos, which are like ballads that usually tell a story. (In many articles before this one, corridos have been described as the equivalent of rap music, with homage being paid to famous heroes and infamous outlaws). To give you an understanding about the world of corridos the director goes about interviewing prominent singers and composers of corridos who speak about the legendary figures in the corridos genre; a young generation of singers in Los Angeles "who speak English but sing in Spanish"; how much truth and myth there is in a corrido; and mostly, about immigration. "The Mexican government wants to get rid of people and the United States needs cheap labor," says one composer.

Immigration, of course, is the big topic in the documentary, as early on in the film Magdiel announces, after he has written a corrido for a local coyote, that he has agreed to cross him over. From there the director switches directions a bit and gives the audience footage of immigrants that have just gotten caught by the border patrol. She interviews one of these men while he is getting medical treatment. Although the filming takes place in the blackness of night you can clearly see the damage done to the man's feet after spending two and a half days walking in the desert. When she asks what they will do now, they respond that there is nothing else to do but "try again."

But an even more starling scene comes by way of Chris Simcox, one of the founders of the Minutemen. The director and her crew follow Simcox as he searches for immigrants along the Arizona border. "We're a neighborhood watch," he says of his team, dressed mostly in army fatigues. Simcox follows what he refers to as fresh prints and a bit later under some bushes he finds a group of immigrants. "Our president says that we should be vigilant of anything suspicious," says Simcox, "And I don't think there's anything more suspicious that some people hiding in some bushes in your backyard." (Later, after the screening, during a Q & A session with the director, she tells the audience that she thought the whole thing was a joke, but when they came upon the people in the bushes it all felt very disturbing).

The film crew interviews the captured immigrants and tell the director that they were only in search of work. Simcox interjects and says, "What he say? Same old story--he's looking for work. Well, I wish there was something we could do but...No mas illegals."

(Seeing and hearing Simcox I was reminded that only hours earlier I was at a counter-protest in front of a Home Depot in Alhambra. There was a call by Save Our State (SOS) to harass day laborers and a few showed up with their American flags and signs that read, "Viva La Migra." SOS is one of the many groups that have been springing up all over the country, inspired by Simcox and other vigilantes, who hate that their country is becoming "less American" and more of a "third-world cesspool").

"Have you tried coming here legally," asks the director. "We have, but it's too difficult to get visas," says one of the captured, "They have too many requirements like proof of homeownership and bank account. Well, if we had that, we wouldn't need to come here."

If you missed the screening and you live in L.A. you have another chance of watching the film this Wednesday. Check out www.LAfilmfest.com for place and time. The rest of you will have to wait until next year when the film makes its debut on public television.

Wanted: A Massive Movement to Drive the Bush Regime from Power

2005-06-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

We received the following from comrades who see an urgent need for a major leap in the people's resistance.

Other countries have driven hated regimes from power—why not here? Is there any country whose direction has a more disproportionate impact on the future of the whole planet?

Too Radical?

Today, just eight months since the November election and the "revolution" called for by Bush's right- wing Christian supporters, we are witnessing the most radical assault on the separation of church and state that this country has ever experienced. In a word: this country sits on the verge of theocracy. Yesterday's "lunatic fringe" now sits securely in the halls of power. When powerful senators threaten federal judges on the Schiavo case and then to go on to single out a Supreme Court justice for citing international law in a recent decision barring the execution of minors, you get a whiff not just of flagrant hypocrisy but the stench of crimes against humanity and where this agenda is headed.

These are not ordinary Christians or Conservatives but Christian Fascists and they are stalking not just the red states for the control of people's minds. Under the now famous "moral values" exit polls of 2004 lurk traditional values that have uniquely American strains of puritanism, slavery, and genocide. These are theocrats who actually believe that God is speaking through the presidency of George Bush, and Bush has appointed them at every level of his administration. They intend to put their stamp on society and everyone in it—and they have already gone very far. Whether they succeed or fail to get their "nuclear option" today, they are a monster demanding to be fed who will not stop until their agenda of theocracy is fulfilled.

Whether they get their way depends hugely on if people face what is unfolding and snap out of a denial that such a thing could happen here. History is far too haunted with the memories of people from Germany to Rwanda who never thought that neighbors living side by side and intermarried for generations could possibly be on opposite sides or taken off in the night.

Writing in The New York Times , cultural critic Frank Rich aptly put it this way,

"the majority of American colonists didn't believe in witches during the Salem trials either—any more than the Taliban reflected the views of a majority of Afghans. At a certain point, and we seem to be nearing that point, fear takes over, allowing a mob to bully the majority over the short term. (Of course if you think the end is near there is no long term.)"

This country now stands before the world and history with a president who condones torture. No wonder the subjects of the new empire in other countries feel they should have had a vote in this election. This is an utterly intolerable situation and one that growing numbers of people are ready to massively repudiate—including thousands if not millions of people who voted for George Bush and are waking up to the ugly reality of what they bought and what it's wrought.

This regime has to be driven from power and it could happen! It is important to recall the millions who were present in the streets with people across the planet to oppose the Iraq war and that just six months ago millions engaged in a groundswell of hopeful political activity to drive Bush from office through voting. But no vision, no coherent alternative to Bush was ever on the electoral playing field.

The world can't wait until 2008 to put a halt to this.

We don't want to tell future generations "we were waiting for the pendulum to swing." We want to tell them we were the people who said NOT IN OUR NAME! What is needed is to launch the kind of massive resistance that can drive this regime out.

November 2, 2005, the anniversary of Bush and Cheney's re-election. How will the first year of the Christian fundamentalist "revolution" look? Will the country continue to pitch more and more to the right, with opposition so ineffective that there will be no choice but to be swept along? Or will the whole world witness the opening rounds of an upsurge that can conjure up the specter of Spain and the Ukraine, the fall of the Berlin Wall, or Nixon? It can — if people conceive of themselves as politically at war in an all-out battle for the future.

Anything less is not commensurate with the challenge we face.

We in the RCP are approaching this as repolarizing society for revolution, and we are sincere about learning from and uniting with people from many different perspectives who also see the need to rid the world of the Bush regime. We can tell you from our personal experience, talking to people across the country as we passed out millions of the statement "The Battle of the Future Will be Fought from Here Forward," that people are waiting for the next wave of protest to be unleashed...but they want to know that it will really make a difference.

Very Radical!

Let's talk about how to make it happen—contact us at drivethemout@yahoo.com

Judy Baca's monument in Baldwin Park under attack

2005-06-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

The following is a statement written by Judith F. Baca, an artist, whose monument in Baldwin Park, CA is under attack by Save our State and the Minuteman Project that is affiliated with them.

* * *

May 12, 2005

An “anti-illegal immigrant” group, Save Our State, of Ventura County, emboldened by their recent victory at the removal of a billboard referring to “Los Angeles, Mexico” is now demanding the removal of the wording on a twelve-year old monument in Baldwin Park, California, entitled Danzas Indigenas. I was commissioned to produce this work in 1993 by MTA and the City of Baldwin Park in collaboration with the Kate Diamond Architectural Group.

The monument consists of a 20 ft arch, 100 ft plaza and 400 ft train platform. Produced with extensive public input, the monument includes five languages: English, Spanish, Gabrielino, Chumash, Luiseño and is a layering of indigenous, Spanish and mestizo history, which is associated with the site.

Included also are the contemporary voices and diversity that is indicative of contemporary Baldwin Park. Asked to produce a work that was “mission in theme” that reflected the majority population of Latinos in the City of Baldwin Park, and in keeping with my practice as an artist for inclusion of community members in my design process, I designed this work to include the “past” and “present” of the region and the voices of local residents. Of particular interest to me was the sites proximity to the mission of San Gabriel. The arch in the Plaza is conceived of as a fragment of a mission arch. Its intention was to become a site of public memory for the people of Baldwin Park; to make visible their invisible history.

Local residents sentiments were included in the “present” side of the monument, with verbatim quotes sandblasted into the surface of the arch. Local residents of all ages and ethnic groups were recommended by the arts committee and the city council and interviewed. They were asked about their hopes for the future of Baldwin Park.

Additional statements from community members on the arch – which are not included in the discussion of the monument by the Save Our State group – include “Use your brain before you make up your mind”, “not just adults leading but youth leading too", “a small town feeling”, "when the Indians died the villages ended” and “the kind of community that people dream of rich and poor, white, brown, yellow all living together”. These statements all represent the community’s desires, and are featured prominently in the work of art.

The work is not a work of a lone artist working without relationship to the community, but rather a representation of community sensibilities and sentiment of the time. While this group has cast the artwork as part of a “Reconquista movement”, it is in fact neither advocating for the return of California to Mexico, nor wishing that Anglos had never come to this land. This statement “it was better before they came”, was deliberately ambiguous. About which “they” is the anonymous voice speaking? The statement was made by an Anglo local resident who was speaking about Mexicans. The ambiguity of the statement was the point, and is designed to say more about the reader than the speaker – and so it has.

The quote “this land was Mexican once, was Indian always, and is, and will be again” is by a critically acclaimed Chicana author, Gloria Anzaldua. On the Save Our State website, she is referred to as a “dead Chicana lesbian.” I chose this quote because the mission is one mile from the Mission San Gabriel, and descendants of the Gabrielinos still live in the region, making Anzaldua’s text particularly relevant to the increasing indigenous population. A correct reading of the quote makes it clear that this is not about Mexican “reconquista”, but about the land returning to its origins.

This is not a question only of my rights as an artist to not have my copyright violated, but also a question of “revisionist history” carved out twelve years after an extensive democratic public process produced this work. It is the collective vision of the people of Baldwin Park that is under attack by this Ventura group. What is most deserving of respect are the voices that are represented in the monument. Also deserving of respect, are the voices of the ancient indigenous who say in the first person “memory and will power” is how we retain the knowledge of our culture.

Our capacity as a democracy to disagree and to coexist is precisely the point of this work. No single statement can be seen without the whole, nor can it be removed without destroying the diversity of Baldwin Park’s voices. Silencing every voice with which we disagree, especially while taking quotes out of context, either through ignorance or malice, is profoundly un-American.

Nine Inch Nails in the news

2005-06-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

I found this in the L.A. Times today...

Band pulls out of MTV show

From Associated Press
Nine Inch Nails dropped out of the MTV Movie Awards after clashing with the network over an image of President Bush that the band planned as a performance backdrop. The Bush image was to accompany the song "The Hand That Feeds," which obliquely criticizes the Iraq war.
MTV said it was disappointed the industrial rock band would not perform but had been "uncomfortable with their performance being built around a partisan political statement." The Foo Fighters will perform in place of the Trent Reznor-led band at the awards being taped Saturday in L.A. Reznor said in a statement posted on the band's website that the image of the president would have been "straightforward." "Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me," he said.

I knew MTV was all about playing crappy music videos, but when did it become about artistic censorship too. And what's with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters filling in. They should have refused to play as their way of supporting NIN.

Minuteman Campaign USA

2005-05-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

Several hundred anti-immigrant "activists" gathered for a conference in Las Vegas this past weekend.

Guest speakers included Barbara Coe, a co-author of California's Proposition 187, James Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, Congress member from Colorado Tom Tancredo, and relatives of 911 victims.

Throughout the conference the Minutemen, rabid anti-immigration activists, a former INS agent who offered his "expertise" in human hunting, and other vigilantes made plans to form a multi-state coalition of organizations that would be called the Minuteman Campaign USA.

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, said, "The spring of 2005 will be looked back upon as the time when America woke up and started taking this country back."

The conference hall was full of violent and hateful energy as the conference participants chanted, "Send them home!" "Send them home!" A reporter for the L.A. Times said that it was reminiscent of a religious revival.

* * *
There were also significan protests outside the conference. I will post of some more information on this and some pictures very soon . . .

Minutemen speak in Garden Grove, CA-- man drives into crowd and hits 4 people

2005-05-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

This is from Indymedia L.A.

Wednesday, May 26. Yesterday the man who hit four pro-immigrant protesters with his van was released by the police while four other protesters who were peacefully demonstrating their anger toward the anti-immigrant group, the minutmen, are still in jail. Some are detained on bail as high as $50,000 for allegedly throwing bottles of water at the police. Police officers also felt threatened by a person in a wheel chair (I kid you not), and they arrested him without any apparent reason other than being an easy target for arrest.

On television Jim Gilchrist denied the protesters allegations of being a racist although, yet on the same day, his friends and allies displayed signs targeting only undocumented immigrants from Mexico—not undocumented immigrants from Canada or Europe.

http://la.indymedia.org/

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gilchrist27may27,1,277238.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Schwarzenegger scheduled to be commencement speaker at Santa Monica College

2005-05-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

What?!

Administration at Santa Monica College asked Arnold Schwarzenegger to give the commecement address at the graduation on June 14th. Students and faculty are outraged at this and are planning to make a statement soon. Check in, we'll give you an update on any announcements as soon as they come in!

Check out this article printed in Revolution:
Border Vigilantes: Praised by the Terminator
by Luciente Zamora, Revolution #3, May 22, 2005

http://rwor.org/a/003/border-vigilantes-terminator.htm

Calexico, CA: Border Patrol goes to the movies!

2005-05-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

A new "public service announcement" from the border patrol will be previewing in movie theaters throughout the Inland Empire in California.

Crucé por los dólares, crucé por seguirlo. Porque me la pintaron fácil. Hay muchas razones para cruzar la frontera. No más cruces en la frontera.

You cross for the money, you cross in your search of it. Because they said it was easy. There are many reasons to cross the border. No more crosses at the border.

The Border Patrol says that they're launching this campaign targeting immigrants to "save lives" and with the hopes of preventing deaths along the border.

If the Border Patrol were really interested in "saving lives" they wouldn't be so chummy with armed fascists like the Minuteman Project. If they were about "saving lives" they would abandon their posts-- then people wouldn't be forced to cross the most treacherous parts of the desert with the hope of actually making it to the other side.

They Border Patrol is not about saving lives-- it is their job to protect the border between an imperialist country and a third world country it exploits.

This advertisement campaign is about instilling fear within undocumented immigrants about, while at the same time playing the "good guys."

Three Graphic/Comic Novels You Must Read (Part 1)

2005-05-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

-By Nikolai Garcia

Y The Last Man: unmanned
Written by Brian K. Vaughan and drawn by Pia Guerra
126 pages, $12.95 www.vertigocomics.com

The year is 2002 and an unexplained plague has killed every living being with a Y chromosome. In other words, every male, human or animal, is dead. (2.9 billion--48% of the global population).

Better yet, look at it this way: 99% of landowners are gone, as well as 495 of the Fortune 500 CEOs and 100% of Catholic priests, Orthodox Jewish rabbis and Islamic Imams.

However, there still seems to be one last man on earth: Yorick, and Ampersand, (his pet monkey), mysteriously remain alive, (possibly due to a ring he bought at a magic shop). Yorick, a New Yorker, travels to Washington D.C. to find his mother, Congresswoman Jennifer Brown, who before the plague was having a hard time with male members of her own party because of her views against abortion, and is now one of only 73 women holding the U.S. government together.

When they reunite, Yorick's mother wants him to start helping to repopulate the earth almost immediately. "But how can I," he asks, "when the woman I love is in Australia?" (Drama!)

Yorick wants to find his girlfriend, but instead is asked to accompany Agent 355 (some kind of super-tough secret agent) to find Dr. Alison Mann, the worlds leading expert on human cloning. (Yorick's mother, by the way, has just changed her mind on the idea of cloning).

Along the way they encounter the Amazons, a gang of women who are happy that "Mother Earth" has wiped their oppressors off the earth. They did not lose brothers, fathers and friends. For them, what they lost were rapists, dictators and serial killers.

Some very provocative questions are raised when reading this graphic novel: What real power do women have under the current system? Are men the problem? Would women make capitalism a much nicer system to live under?

One of the most interesting (and funny) parts in the book occurs not long after Yorick and his mother reunite. All of a sudden the White House comes under fire. "Who the hell is shooting at us, mom? Terrorists?," asks Yorick. "Worse," she replies, "Republicans."

Because three-fourths of the remaining Senators and House Representatives are Democrats, the wives of dead Republicans demand that their husband's seats be given to them. This causes a confrontation involving guns.

"After all the men died, I thought you guys would be holding hands down at the United Nations or something," Yorick says after the violence erupts. Needles to say, Yorick's vision of a perfect society run by women soon disappears.

This graphic novel has it all: A great plot, action, suspense and hilarious lines. The only thing that's missing is an ending because this is only the first volume in the long collection.

(Next week: "The Birth of A Nation")

(This one's for Damian) A Short Review of the New Nine Inch Nails Album

2005-05-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get so lonely I could...
Why do you get all the love in the world?
Why do you get all the love in the world?

I put on Nine Inch Nails' new album, "With Teeth," and with the first track, All the Love In the World, I'm quickly transported back to my Jr. High school days.
All of a sudden, I'm depressed that Julie B. hasn't called me in hours and I'm trying to answer the age-old question, "Just how much bad poetry (about being sad) can you fit into a 90-page notebook?"

After reminding myself that I left Edison middle school a long time ago, a question pops into my head, "This whole album can't be just about sadness and loneliness, can it?" I mean, with all the stuff going on in the world, in this country, I'm sure an artists such as Trent Reznor has some kind of statement to make. Right?

Damn straight!

The fourth track, The Hand That Feeds, is Reznor's wake-up call to all those that go through life never questioning anything. And, it's a challenge to those who know there's something wrong going on, but have done nothing to change it.

...Got your chin held high
And you feel just fine
Cause you do
What you're told
But inside your heart
It is black, it is hollow
And it's cold
Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?

There is definitely a lot to say about the feeling of alienation that a lot of people suffer from living in this society. (Which NIN has always spoken to). But for me, this one track makes the purchase of the album worth it. (That, and the fact that Dave Grohl does some cool drumming throughout the record). So, go buy it!

(p.s. While some of us were getting depressed wondering if Julie B. was going to sit next to us in algebra class and singing along to the lyrics of Hurt, Trent Reznor was actually going through some real tough shit! Read about it in his own words: www.viceland.com/issues/v12n3/htdocs/up.php)

Border Vigilantes: Praised by the Terminator

2005-05-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

by Luciente Zamora

Revolution #3, May 22, 2005, posted at revcom.us

Throughout the entire month of April, several hundred retired border patrol agents, ex-Marines, former corrections officers, neo-Nazis, white separatists, and others answered a call from the "Minuteman Project" to protect the "homeland" from "the invasion of illegal aliens." The Minutemen vigilantes patrolled a 23-mile stretch of the Arizona/Mexico border.

In the week after the month-long Minuteman Project ended, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger commended these vigilantes on a right-wing radio station, KFI AM. He said, "I think they've done a terrific job... They've cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants a huge percentage. So it just shows that it works when you go and make an effort and when you work hard. It's a doable thing."

What does it say about the times we are living in when the governor of the largest state in the U.S. (and a state with a huge immigrant population) openly praises vigilantes who hunt down immigrants and says that these Minutemen--many of whom are neo-Nazis and white separatists--are "exemplary citizens"? Isn't it similar to how Hitler praised his stormtroopers for beating and murdering Jewish people?

Schwarzenegger also condemned human rights groups who set up water stations in the desert to help immigrants crossing the dangerous terrain. He said, "What we're doing basically is, by not really securing the borders, we're saying: `Look, here are the various water stations. Here are the places where you can cross the borders. Here is where we're going to help you.' The whole system is set up to really invite people to come in here illegally, and that has to stop."

Again, this is reminiscent of Nazi Germany, when Hitler persecuted those who helped the Jews. Schwarzenegger not only reveals his cruel inhumanity--he is also setting these people up as targets for legal action as well as targets of the vigilantes.

What kind of a depraved monster would say such things about immigrants who are desperately trying to cross the border in search of means of livelihood, and people who are trying to do what they can to help prevent poor people from losing their lives? Schwarzenegger's cold-blooded words stem from the outlook of the class he represents. To him and those who rule this society, undocumented immigrants and people who try to help them are "criminals"--while vigilantes and Migra agents who hunt down the immigrants are "heroes."

Schwarzenegger's support of the Minutemen is another indication that these human hunters are getting backing from powerful sections of the ruling class. Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo recently invited Jim Gilchrist and Chris Simcox--founders of the Minuteman Project--to Washington, DC, to attend a Congressional "Immigration Reform Caucus," which hailed the Project as a success.

Simcox and Gilchrist have said that the response to the Minuteman Project has been so great that they are planning to embark upon a national fundraising campaign to spread Minuteman chapters across the country--especially border states like Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California--to patrol the border and to protest businesses that hire undocumented workers.

Immigrants have been under attack and even killed at the hands of vigilantes and ranchers along the border for years. But there is a new momentum to what Simcox described as "a civil defense type movement in the absence of a government which can meet the basic needs of citizens"--in other words, a fascist "grassroots" movement.

In California, the Border Watch--a project launched by a group calling itself the Friends of the Border Patrol--is organizing on a "grassroots" level to patrol the San Diego/Mexico border this summer. Border Watch is signing up police officers, ex-military personnel, Minutemen, and other vigilante forces. They are also trying to enlist volunteer pilots to patrol from the air. They are set to begin training sessions this June and plan to dispatch patrols in August to the mountainous and beach regions in San Diego.

The group is headed by Andy Ramirez, the former executive director of the Save Our State initiative (S.O.S.). In 1994 S.O.S. put Proposition 187--a measure making it illegal to provide undocumented immigrants education, health services, and other social services--on the California ballot. There was massive opposition to the proposition, which passed but was later overturned in the courts. However, the reactionary movement behind Prop 187 did not go away--in fact, it has gained even more force.

Ramirez, whose grandfather was a Mexican immigrant, says the government is not doing enough to "protect the homeland." He wants the Border Patrol and the U.S. military to basically seal the border--and in the meantime, he says the mission of Friends of the Border Patrol is to get "ordinary citizens" to do the job the government isn't doing.

Ramirez also calls for intensified repression against immigrants beyond the border area: "Let the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. military patrol our borders, and resume sweeps for those who have illegally entered the U.S."

Travis Morales of the Revolutionary Communist Party, San Francisco Bay Area, points out, "People need to stare at this straight in the face. In Arizona, for several years, the Border Patrol has been cooperating with vigilantes who hunt down immigrants crossing the border to survive. Now this has gone much further with the deployment of the armed Minutemen. The governor of the largest state gives his approval and invites them to patrol the border while Congresspeople promote them as a success.

"While Bush and company are pushing to institute a right-wing Christian fundamentalist theocracy, armed fascists are being unleashed at the border with high-level backing and support as part of the overall fascist program. Sections of the ruling class are politically and organizationally mobilizing armed fascist stormtroopers and training them to go after immigrants and others seen as threats to `national security.'

"These latest moves remind me of what Chairman Avakian discusses in the article `The Coming Civil War and Repolarization for Revolution in the Present Era.' In it he refers to Newt Gingrich talking about how never has the country been so divided as it is now since the 1840s and 1850s in the period before the Civil War. In other places Avakian also discusses Pat Buchanan's worry, coming from a reactionary point of view, that deep cultural and social divisions are tearing the U.S. apart. The Minutemen and other fascist thugs are one part of the solution to this dilemma- -outright brutal suppression of opponents and those seen as problems for the ruling class.

"If the legitimacy of armed fascist thugs is established and they are allowed to hunt and attack immigrant without intense and determined opposition that knocks them back on their heels, this will be further horror heaped upon the millions of immigrants driven from their home countries by U.S. domination. And does anyone think this will stop here? Given the moves toward Christian fascist theocracy, this will be just the beginning. This is not the future. This is now."

These fascist groups need to be hit hard politically. They cannot be allowed to gain the upper hand and establish themselves as the "new normalcy." People need to figure out the ways to take on these American-style stormtroopers.

Think about what happened when Hitler and the Nazis were not stopped. Think about what will happen if the fascist tide we're confronted with today is not stopped.

(Esto Ocurrio Ayer) This Happened Yesterday

2005-05-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

-By Nikolai G

"Minutemen go home! Minutemen go home!" A crowd of more than 300 Chicano activists and progressive forces yelled at a small group of anti-immigrant protestors in Baldwin Park, CA.

The anti-immigrant forces were members of Save Our State (SOS), one of the groups that helped put the racist, anti-immigrant proposition 187 on the ballot in California back in the early 90's. They were there to protest a monument in the city that they considered offensive because it contained the quote, "This land was Mexican once,/ was Indian always/ and is,/ And will be again," (from Chicana feminist writer Gloria Anzaldua).

Baldwin Park police had to call in additional forces from surrounding cities and Sheriff deputies to protect the small anti-immigrant group from the progressive forces who refused to stay within the official counter-demonstration zone, (about two blocks away), and marched to confront the racists.

The counter-protesters, which was estimated at the height of the day to be more than 600, (including many youth from the neighborhood), stood their ground and got in the face of SOS members, who waved their American flags and held signs like, "This land is my land. This land is not your land. And never will be." (Their numbers did not reach more than 40 and at the end dwindled to about 15).

Loud and victorious cheers were heard once the SOS members finally retreated to their cars (with protection from the police, of course).

Trip out: I didn't find out about this until the day before and was worried that no one would come out to oppose these ignorant fuckers. But when I got there--I swear--I ran into every Chicano activist, poet and musician that I have met in the last five years!
Oh! Great fuck'n news! The great photojournalist Mukai will start working with the LAWC and will hopefully post up her photos from yesterdays event. Also, Leila Cielos, who's BEEEEN working with us will officially join the blog soon! ).

Book review: From Ike to Mao and Beyond . . .

2005-05-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

From Ike to Mao and Beyond: My Journey from Mainstream America to
Revolutionary Communist. A Memoir by Bob Avakian.
449 pages. Insight Press.

By Alessandro Morosin, Occidental Weekly Staff Writer **

Writing recently in The New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg predicted that one of bad things that would result from the re-election of George W. Bush was the revival of the radical left.

Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, also recognizes this growing polarization within American society, but it goes without saying that he wishes to see a vastly different future than both Bush and Hertzberg.

Avakian’s newly released memoir will shatter your preconceived notions of “commies,” no matter which walk of life you come from. The book is not a dogmatic chunk of propaganda directed solely at activists, but, as a review by historian Howard Zinn says, “a humanizing portrait of someone who is often seen only as a hardline revolutionary.”

Indeed, the typical conservative would probably scorn Avakian at first glance, who grew up in a white, middle class Berkeley household, became politicized in the Free Speech movement on the UC Berkeley campus in the 1960s, worked alongside the Black Panther Party and eventually formed the Maoist group that he continues to lead from France to this day.

But this reviewer is convinced that even those at the opposite end of the spectrum will get something out of the book, that is, if they enjoy political biographies and if they’re willing to have their beliefs challenged. Not only is it an absorbing and quick read that covers three stages of Avakian’s life (growing up in 1950s McCarthyist America; becoming active against the Vietnam War in college; and finally developing into a leading Marxist theoretician and organizer). This memoir also provides valuable insight into what the 1960s were like from the perspective of an individual whose outlook was continually evolving while history swirled all around him.

Part of what makes From Ike to Mao engaging is how Avakian situates his early experiences in their social context. For example, he enrolled in the half-Black Berkeley High School in 1958 right after federal troops were sent in to Little Rock, Arkansas to protect nine Black high school students. When he began to make many Black friends, not out of a conscious political statement, but simply because he liked hanging out with all types of kids, some of his former white friends grew uncomfortable, even hostile. This only affirmed his opposition to racism.

Like many Americans, he was initially fearful and ignorant about communism, but this was also rapidly changing as he grew to see revolution as possible and necessary. In another passage, Avakian was at the Oakland home of Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver in 1967. He was shocked to see a large poster of Mao Tsetung on Cleaver’s wall. When he finally worked up the courage to ask Cleaver why he displayed this poster, Cleaver bluntly replied “[B]ecause Mao Tsetung is the baddest motherf*cker on the planet earth.”

Though the writing style can get repetitive, many other parts of the book provide a great deal of humor as well as seriousness in discussing the author’s strategic mistakes and victories in trying to bring revolutionary politics to the working class, detailed descriptions of the numerous debates among activists at the time about how to move their struggles forward, and how his radical commitment eventually strengthened his relationship with his parents, to provide only a few examples.

What stands out most is the man’s honesty and commitment. This is not some 1960s burnout. For over three decades, Avakian has remained firmly committed to bringing about a world where exploitation, imperialism and oppression are relics of an ugly past. For activists today who know that “another world is possible” and are seeking a roadmap of how to get there, this memoir is a warm introduction to a thinker whose voice will, and should, be heard in that ongoing debate. Impractical? Irrelevant? Dangerous? As Avakian likes to say, “wrangle” with it and decide for yourself.

** unpublished

"Don't Need You"-- A Review

2005-05-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

By Nikolai Garcia

"Because I believe with my wholeheartmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real."

...And with these words (from Kathleen Hanna'a Riot Grrrl Manifesto) me, along with the audience, dived head-first into Kerri Koch's documentary film "Don't Need You," which explores the history of the Riot Grrrl scene.

Despite all its rebelliousness and the fact that it went up against the mainstream, a young punk rock scene could not go up against women’s oppression. Since its beginning*, the punk rock scene has been a male-dominated scene that left many women out. And things got worse for women in the mid 80’s when hardcore took over the scene.

The shows from those days filled halls with testosterone as young males took out their aggression on each other in “the pit.” The pits were not welcoming towards young girls, and many of them just dropped out of the scene. In fact, as the film shows, women who did continue to go to punk shows were seen by male punks as groupies and relegated to stand on the sidelines holding their male friends’ jackets. One woman in the film remembers being referred to as a “coat hanger.”

But a lot of this changed in the early 90’s with the birth of Riot Grrrl. In the Pacific Northwest, young women who weren’t happy with what was going on in the punk scene started talking about how to change things. They took it upon themselves to start their own bands, make their own fanzines and flyers and organize their own festivals.

With old footage of some of the early Riot Grrrl bands, excerpts of Kathleen Hanna’s Riot Grrrl Manifesto (that flashed up on the screen), and interviews with the founders and eyewitnesses of the scene, (like Hanna, Corin Tucker, Allison Wolfe, Madigan Shive and Ian Mackaye), Koch is able to document the origins of Riot Grrrl and we find out what it took to make the punk rock scene a more woman-friendly community.

For, me the biggest thrill was being able to see performances by bands such as Bikini Kill, and others that are no longer around. Truly, the rage and power of young women in the Riot Grrrl movement is not more evident than in the voice and movements during the performances of Kathleen Hanna.

Something interesting to point out is that this film in not an uncritical view of the Riot Grrrl movement. A black woman who was interviewed mentions that at one point she felt that Riot Grrrl seemed to only cater to the interests of White women. (This is refuted by others in the film who say that much of the Riot Grrrl ideology was shaped by the writings of bell hooks, the black scholar and feminist). Ian Mackaye also talks about his displeasure at receiving negative criticism from some women who said he had no business writing a song from the standpoint of a woman.

My only complaint is that, (like other cool punk rock documentaries that I have seen), this film seems too short. Other things that I wish could have been explored are why some bands of that era broke up (Bikini Kill), and why/how others (Sleater-Kinney) are still going? Interviews with younger women in the punk scene today talking about the legacy of Riot Grrrl could have also been good. (It has been a decade since). And a few more band performances wouldn’t have been bad either.

For more info check out:
www.urbancowgirlproductions.com

*Here a short note about L.A. punk history: In the early L.A. punk scene most of the better singers were women. Exene Cervenka of X, Alice Bag of The Bags, Charlotte Caffey of The Eyes and Teresa Covarrubias of The Brat all had vocal duties on their bands. Also, bands like The Germs and The Alleycats didn't have female vocalists, but women were part of the band.

2005-05-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

Predator (1987)-- "A tough guy battles a tough alien in the jungle."

New location for Predator (2005)-- Arizona desert, new target "illegal aliens"

Arnold Schwarzenegger says the Minutemen have done a "great job"

2005-05-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

The Minuteman Project has been in the headlines for more than a month now. It is a project that is HUNTING HUMAN beings at the Arizona/Mexico border. It's mission statement says that it wants to protect the national bond that holds this country together-- this is very similar to Pat Buchanan's fear that the U.S. will soon lose it's identity as a white Christian European nation.

But these aren't just a fringe group of crazy racists (although some are on the lunatic side and there's no question that there's racism involved)-- they're gaining a certain degree of legitimacy.

Last week, the Minutemen were invited to speak at a Congressional Immigration Caucus were they shared goal of sealing off the U.S./Mexico border and proposed their plan to go national. They say the response to the project has been so great that they are going to open up chapters all around the country and each chapter will be responsible to patrol the border and/or protest businesses that hire "illegal aliens."

Now, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has praised the Minuteman Project. On right wing conservative radio station KFI he said, "I think they've done a terrific job. They've cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants a huge percentage. So it just shows that it works when you go and make an effort and when you work hard. It's a doable thing."

What the Minuteman Project has done is it has legitamized the hunting of human beings and spread vigilantism. This is very serious-- the governor of California publicly said that not only condones, but congratulates and encourages the vigilante action of a group with members of racist thugs including neo Nazis from the National Alliance.

Throughout the month of April there was resistance to the Minuteman Project. People from Humane Borders, No More Deaths, students at universities in Arizona and California, Arizona residents, legal observers, and various Christian humanitarian groups countered the Minutemen.

Immigrant rights activists have said that they intend to continue organizing resistance against the attacks on immigrants that will surely rise in the coming weeks and months.

* * *

Not only are people forced out of their countries because the claws of U.S. imperialism is ripping economies throughout Latin America to shreds, but then people make the deadly journey to the U.S. and risk a horrible death along the desert or in a train car or in a high speed chase.

If they survive all that and make it here and work in a factory or in the fields and barely survive on their wages, they will still live under the constant threat of being hunted in their own communities and neighborhoods.

This is truly an intolerable situation.

2005-04-30T01:52:00.000-07:00

Olas de Luz
Carlo Botero

2005-04-30T01:44:00.000-07:00

Blank walls equal blank minds
Carlo Botero

2005-04-30T01:41:00.000-07:00

When beauty sought purpose it found it in its design
Carlo Botero

2005-04-30T01:37:00.000-07:00

This is L.A.
Carlo Botero

2005-04-30T01:33:00.000-07:00

Aboard the Metro in L.A.
Carlo Botero

Just had a brilliant thought

2005-04-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

I was thinking that the Minutemen should hereby be referred to as the Mutantmen! After their brains were mutated by the radioactive sludge that was dumped out in the Indian reservations by the U.S. government, and then, the waste seeped through the soil, got into the water supply and then they drank it and turned them into these walking, un-thinking babbling idiots who want to preserve the "purity of America"--whatever that's about!

My Top Five 7-inch Records of 2004

2005-04-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Yeah, we're almost four full months into 2005, but I wanted to share my top five 7" picks from 2004 just to let you know what kind of music I enjoy!

5) Better Than You
The Lipstick Pickups http://www.lipstickpickups.com/
Kapow Records www.kapowrecords.com

This single is the best thing to come out of Orange County in a while. It's more pop than punk, but it reminds me of the early West Coast punk scene. Tracy, who does the vocals, is a lighter version of Charlotte Caffey. When you first hear her voice you'll be reminded of that snobby girl your girlfriend always hung out with in freshman highschool. She gets to scream on the B-side ("Make Your Bed"), but still needs to develop that skill more. I've never heard of the band before I saw an ad for this in Punk Planet, and the only reason I bought it was because the sleeve art caught my attention. There's a big yellow sickle on a red background, and instead of a hammer crossing it, there's some lipstick. I just thought it would just be fun to order, but I was really impressed after only the first listen. (There were a 100 of these pressed on blood-red vinyl, and the rest in black).

4) John Wayne Was A Nazi
The Stains (M.D.C.) www.free.freespeech.org/deadcops/mainhome.htm
Rabid Dog Records rabiddogrecords@yahoo.com
Before they took the name Millions of Dead Cops, (and played faster), they were called the Stains and recorded this classic in 1981. (Yeah, I know The Germs had a reissue also, but I picked this single, (b/w "Born To Die"), over them. I go crazy whenever I hear some street punk band cover this song at a backyard gig! This is the only song I know that exposes the role of John Wayne films in society--propaganda--to make you root for the brave cowboy who kills the savage Indians. And let's not forget all the war movies he made (U-S-A! U-S-A!). "John Wayne wore an army uniform/ Didn't like us reds and fags that didn't conform/ Well John we have no regrets/ As long as you died a long and painful death (chorus) He was a Nazi/ Not anymore/ He was a Nazi/ Life evens the score."

3) Self-titled E.P.
Mika Miko www.mikamiko.tk
Post Present Medium www.thesmell.org/ppm
Mika Miko are a bunch of cool girls (and a guy on drums) from L.A. They're known for playing a lot at the Smell, (a popular Downtown all-ages venue). But they've played all over (including South Central's Florence district in the backyard of this writer's old pad). Some people will tell you that they got the riot grrl sound going on. Others will swear to you that their music is reminiscent of early L.A. punk. Truth is, they're just a really cool party band. (Everyone goes crazy at their shows). Side one starts off with, "Forensic Scientist," a fun song filled with fuzzy guitar and keyboard sounds. The second song, "Sleepover Slumber PArty," is off their 5-song demo, but this time recorded way better! The second side of this 4-song E.P. is also filled with cool guitar and insane keyboard noise, but most importantly, reminds us that lyrics can be weird! "This cereal smeels like skunk/ My milk tastes like sunblock." (By the time I write this they will probably be sold-out).

2) Himalayan Frostbite
Rai Ko Ris www.geocities.com/raikoris
BatAttaK Records www.batattak-records.com
The label that pressed this is from Florida, but the band is all the way from Nepal (you know, the small country tucked in-between China and India, where there is currently a strong Maoist revolution making great gains). I'm not sure how to describe the sound the sound of this band. It has been described as something like X meets hardcore. Kinda, but not really. Side A is definately my favorite as lead singer's Sareena's vocals are showcased here and the music really just accompanies her storytelling. The first song is called "Nepal Bandh," which literally means, "Nepal Closed," and refers to the nationwide strikes that happen frequently in the country. The second song, "Jaro Maina Ayo" (Winter Months Are Here), is also a political song). "Don't see many people working in the rice fields these days/ Where has everyone run to? America!/ Ten people in one room in America/ Is it heaven or hell? I really can't say." The other two songs on side B, although also political, are more personal and don't deal directly with the situation in Nepal (as does side A). However, hardcore fans will probably like this side better as the band's hardcore-style vocals are highlighted on this side.

1) Only The Magic School Bus goes Back In Time
Hit Me Back www.hitmeback.s5.com
625 and Hate the Eighties www.625thrash.com
Most bands that come out of South Central are either skacore or street punk, but not HMB. They somehow managed to develop into one of the West Coast's best thrash bands. (For those unfamiliar to the genre, just think really-fast-punk). Side A starts off sounding like you just bought the latest Vines/Hives/(insert garage band of the week here) album. But really the guys are just playing a joke on us. (Or maybe just letting peole know they can play their instruments any way they like)? After a few seconds the the album gets into familiar HMB territory: wild drumming that goes all over the place trying to catch up with the fast guitars guided by simple and personal lyrics. There's two songs about skateboarding, two political songs, a Heresy cover and a song called, "If You Feel Fee, You Are Free." (Write what you know, eh)? The last song is the title-track and the long title actually refers to stubborn punks who refuse to listen to anything unless its "old-school" punk. I really like the surprising way the song ends, as the guys prove once again that they are real musicians.

Invitation to REVOLUTION-- Help distribute 100,000 copies!

2005-04-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

On this occasion of the May 1st holiday-- we in the Revolutionary Communist Party are proud to introduce the first issue of Revolution newspaper! What you have in your hands is no ordinary newspaper.

This newspaper is the voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA and exists for no other reason than to play a role in the emancipation of humanity.

As comrades and students of RCP Chairman Bob Avakian we are passionate about the truth and we are passionate about revolution. Our press is objectivecommitted to the idea that only by confronting reality as it is can the masses of people know and change the world. And we are partisan-- committed to the idea that the people can free humanity from all kinds of enslaving economic and social relations and enslaving ideas. . .

View complete editorial at revcom.us

Otra vez con el English Only

2005-04-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

With just a couple of instructions in his courtroom, Judge Barry Tatum single-handedly trampled over civil rights, upheld the "superiority" of English, reinforced women's and National oppression and found another way to say, "America: Love it or leave it!"
Two months ago, Tatum, a judge in Lebanon, Tennessee instructed a woman, originally from Oaxaca, Mexico to use birth control AND learn English.
Last October this same judge also told another Mexican woman that, if at their next meeting she didn't speak English at a fourth-grade level, he would begin the process of terminating her parental rights.
The L.A. Times quoted Nashville attorney Jerry Gonzalez, who is representing one of the women as saying, "The court specially informs the mother that if she does not make the effort to learn English, she is running the risk of losing her daughter forever."
In George W. Bush's world, you can be good enough to risk death to come to this country and work the hardest jobs for little pay, but you will never be good enough to speak your own language.

Death on the 10 FWY-- Border Patrol chases car with 21 immigrants

2005-04-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

April 14, 2005

The Chevy Suburban couldn’t stop. There were 21 people inside. The Border Patrol chased the SUV. It was almost 4:00 A.M approaching Joshua Tree National Park, down the 10 FWY—the same road we had traveled only weeks before.

The Border Patrol threw a spike strip on the road—the SUV overturned—1 man was pinned under the car and killed—9 were badly injured and airlifted to local hospitals—the remaining 11 were taken to a processing center to be deported.

A CHP officer at the scene said, “It’s not the spike strip that caused the collision. It is the driver that caused the collision. The driver simply failing to stop like he was supposed to . . . caused the collision.”

The hunter blames the prey for the blood spilled in the chase.

Hunters and the Hunted on the Arizona Border

2005-04-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

Minutemen Vigilantes Target Immigrants

by Luciente Zamora and Nikolai Garcia

Revolutionary Worker #1275, April 24, 2005, posted at rwor.org

Somewhere along the Mexico/U.S. border, between the small Arizona towns of Naco and Douglas, a retired ex- Marine from Missouri stands in front of his campsite and American flag. On his right side is a 9mm handgun, and on his left is a cell phone. He holds up a pair of binoculars and looks toward the Mexican border, waiting.

The man is part of the Minuteman Project, a group of military vets and militant rightwingers who have been recruited over the Internet to patrol a 20-mile stretch of the Arizona border during the month of April.

They gathered in RV camps, and celebrated their mission with all the camaraderie of a vacation cookout.

They deployed themselves out into the desert wearing camouflage, often packing guns, night vision goggles, walkie-talkies, and cell phones with the number for the Border Patrol on speed dial.

They consider the migrant workers who cross this border looking for work to be an enemy invading force. And they describe themselves as merely "Americans doing the job Congress won't."

They are hunting human beings.

The Minuteman Project
Since April 1, recruits of the Minuteman Project have been gathering from Colorado, California, Texas, New Mexico. Retired border patrol agents, ex-Marines, former corrections officers, neo-nazis from the National Alliance, white separatists, and others answered a call put out by the Minuteman Project to defend the "Homeland" from the "invasion of illegal aliens."

Some came by car or RV, others flew into the area on their private planes--but they all arrived on a mission to hunt "illegal aliens." Officially, they say they will only "call" Migra Agents to "report" crossings--but vigilantes with guns, enthusiastic about the hunt, suggest they are ready and eager to kill immigrants if given a chance. After orientation, they dispersed in bands of vigilantes across a 20-mile stretch of the Arizona/ Mexico border.

Two of the Minuteman Project's founders are Chris Simcox and Jim Gilchrist, both originally from California.

Chris Simcox--a longtime vigilante activist who bought the local Tombstone Press when he moved to Arizona--wrote a letter addressed to President Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, and Tom Ridge. In that letter Simcox described the lack of border patrol agents as "treasonous behavior" and vowed to contribute to "national defense" by stopping the "invasion." He announced he would take it upon himself and his group to patrol the border.

When he heard Simcox on conservative AM radio, Jim Gilchrist decided he had found an ally for his idea of forming a vigilante group that would patrol the border.

These Minutemen inspired by rightwing Republican Pat Buchanan's claim that urgent action is needed to preserve the U.S. as an ethnically white, Christian-European nation. Their mission statement says that if this is not done, "Future generations will inherit a tangle of rancorous, unassimilated, squabbling cultures with no common bond to hold them together, and a certain guarantee of the death of this nation as a harmonious 'melting pot.' "

The Hunted
Somewhere in Mexico a man fits two days worth of clothes into a small bag. His wife cries as she watches her husband pack.

From the doorway a small boy stares at his mother crying. He understands what his father told him: "I have to leave for a while." But, unlike his mother, he's still not old enough to realize the deadly journey his father is about to embark upon and the possibility that he may never see him again.

All throughout Mexico, men and women, young and old, are saying good-bye to their home towns and their families in order to insure survival for at least one more day.

Many will end up in the Downtown L.A. sweatshop district attached to sewing machines, and sometimes not even earning minimum wage. Others will go beyond southern California to pick garlic in Fresno, or all the way to Florida to pick tomatoes, or somewhere in between, like North Carolina, to work at a meat packing plant.

For most of the time that they spend in this country, until they return to Mexico or until they die trying to pay off debts, they will be treated as second-class citizens.

They will be harassed for not speaking English and will be in constant fear of the passing of another state law that seeks to deny their children education or health services. They will always stay as far away as possible from any authorities.

But for the ones that aren't so "lucky," a different fate awaits them.

Hunting Humans in Modern America
"Humans. That's the greatest prey there is on earth."

Roger Barnett. former deputy sheriff and rancher, Sierra Vista, Arizona

The cold-blooded vigilante attacks on immigrants aren't a new development. Ranchers in Arizona have killed undocumented immigrants for years. They have terrorized them, hunted them down with dogs, and handed them over to the Border Patrol at gunpoint.

Border watch groups and vigilante patrols have been building along the U.S./Mexico border. But what is new is that they have developed deep ties with powerful forces high in the government--and are operating in the era where any paranoid appeal for more security quickly gets official backing and a public hearing. One sign posted in the town of Tombstone read: "Terrorists love open borders--Remember 9/11."

For years, the U.S. government has been militarizing the border, under both Democratic and Republican presidents. Mile by mile, walls and barbed wire have cut off Mexico from the United States, forcing more and more immigrants to cross over in the dangerous desolate stretches of border in Arizona.

It has created an intense conflict zone, as desperate immigrant workers try to cross and survive, and an intensified government crackdown hunts them through the dry hills to trap them, capture them, and deport them back to Mexico.

In the days before the Minuteman Project started, George W. Bush sent between 500 and 700 new Border Patrol agents to the Arizona/Mexico border.

And meanwhile, this reactionary Minuteman movement has emerged to demand even more extreme and violent actions against the immigrants. They have criticized the proposals made by President Bush and Mexico's President Vicente Fox to create a legal program for bringing Mexican immigrants into the U.S.

They have argued that even the last decade of militarization along this border has not been nearly enough--and that all crossings need to be finally and permanently sealed by whatever means necessary.

And they have offered themselves as an armed vigilante force to hunt and capture immigrants, to turn them over to the Border Patrol, and as a public attempt to pressure and shame the government to step up its own efforts.

The Desert
If you ever drive towards Douglas, you will start noticing water bottles all over the desert, as if the desert had started sprouting plastic along with the cacti. Some of the bottles will be barely visible, but clearly empty. Some of these bottles quenched the thirst, maybe even saved the life, of someone who had been walking for days without shade or water in the hot desert sun.

More clearly visible will be the full, untouched gallons leaning on the barbed-wire fence--left by people who want to welcome immigrants, ease their suffering, rescue their lives, and take a public stand against the racist climate.

How many of the waiting water bottles will not reach the dying lips of a Mexican campesino whose last thoughts will be about his family and the annual fair in his home town?

As you drive along these desert roads, you will then start seeing small makeshift memorials consisting of metal crosses, rocks and colorful ribbon: More evidence of death along the border.

Creating A Zone of Danger and Death
"Immigrants will divide our country. We are not going to have a civil war now, but we could."

Jim Gilchrist, reactionary Vietnam vet and Minuteman border vigilante

Year after year, hundreds of migrants die trying to cross the border. The California Rural Assistance League reported that there were 325 deaths at the border during the 2004 fiscal year alone. Their deaths are often horrific--abandoned to be baked alive in sealed railroad cars and trucks. Or stopped by a twisted ankle in the harsh desert, and unable to make it to water or rescue.

Our RW reporting team spoke with a young humanitarian in southern Arizona who is horrified by all this, and who works with a religious group that leaves water bottles for migrants at key crossing points on the border.

This person told the RW, "Some reports say that over 40 percent of migrants who cross the border in these areas are assaulted. Either they are robbed by their coyotes, they are raped, or beat up by people. Those things are typical of a war zone--where civilians pay the cost.. We've heard the Minutemen talk about migrants. They use words like they would if they were hunting animals. They say, 'Hey, we're going to bag and tag some illegals today.'"

The press reported that a man captured by the Minutemen was held against his will, and forced to stand for a photograph holding a shirt with the slogan: "Bryan Barton caught an illegal alien and all I got was this lousy T- shirt."

In the main, the Border Patrol authorities don't publicly support the Minutemen. They warn of the "dangers of vigilanteism." And they urge that civilians trust the official Border Patrol to "do its job." But at the same time, from President Bush on down, there is very little attempt to denounce the Minuteman Project directly, and even less is done to stop them.

Imagine: Armed men gather from across the country to hunt human beings, spreading through the countryside with nightvision glasses to target anyone who "looks like an alien" to them. And nothing is done to stop them, or prevent their raw terrorization of people.

Imagine, for just a second, if some community of oppressed people in the U.S. suddenly announced that they were tired of the threat of police brutality in their community and formed armed neighborhood groups to keep their communities safe. What would happen? Would these armed groups of people be allowed to roam free? Would the local authorities stand aside and let them do their thing?

Of course not, all the armed might of the state would be brought in to break them up.

But in Arizona, the leaders of the Minuteman Project have gotten shameless support from government officials. Colorado Republican Congress member Tom Tancredo sent Gilchrist and Simcox a letter that said, "Congratulations on a job well done!! Mission accomplished!!" He invited these armed racist thugs to Washington, DC to attend the Congressional "Immigration Reform Caucus" with him.

As you read this article.
Somewhere near the Mexico/U.S. border a man waits for night to arrive. With his right hand he clutches a small bag filled with his belongings and with his heart he holds on to the memory of his wife and son, remembering his promise to them that he will make it to el otro lado to find work and help them survive for at least another day

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
http://rwor.org
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Revolution newspaper is coming soon . . .

2005-04-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

Revolution newspaper is coming this May 1st!! I'm so excited about this.

The editors of the newspaper wrote a message that the name is being changed from the Revolutionary Worker to Revolution because it's a name that more fully reflects our communist ideology and politics and the enriched vision of a tribune of the people that has been pioneered by Bob Avakian.

I'm always amazed at the quality of our newspaper and the way that it is both an organizing tool that currently does and has tremendous potential to organize networks of people and keep these networks connected to the Revolutionary Communist Party and Bob Avakian. It analyzes things as they are developing in the world and it also gives us food or thought and inspires us to discuss and wrangle over what communism is and the road to get there. There are amazing articles about science and art-- topics that the masses of people have been locked out of and need to know about. These articles are so special for many reasons--partly because the Christian Fascists want to do away with all this-- but also because human beings need to understand basic things about how the world works and they need to be amazed!

In thinking about how essential the revolutionary press is I've been giving some thought to what Bob Avakian has written about this:

"In What Is To Be Done , Lenin emphasizes that the way the masses must and do develop proletarian class consciousness is by being enabled and trained to respond to all major social questions and world events, and how these find expression among all different strata; and they have to be trained to do this from a class-conscious proletarian point of view, and no other . They have to be trained to see not only how they come into confrontation with the ruling class in the more narrow and immediate sphere of their economic relations with their employers (or with their immediate exploiters and oppressors), and so on, but in the broader sense in which the proletariat as such comes into conflict with the ruling class. And they have to learn to make what Lenin calls a `materialist analysis and a materialist estimate' of all major social questions and world events and how this finds expression among different classes and strata--and therefore to recognize and distinguish the nature and interests of all different classes and strata in society."

Our revolutionary press is truly something to celebrate and promote in a HUGE way. The L.A. Writers Collective is looking for ideas to promote Revolution newspaper in the week leading up to and the week of May 1st! We want to break through in a big way and get this into the hands of tens of thousands of people.

-- Luciente

Initial thoughts on the Minuteman Project

2005-04-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

“I want to get the president of the United States to uphold the oath of his office . . . which is to protect us from the invasion of criminals, drug dealers and illegal immigrants flowing across this border by the thousands every day.”
-- Chris Simcox, a former school teacher and one of the initiators of the Minuteman Project, also editor of the Tombstone Press

“Terrorists love open borders—Remember 911”
-- one of many bill boards along the highways in Arizona

“Americans [are] doing the job Congress won’t do.”
--Minuteman Project website

* * *

This is some of their mentality—the government isn’t doing enough to deal with the “border problem” and groups of angry and frustrated “citizens” are taking matters into their own hands. Although the numbers that the organizers of the Minuteman Project are not the 1000+ they expected, there were definitely more than a hundred vigilantes roaming around the border—many are armed. Not surprisingly many are retired (and I think active) corrections officials and ex-military people.

They say they are protecting the “homeland” from terrorists and foreigners. There are known white separatists and ultra right wing militia types involved in the project, but also a good percentage of Mexican Americans and other Latinos.

Some immigrants ask, “Why are they doing this? We’re human beings, you don’t hunt human beings like you do animals—don’t they see how much we contribute to the economy of this country? This country needs immigrant labor.”

I think that the U.S. government does realize how valuable immigrant labor is, but they do want to control it. It’s not a good thing in the eyes of the U.S. government to have increasing numbers of people—millions—from countries in Latin America and all over the world who have been ravaged and raped by U.S. imperialism to come to the U.S. This section of people know what U.S. imperialism does to entire countries and their economies, they know that NAFTA has made it impossible for a peasant to survive in the Mexican countryside, they know that the U.S. helped train the death squads in El Salvador and Guatemala, they have lost loved ones under the crushing fire of Made in the USA bombs.

In times of increasing polarization in the United States—at a time when some one like Newt Gingrich has said that the country hasn’t been this divided since the Civil War—where will this section of people who have no allegiance for the U.S. and know of its horrors align itself with?

These are just some stream of consciousness thoughts for the moment—there will be more.

Actions against Minuteman Project in Arizona

2005-04-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

Tombstone, Arizona—At the end of the first weekend of the Minuteman Project there were at most 150 volunteers. Some were from Tennessee, Minnesota, Maryland, Arizona, New Mexico, California, and other states. Some were retired corrections sergeants and officers, one was a lawyer, and some were first, second, and third generation Mexican Americans. They registered with the project in a small town hall as soon as they arrived in Arizona, got their “patrol assignment” and headed to their “designated location.”

Outside the hall Aztec dancers in full dress danced, people from Food Not Bombs, EarthFirst!, and others from surrounding communities beat on pots and pans to protest the Minuteman vigilantes.

Naco, Arizona—a group of ex-braceros closed down the Naco/U.S. border in protest. They are from thoughout Mexico, some from Tijuana, Baja California, and Hermosillo. The men are now elderly—they were part of the Bracero program in the 50’s and said they felt it was important to stand up against the Minuteman project.

An organizer for the protest Violeta Dominguez said, “It was the braceros of yesterday supporting the braceros of today . . . These people face enough hazards as it is without the added danger of the Minutemen.”

Later in the day about 40 women dressed in black held a vigil at the U.S./Mexico border.

Bisbee, Arizona—local residents stood along a local highway holding signs that read, “Minutemen, Don’t need you, Don’t want you, GO HOME!” and “Minutemen with Nothing Better to Do.”

A resident told the Arizona Republic, “I want this border issue resolved, but I don’t want these guys out here, acting up and playing Wyatt Earp.”

Agua Prieta, Mexico—organizers from various human rights organizations from the U.S. and from Mexico and dozens of press from throughout Mexico and the U.S. held a rally in a park in the border town of Agua Prieta. People from the town who work in maquiladoras, are waiting to cross the border, and have already been deported gathered closer to hear more about what people in the U.S. have to say about the vigilantes. Some people from the town took to the microphone and declared that they are human beings and not animals to be hunted and killed.

- Luciente

Reflections on water

2005-04-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

And when the sky fell to Earth, landing on its knees-- it didn't crush us.
We already knew what it's like to be down.
The difference now,
is that their pain is real and ours is just an afterthought.
No matter what they put before us,
the tide is growing , swelling.
Water shoots upwards bringing down the aching sky.
Wind is our accomplice.
There is a great scheme.
There is a plot.
There are conspiracies here.

Surely, as water boils so does blood,
and just as water is spilt so is blood.
The difference:
water dries but blood stains.
No amount of white-washing of walls will ever cover up our blood.
No vessel can contain all the water at once.
It rises, it swells
shooting down the aching sky
tearing down the heavens in outraged cries.

And this time, when the sky rises again,
holding it up will be new women and new men.

And if that sky fails to bring rain,
they have every right to let it go.

Carlo Botero
2002

South Central Rain

2005-04-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

South Central rain
gently raps upon the pavement
unlike the assailment
of cops on the youth of tomorrow
busting the marrow
out of their bones
with their batons.

South Central rain
with all the pain it accompanies
I think of all the dreams buried away--
are they coming back again?

South Central rain
makes me think back
of people who packed a sack
and left their native land in contraband
of knowledge and wisdom
to bring down a kingdom.
The South Central rain
warns the women and men
that the tide is rising and turning
illusions are burning
into the ground
faith is lost and courage found
people developing an awareness
of struggling classes--
those who enslave
and those wielding a glaive
or is it a scythe and a hammer?
it won't much matter
when they're pounding their way into the fray
to create in it's place great social change.

South Central rain
light and docile
for only a while
then turns into a hurricane.

Carlo Botero
2000

Elemental

2005-04-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

Morning. Daylight.
Hundred miles out at sea.
On the surface, all is quiet it would seem.
But there's a tide growing underneath.

Morning. Sunlight.
Coming closer is the tide--
somewhere near the surface there's a crisis--
still waters are no more.

Morning. Heatwave.
Water rises to the sky.
Armed with blades of sun,
waves advance upon the shore,
breaking sandcastles
filling holes.

Morning. Rising.
Water is shaped by the vessel that contains it--
but what if there's no vessel to contain it anymore?

Carlo Botero
2001

A few Short Notes About AZ

2005-04-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

Driving to Arizona--

Our driver is going about 80 mph. I see about 100 McDonald's whizz by, 25 Wal-Mart's (and 25 more being built), and countless of big American flags flying high over said establishments...

Crossing into a different state does not make me feel different. The desert is not as hot as I had imagined, but still hotter than L.A. Everywhere on the horizon there are mountains...

Although it is dark I can still make out the shapes of the cacti that live in the desert. I look up and see the millions of stars that evade the big cities. Invisible to me, at the moment, are the stars on the ground, the wildflowers that have blossomed with the recent rains...

Driving to Douglas, AZ--

Driving towards the border town of Douglas, AZ hundreds of plastic water bottles can be seen in the desert. Some are small empty bottles and are barely visible. Others are large gallons, full, untouched and leaning on the barbed-wire fence.

How many of these will quench the thirst of someone we don't know? How many will not reach the dying lips of an immigrant who's last thoughts will be about his wife and children and the guaranteed job he was heading to in Florida picking tomatoes...

Somewhere along the border, a retired, ex-Marine from Missouri stands in front of his campsite and American flag. He holds a 9mm handgun and looks towards the Mexican border...

(Dear readers,
Doesn't having to work suck! I was going to call in sick today and didn't, and now I regret it because I had to stay for a couple of extra hours! Therefore, I was able to be at this Internet spot for only a bit, and now I have to go. That's the reason for this short entry. The good new is I'm on my way home to transcribe all these interviews I did across the border. We will definitely have a good article in the next issue of the RW, (or the Rev). So come back soon--porfavor).

We're In Arizona

2005-04-02T09:42:00.000-08:00

Damn it took forever to get here. Although, we are in Arizona, we are still two hours away from the "action." I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I think we're prepared. We difinately want to talk to the people who have come to confront the Minutemen and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are forced to cross the border, risking death, every day.

This thing by the "Minutemen" about protecting the border has been tried before. They also had a bunch of people sign up and volunter to "protect" the border, but in the end only about a dozen ever showed up. This time, however, it seems like they are really emboldened and have been getting so much news coverage. And a few days ago, the White House announced that they will be adding another 500 more border patrol agents...

Well, looks like we gotta go, but check back soon!

-Nikolai Garcia

Reflections on Living Out

2005-04-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

Reflections on "Living Out"
by Carlo Botero
Revolutionary Worker #1227, February 1, 2004, posted at rwor.org

I'm a revolutionary artist and long-time reader of the RW, who is working with the newly formed Los Angeles Writers Collective. We've been wrangling with the question of how people that flip burgers, sweep floors or sew clothes become trained and able to understand major questions and world events from a class conscious proletarian point of view. This made me think about how I've come to grasp things on a deeper level. And it reminded me of a play I saw last year. So I wanted to share this with readers of the RW.
*****

A friend and I caught the bus going into downtown Los Angeles. We walked past women going home from their jobs as nannies and housekeepers on the Westside. Along the bus ride I looked around at the tired faces of young men weary from work in kitchens in fancy restaurants throughout the city. Some women struggled with their kids to sit down, while others talked among themselves about their home countries, the type of work they do in this country and how little they get paid for it.

In downtown we met up with some other friends who gave us a pair of tickets to see a play that night at the Mark Taper Forum--but when we looked at the tickets, we didn't know what to make of them. The title on the tickets said Living Out. At first, my friend and I thought it was a play about being openly gay--but a poster for the event showed a woman holding up a baby--we were confused but intrigued.

We walked past the new Disney Concert Hall and went up the stairs into the Grand Avenue Plaza. As we approached the entrance to the Taper, I realized how different we looked from others attending the play--the overwhelming majority of people there were middle-aged, middle-class and white. I looked down at my Converse sneakers and my bulky morral (satchel) and saw those around me in suits and ties or evening gowns and cardigans. I stood there and thought back to a revolutionary walking tour of the garment district I had participated in. I had come to see how immigrants working in the sweatshops are part of a class that produces everything, yet nothing of what they produce belongs to them. I took a second look at the clothes being worn by the people standing in line to enter the Taper and saw those garment workers reflected in the sleeves, the collars and the buttons.

We entered the theatre amidst heavy carpets and drapery; my eyes were led to a brightly lit stage that had the walls converted into a giant map of L.A. city streets. My friend and I took our seats in the back row, and I checked out the crowd before the curtain went up. It was my first time at the Mark Taper Forum and I was psyched to be there. When the crowd had settled in their seats, I noticed other youth there as well and that made me feel more at ease.

Finally, the play began. It started out as "A Day in the Life of" type of story, and I kept waiting for the part where the main character, Ana, would come out to her husband, Bobby, saying she was really a lesbian. Needless to say, by the time intermission rolled around, I realized that the play was not about being gay--it was not about coming out of the closet, but cleaning someone else's closet! Humorous scene after heartbreaking scene I sat in the audience in stupefied amazement. I couldn't believe that on that very stage was the life-story of Latino immigrants--the millions who are forced to endure hardships such as the separation of their family, who risk death by crossing the border and end up working in back-breaking, low-paying, and degrading jobs. In the spotlight were the masses of people who are given unfulfilling jobs and whose exploitation makes this oppressive system grow. I especially remember sitting in the audience and thinking, how the hell does the playwright know about my mom's life in this country?
Living Out is a sharp and witty play that tells the stories of two different families--and two different experiences--at the same time. Wallace and her husband, Richard, are a family of lawyers on the Westside and they're looking for a "caretaker" to look after their newborn daughter, Jenna. On the other side of the city lives Ana with her husband, Bobby, who works in construction. Ana and Bobby are raising their son, Santiago, here in Los Angeles while their other son, Tomas, is being raised in El Salvador by his grandmother. We follow Ana, who is undocumented, as she searches for a job to make enough money to bring Tomas to the U.S. She goes out to interview for different families on the West Side of the city, an area that is generally much more affluent than the rest of the greater L.A. area. The first family that Ana interviews for asks her if she has any children of her own, and when Ana answers that she does indeed have a child at home, she is turned down because they want a nanny that would make their children a priority. Sitting in my seat, I thought about how, in order for a middle-class woman to join the paid labor force, she has to hire a proletarian woman to do the work that she would otherwise do--like cooking, cleaning and childcare. Among the questions that Ana is asked, much like other women seeking work as nannies and/or housekeepers, is if she would live with the family employing her (living in) or if she would leave to go home each day--which gives the play its title: "Living Out."

Throughout the play, I thought back to the times I would hop on the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus with my mom to go to her work. She's worked on the Westside as a housekeeper and sometime nanny for more than a decade. When we would get there, I would be astounded just looking at the big house that she had to clean by herself. And even though I would complain sometimes about going to work with her, I was glad that I could help her finish work fast. We would make a deal: she would give me a dollar for each chore that I did like cleaning windows and large mirrors, or vacuuming the hallway. And after we were done, we would walk down the hill to catch the bus again, and I would sit next to my mom and talk. Sometimes she would tell me how her eyes stung from cleaning solutions and how much her back began to hurt over the years. But she would most bitterly tell me how her degree in accounting does not count for shit when she's scrubbing someone else's bathtub.

The play brings out the bitter situations that immigrant masses face. There's a particular scene when time stood still for everyone in the Taper: Ana is sitting on a park bench with other nannies she has befriended and recounts a telephone conversation with her son in El Salvador. Tomas held in his hands a photograph of his mother along with other people--but he could not recognize which woman was his mother because it had been too long since he'd seen her. Ana, Zoila, and Sandra would meet at the park and share stories about work, their families and their life in this country, creating an informal network of support for each other. But that scene with Ana on the phone with her son, Tomas, made me think of all those men and women I saw on the bus on my way to the theatre. I saw on the stage all the families in my neighborhood who were forced to immigrate to the U.S. and whose lives and families are broken up by la frontera /the border: all those campesino families that were driven out of their land because they could not compete with U.S. imports; and those families seeking refuge from the U.S.-sponsored war in El Salvador.

Living Out brought out the heartache. But sometimes the contradictions were drawn out by the nannies with humor. In one comic scene they're out with the kids at the park, and they ponder what life in Los Angeles would look like without the back-breaking labor of Latino immigrants. They laughingly suggest that "Los Americanos be drivin' around in their dirty clothes, starving." Or that you "can't go to a restaurant cuz there's nobody to park your car."

The lights emanating from the stage cast a dim shadow on the audience. On occasion I would pan across and notice how people reacted differently to different scenes. And sitting there in the dark, even though I couldn't see all the people around me, I was able to discern the different classes and class strata in the audience by listening and observing how the play cleverly drew them out. There were a lot of jokes, comments and references made by characters in the play--some from the viewpoint of the nannies and some from the viewpoint of the employers, and it was interesting how different people in the audience reacted to these things. From the nervous titters, loud laughter and sometimes "I don't get it" silence, I could make a good guess where people were coming from and what their outlook is. This ability to recognize and analyze different classes from a communist point of view is something Lenin emphasizes in his book What Is To Be Done?

Living Out is a play that serves as a window into the lives of the millions of immigrants that have been forced into the shadows by this system. We get a glimpse of what their lives are like, and what kind of aspirations people at the bottom of society have and the kinds of obstacles and struggles they face.

Sitting in the darkness of the seats in the theatre, I kept thinking about my mom's life in this country. I thought to myself, how can a woman that was once an accountant only get a job as a housekeeper and nanny in this country? I was outraged when my mom had told me stories about how she had been harassed at the supermarket by a security guard who followed her around as if she were a thief. How she had been sexually harassed at work, but when she confronted the guy, he acted like it was an accident. Or how because she didn't speak English well, she was treated as if she were unintelligent. Growing up, I thought that the only way we would get out of poverty would be if I went to college, got an education, and worked in a high-paying job. And then, I began reading some revolutionary literature by Bob Avakian and the bourgeois glasses that had been firmly in place were knocked down. I began to understand that there are reasons why people live this way, it is not an accident, and it is not their fault. It was then that I began to focus the anger and confusion as I became conscious that I am part of a class who under this system can live only so long as we can work and can work only so long as our work enriches someone else--the capitalist class.

At the end of the play, I was caught up in a whirlwind of emotions the drama on stage had brought out for me. And once the crowd started to vacate the theatre, I tried to walk down the stairs into the lobby with my friend--but all I remember is seeing black and feeling my eyes explode with tears. An overwhelming sense of outrage came over me and I could see how my mom's life as an immigrant has been characterized by struggle. The more I thought that society is all fucked up, the more I realized that we need to be serious about fundamentally changing the way this world is run.

Living Out is one of those mirrors that made me see life in a new way. It made me think about how Mao Tsetung said in his Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art , that works of art are drawn from life, but they are higher than life.

Press=Porn

2005-03-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

Why buy porn, when American Apparel gives it away for free!
Yes, every Thursday, in the back of the L.A. Weekly, mixed in right in the middle of the classifieds, you can be sure to find an ad for American Apparel featuring a half-naked woman.
I'll admit, that from looking at their web-site, you can see that most of their clothing looks pretty cool and hip. But why does their advertising have to constantly feature a barely-clothed young woman in some provocative pose? These are more than just "eye-catching ads." They say something about the way woman are viewed in this society.
Most people who buy American Apparel clothing are aware of the kind of advertising they use. A lot of people also don't criticize them for it, or brush off others who do, because they believe their advertising is just hip and sexy--and besides--they are "socially conscious."
The young company has received lots of press for making themselves known as a company that makes clothes that are "sweatshop free," and it is well-known that they pay their workers well and offer incentives no other garment factory ever would. "The challenge for companies like American Apparel is to establish new ways of doing business that are efficient and profitable without exploiting workers," says their mission statement.
Exploiting women is okay, I guess, as long as you don't exploit workers. Yeah, it all balances out.

Speaking of the Weekly, the entire last thirty or so pages are always full of porn, literally. Every strip club and phone sex establishment has an ad, and most of these feature naked women with black squares that barely cover parts of their body.
But, hey, it's L.A.'s only "alternative" newspaper! Where else are we going to read well-written articles that go up against the system, especially in times like these when right-wingers seem to have so much control. Yeah, they may print ads that are a bit demeaning towards women, but how else are they supposed to pay their bills? And, you know, we need a radical and progressive alternative to the L.A. Times. Their cool political cartoons and left-leaning politics balance things out in the end, right?

Well, to all of you who have not heard of the Revolutionary Worker newspaper, let me introduce you to it. The R-W, as I like to call it, has been around for a bit over 25 years! They have been exposing the system and providing revolutionary theory on how to change the world every week, (in English and Espanol), without the help of any dumb advertising, (and especially not porn). The funding is provided by people who know how important it is for the paper to exist and give money to its production frequently, with many donating every week. (What a cool concept, this "relying on the masses" thing).

If you have not yet discovered the RW, go ahead and click on that link over there on your right. Who knows, you might feel like subscribing.

Thoughts on love, compassion, sex, and relationships after seeing "The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?"

2005-03-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw Edward Albee's The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia? The play was intense and provocative. Your notions of "morality" are challenged-- it definitely challenges you to think!

Martin is a successful architect, he's at the prime of his career, and there are great expectations placed on him on his next move. He's been married for more than 20 years to an intelligent and a woman with a great sense of humor and appreciation for metaphor, Stevie. Their son Billy is gay, and they are both "fine" with it.

He confesses to his best friend that he is being unfaithful to his wife-- he is in love and is both ecstatic and deeply conflicted by it. His new love is a goat-- or Sylvia.

Throughout the play Stevie, Billy, his best friend call him a goat fucker and sick.

Yes, beastiality is not conventionally accepted in society-- although it's not uncommon (I'd like to read more about what Kinsey has to say about this). But this play is not really about beastiality or "goat fucking." It's about a man who feels alone despite all his success-- everyone expects him to be a certain way and conduct himself in a respectable manner, as an award winning architect should. He loves his wife and son-- but still something is missing.

He escapes the city and travels to the country in the search of a country home . . . and peace. Then he meets "Sylvia" and he feels a connection-- a kind of closeness and tender understanding that does not include making judgments about him based on who he is and how he should be. This fills him like a rush, unlike anything he has ever experienced. Everything he has ever known tells him that this is not right, but it's already happened-- he's in love.

I think it's a play that wants to challenge it's audience-- How tolerant are you? How long until your "traditional values" are triggered and you decide to judge Martin and what he has done? Is all closeness kissing and touching sexual?

In a society were sex has been commodified to a point where it is not only an expression of love, but it is largely seen as a release of "primal urges"-- it is jolting and disturbing for the audience to learn that Martin is not only deeply connected in a spiritual kind of sense, but also sexually with a goat. But this play is not really about a man who has sex with a goat or beastiality-- the goat can be a metaphor for any kind of "unconventional" relations and the nature of love.

Those are just some initial thoughts for now . . . I think I need to think about this some more . . .

coach potato...

2005-03-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

Last night's episode of "The O.C." was so awesome! Seth and Summer are back together! And it looks like the same might happen for Ryan and Marissa!
And what about the new people joining the cast? It seems that...

Oh wait...I'm on the wrong blog. Crap!

How do I delete posts???

Sorry guys, thought i was on the o.c. lovers collective blog.

Let's Be Like Lisa Simpson!

2005-03-16T18:05:00.000-08:00

Last night's Simpsons rerun (7 p.m.) was one of my favorite episodes, 1997's "Lisa The Skeptic." It's an episode that pits science against religion and features the voice of the late scientist, and expert on evolution, Stephen Jay Gould, who actually has some very funny scenes in the show.
In the episode, Lisa, the brainy one in the Simpsons clan, digs for fossils and unearths a skeleton--a skeleton that everyone in Springfield believes to be of an Angel. Lisa rightly refuses to believe in things that are not based on facts, but she is, unfortunately, pretty much on her own. (Even her mom gives her the hardest time for not believing in an afterlife).
At the end of the episode we learn that the "Angel" had been planted by some developers, for Lisa to find, as a publicity stunt for the opening of their new Heavenly Hills Mall. While Lisa gets angry at the developers for exploiting the community's beliefs and calls for a boycott of the mall, everyone else runs down to check out the new stores and take advantage of the 20% discount! (An episode that pits science against religion and ends with a stab at consumerism? Only The Simpsons can do it, folks).
* * *
The most interesting/hilarious/scary part of the episode is when Springfield's resident ultra-religious fanatic, Ned Flanders and some of his neighbors get together to discuss the evils of science. He refers to science as the person who knows how the movie is going to end and wants to ruin it for everybody. "Well, there's just some things we don't want to know--important things," he says. Moe the bartender asks, "What has science ever done for us anyway?" And with these words they decide to do away with anything in the town relating to science.
First, they break into the local Natural History Museum and destroy everything in it. They tear down a space telescope and then burn down a technology center. (A robot covered in flames rushes out crying, "Why was I programmed to feel pain?")
Pretty funny...until you start to realize how close to reality the cartoon actually is! There are religious fanatics out there that are so scared of thinking that they truly hate science and even want to enforce their beliefs on us as facts. The Ned Flanders' of the world seem to have the upper hand right now. With Bush in office they feel emboldened.
Already they have tried to tell us that the Grand Canyon (in Arizona) was created by Noah's ark, and not by millions of years of Mother Nature's work; They have placed stickers on textbooks saying that evolution is just one of many theories and not a fact; They have taken control of sexual education classes where they tell young people that they can get pregnant by touching.
A paragraph from the important statement, ("The Battle for the Future..."), released by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) says: "Bush's gang suppresses science. They've taken control of scientific agencies. They promote "creationism" against evolution and they suppress scientific research on life-and-death issues like global warming, the AIDS epidemic, and stem-cell research. Unless they can use it to make money or make weapons, Bush's people hate the scientific spirit of trying to figure out how the world really works. Science calls into question their dogmatic interpretation of the Bible that prepares people to sacrifice for "god and country"--and never ask why."
NO MORE RELIGIOUS NONSENSE!!! The Lisa Simpsons of the world--science-loving, eco-friendly and progressive-minded people--need space to breathe! Keep god in the bible and away from the textbooks. Let the imagination of humanity soar high, and let it reach a point of curiosity, so much curiosity that it will be challenged to find out how the world works and learn to rely less on centuries-old myths and superstitions.

The entire statement from the RCP can be found at http://www.rwor.org/future/web.htm

Occupation Blues

2005-03-11T17:29:00.000-08:00

it's not so much that he wears my clothes
as much as I have no clothes to wear
it's not so much that he sleeps under the roof of my home
as much as there is no roof over my head
--it's been torn down (much like this heart of mine has been torn out)--
it's not so much that I don't want to share my food
as much as there is no food to share
it's not so much that I am glad I am alive
as much as a daily struggle to survive.
And even though I am told to not have hatred in my heart
it's hard to do when my family and life are torn apart.
To have a stranger trample on me with his boots
is why I have the occupation blues,
but as I grow strong and as I learn,
the occupier will get his dues.

Carlo Botero
2003

Enter The Black Panther

2005-03-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

By Nikolai Garcia

Scene on page 18:

"They can't do that," someone yells from inside a room in the White House.
Inside the room, the Secretary of State, Dondi Reese, is pointing out some changes on a memo to her secretary, while a group of military officials and others in business suites continue on with a discussion at a table not far from where she is standing.
"We're the #$%#& United States of %#$%#$ America," a general says. "Where do a bunch of Jungle bunnies get off telling us they've got a 'No Fly' zone over their thatched hut?"
Dondi, an African-American woman with dark red lipstick and a head full of silver hair, turns around as she hears the general's words.
The room grows silent.
"Did I say something wrong," the general asks, unaware that Dondi Reese is standing right behind him.
He turns around and quickly opens his mouth to say, "Oh god, Dondi--I'm sorry! You know I don't mean you when I say--"
"Shut up, Wallace," says Dondi.
"--I mean, they're nothing like you--"
"Shut-up," she repeats.
This time the general keeps his mouth shut as his cheeks turn red.

* * * * * * * *

No matter how high they climb the capitalist ladder, Black people cannot escape National Oppression. The scene above illustrates this at the highest level of power, inside the White House.
The scene described was not found in any famous novel or recent film. It actually comes from the pages of the first issue of a new comic book called, Black Panther, which was released last month.
The Panther is the hero of an imaginary country located in the center of Africa called, Wakanda, which the book describes as being notable for "never having being conquered in its entire history." In the book you learn that the Wakandans have all battled and beat different forces who have tried, through force, to get on their land. Other African tribes, Christian and Islamic invaders in its early history. Followed by French, English and Belgium forces that were lured by stories of Wakanda's gold and riches.
In two beautifully illustrated pages the Black Panther even goes hand-to-hand with Marvel Comic's most glorified and over-rated superhero, Captain America--and beats him! Captain America getting his butt kicked? Great! The U.S., not the good guys? Very interesting. The fact that this comic book is filled with so much political content is amazing to me!

* * * * * * * *

The Black Panther is not a new character in the Marvel Comics Universe. In fact, he was originally created in 1966, but never became one of the company's most popular characters. That is until they decided to revamp the character this year, bringing in one of Marvel's most popular artists, John Romita Jr., who did a lot of work on Spider-Man and also currently illustrates Wolverine.
The writer of this new monthly series is Reginald Hudlin, who is known mostly for his work in Hollywood (he wrote and directed 1990's House Party and was co-executive producer on the first African-American animated film, Bebe's Kids, in 1992). Recently, however, he teamed up with Aaron McGruder, creator of the very funny and very political comic strip, The Boondocks, and another illustrator, Kyle Baker, to produce the graphic novel Birth of A Nation. (The book is a political satire about the city of East St. Louis seceding from the U.S. as a result of Black people being turned away at the polls).
Marvel comics did a great job promoting the book. There was an article in the New York Times, and a small mention in Newsweek magazine that urged people to buy the first issue. As a result many comic shops across the country sold-out of the first issue, many in just one day!
(One of the guys at the comic shop that I frequent told me that they sold-out the first day and that he had never seen so many Black people go in the store in one day, which is very significant considering that Black people do not make up a large majority of comic book fans).

* * * * * * * *

The comic book so far...
So far we know that "people" in the White House are really interested in the advanced technology and large oil deposits that Wakanda has. (In another scene in the comic book we learn that Halliburton informed them about the oil, and the military officials and business suit men are almost in shock when they learn that the country does not even pump the oil because they rely on a variety of alternative power sources like solar and hygrogen power.) What these people will do in order to gain Wakanda's resources has not been revealed. But what is shown on the final page of the first issue is that "The Klaw," a known villain of the Marvel Universe, wants to kill him and is preparing a force to invade the country.
I don't know what else is in store for Black Panther and if the book will continue to be filled with as much politics as adventure. What I do know is that this is the best new title I have read this year and can't wait for the next issue!

Black Panther #2 is due out next Wednesday. I've also read that Marvel is planning to reprint #1 sometime in the middle of March

Abortion is NOT murder!

2005-03-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

I had just finished reading the "Fire and the Fury"-- a piece written by a transgenerational writing group at the Revolutionary Worker and I'm exited to show it to some friends at Santa Monica College.

It was so inspiring-- women and men-- have the potential to be so much more than commodities. We are capable of dreaming how things ought to be and that can be-- where the whole of humanity can soar.

And it was infuriating at the same time-- half of humanity is bound up by oppressive chains and treated like sexual commodities, breeders, and inferior to men.

And here I am, a communist, thinking: How do we realize the revolutionary potential of the people and actually get rid of all this shit and create a better world (I haven't been able to stop thinking about Bob Avakian's thoughts on this "The Revolutionary Potential of the Masses and the Responsibility of the Vanguard").

So all these things are going on in my mind . . . and then I'm visually accosted by giant pictures of fetuses and signs that say "Abortion is Genocide" "Abortion is murder." The pictures are bloody-- some are pictures of what seems to be a dismembered fetus. There is a group of loud anti-abortionists coming up to people yelling "Abortion is murder!" "Abortion is murder!" Some people are getting into arguments with them about back alley abortions and why it's a personal choice that no one other than the woman should have a say in-- especially not the government.

But it still seemed like the antis were setting the terms for the discussion. The scene was desperate for another voice . . .

Then two young women came into the scene with signs that read "Get your rosaries out of my ovaries" and "Ask me about my vagina." It's like there was a collective sigh that there was some opposition finally here. We all talked about what abortion really is and why no one should have the right to control a woman's body (other than the woman herself)-- that women are valuable and have a lot to contribute to society and changing the world.

The antis tried to convince us that abortion is wrong and that abortion is murder, when people refuted that, they said that it was against god to kill another human being, when people refuted that, they called us immoral and sinners, when people argued against that and said that we don't accept their imposition of their morality on us, they played the victim role and said that they have the right to be out there too and we shouldn't try to silence their voice.

So many people came up and said "Thank you for standing up. All this made me sick. They can't talk their shit and not get challenged!"

One woman told her story about how she got pregnant, had an abortion, and is glad she did. She feels no guilt or shame. She doesn't feel like she did something immoral because she didn't!

A group of us talked about how important it is to tell the truth about what abortion really is-- the science behind it. The antis were spreading unscientific nonsense-- that is a distortion of reality and a bunch of bullshit. We also talked about how women need to be reassured that abortion is not murder-- it is a fundamental human right that has everything to do with whether or not a woman can be more than a slave.

As Bob Avakian, Chairman of the RCP, has said, "The oppression of women, on the greatest scale and down to the most personal and intimate detail, is an everyday fact of life under the present order. In personal family relations, and everywhere in society, women--even those of the propertied and financially well- off classes--are continually subjected to insult, threats, abuse, degradation, and brutality at the hands of men. They are virtually treated as property themselves--as commodities to be bought and sold and to be used to sell other commodities. Male supremacist domination and oppression of women is not only an everyday fact of life--it is a foundation stone of capitalism and of all systems where one section of society dominates and exploits others. And therefore it is woven into the fabric of society and the dominant culture--in religious-based `traditional morality' as well as in the flagrant sexual plunder of pornography and prostitution." (from "Why Only Proletarian Revolution Can Liberate Women")

So I come back to "The Fire and The Fury" and thought about these closing paragraphs:

The fire that burns deep within women, the fire that will not accept any degrading role and that tells us that this is not the way things have to be, needs to be taken to a whole new level--with a clear, sweeping and scientific sense of where we stand in history and what we can wrench out of today's bitterness.

Women do not have to accept being treated like property in any way. They need a chance to play a powerful role in the transformation of all society, to be full participants and leaders of this struggle to liberate all of humanity, and to liberate themselves in the process.

Break the Chains!
Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Revolution!

Three Women: Thoughts on Transformations, International Women's Day 2005

2005-03-07T21:57:00.000-08:00

by Luciente Zamora

Revolutionary Worker #1270, March 13, 2005, posted at rwor.org

Mariela wears a big red flower in her hair.
Her walls, paintings, poems, and culinary delights are bold statements
full of color and unexpected sazón.
She can hike up rocky hills wearing a summer skirt and platform shoes--
she laughs loudly and full of sentimiento.

Mariela never used to wear red. Someone had once told her that red was not a flattering color on morenas . But she loved the color and the way it looked against her skin. One day she put on a red dress. Not just any dress, but a really bright "look at me" shade of red. She didn't want to feel that way again--ashamed of the color of her skin.

She's fought to lift up mujeres for most her life. She's helped young women in abusive relationships, given them shelter, and internalized some of their pain with the hope of lightening their load. She's helped a few here and there, but there are never enough bandages for her to treat every wound from every woman who walks through her door.

On the nights she thought she might burst she drove away from the city--rolled her pants up along the shore and walked feeling the smooth rocks and seaweed press against and wrap around her feet. She would peer through the clouds, looking for stars. But sometimes the clouds are thick and it's hard to see the stars-- she smiles anyway because she knows they're there.

*****

Valentina's voice is deep.
She knits white and sky-blue doilies that puff up like clouds
on her couches and love seat,
and she smokes, even though her husband never liked it.

The day she heard the church bells toll, she threw off her apron, picked up her machete, and with every breathfought against the government that wanted to pave over their fertile green fields with asphalt. She felt complete for the first time in her life. She has started to have dreams about flying.

Valentina doesn't like to be called brave. She told me, "Anyone is capable of doing things that no one expected you to do, or that they don't want you to do, or that you didn't know were in you."

When the Mexican government wanted to pave over the communal lands in Atenco that her ancestors had won in the Mexican Revolution and build an airport over it, she felt her blood boil. The raw injustice of it made her fight it.

For the first time she stepped outside her home. Not literally, like to go to the market or to visit a friend--but to the world around her and the entire planet.

She sees that the problem is so fundamental--imperialism feeds off the people and the Earth's resources to survive. The tractors keep digging, the cement mixers keep grinding--imperialism is destroying the Mexican countryside and filling the cities con la gente sin tierra--sending thousands of men and women through the desert, desperate to reach el Norte .

She also sees the faces of the dispossessed--the women selling trinkets along the side of the road, the children selling chiclets, the older ones they call traga-fuegos who put chemicals in their mouths to breathe fire, and the youth who sell their bodies on the street. Some have hollow eyes which can only be made to see again through some very dramatic upheaval and the kind of love that does not yet thrive on these mean streets; but in other eyes there is still a chispa--a twinkle still burning behind the bravado and the hustle.

*****

Ernestina is almost 60.

When her employers asked her to be a live-in housekeeper--
they also told her to get her own refrigerator.
They don't like the smell of tortillas mingling with the other food.
She sent them straight to la chingada and didn't look back.

Ernestina never married--she never wanted to and still doesn't. Books--she has always wanted to read a book through, but she has never had the time.

Washing, ironing, folding, cooking, cleaning, scrubbing--there isn't a moisturizer in the world that can heal the cracks on her hands. Every day, it's what she does as if that's what she was born to do. She does it as a live in housekeeper and for her family on her days off. She tells herself, "I don't know how to read anyway--so what difference does it make?"

But she can't stop thinking about it.

*****

Today, Mariela can see the stars.

Today, Valentina's heart does not ache uncontrollably.

Today Ernestina isn't too tired to think.

Each cloud looks like a flower and the petals blend into different shades of red.

Three women have encountered a great scientist, reality and a dream.

They are at the top of the precipice
It wasn't easy
The cliff is jagged,
but the view...

The currents in the ocean underneath are strong--
They can crush and swallow.

Three take flight.

What exists beyond what their eyes can see fills them with awe--
They are amazed by its beauty and magnificence.

This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Onlinehttp://www.rwor.org/Write: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497

Police Attack Youth, Backyard Scene

2005-03-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

I previously posted, (around Feb 21), the following article on a L.A. punk and ska website.

O.N.K. were just 30 seconds into their set when a police officer, who seemed to come out of nowhere, grabbed their bass player, shook him and told them to stop playing.
Like everyone else in the South Central L.A. street punk and skacore scene, the members of ONK were used to backyard gigs being raided. In fact, the last two previous "backyards" that they had attended had also been raided before they even got a chance to play.
But the police repression that took place on the night of Feb. 5 on 92nd St. and Compton Ave. was not like any raid on a show that youth had witnessed before.
There were only two police officers at the scene, but somehow, within minutes witnesses said they saw up to 40 officers, many of them in riot gear. One person even described seeing a "SWAT van."
Some of the kids interviewed said that the reinforcements were called in because someone, or more than one person, had thrown bottles at the cops. Although, one person interviewed said someone threw a bottle only after witnessing police mistreat and then arrest a youth.
All witnesses said that the cops blocked off 92nd street, from Compton to Maie, for more than an hour. Many believe that their intention was to clear the area, but that the tactics used to do this were rough and unnecessary.
Indeed, LAPD officers moving in on punk youth with nightsticks has not been heard of since the early days of L.A. punk when Black Flag was still playing regularly.
Camo Jorel, who was standing down the street from the entrance to the show, said, "You could easily see the age group of these kids. You could tell they were just there for a gig to have fun. They had no regard for the age group of people that were there."
Gig or not, police moved in on people, barked orders for everyone to leave, and those who weren’t quick enough got a taste of a nightstick.
Jorel also said that he saw kids with shotguns pointed straight at their faces and others say that police also shot some kind of projectiles at them.
Members of ONK described the story of what happened to one person as he was walking to his car. "An officer told him to move and he said, ‘I’m just trying to get into my car so I can leave.’ And since he refused to just move and keep on going with the rest of the crowd they arrested him. The cops rushed him and he wasn’t even trying to refuse arrest," they said.
Even ONK suffered an arrest that night. After packing away all his equipment, Victor (the drummer), ventured out to see what was going on. He then grabbed a video camera from their trumpet player and tried to record footage of the police abuse.
That’s when one cop noticed him and ten more went after him to take him down. "They grabbed the camera and they started looking through it right there—in front of everybody! They were just looking, moving the buttons, trying to find out if he recorded anything bad," said one member of ONK.
Victor said he was taken to jail and released Monday morning (two days later!). He said that as soon as he got out he went to claim his camera, which they gave back—but with no tape.
To make matters even more mysterious, Victor says that although he was processed and jailed, he has still not been charged with anything.
Sixteen-year-old Melanie Torres, who organized the show, said her boyfriend received a ticket for allegedly causing a disruption, loud music, and having "more than 20 units" arrive at the house.
Torres also said that ever since that night police have been circling her street and that they have even taken photos of her house.
All this comes at a time when the LAPD has seemed to have gotten even more viscious. About a week prior to the incident, the city district attorney announced that he would not try to prosecute an officer who had been caught on videotape beating a car thief suspect with a metal flashlight, giving the police even more free reign.
And the day after the attack on the show, a cop shot and killed a 13-year-old boy.
All this makes one wonder if the LAPD isn’t on a crusade to intimidate, arrest, and even kill a whole generation.

To send ONK messages of support go to:www.onkska.tk
To join the fight against police brutality:http://www.october22.org/

Let's Get It Started In Here...

2005-03-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to the new blog for the Los Angeles Writers Collective. We would like to share a few paragraphs about our group and ourselves before we start blogging.The LAWC, started sometime in 2003, is a group of revolutionary-minded writers, artists and photographers. Our first project was a trip to Fresno, Ca. to find out why the people who live in a region that supplies most of the food we eat in this country are actually going hungry. What we uncovered surprised us as much as it did our readers.

Since then we have done a number of different articles that have been published in the Revolutionary Worker. We have traveled as close to Downtown L.A. to cover the annual October 22nd Police Brutality protest, and have gone as far as Cancun, Mexico to cover the WTO protests in 2003. We have written about an extensive amount of subjects and most recently, someone in the group even interviewed Spongebob Squarepants.

We're all young, creative, and want a different world. We're communists--revolutionary communists. But don't expect your standard stereotypical communist writing in here. We're commies of a different breed, upholding the advances made by the proletarian and also learning from their mistakes. We're also "L.A. people," which can mean that we know the best taquerias outiside of Mexico, know what freeway is best to take to the Magic Johnson Theatre on a Friday evening, and can point out the best record stores in Hollywood.

The idea of blogging is very new to us. (Some of us aren't even that knowledgeable at working with computers). But being able to freely post our thoughts and ideas about the world around us on the internet for all to see is something we are very excited about. Expect to find us writing about all kinds of things, from police brutality to comic books, from the situation in Iraq to our favorite bands, from women's opression to recent movies.

We hope you enjoy our blog so much that you'll check in on us at least once a week. And please, leave your comments for us to read.

We will post some of our past published material in a future post. For now, please use the link to the Revolutionary Worker to find our "old" stuff. Also we plan on filling in our profiles so that you can know a little bit more about each of us.