Lessons of Ferguson

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queers, national minorities, etc. We support the right of self-determination for oppressed nationalities, including Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. We are internationalists, and Socialist Action is a national organization of activists committed to the emancipation of hold that workers of one country have more in common with workers of another than with workers and the oppressed. We strive to revitalize the antiwar, environmental, labor, anti- their own nation’s capitalist class. We seek to link struggles across national boundaries, and racist, feminist, student, and other social movements with a mass-action perspective. In the to build an international revolutionary movement that will facilitate the sharing of experiences process we hope to bring activists together from different backgrounds into a revolutionary and political lessons. That is why we maintain fraternal relations with the Fourth International workers’ party that can successfully challenge the wealthy elite—whose profit-driven system Recognizing the divisions that exist on the left and within the workers’ movement, we seek to form united front type organizations around specific issues where various groups have Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic, environmentally sustainable, and egalitarian agreement. In this way we seek to maximize our impact and demonstrate the power and society organized to satisfy human needs rather than corporate greed. We invite you to join Socialist Action believes that the capitalist state and its institutions are instruments of the We are active partisans of the working class and believe in the need for independent ruling class, and that therefore they cannot be used as tools of the working class but have to working-class politics—not alliances with the bosses’ parties. That is why we call for workers be smashed. That is why we fight for revolution, instead of seeking to merely reform or work in the U.S. to break from the Democratic and Republican parties to build a Labor Party based within the system. When we fight for specific reforms, we do so with the understanding that in the final analysis real social change can only come about with the overthrow of capitalism, We support the struggles of those who are specially oppressed under capitalism—women, Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

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Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, Subscribe to Socialist Action tigating Michael Brown’s death at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson has still not issued its decision. The grand jury is made up of six white men, three white women, two African-American women, and one African-American man. Nine out of the 12 must agree that the probable cause threshold has been met in regards to Wilson’s having committed a crime.

As you can see from the jury makeup, the process has been rigged from the start, to let Officer Wilson off the hook. For in­ stance, leaks have taken place that are all favorable for Wilson’s version of what happened that day. Attorney General Eric Holder said, “Leaking out selective infor­ mation … These are all the kinds of things that I think are inappropriate. I’ve said I’m exasperated. That’s a nice way of saying it.

I’m mad. That’s not how things should be done by people in law enforcement.”

One might think that Holder’s Justice Department investigation may, given his apparent dis­ gust, issue charges for violating Michael Brown’s civil rights; after all, the unarmed youth was murdered and the grand jury investigating it was rigged. This looks like a very small possibility.

The Washington Post published an article stating that the Justice Department won’t be issuing civil rights charges against Wilson, and doesn’t want to admit it be­ cause “tensions are high” in Ferguson. A Justice Depart­ ment spokesman called the article “irresponsible,” add­ ing that the investigation will continue.

There have been ongoing protests since the Aug. 9 murder of Brown and tensions are high. The so-called “justice” system of this country has no recourse for the most often Black and Brown victims of police and vigi­ lante violence, even when the African-American Attor­ Socialist Action: Where we stand is driving down living standards and threatens all life on this planet.

us in the struggle to make the world a better place!

on the trade unions.

SOCIALIST ACTION Closing news date: Nov. 5, 2014 Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor. ney General and President verbally state their sympa­ thies with the victims.

Meanwhile, Brown’s mother is scheduled to testify at a United Nations convention in Geneva, once again (right­ fully) shaming the U.S. government and its lack of seri­ ous action. Who could blame her for taking her case to the world audience, when the response from authorities has been so completely inadequate?

It is a very complex, sophisticated, capitalist system that could maintain this bloody and brutal status quo, in the face of such blatant evidence. And those who would protect this system will pay millions of dollars to the family of a victim, they will retrain police officers en masse, they will decry the brutality in the news; but they will not fundamentally attack The New Jim Crow, they have no intention of really changing things. What made Ferguson different? The key ingredient was effectiveness of mass action. the establishment of a workers’ government, and the fight for socialism.

• Ashland, Ore.: damonjure@earthlink. net (Photo) Protesters in Clayton, Mo., raise their hands while chanting, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”

the youth and young adults, who came out consis­ tently, a new layer of promising activists. To their immense credit, the youth and young adults have consistently mobilized, and while sell-out leaders are ever-present, they seem not to hold as much sway as they used to.

There is also much to be said about the militarized response to peaceful protesters, broadcasted across the world (despite police roughing up jour­ nalists and instituting a No Fly Zone to explicitly stop the media).

In addition to having unique aspects, Ferguson is also a representative picture of so many places in the U.S. The Black and Brown youth are fed up; the constant harassment they are subject to is building considerable resentment, whether it is New York’s “stop and frisk” policies, or the Fer­ guson Police Department’s racial profiling Afri­ can American drivers despite whites’ being more likely to have contraband.

There is a national consciousness building around police brutality, people are connecting struggles and seeing beyond the local scene. The demands for justice, for the victims and their fam­ ilies, are being broadened and built upon. While the powers that be are concerned about uprisings (“ri­ ots”) in which property is damaged, an actual tragedy would be that the youth and community’s anger isn’t channeled into something that could challenge the racist and classist system on an ongoing basis.

The documented evidence of widespread police brutal­ ity is overwhelming and readily available. And that only includes what has been recorded, only a small fraction of the real story.

The lessons of Ferguson are that we should stay in the streets and organize, demand the attention of the world. Rather than putting faith and trust in politicians, de­ mand results and push the struggle forward. The status quo cannot hold the contradictions, the promises versus the reality, which are bound to heat up to a boil at some point. n For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O.

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