The entire system is racist!

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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.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: Socialist Action, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. RATES: For one year (12 issues, 1st-class mail): U.S., Canada, Mexico — $20. All other countries — $30. Money orders and checks should be in U.S. dollars.

Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, Subscribe to Socialist Action The election of Barack Obama was supposed to be the dawn of a new day for African Americans. But that was a lie. As the racist murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner have proven to a new generation, the en­ tire system is racist.

Police violence, economic inequality, the lack of decent jobs, and de-facto school segregation are rav­ aging Black, Hispanic, and immigrant communities. Statistics show that there are more African Ameri­ cans in prison today than there were slaves in the Deep South—even with a Black president in the White House!

The protests in Ferguson, Mo., led by Black youth, were out of the control of white and Black establish­ ment (capitalist) politicians. It was a Democratic Party governor, Jay Nixon, who sent in military equipment supplied by Democrat Barack Obama to racist police departments throughout the United States. Ferguson cops clubbed, arrested, and tear gassed protesters, as well as reporters.

The on-line video of a pack of white NYPD cops sit­ ting on and choking Eric Garner to death disgusted hundreds of millions around the world. Mass protests, “die-ins,” and highway occupations, led by a new gen­ eration of Black youth, many of them women, riveted the country and the entire world. They demanded that things must change. Stop the murder of our Black youth!

Obama and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio have promised police cameras as part of their “solution.” But videos of the NYPD in Garner’s case, or of the po­ lice beating and near death of Rodney King in Los An­ geles in 1991, didn’t prevent later police violence or cops from getting off without punishment (years after the assault on King, two L.A. cops went to jail).

The grand jury system, weighted in favor of racist cops, is not likely to end anytime soon. There were 16 eyewitnesses who told a grand jury that they saw Michael Brown with his hands up, yet their testimony had no effect on the jury’s verdict. Said Lynne Stewart, a crusading attorney and former political prisoner, the 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: Feb. 5, 2015 Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor.

$5 for 6 months / $10 for 12 months grand jury system “should be abolished.”

Socialist Action celebrates the emergence of a new, powerful Black-led movement. Because it has stayed independent of the two parties of the wealthy 1% and has stayed in the streets, this movement has the potential of becoming a giant force for change. But to do that, the movement needs to grow even bigger and stronger.

The construction of large Black-led, multi-ethnic, ac­ tion-oriented coalitions around principled demands is needed to bring our forces together for the greatest impact on the struggle against police brutality.

Socialist Action sees police brutality as the product of 400 years of the racist, capitalist system. We say that the entire capitalist system, which thrives on big­ effectiveness of mass action. the establishment of a workers’ government, and the fight for socialism.

• Ashland, Ore.: damonjure@earthlink. net otry, war, and the exploitation of all working people, has got to go.

Capitalism is a system of greed and division run by a tiny wealthy elite, which is mostly white. This top 1% profits from racism. Police brutality reinforces this barbaric system. In contrast, socialism is the demo­ cratic rule of society by the vast majority, in the inter­ ests of working people, and not the greedy few.

Socialist Action has no trust in the two major U.S. parties, and we proudly say so. We refused to back Barack Obama for president and told the truth about the Democratic Party’s sabotage of civil rights move­ ments. We did not support Democrat Bill de Blasio for New York City mayor, despite his campaign promises calculated to hoodwink voters, especially Black vot­ ers, concerning his so-called police “reforms.”

However, we do support continuing to build mass movements in the streets as the most effective way forward in the fight against racist cops. Ultimately, we need to take our struggle all the way with a socialist revolution. Building a revolutionary party is urgent. We need a party of dedicated, diverse, and experi­ enced working-class activists with deep roots in the struggles of exploited and oppressed people through­ out the country.

Equally important is learning from the great events and leaders of the past. Socialist Action, a national or­ ganization in the United States, is proud to stand in the tradition of the world’s great revolutionary fight­ ers—like Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Mal­ colm X. Malcolm X taught us all that both the Repub­ lican and the Democratic parties were traps for the Black community.

Socialist Action is now preparing a pamphlet con­ sisting of articles that appeared in this newspaper in December 2014 and January 2015. The authors are activists in the struggle against racist police violence and frame-ups. The pamphlet will be published this month (working title: “Black Lives Matter”) and can be ordered for $4 (including postage) from P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

None of us can change the world alone. We need to work together. If you are excited by the prospects of building a serious and effective movement for radical change, then please get in touch with Socialist Action. See contact information on this page. n • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629

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For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, (510) 268- 9429, [email protected] Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org WHERE TO FIND US