This March, a West Coast U.S. speaking tour brings together a diverse section of activists addressing the need for radical alternatives to our current political structure. Doing so, they advocate, requires people challenge white supremacy and privilege, and building a national organization to work toward that.

The tour, titled "Fight the Power, Build the Power: A Movement for the 21st Century," will make the following stops across the West Coast:

March 10 - Seattle, Washington

March 11 Olympia, Washington

March 12 Portland, Oregon

March 15 San Francisco, California

March 16 Los Angeles, California

[dates subject to change]

The tour is the brainchild of the Phoenix, Arizona-based Ruckus collective (not associated with The Ruckus Society). The Ruckus collective formed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1997 to discuss revolutionary politics at a local and national level and to develop a revolutionary praxis. Its main contribution locally has been the creation of Phoenix Copwatch, which has been patrolling the streets since early 1999. In the summer of 2000, Ruckus activists began talking about the need for a national or continental revolutionary organization. This led organizers to embark on a program of study with the goal of creating a proposal for a membership-based national or continental revolutionary federation.

During this time, Ruckus members studied a number of past revolutionary groups, focusing particularly on their politics, program, structure, and strategy. In developing this proposal, Ruckus studied the politics, programs, strategies, and structures of various revolutionary or radical organizations, including the Black Panther Party, Students for a Democratic Society, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and assorted political tendencies.

Last year, the collective released its “Bring the Ruckus” proposal, available in English and Spanish at www.illegalvoices.org/ruckus. Most significant, Ruckus organizers stated that white supremacy was a key issue

“White supremacy is a system that grants those defined as ‘white’ special privileges in American society, such as preferred access to the best schools, neighborhoods, jobs, and health care; greater advantages in accumulating wealth; a lesser likelihood of imprisonment; and better treatment by the police and the criminal justice system,” Ruckus activists state in the proposal. “In exchange for these privileges, whites agree to police the rest of the population through such means as slavery and segregation in the past and through formally ‘colorblind’ policies and practices today that still serve to maintain white advantage.

“The central task of a new organization should be to break up this unholy alliance between the ruling class and the white working class by attacking the system of white privilege and the subordination of people of color... The glue that has kept the American state together has been white supremacy; melting that glue creates revolutionary possibilities.”

Speakers for the tour have united from various points of the United States to tackle various topics related to the development of a cadre group, white supremacy and more. Appearing at various dates of the tour:

-> Alan Rausch, co-founder of Black Cross Health Collective; participant in Seattle,1999 and the international anti-globalization movement

-> Traci Harris, Ruckus collective; Phoenix Copwatch

-> Heather Ajani, Ruckus collective; Phoenix Copwatch

-> Ernesto Aguilar, Anarchist People of Color; Anarchist Black Cross Network

[organizations/affiliations listed for identification purposes only.]

Those who wish to assist with or attend a tour stop in their areas should contact ruckus@illegalvoices.org.

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