RCP: Three Fundamental Lessons of Katrina\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Statement by the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA<\/b>
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\r\nOn Hurricane Katrina: Three Fundamental Lessons
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\r\nThree fundamental things to be learned from what has been happening, including\r\nthe role of the government, in relation to hurricane Katrina:
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\r\n1. The real nature<\/u> of those who rule over the people, and real\r\nweaknesses<\/u> of this ruling class, have been further revealed before the\r\nworld. The “superstitious awe” that people are conditioned to have toward\r\nthe powers-that-be and their state—their whole machinery of rule, and of\r\nrepression—has been dramatically shaken through these events and in particular\r\nthrough the actions of the government itself. In the eyes of large numbers of\r\npeople, the ability to rule as well as the right to rule of this current regime,\r\nand indeed of the ruling class as a whole, has been called into question in\r\nsignificant ways. Things which this ruling class attempts to keep hidden, to\r\ndeny or to distort and misrepresent—including the oppression and the extreme\r\npoverty of large numbers of Black people in the U.S. itself—has burst through\r\nthe “normal” web of deception and the iron hand of suppression. What does\r\nand does not matter to the powers-that-be—and in particular their complete\r\nlack of concern for the masses of poor and oppressed people, and indeed for the\r\npeople in society in their great majority—has stood out for all to see,\r\nthroughout the U.S. and all over the world. At the same time, it has been\r\ngraphically illustrated that, even though they remain very powerful, the rulers\r\nof the U.S., and their armed forces and other machinery of oppression, are not\r\nall-powerful.<\/u>
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\r\n2. Not only the need<\/u> but also the possibility<\/u> of revolution, and\r\nof a radically different society, shows through in these events—once they are\r\nunderstood in their true light. Masses of people, in the areas most immediately\r\naffected, were being left by the government to suffer, day after day, in\r\nconditions not fit for human beings, yet they showed their humanity in many ways\r\nand put the lie to the slanders that portrayed them as criminals and animals.\r\nWhere they took matters into their own hands, the great majority did so with\r\nright on their side, in the attempt to meet needs that could be met no other\r\nway. Overwhelmingly, the people trapped in these conditions have responded by\r\nsupporting and helping each other, especially those in most desperate need,\r\nwhile expressing outrage at the indifference and inaction of the government; and\r\nin this they have been supported and assisted by people all over the country. In\r\nall this can be seen the potential for masses of people to be mobilized to bring\r\ninto being a society in which relations among people are radically different\r\nthan the daily dog-eat-dog that this capitalist system pushes people into. Yet\r\nwhat has also stood out very clearly is that the masses of people are not fully\r\naware of and organized on the basis of an understanding of how the whole\r\noperation of this system is in direct and deep-going conflict with their real\r\nand fundamental interests. When they gain that understanding, and are organized\r\nto act on that basis, then a revolutionary struggle of millions and millions of\r\npeople, combined with the development and sharpening of certain objective\r\nconditions, could make it possible to break the hold of the class of\r\ncold-blooded capitalist exploiters who rule over this society (and much of the\r\nworld) and to bring into being a new society and a new state which would put the\r\ninterests of the great majority of the people at the foundation and at the\r\ncenter of everything it stands for and everything it does. But for this to\r\nhappen, the masses must have revolutionary leadership. And that points to a\r\nthird and final crucial point.
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\r\n3. There is such a revolutionary leadership—the Revolutionary Communist Party,\r\nUSA, and its Chairman Bob Avakian. But to put things squarely and honestly,\r\nwhile the Party has been exerting real efforts to take up its responsibility in\r\nrelation to the events surrounding hurricane Katrina, the ability of the Party\r\nto actually lead in these dire and urgent circumstances has been far short of\r\nwhat it needs to be. If the influence of the Party and its organized ties with\r\nmasses of people had been much greater, leading into these events surrounding\r\nhurricane Katrina, the Party would be able to play a far greater role in raising\r\nthe understanding of the masses of people as to what was happening and why: why\r\nthe government and the whole ruling class reacted the way they have—with the\r\nloss of thousands of lives, and terrible suffering for hundreds of thousands\r\nmore, much of which could have been prevented or significantly lessened—and\r\nwhat this says about the nature of their system and why we need a radically\r\ndifferent system. The Party could have been playing a far greater role in\r\nenabling masses of people, in the areas immediately affected and throughout the\r\ncountry, to be organized to respond to these events and to wage organized\r\npolitical struggle, on a much higher level and in a much more powerful way, to\r\nforce steps to be taken immediately to save hundreds and probably thousands of\r\nlives that have been, and are still being, needlessly<\/u> lost. And all this\r\ncould be having the effect of raising the consciousness and the organized\r\nstrength of masses of people to a far higher level, with the necessary goal of\r\nrevolution more clearly and sharply in view. These events surrounding hurricane\r\nKatrina and all that has been forced into the light of day in connection with\r\nthis, has shown the great need for the Party to rise to its responsibilities and\r\nplay its leadership role in this way, on a whole other level, and for masses of\r\npeople to rally to, to support, to join and build, and to defend—this\r\nnecessary and crucial revolutionary leadership, as embodied in the Revolutionary\r\nCommunist Party and its Chairman Bob Avakian.
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