The Unknown Chinese Cultural Revolution (tags)
A very exciting announcement: On January 9-10, Book TV (C-SPAN2) will be broadcasting Dongping Han's talk on his new book "The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village."
Bob Avakian on Richard Pryor (tags)
Recently I was reading reports of police assaults on Black people and of Black people fighting against the police in Memphis and Miami. This called to mind a story I was told a while back. A rookie cop was riding in his police car with his veteran partner when a report came in that there was a Black man in the vicinity with a gun. As their car screeched around the corner, a young Black man suddenly appeared sprinting up an alley--into a dead end. "Shoot him!", the older cop screamed, "Go on, shoot him-- it's free!" "It's free!" Think about that for a second. "It's free!" In other words, here's a chance that gets a pig to sweating and salivating with anticipation--a chance to "kill a nigger" with the already provided cover that a Black man--a Black man, any Black man--was reported in the area with a gun. This is an opportunity too good to pass up: "Go on, shoot him--it's free!"
Thousands Walk out of L.A. highschools (tags)
High school students in L.A. were part of the marches in the 1990s against the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 and the East L.A. protests against the Vietnam War in the '60s. But Nov. 2 was on a whole different level. In response to the call from The World Can't Wait, thousands of youth--many from proletarian neighborhoods--left school to take political action and make their voices heard. At Los Angeles High School alone, more than 1,000 students--the majority of the school -- walked out, and more than 500 marched to Wilshire Blvd.
Revolution Interview with Cindy Sheehan (tags)
Travis Morales, who has been part of the World Can't Wait encampment in front of the White House, had an opportunity to interview antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. This summer Sheehan had caught the attention of millions by setting up camp outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas and demanding that Bush say what “noble cause” had sent her son as a soldier to Iraq, wher he was killed. When Travis caught up with Cindy, she had already been arrested twice that week protesting at the White House fence.
Bob Avakian: Religion, Morality ... Polarization, Repolarization (tags)
EDITORS NOTE: This is part of a series of excerpts on various subjects—drawn from conversations and discussions, as well as more formal talks, by Bob Avakian—which we will be running in this newspaper over the next period of time. This has been edited for publication, and subheads and footnotes have been added
A Message to the Anti-war Demonstrators (tags)
2005, posted at revcom.usGuantanamo. . . “shock and awe”. . . “collateral damage”. . . Fallujah. . . Abu Ghraib. Behind the words stand the cities reduced to rubble, the bodies in the streets, the hooded prisoners, the kicked-down doors, and the children—crying in terror or silently watching the humiliation of their parents. All justified by outrageous lies.
The horror grinds on, every day.
Iraq cannot wait.
Iraq cannot wait for “pendulum swings.” Iraq cannot wait for possible resolutions to set “reasonable” deadlines for hypothetical timetables. Iraq cannot wait for the 2006 U.S. elections—especially (but not only) when the major Democrats all oppose withdrawal from Iraq, and some even support more troops being sent.
Nor will Bush be swayed simply by public opinion turning against him, or the war. Bush himself seems to believe he’s on a “mission from God” and the pack of neo-conservatives, Christian fascists and kluckers who surround him have demonstrated their intent to hold on to power. What do the 2000 elections tell us, after all, if not that?
Iraq—and the world—cannot wait. We cannot tolerate three more years of slaughter and lies and madness.
RCP: Three Fundamental Lessons of Katrina (tags)
Three fundamental things to be learned from what has been happening, including the role of the government, in relation to hurricane Katrina
Wanted for Mass Murder: The Bush Regime (tags)
Printable 'Wanted' poster
Murdering Enforcers Have No Right to Rule (tags)
Murdering Enforcers Have No Right to Rule Word from the RC4 On the LAPD Massacre of Raúl Peña and His 18-Month-Old Daughter Susie
Filibuster Wars Power Grab at the Height of the Empire http://rwor.org/a/004/filibuster-wars.htm The Senate was heading for a major showdown, as the Republican majority and Vice President Cheney conspired to strip the Democrat minority of their ability to even filibuster the most extreme judicial nominees. Then, after playing chicken for two weeks, a "Gang of 14" Senators suddenly announced they had reached a "historic compromise based on mutual trust" -- and they announced that they had saved the Senate from destruction. And the media oohed-and-aaaahed over the last minute development. But it quickly became pretty obvious, that nothing here was an obstacle to the most dangerous plans for remaking the courts. And did the compromise "safe the filibuster" as the media said? In fact, the compromise said "If you don't take the filibuster, we promise not to use it." Which, if you think about it, gives the top reactionaries what they want. Part of this "compromise" is that the Democrats immediately stopped their opposition to Precilla Owen and several other of Bush's judicial nominees -- these are people who are literally monsters of an extreme kind, who had been stalled in the Senate (in some cases for years.) So this "compromise" meant that these vultures are headed for powerful courts. And, it is also clear that huge new showdowns lie just ahead -- as the White House and Senate brace for a struggle over putting extreme rightwing judges on the supreme court. The following article (written just before the "compromise" was announced) lays bare the stakes and dynamics of this whole crisis.