Tookie murdered by the State, other deaths in a week of sadness & anger
RCYB(Seattle) .
According to "Time" magazine, about 20 000 people die every day from reasons directly arising from poverty. And then there are the unjust US wars on the people of Afghanistan & Iraq, the occupation of Palestine, & rampant imperialist-sponsored state terror from the Congo to the Philippines & more.
But this week there have also been a number of precious individuals -- people who were making big contributions towards changing all that horror just mentioned -- who were taken from us, some by official murder, some by everyday violence of this system, some by disease.
in this e-mail:
1) Tookie Williams murdered in captivity
2) Comrade Sunil murdered in cold blood by Nepal Royal Army, despite ceasefire
3) Comrade Mobile, of Nickerson Gardens projects in LA, dies too soon
4) Nadia Anjoman, young Afghanistani woman poet, beaten to death by husband
5) Richard Pryor passes on
6) Comrade Sheri dies in India
7) reminder: RCYB movie night "The Handmaid's Tale", Fri 6pm
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
STATEMENT FROM JOE VEALE, R.C.P. SPOKESPERSON FOR L.A., ON THE EXECUTION OF STANLEY "TOOKIE" WILLIAMS
http://rwor.org/a/027/joe-veale-on-tookie-williams.html
Stanley "Tookie" Williams, co-founder of the Crip street gang in Los Angeles, was executed in San Quentin Prison on December 13 just after midnight.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger coldly and callously refused to grant him clemency, saying that "the facts do not justify overturning the court decision." Even though Tookie Williams had changed and became a very outspoken advocate against gang violence and for peace. They showed him no mercy. But it is deeper than this. In a highly political statement, Schwarzenegger also said that Tookie Williams' 1998 book Life In Prison was "dedicated to people like Assata Shakur, Mumia Abu Jamal" and particularly "Black militant George Jackson" which, according to Schwarzenegger, "is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as legitimate means to address societal problems."
George Jackson and the other prominent Black figures mentioned in Schwarzenegger's statement are heroes to a lot of Black people and people of all races and nationalities because of their revolutionary stance. This is proof that this is a politically motivated execution.
It does not matter to Schwarzenegger and the powers-that-be that Stanley Williams has changed. That he has consistently spoken out against gang violence. Or that the evidence which led to his conviction of four murders in 1981 was circumstantial and that the testimony against him came from people facing felony charges of fraud, rape, murder, and mutilation. Or that he had consistently and repeatedly said that he is innocent.
Since his final appeal was denied, the powers-that-be have put Stanley Williams' execution on a fast track. They moved it up ahead of people who had their final appeals rejected before him.
This represents a leap in the vicious, racist, and genocidal program they have for the masses of people in the inner cities. Many of the youth of the inner city have no jobs and no prospects of ever being employed. The system has no productive use for them. The working of this capitalist systems puts people in desperate situations where crime becomes the only option for many, many of them to live. Then, Black and other oppressed youth are attacked and maligned and "demonized." William Bennett, a former adviser to Ronald Reagan, has said: "If you want to get rid of crime you could abort all Black babies and the crime rate would go down." That's genocide.
The execution of Tookie Williams comes on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, where tens of thousands of Black people were left to die. The Bush regime is making it LOUD AND CLEAR that GENOCIDE is their agenda. Look at what they did. People in New Orleans did not have to die. But the powers that be left thousands of people to suffer and die needlessly, while at the same time "demonizing them" and sending in the National Guard to suppress them. Didn't Bush himself issue an order to "shoot to kill"anyone who was caught "looting," no questions asked? The system's well-oiled propaganda machine spewed out lies about Black people raping babies and robbing and murdering each other. The very clear message was: the masses of Black people in New Orleans were "demons" and deserved to die.
Hundreds and even thousands of people who tried to get into New Orleans to rescue, feed and give medical aid to people were stopped by the army and police and prevented them from helping people. A congressman from Louisiana said they had been trying to get rid of the projects in New Orleans for years and god decided to do them a favor by getting rid of them.
Again the message was that Black people are "bad seeds" who do not deserve to live.
Pat Robertson, one of Bush's Christian Fascist advisors, has called for a "biblical model" for crime and punishment which suggests genocide against the masses of people in the inner cities as well as preparation to use extreme repression and even execution against people who do things which are minor crimes – or in many cases no crime at all.
What kind of system is this that does these things? It is one that cries out for proletarian revolution..
Although Stanley "Tookie" Williams was not a revolutionary, he dedicated his book Blue Rage, Black Redemption in this way: "To poor people, prisoners, slaves and the disenfranchised everywhere – through faith and theories put into practice you bend the most oppressive circumstances to your will, to make the impossible possible."
REVOLUTION IS THE SOLUTION
When we make revolution and overthrow this system based on profit and exploitation we can change all this. We can build a new socialist society and give everybody jobs. Feed everybody. Give people good medical care. We will be able to cure people hooked on drugs instead of locking them up. Everybody will be fed on the strength of being a human being. Everybody will be given good medical care. More than that they together with the masses of people will be brought into the process of running society. Deciding the direction that society should go so that it serves the people. Deciding how many schools and hospitals to build. How much food to produce. How much to put aside for natural disasters and how much to send to people around the world fighting for revolutionary change. Not only will people's material needs be met, but their intellectual and "spiritual" needs will be met as well.
The powers-that-be do all they can to prevent people from rising to this potential. One of the ways they do this is by trying to force us to accept the hand that the system deals us from its stacked deck. Trying to be "somebody" and get "respect" on the terms that the system sets is no solution either.
In the world today no one has to go without. No one has to be hungry or living in poverty. No one has to seek "respect" or attempt to "come up" by banging or riding on others.
People have developed enough wealth, knowledge, science, and technology to give everyone on the planet a decent life. To feed and provide housing fit for human beings to everybody. To enrich everyone's life with sports, culture, and art.
The only reason this does not happen is because all this wealth, knowledge, science, and technology that has been created by humans over thousands of years is controlled by a tiny handful at the top of this imperialist system. And they use it to re-produce and enforce this dog eat dog way of life over and over again.
It's gonna take communist-led revolution to lead those on the bottom of society, the employed and the "unemployables." The "disposables." Those with nothing to lose, together with their potential friends from the middle class — to rise up and take the power of running society out of the hands of those who run this system — take all this wealth that people have created, build a new system, and put all society's resources in the service of emancipating humanity.
A CHALLENGE:
To all those this system has cast off. To all those this rotten system tries in every way to drag down. To all those this system treats as less than human. Rise up and be "somebody" for real. Rise up and join the communist emancipators of humanity. Rise up and join the grave diggers of this foul and cruel system.* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
NEPAL: COMRADE SUNIL, RED SALUTE!
12 December 2005. A World To Win News Service. The Royal Nepal Army killed Kim Bahadur Thapa (Comrade Sunil) on 30 November during the unilateral ceasefire called for and observed by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). A Division Commander in the People's Liberation Army led by the party, Comrade Thapa died when a Royal Nepal Army helicopter bombed a political training meeting in the village of Zinwang in Rolpa district, Western Nepal. Division Deputy Commander Comrade Nirmam also died in the same attack.
CPN(M) Chairman and Supreme Commander of the People's Liberation Army Comrade Prachanda issued a statement on 1 December hailing Comrade Thapa and Comrade Nirmam as great martyrs who sacrificed their lives to fulfil the Nepalese people's aspirations for peace, prosperity and People's Democracy.
The death of these two comrades has shaken people across the country and in the western region in particular. By attacking people at a non-military gathering just before the three-month cease-fire was to end, the feudal regime of King Gyanendra Shah, backed by the imperialist powers, Indian expansionism and other reactionary regimes, sought to provoke further war. This three-month unilateral cease-fire, which the Maoists extended for another month on 1 December, has proved in practice that the proletarian internationalist revolutionaries are not the source of violence. At the same time, the experience of almost ten years of people's war also shows that proletariat can only end reactionary unjust wars by fighting just revolutionary wars. The Nepalese people want total political change and a whole different kind of society free of imperialist domination and feudalism.
Comrade Thapa was a devoted professional Maoist revolutionary of the international proletariat and a skilled fighter as well. He was an outstanding student and teacher of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism who upheld, defended and applied it and helped in developing what the CPN(M) calls Prachanda Path.
[ This is an excerpt only. To read the whole article subscribe to AWTWNS for free at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/aworldtowinnewsservice ]
* * * * * * * * * *
STATEMENT BY BOB AVAKIAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE R.C.P., ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF WILLIE "MOBILE" SHAW
http://rwor.org/a/027/avakian-statement-willie-shaw.htm
The death of Willie "Mobile" Shaw is a terrible and bitter loss. Willie wanted his life to be about something--something beyond the dog-eat-dog and the murderous madness this system brings down on people, and catches them up in, in a thousand ways every day. He joined the revolution, became a communist and dedicated his life to the liberation of all people who are oppressed by this system--not just people of one race, or in one neighborhood, but men and women of all races, nations, and languages, all over the world. Most of them Willie had never met, but he came to see that they shared a common fate and could bring a much better future into being. Willie's life is proof that those this rotten system tries in every way to drag down -- can rise up; that those the system treats as less than human -- can become the liberators of all humanity.
Willie never turned his back on people who had not yet come to see the world as he had come to see it--as it really is; he never gave up on winning them to the fight for a radically different and much better world. Willie brought to the revolution a gigantic heart, a wealth of life experience and great wisdom drawn from that experience. I consider myself very fortunate to have met Willie and spent time talking with him. He asked me many questions--and he helped me learn many things. Willie said to me: "You are the only hope we have." I have kept those words in my heart, with a deep sense of responsibility to live up to them. But Willie, and all the people like Willie in the world, are also the ones who give me hope -- they represent the hope of humanity for a better world. Willie's whole life experience, and his all too early death, cry out the need for revolution. And the changes Willie went through, in his all too short life -- the way he came through so much to take up the cause of liberating humanity -- shout out the possibility of revolution. As our hearts ache over the loss of Willie, let us keep in our hearts, and let us learn all we can, from the beautiful human being that Willie "Mobile" Shaw was and the way in which, in dedicating his life to revolution and communism, he truly made it count, in the greatest way possible.
[ There are more articles on Mobile's life at http://revcom.us ]
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
WOMAN POET MURDERED IN AFGHANISTAN
12 December 2005. A World To Win News Service. Nadia Anjoman was a young woman poet in Afghanistan, a country rich in poetic tradition where the common people love to hear or read poems and often know quite a few by heart. She was becoming well known, especially in literary and poetry circles in the city of Herat, for her attempts to combine new things and traditional forms when she was killed at the age of 25 on 5 November.
A fourth-year student in literature in Herat University, Nadia died of injuries after being beaten by her husband, who worked in the university administration department. They had been married about a year.
Not only her sad story but also every word of her poems screams about the oppression she had gone through. She represented something new in the poetry of that region and Afghanistan as a whole. Nadia had managed to successfully jump over the gigantic barriers that prevent women from getting a higher education and then went even further, becoming a skilful poet who dared read her work in public in a society where the oppression of women is powerfully enforced in every way with the support of law, tradition and religion. After a difficult struggle she was finally forced to pay a bitter price for her insistence on going against the norms that limit the life of women.
Nadia expressed the suffering of women in her poems before she herself became a prisoner of her household. People active in poetry and literature in Herat say that during the last year she was seen less and less often at the poetry society, but they didn't know if it was because she had fewer poems to read or because she was being made to stay at home. The following poem by her expresses her situation more accurately:
"…How can I talk about honey when there is poison in my mouth?
"What an oppressor's fist hammers my mouth!
"…
"I and the corner of captivity and the sadness of disappointment…"
Then she reminds herself that there is always hope and says:
"I might have been long silent, but I won't forget how to say a poem…
"Glory to the day that I break the cage,
"Stick out my head from this contempt and drunkenly sing!"
However the "oppressor's fist" was deadlier than she might have thought because it came from beyond the boundaries of the house where Nadia lived. In fact, the oppressor's fist that killed Nadia was the embodiment of all the various forces that have an interest in oppressing women. In order that Nadia and other Nadias be able to break the cage and sing their poems beautifully, it is necessary not only to fight the oppressors at home but to fight those elements that strengthen and support the immediate oppressors.
The life and death of Nadia once again bring to light what the majority of women in Afghanistan go through every day of their lives. If Nadia, with all her courage and achievement, could not escape the oppression and violence against women in Afghanistan, how many millions of other ordinary women with less education and opportunity could break free?
[ This is an excerpt only. To read the whole article subscribe to AWTWNS for free at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/aworldtowinnewsservice ]
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
RICHARD PRYOR ROUTINES... OR WHY PIGS ARE PIGS
by Bob Avakian
Maybe some liberals (of the "left" or "right") will object that these stories [of police brutality & murder] I've recounted are after all only stories, and even if we allow that they themselves are true stories, still they are only a few cases--the famous "isolated incidents" perhaps. Well, anyone who still really thinks that, or says it, has got to answer one basic question about the following Richard Pryor routine:
"Cops put a hurtin' on your ass, man, you know. They really degrade you. White folks don't believe that shit, don't believe cops degrade; -- `Ah, come on, those beatings, those people were resisting arrest. I'm tired of this harassment of police officers.' Cause the police live in your neighborhood, see, and you be knowin' 'em as Officer Timpson. `Hello Officer Timpson, going bowling tonight? Yes, uh, nice Pinto you have, ha, ha, ha.' Niggers* don't know 'em like that. See, white folks get a ticket, they pull over, `Hey, Officer, yes, glad to be of help, here you go.' A nigger got to be talkin' 'bout `I AM REACH-ING INTO MY POCK-ET FOR MY LICENSE -- 'cause I don't wanna be no motherfuckin' accident!'
"Police degrade you. I don't know, you know, it's often you wonder why a nigger don't go completely mad. No, you do. You get your shit together, you work all week, right, then you get dressed--maybe say a cat make $125 a week, get $80 if he lucky, right, and he go out, get clean, be drivin' with his old lady, goin' out to a club, and the police pull over, `Get outta the car, there was a robbery -- nigger look just like you. Alright, put your hands up, take your pants down, spread your cheeks!' Now, what nigger feel like havin' fun after that? `No, let's just go home, baby.' You go home and beat your kids and shit--you gonna take that shit out on somebody." from That Nigger's* Crazy, 1974
The question is this: Why, at the crucial points of this routine, does Pryor's audience erupt in tense, knowing laughter, coupled with prolonged applause? Can it be for any other reason than the fact that Pryor has indeed captured and concentrated -- with humor, higher than life, as art should be, but the stone truth, all too true, at the same time -- a situation that is typical for the masses of Black people in the U.S.? Something which, if it has not happened directly to them (and the odds are pretty good that it has), is subject to happen to them tomorrow, or the next day, and has already happened to a relative or friend. To anyone who wants to defend the police, to say nothing of prettifying them, showing them as just ordinary human beings, etc., etc., ad nauseam; and even anyone who wants to raise pious doubts and petty amendments about calling them what they are, without reservation or apology; you can't get around this question: you have to confront it straight up. And don't tell me Pryor's audiences aren't a fair representation: The response will always be the same from any audience that includes a significant number of the masses of Black people, or other oppressed masses (as, in fact, is the case with the audience for Pryor's live performances).
* This material is reproduced here as it was performed by Richard Pryor at the time, including the use of the word "nigger"; this is for the sake of accuracy and not out of any disrespect for his feeling, after a trip to Africa, that he should no longer use the word "nigger" because it is dehumanizing.
[ This is an excerpt only. To read the whole article go to http://rwor.org/a/v19/920-29/928/hill.htm ]
[ This article is from 1983, when he was still alive. For an obituary go to, for example, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4518664.stm ]
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
R.I.M. COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF COMRADE SHERI
Following is a message by the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the embryonic centre of the world's Maoists, to the Central Committee (Provisional) of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Dear Comrades,
It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Comrade Shamsher Singh Sheri.
Comrade Sheri struggled over many decades for the glorious cause of communism. Although his area of practical activity for most his life was the state of Punjab, he never lost sight of the ultimate goal of revolution in India and all over the world. We have no doubt that his loss will be great to the Indian revolution.
Comrade Sheri was well known to us as a comrade with a thoroughgoing proletarian internationalist orientation. He had played a significant role in helping to popularise the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement in India and in fighting for the unity of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist forces in India and on a world scale. We also appreciate the attention Comrade Sheri devoted to studying Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and developing theoretical work.
At a time when the challenges and opportunities are intensifying all over the world, there is a clear-cut need for communists leaders to be bold in fighting for Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and to learn from and engage with the understanding and experience that emerges from all corners of the world. Comrade Sheri is a fine example of this.
We are sure that the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the whole communist movement in India will honour the memory of Comrade Sheri by learning from his proletarian internationalism, his selfless dedication to the masses of people and his efforts to grasp and apply Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Please extend our condolences to Comrade Sheri's family as well as to the comrades of your party.
[ To read a longer article on Comrade Sheri's life from an Indian Maoist journal go to http://www.peoplesmarch.com/archives/2005/nov-dec2k5/ks.htm ]
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
FRIDAY DEC.16, 6PM, "THE HANDMAID'S TALE" MOVIE & DISCUSSION HOSTED BY R.C.Y.B.
what: RCYB Movie Night - "THE HANDMAID'S TALE", followed by discussion
when: Friday, Dec 16, 6pm
where: Revolution Books, 1833 Nagle Pl (near corner of Broadway & Denny on Capitol Hill, ph#206-325-7415)
We will have a new event on Fridays at Revolution Books, "Movie Nights with the RCYB", starting this Friday (the 16th). There will be a movie showing followed by discussion on the themes brought up the movie.
To start with we'll have a series of movies dealing with fascism & theocracy, because that is the direction this country is being pushed to by its leaders. (If you don't believe us, you need to read "Revolution" newspaper at http://revcom.us, as well as the http://WorldCantWait.org website & the books "With God on Their Side" by Esther Kaplan & "Contempt: How the Right Is Wronging American Justice" by Catherine Crier...)
The first movie in this series will be "THE HANDMAID'S TALE" starring Natasha Richardson & Robert Duvall, based on the book by Margaret Atwood. It depicts a country in the near future where Christian Fascists have taken over th whole society (government, media, schools, everything), making the Bible the highest & only law of the land. Part of this involves making women slaves, & because of widespread infertility the institution of the handmaid is brought back in a big way, with fertile women who have sinned (by trying to escape, being rape victims, etc) being forced to have sex with & bear children for husbands whose wives are infertile. Just as in the Bible, the death penalty is the consequence for disobedience to any of this. There is also an underground resistance movement trying to overthrow that whole set-up.
Future films in the series will include "EQUILIBRIUM", "SAVED!", "DAYBREAK", & "I, ROBOT". (Exact schedule TBA.)
Please pass this message on to others; suggestions are welcome; hope to see you there!
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (Seattle)
http://seattle.rcyb.info
"Revolution" newspaper
http://revcom.us
[any text below is advertising by e-mail provider, not RCYB-endorsed content]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------