Support #Freeway9 Chantelle & Alex

From RefuseFascism.org:

In 2017, RefuseFascism.org supporters blocked the 101 Freeway with a message: Trump/Pence Must GO!  9 people were charged by LAPD.  Two of the #Freeway9, Chantelle Hershberger and Alex Rodriguez, were tried in 2019 in a trial that revealed significant spying and lying by police and prosecutors.  The judge declared a mistrial when the jury found them not guilty 9 to 3, but the prosecutor announced immediately he would try them again. Their second trial could start today. See below.  YOUR support is needed > > Call  City Prosecutor Mike Feuer 213-978-8100 / Tweet at him @Mike_Feuer and demand charges be dropped against the #Freeway9  LAPD Spy Attempted Entrapment of Refuse Fascism with Calls for Violence RefuseFascism.org Defendants Face Three Years in Jail for Peaceful Political Protest in the Face of LAPD & Prosecutorial Harassment The Confidential Informant sent in to Refuse Fascism meetings to surveil and secretly record said in an open meeting: "I don't like Trump and what he’s doing, ruining our country…you can give me a gun any day, I’ll shoot them." and someone responded "This is not what we are about." [Refuse Fascism's mission statement makes clear it is calling for mass non-violent, sustained protest to drive the Trump/Pence fascist regime from power.] This quote is from the tapes of the Confidential Informant sent to spy on meetings of Refuse Fascism held at a church in 2017. This new evidence came from over 12 hours of LAPD spy tapes released to the defense attorneys to review in the cases of Chantelle Hershberger and Miguel Alex Antonio, two of the LA Freeway 9. It was presented in last week’s hearing on a motion to dismiss based on politically motivated prosecutorial vindictiveness. The Freeway 9 are members of Refuse Fascism and the Revolution Club who stood on the Hollywood Freeway on two occasions in 2017 with banners and signs to sound the alarm about the dangers of the Trump/Pence regime, calling for massive sustained non-violent protest to drive them out. This new evidence even more starkly revealed the rank political nature of the prosecution and should have called this whole trial to a halt. The motion to dismiss was instead denied, and the City Attorney Mike Feuer and the Court are moving full speed ahead with a second trial. These Defendants were found not guilty by 9 jurors in an earlier mistrial. The tapes are currently under a protective order and the defense attorneys are not allowed to talk about their contents. Refuse Fascism is encouraging members of the media to request copies of the tapes through the court. LAPD Police Chief Moore lied when he told the Police Commission that the sending in of the CI was justifiable, stating there were “allegations of people who identified with [this] political action group but were also identified as being involved with criminal acts including arson, vandalism, assault with a deadly weapon and those types of criminal acts”. All of this was pure fabrication. These kinds of lies and distortions show even more how Refuse Fascism has been politically targeted and that this went to the highest levels of the LAPD. Detective Dickson from the Major Crimes Division (Anti-Terrorist Division) which was in charge of the whole surveillance operation, lied when he took the stand at the hearing, saying they were merely looking to find who had planned the action on the freeway and if they were planning to do it again. The defense attorneys pointed out that the CI came back at least four times, that Refuse Fascism was being surveilled for constitutionally protected political activity, with attempts at actual entrapment! > Read/share statements of support from Cornel West, Yusef Salaam, Bill Ayers, Edward Asner,  Jim Lafferty and Carol Downer. > Listen/share: Alex Hernandez and Coco Das discuss the state and stakes of the battle with KPFK’s Lila Garret on Connect the Dots. Miguel Alex Hernandez put it this way. “Who are the real criminals here? We just watched the real criminals in the White House get off the hook with a sham trial – where evidence was suppressed and truth meant nothing. These criminals have done horrendous things to immigrants, children, women, and LGBTQ people and in their wars around the world. And here we are, the people who have stood up against this and we are being criminalized and dragged through the court for two and a half years by a Democrat City Attorney Mike Feuer – who by his actions is collaborating with these fascists. Imagine the horrors that could have been prevented if people had answered our call in 2017. Instead of being celebrated for our foresight and courage, we've been harassed and targeted by the LAPD, targeted for unconstitutional surveillance and dragged through endless court dates! Everyone has to ask themselves, which side are you on? Free the Freeway9! Drop the charges!" For a fact sheet and past media coverage including from the LA Times, Guardian, revcom.us, and La Opinion, click here. > > Call  City Prosecutor Mike Feuer 213-978-8100 / Tweet at him @Mike_Feuer and demand charges be dropped against the #Freeway9  > > DONATE to the battle to defend the Freeway9 & UCLA5 2019 outside LA courthouse supporting #Freeway9 RefuseFascism.org national team 917 407 1286 DONATE TO GET TRUMP/PENCE #OUTNOW> Share on Facebook | Share on Twitter

Break ALL the Chains! International Women's Day March and Celebration

Urgently needed: a house or apartment where 3-5 Tour volunteers can stay together.  Can you donate or help rent housing (on the west side, mid-city, koreatown or other areas), let us know right away!  Do you have furniture (beds, desks, chairs, etc.) that you can loan for the duration of the Tour?  Ask your friends and co-workers as well! Cars, vans, trucks... this is a driving city and these revolutionaries need to be able to get all over town!  Do you have an extra car you've been waiting to sell?  Loan it to the Tour while it's in LA!  Mechanics are also needed to keep the vehicles in good working condition!  Donate Uber and Lyft gift cards, frequent flyer miles. Read the announcement HERE.   From the Revolution Tour in Los Angeles: Sunday, March 8, 1pm MARCH & Celebrate International Women's Day Break ALL the Chains! Unleash the Fury of Women As a Mighty Force for Revolution! STOP the Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and Oppression Based on Gender or Sexual Orientation In the name of humanity, we REFUSE to accept a fascist America. February 20, 2020 | revcom.us 1pm March Meet at Alvarado between 7th Street and Wilshire March to call out this system for its crimes against women and LGBTQ people. Bring symbols of the oppression of women that you want to see done away with. 3pm Celebration La Fonda, 2501 Wilshire Boulevard (on Wilshire and Carondelet) An afternoon of music, poetry, video and more in celebration of the radically different and better world we are bringing into being. This is a call to everyone who will not accept a world where women are subordinated, dominated, degraded, battered, mutilated and murdered to keep them in their place; to everyone who wants to rise up with the women taking to the streets from Chile to Mexico, India and Italy to demand an end to sexual assault and femicide—the murder of women for being women.  This is a call to stand with the LGBTQ people in Brazil marching in the face of physical assaults; a call to rejoice in the women throwing off their headscarves in Iran.  To everyone who rejects the Dark Ages future being set in place by the fascist Trump/Pence regime; everyone who refuses to go back, who refuses to see the right to abortion overturned and contraception taken away, who refuses to accept lives of inequality and torment; everyone who rejects the Christian theocracy that Pence, Devos, Barr and Pompeo are nailing into law and everyone who is nauseated by the pussy-grabber in Chief and the vile objectification of women celebrated by these same self-righteous liars and peddlers of ignorance in the service of imperialist empire. All over the world, reactionaries and religious fundamentalists are waging a relentless assault on hard won rights, seizing the reins of government, the courts, the media, and making intrusions into every possible corner of our private lives and relationships to restore traditional morality where women are subordinated to men and their patriarchal authority.  And all over the world, people are yearning for these chains to be broken. And they can be!  This horrible oppression is deeply interknitted into the capitalist-imperialist system.  This system cannot function without it.  But this oppression and the system that requires it is completely unnecessary.  We need to get rid of that system, the only way it can be, through an actual revolution.  Listen to what Bob Avakian, BA, the most important political thinker and leader in the world today, has to say: “What if the world doesn’t have to be this way?... What if women could walk down the street and look every man they encounter straight in the eye and fear nothing and not be made to feel that you’re on display and to be evaluated by how you sexually titillate them? What if no more women were ever again battered, raped, assaulted, denied the right to control their own bodies? What if people who were different in their sexual orientation or just in the way they went through life, instead of being discriminated against and bullied were valued for their difference? If that were seen as part of the great diversity of humanity…. You may say I’m a dreamer, but this is not just a dream. It is something for which there is a definite basis in reality and it is up to us together with people throughout the world to make it a reality.” – Bob Avakian This future is possible.  BA has further developed the way to scientifically understand what we’re up against and the strategy to change this.  In the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic of North America, he’s developed the vision and blueprint for a future where people can get to work on uprooting this oppression and all the other forms of exploitation and oppression humanity suffers, and the destructive divisions and antagonisms among the people. The time is getting late.   “The whole question of the position and role of women in society is more and more acutely posing itself in today's extreme circumstances.... It is not conceivable that all this will find any resolution other than in the most radical terms.... The question yet to be determined is: will it be a radical reactionary or a radical revolutionary resolution, will it mean the reinforcing of the chains of enslavement or the shattering of the most decisive links in those chains and the opening up of the possibility of realizing the complete elimination of all forms of such enslavement?” —Bob Avakian, from Break ALL the Chains! On the Emancipation of Women and the Communist Revolution On March 8th we will declare our intention not to go back—to shattering ALL the chains! Join us in righteous fury and real hope to get humanity free. The National Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour is coming to LA!  At a time of looming existential threat to our planet, at a moment of mass despair and hopelessness, the National Revolution Tour is organizing forces for an actual revolution and putting the leadership of Bob Avakian (BA), and the new communism he's developed, on the map—bringing people the truth that there's a whole better way the world could be, and the leadership, revolutionary strategy, vision and plan for making that real.  Seeking volunteers to help meet the needs of the Revolution Tour: housing, fundraising, graphic design, food donations, etc. Contact us about being a part of this world historic mission! To join the organizing committee, contact us: Revolution Club, LA: 323.245.6947  revclub_la@yahoo.com @revclub_la www.revcom.us   @tuneintorevcom Come be a part of MASS ORGANIZING MEETINGS: 6:30 pm on Thursday February 27 and Thursday March 5 1609 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA (See contact info above for more) Download: Full Edition | Sampler Edition Order print copies from: The Bob Avakian Institute Can This System Do Away With, or Do Without, The Oppression of Women?—A Fundamental Question, A Scientific Approach An article from Break ALL the Chains! Read more

Tonite, 2/19: The Tour's coming to L.A.! Watch Facebook Live @ 6:30 pm PST. Tune in and DONATE!

The National Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour will be coming out with an announcement on Facebook Live (facebook.com/tuneintorevcom) tonight, Wednesday, February 19 @ 6:30 pm PST Tune in and DONATE! Watch Noche Diaz and Luan of the National Revolution Tour Friends, The planet we live on is burning and melting. The US global empire continues to rein death and destruction on people in different parts of the world. Thousands of people, many of them children, die every day from starvation or preventable diseases. While fascist in chief Donald Trump brays about the sentence prosecutors recommended for his friend Roger Stone being unfair, more than 2 million people languish in US prisons. All of this suffering is unnecessary! A better world is needed, a better world is possible! There is a way to end all the horrors humanity is forced to endure. The way out of all this madness is revolution, an actual revolution that overthrows this system and goes on to build a totally different and far better world in place of this messed up one. This kind of revolution is possible. The leadership needed for it exists in Bob Avakian who has forged and applied the science of the NEW Communism to lay bare the very core workings of this system, why it cannot be reformed and must be overthrown, how that can be done, and how we can build a new society on the road to ending all oppression and emancipating humanity. But almost nobody knows about this leader. The National Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour has spent the past year working to put this leadership and this revolution on the map in this country, up against the notion that there is no alternative, or that the best we can hope for is another politician promising change within the system, or that we should really just “change ourselves” and make a better life for some people in this parasitic country. We set out to challenge and inspire many thousands not only to hope for but to get organized as part of this revolution to change everything. It has learned important lessons about how to do this, but we have only begun to unearth the potential that must be tapped. We have new bold plans and ways to go at this. (Go here to read more about the launch of a new phase of this tour: LINK HERE) You are needed to help make these plans and methods successful. $50,000 is needed by the end of March to get this phase started, and much more money will be needed as its work continues – Go HERE to make a donation.. Connect with the National Revolution Tour and work with it to raise the necessary funds. Join its National Web Team to spread the word about the tour and its work. Go HERE to learn more about the National Revolution Tour by viewing the LIVE STREAM Wednesday, February 19, at 6:30 PM PST, and get involved. DONATE at REVCOM.US

The most important thing you can do with your car, house or apartment...

From the National Revolution Tour:

...Facilitate the Return of the National "Get Organized for An Actual Revolution Tour" to Los Angeles - coming March 1st!   Contribute what’s needed: Houses or apartments big enough for 4-8 people to stay together, to work collectively, - and also relax! - urgently needed.  If you can donate or rent housing (in South LA or other areas), let us know right away!  Enlist your friends and co-workers in meeting this need.    Cars, vans, trucks...  Enable the volunteers to get where they need to be! Donate a car. Make your car, van, or truck available for a period of time.  Volunteer to drive one day a week or whenever you can, donate Uber and Lyft gift cards, frequent flyer miles. Read the announcement: Announcing… Next Phase of the National Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour The Tour will be coming out with an announcement on Facebook Live on Wednesday February 19, 9:30 pm EST Tune in and DONATE! February 14, 2020 | revcom.us It is with great excitement, deep concern for humanity, and a scientifically grounded sense of hope in real-world possibility of a better future, that we announce and invite you to become part of the next phase of the National Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour. Starting in 2019 this Tour has gone to different parts of the country, boldly bringing people a real sense that we don’t have to accept and live in the kind of world people in this country and around the world are trapped in, with no sense or hope that there is a whole different and better way the world could be. This Tour has brought together a group of revolutionaries, grounded in the leadership of Bob Avakian who has forged and applied the science of the NEW Communism to lay bare the very core workings of this system, why it cannot be reformed and must be overthrown, how that can be done, and how we can build a new society on the road to ending all oppression and emancipating humanity. We have worked to put this leadership and this revolution on the map in this country, up against the notion that there is no alternative, or that the best we can hope for is another politician promising change within the system, or that we should really just “change ourselves” and make a better life for some people in this parasitic country. We set out to challenge and inspire many thousands not only to hope for but to get organized as part of this revolution to change everything. We have learned important lessons about how to do this, but we have only begun to unearth the potential that must be tapped. We have new bold plans and ways to go at this. Facing a new year that promises even more unpredictable upheaval and dangerous twists and turns for humanity… will this way out become a force that people can learn about, and become part of making real? This is the challenge, the mission and goal, that we are determined to meet, and we call on everyone who is inspired by this to take up this challenge as well. As Bob Avakian has said: There is an urgent need for this new synthesis to be taken up, broadly, in this society and in the world as a whole: everywhere people are questioning why things are the way they are, and whether a different world is possible; everywhere people are talking about “revolution” but have no real understanding of what revolution means, no scientific approach to analyzing and dealing with what they are up against and what needs to be done; everywhere people are rising up in rebellion but are hemmed in, let down and left to the mercy of murderous oppressors, or misled onto paths which only reinforce, often with barbaric brutality, the enslaving chains of tradition; everywhere people need a way out of their desperate conditions, but do not see the source of their suffering and the path forward out of the darkness. A Better World Is Needed… A Better World Is POSSIBLE All those who yearn for a better world, are needed to actively work on and contribute to this process with all we’ve got in order to accomplish that. Leaps need to be made in spreading the word that because of the work and leadership Bob Avakian has been providing there is an actual alternative… REAL hope for humanity, on a scientific basis. This is something that people need to know about, debate, and to actively take up, working together as part of a national movement. And the more that people are acting together to impact society with this revolution, even starting off small, the more that this hope can be brought to life for many more people, even those who start off “not wanting to hear it,” and open up ways to involve more people in having greater impact, all aiming to get the kind of process going that can lead to organizing the thousands. People need to know about this and see that there is a force being brought together and organized that represents for this, awakening more people and opening doors for them to find a way into the revolution. This will be projected out into society on a whole other level with a web presence, that will in turn have a qualitatively greater impact on the political terrain—influencing what people are thinking and talking about in the midst of a very tumultuous situation humanity is facing. In order to do this we are going to be concentrating forces in the greater Los Angeles area in this next period to be able to make this kind of dynamic breakthrough. All of this is only possible, of course, if many people are involved and struggle for it. Some of us will be part of the dedicated cores working tirelessly every day for revolution, some will be part of the revolution clubs and other organized networks that can act together at decisive times to impact a situation, and all of us need to be part of the networks raising the funds and gather other logistical support for the revolution. We are calling on you to step into this now by not only giving significant funds, but by becoming a regular part of the work of this Tour. That means committing in different ways to donate and raise funds, to support and bring others to support what can really be opened up if the work of this Tour can actually have a greater footprint in society right now. There are many ways that people can contribute, but many thousands of people need to be drawn into contributing financially and giving their time and resources to make this happen. To be specific: We need $50,000 by the end of March, just to get started with this next phase of the Tour. But we are going to need at least $500,000 between now and the end of the summer to make possible all that we have envisioned here. Below are three elements which are key to accomplishing the objectives of the Tour: 1) $30,000 in starting funds are needed to bring the volunteer cohort to L.A. in March, and further funds and ongoing sustainers will be needed every month. The people making up the cohort who are dedicating themselves to do this on this Tour are key to initiating the kind of process that can get to the point where thousands are working together in an organized way, and they need to be sustained. The people on this Tour need to eat, to have housing, to be able to cover transportation needs, to keep the phones on... and that alone costs thousands. Funding is also needed for the daily activities of the Tour. Everything from printing fliers, promotional cards, books, shirts, stickers, posters, permits, meeting and event spaces, public address/sound systems, audio/visual equipment. 2) We are putting together a National Web Team! A major way in which we can and need to transform how we are impacting and organizing broadly for revolution is through a whole new approach to our web presence. This will involve and require funds for updating our web infrastructure and platform, equipment for multimedia, social media, and livestreaming capacity, and more. 3) A National Fundraising Team. To build the movement for revolution, major funds are needed, and working together to involve people in raising funds is part of building the movement for revolution! Nationally coordinated fundraising periods and goals, effectively communicating and sharing decentralized experiences in raising funds, identifying key fundraising needs and crucial junctures, and continuing to engage networks of people who are contributing funds and raising funds. Spread the word about the Facebook Live event. Make plans to pledge and send in funds to reach a goal of $10,000 by February 20. Donate at Revcom.us.

The Michael Slate Show with Paul Street on the Accelerated Drives to Extinction and Fascism. Plus, RefuseFascism at the LA Phil

Received via email.  We Recommend: Friday, February 14, 2020 10 - 11 AM - PDT The Michael Slate Show KPFK 90.7 FM  |  Listen Live Website  Twitter,  Facebook This week: Paul Street, the Accelerated Drives to Extinction and Fascism Paul Street, an independent progressive policy researcher, award-winning journalist, historian and author, joins us to talk about Trump in the wake of the mock trial in the neo-fascist controlled Senate: Why he may be the most dangerous criminal in history, and why the democrats are not the solution.

From revcom.us: Salute to Refuse Fascism for Timely Banner at LA Philharmonic’s Weimar Republic Festival February 11, 2020 | revcom.us Refuse Fascism Los Angeles did a bold, artful and much-appreciated action at the February 7 opening of the LA Philharmonic’s important festival “The Weimar Republic: Germany 1918-1933.” The LA Philharmonic’s festival aims to “explore this culturally explosive period” in history, which was ended by the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. According to a report at RefuseFascism.org, “On Friday night a small team went to the Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA to enjoy an evening of virtuosity, and to hoist the 40 foot banner ‘TRUMP/PENCE OUT NOW REFUSEFASCISM.ORG.’ As we unfurled the banner concertgoers broke into exuberant applause! One person behind us called the act ‘a great gift.’ This wasn’t a ‘show-stopper’—we displayed the huge banner toward the end of intermission with no intention of disrupting THIS program—yet, there were tense and even funny interactions with concert hall security, who finally realized we were supportive of the program!” The action was covered by the Los Angeles Times, which wrote, “The banner fit with the festival’s goal of encouraging dialogue about the ways that the past—particularly the artistically rich Weimar era, which flourished in the shadow of rising fascism—connects to the present and presages the future,” and noted “Similar banners were hoisted Sunday by protesters near Hollywood & Highland before the Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theatre.”  (“Who were the protesters behind the Refuse Fascism banners at Disney Hall and the Oscars?” February 10)    Refuse Fascism unfurl banner in Disney Hall, February 7, 2020. See also: The Fascists and the Destruction of the “Weimar Republic”...And What Will Replace It By Bob Avakian Read more

Trump Acquitted While Refuse Fascism Faces Jail Time

From RefuseFascism-SoCal:   RefuseFascism.org     REFUSE FASCISM PROTESTERS FACING 3 YEARS IN JAIL FOR SOUNDING THE ALARM ABOUT TRUMP/PENCE FASCIST REGIME Dragged Into Court Dozens of Times Over Last Two and a Half Years PACK THE COURT Thursday TO DEMAND: DROP THE GODDAMN CHARGES!   In the wake of the Senate acquitting Trump in a sham trial, this whole regime is leaping ahead on a fascist rampage -- tearing up the rule of law, threatening their political opponents, demonizing immigrants, taking away the right to abortion and birth control, shredding the social safety net, unleashing mobs of fanatical thugs. This is fascism unfolding!   Almost 3 years ago, these activists from RefuseFascism.org and the Revolution Club, LA, recognized and were sounding the alarm about the terrible atrocities that the Trump/Pence Regime were going to commit. History has proven them right.  Did you know that Democratic City Attorney Mike Feuer has been relentlessly prosecuting and persecuting the Freeway 9 for almost two years?  Instead of applauding them for their foresight and courage, Feuer and the City of LA have been trying to put them behind bars! This case made national news when the LA Times exposed that the LAPD's Anti-Terrorist Division were surveilling Refuse Fascism, sending in a spy to record meetings and target political leaders. Some of the Freeway protesters already went through one trial, which ended in a mistrial with 9 out of 12 jurors demanding their acquittal! THIS Thursday, 2 of the Freeway 9 have a major hearing to demand these outrageous charges are dropped and to show that Refuse Fascism has been singled out for persecution and prosecution.  Why are major city officials prosecuting non-violent anti-fascist protest?  Why is the LAPD harassing Refuse Fascism? Why are they persecuting people for doing what millions need to do to STOP a fascist America -- at the very time when we need to be raising our voices in sustained determined political opposition demanding the whole regime be removed. EVERY DAY THAT THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME REMAINS IN POWER THREATENS THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY AND THE PLANET. We can't rely on the normal channels to stop this fascist regime.  Through the impeachment acquittal, Trump has been given the green-light to steal the 2020 election. We need to flood the streets in mass sustained nonviolent protest, not stopping, until our demand is met: Trump/Pence #OutNow Which side are you on? Will you stand by as fascism consolidates, and those who stand against face 3 years in jail?  Or will you stand up and say NO! Raise your voice to Free the #Freeway9: - PACK THE COURTROOM: hearing to drop the charges, Thursday February 13th, 8:30AM. Department 62 on the 6th floor of the Metropolitan Courthouse (1945 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90007) - Demand the charges be dropped! Call Mike Feuer 213-978-8100 - Tweet at him @Mike_Feuer and demand charges be dropped against the #Freeway9  - DONATE at donate.refusefascism.org for legal expenses and to spread word of this case everywhere. RefuseFascism-SoCal:  323.946.1742