VOTING WILL NOT BE ENOUGH—
WE NEED TO TAKE TO THE STREETS, AND STAY IN THE STREETS DEMANDING TRUMP/PENCE OUT NOW!
by Bob Avakian
|
|
Part 1: THE DEMOCRATS CAN’T FIGHT TRUMP THE WAY HE NEEDS TO BE FOUGHT
In the Statement by Bob Avakian, August 1, 2020, On The Immediate Critical Situation, The Urgent Need To Drive Out The Fascist Trump/Pence Regime, Voting In This Election, And The Fundamental Need For Revolution, I spoke to this important point: |
|
“At this critical hour, every appropriate means of non-violent action must be utilized to remove this regime from power. And if, in spite of mass protest demanding the removal of the Trump/Pence regime, this regime remains in power when it is time for voting, then—without placing fundamental reliance on this—using all appropriate means to work for the removal of this regime must include voting against Trump (assuming the election is actually held). To be clear, this means not a “protest vote” for some candidate who has no chance of winning, but actually voting for the Democratic Party candidate, Biden, in order to effectively vote against Trump.”
At the same time, however, I strongly emphasized that:
“Simply relying on voting to oust this regime will almost certainly lead to very bad, even disastrous results. This is especially true given what this regime is already doing, and what Trump is saying, in relation to the election.”
Trump’s Blatant Racism and Support for White Supremacist Violence
It has become increasingly clear that a pivotal part of Trump’s strategy, in relation to the election scheduled for November, and his overall approach to holding power, is to make more and more blatant appeals to racism by trumpeting a call for “law and order.” Trump portrays the ongoing protests against white supremacy and police terror as violent—and, as is typical with him, he flagrantly and grossly lies about the extent and causes of this violence. He paints a crude horror scene of you-know-who coming to pillage and rape—to violate the homes and the people, especially the women—in the suburbs, which in Trump’s vision are all white. This is a direct “echo” of the vile tactics used by white supremacists organizing mobs to lynch Black people during Jim Crow segregation, and of how Hitler stirred up hatred of and violence against Jews in NAZI Germany. Here again, facts do not matter to Trump and his fascist regime and its supporters—or, rather, facts are to be deliberately distorted, defied, and perverted in pursuit of literally murderous aims.
It has been shown (for example, in a study by Princeton University) that, overwhelmingly (more than 90 percent of the time), these protests against white supremacy and police terror have not been violent; and violence that has been committed by the protesters themselves has been relatively minor (some fires, looting, and trashing of a few buildings, in small, confined areas, often at or near police stations—nothing like the picture Trump paints of whole cities being burned down and destroyed). But, beyond that, most of the violence in connection with these protests has been perpetrated by Trump supporters—by police, who have repeatedly attacked the protests, and by armed fascist thugs (those Trump calls “Second Amendment people”). At least 20 protesters have been killed in this way. And Trump and his supporters have justified—and even glorified—this violence by white supremacists.
The Democrats, and the “mainstream media” generally in the same camp (CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and so on), have largely tried to shift the focus away from the protests and onto questions where they feel Trump is more vulnerable—in particular Trump’s truly reckless handling of the COVID pandemic, and things such as statements by Trump (or attributed to him) insulting U.S. soldiers. But Trump will continue his racist attacks on the protests against white supremacy and police violence, and his attempts to paint the Democrats as backers of violence and “carnage” by Black “thugs,” anarchists” and other “far leftists”; and this will have the effect of forcing the Democrats to devote significant attention to responding to this. And what has been the response of the Democrats? They have made the point that most of the protests have been peaceful, and they even say that Trump wants violence; yet, at the same time, the Democrats accept, to a large extent, the terms (and the trap) Trump has set. They have put a great deal of emphasis on denouncing violence by protesters, without giving the same emphasis to pointing out who is responsible for most of the violence connected to the protests—once again, overwhelmingly Trump supporters. The Democrats do not highlight the bitter irony that here are people protesting violence by the police and, even when (overwhelmingly) their protests are peaceful, they are subjected to yet more violence by the police! The Democrats don’t emphasize yet another glaring irony: Here are Trump and his supporters denouncing and attacking people overwhelmingly carrying out peaceful protests against racist violence, while Trump defends monuments to “heroes” of the Confederacy, who waged a war, in which they killed hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers, in the attempt to preserve and extend slavery.
Strategies by Democrats That Flow From and Reinforce the Problem Itself
There are two basic causes for how the Democrats and their allies do—and do not—respond to what Trump is doing with his attacks on the protests and his contrived racist horror story of mobs of “those people” bent on violently attacking innocent (white) people and their property.
READ MORE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Update on the Facebook Live event for the National Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour:
Sunday September 20, 5pm EDT/2 pm PDT
TUNE IN: facebook.com/therevcoms
We are at a turning point in history, the future lives of millions hang in the balance, and what people do or don’t do, and what they do and don't support, will really matter. The National Tour to Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution has been part of key fronts of struggle—politically and ideologically—bringing the revolutionary leadership of Bob Avakian and organizing forces. This is essential—and needs to spread—if masses of people are going to be able to rise to the challenges before us. We will be giving you a taste of what the National Revolution Tour and the revcoms have been doing, the challenges we have been confronting, what we are projecting for the next immediate period, and how you can be part of all this – including through contributing the essential funds that make all this possible. Participants on this Tour are people who have dedicated our lives to bringing into being a better world, fighting day and night to accomplish the mission of this Tour. We are working to bring forward many more who want to be part of meeting these historic challenges. All those who want to see this Tour succeed are also part of the work of the Tour. At this moment there is a tremendous need to not only continue but to scale up our reach and capacity with many thousands of dollars that need to be raised right now. Here are just a couple of examples of what the Tour has been doing, and what will be brought to life – and can be financially supported – on the livestream: |
|
| Noche Diaz in South Central, September 12: |
|
|
