BERKELEY, February 1—Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the fascist, racist Milo Yiannopoulos who was supposed to speak at the University of California Berkeley campus. The protest ultimately ended in a direct action that shut him down! Although our communist PLP contingent only included seven, it remains vital that we continue to put the line on the line as these anti-fascist fightbacks continue to pop up. From San Francisco to India to Mexico, the Progressive Labor Party will turn out to ensure that there is no free speech for fascists!
Racist Speech Leads to Racist Violence
In the weeks leading up to the event, there had been debates on campus about free speech versus the need for direct action to stop this fascist, sexist, racist, Trump-inspired movement. Yiannopoulos makes a living spewing hateful ideas. He is a senior editor at Breitbart News, a Zionist rightwing company. He has been part of Trump’s movement and often spews sexism anti-Muslim racism. This public figure supports the Muslim ban and talks about how Muslim people are violent and rapists. Most who turned out were convinced to shut it down, especially after the UC administration allowed the event to go forward in the “name of free speech.” Under capitalism, “free speech” is used an excuse to spew racist, sexist hate-speech. More importantly, racist speech translates to racist actions. People like Yiannopoulos embolden racists to attack workers, even if he doesn’t directly tell people to do it. So, PLP says no free speech for racists!
Parts of the crowd used the police barricades to trash the building and attacked the cops who were trying to protect the space where Milo was supposed to speak. Some Trump supporters were present, one of whom got decked.
These actions had a mass character and sympathy from many who were there or watched it live-stream. The actions also left some young people wondering what they should do in a confrontation. Other lay students were there to see “what’s up.” Some Berkeley High School students proudly told us about the walkouts against Trump following the election.
Mass Protest Creates Opportunity for Communists
Such mass actions are opportunities in PLP’s fight for communism. Our responsibility to spread communist ideas and practice increases. When we have personal or organizational ties with young people, we can move them towards a life-long commitment to fight for an egalitarian, communist world when we involve them in these actions.
PLP members and some friends came out together. Our poster with the CD headlines “This capitalist system, Shut it down” (see photo) caught many people’s attention. This allowed us to distribute CHALLENGE and a flyer and gave us opportunities to have deeper discussions about the way capitalism is leading to growing fascism and the need for a communist movement. The interest of workers that we were able to engage with was evidenced by their eagerness to share contact information, and one woman even asked if we had any upcoming events that we were organizing.
Debate has ranged after this event as the mass media tries to lead people to passivism in the face of attack. The debate is wide open for communist to be involved. It will take mass, organized violence to overthrow this system.
No Free Speech for Sexism and Racism: Milo Yiannopoulos is a court jester dancing on the stage set by the biggest capitalist players (Republican Democrats politicians, Goldman Sachs finance capitals, Breitbart open white nationalists/racists & sexist attackers) Milo‘s hate speech clearly has ties to the highest levels of State Power- He performed at the Republican Nominating convention, Young Republicans are sponsoring a tour of the US campuses, his jokes and attacks echo Breitbart/Bannon and Trump tweeted to stop Funds for UC Berkeley since he could not speak.
Shut Down Alt-Reality: The role of the bosses’ state in defending fascism is illustrated when the University argues for “free speech” to give “safe space” for organizing a movement to attack workers and students worldwide. Part of fascism is the “alt reality” that Milo and Trump promote: “There is no real racism or sexism in society—it’s all the heads of those who fight back” Spreading of such “alt-reality” is part of the growth of fascist culture and thinking. It is a revolt against science disguised as “alternative” facts (read: lies).
