NOVEMBER 29, OAKLAND, CA—Class consciousness and anti-capitalism were on full display during the past weeks of actions to shut down business as usual in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Tens of thousands marched in Oakland, San Francisco and outlying areas. Multi-generational, multi-racial\ethnic, international groups took action & power in the streets, in Schools and on the job.  The actions focused on stopping the genocide in Gaza, shutting down APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation), and stopping IPEF (Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity) & End Capitalist Destruction of the Environment. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members urged all working people and students to follow the examples of the internationalist-minded Palestinians and non-Zionist Jews, who are not united with their ruling elites and who emphasized the commonality of their struggles. We had the opportunity to tie these immediate struggles to the need & goal to destroy capitalism with a world-wide revolution and to build a communist world.

Imperialist rivalry on display
After Presidents Biden & Xi Jinping met, Biden laid out his “calming” assurance that the two imperialists had reached mutual agreement on three items: 1) limiting fentanyl production. 2) Open military communication channels and  3) The impact of AI.  Then he made a “gaffe", calling Xi a dictator. As the PLP leaflet pointed out: U.S. and China bosses do play buddy-buddy, but the clash of their empires is inevitable. The Real Agenda: Biden & Xi Jinping seek to exploit & divide workers around the world while they compete for “allies” in their imperialist ventures.  The Biden administration launched IPEF in 2021 as a U.S.-led alternative for countries in the Indo-Pacific Area who developed deeper economic ties to China; also, as an alternative to the Belt & Road Initiative.  IPEF excludes China and includes some countries, not in APEC, like India. Some U.S. allies in the Americas accept capital investments from China. Some, now, criticize Israel as well as Hamas.  

Protests overwhelm police repression and media propaganda
Demonstrators denouncing imperialism and genocide joined up at the SF Civic Center, Market St,  Black Rock headquarters, (asset management), Democratic Party Convention in Sacrament. Many called for Free Palestine. At one demonstration, protestors physically surrounded CEOs as they sought to enter APEC Sessions: yelling & booing: “Shame, Shame” “Blood on your hands,” videoing CEOs for further shaming on the internet.                                                                                                                        

A day after Biden & Xi Jinping met,  a coalition against genocide, racism and imperialism  shut down the Bay Bridge; stopping traffic from Oakland to SF & disrupting those attending APEC(similar action happened on a bridge between Cambridge & Boston Ma.)                                                                                                               

In sharp contrast to anti-imperialist, internationalism  actions, groups of pro and anti-China demonstrators waved their national flags.  They clashed, on the side-lines of APEC, over which capitalist bosses to support. (Asian Diaspora from Tibet, Hong Kong & Uyghurs vs groups that support Xi Jinping ruling class in China & hoped to meet with him.).                                                                                        

Education workers in OEA (Oakland Education Association), UESF (United educators of San Francisco) & UAW 2865 (adjuncts, grad students and others in the UC System) passed resolutions for ceasefire and no weapons for the Israeli war machine. SEIU 1021 (service workers) & United Service Workers West(many janitors)passed resolutions calling for ceasefire.                                                                                             

The Belgian Transport Union has refused to load arms for Israel.                                               

No war but class war
PLP members’ experience at these actions brought home, in a real way, that thousands have turned fear and cynicism into anger and solidarity; particularity against imperialist genocide in Gaza. We got a great reception to our posters, CHALLENGE and flyers. (see pictures) Many eagerly responded to “No War but Class War”; “Stop the Genocide”, “Read a communist leaflet about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza.”  We focused on the interconnected oppression of capitalist rule in the USA to the oppression\genocide that imperialism brings down on workers around the world; especially with their junior partner, the Israel ruling class.
Tax dollars needed for public services like education and transit exported to fund the Israeli military, (i.e. cash for profit in the U.S. armament industry

Export of Israeli military training\intelligence to police departments in the USA which carry out racist attacks on Black, brown and low-income communities. C)$44 million for a new “Cop Campus”, regional training center, in San Pablo Ca. (near SF & Oakland). D) Needing to maximize profit demands that the US capitalists carry out with fascist attacks on immigrant labor with prisons, murder & family separation, similar to Israeli capitalists’ fascist attacks on immigrant labor inside Israel and Gaza.  E) the history of US capitalism’s displacement of indigenous peoples from “manifest destiny,” westward expansion to US imperialist actions throughout the “Americas” with wars and support of fascist coups.  Some people were not aware of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s infamous statement about the death of 500,000 Iraqi children from US war\sanctions: "I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.” Such conversations helped us to get names and several young people invited us to come to the actions they were planning to Shut Down APEC.

Internationalism & nationalism both on display
We, in PLP, learned a lot from the contradictions expressed in these actions. While groups were formed around nationality or national borders, expressed ethnic identity, carried Palestinian flags or focused on particular issues like climate, police terror, or the unhoused, they also contained multi racial\ethnic approaches and called for international unity among working people. In common struggle, there is plenty of room to argue that nationalism is no way out for working people. The worldwide solution is for the international working class to run society, with no borders; that means communism.                                                                                                                                           

During the protests, we explained our communist goals: PLP strives to build the world-wide movement for revolution and for a share and share alike, communism: no capitalist profits, no wage-system, no national borders, no racism, no sexism, working class unity with class siblings around the world.  We expressed our confidence that a mighty working class won’t be stopped when armed with commitment to production/distribution for the need and ability for all to contribute to an emerging communist world.

What is APEC?
In APEC’s own words: “Cooperation” means to “ensure that goods, services, investment and people move easily across borders. by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional economic integration.” APEC trade deals cover 60 percent of global energy systems and impact some of the most climate-vulnerable areas of the world  ( https://www.apec.org/About-Us/About-APEC/)                                                                                                                            

*1,200 global, corporate CEOs (including: General Motors, Exxon, Chevron, Citibank, Tesla, SpaceX’s Musk, Boeing & big tech like Microsoft), 20+ heads of state (including Biden & Xi Jinping), 30,000 lobbyists, corporate execs, & international media.  President Xi Jinping met with American business leaders at a $2,000-per-plate dinner.

Trying to make SF look good on the world stage, the SF city bosses spent thousands to “clean up the City.” Homeless workers were removed from downtown areas. Some businesses were shut down.  Bridge and freeway exits/entrances were blocked. There was a huge police\security presence.  The media blasted that a great opportunity was coming to San Francisco to capture investments from “domestic and international” Finance Capital and to change its tarnished image as a failing city.

Workers in Pakistan are grappling with a dire economic situation. Inter-imperialist rivalry is heating up, particularly in dependent countries like Pakistan. It depends upon the financial capital of Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the U.S., in that order. For example, in order to obtain  the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, Pakistani bosses are forcing workers to produce weapons for Ukraine as collateral for the latest bailout package. In addition, Pakistani bosses are raising funds by stealing from workers and selling national assets like its ports to the UAE.

Various social issues are escalating, while the ruling elite shamelessly serves the interests of imperialism.  Unemployment is spreading rapidly, inflation is increasing daily, and workers across different industries are losing their jobs. Farm workers are being compelled by landlords to work longer hours for lower wages, and women and children are being pushed into bonded labor.  The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) is taking a leading role in the working-class fightback in Pakistan, explaining the situation and pointing out the need for a communist revolution as the only solution.

Workers fight back; bosses terrorize with crackdowns
The most impoverished sections of the working class face a lack of job opportunities in both the public and private sectors. Local industrialists and feudalists prioritize exploiting workers and shifting their capital abroad, resulting in daily suicides among workers and their families due to unemployment, lack of food, and shelter. Working-class individuals are actively participating in Action Committees, organizing protests and sit-ins against new taxes, high inflation, unemployment, and terrorism.

Government employees are staging strikes and sit-ins to pressure authorities to increase their pay in line with inflation. However, the finance department's adherence to IMF instructions makes it challenging for the government to provide relief. The fear of displeasing international monetary organizations like the IMF has led to a situation where Pakistan's default could collapse the capitalist economic system, leading poor workers  to challenge the state due to  hunger, exploitation, and poverty.

Protests extend from teachers to clerks, with various organizations, including the All-Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA), mobilizing. The Punjab government's attempt to privatize schools is seen as a move that will increase unemployment and exploitation. The government is also set to introduce amendments to pension regulations under IMF instructions, sparking agitation among poor people against the ruling class's actions.

AGEGA's militancy has triggered a brutal crackdown, resulting in the arrest of over 556 demonstrators. Protesters from various unions, including the Punjab Teachers Union, All Pakistan Clerk Association, Health Employees' Association, and the Punjab Professors and Lecturers' Association, were subjected to torture and false cases, highlighting the intense suppression by authorities.

Party exposes bosses’ privatization schemes and corruption
The impending privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is perceived as a ploy to appease capitalist supporters. Capitalist bosses, in every election, fund campaigns of almost every party expected to form the next government. This privatization, along with other institutions, is viewed as a means to bribe capitalists, although it raises concerns about the impact on public services.

Despite approximately 23 million out-of-school children in Pakistan, public school' neglect continues. Teachers' unions are criticized for their role, seen as self-serving and aligned with bureaucracy and politicians. The Progressive Labor Party (PLP)  is involved in these actions, using them to provide true revolutionary leadership, guiding workers to see their revolutionary potential, and understanding the root causes of Pakistan's political, social, and economic challenges. While participating in reform struggles, PLP offers hope for a brighter future, distinguishing itself from other leftist  and socialist parties.

Only working class PLP can lead the way
Political parties in Pakistan have often manipulated Palestine and Kashmir issues for sympathy and funds. Religious parties exploit these issues for financial gain. Despite working-class people's disconnection from these geopolitical concerns, religious parties use mosques to mobilize mainly businesspeople, shopkeepers, and government employees in rallies lacking the passion of the working class.

Religious parties' reluctance to aggressively address the Palestinian genocide is attributed to their ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The PLP supports progressive students, workers, and political activists in organizing demonstrations against imperialist greed and exploitation. The Party emphasizes the need to fight against the capitalist system, which it sees as the main cause of global bloodshed. PLP advocates for international organizations under its red flag to eradicate every evil of capitalism and establish a political and economic system guaranteeing equality, justice, and peace – communism.

On November 24, I joined three other comrades at the "Save Gaza," Black Friday March on Chicago's Michigan Avenue, the "Magnificent Mile," of expensive shops and restaurants. Several progressive groups were present at the event such as the US Palestinian Community Network and Students for Social Justice at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC).

Shoppers unnecessarily crossed through the rally, and at one point a racist shouted, "Stop killing babies and raping women!" While I don't know what kind of statistics there are about rape in this conflict, the hard evidence about the Israeli Defense Force's current killing of 6,150 children in just under two months should be spiking the radar of any "pro-lifer." The dehumanizing tactics of Hamas are centered in the imagination of those all too unwilling to grapple with Israel's own dehumanizing, US-supported tactics on Palestinians, where prior to the current slaughter 40% of the male population in Palestine had been imprisoned.

Once the march of about 1,000 took off,  there were several stopping points in front of businesses like Victoria's Secret and Starbucks shouting, "Shame on You!" while cops blocked the entrances. At one point we chanted, "CPD, KKK, IDF, they're all the same!" At another point an Arab American cop guarding a business was a particular focus for a small group of Arab protesters.

I carried a sign with the picture of Murod Kurdi, an Arab American worker from the nearby suburb of Oak Lawn who was murdered by a drunk driver. I got the opportunity to explain the PLP's support of the case to a worker handing out flyers. He referred to the area Murod was from as "Little Palestine,” on account of the large diaspora there. A family with a 5-year-old boy and his family holding signs of support for Palestine came closer to have him read my sign and ask about it. When the boy struggled to understand the importance of an Arab worker killed by a drunk driver, a member of their group explained that if the driver hadn't been white, they likely wouldn't have gotten away with it.

Though most shoppers hid away in stores or acted as unaffected as possible, I did get some CHALLENGEs to a few of them. A pair of young workers gazed from the sidelines in awe, and when handed a CHALLENGE and told it was a communist paper, one responded, "The people control the means of production!" I got handed one  to a young Black worker who raised her fist and began to march along the sidewalk with us. Another worker outside of Starbucks recognized CHALLENGE and asked for one.

Ending at the historic Water Tower, an organizer called for high school students to organize walkouts, for college students to challenge their learning institutions that often have Zionist backing, and to continue coming out every week.

No shackling of patients
November 14 was a busy day for U.S. PLP members and friends at the American Public Health Association (APHA) meetings in Atlanta, Georgia. We joined protests against Cop City in Atlanta and Israel’s genocide of Palestinians abroad. We were also instrumental in getting a policy passed by the APHA against shackling prisoners in health care settings (like handcuffing them to the metal rails on a hospital bed).

We worked for over a year with friends and PLP members to craft this resolution, just as we have done before on successful resolutions against police brutality and for prison abolition. This strong anti-racist policy statement gives us a new tool to demand humane treatment of prisoners at our local institutions. Two of us engaged in this policy work also hit the streets as a security team at the Cop City rally, openly advocating against capitalism and for communism. These actions opened the door to deeper political conversations at a later social event. A fellow rally security member was excited to meet a communist and to learn more about the PLP.

Handing out our newsletter, APHA Challenge, at sessions where we presented or spoke from the floor was another way we got into good conversations, including one with an interested activist who remembered us from our campaign last year around global vaccination access.

While PLP has provided consistent leadership in struggles at APHA for decades, today’s multiple crises for the global working class mean that the party group in the APHA must grow as class struggle intensifies!
*****

We will remember Claude
We live in a world where it’s “normal” to commit genocide, but it’s “unreasonable” to remember the dead.
In one New York City high school, on what would’ve been his 18th birthday, students wanted to memorialize Claude.* After what happened in March, in fear of retaliation, students wanted permission before putting up a memorial again.

Claude was a son, brother, friend, thinker, creator, student—and a victim. He was doubly targeted by the capitalist violence in the street and the racist education system in the schools. Following his killing, students had fought to memorialize Claude. In response, the administration had taken down the memorial not once, but twice! And each time, we rebuilt it bigger. (See CHALLENGE 4/12 and 4/26 for the full backstory.)  

When I met with the principal this week to submit the students’ request, she eventually said yes.  I quickly informed the students of the small win. I also asked staff to join me in wearing Black in memory of Claude.
Twelve hours later, before the school day, I received an email revoking permission to post the memorial.
When I arrived at school, I saw many workers in Black. Students and I began our morning with a circle in the hallway in front of the memorial. One student led us through a speech and ten seconds of silence. We then wrote messages on the poster.

After morning check-in, I was told by the administration to take down the memorial.

I replied, “No, I’m not doing that. I won’t be the one to remove it.”

She did a double take and said, “Okay, I’ll take it down myself. I’m not scared.”

The simple act of remembering a Black working-class student is defiance in this Black-run school. The fact that a memory of a child’s killing is so threatening exposes the racist anti-student nature of schools under bloody capitalism. One purpose of capitalist education is to recreate all the inequalities that make this profit system run. Capitalism’s schools censor and repress anti-working-class ideas. Bringing attention to Claude shatters the image of this “good school.” His memorial is a reminder that this whole system is disproportionately rigged against Black, Brown, and immigrant students. Such a system doesn’t deserve to exist.

Well, the principal finally backed down for now: “I don’t want to fight…we’ll keep it.”
Taking small risks like these helps build working-class confidence for the bigger battles ahead. Our next battle is fighting anti-Muslim racism (more next time).

Throughout the day, students from all grades signed the poster. Hundreds were careful to not let it wrinkle as they passed through the hallway. For now, the memorial is up.

Our principal was trying to bury Claude’s memory like how Israel buried 14,000 of our working-class siblings.
Students and education workers here have yet to see it, but the very group of people who kill kids overseas are the same people who kill kids in the streets.  

Be it Brooklyn or Gaza, this profit system tries to bury us, but the working class remembers. We will remember Claude. We will remember the genocide. In their memory, we will fight for the kind of world they deserve.

*The pseudonym Claude is inspired by the communist fighter and writer, Claude Mckay.
*****

Canada: worker organizer solidarity with our class in Gaza
A Progressive Labor Party (PLP) member organized a solidarity event with workers in Palestine in his rural Maritime-Canadian community. The event was part of a national day of action demanding that the Canadian government support an immediate ceasefire in Israel-Palestine and call for an end to the blockade of Gaza.

More than 250 workers and their families showed up, a substantial turnout in a town of 5000. The highlight was a “complicity tour” that involved marching to various sites in town at which designated speakers critically connected the location to Canadian support for the ongoing genocide. The stops included the local university, where the speaker called out the administration’s cowardly unwillingness to condemn Israeli state violence and made the case for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement. Then it was on to Scotiabank, whose logo blazes the same shade as the blood of Palestinian children, with the institution’s massive investments in Elbit Systems, an Israeli death merchant.

The gap between a ceasefire demand and PLP’s call to turn the guns around appears wide indeed, but by working in a reform-oriented organization Party members will continue striving to keep the revolutionary horizon in view, testing our line among an expanding coalition of community members.
*****

Response to Gaza genocide: teacher stops business as usual
As the bombs were falling on our working-class brothers and sisters in the Levant (Gaza and surrounding area), the New York City Department of Education dropped a bomb on NYC teachers. The Chancellor put out an email saying that teachers could be fired for anything they post on social media. This is a clear escalation, and an example of liberal fascism increasing,  due to the need for the ruling class to silence any criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Not a word of criticism was broached by the Teachers’ Union thus their silence is complicity. Upon seeing the letter, my club of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) teachers began formulating a plan to respond. One teacher shared a template that some teachers were using to write a letter to the teachers union’s president. We then decided that the club would take this course of action.

In addition, I decided that I wouldn’t be teaching my usual classes and would, instead, have a class discussion on Israel/Palestine. I was able to have a sharp conversation in the classroom and had several students — including some Muslim students — thank me. This also opened up the ability to have conversations with teachers, in which  I consistently brought up the Party’s analysis thatU.S. support of Israel’s genocide is all part of inter-imperialist rivalry.

While sitting in the teacher’s center during my off period, I quickly wrote a letter and asked for input from a young Latin teacher with whom I’d had a few political conversations. She was happy to help, and shared that not only was the Israeli genocide fueled by the Leviathan Oil fields off of the coast of Gaza, but that there were plans to create a canal that would rival Egypt’s Suez Canal and be totally under the control of the U.S. and Israel.

I then sent the letter to our entire staff. Several teachers thanked me, especially one teacher with a Muslim name who said he was afraid of speaking out due to racism. Many good conversations with students and teachers and much base-building occurred by following and carrying out the plans that my club had made. Of course, as part of our plan, we decided to share our experiences with CHALLENGE to help the Party grow and learn.