the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 22, 2015
While the black community of Charleston mourns the loss of their loved ones, politicians call for “tolerance,” “peace” and “forgiveness.”
In reality, they are calling on the black community to sit back and not defend itself.
It’s obvious the racists are not tolerant, nor peaceful. In Charleston itself, different vigils commemorating the black people who died were interrupted by bomb threats. A third bomb threat was called in to the County building where the news conference was being held identifying the victims.
Racists who foment this level of hatred and violence have never listened to calls for peace and unity. And this vicious attack, in a black church that had served from before the Civil War as a center for organized black resistance, was only the latest attack on such centers.
When black people are threatened and attacked, they have every right to defend themselves—every right to defend themselves using whatever means are necessary to drive the racists back.
The lynchers did not pull back in the past because of moral speeches. They slowed down—for a while—because they were afraid of a mobilized population. They began to understand that what they had done might come back against them.
But the fight against racist violence does not belong only to the black population who are victimized by it. White workers have a duty to take part in this fight. It is in their communities that racist violence breeds—and is allowed to grow, if it isn’t fought.