ALTERNATIVE
ISSUE #65 l JULY-AUGUST 2020
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SOCIALIST
DEFUND THE POLICE
FUND SCHOOLS & SOCIAL SERVICES subscription address box
INSIDE ECONOMIC CRISIS END RACIST POLICING REVOLT IN SEATTLE
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WHAT WE STAND FOR: JULY-AUGUST 2020 WHY I JOINED SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE
Defund the Police: Fund Public Services J Cities should slash police budgets by at least 50%, and reinvest those funds in needed public services. J With states facing huge deficits, they are already looking to cut spending on public education and healthcare. The federal government should use a tax on big business to provide disaster relief to states. This money should not be used to bail out banks or major corporations, but should be put directly into providing needed social services.
A Safe and Just Society: End Racist Policing J Immediately fire and prosecute all cops who have committed violent or racist attacks. J End the militarization of police. Ban police use of tear gas, rubber bullets, chokeholds and military equipment. Disarm cops on patrol. J Put policing under the control of democratically elected civilian boards. These should have real teeth, including power over hiring and firing policies, reviewing budget priorities, and the power to subpoena. All of this should be done openly and publicly. J Police unions are dominated by reactionaries that defend abusive police, and should not be given cover by the labor movement. Labor must demand that police unions reject racist policing policies and agree to support a purge of the police in order to remain in or join labor councils.
Workers Program to Restart the Economy As the billionaires try to drive through a shoddy reopening of the economy, we need to discuss in our workplaces and communities what a return to work that prioritizes the needs of the working class would look like.
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Workplace Needs to Be Safe: While still on a small scale, workers are starting to rediscover their real power – the power to stop production through a strike. The recent upturn in walkouts and strikes have won important gains in safety. We need to organize safety committees in all workplaces. They should be elected by workers, without the bosses present. These committees should demand the right to social distancing protocols and personal protective equipment (PPE). This could include staggered shifts or an expansion of workspace per worker. If that means slowing down the pace of work - then slow it down! No retaliation or threat of unemployment against workers who refuse to work in unsafe environment! Program for Full Employment: The economy is collapsing into a new depression. Unemployment has reached the highest level since the Great Depression. We need an extension of current unemployment benefits - including the $600 a week top up. The labor movement should be on the front lines fighting for a massive jobs program, for a reduced workweek to share out the work with no reduction in pay, and for a living wage for all those laid off or unemployed. For a massive Green New Deal jobs program to tackle climate change and provide jobs for tens of millions of workers. To be successful this needs to be tied to public ownership of the massive energy companies and banks.
No Evictions or Foreclosures: J We need an extension of eviction and foreclosure bans through this depression. J We need to organize to fight every attempt by landlords at evictions. J Rent should be cancelled for the duration of this pandemic and back rent should be forgiven. J For universal rent control and a tax on the wealthiest corporations like Amazon to build high quality, publicly owned social housing.
Before becoming a socialist I wasn’t political at all. I grew up in a middleclass home; both of my parents had union jobs, but politics were never really important. After the 2016 presidential election there was an explosion of political activity in my neighborhood of Astoria and New York City as a whole. During this time, my roommate dragged me to a public meeting that Socialist Alternative was hosting, and I was blown away by the intensity and passion of it all. The public meeting really opened my eyes to a different kind of politics. As someone who loved history class in school, I didn’t realize just how little we actually learned. The following month I tore through all the left media and history I could consume. I was especially inspired by the huge international effort of the Spanish Civil War and the more radical nature of civil rights leaders like Malcolm X, Black Panthers, and MLK. The real politics of these leaders, and the movements behind them are completely ignored or buried in surface level things we learn in high school. At this time in my life I was working for a health insurance company that was lobbying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. During the day I would make websites for this ultra-conservative company while listening to Malcolm X speeches in the background: the stark contrast was not lost on me. I saw how the company had to lobby against the ACA because the way they made profit was off our public health care system not being able to provide for
Labor Movement Needs to Step Up: Trade unions are the only organizations workers have to directly defend their rights. However, the leaderships of most major unions have been woefully inactive during this pandemic and have not stepped up to defend their members or organize the unorganized. (With a notable exception being National Nurses United.) J Out of this pandemic and depression, we need to build radical fighting unions, which help organize social struggles against eviction, poverty, racism, and for full employment on living wages.
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Amidst the Justice for George Floyd protests, the Democrats and Republicans have demonstrated their loyalty to the racist and oppressive system of capitalism. Democratic city mayors and city councils have done little to stop the killer cops and bloated police budgets. This demonstrates how the Democratic
Joseph Wegmann New York City, NY everyone’s needs. At the same time, our busted political system couldn’t (and still can’t) even solidify the idea that we should all have healthcare in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Being a socialist to me feels like a no brainer when I live in a city that doesn’t seem to care about its residents, and when so many of my friends are so run down by their job, they barely have time to focus on things that really matter to them. It solidifies to me that we should be striving for the working class to be able to determine how we spend our lives and what work is necessary for our society. I am a socialist because I want people to liberate themselves from the meaningless grind of capitalist society. J
Party is not a vehicle working people can use to transform society. We need a new, multiracial workers party that organizes and fights for workers’ interests and is committed to socialist policies to point a way out of the horrors of capitalism for working people.
The Whole System is Guilty J Capitalism produces poverty, inequality, environmental destruction and war. We need an international struggle against this failed system. J We need a democratic socialist plan for the economy based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people and the planet. Bring the top 500 companies and banks into democratic public ownership. J Malcolm X said: “You can’t have capitalism without racism.” To win lasting change, the fight against police racism and the corporate political establishment must be expanded into a fight against the capitalist system itself and for a socialist alternative. J
2 S O C I A L I S T A L T E R N A T I V E . O R G
FIGHTING RACISM
The Rebellion Against Racial Oppression and Law Enforcement Terror Eric Jenkins On May 25, four Minneapolis police officers killed a Black man named George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Floyd’s death became the spark that lit the flames of rebellion both in Minneapolis and around the country. Millions of people poured into the streets calling for Justice for George Floyd chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund the Police.” Cities and rural areas alike have seen protests, with the latter in some cases seeing the first protests ever! In a continuation of the 2019 global revolt against neoliberal capitalism, millions of people have joined protests all over the world in solidarity with #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd. They are also questioning the legacy of colonialism and racism in their own countries. In Belgium, protesters pulled down a statue of King Leopold II, the butcher of the Congo, among other such reckonings. As we said in early June: “It is clear from a mile away that the rage goes far deeper. It hangs like a cloud over the demonstrations. For many protesters demanding justice for George Floyd, it is obvious that our entire economic and political system is broken.” The movement has already won the arrest and indictment of all four officers involved in George Floyd’s killing, a ban on police use of chemical weapons and choke holds in some cities and states, and reduced funding for certain local police departments. Despite all these concrete victories, the most significant accomplishment of this movement is the shift in consciousness of ordinary people in an anti-racist direction. Sixty-seven percent of adults across racial lines have expressed support for the protests and the popularity of this movement has put reactionaries in the U.S. like Donald Trump and the leaders of police unions on the back foot.
COVID-19 Provides the Backdrop This sudden burst of struggle wasn’t random. The world is currently in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions around the world are infected with the disease. Over 120,000 have died in the United States which became the epicenter of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic was the push that sent the economy off the cliff, plunging it into crisis. Tens of millions of people are currently unemployed or furloughed. Congress was forced to respond with a $2.3 trillion stimulus package. However, the crisis is still here. Federal Reserve Jay Powell said, “Millions of workers will not be able to go to their old jobs.” These crises have torn through the Black J U LY - A U G U S T 2 0 2 0
working class. Black people are dying at higher rates from COVID-19, have the highest unemployment rate, and make up a large section of essential workers who hardly have any protection against COVID-19. On top of all this, the epidemic of police brutality has raged on. Black people have been repeatedly harassed and targeted in every city and town in the U.S. It was only a matter of time before the working class responded with revolt. This mobilization of the multiracial, multigender, working-class youth, headed by young Black people, has shaken this country to its foundations. In 23 states, Democrats and Republicans called in the National Guard to shut down the protests. Trump has touted himself as a “Law and Order” president, threatening to send in the National Guard or even federal troops to cities where he deems that Democrats aren’t effectively crushing the protests.
Protests Explode Out of Lockdown The #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd protests are a continuation of the Black Lives Matter movement from a few years ago, but have started at a much higher level. They took on the character of an all out rebellion and occupation in some cities. The movement today is more widespread and is starting with demands such as “Defund the Police,” which shows an understanding that the previous reforms were woefully inadequate. While so-called “riots” were a feature throughout the country, the majority of protests were peaceful. Protestors have rejected violent tactics while also arguing against those who demonized rioters and “looters.” Many quote Martin Luther King, Jr.’s insight that a “Riot is the language of the unheard.” There is a growing recognition among the working class that Black communities are routinely looted by the capitalist system through wage theft, low-pay, little to no health care coverage, and slashes in vital social services. Young people, activists, and workers see this rebellion as not just being against police brutality. Hundreds of thousands across the
#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd rally in Philadelphia, June 2020. country have called to defund the police and redirect money toward social services such as education and housing. Systemic racism in all of its forms is being called out as the target. The slogan, “Enough is Enough,” crystalizes the mood. Many, especially Black youth, are no longer appeased with ineffective police reforms like body cams or implicit bias training. Many are desperate for a complete restructuring of the racist system that plagues working people of color. While generally the labor leaders have been woefully inactive in this struggle, some local leaderships and rank-and-file groups have launched into action. In Minneapolis, the bus drivers union ATU Local 1005 denied the police use of their buses to perform mass arrests for the first days of the rebellion. In response to a Minneapolis post office being burnt down, postal workers stood in solidarity with the rebellion by marching with the slogan, “You can replace a post office, but you cannot replace the life of George Floyd.” Many workplaces, union and non-union, held 9 minute walkouts to honor the death of George Floyd. This growing solidarity between the labor movement and the protests is the basis on which coordinated days of action could be organized. Mass protests combine with workplace actions would bring far more pressure to bear on the ruling class.
No Answers in the Halls of Power Both the Democratic and Republican Party have been completely taken aback by these rapid developments. The Democratic Party establishment
continues to try to funnel the momentum of this movement into a vote for Biden in November. However, they refuse to acknowledge their own role in police brutality and systemic racism or fundamentally change their positions on mass incarceration and policing. Joe Biden said that he doesn’t agree with the movement’s main demand of defunding the police. Knowing full well it would not pass in the Senate, the Democrats in the House put forward the boldest police reform package they could come up with. Even their most robust proposals are extremely limited. The Republican Party, more overtly the party of “Law and Order,” has gleefully ordered militarized forces to descend on protestors. However, they have also had to deal with protests in small towns and suburban communities, which is their voting base. Both parties have made clear their hostility to working-class people taking to the streets for Justice for George Floyd. Both corporate parties know that they are unable to deliver on the demands of ending systemic racism. To do so would require eliminating the economic order that allows racism to flourish: capitalism. Ending systemic racism would mean working people controlling their communities and workplaces under democratic control — putting the needs of the community over profit. This largely points to the need for socialism to end racism. Tens of thousands of working people are desperately looking for the way forward in the fight against capitalism and racist policing. Only the working class is the force in society to deliver on these demands by taking control of our workplaces and communities under the nose of the capitalist class. J
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