With President Donald Trump ruling mainly by decree, there were many who thought his recent tweet about delaying the election meant that he intends to decree himself president for another four years. The purpose of that tweet seemed to be to raise uncertainty about the validity of the November vote.

The November vote is to select electors for the Electoral College, which then elects a president and vice president. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 but won the Electoral College vote, which is the only one that matters. The U.S. has never had a democratically elected president. All have been selected by the Electoral College.

In 2016, the Electoral College was manipulated with vote challenges. Some 1,913,369 ballots were challenged and thrown away in key states in 2016, giving Trump the Electoral College win. George W. Bush did this in the 2000 election, challenging and invalidating the Black vote in Florida. When a recount to include the Black vote was demanded, the Supreme Court intervened and handed the Electoral College and the presidency to Bush.

According to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, which investigated in Florida, the chance of your ballot being challenged and uncounted is 900 percent higher if you are Black than if you are white.

That’s what Trump did in Detroit in 2016, challenging the Black vote. Trump “poll watchers” challenged every single Black vote in Detroit, preventing the counting of 75,355 ballots in the city. That gave Trump a “victory margin” of 10,000 to take Michigan’s Electoral College vote and the White House.

There is already a widespread suppression of Black, Latinx and Indigenous peoples’ voting rights. 

At least 1,688 polling places have been closed across 13 states, nearly all in the South and West, between 2012 and 2018, according to a report by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

In addition, states “have shortened voting hours, enacted new barriers to registration, purged millions from voter rolls, implemented strict voter identification laws, reshaped voting districts and closed polling places,” the report says.

“For many people, and particularly for voters of color, older voters, rural voters and voters with disabilities, these burdens make it harder — and sometimes impossible — to vote,” the report adds. 

Using voter suppression and challenges to win the Electoral College votes in so-called swing states like Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Trump can lose the popular ballot by as many as five million votes nationwide and still win an Electoral College majority.

Trump’s July 30 tweet casting doubt on the November election’s legitimacy said it “will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history” due to states’ decisions to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Trump suggested the vote be postponed: “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

Jamelle Bouie wrote, “Trump has made no attempt to win a majority of voters, no effort to bring a skeptical public to his side. Instead, he has directed his energy toward suppressing opposition in hopes of winning by technical knockout for a second time. His chief target right now is the United States Postal Service, whose operation, it almost goes without saying, is critical for the success of mail-in voting.” 

An Electoral College victory like that should not be accepted as legitimate. The mass anti-racist movement, Black Lives Matter and more — the largest movement in U.S. history — can and should respond.

June 1 coup attempt

The U.S. is in the midst of a great crisis, an economic and political crisis. Unemployment is in the tens of millions, at levels not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Homelessness has reached record levels. For those workers who have jobs, pay is at record lows, income inequality at record highs. 

Before the coronavirus shutdown, 44 percent of all U.S. workers were in poverty, not even a living wage. More than 160,000 have died from COVID-19, with the spread of the infection and the daily death toll continuing. All of these have hit the Black and Brown communities the hardest, exposing the devastating conditions of racism in the U.S.

On top of that came the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis cops, the police murder of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., and the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. In response, an uprising for justice, against police terror, defending Black lives and rights swept the country.

The protests were described by the New York Times as “the largest movement in U.S. history.” 

Anti-racism had become the majority view for the first time and the protests were continuing and expanding. The White House was gripped by fear. Trump responded with what can only be described as a military coup attempt.

A reminder here: Richard Nixon also saw the massive civil rights and anti-war protests, in the hundreds of thousands, as a revolutionary challenge. In the spring of 1971, Nixon brought troops from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne division into Washington, D.C., in response to a planned mass anti-war protest. The police, the military and the National Guard rounded up and held some 12,000 protesters. 

Later, during Nixon’s impeachment, it was widely believed that Nixon had begun organizing a military coup, talking about the need to bring in the 82nd Airborne to “protect” the White House, in order to keep the presidency. Both Henry Kissinger and Al Haig, who were part of Nixon’s White House staff, are reported to have been involved in the coup talks. 

On Monday, June 1, 2020, outside the White House, Donald Trump declared, “I am your president of law and order.” He proceeded to characterize the large-scale protests in response to the murder of George Floyd and against police violence as “acts of domestic terror.”

If the marches and demonstrations did not cease, Trump promised to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and “deploy the U.S. military” on the streets of every major city, including Washington. Trump went on, “As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property.”

He then issued the following threat: “If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the U.S. military and quickly solve the problem for them.” (See “Trump’s June 1 coup attempt”)

The unidentified paramilitary secret police force that was unleashed in Washington on June 1 has since been used by Trump against the cities of Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Chicago; and other places, targetting any and all anti-racist protests.

Trump’s effort to establish a personal dictatorship on the basis of military rule is the product of a protracted economic and political crisis in the U.S. of extreme social inequality and endless war. The system is in crisis and is unstable.

November 3 to January 20

The run-up to the Nov. 3 Electoral College selection (Election Day) and the 11-week period between the selection and the Jan. 20 inauguration threaten to be periods of deep political crisis.

The Washington Post reported: “As Trump demurs, an unimaginable question forms: Could the president reach for the military in a disputed election?” 

The Post reports:

“President Trump’s refusal to commit to accepting the results of the November election, paired with his penchant for plunging the military into the partisan fray, has prompted scholars and legal experts to ask a once-unthinkable question: How would the armed forces respond if pulled into a disputed election?

“Speculation about whether the military could be asked to play a role in events following the 2020 presidential vote has intensified in the wake of the Pentagon’s involvement in the government’s response to demonstrations against racism and police brutality. …

“As the election approaches, the president has once again declined to say he would accept its results. ‘I have to see,’ he said during a Fox News interview this month. ‘I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no. And I didn’t last time either.’

“The president has warned for months that mail-in voting — expected to be used more widely than ever due to the coronavirus pandemic — or potential foreign interference in Democrats’ favor could yield widespread fraud and a ‘rigged’ election, comments his critics worry are laying the groundwork in case he decides to dispute the result. …

“Scholars cautioned that they are not suggesting that the military would proactively seek to influence the vote, but rather that Pentagon leaders could be forced in a disputed election to become involved in a way that would appear partisan, similar to what occurred in the nation’s capital in the wake of protests in June. …

“Fears about the use of the military have arisen during some previous presidential transitions. …

“In 1934, a retired Marine Corps general, Smedley Butler, testified before Congress that a group of industrialists had conspired to create a fascist veterans group with him at the helm and use the organization to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a scandal that became known as the ‘business plot.’

Nevertheless, experts said they are most worried about a handful of hypothetical situations, including a scenario in which Trump might refuse to concede victory to Biden, or a legal challenge to the outcome might remain unresolved by Inauguration Day, prompting him to assert presidential authority beyond Jan. 20.

“In that scenario, experts hypothesized, the White House might call on the military to protect the president or, more likely, respond to potential protests on ‘law and order’ grounds, possibly leading the president to follow through with earlier threats to send active-duty troops to American cities or take control of state-commanded National Guard members.

“Already, his administration has mounted a shock-and-awe response to protests in Portland, Ore., sending in federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security over the objections of local and state officials, in what critics have called a political effort to boost Trump in the polls. …

“Crucially, a contested outcome lasting beyond Jan. 20 would force the military to make an implicit decision about who is commander in chief. According to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, Trump would cease to be president on noon of Jan. 20 if Congress does not certify him as the winner, passing his authority as commander in chief of the military to the acting president, the speaker of the House of Representatives.”

No relief in sight

On Aug. 7, President Donald Trump interrupted his game of golf at his course in New Jersey to announce four executive orders he says will provide economic relief for struggling workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic and depression-level unemployment. So far it’s unclear exactly when or how that will happen. It is clear that none of it would provide any kind of relief for more than a few weeks at most.

Trump has been ruling by decree ever since he took office, never even pretending to propose bills to Congress, the mythological way that a president is supposed to act in the U.S. Actually, U.S. presidents have been ruling by decree at least since the end of World War II, when the functional power to declare war was assumed by President Harry Truman to send troops into a war on Korea. Executive orders have almost replaced laws enacted by Congress. 

There have been constant wars since the 1950s, but none of them authorized by Congress. Presidents have been ruling by decree. George W. Bush issued 291 executive orders in 8 years, the most of any U.S. president. Bill Clinton issued 254 and Barack Obama issued 276. The previous presidents were not as open about it as Trump has been. Trump has issued 177 executive orders as of August 3 and his term has another 5 months to go.  

The U.S. Constitution, however, authorizes only Congress to declare war and only Congress to establish laws. The president is supposed to “execute” what Congress has passed. They call it the rule of law over the rule of a supreme commander or monarch. 

Congress — and, in particular, the House of Representatives — also has the “power of the purse,” the ability to tax and spend public money for the national government, not the president. Instead we have rule by decree which appears to now include taxes and spending.

On Trump’s executive orders offering “relief”

1. $400 … $300 .. $??? disappearing unemployment benefits

Instead of actually extending the $600 supplemental federal unemployment assistance that unemployed workers have been receiving weekly under the CARES Act that Congress passed in March, Trump claimed his executive order would give $400 in weekly assistance. Funding is to come from $44 billion in disaster relief funds from the Department of Homeland Security. 

Trump had said in his announcement that it’d be $400, but on Aug. 11 the Washington Post reported: “President Trump’s senior aides acknowledged on Tuesday that they are providing less financial assistance for the unemployed than the president initially advertised …  the maneuver only guarantees an extra $300 per week for unemployed Americans.” 

Even that amount is being questioned, as most of the $44 billion disaster relief funds may have already been spent.

State unemployment benefits are frightfully low, an average of $378 weekly. It’s a starvation rate, and only half of what federal guidelines say is the poverty level for a household of four. Most states provide 26 weeks of state unemployment insurance, but for workers who lost their jobs during the major business shutdowns in March and haven’t been able to return to work, that will run out this month or next. 

The federal weekly $600 payments that went to unemployed workers in all states expired on July 31.

Trump’s executive order goes outside the usual unemployment insurance system, so something new has to be established that will likely take months for states to implement. 

Even if it is implemented, the jobless benefits won’t go to those in greatest need. Only the unemployed who are receiving more than $100 a week in state unemployment insurance are eligible for the federal aid. That means that those at the bottom of the income distribution — particularly workers who rely on tips and the self-employed — will get no federal benefit at all. Those workers are estimated to be at least 15 percent of those who’ve lost their jobs since March.

2. Payroll tax “holiday” could gut Medicare and Social Security

One of Trump’s four executive orders directs the Treasury secretary to defer payroll taxes through the end of the year, with the media calling it a payroll tax holiday. The payroll taxes fund Medicare and Social Security.

Payroll taxes are paid by both employers and workers, each contributing half the total. The deferral means it has to be paid later to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, by the end of 2021. 

Trump says he wants to make the deferral permanent, after he gets his re-election in place. “Permanent” means the trust funds would never see the money restored. That would mean an end of the Social Security and Medicare programs.

Also, if workers have their tax “deferred,” that would show up as a wage “increase” to the IRS, meaning higher income taxes to be paid in April 2021. 

3. Order on evictions and foreclosures is all smoke

As many as 40 million face eviction by the end of the year, according to researchers in a paper published Aug. 7 by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. 

Because of the massive job and income losses in the pandemic, anywhere from 29 percent to 43 percent of all renter households in the U.S. face eviction, the researchers wrote. In some states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, more than half of all renter households could be at risk. 

Trump’s housing executive order is the most meaningless of the four. It simply says it is important to keep people in their homes during the pandemic, particularly so they can successfully socially distance themselves from others and prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. 

“It is the policy of the United States to minimize, to the greatest extent possible, residential evictions and foreclosures during the ongoing COVID-19 national emergency,” the order says.

The executive order does not actually prohibit any evictions or foreclosures. 

The CARES Act included a 120-day eviction moratorium for renters who were living in a property with a federally guaranteed mortgage and for renters in federal housing assistance programs. That moratorium ended on July 24. In addition, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the federal moratorium didn’t cover approximately 31.4 million renter households, so there were thousands of evictions during this moratorium period.

The CARES Act also provided foreclosure relief for owners of single-family homes which had a federally guaranteed mortgage. The Federal Housing Finance Agency had extended that program, but it ends on Aug. 31.

4. A short student loan deferral

The CARES Act help for student loan borrowers was set to expire at the end of September, so Trump’s order extends his policy to set the Department of Education loan interest rates to zero percent and let borrowers defer payments through the end of 2020. Or possibly earlier, as the order says: “It is therefore appropriate to extend this policy until such time that the economy has stabilized, schools have reopened and the crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided.” 

What determines the economy has “stabilized”? Do all schools have to reopen, or just a few?

Tuesday, August 11, 2020 at 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM CDT

Start at 64th/Cottage Grove, End at 1438 W 63rd St

Join us for a car caravan and rally to demand CPAC and the defunding of CPD!

On Sunday, August 9th, Chicago police shot a young Black man in Englewood and then threatened community members with assault rifles and riot gear. Latrell Allen is currently in hospital fighting for his life after being chased and shot five times by CPD. Police are claiming, without evidence, that he shot at them first. The police have charged Latrell with attempted murder after they attempted to murder him. This is yet another instance of police demonizing a victim of police violence to justify their atrocities.

When people from the neighborhood gathered on the scene, they were met with hundreds of CPD officers armed with assault rifles. This was a clear escalation towards a community that just experienced a traumatic attack on one of their own. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said nothing about the officers who shot Latrell Allen and assaulted protesters in Englewood, instead focusing on looting and the well-being of the police department. Instead of meeting the people’s demands, Lori Lightfoot has ordered the raising of the bridges downtown and has deployed more resources towards policing.

The loss of property on the Mag Mile is nothing compared to the loss of life inflicted by CPD. People are furious at the way police have behaved as an occupying force in Black and Brown communities for decades, killing, torturing, and kidnapping people with impunity. People are sick and tired of losing schools, hospitals, mental health facilities, and other resources while the police budget continues to grow. What Lightfoot calls looting is an expression of rage from people who have been terrorized and neglected by the city for years. The people demand that CPD be defunded with that money being invested in communities instead. The people demand that the city enact CPAC so communities can hold police accountable and prevent police violence.

CPD is the biggest gang in the city, and Lori Lightfoot has not hesitated to unleash them on protesters, Black, Latinx and other oppressed people. We need CPAC to put the power in OUR HANDS to end these attacks on our communities!

On Facebook

Res. 194: An apology for the enslavement and racial segregation of African Americans

In July 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 194, apologizing for slavery and racial segregation of African Americans. The bill was drafted and introduced by Steve Cohen (D-TN) some 11 years after President Bill Clinton said he would consider an apology for African Americans for their ancestors’ suffering.

In 1997, while a state senator in Tennessee, Cohen had urged Clinton to apologize for slavery and Jim Crow, and to make the announcement on the 30th anniversary of the asassination of Dr. Martin L. King Jr. on April 4, 1998.

Clinton, an opponent of reparations, said during an interview, “Rather than reparations, the nation needs to continue to work to erase the effects of past discrimination.” He initiated a “National Dialogue” about race in 1997, encouraging all people in the U.S. to talk about race and recommend solutions. 

When Cohen was elected to Congress in 2007, he introduced a resolution which officially recognized the horrors of slavery from 1619 to 1865, and Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation and disenfranchisement of people of African descent that continue to this day.

The resolution was passed July 29, 2008, with 120 co-sponsors. Though the resolution was nonbinding and primarily symbolic, it was considered by many a step forward in acknowledging the great wrongs of the U.S. government. Nearly a year later, on June 18, 2009, the U.S. Senate finally passed a similar resolution.

Prison Radio recorded the following commentary by political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal about a week after the House of Representatives agreed to pass H. Res. 194, a “simple resolution.”

— Gloria Verdieu

Oooh! Sorry about the slavery thing!

By Mumia Abu-Jamal

Several days ago, a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution apologizing for slavery.

The Senate has not yet moved on such a measure, and probably has no intention to do so.

That it comes today, some 143 years after slavery was prohibited in the Constitution (notice I said “prohibited,” and not stopped, for historians and scholars have uncovered that the trade continued long thereafter, as an underground one, kind of like drugs today), gives us some idea of how deeply slavery still resides in American consciousness, and how empty such an apology is in light of all that has intervened in the century and a half since the cessation of the Civil War.

It’s like robbing someone, growing fat and rich on stolen wealth, and then passing that person on the street, who is now homeless, destitute and starving — and tossing him a nickel. (Except, of course, in the case of the U.S. House resolution, there isn’t even a nickel!)

As the great Black historian J.A. Rogers taught us (especially in his 1961 “Africa’s Gift to America”), the wealth of America was founded on African slavery.

One need look no further than the brilliant young W.E.B. Du Bois, who published his doctoral thesis, “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America: 1638-1870” (1896). For, citing contemporary sources, Du Bois quoted the following: “The number of persons engaged in the slave-trade, and the amount of capital embarked on it, exceed our powers of calculation. … The city of New York has been until of late (1862) the principal port of the world for this infamous trade.” (p. 179)

Centuries of slavery; the intentional destruction of families, tribes and nations; ripping people asunder from their religions, their clans, their spouses, children, lands and all that they knew and loved, for centuries, to build and enrich a nation of strangers who enforced the practices of slavery for a hundred years after its supposed abolition; only to consign the grandchildren of these people to the bitter half-lives of sub-par education, poor housing, second-rate health care, underemployment, the cruelties of mass incarceration and a cynical judicial and political system that endlessly engages in white supremacy (without the labels). …

Yeah, a political apology should just about cover that.

Listen to Mumia’s commentary here.

Aug. 7 — Hundreds of people marched through the streets of the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn tonight demanding freedom for Palestine. People came from their homes along the route to show support in this heavily Arab community. 

The Day of Resistance was called by Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine and the NY4Palestine Coalition. WOL posted on Facebook: “We will be taking to the streets again to not only reject the criminal annexation plan, but against the entirety of the Zionist colonial project from the river to the sea.”

One of the most popular chants was “We don’t want two states! We want ‘48!” This voiced opposition to the phony “peace plans” that have continually robbed the Palestinian people of their land. It expressed the determination to return to a united Palestine, as it was before 1948.

The action started with a rally on Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue near 72nd Street. People stood listening in the doorways of the Arab shops that line the street.

Within Our Lifetime chair Nerdeen Kiswani emceed the rally and tirelessly led the crowd in chants. Kisawani expressed solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement that is shaking the United States and the world.

A contingent came from nearby Sunset Park carrying Mexican flags and a sign saying “Mexicanos con Palestina” (Mexicans with Palestine). 

Lamis Deek of Al-Awda NY, a Palestinian human rights attorney and longtime activist and organizer, denounced Donald Trump and called for liberation from the racist settler state. She denounced the hypocrisy of Israeli leaders for offering “aid” to Lebanon after they have killed thousands of Lebanese people by bombings and invasions.

A speaker from BAYAN expressed the solidarity of the Filipino people with Palestinians.

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss expressed support for a united Palestine without Zionist occupation. While there was a tiny counterdemonstration of Zionists across the street — who carried a “Trump 2020” flag — there were more Jewish people attending the Palestinian Day of Resistance.

It started raining while people marched through the streets. That didn’t stop protesters, who rallied again at the end.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

SLL photos: Stephen Millies

Por Partido de Socialismo Unido – Caucus Negro

Introducción

Este sistema prospera ocultando el valor creado por los trabajadores, especialmente cuando se trata de la cantidad de riqueza creada por el trabajo esclavo africano, esencial para el crecimiento del capitalismo.

Si se permite que esto continúe, beneficiará a aquellos que están en contra de las reparaciones para los negros.

El prisionero político Mumia Abu-Jamal hizo hincapié en la necesidad de reparaciones en un reporte que cita a la gran abolicionista Sojourner Truth, quien dijo: “Estados Unidos le debía a mi pueblo algunos de los dividendos.  … Les haré entender que hay una deuda con el pueblo negro, que nunca podrán pagar.  Al menos, entonces, deben hacer reparaciones”.

Asimismo, el Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explicó en su libro, “Por qué no podemos esperar”: “Ninguna cantidad de oro podría proporcionar una compensación adecuada por la explotación y humillación de los negros en Estados Unidos a lo largo de los siglos. Ni toda la riqueza de esta próspera sociedad podría cubrir la factura. Sin embargo, se puede poner un precio al trabajo no pagado”.

Como dijo King, esa cantidad de valor creado a partir del trabajo de los africanos, traídos aquí y nacidos aquí bajo la esclavitud, se puede cuantificar.  Sus estimaciones son enormes, en billones de dólares;  pero esa enormidad palidece en comparación con la riqueza combinada de aquellos que se beneficiaron y aún se benefician de ese trabajo.

Historia

En 1790, se produjeron alrededor de 1,5 millones de libras de algodón en los estados esclavistas del sur.  Con la introducción de la desmotadora de algodón, la producción se disparó a dos mil millones de libras en 1860. La esclavitud luego se trasladó al suroeste y a todos los lugares donde pudieron expandir sus plantaciones y obtener ganancias sin precedentes.

Karl Marx, quien afirmó: “El trabajo de piel blanca nunca podrá liberarse mientras que el trabajo de piel negra esté marcado con carimbo”, también reconoció el papel que desempeñaba la esclavitud en el desarrollo de la riqueza de Europa cuando escribió: “Es la esclavitud lo que le dio a las colonias su valor;  son las colonias las que han creado el comercio mundial;  y el comercio mundial es la condición previa para la industria a gran escala. Por tanto, la esclavitud es una categoría económica de la mayor importancia”.

Esa tremenda riqueza proveniente del trabajo esclavo se destinó a financiar la industria ferroviaria propiedad de los Vanderbilt, para crear Standard Oil propiedad de los Rockefeller y para crear U.S. Steel propiedad de J.P. Morgan.  Ese dinero se destinó a convertir a los Rockefeller, Morgan y Mellon en reyes financieros, creando el Manhattan Bank, que pronto sería Chase Manhattan Bank, y Chemical Bank.  Los propietarios de esclavos que se enriquecieron con el comercio del algodón crearon el banco de inversión Lehman Brothers.

Así como la riqueza se sigue transmitiendo a los descendientes de aquellos que se beneficiaron de la esclavitud, también lo hace el daño sistémico a los descendientes de esos esclavos.

El segundo grupo bancario más grande de Estados Unidos es JPMorgan Chase.  En 2019, obtuvo más de $44 mil millones en ganancias operativas sobre activos de $2.69 billones.  En Junio de este año, un estudio de las salas de redacción del Chicago City Bureau y WBEZ encontró que JPMorgan Chase tenía las prácticas crediticias más racistas contra los vecindarios negros de cualquier banco en esa ciudad de un millón de negros.

Los gigantes de seguros estadounidenses Aetna, New York Life y AIG adquirieron compañías que aseguraban a los esclavos como “propiedad”.  Hoy en día, estas mismas compañías de seguros están presionando a los médicos y empleadores para que reduzcan los costos de salud mientras millones de afroamericanos no tienen seguro médico y se ven afectados de manera desproporcionada por COVID-19.

Yale y la Universidad de Virginia se encuentran entre las universidades dotadas por comerciantes y propietarios de esclavos.  Sin embargo, mientras que la “guerra contra las drogas” racista ha enviado a millones de jóvenes negros a prisión, Yale continúa con las políticas que permiten que los estudiantes negros solo representen menos del 6 por ciento de su cuerpo estudiantil.

Existe una clara línea de opresión que nos persigue hoy, inspirada en las leyes de linchamiento y Jim Crow, que permite a la policía asesinar, incriminar y aterrorizar a los negros de manera constante, con la ayuda de políticos demócratas y republicanos.  Son responsables de establecer y / o continuar la “guerra contra las drogas”, las cárceles privatizadas y el encarcelamiento masivo de jóvenes negros, desde Reagan hasta Clinton, Biden y Trump.

El presidente Trump es, de hecho, un supremacista blanco cuya fortuna es el resultado de la riqueza transmitida por la esclavitud.  Alex Brown and Sons, que se fusionó con el gigante alemán Deutsche Bank en 1999, financió el comercio del algodón.  Deutsche Bank es el mayor acreedor del imperio Trump.

El Caso Para las Reparaciones

Aunque se han otorgado reparaciones monetarias en este país y en Europa a algunas víctimas del racismo sistémico, no se han incluido personas afrodescendientes.  Esto, a pesar de que los africanos, como esclavos en todo el mundo, enfrentaron la mayor explotación, intentos de genocidio y deshumanización, y cuya opresión fue institucionalizada, tocando cada fibra de la sociedad hasta el día de hoy.

Ya se había otorgado reparaciones en los Estados Unidos después de la Guerra Civil por orden del general William Sherman del Ejército de la Unión, con la bendición del presidente Abraham Lincoln.  Pero fue Andrew Johnson quien detuvo el programa de reparaciones antes de que se pusiera en marcha.  Así que 400.000 acres de tierra que se habían otorgado a 40.000 ex esclavos, algunos de los cuales eran veteranos del Ejército de la Unión, fueron robados y entregados a los antiguos propietarios confederados de esclavos, los que habían hecho la guerra contra la Unión.

El hecho de que los negros en los Estados Unidos deban luchar una vez más por este tema básico de compensación que ya se prometió, es otra indignidad que continúa la opresión de la esclavitud.

Es por eso que el Programa de 10 Puntos del Partido de las Panteras Negras, escrito por Huey P. Newton y Bobby Seale en 1966, decía: “Creemos que este gobierno racista nos ha robado y ahora estamos exigiendo la deuda vencida de cuarenta acres y dos mulas.  Hace 100 años se prometieron cuarenta acres y dos mulas como restitución por el trabajo esclavo y el asesinato en masa de personas negras.  Aceptaremos el pago en moneda que se distribuirá a nuestras muchas comunidades.  Los alemanes ahora están ayudando a los judíos en Israel por el genocidio del pueblo judío.  Los alemanes asesinaron a seis millones de judíos.  El racista estadounidense ha participado en la masacre de más de cincuenta millones de negros;  por lo tanto, sentimos que esta que hacemos es una demanda modesta”.

La circunstancia única de los africanos y afroamericanos en los EUA después de la esclavitud y que persiste hoy, es relevante en la discusión sobre las reparaciones en este país.  En términos de los pueblos no indígenas, a diferencia de cualquier otra nacionalidad que llegó a estas costas, somos un pueblo traído a este país sin nada en términos de riqueza, ni siquiera la capacidad de vender nuestra fuerza laboral como un medio para ganar un salario. 

La implicación obvia para los descendientes actuales de esclavos es que, mientras que otras nacionalidades pudieron transmitir riqueza durante más de cuatro generaciones, la riqueza que crearon los negros se les negó legalmente y, en cambio, se les dio a los esclavistas blancos y a las industrias que se beneficiaron.

La lucha por el pago del trabajo realizado es una exigencia básica de los sindicatos: ¿por qué no debería incluir a los africanos?

Las reparaciones también deben incluir el derecho de todos los pueblos africanos de todo el mundo, descendientes de aquellos que fueron víctimas de la esclavitud, a ser compensados ​​por el mayor y más cruel terror y explotación que este mundo haya conocido.

También nos solidarizamos con los pueblos indígenas, que deben recibir reparación por el robo de sus tierras y sus vidas.

Sabemos que el valor total creado por el trabajo de los negros que sigue siendo negado, especialmente por el imperialismo estadounidense y europeo, como el valor robado a los trabajadores cada hora de su tiempo laboral, solo nos beneficiará cuando el sistema capitalista sea abolido y reemplazado por el socialismo.  Y parte de esa lucha por una sociedad más justa depende de la unidad que sólo puede provenir de la solidaridad de toda nuestra clase trabajadora en la lucha unida, especialmente por las necesidades de los trabajadores oprimidos, cuyas demandas reflejan su lucha contra las continuas injusticias históricas.

Los africanos, repartidos por todo el mundo, están decididos a seguir luchando por la compensación social y económica por parte de los antiguos propietarios de esclavos estadounidenses y europeos y los beneficiarios de la esclavitud.  Los negros aquí en los EUA también continuaremos luchando por lo que necesitamos para permitirnos vivir con dignidad, sin miedo a la policía, por el acceso equitativo a la educación, el derecho al voto, la atención médica y la vivienda, por la igualdad económica y todo lo que nos fue robado y se nos sigue siendo robado hoy.

Al igual que la lucha contra la policía local y federal racista que representa a una clase dominante que quiere empujarnos hacia una forma renovada de esclavitud, esta continua negación de justicia se enfrentará con la misma militancia que nuestra juventud ha mostrado en protesta por los asesinatos de George Floyd, Breonna.  Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery y Rayshard Brooks, desde Minneapolis a Atlanta y hasta Portland.  Esa militancia es una continuación del espíritu de las rebeliones de esclavos negros que se remonta en la historia a los mismos inicios de la esclavitud en este país.

Estamos decididos a luchar por lo nuestro.  ¡Reparaciones ahora!

Partido de Socialismo Unido – Caucus Negro

Aug. 10 — The lives of political prisoners and people’s lawyers Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal hang in the balance as the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, a member of the U.S.-dominated NATO military alliance, continues its brutal repression against the left.

Today, Timtik of the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) is on day 221 of a “hunger strike to the death,” and Ünsal of the People’s Law Office (HHB) is on day 190, to demand a fair trial for themselves and the right of attorneys to do their job without being labelled “terrorists.”

The death fast is a political tactic with a long history in Turkey, developed as a last-ditch effort to bring injustice to light in a country ruled by a succession of far-right military dictatorships and now by Erdogan’s U.S.-backed, nominally civilian government, which many Turkish leftists characterize as fascist.

Some 17 lawyers of ÇHD and HHB have been arbitrarily arrested and jailed for representing mineworkers, teachers, political activists and others singled out for repression by the Turkish state, including well-known cases like that of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who was killed during the 2014 Gezi Park protests after being hit in the head with a tear gas canister fired by police.

On July 30, an official report of the İstanbul Forensic Medicine Institution called for Timtik and Ünsal’s immediate release, stating that there was no basis to keep them imprisoned in their present condition. But the courts immediately overruled the medical professionals’ assessment. Legal appeals have so far been unsuccessful.

Instead of releasing the political prisoners, they were kidnapped the next day to a hospital for force-feeding. This is internationally recognized as a form of torture that often results in permanent disability or death, and the Turkish state has used it against other hunger strikers. 

According to the People’s Law Office, Timtik and Ünsal “are at the stage where not even days or hours count, but minutes. From Turkey and all over the globe, many colleagues and people stand in solidarity with them and see their demands as their own. People support these demands and call on the authorities to end the injustices and oppression towards them. Courts of the fascist ruling party ignored these calls with their open intention to murder them.”

People have rallied daily outside the Istanbul hospital where the two lawyers are being held under armed guard as they continue to fight against “medical intervention” — force-feeding. 

Actions are also organized around the world to bring attention to Timtik and Ünsal’s heroic struggle and the plight of thousands of political prisoners of the Turkish regime, including outside the seat of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium.

Attack on Grup Yorum

Already this year, three political prisoners have perished following hunger strikes and attempts at forced medical intervention: Mustafa Koçak, Helin Bölek and Ibrahim Gökçek. The latter two were members of the leftist band Grup Yorum, whose musical message of resistance so frightens the Turkish ruling class that it has outright banned their concerts and continues to persecute the musicians.

On Aug. 9, Grup Yorum attempted to hold a long-planned concert in Istanbul in defiance of the government ban. The concert was meant to uphold the legacy of the bandmates who are still imprisoned, those who died on hunger strike and the struggle of the people’s attorneys. 

As people began to gather for the concert, police arrested concertgoers, blocked journalists and forced passersby to delete photos from their phones. The crowd resisted, chanting and raising banners demanding the right of Grup Yorum to be heard. Although the concert was not able to go forward, the organizers have vowed to continue their efforts and not be silenced.

A few days earlier, on Aug. 5, cops arrested six Grup Yorum members who were rehearsing for the planned concert and raided the group’s İdil Cultural Center for the 13th time in three years.

The blood of the attorneys and Group Yorum musicians is on the hands of Erdoğan. It is also on the hands of U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of the imperialist powers, who allow the regime in Turkey to run rampant against the working class and peasants, leftist and Kurdish movements at home, while carrying out genocidal wars on NATO’s behalf against neighboring Syria and in faraway Libya.

It is urgent for leftist and workers’ movements in the U.S. to join the international campaign to save Turkey’s hunger strikers and support their demands.

For updates, follow People’s Law Office on Facebook and Free Grup Yorum on Twitter.

Sunday, August 16, 2020 at 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT

Join Baltimore Socialist Unity Party (SUP) and Struggle La Lucha for our monthly Baltimore discussion and forums. (You don’t have to live in the Baltimore area to join).

CELEBRATE FIDEL’S BIRTHDAY, HIS LEGACY & CUBA’S CONTRIBUTIONS
On Sunday, August 16, 5 pm, we will highlight Fidel and his legacy to commemorate his August 13 birthday. Register to attend https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ta-hnqmPSj-zSQFkH3_GfQ

We will have three special reports: “History Will Absolve Me” and Fidel’s legacy, by SUP member Russell Mc; Rev. Annie Chambers, SUP member and Douglas Homes housing activist, who met Fidel in person; and Cheryl, on “Saving Lives Campaign” NNOC co-chair and Struggle La Lucha contributing writer, who will discuss Cuba’s present response to COVID 19, the campaign and Fidel’s ELAM (Latin American Medical School). ZOOM Sign Up https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ta-hnqmPSj-zSQFkH3_GfQ

Don’t miss this excellent webinar! You’ll have a chance to discuss and ask questions. You must register to participate. Please go to this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ta-hnqmPSj-zSQFkH3_GfQ