Sounds of the Underground

This is just one example of the police state here in the US!!

2006-01-29T22:30:00.000-05:00

The following is a first-hand account of police harrassment and brutality against a World Can't Wait organizer in Cleveland. If anything like this happens to you, let us know asap! Contact info@worldcantwait.org.

My name is Carol Fisher, and I am on the staff of Revolution Books in Cleveland OH. At the bookstore we have been immersed in building and supporting the initiatives of World Cant Wait. Yesterday, 1.28.06, while putting "Bush Step Down" posters on telephone poles along a major thoroughfare on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I was brutalized by Cleveland Heights police, charged with 2 counts of felony assault and held incommunicado under police custody in the hospital! This outrage and others like it must be exposed and opposed by all who hate the direction that the Bush regime is taking this country and the world.

Here is what happened:

I had set out from my house with a full agenda, to contact lots of people and get out materials about our upcoming Cleveland event to Drown Out the State of the Union address, and the call to march around the White House on Feb. 4th. My first stop was the an area known for its community of artists and progressives, where I stapled up posters for blocks and was greeted warmly by those who saw and appreciated what World Cant Wait is doing. I talked to an artist, and a Palestinian store owner who took fliers to distribute to customers.

Next stop, to the east side. I drove down a street in Cleveland Heights, another area known for its diversity and progressive history. This street was badly in need of postering too and though i was in a big hurry, I couldnt drive on without getting up a few signs. Before long a cop called from across the street: "Ma'am! Hundred dollar fine for doing that!" Oh really, since when? Another way of keeping us from getting the word out, eh? But not wanting to get arrested, I said ok and put up my staplegun and walked away. But that wasnt the end of it. "Ma'am! Hundred dollar fine unless you take those posters down." He is pursuing me across the street. Damn! OK fine, I say, I will take them down (not wanting to get into a confrontation, because I have lots to do today!) But this too is not enough for the cop. He wants my ID. I say I dont have my ID. He grabs my arm. I say let go of me, I am not doing anything wrong, I will take the posters down. People are watching to see what happens, are outraged but very afraid. The cop wont let go, he clearly wants more grief from me, and he is in the spotlight. He wants people to be scared. He pushes me against a store window and next thing I know I am face down on the sidewalk with two cops on top of me, one with his knee in my back. I am trying to call out to people, to tell them what the posters are about. They keep pushing my face into the sidewalk. I cant breathe.

I have osteoradionecrosis in my jaw, resulting from radiation treatments for cancer. My jawbone is slowly deteriorating, is very fragile, and doesnt heal well. I am 53 years old, not exactly a spring chicken. A hand comes down again to push my chin against the concrete. By this time there are four cops on the scene. My hands are tightly cuffed behind my back. They lift me up and shove me onto a parkbench and shackle my legs. I am still calling out, telling people what this is about. One of the cops says to me, "Shut up or I will kill you!", "I am sick of this anti-Bush shit!" "You are definitely going to the psyche ward." Then somebody calls the EMS, and a fire squad shows up. The cop superviser appears and puts his finger in my face: "I dont like it when people treat my men like this and if you don't obey the law you will suffer the consequences."

I am lifted into the EMS truck, hands still cuffed behind my back. I ask to make a call and this is refused, but a fireman offers to make a quick call for me. If not for this, no one would have known where I was or what was happening, a fate shared by many immigrants in this country. At the hospital, I am treated as an arch-criminal. Escorted by four policemen, I shuffle into the emergency room, legs still shackled, covered with leaves and mud. I think to myself, if I was Black, I would not have made it this far. I would probably be dead by now. People in the emergency room are shocked by the scene and by what I am saying happened. I probably do look pretty crazy by now.

They put me on a gurney and pull the curtains around. One female nurse and four male cops. They want me to undress in front of the cops. I refuse. The cops refuse to leave. Finally the nurse shields my body with a gown as I undress and put on hospital clothes. I am cuffed to the bed, and two cops remain guarding me the whole time. They put in an IV. I have no idea what they have in mind. Questions, probes, tests and a tetanus shot, a hint from the nurses that friends are calling to find out whats going on. First they say that one friend is coming in to see me, but that never happens.

After many hours a psychiatrist appears to determine my sanity. I dont want to talk to him, but have no choice. "This information is confidential", I say. Well yes, he says, but if the police want the information, I don't know if I can refuse... "This information is confidential", I repeat, and I tell him, there are times when you have to decide which side you are on. I have told him why I have wound up here and what they did to me, and I tell him, this is a moment in history when people have to stand firm against these repressive measures. He replies, "Fair enough", and proceeds to write a detailed record of my injuries.

I dont know it at the time, but outside in the waiting room all hell had broken loose. In a very short period of time, over a dozen WCW people showed up at the emergency room to demand that someone be allowed to see me. The WCW people discussed what was happening with the folks waiting in the ER, who were horrified at what was happening, and very supportive when they were shown the posters I had been putting up. The police and hospital staff claimed over and over that the police were in charge of me, and they determine what happens, not the doctors! Another example of a police state.

At one point, there was a big confrontation between the WCW people and the police, right in the ER. My supporters said that we weren't going to leave until someone saw me. Some of them were sitting in the waiting room holding the big green WCW posters.

The main cop tried to have a "private conversation" with the person with medical power of attorney. " NO! Come out here in the open where we can all hear!" As people gathered to listen to the conversation, and enter in their own opinions, the police threatened WCW folks with arrest! They argued, stood their ground, called this shameful (both to the police but also to the nurses who did nothing to stand against this shit). The cops kept saying that there was no legal right to see me, but people responded that, in Bush's America, the law is whatever the police say it is and that there is a moral and ethical right to to check on someone who is in the hospital.

Then a large phalanx of cops came. My friends pushed it as far as they could, then marched out of the ER, followed by the cops, all the way up to the street. 4 more people showed up who'd heard about what was happening and wanted to help.

A lawyer and a doctor, who are endorsers of the WCW Call, persisted in getting what info they could. All the while, people were calling the local media (who never showed up!), calling in complaints to the Cleveland Heights Police Department, and Cleveland Heights City Hall. I was never able to be seen by my own nurse or doctor or communicate by phone with anyone.

Shortly after being released from the hospital, I was released on my own recognizance. The battle is far from over. This is but one example of the attempts that the state, their authorities and spokespeople will make to try to keep us from opposing the crimes of this regime, and especially now, 2 days before the State of the Union address. Our cause is as righteous as it gets, and no attempts to intimidate or suppress, with threats or laws or physical abuse, should stop us but instead strengthen the resolve, build our organization and further demonstrate to the world that this regime is doomed, they are vicious, and they must be stopped.

As it says in the Call, "If we speak the turh, they will try to silence us. If we act, they will try to stop us. But we speak for the majority, here and around the world, and as we get this going we are going to reach out to the people who have been so badly fooled by Sush and we are NOT going to stop...The future is unwritten. Which one we get is up to us."

There are plans in the works for possibly a press conference, suing the Cleveland Heights Police Department, taking this issue of brutality to the Cleveland Heights City Council Meeting on Feb 6, doing a press conference, and circulating a pledge of medical personnel to not allow medical treatment to be run by the police. We will also be working with lawyers to fight these outrageous charges. If any legal aid could be offered nationally, it would really help.

Call the Cleveland Heights Police at 216-291-3883

Call Cleveland Heights City Hall at 216-291-4444

Please contact us at cleveland@worldcantwait.org or 216-633-6200

This joke had me rolling....then it had me crying...

2005-12-24T17:38:00.000-05:00

I was reading some jokes in a jokebook I got for my grandmother for xmas (yes, I have to celebrate it with my family) and I stumbled upon this one, at first I found it hilarious, and then as I thought more about what it was saying, I stopped laughing and it made me think about what we need to do to drive out the bush regime.... Here it is:

A woman went to see Pat Robertson give his stump speech. When it was over, she thought it was okay, but it would have sounded betting in the original German.

Now that is speaking to what the united states is headed for. People like Bush, Pat Robertson, and the rest of the Christian Fascists in power and around those who are in power are taking a lesson from Hitler and Germany in the 30's. I know a lot of people think that this analogy doesn't fit or it is just overdone, but this does fit. It may not fit perfectly, but this is what works for them, and they are not going to change their plans, unless we do it for them. We must stand up and make them leave, make them go away and not look back. Christian fascism is not the same fascism that Hitler used, but it does the same thing. It kills one hundred thousand Iraquis with thier war, countless people in Africa with thier "abstinence only" programs, thousands of people in the ghettos and barrios and cities all over the US by police brutality, and that is only a glimpse of what is to come if we don't drive out the Bush Regime.

Do you want to live in a world where people are taken from their homes in the dead of night, tortured, sent to prison with no charges and held there indefinately while they are tortured and murdered? No.

Do you want to live in a world where people are criminalized for being gay? or a woman who wants control over her own body? or just someone who doesn't want the government to go around forcing christianity upon others and killing them if they dont convert? that is not a world that anyone should live in.

If we drive out the Bush Regime, just think of the celebrations that will happen around the world. Think about how big of a step that would be closer to a world of vibrant, creative, and free human beings, living together instead of living next to eachother. Just think about what the world will look like without Bush in power, and then what it will look like when capitalism is no longer in existance. That is a world worth fighting for, so let's go fight for it!

much <3>

Which Side of History are You On?

2005-12-16T12:23:00.000-05:00

This was written by Lu on his blog, http://theproudthemany.blogspot.com/ it is really good, so I decided to put it on mine, giving him all of the credit of course, I just stumbled upon it.

In bringing out the World Can't wait... Drive Out the Bush Regime, and in fighting to do just that, one question gets posed to us from many different angles: "Clinton was just as bad", or "this republican agenda is just horrible," or "we have to expose and take on the whole capitalist system and nothing less will do," or "what makes you think that someone besides the Bush Regime would be better for queer/black/women/latino/Puerto Rican/Asian/etc people, we've always been oppressed in this country." There is a lot of legitimacy to many of these questions, and each way they come up does have it's particularities. But basically, the questions boil down to "What is the Bush Regime, how bad will it get, what does that really mean for the world, and can we stop this and make a better world?" For one, people should continue to study the World Can't Wait call, this is laid out there very clearly, as well as the FAQ on the world can't wait website: www.worldcantwait.org. For a much fuller analysis, i suggest reading the new pamphlet from Bob Avakian, "the coming civil war and repolarization for revolution." Also, the book "with god on their side" by Esther Kaplan and catherine crier's "contempt: how the right is wronging america."Here's a brief dissection of the four questions in bold:1. What is the Bush Regime?The Bush Regime is an administration that is taking as full advantage possible of the fact that they are the only superpower in the world right now. They are a force with state power in the most powerful imperialist nation in the world. The Bush Regime is mainly composed of and is using a highly developed christian fascist social base to drive through their agenda of keeping the US "secure from domestic and foreign enemies" as they consolidate their hold over the world. They aim for complete control of the world's market and to accomplish that they are ruthless in holding other imperialist countries down, holding oppressed countries down even further, as well as holding down the millions and millions of people at home and the billions abroad who do not want this. 2. How bad will it get?Abortion and birth control will be outlawed, more genocidal acts such as the handling of Hurricane Katrina and the AIDS crisis will happen, more wars will be initiated, torture and other heinous acts will be done more and more in the open, progressive leaders will be shut up, more and more science and scientific thinking will be manipulated and blatantly suppressed, abstinence-only education will be all that is taught in schools (here and in most parts of the world), dissent will be more and more criminalized, and that is just some of it. Much of this has already happened and will continue happening. Much of this has happened in the past, before this regime, but it has not been on level with this quantitatively or qualitatively. The depth and scope of this regime's power and ambitions are unparalleled in history.3. What does this really mean for the world?These crimes on their own are one thing. They are worse than what the world has ever seen, and that is saying something. On top of that, the Bush Regime, through these crimes and their sum total, as well as through more direct means, is aiming to smash out the possibility of ending all of these horrors and all of the horrors that are normal to the workings of capitalism. 4. Can we stop this and make a better world?Yes. But that takes a few ingredients. 1. The bold, uncompromising truth. 2. All of the millions and millions of people who hate what the Bush Regime is doing in the world. 3. Organization - not any organization, but one that is acting as a vehicle for the truth and for those millions of people. It's not some pipe dream that these three things can change the world. As a matter of fact, the last two things are the only way history gets made. The masses, organized, are the makers of history. Organization and people can be manipulated and fooled. It happens a lot. But when truth enters into the equation - the truth of what is truly in the interests of all of humanity and the truth of how to do this - tremendous things can happen. SO HERE'S THE QUESTION: WHICH SIDE OF HISTORY ARE YOU ON?Also, from a more thoroughgoing, communist perspective:Right now, the United States is in the beginning stages of repolarization. Whereas very recently the main two political forces were undoubtedly two sections of the ruling class battling it out, in the main represented by the Democrats and the Republicans, that is beginning to change. The masses of people are beginning to find our own voice. We are beginning to represent another pole in society whose interest are not in consiliation with fascists, but whose interests are directly opposed to the entire program and to the overall framework of bourgeois politics. With the leadership of the Revolutionary Communist Party, we can not only stop the bush regime and make some kind of better world without that force wielding state power - an unprecedented thing in itself - but, depending on the development of the situation and the action of the RCP and it's supporters, we can go for the whole thing. We can fundamentally change the world. Many people have valid complaints that if we just drive out the Bush Regime and keep within the framework of standard US democracy, then people will still be oppressed and exploited. This is true. It is true that the horrors that the Bush Regime is bringing down will be stopped and that is a glorious thing, but it is true as well that we will not be on the path to end all oppression and exploitation.

Defend Hampton University Students Facing Expulsion for Nov. 2 Protest

2005-11-30T11:30:00.000-05:00

7 students at Hampton University are facing possible expulsion at a hearing this Friday (12/2) for organizing protests on Nov. 2nd.
Read the statement below, sign it, and circulate it widely.Call Hampton University administration and demand all charges be dropped against these students. Check out press coverage of this outrageous attack on students.
Read an article by 2 Hampton students facing expulsion called " Corporate Plantation: Political Repression and the Hampton Model".
Click here to listen to a radio interview with a Hampton Student facing expulsion for political dissent.

Drop the Charges and Stop the Harassment Against the Hampton University Students Against the Bush Regime!

Students who act as part of the national movement to Drive Out the Bush Regime because The World Can’t Wait, especially when they remain firm in the face of police harassment and administrative threats, are heroic, must be defended, and their example must be followed by many others.
Students at Hampton University took part in the November 2nd launch of a movement to drive out the Bush regime. In the course of organizing, they were followed by campus police, targeted by video surveillance, and forced to turn over their ID’s for the simple act of distributing literature. That these students were targeted for the content of their activities is clearly demonstrated by the fact that other students routinely post unauthorized flyers (often with scantily clad women advertising parties) without any harassment. On Friday, November 18th, weeks after November 2nd, 3 student organizers were issued summons for a hearing over possible expulsion the following Monday morning, giving them no time during the work week to contact lawyers, parents, or campus administrators. After hundreds of phone-calls from around the country to the Dean’s Office, their hearing was postponed. Days later, 3 more students were issued summons and campus police shut down an interview being filmed by the local media, attempting to prevent their story from getting out.

The attacks on the student organizers at Hampton University, a historically black college with a mostly Republican administration, is an ugly harbinger of the “dissent-free” future the Bush regime is trying to lock into place.

These attacks are part of a pattern of repression against high school and college students nation-wide on November 2nd that disproportionately targeted black, Latino and other oppressed students.

A standard cannot be set where the President of the United States can stay on vacation as a major city’s poor and Black people are left for five days without food or water, where influential friends of this President are allowed to float out genocidal notions of aborting all Black babies to bring crime rates down, and where the President’s policies of “abstinence-only” in the face of an international AIDS pandemic threaten millions of lives, but where students who dare to speak the truth about this and act to end this are silenced and expelled from school.

As it says in the Call for The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime, "This will not be easy. If we speak the truth, they will try to silence us. If we act, they will to try to stop us. But we speak for the majority, here and around the world, and as we get this going we are going to reach out to the people who have been so badly fooled by Bush and we are NOT going to stop."

We, the undersigned, demand that the Hampton University administration to drop all charges against, cease their political harassment of, and to apologize to these students. These students must not be expelled! We also call on students at campuses nation-wide to send statements of support, and to join, strengthen and support the movement to Drive Out the Bush Regime because the World Can’t Wait!

Signed,Rosalyn Baxandall, Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY Old Westbury*
Edget Betru, Guantanamo Global Justice Initiave-Center for Constitutional Rights*
Eileen Boris, University of California, Santa Barbara*
Carl Dix, National Spokesperson, Revolutionary Communist Party
Michael Eric Dyson, author, "Is Bill Cosby Right?"
Judith Ezekiel, Universite de Toulouse le Mirail*
Bea Kreloff, director Art Workshop International*
Allen Lang, national student organizer, World Can't Wait
Professor Peter McLaren, Critical Educator and Author, UCLA*
Efia Nwangaza, Executive Director African American Institute for Policy Studies & Planning
Katha Pollitt, writer The Nation*
Sonia Jaffe Robins, freelance writer and editor
Sunsara Taylor, co-initiator of World Can't Wait
Laura X, Women’s History Library*
Howard Zinn, Historian and Author

*affiliations for identification purposes only

Demand that the 7 students facing expulsion be cleared of any disciplinary measures and intimidation and punishment for student protests stop! Call the Dean of Men (Woodson Hopewell Jr.) at 757-727-5303, the Dean of Women at 757-727-5486

November 28, 2005

2005-11-28T17:17:00.000-05:00

In my english class today I had a very sobering moment. My professor was talking on and on about how we as students and young people and writers we should take more than the bare minimum number of english classes to graduate and that we should read as much as we can in order to build up our "intelligent intuition." But then she said " You are the intelligencia, you're the coming upper class." That hit me hard, because it is true. College students all over this country aren't seen as the vibrant human beings they can be, and are. They aren't seen as people who can take history into their hands and change it. Students are being force-fed the education they need in order to live in an intolerable world, ignoring the outrages and just denying they happen. We cannot let this happen. We see things like what the Bush regime is doing and we cant let our fellow students just turn away from it. We are the people who can change the world, and we need to change it, NOW. We cannot worry about whether or not we will pass our classes, get a degree and a well-paying job. What will the world look like when you get your doctorate, your masters or even when you graduate high school,if we do nothing because we think schoolwork comes before the people of the world? What kind of life will you live, no who are you going to be living off of in a world like that? It won't be a world worth living in, I know that.

Join us during the week of the State of the Union all over the US and then the Saturday after the state of the union in DC to tell Bush that we are going drive him out of office!

The wag of the finger today goes to....Kansas

2005-11-09T22:45:00.000-05:00

Ok, well, today all over the newspapers was, of course another glimpse of what the bush regime is trying to put into place. They are taking away science in Kansas and making the students learn intelligent design for biology in public schools. This cannot just happen without resistance to it. They are putting the beginnings of a theocracy into place as we speak, and if you didn't think that they were taking science away before, then you can't say that it isnt happening now. it was in the newspapers all over the country! We have to stand up against this, EVOLUTION IS FACT! INTELLIGENT DESIGN IS NOT! "That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn-or be forced-to accept" ~the World Can't Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime! call~ All of this is happening, and people are still saying that Bush is on his way out, but let me ask you this, If Bush is doing all this when his approval ratings are down, then what will he do if they go back up? How much worse are you going to wait for it to get before you do something? Don't wait until it is too late! Act now! Become an organizer now!!!

Awesome-ness!

2005-11-09T22:26:00.000-05:00

November 2 was an awesome day, all across the country. More than 180 cities all over the US had actions on that day to stand up and say NO! We REFUSE to be ruled this way! and it was f'in awesome! 300-400 people gathered in Public Square here in C-town, almost 100 of which were Shaker High School students. they walked out with support from their principal! It's so exciting. It's so inspiring to see that so many people feel this way, and that even the "apathetic youth" of today are standing up against this regime. This is how movements get built, the youth are the excitement and resiliance of the movement, and a big part of the solid core that keeps the movement going. (not saying that the older people dont have energy, by any means)

I was watching some video footage today from San Fransisco and LA on truthout.org, and it was so uplifting, I started crying. It was awesome, to see kids younger than me, taking this up and dedicating their lives to making history and being a part of this mass movement. I even saw some kids that were maybe 5 years old holding signs and chanting "the world cant wait-drive out the bush regime!" it was awesome-ness!!!

STOP POLICE BRUTALITY!! STOP POLICE MURDER!!

2005-10-22T23:10:00.000-04:00

11 DAYS UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE BUSH REGIME!!!

Today is the national day of protest against police brutality, and in cleveland, there have been over 30 "justified" murders by the f'in pigs in this city. In the past month, the pigs have brutally murdered 3 people. One of the victims was a 15 year old boy who was shot 10 times in the head, for supposedly robbing a pizza delivery guy and they just killed someone yesterday, and another person a few days ago too. it's disgusting, and this just keeps adding more and more reasons to drive out this regime. these murders must stop! The youth of the world cannot live like this, always afraid of being shot down, or beaten by these pigs. This whole system has got to go! If it can happen in other countries, it can happen here, we can and must drive out the bush regime.

PS- if you (and you know who you are) think that you can just keep heckling the people of the world and thinking you are changing what we are setting out to do, get a life and get out of the way of history! because if you don't, history will run you over and it still will be made, whether you like it or not.

lal salaam brothers and sisters, and viva la revolucion!!!!

much <3>

safiya jade

2005-10-19T16:34:00.000-04:00

14 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE BUSH REGIME!!!

Today i got into an interesting discussion with a friend who is organizing my campus with me. We were passing out the call and holding up banners and all that good stuff, and he was telling people to "protest the war in iraq, protest what happened in Katrina, protest bush" and handing people a flyer, and i got into a discussion with him on whether or not that is what we should be saying. i dont think it's correct. The whole World Can't Wait project is not about protesting, yes, we do protest, but that isnt our goal. we are starting a movement of millions, not just some other protest group. its kind of hard for people to imagine, i know. but we have to think outside of politics as usual, and protest as usual. we must be able to realize that independant historical action is different than just protesting. November second needs to be bigger than September 24th, bigger than the Millions More march, it needs to be bigger and more creative than we ever though resistance could be. we need to grab a hold onto any and all of the energy that we have left in us, and borrow some from other people, too, and sprint to the starting line, because we are no where near finished with this.

THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!

2005-10-17T11:25:00.000-04:00

16 DAYS UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE BUSH REGIME!!

IF YOU ARE SICK OF TURNING YOUR HEAD AWAY, OR SEEING OTHERS TURN AWAY FROM THE TORTURE, THE LIES, THE STRAIGHT UP BIGOTRY THAT THE US GOVERNMENT IS DOING, CHECK OUT: WWW.WORLDCANTWAIT.ORG AND ORGANIZE AN EVENT AND A GROUP OF PEOPLE IN YOUR TOWN AND DO SOMETHING ON NOVEMBER 2ND!!!!!!!

WE ALL KNOW THAT TORTURE IS WRONG, BUT WHY ARE YOU STILL HOLDING THE LEASH?
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

2005-10-15T16:11:00.000-04:00

18 DAYS
THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!!!

just a short announcement

2005-10-12T17:39:00.000-04:00

hey everyone, i am just writing to let you all know that i am gonna be blogging a bit less, because i am totally busy with World Can't Wait organizing. dont get me wrong, i am definately going to blog, just less often then usual. Lal Salaam!!

much <3 for the people of the world,

safiya jade

23 DAYS UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE BUSH REGIME!!!!!!

Bob Avakian on "Ruts"

2005-09-14T21:35:00.000-04:00

"Our consistent objective must be to be among the people, be consciously and thouroughly working for revolution, even when 9 out of 10 or 99 out of 100, or 999 our of 1000 do not agree with us or do not want to hear it today. We cannot fail to unite and struggle with them and show them where their interests lie and prepare them step by step but always looking to the future, always straining at the limits of where things are today and refusing to get into a rut." ~"Look to the Future, Prepare for Revolution"
by Bob Avakian~

I was reading through the "Silver Book" (Bullets by Bob Avakian) yesterday, and I came across this quote which I, kind of ironically, found while i was, politically, in a "rut". But, that is why I am a student and follower of Bob Avakian. He speaks to pretty much any situation and whenever you read his works, you are inspired and fired up for REVOLUTION, at least that's what happens to me when I read his stuff. But, I want to talk about the point that he makes in this quote. He says that even if 999 out of 1000 people dont agree with us, we should still do what we do. I mean, it takes a lot to stay focused on revolution wehn it seems as though no one else agrees with you. But with a gold of liberating all of humanity, even those who dont agree with us right now, or maybe never will. It's a great feeling, knowing that what you are dedicating your life to is worthwhile and actually means something. Something more than anything else you could be doing under this system.
And the point he makes about refusing to get in a rut, it just has so much relevance to everyone and everything. The revolution itself cannot get into a rut and we cant let theat happen. And how are we going to stop that from happening if we allow ourselves to get stuck in a rut and not fight like hell to get out of that rut and stay out? Revolution is a constant struggle, ideologically and otherwise, so we cant expect that being a part of that revolution will be easy, or without struggle.

yeah, that is all i've got on that topic...for now...

much ♥ people!!

RIP--Brandon McCloud

Choose Revolution

2005-09-11T21:54:00.000-04:00

"All people must die, but death can vary in its significance...to die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather"

~Mao Tse Tung~

I have been thinking about this quote for a long time. And with the current situation in the world (not to mention C-town) I have realized a lot. Personally, I think that everyone should sit down and seriously think about this quote and the things I am going to say...
If you (and I am including myself in this) agree with what the World Can't Wait campaign, and you want a better world without all of these horrors, and you aren't doing anything, or not doing enough, WHY THE H*LL NOT?! I mean, seriously, if you are a student, just think, most of what you will be forced to learn will be from the bible, and if you go to an art school, the only painting you will be doing is painting the details on wooden crucifixes and if you are lucky, you will paint the walls of a church. And if you aren't a student, then you should be doing something too! But since I am a student, and I am mostly talking for myself (although I am speaking to a number of people's situations), if you are a student, most of us know how to BS our homework well enough to get a good grade, and we should be organizing the crap out of our high schools, colleges, dorms, workplaces, bus stations, wherever we go--we need to be getting this out!!!! A movement of MILLIONS, let alone, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS, will not and cannot form if the masses don't know that something is going on, and they can't find out if we don't go to them and talk to them!!! So, you know what?, fuck your classes, and live and fight for the REVOLUTION! We need to do this, or we won't have a future, straight up. So, let's get our asses in overdrive and DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!!!!!!!

much ♥
Safiya Jade

Art is not Life

2005-08-14T22:17:00.000-04:00

ok, well, I wrote this late one night after re-reading an article by an artist to the RW. Socialism, Art and How We See —RW/OR ONLINE

Draft Programme pg. 110 "Art is drawn from life but is higher than life."

Art is not life. It comes from life. It is inspired by life. But, it also enriches life. So, life spawns art and art helps life spawn more art. Art is a glimpse of how an artist sees life in general. When someone sees that art, their life is touched by that piece of art, whether the effect is good or bad. If you see painting, photograph, sculpture, whatever, and it challenges you to see something differently, then you begin to see things in that way, even if it is for a moment. It makes you think.

So let me leave you with a perplexing question...
Art is not life, but is life art?.....Let me know what you think planeteers.

Not another film review!

2005-07-12T19:45:00.000-04:00

I know a lot of people (well, at least 2) have been doing movie reviews, but I think this one is different. It isn't about a movie that came out recently. It is titled, "Hable con Ella" (Talk to Her). It's by Pedro and Agustin Almodovar, and it is really good. It was about these 2 guys who meet in a hospital because the women they love are both in comas in the same hospital. One is a dancer, and the other is a famous matador(a). Benigno is Alicia's (the dancer) nurse, he has been infatuated with her for years, and he never got to tell her, now he works at the hospital hopelessly waiting for her to wake up. He does everything she used to enjoy, and tells her about it all. While, Marco is Lydia's (the matadora) boyfriend, they met when he asked her for an interview after her big breakup with El Nino de Valencia, another famous matador. The movie revolves around this bond that the 2 strangers form and they become friends. Later the plot thickens, but I'm not going to tell you the ending. It is really well done, I just love all of the Pedro Almodovar's movies that I have seen. I can't wait to watch "El Espinazo del Diablo", it is going to be awesome!Woot! Laters!

Garden State

2005-07-05T15:58:00.000-04:00

Well, a few days ago, I watched a movie called "Garden State" it was so good! I have heard it is kinda like Lost in Translation, but I haven't seen that so I don't know. I was totally blown away when I read that Zach Braff directed, wrote, and was the lead in the movie. He is so cool! But anyways, I would definitely recommend this to pretty much anyone. It isn't jam-packed with action or anything else, but it is a good movie to watch on a rainy day. And what makes it even better is the score/soundtrack. It has Coldplay (which I usually don't like at all, but they were good in the movie), Zero 7, Colin Hay, Cary Brothers, Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Iron and Wine, Bonnie Somerville, The Shins ("You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life I promise you" ~Sam~ {Natalie Portman's character}),Remy Zero, Thievery Corporation, and Frou Frou. It is the best soundtrack I have heard for a while.

I will be going back to my ideas on revolutionary art soon, I just kinda needed a mental health break, you know. Well, happy summer everyone!

Matthew Shepard

2005-06-17T09:44:00.000-04:00

Hello again everyone. Sorry, but this one doesn't have anything to do with art again. But anyways, it is still important.

I was reading my comrade's blog and he was talking about Phelps and his terrible-ness. So, I thought that I should try and read what these people believed in, and whether or not he was just a "crazy fringe group" or something more believable. Well, I got more than I bargained for. To my disgust, I found a monument of perpetual gospel saying that "Matthew Shepard has been in hell for 2440 days!" That physically made me ill, I seriously threw up. No joke. And when the mouse moved over his face he yelled "for god's sake listen to Phelps!"

I wish I could just start screaming and yelling. But, stuff like this is the reason why we need people to realize that religion and people like Phelps interests aren't with the masses of people, it is actually against the people's interest. And it really saddens me that people go along with this. And personally, I am proud of Matthew Shepard, he wasn't ashamed of who he was. He is an inspiration and a reminder to people of why we need a revolution in this world.

Mental Health

2005-06-15T11:32:00.000-04:00

Ok, well this doesn't have much to do with art, but it is important to me. I have been struggling with this for years, so yeah. I had a really bad episode of depression where I almost tried to kill myself the other day. Thankfully a comrade of mine was awake when I called her and she helped me through it. I am eternally grateful to her, and I have told her that many times. (thanks Mari!) But anyway, while I was mentally breaking down, I was thinking about how many people actually go through this all the time. I mean, everywhere gay teens, women, abused people, and just people who are depressed, kill themselves everyday. How does this happen? Why doesn't this system do anything about this terrible life-ruining problem. Because they profit off of it, as sick as it sounds. They need people to be depressed. Because when people are depressed, they find ways to escape the horrible-ness of the world and they can't think of anyway out of this system. And they can't let people think of why they are depressed. This system makes people blame themselves for how they feel and then they just give them some medicine and everything is ok. And everything isn't ok under this system, it is far from ok.

But more importantly, how are things like suicide, depression and mental health going to be dealt with (for lack of a better phrase) in a society run by the proletariat? Because we need to have some sort of method to help people when they feel like they just can't go on. Right now, I think that there still will be depression and the likes during socialism and communism, because I don't believe that it is only caused by a fucked up system. I think there is some biological reasoning involved. But yeah, I am just writing off the top of my head right now, and it isn't too coherent, so when I get my thoughts more together, I will get back to all of you. Laters!

Miss Universe

2005-05-31T19:30:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday I was sitting there watching the miss universe pageant. And I always get emotional when beauty pageants are on TV, because yeah. But I started to write this and after I was done, I found it quite strange that only one black woman made it to the top 15 and out of the top 5, the only white woman, she was from Canada, won. The rest of the women were from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and South America. All but one of the top 5 were Hispanic, and the one white woman won. Besides the fact that all of the contestants had to speak English for their final question, so some couldn't get their points across quickly enough. So yeah here is what I wrote:

Miss Universe

Watching these women walk around
Scantily clad,
Even in evening gowns
Studying them as they glide across the TV screen
In uncomfortable high heels,
I realize, there are maybe 7 black women, and one very light skinned Black woman from Trinidad and Tobago makes the top 15.
In Thailand
The top 10
Puerto Rico, Canada, Peru, Switzerland, Latvia, Dominican Republic, USA, Mexico, Venezuela, and Israel.
Tears come to my eyes and I begin to cry.
Why not Miss Palestine, or Miss Iraq?
Those are the women, girls should look up to
They are strong, even though their lives are being ruined, their dreams, Crushed, all as we speak.
Houses being bulldozed, bombed, shot at everyday
Families being killed, ripped apart, terrorized every minute.
Wait, I don't want a Miss Universe.
Women shouldn't have to put themselves through hell to be "beautiful"
They are beautiful without all that crap.
Without all that makeup, or that final question,
When will it end?

Revolutionary Art

2005-05-31T13:21:00.000-04:00

Ok... well first, I want to talk about what I think revolutionary art is. I know I've talked about this before, but I feel like I should again.

Well, I think revolutionary art isn't just art that makes you see the world differently, and I don't think it is just something blatantly political like a sign or poster. But, I'm not totally sure what it exactly is. And, I think that we need to figure out what we mean by revolutionary. Because some people call art revolutionary because it uses a different technique or makes you see something differently. But I think that revolutionary art is art that helps us get to a revolution, and a better, more vibrant future. I think we should, at least for now, categorize art as revolutionary or not. But we shouldn't totally ignore art that is reactionary, or not communist.

My thoughts on: Some Ideas on the Social Role of Art

2005-05-17T21:55:00.000-04:00

I have thought long and hard about everyone's comments, thanks for them! And I have been reading a lot, since I am taking a break from reading Steven Hawking. Right now I am studying Ardea Skybreak's series that was in the RW in 2001. It totally blows me away. I love how she writes. But, I am going to talk a bit about one part that particularly caught my eye and it kinda pertains to what I have been thinking about lately. But first, I want to respond to the comments that people have been so nice to leave. I really appreciate it. I'm glad that others are interested in art and figuring out how it can contribute to the revolution.

I don't know if I really like saying, "this is revolutionary, this isn't, so it's bad art" because some art that isn't really even too political, is still appealing. Personally, if Michelangelo David or the Sistine Chapel are ruined, I will cry. I'm very much an atheist, but both are just phenomenal works of art,regardless of their religious purpose; and I think that we can appreciate some art as art because of the technique or just because of its history. Now, I am actually starting to move away from my dislike of analyzing art, be it poetry or a painting, because I see that there is a lot we can learn from what an artist may be trying to express through using the words or the colors they used. Mainly, with my art, I am trying to figure out how I can express reality in a different way, I guess kinda blur "the lines between fantasy and material reality," as Ardea Skybreak says in her article. woah, what a transition to my next topic.
The line that I read that really struck me was in part 1 on her series Some Ideas on the Social Role of Art, in the RW. It reads:
"Of course, for most people throughout history (and continuing today, despite the advances of the materialist outlook!) the lines between fantasy and material reality have often been blurred."
I want to speak on a few parts of this sentence, and pose a question too. I don't see why it is bad or wrong to blur those lines (between fantasy and material reality) once in a while. I mean, especially under this system, people need to escape reality sometimes. I know I do. Every so often, everything seems so intolerable, that I need to imagine something, or read, or listen to music and go into my own little world for a bit. I don't think that people should do this all the time, or even most of the time, but it helps to think about something that isn't real yet. For example, I really like pondering about how a Communist world would function, how life would be different, etc. I suppose that is fantasy, since it isn't real, yet. I think art can and should be allowed to do that once in a while, because we shouldn't just have art that serves as propaganda and nothing more. Some art should be created for art's sake. But yeah, that is about it. Oh, my question to you all is kinda what I was talking about, Can and should art blur the lines between fantasy and reality?
this is really long, but I do get kinda long winded when I talk about something I am passionate about though. So yeah, I will leave you with a quote to ponder about, respond to, whatever you feel the need to do, from that same article by Ardea Skybreak:
"Le divertissement nous amuse et nous fait arriver insensiblement a la mort" (that is French for: "entertainment amuses us and lead us ever so gradually and painlessly to our deaths") ~17th century philosopher Pascal~

Revolutionary Abstract Art?

2005-05-08T22:16:00.000-04:00

Ok, well, lately I have been struggling with how abstract art can be revolutionary. So a couple of my comrades and I were talking and my friend, let's say her name is M, my friend M was saying that she thinks that revolutionary art is art that shows a totally different way of seeing the world and therefore it helps us get to the truth of things in some way. So I posed the question of abstract art, and what its role in a new society should be. And M said that she thinks that it shows how the artist sees the world and so some of it helps us get to the truth, and it is revolutionary. Well, I don't get how abstract art shows how you see the world, because when I do my art it is mostly my emotion and inspiration coming out on the paper, canvas, whatever, and I don't think about how I see the world when I am doing it. So I have a hard time wrapping my head around that idea. I really want to figure this out because I absolutely LOVE abstract art and I want to do more of it, but I want to do revolutionary abstract and I can't figure out what that would be. I am hopefully going to find some time to print out the articles about art from the RW and I will be studying them in depth as much as I can.

Poetry from Nepal

2005-05-04T22:49:00.000-04:00

well, here is part of a song I got from the article I read on www.revcom.us the one about Nepal: This is the time to give birth to the tempest This is the time to burst out like a volcano To the soldiers of the war To those red stars Dont be Stopped! Not by anyone! Those who fatten on others labor have fled the villages Those who rule with arrogance have run away The peoples governments are organized in villages The redness of victory is arising among the people A custom of working together is established Nepotism and injustice are eliminated in villages Caste and untouchability are eradicated Let us create a new culture and a new society

What is Revolutionary Art?

2005-05-04T22:22:00.000-04:00

Today, I was reading an article in this week's Revolution newspaper about Nepal. I was almost in tears, it was so moving. I don't really cry a whole lot when I am reading things, but lately the things I read are so moving, that I can't help it. Then, I got thinking about everything. I can't wait until things like that are happening here. I mean, when we have state power, all of those degrading billboards using women's bodies to sell crap will be gone! It makes me all happy inside. I really want to start to do a project of my own for photography after I finish my final project for school. It is going to be pictures of all different women, doing different things, all showing their talents and dreams and whatever else they want to show about themselves. I am really going to be struggling about what revolutionary art is, so if anyone wants to help me struggle this out, that would be wonderful, cause I am not going to want to do this all by my lonesome. So, hopefully there are some artists out there that want a better world and are willing to figure out what art will be like in a future without oppression, discrimination, sexism, racism, and so on. So many things are going on art-wise right now, that I want to figure out what revolutionary art is, because I want to become more of an expert on revolutionary art. so, again, if there are any artists out there, let me know what your ideas of revolutionary art are!

Hospitals in the Future

2005-05-02T21:43:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! So, today I was at a doctor's office, and it took her at least 45 minutes to get to me, and I was thinking to my self, "Self, how would we (the masses) do things like this differently in a socialist, and Communist society?" And a vision came to my imagination. People wouldn't have to wait in a boring, bland, scary hospital for a doctor. Some people would be trained as doctors and the people in their neighborhoods wouldn't have to be in hospitals all the time when they are sick. And the hospitals would be ran differently, too. They wouldn't be overbearing and scary, like they are now, they would make people feel better and less isolated. Doctors wouldn't act like you don't know what the fuck is going on in your body and actually try to figure out, WITH YOU, what is the matter. I can't wait for that future.

HAPPY MAY DAY!!!

2005-05-02T00:45:00.000-04:00

Happy May Day all! Today is so exciting. It's freaking May Day dude! So much went on that I don't even know all of it. I am so stoked that today went well. There was an open house at Revolution Books, and it was sweet! So many people came in that we ran out of chairs! We had our red flags blazin', and we sang the Internationale, and it was wonderful. A couple kids came from my school and checked out the bookstore and it was wonderful. I just got done posting on my comrade Joey's blog and the people who post shtit make me angry. It is really hard to not go off on them and spontaneously just rip apart everything they said about him and about the politics he puts forward. Because a lot of what they said was wrong, there were some truths, but not many. People like that make me mad and I wish I could just let spontaneity take over and just scream and yell at them and be all angry and full of hot sauce blood. (not everyone would get that) but yeah, overall my May Day was wonderful! I can't wait until next year's. It will be sweet if I have anything to do about it. Any ways, yeah that is about it.
Lal Salaam! (red salute) Long Live CPN(M)! Long Live Bob Avakian!