A-Infos (en) US, Open City Anarchist - A flier of NYC Common Struggle-LCF / Dec. 2011

On the eve of International Human Rights Day and the 30th anniversary of his jailing, 
supporters of Pennsylvania political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal are organizing a mass rally 
to say no to the possibility that he may spend the rest of his life in prison. The rally 
will be in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center, directly across the mall from 
Independence Hall on December 9. Doors open at 6:30pm. Speakers include Cornel West, 
Ramona Africa, Mark Lamont Hill, Vijay Prashad, Immortal Technique, Michael Coard, 
Michelle Alexander by video, and others to be announced. The IMPACT Youth Repertory 
Theatre and the African Dance and Drum Ensemble also will perform. Tickets are free but 
must be picked up in advance. Call the Free Mumia Coalition at 212 330-8029 for details.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the killing in 1981 of a
Philadelphia cop in a trial which Amnestiy International has
condemned as failing to meet even the most minimal standards of fairness.

Early in October the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider
the Philadelphia DA's appeal to reinstate Mumia's death sentence.
Since then the state has hinted that it will probably
drop any further legal action, leaving Mumia to face a sen-
tence of life in prison without parole.

As revolutionary anarchists, we agree that life in prison for
Mumia is unacceptable. We will be attending the rally and
strongly urge all working class and oppressed people to do
likewise. Why?

(1) We believe that Mumia should be released immediately.
There are two reasons for this. First, we believe the ample
evidence that he is innocent. Second, the capitalist govern-
ment is the prime organizer of terrorism against working
class and oppressed people—to see this, one only has to re-
call the bomb it dropped in 1985 on the MOVE Organization,
killing 11 people and burning down an entire neighborhood.
As such, the state has no right to judge this case.

(2) Moreover, a long line of DA's, beginning with former
governor Ed Rendell at the time of Mumia's trial, have made
the case into a political football rather than a search for truth.
The current DA, Seth Williams, is merely the latest.

(3) The cops have lied over and over about the case be-
cause, as a journalist, Mumia told the truth about their ly-
ing, racism, brutality and corruption—particularly with
regard to the MOVE Organization. This isn't surprising
because the cops' bottom-line duty is to reflect the racism
of white supremacist society and to enforce its laws
protecting corporate property.

As revolutionary class struggle anarchists we believe
that in place of a state with its armies, cops, courts and
prison complex to enforce its system of dog-eat-dog
capitalism, people should be able to govern themselves
through federations of democratic organizations—a
cooperative commonwealth. Production should be for the
use of the many rather than the enrichment of the few; the
environment should be a thing to be respected rather than
raped; and people should be judged by who they are
rather than their race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. To
get there we advocate defending ourselves against the
capitalists and their state through mass direct action, such
a strikes, general strikes, boycotts and blockades.

For more information on Mumia's case, please go to
www.freemumia.com or call the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Coalition of New York Hotline, 212 330-8029. The Coalition
also greatly needs contributions-no amount is too small.

Please send checks made out to FMAJC/IFCO to:
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition,
P.O. Box 16, College Sta., New York, NY
10030

=====================================================
Common Struggle—Libertarian Communist Federation
www.commonstruggle.org
published December 2011
Locally contact: nymetro@nefac.net
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The Two-Sided Class War — Our Side Is Fighting Back!
A Revolutionary Anarchist Perspective

Since the 1970s, the corporate rich-the capitalist ruling class-
has waged a class war. At last our side is fighting back! The
rich and powerful destroyed or weakened private sector
unions, cut back public services, slashed their own taxes,
expanded the military budget (that subsidizes the rich) and
 waged wars (attacking working people abroad). Hard-won
 anti-discrimination laws which benefited People of Color as
 well as women were attacked. Reproductive rights for
women were driven back.

 Now they are using economic crisis as an excuse for an all-
out assault on public sector unions, public services, college
students, women, immigrants (especially Latino/as and
Muslims), African-Americans, and the working class, “middle
class,” and poor. They directly attack the environment, ignore
Global Warming and threaten humanity's survival.

For years most US working people have been fairly passive,
feeling “nothing can be done.” Many people voted for
Obama, hoping he would produce “change.” Instead he and
the Democrats played the “good cop” to the Republicans'
“bad cop.” He repeatedly gave in to the Republicans. He
 expanded wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Many people
became politically demoralized (which may have been the
goal). Others came to see both parties as bought-and-paid-
for servants of the capitalist class.

The biggest organizations of US workers have been labor
unions, though they have been whittled down to a fraction
of their past size. Their leadership still dreams of a return of
the 1950s, when big business made deals with them. Union
officials have no idea how to fight a class war. Most are
frightened to call strikes-and realistically, most localized
strikes are too limited and weak to win gains. Their main
strategy is to channel support into the Democrats, even
though Democrats repeatedly fail to help them.

When Wisconsin workers rebelled against the governor's
attacks on public unions, they should have organized a
general strike. Instead union officials drove the movement
into limited electoral action. Now union leaders have
 endorsed the Occupy movement. But they still won't
 mobilize their members for mass strikes against the bosses
and their state.

Occupy Wall Street is a response to the vicious attack from
the rich and the government. It's a response to the lack of
fighting by liberal Democrats and union bureaucrats. It is a
call for the majority of US people (“99%”) to reject the
corruption of our politics, the attacks by the rich and their
political servants, to stand up for ourselves!

The Occupy movement has been criticized for its lack of
programmatic “demands” (as if Democrats or Republicans
corruption of our politics, the attacks by the rich and their
political servants, to stand up for ourselves!

The Occupy movement has been criticized for its lack of
programmatic “demands” (as if Democrats or Republicans
have a program to end economic crisis, the wars, and
ecological disasters!). It is not hard to find demands; the
problem is to fight for them.

Here are some possible programmatic demands:

* Jobs for all at decent, union-level pay. A shorter work
week at no loss in pay. Public projects and services to be
provided directly by the government (which claims to
represent the whole community and has a lot of money)-
but managed directly by workers and local communities.
With a focus on environmental clean-up and alternate
energy.

* Tax the rich at the highest possible levels. Companies
that lay people off, or are otherwise bad for the economy
or ecology, should be expropriated (taken away from the
owners, without pay) and managed by workers and local
communities. Such democratically-run enterprises and
public projects should form networks and coordinate to
create a democratic economic plan.

* Free, widely available public services: healthcare
(including abortion rights), free education—pre-school to
graduate school, free public transportation, etc.

* Opposition to all forms of discrimination and
oppression. Special efforts to provide jobs and services to
the oppressed (People of Color, women, GLBT people,
physically disabled, etc.)-under their control.

* End all wars and war spending. Withdraw US troops
and bases from around the world.

But the main “demand” of the OWS movement is itself.
That people can organize themselves, without official
leaders (bosses), and democratically decide for
themselves what they want. The most basic demand is to
organize the whole economy and politics of society in
such a directly democratic manner.

The ruling class recognizes the threat of OWS. That is why
city mayors (mostly Democrats) sent the police to break
up the camps. The police do their job, not because they
are personally evil but because it's their job. For resistance,
we do not fetishize either violence or nonviolence. These
are tactics, not absolute principles. What is a principle is
the need to fight back, one way or another.

This is just the beginning of a great movement. Like the
'60s or the '30s, a mass radicalization is beginning. The
rulers can't stop it. The alternatives are economic decline,
war, and ecological cataclysm-or resistance.

—Open City Anarchists, NYC local of Common Struggle-LCF
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