Words from Rosa Roja

rosa roja • 2 days ago
The author writes:

"In fact, whatever role racism may play in one or another
atrocity, police violence targets workers and youth of all races"
This phrasing is a transparent attempt to avoid answering what *is* the role of racism. Minor or major? We never get a straight answer. Perhaps you think it's minor but are ashamed to say so clearly?

And the fact that "the state apparatus in many cities where police killings are routine are headed by African American politicians" is patently irrelevant. The police and (especially) soldiers are mostly drawn from the working class. Does that prove class oppression is unimportant?

_____________________


rosa roja
Just because the bourgeois media plays down the significance of class, that is no reason why socialists should play down the significance of race. Doing so is a grave strategic error.

Incidentally, if class is the beginning and end of the story, then why is the WSWS always referring to the "nation state system". That genuinely has nothing to do with class. They mention it repeatedly, but shamefacedly pretend that race is irrelevant.

________________________

rosa roja  
If you are concerned about attempts to divide the working class, then the worst thing you can do is to tell black workers that their struggle
as people of african descent is of minor importance. The black panther party was reaching out to white workers and was receiving a response. this is one reason why the state felt it needed to murder their leaders.

black and white workers need to unite and fight against racism as part of the struggle against capitalism and capitalist imperialism. there is no other way forward.

____________



rosa roja  
The struggle against racism/imperialism is not in contradiction to the struggle for socialism. They reinforce each other. WITHOUT ONE, THE
OTHER WILL FAIL. Have you seen this quotation from Trotsky? It could have been written about the WSWS today.

"The fact that our party until now has not turned to the Negro question is a very disquieting symptom. If the workers' aristocracy
is the basis of opportunism, one of the sources of adaptation to capitalist society, then the most oppressed and discriminated are the most dynamic milieu of the working class."

________________