So, it happened. The racist, reactionary fool Donald Trump is returning to the White House, and Republicans will dominate Congress. The polarization of American political life is sharpening and deepening. Revolutionaries and progressives have some heavy lifting ahead of us.
There is going to be plenty of time to analyze what happened in the election, but on the morning after, some things are clear. The leadership and wealthy backers of the Democratic Party have only themselves to blame for the outcome. The Harris/Walz campaign was tone-deaf to the needs and aspirations of working people. In fact, the two words that they seemed unable to work into any of their speeches were “working class.” Instead, they offered a sad mixture of genocide in Palestine, combined with an appeal to college-educated, “never Trump” Republicans. And they failed.
FRSO urges our members and supporters to take to the streets and organize the broadest possible protests the day after the November 5 elections. No matter what the outcome, we must continue to stand with Palestine and oppose the ever-widening U.S./Israel war in the Middle East. And we must advance a progressive agenda that defends the rights of immigrants, workers, LGBTQ people, women’s and reproductive rights.
The upcoming presidential election is referendum on the U.S.-sponsored genocide in Palestine and the broader war that the U.S. and Israel are waging in the Middle East. The Biden/Harris administration is coordinating the attack on Iran, and the U.S. has dispatched troops and missiles to Israel. There is a minimum of 44,000 dead in Gaza, and Israel is raining 2000-pound bombs down on the cities of Lebanon. While it should go without saying that a reactionary racist like Trump does not deserve a vote, Kamala Harris doesn’t either.
Freedom Road Socialist organization strongly condemns the attacks by the U.S. Treasury Department and Canadian authorities on Samidoun: Palestinian Political Prisoner Network. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claims that Samidoun is a “sham charity,” an allegation that is designed to criminalize solidarity with Palestine. We urge everyone who is progressive or concerned about civil liberties to stand with Samidoun against political repression.
The U.S government has devised a host of laws that treat movements for national liberation, be they in Palestine or the Philippines or points in between, as “terrorism.” As a result, almost every group that is fighting to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine is on the U.S. State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations. And it gets worse. Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, folks can face long prison terms for “material support of terrorism.” It’s a legal framework that tries to make solidarity a crime. These laws should be scrapped.
Hace casi un año, el 7 de octubre, el sonido de la libertad retumbó en Palestina y sus ecos todavía se escuchan en todo el mundo. La resistencia palestina lanzó la Operación Inundación de Al Aqsa, una fuga masiva de la prisión al aire libre más grande del mundo, Gaza. Y, al hacerlo, dieron un paso histórico hacia la liberación. Karl Marx dijo una vez que esos momentos de revolución, de personas que toman su propio futuro en sus manos, deberían considerarse como “fiestas de los oprimidos”. Tenía toda la razón en eso.
El siguiente discurso fue pronunciado por Mick Kelly, secretario político de la Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad, el 29 de septiembre en la ciudad de Nueva York, en un evento para conmemorar el 75º aniversario de la fundación de la República Popular China.
Camaradas y amigos,
Nos reunimos aquí para un evento de genuina importancia, y quisiera expresar nuestra gratitud a los Amigos de la China Socialista y al Partido Obrero Mundial por tomar la iniciativa para que este evento se llevara a cabo.
Nearly one year ago, on October 7, the sound of freedom thundered across Palestine, and its echoes are still being heard around the world. The Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al Aqsa Flood, a mass breakout from the world’s largest open air prison, Gaza. And, in doing so, they took a historic step towards liberation. Karl Marx once said that such moments of revolution, of people taking their own futures in their hands should be regarded as “festivals of the oppressed.” He was entirely right about that.
Israel is waging a criminal war on Lebanon. They blind, maim and kill at random with exploding communications devices. U.S.-supplied bombs are falling on Beirut apartment buildings and homes across south Lebanon, and roads crowded with refugees. The bombs are being dropped from planes that Israel got from the U.S. Fearing that Israel will find itself in deep water, the Biden/Harris administration is dispatching more war materials and troops to the region. And the Israeli genocide in Palestine continues.
Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the Israeli occupation for the abduction of Abla Sa’adat from her home in the West Bank. Abla Sa’adat is a steadfast opponent of apartheid Israel and the wife of Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
As resistance has intensified, so has repression. Israel currently holds about 10,000 Palestinians in prison, many without charges or anything resembling due process. Israeli prisons are hellscapes where torture is routine and the murder of prisoners by their jailers is commonplace. Zionist newspapers quote Israeli politicians calling for mass executions of those being held, and yet have the nerve to boast of their “values and morality.”
On September 12, 2024, three leaders of the African Peoples' Socialist Party (APSP) and the Uhuru Movement were convicted on the charge of conspiring to act “as agents of the Russian government within the United States without prior notification.” The charge carries up to five years in prison. The jury found them not guilty of the charge of already acting as unregistered foreign agents.
The U.S. and Israel are carrying out a genocide in Palestine. It needs to end. On August 19, tens of thousands of people will take to the streets of Chicago and insist on exactly that. More than 40,000 Palestinians have already died. We will march from Union Park to the United Center, the site of the Democratic National Convention, demanding that the U.S. stop funding Israel and making it clear: We stand with Palestine.
Freedom Road Socialist Organization congratulates President Nicolás Maduro and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) for the decisive victory in Venezuela’s election. The decision of the Venezuelan people to carry forward the Bolivarian revolution is a win for working and oppressed people everywhere. By defeating the pro-imperialist opposition, Venezuela will remain free and independent – a beacon of hope for oppressed people everywhere.
The shots fired at Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign rally, July 13, are a big deal that will have political repercussions. While little is yet known about the motivations of the shooter, there is plenty that we can be certain of, including that this event will be used to legitimize and promote a reactionary, right-wing agenda.
Step onto the stage of history in Milwaukee, July 15, as thousands march on the Republican National Convention.
More than 100 organizations are participating in this effort, spearheaded by the Coalition to March on the RNC, and mobilizations are taking place in cities across the U.S. As Trump is raking in money from billionaire donors and stepping up his campaign for the White House, it’s vital that all of was who support Justice, progress and peace should be in the streets raising the banner of opposition.
Los ocupantes Israelíes de Palestina han intensificado sus ataques contra la ciudad de Rafah en el sur de Gaza durante las últimas 24 horas. Han atacado viviendas y han matado a niños. Los aviones están fabricados en los Estados Unidos. El material de guerra que se utiliza lo suministra la administración Biden. Se está llevando a cabo un genocidio en Palestina y Washington, D.C. lo está facilitando.
The Israeli occupiers of Palestine have dramatically stepped up their attacks on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza over the past 24 hours. Homes have been targeted and children killed. The aircraft doing the bombings are made in the United States. The war materiel being used is supplied by the Biden administration. A genocide is being carried out in Palestine and Washington, D.C. is facilitating it.
Something big is happening. From Columbia University to UCLA and points in between, the student movement that stands with Palestine has been erecting encampments on campuses. The results have been powerful. The demand for universities and colleges to divest from, and break all ties with, Israeli apartheid serves to weaken the apartheid regime.
The U.S. and its proxy Israel are provoking a wider war in the Middle East. For the past 6 months, the U.S. has been assisting Israel in the Gaza genocide. Israel and the U.S. have launched repeated attacks on Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. Iran is now responding to the deadly Israeli airstrikes on its diplomatic mission in Syria. The possibility of a wider war is here. A response by our movement is needed. All of us who stand with Palestine and oppose the genocide, who insist on peace with justice, need to be ready to hit the streets. We need to add “Hands off Iran!” to our list of demands.
