The past has shown that the stance we take on elections can either prepare us for future struggles or leave us on the sidelines of history. There are four major questions we can ask about elections. Is there a special danger present? Is the election a referendum of sort on a key issue – such as a war or economic crisis? Is the election important to the oppressed nationality movements and the struggle against national oppression? Is there a significant political option besides the two parties of the ruling class, the Republicans or Democrats?

Different forces may have different answers to those questions. Freedom Road Socialist Organization believes that this November, it is important to defeat the most reactionary and backwards candidates whether they are running for the House or Senate, for governor or for local office.

There are several criteria we can use during the upcoming elections to determine who the most backwards candidates are. Politicians running for office have different stances on democratic struggles like reproductive rights, voting rights, the police and the crimes they commit in oppressed communities, policies on immigration and other important issues.

We must defeat any politicians running for office this November who hold a favorable view of Trump. It is likely that the Republican candidate for president in 2024 will be someone like or very similar to Trump and his terrible politics. Defeating reactionary politicians at the ballot box is also important because we want to see the most favorable conditions for organizing in the streets and in our workplaces after the elections.

We want the people’s movements to focus on winning demands and advancing struggles to new heights. We want to avoid a situation where people are led astray into thinking that the solution to our problems is replacing one ruling class politician for another. We can promote a real people’s agenda as we prepare to protest the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in the summer of 2024. We will also demonstrate at the Democrat National Convention.

Our approach regarding the elections will take different forms in different places. Often, this will mean that those who are working in swing states must work to defeat Republican candidates. In places where the Republicans are very unlikely to win, organizers should vote against right-wing or centrist Democrats in favor of candidates with more progressive stances. Elections do matter and it would be a mistake to ignore them, even when both of the major parties represent the interests of the ruling class. Ultimately, Freedom Road Socialist Organization believes that our hope belongs with the people’s struggles and real change will be won on the streets.

The United States has seen a high level of political struggle this past decade. Many have been drawn into the streets for the first time, and that is wonderful. It is our duty to continue fighting for peace, justice and equality. In the final analysis, both the Republican and Democrat parties serve the 1%. Neither of those parties represent the interests of working and oppressed people. This November, let’s defeat the worst enemies on the ballot and continue our work among the people.

Struggles and organizations are blossoming, and we have a world to win. We are building revolutionary organization and understand that only a revolution and socialism can bring about a new world.

#UnitedStates #Elections #Editorials #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #DonaldTrump #midtermElections2022

Tampa, FL – Hundreds came out to protest the right-wing, billionaire-funded “student group” Turning Point USA summit, July 23. The Turning Point summit featured a gaggle of reactionary, racist and chauvinistic speakers, not the least of whom was Donald Trump, looking to build momentum for a possible second presidential run.

Shouts of “shame!” echoed through downtown as speaker Laura Rodriguez from Tampa Bay Community Action Committee spoke about the conference’s police protection, stating, “They’re paying cops to protect those racists and bigots in our city.”

Rodriguez continued, “This city is in a housing crisis whether the mayor wants to accept it or not. Tampa is the fourth worst city in the nation for rent affordability.”

Who these cops protect couldn’t have been clearer than when the protest moved to the convention center where the hatefest was taking place. The bigots attacked, shoved, pushed down and assaulted protesters as cops looked on in tacit approval, intervening only when it looked like the reactionaries were in danger.

As David Jones of TBCAC described, “We sat there and watched them protect those conservatives while they were attacking us, because whose side are they on? Not ours.” The reactionaries attacked protesters as young as 11. After a tense standoff, protesters returned downtown.

The Tampa community took to the streets to let these hatemongers know that they and their brand of bigotry were not welcome. This event took place in the context of not just the repeal of Roe v. Wade, but also other state level attacks on women, African Americans, and LGBTQ folks, with Florida’s ban on abortion at 15 weeks, whitewashing the history of U.S.'s oppression and slavery, as well mandating LGBT discrimination in the education system with the “Don't Say Gay” bill.

It is no accident that this event took place in Florida – both of these bills have been the pet projects of Trump ally and potential successor, Governor Ron DeSantis, who was also in attendance. The virulent national agenda of those at the conference was to further roll back political and workers' rights, continue environmental devastation, enable attacks on women and LGBTQ folks, and suppress national liberation movements.

Speakers from a wide range of community groups attacked the agenda and attendees of the conference. Harrison Lundy, local activist and organizer with Democratic Socialists of America, said, “They get billions in dark money to keep poor people poor, to keep houseless people houseless, and keep birthing people from their autonomy, and so they’re scared to see us out here.”

The protest was hosted by Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida and Tampa Bay Community Action Committee, with speakers from Students for a Democratic Society, Democratic Socialists of America, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The same coalition of workers, oppressed nationalities, immigrants, LGBTQ folks and women, that united to deliver Donald Trump a crushing defeat in the 2020 election came out today, and is what is needed to continue the struggle to defeat the agenda of groups like TPUSA.

#TampaFL #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #US #Antifascism #DonaldTrump #TurningPointUSATPUSA #TampaBayCommunityActionCommitteeTBCAC #AbortionRights

Milwaukee, WI – On the morning of January 10, a coalition of left-wing organizations and community groups came together in downtown Milwaukee to put forward a people’s alternative to the chaos of the past week in the U.S. Capitol. The protest featured a speaker officially representing the Milwaukee Area Labor Council. The event, called “Rally Against the Far-Right – Build the People’s Movements,” drew nearly 100 people on foot and in cars.

There were three points put forward by the coalition: 1) “Trump out” and all who are complicit in his crimes; 2) Relief for the people now; and 3) End police crimes, including ICE detentions and deportations. The speeches from the different represented organizations centered around these three things.

“A lot of people have been talking about unity, but it’s important that we understand what unity means,” said Jacob Flom, a member of the executive board of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and co-chair of the Young Workers Committee. “We don’t want unity with fascists; we want unity against fascists.”

The event featured a march from a meeting place in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward and ending outside the Milwaukee Federal Building where Senator Ron Johnson’s office is. Johnson is an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump and a voice for the racist mob that stormed Capitol Hill this past week. He also was directly responsible for blocking the increase of the second round of stimulus payments several weeks ago. Senator Johnson made the perfect local target for the rally.

Many of the speakers saw lessons of the past and shadows of the future in the events that transpired on January 6 in DC.

“We should expect to see more of this type of response from the far right in this country as the hangers-on attempt to stave off the final descent of this wretched system into the dustbin of history. History shows us what can happen when reactionaries organize to seize power amid crisis,” said Ryan Hamann, a leader with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Hamann continued, “We also know what it takes to prevent that from happening. We need to build the people’s movements, keep the struggle in the streets, and deliver the people’s justice to Donald Trump, his allies, and his enablers!”

#MilwaukeeWI #Coup #DonaldTrump

They literally wore custom made t-shirts broadcasting a coup they planned and orchestrated, at the urging of President Donald J. Trump.

Trying to make sense of this situation as I scrolled endlessly on my phone. The more I scrolled, the angrier I became.

I am angry because not only did police arrest 14 people in Tallahassee on September 5, 2020 but because they continued to ambush and arrest protesters, bringing the number of those with warrants for our participation at the September 5 protest up to 19.

I am angry because my wife is facing a felony charge with ten years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

I clearly remember the afternoon of September 5 – across the street from the Old Capitol Building – I was arrested, along with 13 others, by hundreds of law enforcement officers clad in riot gear and equipped with military weapons and canines.

I remember holding on to my wife, surrounded by waves of dark uniforms; it was like being engulfed in a shadow. Batons flailed in the air as the police attempted to break up a peaceful protest against a grand jury decision absolving Tallahassee police officers for the murders of three Tallahassee men earlier in 2020. Police weren’t just trying to break up a single protest on September 5, they were out to hobble the growing movement for Black lives and distract from demands for community control of the police.

I remember holding my wife’s hands, the tears full in their eyes, the tiredness worn on their face and the absolute terror of it all. As our hands slipped, and dozens of others watched in horror as the police broke us up, I screamed as hard as I could, just wishing I could just...hold my wife.

I remember being scared of what would happen next.

What happened next was more police beatings, draggings, mass-arrests, forced and costly hospitalization, misgendering of arrestees, disgusting jail conditions, delayed bail processing, repressive release conditions, additional late-night follow-up arrests, and humiliating diversion offers made to some – but not all – of the #Tally19. There are two Tally19ers still facing felony charges.

Fast forward to January 6, 2021. In what seems like increasingly stranger yet less shocking days, we witnessed a moment sure to be etched in history books. As I write this, hours into an undisrupted racist, reactionary siege of the U.S. Capitol, the hypocrisy is blatant.

I am angry because multiple trucks ran into Black Lives Matter protests in Tallahassee. Yet Democrat State Attorney Jack Campbell let the drivers all go and holds firm on prosecuting BLM organizers.

I am angry because Trump’s ally, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, is crafting legislation to make it legal for drivers to hit and kill protesters.

We have a ‘democracy’ wherein the first Black senator in the South since Reconstruction is finally elected and then the next day, elected far-right Republicans support a literal white supremacist siege of the U.S. Capitol building.

We must demand the end of political repression faced by Black activists across the country.

From the Tallahassee 19, to the Minnesota 646: Drop all charges against those fighting for a better tomorrow in the face of police violence.

If you wish to support the Tally 19, head to our GoFundMe

Additionally, you can send a letter to Tallahassee officials to drop the charges against the Tally 19.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalRepression #Elections #DonaldTrump #Tally19 #646Arrestees #TrumpPutsch

This afternoon, January 6, racist and reactionary supporters of President Trump followed up a rally at the White House by marching and seizing the U.S. capitol building. Egged on by Trump, they brought to an end to the congressional certification of the election. An armed standoff took place outside the House chamber. The media has been filled with images of Trump supporters occupying offices of congresspeople. New developments are taking place with the passage of every hour.

There is no doubt that capitol police and security forces allowed the reactionary mob to take over the building – and that if it were the case of protesters under a “Black lives matter” banner, or revolutionaries, doing the same thing, police would have unleashed a bloodbath. The reason these racists got a far as they did was because they had support from the White House and many others in power.

The racist and fascist grouping had made it clear that they were coming to DC from across the country at Trump’s request. They joined the “Save America” rally and brought their guns with them. Any time these racist and reactionary forces show themselves they need to be opposed. This scum represents anti-democratic and determined advocates of racist discrimination. They think their votes should count, but not those African Americans and other oppressed nationalities – who were crucial to Trump’s defeat at the polls.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization has been helping to organize and build the movement against Trump since day one. We helped to lead the mass march on his nomination at the Republican National Convention in 2016, and we have been helping to spearhead opposition to his agenda every step of the way. Trump should be removed from power. Now. And everything he does should be opposed until that happens. We also need to be alert to any attempt to use these events to curtail our democratic rights, including those guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

This attempt to keep Trump in power says a lot about the direction this country heading in. The U.S. empire is eroding, and monopoly capitalism is a sick and dying system, and its failed political representatives were front and center in Washington DC today. It is imperative that all of us who yearn for better future act. We need to stay in the streets and fight for an agenda that represents the interests of the people. The road ahead will be a difficult one, but the future is bright!

#UnitedStates #DonaldTrump #DumpTrump