As the curtain comes down on 2022, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) wishes you a Happy New Year! We look forward to a new year of struggle, and victories, that raise us to new heights. Conditions show we are in an exciting period for revolutionaries who are connecting with workers and the oppressed – making practical plans with a long-term vision. 2023 promises many opportunities to organize, build the united front against imperialism, and advance towards an American revolution. Freedom Road Socialist Organization is determined to play a part in that process. You should consider joining us today!

The United States is an empire in decline, struggling to maintain its dominance of other countries and their markets. The Biden White House is desperate, ramping up wars, threatening other countries, and makes enemies of people around the world from Palestine to the Philippines, China and Venezuela. Billions upon billions of dollars are being spent on the military while housing, healthcare and education face cutbacks.

Here at home this crisis of U.S. imperialism is deepening divisions everywhere, from political rallies to family holiday dinners. Bigots are louder than ever and free to express it on television and in social media. People don’t just feel threatened, they are being shot and killed by racist reactionaries in grocery stores and churches, on the street and at work, and in schools and night clubs. The crisis is here, and it is ugly, but it also means people are more and more ready to act, and to be bold. People are in motion, and they want solutions. Conditions for revolutionaries to organize and fight back are good.

2022 was a year of continuing the George Floyd rebellion. Remember, more than 27 million people took part in the 2020 uprising against police murders. People across the country in cities like Dallas, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Jacksonville continue organizing and building the Black Liberation movement. The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) continues to protest police killings and abuses in more than two dozen cities and the list is growing.

Local chapters of NAARPR lead campaigns that put police on trial, convict them and sentence them to prison. This is a first for many cities. It is a result of the rebellion, but also due to the campaign work by groups of determined activists. NAARPR will host a conference in 2023 that promises to be a big event.

Chicago stands out because the demand for community control of the police is advancing and about to be implemented. This reform originates with Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party. The campaign for community control attracts the families of loved ones murdered or mistreated by police, as well as droves of new activists. This is getting real as Chicago activists canvass for district council elections taking place in February. These councils can implement new reforms that take control over local police policies and spending.

As we all know, 2022 wasn’t all bread and roses. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned abortion rights, the FRSO put a lot of time and energy into fightbacks across the country to restore abortion and demand reproductive justice for all. We helped build the movement for reproductive rights in many states during the November elections, and now there is momentum towards International Women’s Day. FRSO will lead and participate in protests and events around March 8, 2023. Even if your state won, the fight is not over. You should consider joining or starting an International Women’s Day event.

Then on May 1 we commemorate International Workers Day, remembering the great sacrifice of the Haymarket Martyrs of Chicago, and the struggle for the eight-hour day and unions. Where the FRSO is organized, we will participate in mass marches and rallies, as well as FRSO-hosted forums to advance the revolutionary demands of the workers of the world.

This year promises to be historic for unions and the working class. The new leadership of the Teamsters Union, O’Brien and Zuckerman, promise a showdown with the shipping giant UPS. Rank-and-file workers’ organization and militancy on the shop floor in the UPS can build power, raise standards across the shipping industry, and fire up the entire working class. It will require a Teamster strike and a victory against UPS. With this, we will see a surge in union organizing drives, like the ones at Amazon, Starbucks, restaurant chains, and even banks.

The FRSO is already calling for the March on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 15, 2024. It is only 2023 now, but we are preparing a broad united front for a national march and protest in the streets that goes right up to the front doors of the RNC. We will let the Republicans know exactly why we oppose them with our every breath. Keep a lookout for an organizing conference.

FRSO is working to build a new revolutionary communist party. We are building a party capable of uniting all who can be united to wage a decisive struggle against monopoly capitalism, and to build socialism. That is why It is important to join the FRSO now!

A new year is upon us! Our future is bright!

#UnitedStates #Editorials #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO

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

On Saturday, May 14, Masao Suzuki, chair of the Joint Nationalities Commission of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) expressed outrage at another white supremacist mass murder. “Three years ago, white supremacist Patrick Crusius drove hundreds of miles to kill Chicanos and Mexicanos in El Paso, Texas,” said Suzuki. “Then today another young white supremacist, Payton Gendron, also drove into Buffalo, New York to attack the African American community.” Eleven of the 13 people Gendron shot were African American, and ten died.

Both Crusius and Gendron had posted manifestos repeating the lies of “replacement theory,” a neo-Nazi idea that white Americans and Europeans were being displaced. This theory is a call for ethnic cleansing and mass murder of people of African, Asian, and Latino descent. Gendron livestreamed his killing spree to further spread hate and violence.

“These events are just the modern-day versions of mass lynchings historically aimed at African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicanos and Latinos, and indigenous people,” said Suzuki. “This country was founded on the genocide and seizure of land from Native Americans, and enriched by the chattel slavery of millions of Africans kidnapped from their homelands.” Suzuki added, “These white supremacists are trying to start a race war, and our communities need to prepare to defend themselves.”

“Today the white supremacist movement is funded by parts of the monopoly capitalists, and their poison spread by Fox News and anchor Tucker Carlson. These same capitalists are the ones jacking up prices,” referring to the record profits being reported by big businesses such as Shell Oil and Tyson Foods. “Wages can’t keep up, more and more people are turning up at food banks, and the numbers of homeless keep rising,” said Suzuki, “Our organization sees the need to replace this racist and exploitative system with socialism.”

#UnitedStates #Editorials #WhiteSupremacy #massShooting

Just last year, the halls of power in Minnesota shook when people answered the murder of George Floyd by rising up. We marched on the State Capitol, the county attorney, the state attorney general, the police federation and the interstate highways. Day and night, for weeks on end, we faced riot police, tear gas, National Guard troops and white supremacists. The Third Precinct police station was burned, as were hundreds of other buildings. And fires here sparked protests across the world and transformed the political landscape.

Today, when Minneapolis is in the midst of its first local elections since the uprising, voters will consider dozens of candidates for local office, as well as a few ballot measures.

At the top of the ballot will be the mayor’s race. As of this writing, no candidate has a clear path to beat incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, but it’s important that he not be handed an easy victory. We can vote to send a message that he does not have support for his failures to address policing, housing, the pandemic and more. Whether you write in someone else, or if you choose a candidate who stands for things you can support, we urge people of conscience to use ranked choice voting to cast three votes against Jacob Frey.

There’s another chance to vote against Frey, in the form of a ballot question. Question 1 asks to take most city council powers and turn them over to mayoral control. Consolidating power into fewer hands would weaken the fight for working class and oppressed peoples. We can’t just leave Question 1 blank. To be counted against expanded mayoral power, voters need to mark No on their ballots.

There is also a ballot question, Question 3, related to rent control; we support rent control.

While those are easy choices. All of Minneapolis is waiting for the final tally on a measure that aims to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety. The new department would be under the joint control of the mayor and city council, and could still include police. The measure would also end the minimum police staffing requirement currently in the city charter.

Many good people have come out to support this amendment – Question 2 – and it’s been held up as an accomplishment of our movement. We see it as something that came from outside our movement, and which threatens to hinder the fight for real change. We’ll be voting No.

Proponents argue that Question 2 is a pathway to abolition, but also say it’s not that. A campaign website FAQ asks, “Does…it mean abolish or defund the police?” Then answers in bold type, “No. It does not.” Question 2 was born on a stage in Powderhorn Park, adorned with words “Defund police,” but it neither cuts the police budget nor requires the transfer of police funding to other projects or programs. We support investment in mental health resources, addiction services and youth programs, but Question 2 doesn’t mandate any of those.

And while we support ending the staffing requirement in the city charter, that alone does not get us the change our communities need.

First, ending the requirement does not cut the budget or the size of the police force – doing that is still a political decision. This amendment leaves that decision in the hands of the city council. The same city council that declared their “veto-proof majority” on that stage in Powderhorn Park last June and has voted at least twice since then for more money for the Minneapolis Police Department.

Second, to cut the number of cops without addressing accountability is meaningless. Take the example of Derek Chauvin, before he murdered George Floyd. He was a 19-year veteran of MPD with a display case full of commendations and medals. He would not be the first cut from a downsized police force. The only way to get rid of the Derek Chauvins is to demand accountability for someone like him, who has 26 complaints on his record and has killed five people before George Floyd. The killers of Terrence Franklin, Jamar Clark, Travis Jordan and others, are all still working for MPD, and as long-term employees, would be protected from any cuts in the force. The most direct way to ensure accountability is to end the practice of police being allowed to police themselves.

Currently, the Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR) is responsible for reviewing civilian complaints, but no complaint gets sustained by the OPCR unless a police panel agrees. The group Communities United Against Police Brutality found that only 0.36% of complaints result in discipline (compared to a national average of 7-8% for civilian review boards). Question 2 does nothing to end this practice, nor does it open past complaints or police murders for review.

So long as police control the complaint process, there can be no accountability. So long as no one reviews past harms, there can be no justice. If there is no change in police conduct, cutting the size of the police force doesn’t protect us from police abuses.

Currently, the mayor is the only civilian authority over Minneapolis police. Question 2 would change that, so that the mayor would share power with the city council. While the mayor has proven himself unwilling to rein in police, the city council has also showed us time and again that they are willing to pass the buck even on the things they can do. They have the power to address the complaint process, and have not done so. It is the city council that approves the contract with the Police Officers Federation, but they never press for changes that will protect community members. The city council has the power to eliminate the camping ordinances that invite police to criminalize our unhoused neighbors and carry out merciless evictions, despite the overwhelming housing crisis in our city, yet they have done nothing. These are just a few things that could change on a dime, if the city council were willing to take action. Yes, we need to take power over policing out of the hands of the mayor, but it gets us nowhere to put it into the hands of a body that has shown itself unwilling to make change.

Proponents of Question 2 have invited us to reimagine public safety, but ask us to vote for a proposition that will do nothing to make concrete changes that will protect us from police violence in our communities, or address the harms already done by a violent, racist institution. Some worry that the defeat of Question 2 would be a blow against the movement to end police accountability and win Black liberation. In our view, the defeat of Question 2 will be an opportunity to get the focus back on concrete changes to address the needs our communities have right now.

We will be voting No on Question 2, and throwing our weight behind the fight for community control of the police by establishing an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission. Look for it in your ballot in 2022, and join the Black-led grassroots effort to get us there.

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Editorials #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #Elections #MinneapolisUprising #MinneapolisElections

Freedom Road Socialist Organization stands with working people on the West Coast who are threatened by the massive wildfires that have taken scores of lives. Dozens more are missing and feared dead and thousands of homes were destroyed. We encourage FRSO members in California, Oregon and Washington to assist in whatever way possible in efforts that ensure the safety of your neighbors and contribute to pro-people recovery efforts. It is important to combat the fear mongering around the fires that is happening in the service of a cynical right-wing political agenda.

There is nothing natural about the disaster that is engulfing the West Coast, it is the product of climate change, which in turn has been created by capitalism. A decade of hotter and drier summers, lower levels of winter precipitation and rapid spring melt outs has created fuel for the fires. Large, extremely hot fires are in turn reshaping the ecosystems that they ravage. In some areas even jack pine seeds, which normally thrive on fire, are being killed by the intensity of the infernos. In some places, what was once a forest is being replaced by grassland. That means that the trees that are so necessary to clean carbon dioxide from the air will not be coming back, leaving more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to fuel warming.

Big business, in particular the fossil fuel industry, have economic interest in blunting measures that would slow or roll back climate change. Capitalism rewards a greedy few and encourages short-term thinking in order to maximize profits today. The result is a world that is growing hotter, has more extreme weather events, and is posing an existential threat to life as we know it and possibly even to humanity.

In the White House, the main political representative of monopoly capitalism is steadfast in his opposition to science, and blabbers about “raking the forest.” That kind of ridiculous commentary and denial of science is not funny when whole towns are being burned to the ground.

Every progressive person should support government assistance to help the people of the West Coast battle this disaster and rebuild their lives. The wealthy that run this country have plenty of money; they can be taxed and made to pay for this crisis.

Our movements need to insist that the government needs to get serious about addressing climate change. Trump has no intention of doing that and that is one of the many reasons he needs to go. That said, we will need to stay in the streets no matter who is elected to force a serious battle against climate change.

Capitalism is a failed system. It is destroying our planet for the profits of a few. There is no hope to stop climate change in the context of the chaotic market-driven forces of capitalism. The sooner the powerful and privileged are overthrown, and socialism – a system where everything is done to improve people’s lives – replaces it, the better it will be.

#WestCoast #Editorials #PeoplesStruggles #Capitalism #EnvironmentalJustice #Washington #California #Oregon #WildFires

But what the people need is more testing done for free, and health care for all. What workers need are unemployment benefits and income support for the self-employed. Working people need protection from eviction and relief from debts. What nurses and other medical workers need is more masks and other protective equipment.

With more than 1500 confirmed infections in the United States, the novel coronavirus is not a foreign threat from Europe, as Trump seems to believe, it is spreading here. Inaction and incompetence by the Trump administration have squandered away the time for preparation.

#UnitedStates #Editorials #PeoplesStruggles #stockMarket

New York, NY – For working New Yorkers, taking the subway is an essential part of their day-to-day life. Having a car in New York is incredibly difficult and expensive, which means unless you are rich enough to take a cab to work every day, the subway is basically the only viable option. So for the many New Yorkers with working-class jobs that do not allow them to show up late without risk of getting fired, it is very important that the subway runs smoothly and remains affordable.

However, the reality is that New York’s Metro Transit Authority (MTA) struggles to maintain a dilapidated subway system that faces constant delays. Only about 25% of stations are fully accessible, and the MTA estimates it will be $426 billion in debt by 2023. How does the MTA propose to solve these problems? Their ‘solution’ is to ruthlessly police the poor and the homeless in a new crackdown on fare evasion, and to further exploit transit workers, putting more money into the pockets of MTA officials and higher ups.

The MTA announced in late 2019 that they will hire 500 new cops to patrol the subway stations and stop people from evading the subway fare. This comes as part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s push for so-called ‘quality of life policing.’ In other words, Cuomo and the MTA want to police the poor and the homeless out of the subways, which will in their minds improve the ‘quality of life’ for those who can afford the subway fare.

Since the MTA announcement of crackdown, New Yorkers have released videos of officers using excessive force against people for evading the fare, or even just for selling churros in the subway station. The MTA claims the new policing effort against fare evasion will save them $200 million over the next four years. This is a ridiculous claim on multiple fronts. For one thing, people aren’t all of a sudden going to roll over and pay if they literally cannot afford the subway fare. Secondly, the expansion of police forces will cost $249 million over the next four years – much more than the MTA plans to save.

All of this shows how out of touch with reality the MTA leadership and Governor Cuomo are. Rather than pushing for, say, increased taxes on the rich to help fund the transit system, their logic says, let’s squeeze more money out of poor and working people, despite the fact that New York is one of the richest cities in the world. Clearly, Cuomo and the MTA do not value the lives of the poor, and are only motivated by ways to save and make more money.

The MTA is also attempting to save money off the backs of working people through the exploitation of transit workers. In May 2019, when the transit workers’ contract was up for renewal, the MTA made an insulting first offer that would have resulted in major concessions on the part of transit workers. The MTA’s stubbornness in pushing their agenda forced the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 to go through six months of contract negotiations to fight for workers’ rights. While the TWU Local 100 was able to secure wage increases and other wins for workers in the new contract that got approved in January 2020, the MTA forced through increases in workers’ healthcare costs, adding higher charges for emergency room visits and brand-name prescription drugs.

The MTA is also now pushing for workers to act as a kind of secondary police force in helping to stop fare evasion – something that is not in transit workers’ job training, and that puts them at risk of potentially dangerous and violent situations. The MTA boasts that it will save millions of dollars as a result of their new contract and budget plan. If the employer is saving so much money, this means that they plan to find whatever ways they can to further undermine the rights and wellbeing of transit workers.

Most resistance to the MTA’s new attacks on poor and working people has come in the form of demonstrations against the crackdown on fare evasion and the hiring of 500 new cops. Forces on the ground have mobilized around these issues, and two well-attended actions were held in late 2019, with a third held at the end of January.

In spite of this mass pushback and disapproval, Governor Cuomo and the MTA have chosen to spend the city’s money on hiring more cops rather than actually paying transit workers living wages and fixing the broken down subway system. This decision is an attack on poor and working people on many levels. First, the cops are literally attacking poor people who cannot afford the subway fare by brutally harassing them with excessive force. Second, the neglect to actually fix the broken down subway system is an attack on poor and working people who need to get to work on time to avoid facing unemployment, which could of course, for some, lead to homelessness. Third, the MTA’s incompetence is also an attack on transit workers.

When transit workers are forced to fix urgent problems with the subways that happen on a daily basis, their lives and health are put directly in danger as they work in the subway tunnels while subway service continues to operate. So by not setting aside greater resources to actually pay transit workers a living wage, give them sufficient healthcare benefits, and fix problems more proactively, the MTA is directly attacking the health and wellbeing of transit workers, which of course, in turn, results in a less functional subway system that continues to put poor and working people at risk of losing their jobs.

Bearing all of this in mind, when Cuomo and the MTA decide not to invest the resources (resources which they clearly have if they can afford to hire so many cops) in fixing a broken subway system, they are not just causing an inconvenience for people – they are actually putting poor and working people’s lives directly in danger.

The situation with New York’s subway system is yet another example of how capitalism time and again fails working people. The problem is, Cuomo and the MTA only see the subway system through the eyes of the bosses and the rich. If New York’s leaders and those in charge of the MTA acted from a working-class perspective, they would understand why the transit system is broken; they would understand that the system will remain broken until it actually pays transit workers living wages, and puts resources into ensuring that poor and working people can get to their jobs on time, rather than attacking them over a $2.75 subway fare. But such sensible thinking will never come out of a capitalist system because capitalism is all about more profit for the employers, no matter how much that means exploiting workers and neglecting the needs of the working class and poor.

Only under socialism can we imagine a system where transit workers get a living wage along with the healthcare and other benefits they need; where the transit authorities prioritize fixing broken subway equipment and infrastructure because they actually value the lives of working people who rely on the subway to get to work; and where there is no need for cops in the subway stations because there is no need for a constantly increasing subway fare in the first place. Only under socialism can we have a transit system that truly works for all and reflects the needs of poor and working people.

#NYCNY #CapitalismAndEconomy #Editorials #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #NewYork #NYPD #Antiracism #MTA #Subway #FTP

While the occurrence of wildfires is fairly common in Australia, the intensity of the fires occurring is really without precedent. The flames are so massive that, in some instances, they are creating their own weather, with lightning and ‘ember attacks.’ As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, due to Australia’s changing climate there will be more fires to come.

Poor land management has contributed to the worsening conditions. The scale and ferocity of the current bush fires are products of an unprecedented lengthy drought season. But it is the greed of energy corporations and the complicity of officials from both political parties that has produced these unusually long droughts and, in turn, this disaster.

It is not a secret that Australia is inextricably tied to the fossil fuel industry. Illustrative of this is the fact that today coal accounts for 15% of the country’s export revenues, and six of the top 30 largest Australian corporations are mining or fossil fuel companies. Australia’s continued investment in dirty energy has cost the nation thousands of metric tons of CO2 emissions, according to the Australian Department of Agriculture. The ineptitude of Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison towards downsizing the role of coal is a prime example of denial of an issue to the point of propagating it.

Morrison vowed near the onset of the fires back in October 2019 to outlaw the boycott campaigns utilized by climate activists, citing the alleged damage it would do to the country’s mining industry. Activists have been successful in impacting targeted businesses, affecting their ability to access banking, insurance and consulting services. None of this should come as a surprise, given Morrison is a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and the class interests that he represents.

In addition to their disastrous domestic energy policies, the Australian government has contributed further to the deterioration of the climate through its commitment to U.S. imperialism. Mobilizing to participate in the wars of U.S. empire has emitted untold amounts of harmful waste into the environment. In order to pay for these actions and the equipment for their armed forces, the government has cut funding from vital fire management programs that were underfunded to begin with. Government-sponsored disaster relief efforts and civilian relocation services have similarly been gutted, only exacerbating the problems, particularly for the most vulnerable communities.

In a parallel to the political situation in the U.S., this issue is not partisan. While one wing of the political elite is outright dismissive of the existence of climate change, the other plays lip-service to the scientists and their warnings while doing the bidding of the corporations who get them elected. The reality, both in Australia and in the U.S., is that most of the leaders of mainstream political parties ultimately play on the same side, working in the interests of the ruling class against the interests of the working class.

Issues pertaining to climate change are the product of fundamental components of the prevailing global economic system of capitalism. Capitalism gives economic interests the platform to make decisions in society. It will never work in the best interests of the people being impacted by those decisions. A system that incentivizes economic gains to the detriment of people and planet is problematic and prone toward causing environmental catastrophe. Capitalism holds that obtaining the maximum profit is the driving force of an economy. It is by getting rid of the private ownership of means to produce good and services for the benefit of the 1 percent, that we will be able to avert and resolve the issues of the climate crisis.

The solution to the problem of climate change is not to place the future in the hands of political hacks who have never had the interests of the working class and other oppressed people in their minds. Elected officials will be compelled to adhere to the demands of the masses if we are organized and militant enough. The creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Nixon administration – a reform, yes, but a big concession won from the ruling class as a result of ceaseless mass struggle – is proof enough of this. When the movement against climate change is organized and fully recognizes capitalism as the main threat, it will be able to turn the tide and begin to prevent the kind of cataclysm unfolding in Australia.

#MilwaukeeWI #CapitalismAndEconomy #Editorials #EnvironmentalJustice #Australia #Fire

Jacksonville, FL – I'm not sure how we'll look back at film in the 2010s. Much of it already seems like a blur, leaving me asking questions like, “Was that the Batman movie with Ben Affleck or Christian Bale?” or “Which of the five Spider-Man and five Star Wars movies did you like the best?”

To put it another way, how are we supposed to really evaluate the 21 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies theatrically released in this decade? Even Marvel movies represent only about half of the total comic book-related films produced in the 2010s. It’s just disorienting.

It's mostly the product of monopoly capitalism. Fewer giant corporations own most of the franchises and intellectual properties today than even ten years ago. In pursuit of profit, studios fall back on less risky, tried-and-true bankable stories and franchises. To that end, we’ve seen an explosion of sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, spinoffs and more in the last ten years.

We end up in absurd situations where Sony remakes Spider-Man every couple of years for no other reason than to stop their franchise rights from lapsing back to Marvel (owned by Disney). Now 20th Century Fox's Alien Queen is technically a Disney princess. Even movies that completely bombed in theaters but developed a cult following on home video, like Blade Runner, get treated like major franchises.

The other factor driving all of this is the Great Recession. For most of us, the economy never recovered from the 2008 crisis. All capitalism can offer us anymore – especially my generation – is this fake, totally banal nostalgia for a past that supposedly didn't suck so much (it did; we were just kids). In Capitalist America, you might not have the money to see a doctor, but you can watch Gargoyles, or Lizzy Maguire, or a brand new Star Wars TV show on Disney+ for $6.99 per month.

It’s appropriate that the 1980s weighed so heavy on pop culture this decade. We continue to live in the hangover of Reaganomics, and the billionaire reality-TV psychopath who came to encompass the greediest excesses of that era now sits in the White House. Rest assured, a similarly exhausting wave of 90s cultural nostalgia is on the horizon for the 2020s. Let’s hope that it’s limited to movies and music and not politics or economics.

As less of us went to the movies in the aftermath of the recession, Hollywood increasingly came to rely on overseas audiences for ticket sales. This lends itself to studios producing bigger blockbusters, which are heavy on special effects and colorful characters but lighter on dialogue and story – since the latter, of course, has to get translated.

But it wasn't just blockbusters. Even the supposedly 'high-brow' cinema adored by the rich and famous mostly sucked. Take a look at this decade’s Oscar winners and nominees: The King's Speech - a sendup to the British crown? The Artist - a silent film no one saw? Argo - thinly disguised propaganda for war with Iran? Birdman - an eye-rolling 'love letter' to rich yuppies in New York? All of these movies won Oscars for ‘Best Picture.’ Even on the off-chance that you saw them, does anybody really think these movies had anything important or lasting to say about the world?

All that said, the 2010s wasn't all cynical garbage. There were plenty of outstanding movies, including many not on my list. But in the interests of cutting through the haze, I've highlighted 20 movies from the last ten years that stood out:

1. Free State of Jones (2016) - This isn't just the best Civil War movie ever – it's a revolutionary manifesto for organizing in the South. I wrote a full review back in 2016 for Fight Back!, which you can read here. 2. Sorry to Bother You (2018) - It’s the most pro-union, anti-capitalist movie made in the U.S. in several decades, delivering an original story and a legendary sci-fi plot twist worthy. Sorry to Bother You isn’t just great political art. It perfectly speaks to the struggles facing the working-class youth of today in an age dominated by monopoly corporations like Amazon and flooded with social media, low wages, high rent and soul-crushing jobs.

3. It Follows (2014) - Solidly one of the five best horror films I've seen, ever. Perfectly captures the dreadful inevitability of a nightmare.

4. Arrival (2016) - The most aspirational sci-fi film of the decade, and one that lays out Nietzsche's problem of the eternal recurrence in a hopeful way. Arrival left me believing that humanity has a chance to stop our impending climate and war-driven apocalypse and live better than we ever have.

5. Lincoln (2012) - Staggering and important portrayal of the political fight to abolish slavery in the United States. All the better because it's not an insipid biopic like the title might suggest.

6. The First Purge (2018) - The apex for the best original franchise to emerge from the 2010s. Every couple of years, The Purge series offered the most biting and timely political commentary at the movies or on television. With its Black working-class protagonists battling for survival against rich neo-Nazis, The First Purge, technically the fourth installment, represented the series at its most class-conscious.

7. Inception (2010) - I cooled on all of Christopher Nolan's movies over the last decade except for this one. Truly an exceptional mind-thriller that stunningly represents the way we perceive and construct ideas.

8. First Reformed (2018) - What does it mean to accept that the capitalist system we live under will lead to certain doom for humanity and the earth, but also to set aside that terrible realization enough to do something about it? How do you stave off nihilistic despair and embrace a positive vision worth fighting for? Those questions asked in First Reformed bring to mind Huey Newton’s writing about ‘reactionary suicide’ and ‘revolutionary suicide’ – something the film explores beautifully.

9. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) - Without a doubt the best comic book movie of the decade. It's hard to even remember it's animated and not live-action.

10. Get Out (2017) - Jordan Peele was the source of some of the best comedy in the 2010s, but he also penned the perfect horror movie about racism and wealthy liberals – one that I suspect will go down as an all-time great in the genre. Get Out has forever raised the bar for socially conscious horror films.

11. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - A rare sequel/reboot I didn't think we needed, but we did. Visually unparalleled, electrifying and revolutionary.

12. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) - Just a cut above practically every film in the Star Wars series. This is a movie that grapples seriously with guerrilla warfare and gives desperately needed texture to the Rebel Alliance

13. Django Unchained (2012) - Tarantino's first and last great film of the decade, set in the antebellum U.S. South.

14. El Libertador (2014) - Ignore that Netflix series. This staggering film about South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar’s life is unparalleled. You can see the mark of the late great Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who helped finance the movie, all over it.

15. 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets (2015) - Having organized in 2014 to win justice for Jordan Davis, the 17-year-old African American murdered in his car for playing rap music, I'm still floored by Marc Silver’s documentary on racist vigilante murder in Jacksonville, Florida. You can read my full review on Fight Back! News here. 16. Carlos (2010) - The Godfather trilogy of 1970s Marxist guerrillas.

17. Vox Lux (2018)- An underrated neoliberal dystopia about the fascist impulses of our popular culture, rooted right here in modern-day USA.

18. Ex Machina (2014) - Truly insidious sci-fi horror that will only become more terrifying as we progress further down the automation and robotics rabbit hole.

19. Inside Out (2015) - Delightful, insightful and soul-enriching for both young and old. It left an unforgettable mark on me like no Pixar movie has since I was a kid.

20. Nightcrawler (2014) - Diabolical look at the twisted capitalist ethos that pervades television media in this country. Go to your local news Facebook comments section if you think Nightcrawler is just fiction.

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Dear Comrades:

We convey our warmest revolutionary greetings on the occasion of the 51st anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Your achievements are many and we stand with you in your struggle to liberate the Philippines from the yoke of U.S. imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. We are sure you will win many more victories in the coming period.

The Communist Party of the Philippines is in the leadership of a great people’s war that is inspiration to working and oppressed people everywhere. The people's democratic revolution, with socialist orientation, will triumph over reactionaries of all types.

We condemn the murderous regime of President Duterte and brutal wave repression that he has unleashed against the trade unions, mass organizations and all democratic and revolutionary forces. This repression is a sign of desperation. Like President Trump in the U.S., Duterte is a political representative of moribund system that is facing extinction.

We demand that the U.S. government end all aid to the reactionary and repressive government of the Philippines.

The people of the U.S. share a common enemy with the people of the Philippines: the U.S. monopoly capitalists. Every advance of the revolutionary movement in Philippines, like every advance of the revolutionary movement in U.S., brings closer the day of our common liberation.

Marx spoke long ago of working and oppressed people having nothing to lose but our chains. We place great value on the militant friendship between our organizations and our shared view that proletarian internationalism is a vital weapon in our common effort break the chains of monopoly capitalism that bind the peoples of our counties.

Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines! Long live the unity between the people of the U.S. and the people of the Philippines! Together we will win!

With communist greetings,

Freedom Road Socialist Organization

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