Trump's defeat opens new era of struggle
Chicago, IL – It is so befitting that Trump, the self-made tyrant, with his latest political stroke to upend the elections, has in fact opened a new era of struggle – an era that will be characterized by the desire of the ruling class to return to normal, to return to the norms of bankrupt neo-liberal policies which will portray itself as the only path to political stability and economic growth.
So, the first order of business, ushered in by Trump’s electoral defeat and articulated by President-elect Joe Biden, is to stop the spread of COVID-19 infections, provide treatment for the sick (including the uninsured), give stimulus relief to the nearly 30 million unemployed people and to small businesses on the brink of extinction. Of course, the banks and the monopoly capitalists will get the lion’s share of any stimulus package the Republicans sign off on.
Without the intervention of the progressive democratic forces, the Democrats and the Republicans will seek a way to embark upon the road of recovery from the coronavirus and economic disaster by turning the present situation into one that is profitable for Wall Street. In other words, ‘return to normal’ means bailing out the banks and Wall Street and maintaining the status quo for the working class and the oppressed Black and brown communities.
In this new era of struggle we must expose their call for ‘unity and reconciliation’ with the racist, white supremacist movement fermented by Trump and his Republican cohorts for what it really is: a formula for the way forward based on rejecting the demands of the Black liberation movement, and characterizing any and all attempts to regulate the economy for the benefit of workers as ‘socialist.’ Their rejecting of the demands of the Black liberation movement and the workers’ demands for safety and economic relief is in fact a formula for the way backwards.
In an open communication to Biden, Black Lives Matter addressed the formula for the way backwards thus: “Up until this point, the United States has refused to directly reckon with the way that it devalues Black people and devastates our lives. This cannot continue.”
Only we the workers and oppressed peoples can stop the Democrats from caving into this racist-dominated, white supremacist movement initiated by Trump and the Republican extremists. Now is the time for us to organize and fight back – and to do this based on the basis of the broadest, deepest unity of the masses, of the working class and the oppressed peoples.
Organization + Unity + Struggle = Victory. All Power to the People! Frank Chapman is the executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.