Freedom Road Socialist Organization

This spring we bid farewell to three creative heavyweights in the struggle for social justice. Adrienne Rich, whose fierce loyalty to poetry and politics inspired several generations of feminists. Elizabeth Catlett, one of the most prominent African-American artists of the last century, whose sculptures and prints focused on race and class struggle. And Louis Reyes Rivera, known as "The People's Poet," who channelled his connection between Black and Latino cultures to inspire and engage the community. 

These heroes will be missed. They remind us that without art, without poetry, our fight would have no soul. And without politics, meaning without the willful consciousness of the multitude of histories, communities, and voices in this world, our art would have no soul either. Their work reminded us of what we are fighting for.

Here are several articles about these great spirits.

Farewell to Adrienne Rich

The Los Angeles Times on Elizabeth Catlett

The People's Poet, Louis Reyes Rivera, makes his transition

Are You With Me?: A film dedicated to Louis Reyes Rivera

On the passing of two giants

#AdrienneRich

Deaths Elsewhere in Arts & Entertainment: Adrienne Rich is gone and we are not somewhere else but here

The Workers' Commission of Freedom Road has recently produced two pieces in advance of the 2012 Labor Notes conference:

Working People's Assemblies: Social Justice Unionism for the 21st Century, which takes on the current crises of the labor movement, their political history, and puts forth a vision of social justice unionism to bring our workers movements forward; and,

On the Front Lines: In Defense of Public Sector Workers and Services examines the critical role public sector workers and defense of public services play in the fight for a better world.

We thought these would be appropriate to highlight this International Workers' Day. If you're attending Labor Notes, look for us there, and pick up a few copies to take home!

The Trayvon Martin case galvanized the righteous indignation of millions across this nation. I marveled at the creativity and ingenuity of slogans, posters and tactics. Some have been inspired to write poems and songs. One article I read even suggested we start naming schools, parks and other public places after the child. But unless we make some strategic moves, we can chalk up all that's been done by us as a stimulus package for the country's economy (sales of hoodies, Skittles, tea, etc) and a mere media opportunity for the ever-ready political hustlers.

We must start connecting the dots if we are to make any meaningful changes in this reality. Otherwise, as the old saying goes "if you keep doing whatcha' doing, you'll keep gettin' what you gettin'."

One of the most striking features of the Trayvon Martin case has been the revelation of similar such lynchings taking place, whether carried out (or allegedly carried out) by law enforcement authorities or individual, non-state perpetrators of violence in the recent past. We have to, therefore, ask ourselves why are these cases emerging and what do we need to do about them? 

Trayvon Martin's case must be understood to be a lynching. It was an extra-judicial killing in a long line of extra-judicial killings carried out in the history of the USA. Such killings have been a significant instrument in exercising racist oppression, but they have also been used against political opponents of the dominant forces in this society. Because of the manner in which people of color are caricaturized and demonized in US society, suspicion is invariably cast on the victims of lynchings. Such suspicion can be along the lines of "...they should not have been wearing that outfit..." (which, interestingly, is also frequently used when women are raped and the rapist is trying to blame the victim), to casting deeper aspersions on the character and intention(s) of the victim, e.g., "...they were threatening me..."

Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place brings about the results we expected, but in the second and third places it has quite different, unforeseen effects which only too often cancel the first.

- The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man, Engels 1876

Each April 22nd we celebrate Earth Day and Lenin’s birthday.

In what is believed by rational people to be pure coincidence, the first Earth Day April 22,1970 fell on Lenin’s 100th birthday. At the time, the Daughters of the American Revolution said, “subversive elements plan to make American children live in an environment that’s good for them.” Conspiracy theorist J. Edgar Hoover urged the F.B.I. to investigate the mass environmentalist demonstrations.

Even today the Earth Day/Lenin’s birthday convergence is seen as by the extreme right as conspiracy of communists attacking the rights of oil companies and private property. In a sorry attempt at wit, they suggest that Earth Day should be moved to April 20, Hitler’s birthday, because Hitler was more caring about the environment than Lenin. Many mainstream environmentalists find the coincidence vaguely distressing and tend to talk about the disaster at the V.I. Lenin Memorial Chernobyl Nuclear Plant and show photos of pollution in Chinese cities as examples of how fair they are in their views of ecological devastation. While we agree that the two major socialist experiments of the twentieth century were failures in the area of ecology, we also believe that it’s worthwhile to look briefly at Lenin’s ecological practice in the years before Stalin declared that class struggle had ended in tidhe Soviet Union. It is at least worthy of a paragraph or two.

Bearing more resemblance to Theodore Roosevelt than to productivist stereotypes, in 1921 V.I. Lenin signed legislation creating the zapovednik system. This system of forests, national parks, future urban green areas, and designated wilderness remains according to the Massachusetts Audubon Society “the greatest collection of undisturbed natural landscapes on earth.”

But Lenin was dedicated to far more than the preservation of the landscape. He set aside the zapovedniki (roughly translated as nature preserves) not only for conservation but also for the study of ecological processes. The zapovedniki were living laboratories administered by pure scientists observing the natural world without interference or pressure.

Lenin, like Marx and Engels, saw the destructive side of modern agriculture and long distance trade under capitalism. Materialism and a respect for science led him to look deeply into Marxist attempts to understand the natural world and homo sapiens's place in it.

In the first volume of Capital, Marx used natural science to look at capitalism’s “irreparable rift in the metabolic interaction” between human beings and the earth. John Bellamy Foster in Marx’s Ecology, describes how this analysis led Marx and Engels to address “deforestation, desertification, climate change, the elimination of deer from the forests, the commodification of species, pollution, industrial wastes, toxic contamination, recycling, the exhaustion of coal mines, disease, overpopulation and the evolution (and co-evolution) of species.”

As socialists, we read Marx and Engels on ecology not simply as a way to dispel stereotypes or correct misquotes and misinterpretations. The Marxist tools of historical materialism and dialectics ground us as they did Lenin. The concrete application of dialectics in ecology leads us towards a deeper understanding of the natural world and its processes. It also identifies the opposite, a science in service of profit that has driven the development of industrial agriculture and which turns nature into a commodity. That is at best short sighted. It ends in our devastation along with many other species. It stands to reason then that a socialist alternative could begin to restore the earth’s ecosystem and establish humanity’s more equitable place within it.

As materialists who believe in our inextricable connection to the natural world and to natural science, we seek common ground with ecologists and other scientists. We believe that we have much to learn and explore together in the struggle to build a restorative future.

And so, as we reflect on Earth Day and Lenin’s birthday, we introduce a few of the theoretic articles we are reading to deepen our understanding and the quality of our discussion of the ecological crisis. We include a glossary. In the coming months we will continue our exploration of ecology and its intersections, in particular with women and children, working class, Latino, Native American, Asian, and African American communities, the economy and war. We are especially interested in the environmental justice movement.

Chapter 15, Section 10 “Modern Industry and Agriculture” in Capital Vol. 1 by Karl Marx

Excerpt from “Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature” by John Bellamy Foster

A glossary of ecological terms

Mary Contrary went back back to the land for five years in the 70s, but gave up when she lost the farm. She cares deeply about ecology, family, and socialism and believes they are interconnected.

A Cold-Blooded Murder

“Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s son. We who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.” — Ella Baker, 1964

When Trayvon Martin left his home on February 26 to buy candy at a neighborhood store in Sanford, Florida, it seemed to be a day like any other. But because Trayvon was born Black in a racist society, even that simple errand carried a fatal risk.

As he walked home, 17-year-old Trayvon was followed by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who constantly followed and harassed Black people he thought were “suspicious.” Zimmerman -- several inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier than Trayvon -- began to chase him and eventually cornered him. A fight broke out and while Trayvon called out for help, Zimmerman drew his handgun and shot Trayvon dead.

Marchers at NYC's Million Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin. Photo by David Shankbone.

George Zimmerman may have had good reason to think that he could get away with this cold-blooded murder. Local police did everything they could to help Zimmerman and to damage any investigation into his actions. They accepted Zimmerman’s story that he acted in self-defense and did not test him for drugs or alcohol as was normal procedure in a murder investigation. They coached witnesses to agree with Zimmerman’s story and gave statements to the press defending Zimmerman. All of this is consistent with the police department’s documented and systematic hostility to the local Black community. Zimmerman is also likely to be protected by the “stand your ground” law in Florida, which was drafted by right-wing national think tank ALEC and signed into law by then-governor Jeb Bush.

More fundamentally, Zimmerman is protected by the deep-seated traditions of white supremacy in this country. The lives of Black people and other oppressed nationalities have always been considered more or less expendable in this country. More than any state law or racist culture in a local police department, it is the saturation of white supremacy through the fabric of the United States which protects George Zimmerman. This is the thread that connects Trayvon Martin’s murder with the police murders of Ramarley Graham, Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Rubén Salazar, and many others; and with murders like those of Emmett Till, James Byrd, Vincent Chin, Brisenia Flores and many more.

Justice For Trayvon Martin

More than a million people have signed a petition calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman. Zimmerman is clearly an imminent danger and his arrest and trial might bring at least a small measure of relief to Trayvon’s family. Mass pressure expressed through this petition and other online and offline means has caused the federal Department of Justice to consider a prosecution of Zimmerman, which may be the only way to bring about his arrest given the apparent unwillingness of local police and prosecutors to act. A “Million Hoodie March” on Wednesday and other rallies and actions are also helping tobring more attention to this story. Events like this can also help build the movement we need to ensure that there will be no more murders like this one.