Let's make it four more years of resistance
By Deirdre Griswold
Strike while the iron is hot. Blacksmiths learned that's
what you have to do to shape the softened metal into a
formidable weapon or tool.
The political iron is hot right now as the progressive
movement in the U.S. debates and analyzes the significance of
the election and Bush's victory. All kinds of crises lie right
under the surface, ready to burst out. The war of words is over
and now it's a war against workers' pensions and health care, a
war on youth, a war on Section 8 tenants, a war on gay and
lesbian couples, a war to suppress civil rights and liberties,
and a stunningly vicious war on ordinary people who happen to
live in Iraq, where the oil is.
Everyone who is progressive needs to put their heads
together and figure out how to move the struggle forward.
There's a way to do that: the National Fightback Conference in
New York on Nov. 13-14, sponsored by Workers World Party.
A lot of concerned people invested time and effort in the
Kerry campaign, including many who weren't that inspired by the
Massachusetts millionaire but desperately wanted to stop Bush.
They're feeling very let down right now. Others saw this
election as just another effort to divert the independent
struggle movements that have been taking on war, racism and
poverty.
No matter who you are, come to the conference and
participate in a serious discussion of where to go from here.
Bush's victory is not the end of history. Millions of people in
the U.S. are facing the same issues. Younger people especially
showed right away, on demonstrations starting the day after the
election, that they're not going to lie down and roll over
because Bush won.
So let's talk about strategies. There is stirring in the
working class now, organized and unorganized. This is the class
that has the social weight to seriously challenge the rotting
capitalist system. What's needed is a clear program and the
will to carry it out.
Youth organizing meeting of FIST
A special feature of the conference will be the first
national youth organizing meeting of FIST--Fight Imperialism,
Stand Together. It will take up: *What youth can do to fight
military recruiting and the draft. *The role of youth in the
struggle against racism, sexism, and LGBT oppression. *Fighting
back against police repression and the prison industrial
complex. *Building revolutionary consciousness among youth.
The conference will start out on Saturday morning with a
plenary on "How to Forward the Movement?" That afternoon two
other plenaries will address "The class struggle, at home and
abroad," including the fight against imperialism.
Invited guest speakers will include Brenda Stokely, an
organizer of the Million Worker March; Yoomi Jeong, Secretary
General of the Korea Truth Commission; and Dorotea Mendoza,
secretary-general of Gabriela--a Philippines women's group.
Workers World Party candidates John Parker and Teresa
Gutierrez will be participating in the plenaries, as will FIST
organizers Julie Fry, Peter Gilbert and LeiLani Dowell--who was
also a Peace and Freedom candidate in California.
In between the plenaries are many workshops and discussion
groups, so people will have lots of opportunity to exchange
ideas and questions.
Wide-ranging workshops and discussion
groups
A workshop on "Elections and the Capitalist State" will
analyze the Anybody But Bush movement and the class character
of the two major parties. Is there merit to the fears of
fascism that impelled many into this movement? What form of
state exists in the U.S. today? How democratic is imperialist
democracy? How can the movement push back state repression?
Another workshop will take up the two pillars of
anti-imperialist struggle in the Mideast today: the Palestinian
and Iraqi resistance movements. It will focus especially on
building international solidarity and a Bring the Troops Home
Now movement here at home. It will review the experiences of
the Million Worker March, which merged anti-war and workers'
movements, and discuss how this can be strengthened in the
upcoming Dec. 3-10 Stop the War Week.
A workshop on "Challenges Facing the Labor Move ment Today"
will discuss the significance of the Million Worker March,
which succeeded despite resistance from the AFL-CIO leadership,
and the growing struggles of immigrant workers. It will examine
the changes taking place in the work force and why this is
fueling the rise of new, more militant leaders.
"Building Class Unity in the Struggle against Racism, Sexism
and Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Trans Oppression" is another workshop topic,
as is "Fighting Capitalist Globalization with Revolutionary
Internationalism." What will it take to change from polluting,
exploiting capitalism to a world system that will benefit the
majority of people as well as the environment?
There will be discussions on anti-imperialist struggles
around the world, and one on "The ABCs of Marxism and
Socialism."
Regular readers of Workers World newspaper will get a chance
to hear from reporters and political analysts on our writing
staff, many of whom are also activists in the many struggle
movements we cover journalistically.
Make reservations now for the National Fightback Conference.
Either register online at www.workers.org, see the coupon on
page 2 of this paper for details, or call (212) 627-2994.
Reprinted from the Nov. 11, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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