A space for frank discussion

Brenda Stokely WW photo

I was with one of the [Katrina] survivors here in New York City in court when she was rearrested because of [alleged] fraud, because they claim she’s “stealing” money from taxpayers. And by the same token, the Halliburtons and other contractors who have gotten billions of dollars have not been arrested and would not be arrested.

I’m raising this is because I think that you should be applauded for having this discussion, because we don’t have the discussions about the beast that we’re dealing with, or how we’re not organized well enough to deal with it, and what the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie really means. Because it was so frustrating and apparent that the court system, as we know, and the injustice system, as we know, are ill equipped to free our people, and that we are ill equipped to do it ourselves. We were in a system and a building that was built by working people [but used by the ruling class] to screw us and keep us divided.

We have to find a serious space to have a true, honest discussion on all the details involved in dealing with this bastard imperialism, in dealing with all of its leaders, in dealing with the government, in dealing with all of the traitors that are in the movement pretending to be about freeing people, in dealing with the racism and sexism that keeps us divided.

How do we identify the revolutionary leaders of the immigrant rights movement, of the oppressed nations here in this country? How do we deal with the international struggle? Why are we compartmentalizing all the different struggles when, as a working person, I don’t have the luxury to do that? I have to be on the forefront of the anti-war movement, because it’s my nephews, and when my granddaughter gets older and the shit ain’t resolved, it will be her, sent to die over in another country defending an imperialist beast.

It’s my children, and me, and other workers who have to go to work and not be paid right. It’s us that are being told that we cannot organize. So it’s a no-brainer to those who truly understand who the enemy is, that we would automatically, without hesitation, be involved in the struggle around Katrina, in the immigrant rights struggle.

It was automatic for the Million Worker March Movement to say hell no, we’re not gonna have a separate activity on May 1-we must have an activity that galvanizes all the people who are currently under attack, and combine the struggle.

So when we gave homage to those that were killed crossing the border, we said, don’t leave it at that, you must give homage to the brothers and sisters who are dying in Iraq, and you must give homage to the Katrina brothers and sisters who have families who were left with their dead bodies floating in the water. Those people are the same people. And that’s how revolutionaries have to think. That’s how they have to act, and that’s what they have to put into practice.

—Brenda Stokely,
Million Worker March Movement