In 2008, President Obama ignited the compassionate soul of the American people who dared to hope and dream with him that he could bring us a betterworld for all. Although the four years of his Presidency have shown his superb ability to further and protect the interests of corporate America rather than the American people, Obama was re-elected in 2012 with overwhelming support from hopeful Americans, especially African Americans, Latinos and youth voters.
The article, “Latino and Black Unity” describes the significance of this Black and Latino vote: “Blacks and Latinos were objectively moving along the same lines — a common demand for health care, for decent housing, for education for their children, for jobs and a way out of poverty. Revolutionaries can rest upon this objective unity to develop the subjective unity of class.” This unity strengthens the working class fight for change.
The article, “Michigan: Race and the Drive to Dismantle Democracy” describes the forms of fascism in store for communities of workers replaced by robots in production jobs and now impoverished. The attack taking place first against Black communities has ignited workers of all colors in response. “Further, the notion of dictatorship as a solution to the fiscal crisis, regardless of color, on its face was soundly rejected. Majority Black populated cities where the struggle began are becoming aware that what Nelson Peery so powerfully wrote in The Future Is Up To Us, ‘…the leaders of the Black masses cannot raise one single demand that is not in the interests of the poor of all colors, and against the interest of the wealthy no matter their color…’” As we go to press, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has announced he will appoint an Emergency Financial Manager for the city of Detroit.
The article “The Emancipation Proclamation” illustrates “the on going debate about Abraham Lincoln, the Proclamation and the cause and conduct of the Civil war is more than a debate about history. It is an important part of the “Culture War” that marks the rise of fascism.”
The article “International Women’s Day” honors the leading role of women in the struggle for a better world, noting that the technological changes “find women struggling harder than ever, an integral part of a new class which increasingly faces a life of destitution. The struggle of women today is for all that the material changes in society make possible — the reorganization of society where the fruits of society are enjoyed equally by all.”
Obama’s State of the Union offered empty promises of a thriving American middle class, with emphasis on economic growth through free enterprise. While the words are flowery the real practical consequences dash the
American dream on the shoals of corporate welfare.
Offering no assistance for the millions of impoverished and unemployed workers, in Orwellian language he presented his intention to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as a benefit to the American people. In a bald-face lie, he called the rising cost of health care for an aging population the biggest driver of long-term debt. War and the military spending have always been the greatest cause of government debt.
The article, “Social Insurance Must Serve All the People” shows the profit driven medical industry and insurance companies, not government programs, are the cause of exorbitant cost of health care. The safety net of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are in danger, as Obama trumpets the Affordable Care Act, written by and benefiting insurance companies. Our desire for health care for all, long fought for as a human right, has been transformed into programs that enrich the medical care industry and insurance companies.
The article “Cooperatives and Communism” describes the history and current context of cooperatives in American society. It states that “every cooperative must become a school for learning the history, values, economics, and future of our movement. Regardless of economic success or failure, those cooperatives that teach their members self-worth and class consciousness are on the road to victory. With political consciousness, workers can advance even where their cooperatives fail or become compromised. Every cooperative has to become part of the larger political movement, not only to defend its very existence, but to build the fully cooperative society to which we all aspire.”
When all the flowery rhetoric is stripped away, Obama’s State of the Union speech promised that government would do nothing to sustain and support the American people in need and reassured the corporate leaders that their interests would be served by imposing severe austerity programs directed at the most vulnerable in society and enforced by increasingly fascistic means. Defeat of this rising fascism requires a revolutionary response from the American people with the vision of a society that will do away with corporations and private property and will benefit all the people.
March/April 2013. Vol23.Ed2
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
P.O. Box 477113 Chicago, IL 60647 rally@lrna.org
Free to reproduce unless otherwise marked.
Please include this message with any reproduction.
