Report from Contingent to Ottawa

Despite some blundering attempts at pig intimidation, the PRAC was able to send a small contingent to Ottawa on Saturday – joining comrades from Ottawa and Montreal – in order to participate in the PCR-RCP initiated demonstration.  After assembling in Optimiste Park, we marched together to the Indian Embassy, occupying the main roads without police permission, where we were joined by a delegation from the International League of Peoples Struggle.  Slogans and speeches were performed in French and English.  Many red flags were flown.  Communist propaganda was disseminated.

Since one of our drivers was harassed by the RCMP prior to the event, and some of our prospective passengers turned out to be agents, we were even more determined to attend a demonstration, though never intended to be violent, somehow prompted the pigs to try and contact us – this despite the fact that we were only organizing a Toronto contingent, not the march itself.  For some reason they assumed that we would believe they exist for “our protection” and that it would be natural to want a proper permit for the demonstration.  Since so many leftist organizations and coalitions have applied for permits, submitted their routes to the cops ahead of time, and even cultivated police liaisons, it is quite possible that the RCMP was trying to contact us because they were bemused at our disinterest in following this sadly normative behaviour of soft collaboration.

But we took the roads without permit and we picketed the Indian Embassy in support of the Peoples’ War.  As one of the PCR-RCP speakers said at the end of the event, “Now we need to return to our own neighbourhoods and organize in such a way that maybe, in the future, our comrades in India will be demonstrating in front of the Canadian Embassy to support our revolution.”

Support Peoples War Demonstration January 21st! Come to Ottawa!

The upcoming week of January 14 – 22 is the international campaign to support the peoples war in India.  Due to the recent state-sanctioned torture and assassination of CPI(Maoist) cadre, Comrade Kishenji, and the fact that Indian state is now taking the peoples war seriously (as is its imperialist allies), it is important for those of us who believe that it is right to rebel to publicly support the revolutionary movement in India.

While we in Canada and the US commonly receive news about seemingly spontaneous rebellions (i.e. the “Arab Spring” and the “Occupy Movement”), there is little to no mainstream media coverage of the far larger and longer protacted peoples wars such as the one in India.  Although it is important to rally around the intifidas in the Middle East or the dwindling occupy movement here, we need to also work hard to prevent the silencing of the much more revolutionary and organized movements in South Asia, many of which have been fighting guerrilla battles for a long time.  Thus, this week is an attempt to publicize and popularize the revolution in India.

On January 21st, at the end of the campaign week, PRAC-Toronto will be going to Ottawa to participate in the official multi-city demonstration in our capital.

As the poster says, transportation from Toronto to Ottawa is possible.  If you are interested in going please email us by, and no later then, January 16th so that we can organize the necessary logistics.  If you have a car, and are willing to drive and take people, please let us know (this will save us from having to rent more vehicles).  Also, email us only if you are committed to coming since we will be renting vehicles based on the count of transportees.  The plan is to leave by 7 am on Saturday January 21st.  Further details will be provided over email to those interested in going.

If you can’t make the rally on the 21st, or want to know more about the rally before committing, the Revolutionary Student Movement at the University of Toronto will be preparing for the week by showing Blazing the Trail, a documentary about the Naxalite movement in India, this Wednesday, January 11th.  After the documentary people are invited to discuss what they might want to do in Toronto during the week of the campaign.

A Party Dedicated to the Revolution: PCR-RCP

PRAC-Toronto reproduces the statement from the PCR-RCP Political Information Bureau below and congratulate the comrades on holding this 2nd Congress as a part of advancing the revolutionary class struggle in Canada.

SECOND CONGRESS OF THE PCR-RCP

The Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP) of Canada hosted its second congress this summer in Montréal, gathering its delegates and members. With a spirit of camaraderie and unity, the participants soberly took stock of the work done by the party since January 2007. And it is with enthusiasm that they adopted ambitious and exciting proposals not only to develop the party but more importantly to develop the mass mobilization around a genuine revolutionary project in Canada.

This goal of the PCR-RCP congress is in stark contrast to those of the bourgeois parties —and surely more difficult to achieve! The intent is not to seek popularity for its own sake, nor try to seduce the Canadian masses by adopting a programme promising a few goodies in exchange for their votes… only to change nothing in the end. The objective is to develop practical ways of organizing the masses, who are too often misinformed, to participate with all their consciousness, their capabilities and forces for a radical and fundamental change: to destroy the sources of their exploitation, to collectively change history and the future of Canada and thus liberate it from exploitation, oppression of peoples and of all forms of injustice. This general objective, as reaffirmed by the second congress of the PCR-RCP “cannot be achieved without the organization and mobilization of the Canadian masses through the peoples’ war.”

The conference opened with the presentation of the Central Committee’s political report and summary of the work accomplished since the founding of the party. As noted in the document, the big question was: “Did we move forward or backward from the perspective of the revolution in Canada?”

In response, the political report came back on the historical, political and ideological bases that led to the creation of the PCR-RCP, “Policy analysis developed by the RCP(OC) in 2006 has been precise and has permitted new activists to rally towards Maoism and thus gain a ‘leap forward’ in the rest of Canada.” In this analysis entitled The Canadian Proletariat and the World Situation: How We Intend to Fight, the RCP(OC) found that the contradictions of capitalism are causing a deepening crisis: “This overflow (which, under capitalism, is primarily an overflow of various contradictions, restrictions and oppressions) will quickly take the form of shocks, explosions and upheavals. The decades to come will change the face of the world, creating huge problems and shattering the foundations of our society. But they will be, precisely for these reasons, dramatic and magnificent decades of both victory and failure; success and defeat. They will be decades of revolution!”

This analysis of what the future was to hold, put forward in 2006, has been proven correct and has been confirmed before our eyes in the past few years with a series of major political upheavals: the revolution in Nepal and the many challenges it faces; advances, but also the immense difficulties with which the peoples’ war in India is currently faced; the spectacular riots last spring in the Arab countries, as well as the limitations and shortcomings encountered by the huge demonstrations and confrontations that brought together hundreds of thousands of people in Greece, Italy and Spain, which now extend to the United States and in some cities in Canada.

The political report continued: “Faced with these daunting challenges, we used to say that the Left, in Canada as elsewhere, could not provide the masses with comprehensive and serious answers. The time that has elapsed since the first CRC (Canadian Revolutionary Congress) has confirmed the problems with the above approach: there is a continuous splitting in struggles as movements depoliticize themselves in favour of immediate concerns.”

The question of the future and “how to go further” then arises. We can say that the recent developments such as the movements of the “Indignants” and Occupy Wall Street allowed us to see, within the last few weeks, the huge potential for transformation and mobilization of the masses. But they also show the limits of spontaneity and the absence of (or inability to put forward) a real perspective on the revolutionary seizure of power by the masses. It may have no other objective in the end but to “preserve” what small spaces of freedom exist within capitalism, even though it will not change the foundations of the system they have rejected.

In these circumstances, the political report of PCR-RCP offers an example of revolutionary practice that puts forward the need to give the proletariat and the masses an essential tool not only to defend itself against the attacks to come, but to fight back and organize:

“In contrast we can say that, with the creation of the PCR-RCP, we took a totally different direction. We broke with the idea that we must defend or accommodate the bursting of the struggles, or that we should refuse to unify the political struggle against the bourgeoisie. Rather than withdrawing, we advocate for deployment of the fight —we want to generalize and unify the movement through a coherent strategy, a joint project embodied by one party. The call for the deployment has made us ‘visible’. We distinguished ourselves by a more offensive propaganda and practice, by proposing that we raise our heads and strike back, rather than bending our knees ‘and hoping it will pass’. We have shown our willingness to act and to organize a dynamic reply against the bourgeoisie during the demonstrations of May Day as well as during the G20, or during our boycott elections campaign —even some left-wing circles saw that as heresy! In acting this way, we distinguished ourselves from the reformist left and from a portion of the anti-capitalist left that refuses to consider a confrontation with the bourgeois state.”

Since its first congress, the PCR-RCP developed —although in an insufficient way— its ability to introduce the notion of revolutionary struggle and Maoist perspectives in Canada. The report of the second congress stresses that one of the important and significant development in Ontario was the holding of the Second Canadian Revolutionary Congress (CRC) in Toronto where concrete perspectives for “A New Class Struggle in Canada” were proposed. “Relatively speaking, this is a significant development: it is the first time since 1983 (i.e. since nearly 30 years) that some genuine Marxist-Leninist activists have come together in the same organization beyond the ‘border’ that separates Quebec and Ontario.” It was also the Toronto CRC that initiated the launch of a new bi-monthly and bilingual free newspaper, Partisan: more than 50,000 copies have been distributed since April.

After the discussion on the political report, the Congress passed several motions related to the development of a new international revolutionary movement. It reaffirmed our will “to contribute to such a regrouping of forces although we think it must be ruled by Maoist parties leading PW or seriously engaged in it. We think that such a movement must recognize: a) Peoples’ War as being universal; b) MLM as the current stage in the science of revolution; c) The idea of the pursuing of class struggle under socialism and the fact that the bourgeoisie could use the party in order to reinstall capitalism; d) The need for the two-line struggle so the revolutionary proletariat can triumph.”

The delegates then spent most of the discussions in the adoption of practical means that will organize and expand the mobilization around a genuine revolutionary strategy, gathering the most resolved among indigenous peoples, proletarians, youth, women and immigrants. With the Maoist conception that guides them —that it is the masses who make history— the delegates concluded the second congress of the PCR-RCP with eyes fixed determinedly on march forward and with the “renewal” of the class struggle in Canada, which will require the active participation of the Canadian masses towards revolutionary struggle and the real transformation of Canadian society that can only occur by the seizure of power by the people.

Why We Left Occupy Ottawa (joint statement from uOMSA and PCR-RCP Ottawa)

The following is a joint statement from the University of Ottawa Marxist Student Association and the Revolutionary Communist Party of Canada’s Ottawa members/supporters regarding their experience with Ottawa’s version of the Occupy Everything movement.  Although other sites of #occupy aren’t the same as Ottawa, the limits of this movement are perhaps connected to the situation described below.  Clearly this amounts to despicable red-baiting and it is hard to see a movement that permits this sort of behaviour, due to its own nebulous logic, becoming truly radical.

Throughout the following statement, we’ll do our best to keep things short and concise. It’s been a tumultuous few days and even now piecing together a narrative out of the events that transpired is difficult. Nonetheless we’ll try and do the following: 1) give a background to our own involvement in Occupy Ottawa; 2) give a narrative of the difficulties we faced;  and 3) offer constructive suggestions as to what needs to be fixed in the camp.

We went into Occupy Ottawa knowing that this was not going to be the movement that ended capitalism. What we hoped was that out of this, movements that could end capitalism would emerge. We also came with a handful of critiques about consensus, the rhetoric of the 99%, the class composition of the movement, and other aspects. We later on developed these critiques more fully into pamphlets and extended the critique to the hidden leadership that was forming. But believing that critique without action is useless, we threw ourselves into the movement with the intentions of sticking it out to the end. Our “agenda” was two-fold: 1) we wanted to bring students into the Marxist’s student’s association (MSA); and 2) we wanted to see if we could start a Proletarian Revolutionary Action Committee (PRAC), modeled after the one in Toronto.

In terms of involvement, we camped out at Occupy Ottawa from the first day of the occupation. We held meetings on the site. We attempted to run seminars on topics like “Socialism and the Occupation”, and “What is capitalism?”. We were involved in a number of nuts-and-bolts committees like the food committee and the medic committee, but we made a conscious decision to not get involved in the leadership of the camp. As such, we were not involved in any of the leadership committees (media, facilitation, infrastructure, etc.) nor were we part of the hidden leadership.

Our difficulties began one week into the occupation, and centred largely around two individuals. For anonymity’s sake, we’ll call them Individual #1 and Individual #2. Individual #1 is a member of the hidden leadership, and is on the infrastructure committee. He identifies as an anarcho-pacifist and a Buddhist. Individual #2 is someone who has spent a lot of time in the camp; we do not believe that they are part of the hidden leadership.

After getting our own infrastructure together over the course of the first week, we finally decided to set up a tent from which we could conduct propaganda. We also decided to hold a meeting around the statement of the PCR-RCP Canada surrounding the occupations (it can be found here: http://www.pcr-rcp.ca/en/ ). As such, we handed out the statement as well as invitations to a discussion that was to be held the next day.

We had the misfortune of handing an invitation to Individual #1. After making a laborious show about suffering the indignation of being given a piece of paper from Maoists, he proceeded to spend a good chunk of the evening mocking us, from a distance of course. In and of itself this is not particularly damning; lots of people aren’t Maoists, and we have no illusions as to our own popularity in Canada. His actions, however, set the baseline for what would be a constantly escalating anti-communist campaign.

On the next day, we finally put up our propaganda tent. Before we had even finished setting out a literature table, we were approached by someone on safety committee who requested we take down our tent, move it away from the central walkway, or make it less visible. We adamantly refused; there had been nothing decided at a GA which would limit our ability to conduct propaganda, and therefore we found it absolutely nonsensical for us to abide by an arbitrary decision. Heated comments were exchanged over the next few hours between us and members of the hidden leadership. It needs to be stated, in the interests of fairness, that the individual who initially told us to move our tent would later be incredibly helpful and fair in dealing with other situations as they arose.

Eventually we came to an informal agreement that we would designate one side of the main walkway as a political area where anyone could come and conduct propaganda. We were thrilled with this; political debate in the interests of unity can never be anything but helpful. We agreed to take this to the GA. However, at the GA, the infrastructure committee put forward a counter-proposal that would have had us relegated to an area at the back of the camp; an effective ghettoisation of politics. We believe Individual #1 to have been involved in this derailment. We of course blocked the counter-proposal, and eventually there was a vote of no confidence in the facilitators and as such the GA was shut down. (This is a simplified version of events; there were actually three proposals put forward. We can go into more detail elsewhere for those who are interested in procedure, but it isn’t particularly relevant to the narrative of events.)

It’s worth noting that in the lead-up to the GA, Individual #1 was heard going around to others in the camp and agitating against us. He told people that (some of whom happened to be our friends), to paraphrase, “Historically communists only join movements to split them”. This was of course without ever talking to us about our politics or our intentions; Individual #1 prefers to act in a sneaky manner rather than having political disagreements in the open. We believe Individual #1 contributed in the creation of an atmosphere which encouraged violence toward us.

What followed the disastrous GA was altogether positive. Many of the hidden rifts in the camp were forced open, and there was plenty of political discussion. Some of the hidden leadership began questioning the consensus and GA structure that we had adopted at Occupy Ottawa. By the next morning things seemed to have calmed down quite a bit; our tent existed in a weird space of non-officiality, but nobody (it seemed) was questioning our right to be there and conduct propaganda work.

The next night everything changed. During the half hour or so that we had left the camp to grab coffee, Individual #1 decided to it would be funny to hang a feces, urine, and blood covered blanket over our tent. Despite promoting the leaderless nature of this movement, he had someone carry this action out. After initially denying involvement in this act, he later said he suggested it as a “joke”. It’s worth noting that he stated to others that he said he intended to do it but only for a short time where we couldn’t see it because he thought it would be funny. He also alleged that he thought that there was only urine on the blanket, as if that makes things any better.

Individual #1 speaks out of both sides of his mouth; it really isn’t relevant what justification he gives at any given moment or to any given party. What is relevant is that Individual #1 thought it would be a good idea to hang a urine, blood, and feces soaked blanket on our tent. It was later revealed to us that the blood on the blanket belonged to an individual who may be infected with a communicable blood disease. This was an incredibly violent act on the part of Individual #1, which put all of us in danger.

(As a brief aside, we want to point out that we don’t hold any grudges against the individual whose blood was on the blanket. Many people have different diseases for a multitude of reasons; it’s up to us to build structures and communities that can properly care for all people. This being said, the fact that the blood was diseased complicated matters for us.)

Because the blanket had blood on it, it was decided that our tent be put under quarantine for 16 hours; the amount of time the communicable blood disease takes to break down outside of the human body. In order to maintain the quarantine, we watched the tent until 4:30AM at which point the medic committee was to take over. During the quarantine process, Individual #2 continually used old-fashioned HIV scare tactics to suggest that the tent should just be torn down. During the night, someone approached the tent to tear it down, and when they were stopped, they said that someone had given them drugs to do so. Sometime between 4:30AM and 9:00AM Individual #2 tore down the tent using his bare hands. When questioned that morning by someone not involved with us, he replied “These people need to go. They are going to divide this movement.”

We returned to the camp that morning in an effort to get Individual #1 expelled for his actions. This still has not been done; we were told by a member of the hidden leadership that Individual #1 “does too much work to leave.”

Later that day, the spot that the tent formerly had been (which should have still been under quarantine), was taken over by another tent. Individual #2 claimed that the community had come to a consensus that we had to go, that the location was too good to allow us to use, and that we had failed the community by not enforcing the quarantine throughout the night. By failing to enforce the quarantine after 4:30AM, we were told that we had passed our problem onto the community that that this was unacceptable. All of this was decided, he told us, at a secret morning meeting that we had been invited to but had failed to show up at. Throughout the entire conversation Individual #2 was attempting to physically intimidate us. Everything Individual #2 had said was of course false; there had been no decision beyond the one at the GA two nights earlier that allowed us to conduct propaganda work. We discovered this after taking to people around the camp. Let it also be known that at no time did Individual #2 attempt to tear down the media tent, where the blanket had also been hanging for some time.

The tent had been disposed of in a location that we are still unaware of. All of our propaganda materials –pamphlets, books, flags, banners, etc.– were left in a pile with the contaminated materials. As of now we have still not been compensated for either the tent or the materials.

Evaluating the safety of our situation, and the relative effort and resources we were putting into the movement VS gain we were getting out of it, we decided to leave. We decided to have one final conversation with Individual #1 and Individual #2 to try and get a more coherent picture of what happened. The conversation with Individual #1 ended with Individual #1 running away and screaming “Fascists!” at us, a statement  he maintains is fact. The conversation with Individual #2 ended with more physical intimidation, threats of violence directed at us, and Individual #2 screaming “The communists are taking over!” It shouldn’t need to be stated that we are neither fascists, nor were we trying to take over.

It was these last interactions that confirmed for us that the attacks we had been facing were targeted and political in nature. For a movement that claims to be inclusive and non-violent, we faced both ostracisation and violence. On the part of the hidden leadership, there was no willingness to create a space that was safe for us.

Since we left we have heard reports of Neo-Nazis setting up in the camp. One of our friends was threatened by them, with the Neo-Nazis not only threatening to cover her in urine, but also following her home (away from the camp) for a short time. This is unacceptable.

We would like to underline that some of the experiences at the camp were positive, and some of the people we met and conversations we had were fantastic. However, until these issues are dealt with, we cannot in good conscience return to the camp. To this end, here are a series of suggestions that could have prevented this from happening, and they are the bare minimum required for our return:

1)  The lack of involvement of much of the left hurt this movement. While no individual should feel obligated to challenge things like racism, sexism, etc.  the left as a whole does have a duty to do this. Many on the left refused to engage in the movement, and because of that, right wing and anti-social politics were allowed to manifest themselves in the movement. A chorus of “shit’s fucked up” is not helpful; what is helpful, is people on the ground making changes.

2)  Individual #1 and Individual #2 need to be removed from the camp. We cannot feel safe in this camp until they are gone.

3) Occupy Ottawa needs to have some form of organized force in order to remove anti-social elements like the fascists.

 4) Drug and alcohol use should be controlled within the camp. This should be done in a way that recognizes that many homeless people use Confederation Park as a place for drug and alcohol use, and by no means should they be prevented to do so or kicked out. Those on active duty within the camp (medic, safety, legal, etc.) should be sober.

Until these actions are taken, we will not involve ourselves with this movement anymore. Here’s hoping the real decision makers at Occupy Ottawa are willing and listening.

From Indignation to Revolution [PCR-RCP analysis of #occupy]

A Call for Socialism from the Revolutionary Communist Party-Parti Communiste Revolutionnaire in light of the #occupy movement.

All around the world our societies are in crisis. This is something obvious. On the one hand, the economy is collapsing; on the other, outraged peoples of the world are rising up en masse. From one continent to another, a righteous anger rises and spreads.

The conditions for a social explosion are ripening—a rare opportunity for those aspiring towards a better world.

A protestor waves a giant red flag in front of riot police during Oct 15 demonstration in Rome.

What kind of movement do we need?

The first obstacle rearing itself in the wind of popular protest is the possibility of being led astray, into dead ends. Several have suggested that we —the oppressed and indignant of the world— take part in a moral crusade against the “abuses and excesses” of those in power. Fundamentally, this view dismisses the idea that the problems are deeply structural; that the solution lies in removing a few bad apples!

It is therefore a huge waste of good will to moralize over this corrupt politician or that greedy speculator. This moralistic approach is akin to mitigating the symptoms rather than correctly diagnosing and curing the disease. Rescuing capitalist society through reforms will not help us shed the illusion of “democracy” embodied in these woeful parliamentary spectacles. The pillars of our so-called civilization are crumbling. Let us stop supporting them and hasten their collapse. We can aim for and achieve much much better than a reformed capitalism.

Behind the symptoms are the root causes of injustice and crisis.

We live under capitalism. This seems an obvious statement, but there are grave consequences for the people. The entirety of our society is organized according to a blind and tyrannical objective: the rapacious accumulation of profits. This race to accumulate capital is fueled by the exploitation of workers and the squandering of natural resources. Capitalism ultimately benefits a minority —a social class composed primarily of bosses, bankers and politicians.

Capitalist accumulation determines the rates of employment and unemployment (through the creation of a vast reserve army of labourers), wages, forced migration, state budgets and so on. It disregards the livelihoods of our friends and families, breaks up strikes and unions, lays industrial waste in our rivers, triggers wars and colonizes peoples. Since 2008, this system of capitalist accumulation painfully and violently plunged the world into deep economic and social crises.

The laws of capitalism —not simply the excesses of this or that institution or individual—are the true sources of injustice from which we need to free ourselves. Our future lies in their disappearance.

We want a future where working people collectively determine a planned economy through truly democratic processes. In other words, we want a society not where production is geared towards the accumulation of capital, but production geared toward the needs of the entire human population instead. This will ensure that everybody will enjoy the right to decent living conditions, where everybody can develop their creative capacities. Only Communism can bring about such a society.

How to break with the capitalist system?

Like all outdated modes of production and political regimes, capitalism will also disappear. Historically, it has had its day and that is why it is everywhere overwhelmed by increasing difficulties. Unfortunately, capitalism cannot simply be reduced to a system of abstract and anonymous economic laws. It is not just an outdated idea that we can simply refute in our minds. It is also the real domination of a powerful ruling class —the bourgeoisie—that owns the means of production—and this class is ever more determined to avoid being swept away from the stage of history. This reactionary ruling class will inflict on us every possible crisis rather than give up its privileges.

The basis on which we will crush capitalism and its injustices is necessarily that of the class struggle. History cannot progress until the final defeat of the bourgeoisie by the proletarian class, the workers subjugated under capitalist domination and exploitation.

The revolution is to be built by the action we are taking today.

Despite being engulfed in economic crises, the bourgeoisie remains a tough opponent. This class controls production, finance, and corporate media. Above all, the bourgeoisie relies on a state that is shaped by and defends its interests. And despite what many would like to believe, even though it is minority class, it is certainly more than 1% of the population and has many faithful servants! Only a socialist revolution can isolate, disarm, and get rid of such a parasitical class.

A revolution does not just happen, nor does it triumph by chance. A revolution is the product of a conscious and long-term struggle led by thousands of proletarian people, people that are as ordinary as they are heroic. People who make the first decisive action to engage in the struggle.

Some proposals we can uphold right now are:

1) To discuss and share our collective problems and to convince those around us of the necessity of class struggle in order to radically transform society. We need to combat systems of oppression, such as sexism, racism, and all forms of chauvinisms aimed at dividing the camp of the people.

2) To organize in our workplaces, our schools and our neighborhoods by establishing committees for socialist revolution. Such committees could serve as the basis for circulating revolutionary ideas: by distributing newspapers and leaflets, by organizing events and actions, for example denouncing public services cuts, acting in solidarity with strikers, occupying a factory, responding to racial profiling by the police and ‘justice’ system, acting against a polluting industry, etc.

3) To build the revolutionary organization capable of uniting the proletariat and leading the fight for socialism.

In Toronto: To discuss this statement further and to get involved under the banner of amplifying the class struggle for proletarian revolution in Canada, please contact members of the Proletarian Revolutionary Action Committee at practoronto@yahoo.com.

PRAC and RSM marching to Occupy Toronto

About 10 years after the US-led imperialist forces invaded and occupied Afghanistan, groups in Toronto, such as Barrio Nuevo, Women United against Imperialism, International League of Peoples’ Struggle-Canada and others gathered at Yonge-Dundas Square—Toronto’s centre for consumerist spectacle—to deliver a clear message against Canadian- and US-imperialism.

We stood in the cold, alternatively listening and shouting in agreement as comrades from the groups in attendance made speeches and rallying chants. (PRAC/RSM delivered a speech about the current phase of struggle in Afghanistan from the point of view of the Communist Party(Maoist) Afghanistan.) The group then marched down Yonge Street, with red flags and a large “Canada out of Afghanistan now!” banner.

“From Kandahar to Bay Street, imperialism will be beat!” The crowded chanted in unison, attracting the attention of curious onlookers and evoking support from passing cars, whose drivers beeped their horns. The group made a turn at Adelaide St. and veered to the direction of Occupy Toronto. It entered the densely populated St. James Park, the site of a smorgasbord of activists of every stripe—ranging from animal rights activists Toronto Pig Save, speakers from Food not Bombs, to people offering free hugs and advocating for the return to an age of “Peace & Love”.

This is Occupy Toronto. To put simply, anybody who is not a banker could show up, doubtlessly attracted to the breadth of the movement.

PRAC/RSM banner that was rather polarizing

While the PRAC and RSM think that “leaderless” resistance, as exemplified by Occupy Toronto, and movements without concrete demands, articulated programs, or guiding ideology are susceptible to both co-option and being watered down, we hope that “Occupy“ will become a mass movement that has a unified communistic vision and program.

Upon reading Occupy Wall Street’s first statement, we’re struck by the movement’s tendency to label every effect of capitalism without naming the system that creates all these miseries. Instead of beating around the bush, we contend that for real change to happen, the Occupy movement needs to acknowledge the root cause of all the grievances listed in their statement. Only by acknowledging the reality of capitalism can we articulate an alternative to this system that is destroying the people. We need to start talking about a revolutionary communist solution to capitalism.

Canada: Out of Afghanistan Now!

On October 15th, the ten year anniversary of the brutal invasion of Afghanistan, there will be a demonstration to voice our dissent against the ongoing imperial occupation.  The march will converge on the site of #occupytoronto in order to bring a strong anti-imperialist message into that space.

The Proletarian Revolutionary Action Committee will march as a member of the Anti-Imperialist Contingent that also consists of the May 1st Movement, the Canada South Asia Solidarity Association, Basics, Barrio Nuevo, Women United Against Imperialism, and the International League of Peoples Struggles-Canada.

If any allies or sympathizers are interested in attending #occupytoronto, we would encourage you to join this demonstration so as to enter the site of occupation en masse under the banner of anti-imperialism.