On this page: SA Comrades support Nigeria struggle here ♦ US Comrades Build International Communist Unity here ♦
They came waving the green and white flags of Nigeria. They came singing the national anthem. The Army met them with bullets and bullets and bullets. The masses will re-group, their flags now blood-stained red and their voices in search of a new anthem to sing. The struggle teaches us all. That Army murdered workers, not Nigerians. Capitalism has nothing but bullets to offer the working class. Revolutionary communism is the way forward. Once again from the Lekki Toll bridge to every corner of the globe workers voices will sing with renewed conviction “…The workers’ flag is deepest red ..”
South African Comrades: We Need International Approach to Police Murders in Nigeria
SOUTH AFRICA, November 2—In the past few weeks we’ve been hearing reports about the slaughter of our class brothers and sisters in Nigeria. We are encouraged that the masses have not taken this lying down. They went out in the street in force to violently resist the assault by the Nigerian police despite the threat to their own safety. They have burned police stations, cars and other government buildings to show their anger.
This has been happening for a few months. It’s only being reported now in the mainstream media. The Nigerian police and the Nigerian army have been killing civilians left right and center. They started in southern Nigeria, mostly in rural areas whereby the excuse is that they are fighting terrorism.
What they are really doing is suppressing and looting and there are some cases of rape. These are areas that are less developed than the cities, so information takes time to come out. Hence most incidents go unreported. But we need to stand in solidarity with our class brothers and sisters in Nigeria.
And not only Nigeria. The same things have been happening nearby in Zimbabwe where protesters have been killed on a daily basis. Nurses and doctors who have not been paid for more than three months have been protesting. The response of the government has been brutal. But that has not stopped the masses from going out in force to violently resist this assault.
The Nigerian SARS police units received their training from the UK government. This shows the brutality of the police worldwide, including here in South Africa. There’s always this notion that police are not racist. But this whole system is racist. In South Africa’s case, mostly police officers are black and even in Nigeria most police are black. But the way they are brutal shows they are not there to protect us. They are there to protect the bosses and their interests.
It shows the need for us to violently eradicate the capitalist system. The police and gangs are the first line of defense of the bosses. If we are to succeed, we need to confront them directly. By doing that the bosses will be defeated. This can’t simply happen automatically. There has to be a violent revolutionary struggle against these injustices, these barbaric acts.
It is important for us to adopt an international approach. We ask our comrades around the world to resist these bosses’ murderous acts. The police are protecting the bosses’ interests everywhere.
The party’s response in exposing this barbaric act and adopting an active approach to doing something about it is encouraging. We have created a leaflet. This will help if we circulate it widely and engage our Nigerian brothers and sisters in South Africa. There are some Nigerian workers here. It will be beneficial for us to distribute the leaflet together with Red Flag to them. Hopefully it will find its way to that part of the world.
Respond to Brutal Attacks on the Working Class by Building International Communist Unity
A Nigerian teen told me that the City of Hawthorne was where many Nigerians live. I went scouting downtown Hawthorne and shopping centers. I ran into a few people and said to them that I was aware of the killings in Nigeria and wanted to organize a protest. I asked what an optimal place would be to have it. They did not know.
I found a Nigerian market. I went in and spoke to a man running the store. He took his phone out and said, “Here, talk to this guy.” A man from Nigeria living in Los Angeles was on the phone. We spoke for a while. He said he was part of Nigerian group and referred to them as his comrades. I told him I was part of an international organization dedicated to the liberation of the working class worldwide.
The previous Saturday his group had organized a demonstration at the British Embassy here in Los Angeles. His group is planning a second one this month. He said he would let me know the date.
After the conversation, I sent him the party leaflet about Nigeria on WhatsApp and asked him to let me know what he thought. He responded with “two thumbs up”. Then I sent him the electronic version of the recent Red Flag. He responded, “Thank you!” In return, he sent me a YouTube video, “An Honest Explanations of the Nigerian Civil War: The Biafran Story”.
International incidents that are actually brutal attacks on the world’s workers can bring us together to fight the capitalist onslaught. Together we can create the communist world we all desperately need.
—Comrade in Los Angeles (USA)