Protest against police murders in Lagos, Nigeria, Oct. 20
Rebellions in Nigeria Create Opportunities for Communist Revolution Everywhere
On Tuesday night, October 20, the fascist Nigerian ruling class unleashed their murderous police to cold bloodedly fire on masses peacefully protesting police brutality. The protesters called for disbanding SARS, a special police unit openly indulging in extortion, torture and murder. Eleven protesters were slaughtered, and scores wounded.
On Wednesday morning – as news of this massacre spread – the anger of the masses spilled into the streets of Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city. Masses, mainly youths, set ablaze the Nigerian Ports Authority Building, police stations, cars and federal buildings throughout the city. The youths live-streamed the events and shared them on social media while trapped amid fires and tear gas deployed by masses of officers who shot into crowds and prevented ambulances from treating the injured.
Nearly sixty percent of Nigeria’s population is young. Most are out of work and finish school with no jobs waiting for them. Out of Nigeria’s 40 million young workers, only 1.7 million are fully employed. This, plus extortion and torture by SARS agents, adds further fuel to the flame that is capitalism in Nigeria. The Nigerian working class have had enough!
This massive protest is the culmination of years of lack in opportunities and empty promises by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who has promised to dismantle SARS for years. Members of Buhari’s staff recently explained that their officers would only be relocated and not fired or disciplined for their disgusting actions. Of course, the capitalists aren’t going to put their lap dogs down!
Communism is the Solution
The Nigerian crisis shows that we need to fight for a communist world where human lives are nourished, cherished and treated with respect and dignity from cradle to grave.
This requires a system without money where production is to satisfy the masses’ needs, not to make profits for the capitalists. In communism nothing will be bought or sold – especially our labor power, the source of the capitalists’ profits. This will end wages and wage slavery. No longer will we be chained to the capitalists, depending on their jobs and wages to survive.
In communism there will be no separation of mental and manual labor because we understand that working requires both skills in all aspects of our lives. The less labor-intensive jobs won’t just be put in the hands of those with degrees or special certifications.
Only communism can liberate the Nigerian masses from the crushing poverty and abysmal inequality, where the richest bloodsucking capitalist makes in one day 8,000 times more than what a Nigerian worker spends in one year to survive. While Nigerian capitalists live in opulence and splendor, 70% of the masses live with less than $1.10 a day. Nearly 740 babies die each day before they have lived one month!
These are just a few of the wounds that capitalism inflicts on the Nigerian working class every single day. The capitalist repressive forces exist to terrorize us into passively accepting these oppressive conditions.
Abolishing or disbanding the police won’t work. The only way to end unending suffering and bloodshed is by mobilizing the masses to fight to destroy capitalism and build communism.
British Colonization in Nigeria, like European Colonization everywhere, sucked the country dry of its natural resources and workers’ labor. It pitted different tribes, ethnic groups and religions against each other. What’s important now is that these protests have united those who the rulers, then and now, have tried to keep divided. Many Nigerians have had terrible experiences with SARS, a sentiment that crossed the boundaries of tribe, religion, or ethnic backgrounds. The workers are uniting!
Our Tasks Today
Red Flag helps prepare for the day when the masses are mobilized for communist revolution. We must build a Red Army where we can win a battle against the Bosses and their forces. No substantial change has ever come without armed force and that is true for our cause as well. The working class has the advantage in numbers. The “one percent” has no chance against us.
That requires building the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) in Nigeria and everywhere to organize masses across the world into a Party-led Red Army. Join us in fighting for a world without capitalists, their money or wage slavery – the root of racism, sexism, islamophobia, and other poisonous ideologies everywhere in the world. We need a world without borders or nations, where “from each according to their ability and commitment, and to each according to their need” will be the guiding principle.
Let’s make this a reality by organizing ICWP collectives based on reading, distributing and writing for Red Flag. We have a world to win!