LOS ANGELES (USA)—Early morning shoppers read ICWP leaflet about Covid-19 and Capitalism. Comrades have twice gone out to grocery stores to put leaflets on car windshields.
“Parasite” is a Lie
Because the cynical movie “Parasite” has been so hyped and also was extremely well made (therefore dangerous) I was very glad to see its being reviewed in your pages. In my opinion, the points made by the reviewer were both valid and insightful.
I write now to elaborate a little on those points. The central characters, a criminal family, enlist our sympathy right away by being charming, engaging and resourceful. (Great script, great acting!) At the movie’s end, we see the family’s criminality, despite their fifteen minutes’ worth of showing remorse for having committed those crimes.
Since we’ve been identifying with these characters for more than two hours, this film’s message inevitably influences our world view. As was written about in the previews review, the message is that when people are forced to live in terrible conditions, they will hurt, and even kill, other people in their efforts to live a comfortable life.
The exact opposite is true! History has repeatedly proven that, despite extreme deprivation, most people react by uniting with, and helping, each other as best they can. Yes, a sizeable minority become predators on others, but these parasites are never the majority! There are countless examples of this fact, heroic examples we read about in Red Flag and heroic examples in our lives.
During the current crisis we’re having—the coronavirus pandemic—I’ve heard a number of anecdotes about how people are reaching out to their elderly neighbors, asking how they can help them. Long-time readers of Red Flag know that the ICWP cares about the lives and welfare of all workers, regardless of their country or language, understanding that we workers have everything in common and an attack on workers on the other side of the world is an attack on us as well, A deep, also widespread, understanding of this idea will put us moving towards our goal: destroying capitalism and its rulers and establishing a much better world: true communism.
Power to the world’s working class! Fight for communism!
—Comrade in the US
Red Flag Needs Consistent Analysis of Global Imperialism
Some of the comrades were talking recently with some of the people I’ve been struggling with in my class. We talk about lots of things: the coronavirus, the oil crash, what does that mean in geopolitics, and the intensification of the rivalry between the Chinese and the Americans. The Chinese recently accused the Americans of being the ones who introduced this virus in the first place.
This got me thinking. I remember when I first joined the movement, every time there was a new issue of Red Flag, the first thing I read was the last page, not the front page. Because in most issues of Red Flag in those days on the last page there was an article analyzing what was happening geopolitically. This gave me insights that nothing happens in isolation. South Africa is not an island. Whatever is happening around the world definitely affects us, like the crisis of overproduction and the falling rate of profit. What is happening to the US dollar has a direct impact on the Rand in South Africa.
But now things have changed even more. This is what I would like to see more in the Red Flag. Just like the editorial page is constant, this should be the case with the last page, where we make in depth analysis. We are an international movement and the Red Flag should reflect that. We also need to analyze international problems that are facing the working class and give solutions. If we can dedicate that page to that, it will really help.
These things were new to me. I didn’t understand the significance or the impact of the competition between the imperialists. Reading more of those articles gave me insight about how this directly impacts the working class in South Africa and in the whole world generally because we face similar problems.
It also gave me the awareness that we should prepare for the eventuality of war. Without these tools at the working class’ disposal, they become cynical. The party should play a greater role producing this analysis. Also, all the collectives need to play a role, because for the working class to get these things, we have to make sure that workers have access to the Red Flag.
—Student comrade in South Africa
Front page of this issue
