From Gaza to Shaheen Bagh, India-Communist Revolution will Defeat Fascist Terror here ♦ From Gaza to Gqeberha, South Africa-Unite Workers for Communist Revolution here ♦
From Gaza to Shaheen Bagh, India: Communist Revolution Will Defeat Nationalism and Fascist Terror
SHAHEEN BAGH, DELHI (India), November 10— “When I saw images of the genocide in Gaza, my heart exploded in rage. We have been subjected to similar atrocities here since 1947”, said Ali, a Muslim resident of this predominantly Muslim community. “Over two million Hindus and Muslims were killed, and twenty million people were displaced”. This third-generation youth, like his neighbours, lives in constant fear of police killings, bulldozers destroying homes, and years-long imprisonment under harsh conditions.
“We are organizing for communist revolution”, said a comrade. ICWP members were distributing copies of Red Flag in Shaheen Bagh under fascist conditions. “From Gaza to Shaheen Bagh, rich capitalists have brought immense misery to people like you while amassing enormous wealth. We want to end this grotesque inequality by mobilizing hundreds of millions of workers to smash capitalism. It is a system based on insatiable greed. We want you to join ICWP”.
After October 7th, fascist Modi pledged support for the Zionist butchers in Israel. His government declared that demonstrations against the genocide in Palestine would be considered treason and punished with imprisonment. In Muslim areas, it is an even bigger threat as fascist RSS goons, protected by police, brutalize people.
Our party distributed the Red Flag in Shaheen Bagh in 2019 during a massive months-long protest against xenophobia. Ali, like many others, read Red Flag then. But when a comrade came to his house, things started to change. The conversation opened doors to many similar conversations about the need to organize for communism.
Ali was very impressed that so many non-Muslims flocked to the Shaheen Bagh protest. There was a tremendous sense of solidarity when Sikhs, Hindus, and secular people joined hands with the Shaheen Bagh residents. The fascists were trying to divide people based on their religion.
However, Ali saw that the movement was very nationalist. This bothered him. A comrade asked, “Are workers from Pakistan and India more similar than different”? Ali paused for a long time. Then he said, “We are more alike. It is the rulers who teach and indoctrinate people, it is the divide and conquer that the British colonialists used to forcefully displace people”. He gave an example of how the billionaire Adani supports fascist ideologues like Modi.
“We were blinded by nationalism”, Ali said. “This is the same ideology that the masses in Palestine and Israel are taught. It makes workers in both places enemies of each other. We should be all united against the ruling class in Israel and the Palestinian nationalists like Hamas and Palestine Authority”, he continued.
Ali offered us his house and introduced his extended family. An older brother spent four years in jail on fake charges. The violence in the jail made him disabled. Everybody in the family is glued to the news from Gaza. The ICWP comrade told Ali that he was a Hindu but understanding communism, he sees himself as a worker. “I would ask you to join ICWP and change the world. I want you to invite everyone you know to join ICWP”.
Ali said he is now a member of ICWP. “In this Gaza war, I was hoping that some Muslim countries would put pressure on Israel or the US to stop the war. I now see they are all rich capitalists making their profit from the misery of the working class”.
“What is the next step? How many people do you know”? asked the visiting comrade. “Come with me with Red Flag”.
He and Ali brought stacks of RF to the neighbours. By the end of the day, we had distributed hundreds of copies and Ali knew all of those who took it. He brought communist energy, explaining that we have to organize with the masses against the capitalists. It resonated in people’s imagination because they had experienced daily violence, brutality, and horrors. Now, many of them feel they have seen the communist solution that can destroy their oppressors in Gaza and Shaheen Bagh.
Our Delhi collective is engaged in many struggles like the one with Ali. In the last week, we recruited three new comrades from Shaheen Bagh. This is our new party cell. When we meet as a collective, our creativity, imagination, and strength expand. When we consistently meet as the collective, it brings life and future possibilities of more collectives culminating in a communist revolution.
Gaza has caused horrific death and destruction to the working class. But we will organize workers and soldiers to destroy our class enemies and triumph with the communist revolution.
From Gaza to Gqeberha, South Africa: Unite Workers Everywhere to Organise for Communist Revolution
GQEBERHA (South Africa), November 13 — “During the march in Summerstrand, I met a few communist friends”, said a comrade. “They would like to build a relationship with me through the ICWP. They want to have a meeting asap. They are from Johannesburg.”
Comrades of the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) went to a march around Summerstrand (Gqeberha) against the genocide in Gaza. Members of the local mosque were there. It started small, but very soon there was an energetic multiracial crowd of thousands. We were impressed to see Black and white, Muslims and people of other religions, from all over the world, side by side, denouncing atrocities in Gaza.
We called for workers of all races and nationalities, from South Africa to Palestine, to fight for communism. We openly asked new comrades to join ICWP so we could destroy genocide, xenophobia, and racism.
In a communist society without money, we will be able to struggle and smash all forms of racism. We met some soldiers as well and explained to them our goal to eradicate wage slavery. We appealed to the soldiers to be part of the Red Army for communism, not the bosses’ army to suppress workers.
We went to spread our party’s communist ideas and communist solutions by distributing Red Flag and carrying our banner. We don’t fight for national liberation. We have experience here in South Africa of both apartheid and the betrayal of the so-called liberation movement, exemplified by the African National Congress. The masses and the working class can only be liberated by dismantling capitalism, which exploits workers and advances only international capitalist interests.
“Our fight is to destroy capitalism and usher in a new communist society,” explained a comrade. “Join us in this struggle for true liberation by joining ICWP and reading and distributing our literature.”
Our communist banner was visible to hundreds. ICWP comrades got to know some new members and recruited them to our party. We also made contacts with church members who are in solidarity with the Palestinian masses.
About three years ago, ICWP members participated in a demonstration at the same location, when the Israeli government bombarded Gaza. Among the hundreds of protestors, our members met some Muslim workers from Bangladesh, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. We also got to know a leader of the local New Muslim Unity, which had some Marxist influence.
One friend put us in contact with a comrade from Gaza. We shared and discussed Red Flag with our new friends and brought them closer to the party. They still get the paper and we have met with them since.
Our aim is to participate in the solidarity strikes to show contradictions in capitalism, and to bring communism as the only solution in solving such conflicts.
The Israeli government, together with the USA imperialists, are committing genocide in Palestine. They have killed over eleven thousand, including over four thousand children, claiming that it is “self-defence” against Hamas. They are not defending any homeland, but American capitalist interests.
Even US politicians have openly stated since the 1950s that Israel is their unsinkable aircraft carrier guarding their interests in the Middle East.
Hamas leaders are no saints. They are not “defending Palestine.” They too are capitalists trying to control resources, especially the gas reserves found off Gaza’s coast. They are not fighting for liberation of the working-class Palestinians but for their own enrichment.
Fighting for national borders doesn’t solve problems that the masses face. We should recognise this and mobilise our brothers and sisters for the destruction of capitalism and its profit wars with communist revolution.