Red Flag Stitches Together Lives here ♦ Blame Capitalism Not Moms here ♦ Capitalism Ravages US Cities here ♦
Red Flag Stitches Together Lives in India and Sudan
I got a teaching assignment in Sudan five years ago. When I arrived, I discovered that I had to complete some paperwork or pay cash to a corrupt official to obtain authorization. Since I was penniless, just out of college, I relied on that job to cover my expenses. Now I was stuck in Khartoum, penniless and without a place to stay.
I had only a contact number for Zahra in Khartoum. Her husband was a construction worker in Saudi Arabia. I explained my situation to Zahra. We were communicating using Google Translate.
Zahra immediately came to meet me at the airport. She was very kind. She assured me that she would take care of me just as if I were a family member. I couldn’t believe that she gave me the best room in her modest house, where I stayed for two months.
It was during Ramadan. She and her entire family would cook the most amazing food for me every day while they were fasting. For me, a Hindu woman coming from India, to be served by a Muslim family was unbelievable. They were so kind, considerate, and genuinely sincere that I truly looked at us as a big human family. Those two months I stayed with Zahra will forever remain in my memory.
Later, when the situation in Sudan had been deteriorating for two years, I became concerned about Zahra. Now I had a stable job in India, but I was desperate to find out how Zahra was doing. She told me that her house in Khartoum was destroyed. She had to leave and was in a refugee camp in Egypt with her toddler. And her husband lost his job in Saudi Arabia.
I immediately booked a flight to Cairo. I asked all my friends and relatives to donate. When I saw Zahra, we hugged for what felt like an eternity. All those incredible emotions! I gave her the money. She was so emotional and refused to take it.
I told her that seventy-eight years ago, in the largest human migration in history, my grandfather faced a similar situation. And after several generations, I feel the same empathy for Zahra.
Now I am back in India. I am sharing my story so everybody will know about Zahra and me. We are not alone. There are millions like us. We need each other; we are a human family.
What stitched our lives together was one Red Flag in Chennai that was sent to a construction worker in Saudi Arabia. The Red Flag was shared to other workers. One was Zahra’s husband.
Sudan, you are not alone.
—Friend in India
Blame Capitalism, Not Moms
“I think that at my age, I’m safe taking Tylenol if I feel any pain from this shot,” I said ironically to the nurse who had just given me my flu vaccine.
The nurse, another older woman, shook her head. “Isn’t it ridiculous?” she asked.
“They always want to guilt-trip the mom,” I answered. And then moved on so someone else could get their shot.
A fascist attack on science is being organized in the US under the direction of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. It has pushed the narrative that autism is “caused” by pregnant women taking Tylenol.
This is a vicious lie. It is based on an unscientific and willful distortion of the data. There is some correlation between children with autism and mothers who take Tylenol during pregnancy. There’s also a high correlation between deaths by drowning and ice-cream sales. Both happen more often in the summer. But that doesn’t mean that eating ice cream causes drowning. Actual scientists look at the evidence. Tylenol doesn’t “cause” autism.
Autism is a form of neurodivergence. It is primarily genetic, complex, and not caused by toxins in food, water, or vaccines. People on the autism spectrum are different, many with exceptional gifts. They are not broken, or a “tragedy.”
The experts diagnose “Autism Spectrum Disorder,” but it’s not the child that’s disordered. It is the capitalist system that is disordered. We’re fighting for a communist society that doesn’t see workers’ worth as tied to their ability to make profits for the bosses. That society will be organized to value the gifts that everyone contributes to society. We cherish them today.
The portrayal of autism as a tragedy caused by pregnant mothers taking Tylenol, and scolding women to tough out the pain, reflects the sexist and racist bias of capitalist medical care. Nurses are taught that women of color complain more about pain than white women. Medical personnel are taught that women complain more about pain than men. And parents — especially mothers — are blamed for more things caused by capitalism than I could list here.
I’m angrier than ever at a capitalist system which marginalizes our beloved children and blames the mom whenever anything goes wrong. Communism will provide a better life for our human family. It can’t come soon enough.
—Red Grandmother
Capitalism, Not Anti-Fascism, Ravages US Cities
In October, President Trump and his cabinet claimed that “Portland is on fire!” and “Portland is war-ravaged!” Also, “The city has been besieged by violence perpetrated by antifa thugs!”
Of course, these were blatant lies. Portland, Oregon, along with Washington DC, Los Angeles and Chicago are supposed to be dangerous, crime-filled cities. In all these places working people are struggling to survive due to the failure of capitalism. Many jobs are temporary, with low wages and no benefits. Decent housing is unaffordable and healthcare is expensive. When people do not have a job or they work for very low wages and cannot afford a place to live, they often end up on the street.
The bosses do nothing to stop the availability of street drugs and allow gangs to exist to distribute them. They are the ones responsible for crime and danger!
Under these intolerable conditions, workers historically have united and fought back. Portland has a strong labor history. It goes back to the International Workers of the World (IWW) and the lumber strikes and demonstrations to fight for economic relief and social justice. Portland’s strike against the Oregon Packing Company in 1913 was led by women cannery workers who were working 10-to-12-hour days.
Then and now, workers have been influenced by communist ideas. Communists not only fight against the horrors of capitalism right here and now, but we also know that ultimately the capitalist system must be torn down completely and be replaced with a communist system. Only then will we be able to create a world free from exploitation, wage slavery, constant wars, and destruction of the environment.
The ICWP recognizes that many young people who are currently involved in these reform struggles are very open to revolutionary ideas and want to know about the possibilities of communism. We encourage them to join our international movement!
—Comrades in the US Pacific Northwest
Read our pamphlet: THE COMMUNIST FIGHT AGAINST SEXISM here