{"id":14446,"date":"2024-09-14T18:18:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-14T18:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/?page_id=14446"},"modified":"2024-09-14T18:35:14","modified_gmt":"2024-09-14T18:35:14","slug":"letters-to-red-flag-gang-violence-racism-sexism-and-health","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/volume-15-number-12\/letters-to-red-flag-gang-violence-racism-sexism-and-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters to Red Flag: Gang Violence; Racism, Sexism, and Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Money: The Root of Capitalism\u2019s Evils here \u2666<\/a> Racism, Sexism, and Women Workers\u2019 Health here \u2666<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Money: The Root of Capitalism\u2019s Evils<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Greetings comrades!<\/p>\n

Under capitalist society we are living in poverty. We are dealing with criminals each and every day, seeing dead bodies dumped in fields, streets. It is bad and getting worse by the day.<\/p>\n

Here in South Africa, some family members, friends, and neighbours were scheming to open life insurance policies in people\u2019s names. After six months of paying the insurance, they hire Inkabi (snipers) to get rid of you, just so they could claim. People are doing a lot of bad things just to have money. Money is really a root or source of evil.<\/p>\n

The tragic thing that we are facing now is a \u201cProtection Fee\u201d. Gangsters started by going to the taverns (bars\/shebeen) and demanding a \u201cprotection fee\u201d from the owners so they would not get robbed. It escalated to the big stores. These guys demanded a \u201cprotection fee\u201d so they would not rob the stores.<\/p>\n

Now they have become worse and out of hand. These people are demanding \u201cprotection fees\u201d from people who built backroom flats to rent out. For example, if you build seven flats they will come and collect rent for four flats, and you get the money of the other three. This is for flats you have built trying to make ends meet for you and your family.<\/p>\n

They later went on to charging people selling fruit and vegetables and to the parents who have little businesses selling chips and sweets at school gates.<\/p>\n

They say the protection fee is to protect the people, so they don\u2019t get robbed by them. They are already robbing them of the small money they are making to put food on the table. But they don\u2019t care. and the Government is doing absolutely nothing about it because it does not affect them, and they have bodyguards at all times.<\/p>\n

What about the poor?<\/p>\n

It has now massively escalated to a point where they follow you to your home charging you money depending on the car you drive, what type of furniture you have at home, how much the phones everyone has at home costs. And they demand you to pay them a particular amount every month \u201cin order for them not to rob you\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is very bad to an extent that everyone is getting tired of it. Those that can afford it are getting guns to fight back. But not everyone is fortunate to own a gun or has the guts to shoot at someone. How do the other people deal with such? There\u2019s no other way than uniting together and being one in fighting the capitalist society all at once. We would not be dealing with such.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let us unite, comrades. I am distributing Red Flag<\/em> every day to the people who are angry at the system. Workers in the Volkswagen plant, townships, shopping centres. Capitalism has to be replaced by communism where we will build our lives, not the lives of our capitalist bosses. Communism is the way to go. A luta continua.<\/p>\n

\u2014Comrade in South Africa<\/p>\n

Racism, Sexism, and Women Workers\u2019 Health<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Should anyone vote for Kamala Harris because she promises to defend abortion rights for women in the US? NO!<\/p>\n

Everything we choose to do should reflect the best interests of the international working class. No capitalist politician, male or female, serves workers\u2019 interests.<\/p>\n

Yes, women\u2019s access to health care is in all workers\u2019 interest. But which women\u2019s health is most endangered right now? Women in Gaza, where childbirth is a nightmare. No prenatal care. No hospitals. No anesthesia. No clean water. Massive malnutrition. Medical personnel singled out by Israeli snipers. And Harris parrots her support for \u201cIsraeli self-defense!\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the US, doctors typically treat men and women differently \u2013 such as ignoring or discounting women\u2019s pain.\u00a0 Especially working-class women \u2013 not women like Harris! Recommendations and dosages for women often depend on clinical trials that pretend men are \u201ctypical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which women\u2019s health is most endangered in the US? Black and American Indian\/Alaska Native women. They fare worse than Whites on most key measures of health. That includes pregnancy-related deaths, which anti-abortion laws are worsening.<\/p>\n

But the leading cause of death of Black women in the US is heart disease. Black women have a 50% higher risk of heart failure compared with white women.\u00a0Part of the reason is the added stress of racism. Another part is less access to healthy food and health care. Some is probably due to incorrect dietary recommendations based on inappropriate databases and studies of white men.<\/p>\n

In South Africa, Black and Coloured workers, including women, are less able to access adequate health care resources and have worse health outcomes. The hospital care available to them is often horrible. Black migrant women from nearby countries are more likely than South African women to die in childbirth. Why? In part, racism, and xenophobia.<\/p>\n

There are many more examples. The point is that racism and sexism are baked into global capitalism\u2019s health care systems. In a world increasingly engulfed in war, this is only getting worse. Women in Sudan, for example, especially pregnant women, are enduring the worst of the civil war there.<\/p>\n

The legality of abortion matters for so many women\u2019s lives. But it is a smokescreen that hides the much bigger picture.<\/p>\n

Whatever limited reforms or policies that Harris might propose for the US can\u2019t even make a dent in the growing health crisis in the US or the world. They can\u2019t begin to touch the massive disparities between women\u2019s and men\u2019s health. They can\u2019t come near addressing, let alone ending, the racism and sexism of capitalist medical institutions.<\/p>\n

For that we need communism. Taking power into the hands of the working class will take profits out of the health equation. Then, the masses, organized for communism, will begin to use scientific and other tools already available to create a healthy society. We will dismantle racism and sexism in a united struggle to meet our common needs.<\/p>\n

\u2014Comrade in the USA<\/p>\n

Read Our Pamphlets:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mobilize the Masses for Communism<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Communist Fight Against Sexism<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Front page of this issue<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Money: The Root of Capitalism\u2019s Evils here \u2666 Racism, Sexism, and Women Workers\u2019 Health here \u2666 Money: The Root of Capitalism\u2019s Evils Greetings comrades! Under capitalist society we are living in poverty. We are dealing with criminals each and every day, seeing dead bodies dumped in fields, streets. It is bad and getting worse by … Continue reading Letters to Red Flag: Gang Violence; Racism, Sexism, and Health<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6495,"parent":14369,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14446","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14446"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14453,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14446\/revisions\/14453"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}