An Open Letter to Students: Make a Difference in Insults Alice Woodward
were young, sometimes looking at the world and we wonder why it has to be that way why the company apparently is so insane. Questions that nag us until late in sleepless nights ... Do we really have to live like this? Why people are treated that way? Why hungry children? Why does that never done nothing to change that? Why many live in poverty and despair? Why is there much despair and so little sense?
For millions of youngsters around the country in the coming weeks will be packing his things and moved to the bedroom and moving on their own. Do not have a curfew or their parents will not be listening to your phone calls. Her classes will not have to do with the following standardized tests and meet people from around the country and the world with different life experiences and points of view. Will be watching their lives and what they will do so where it goes. Be imagining how their relationship with the world.
remember when I started college in a big city. I looked for people who were questioning things that were dissatisfied with the way things are. I looked for people who have a burning desire to find answers to what I was spinning ... only to find that he was living in times where such things were NOT taking place among students. And even today the student environment at universities is virtually dead in terms of questioning, debate and resistance are concerned.
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As the recent statement by the Revolutionary Communist Party of America: "And despite the good intentions of many teachers, the system education is a bitter insult to many youth and a means of discipline and instruction in general. While there is some encouragement, especially in some 'elite' schools, for students to think in 'non-conformists', provided that in the end, this still conforms to the fundamental needs and interests of the system, "in general rather give them a real capacity to learn about the world and seek the truth wherever it leads, in a spirit of critical thinking and scientific curiosity, molded and twisted so that education serves the commandments of the capital, warrants and continuing relationships oppression in society and the world as a whole, and reinforce the dominant position of the already powerful "(" The revolution we need ... The leadership we have, "Revolution # 170, July 19, 2009).
Opening the environment, letting oxygen
We can not change all that without a revolution. But if we change the environment of universities, starting here and now. And that's what we intend to do this fall, when the revolution comes to colleges near you! Let's clear the suffocating atmosphere and change the terms of debate. We will bring a new message and powerful and controversial appeal, "The revolution we need ... The leadership we have, and we're asking that you take a look ... discuss it with us ... and participate in open debate.
This message and call boldly declares "this is NOT the best possible world ... and NOT have to live like that. " This shows that causes unnecessary suffering on this planet that is necessary and possible a revolution that will sweep all this and establish a socialist society with the goal of a communist world. This call brings people the leadership of Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, United States Together.
But what you said to most people, you think most people in this country, what "everyone knows" ... is that socialism and communism are horrible. The reality is that you have been lied to. He has lied about what is socialism and communism, lied about what happened in the past when socialist societies existed in the Soviet Union and China, and lied about the possibility not only to build from these experiences but to do much better. And to be honest, people have accepted those lies too easily.
When I entered college, the only thing I knew about China as a socialist was the kind of universal history of the tenth year in which the teacher assigned us to read the book Wild Swans. I did not think that communism was a good thing after reading it, certainly there is nothing worthwhile in the fight. But by the time I entered college and was skeptical about the American mainstream and critical thinking was something that made me feel I did not know enough about Mao and China to conclude that it was "common opinion "about China's revolution. And indeed I did not like capitalism and when I met the communist revolutionaries, they had convincing arguments about why world is this way and discussed on the basis that communism was the solution. So I went to where the Communists I knew and told them I was interested in learning more about the revolutions of the past.
As he learned more about this story and some studies and some discussion, I learned that anything I said was true. I also learned that the book Wild Swans was only part of the literature promoted by the United States and the Chinese government to distort, lie and slander to Mao and the Cultural Revolution in China, to justify the restoration of capitalism in China. (For an analysis of what really was the Cultural Revolution should check out the series that we publish in our print edition from # 175, September 6, 2009, a talk and questions and answers, Dongping Han, a Chinese man who lived in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution and Unknown author of The Cultural Revolution - Life and Change in a Chinese Village [Unknown Cultural Revolution. Life and Change in a village in China]).
One thing the statement, "The revolution we need ... The direction we have, "answered is what exactly is communism. "A world where people work and fight together for the common good ... that all contribute to society what they can and receive they need to live a life worthy of a human being ... in that it not be divisions among the people they govern and oppress some other, robbing not only the means for a dignified life but also the knowledge and means to better understand the world and take action to change it. " To burn the debate
But some say: "Look, communism is a good idea, but it never works in practice." Others argue that such a world is simply not possible due to "human nature" innate that never changes. Many argue that communism is totalitarian or no freedom of expression nor a role for the individual. There are answers
concrete facts, analysis and substance to refute these allegations. And this generation has not had the opportunity to hear these responses seriously. Urges open debate on these important issues, especially in universities. Defend and spread the truth about this and explain how we can do better and go beyond those earlier revolutions is a big part of what the leadership of Bob Avakian and you have to check what he says about this in revolutiontalk.net ( Bilingual site.)
And the facts about the past, present and future of this revolution also be the focus of a speaking tour at universities this fall. This tour will feature Raymond Lotta, Revolutionary expert on China and communism and the leader of the "Setting the Record Straight" (thisiscommunism.org, English site). We intend this talk have a great impact on universities, which "raise the ceiling" of the horizons of the people and the environment electrice debate on a whole different future. And you have to be part of it, checking out the DVD of Bob Avakian ... deep into the talk of Raymond Lotta (revolutionbooksnyc.org/Lotta4-23-09.mp3, audio in English) ... and seeking and demanding answers everyone, even, indeed especially, we Communists ... and refusing to be confined to the common opinion.
Make a Difference ... for the better
With that we're back to the question of whether one can affect things in the world or not. Yes you can, but not the way it is and definitely not by way of defending the system that is the problem. Obama has called today's generation to take a "spirit of service." This encompasses many things, volunteer work at the local level to register for the Peace Corps and join the military.
But what does it mean in practice? I saw many students to the inauguration of Obama, getting in that wave, volunteering, watching all the videos in YouTube celebrities and artists who told us optimistic that the change has already arrived. At one level, I can understand why this is appealing. Today people do not want to participate in the mentality of "me first" and to compete or die. Especially students and young people want to participate in improving the world.
But all that the "spirit of service" fits well within the parameters to leave the world as it is. At that level, that is disturbing. What does this system work, keep this system going and to kill and die for him in the U.S. military carried out crimes of all kinds around the world? The RCP statement explains:
"This is a system capitalist-imperialism ... a system in which American imperialism is the most oppressive superpower and most monstrous ... a system driven by a relentless drive for profit that brings horror after horror, a nightmare seemingly without end, for the overwhelming majority of humanity: poverty and misery ... torture and rape ... Generalized domination and degradation of women everywhere ... wars, invasions and occupations ... murders and massacres ... planes, missiles, tanks and U.S. soldiers, who bombard people in faraway lands while they sleep at home or carry out their daily activities, shatter their young children, reap the lives of men and women in the prime of life, or in old age, felled by kicking the doors of their homes and take them to crawl at night ... while in the United States itself the police harass, brutalize and kill young people on the streets of urban areas, again and again, and then spew their insults unsettling, insisting that it is 'justified' as to say that these Young people are not human beings, who have no right to life and deserve neither respect nor future. "
So I say, ask yourself if Obama talk about the "spirit of service": "At whose service and the service of what?
Just what is "realistic"?
Some say: "Well, maybe you are right ... But the revolution is not really possible. " But nothing is more unrealistic to believe that efforts to patch small step a patient can withstand the tsunami of suffering that the system requires to function, the endless exploitation of billions spray that support, the future spiritual death shortened and that the system to harass people in every corner of the planet, and now the looming environmental catastrophe.
In fact, believe that a spirit of service to this country will change the world not only unrealistic but is harmful, because in fact you misdirecting anger and frustration and put their energies and efforts to serve the system that is the problem!
What is realistic, what the world needs is a revolution. The idea that this is not possible no matter how desirable, is another big lie and deny that we propose this fall with substance, facts and imagination. The fact that we have a leader like Bob Avakian who has gone deeply into these important issues greatly increases the chances of making this kind of revolution, and once again we urge you to check how it is through the DVD Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It Is and through his autobiography (in English) From Ike to Mao and Beyond: My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist. Here's the important thing: we want you to be part of all this, checking it, participating in this debate to the level you want, asking questions and offering their ideas and actions, following the truth wherever it leads and being part of doing this is a matter of great prominence.
Finally, we will talk and work with you and work with you for you to take action against crimes of this system while we discuss and debate the source and solution. Join us on 5 and 6 October to take action against torture and war conducted by the U.S. government ... join us 10 and October 11 to fight for the rights of gay people in Washington, DC ... and participate in resisting the October 22 National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.
Each generation leaves its mark on the world. Is this another passing generation, accepting the status quo, making peace with the system and to accept it? Or will this be the generation that breaks it and has a core of people who take the revolution? Think what it would mean that students talk about the most important issues facing humanity, not only in a low voice from a few or only with the rare and important teachers who are not afraid to encourage critical thinking and challenge conventional wisdom, but all this would happen on a large scale in many universities. Imagine the radical ideas of revolutionary change, a whole new world, were in the university environment and have a place.
All this matters now when people come in various ways to the revolutionary movement that begins not only in universities but in prisons, the ghettos and barrios, towns and suburbs, which extends throughout society and comes alive. The revolutionaries are here and there is something new to start. You have the duty it himself and the people of the world: check this and participate.
taken from: http://revcom.us/a/175/open_letter-es.html