https://socialistaction.org/2017/07/08/socialist-action-condemns-attack-on-psl-in-albuquerque/
Socialist Action condemns attack on PSL in Albuquerque
/ 7 days ago
Comrades of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL),
We read with great interest and alarm the June 29 article/report in your
newspaper, Liberation, entitled, “The reactionary attack against the PSL
in Albuquerque” (see below).
Know that Socialist Action stands in full solidarity with the PSL in
opposition to the physical intimidation, disruption, and threats to
“Shut Down PSL” in the course of your Friday, June 23, forum
commemorating Juneteenth, a critical date that marks the end of chattel
slavery in the U.S.
We especially appreciate your concluding statement: “The PSL in
Albuquerque will not be bullied or deterred from our meaningful and
significant organizing. We are determined to keep building a strong,
socialist, multinational party and principled united fronts with other
progressive and working-class forces. We are appreciative of the
solidarity and support we have received as we confront and overcome
these attacks.”
Further, we note that the day following this disruption, your
Albuquerque headquarters’ windows were smashed with rocks during the
early morning hours. And further, that in the recent past you were
evicted from your previous headquarters by reactionary forces. It
appears obvious that only the reactionary forces of the state and its
police can benefit when threats of violence and intimidation are used to
disrupt meetings of the left.
Socialist Action unequivocally condemns all these outrageous acts of
disruption, intimidation and violence against the PSL. An injury to one
is an injury to all! Please keep us informed and count on us for
whatever help is needed to defend your fundamental right to freely
function as a party that challenges capitalism’s racist, sexist,
homophobic, and anti-working class ideology and practice.
Comradely,
Jeff Mackler, National Secretary, Socialist Action
For the National Committee of Socialist Action, July 6, 2017
The reactionary attack against the PSL in Albuquerque
By Party for Socialism and Liberation
Jun 29, 2017
Aug. 2017 PSL[Photo caption of PSL headquarters with smashed windows.
“One night after the ‘Shut Down PSL’ attempted disruption, the windows
of the Albuquerque PSL office were completely shattered with rocks.”]
The PSL is issuing this report to alert the movement about an attack
being conducted against our organization in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
On June 23, our regularly scheduled Friday forum was the target of an
assault and pre-planned disruption by a group of individuals who hurled
misogynist slurs and threats, banged on windows, and blared sirens. They
had created a “Shut Down PSL” Facebook event shortly after we announced
the forum topic to commemorate Juneteenth, which marks the end of U.S.
chattel slavery. Unable to gain entrance to the event, they verbally
attacked our all-women security team to try to provoke a confrontation.
Thanks to the discipline and composure of our membership, the protesters
did not achieve their announced goal of “shutting down” our event.
The next night — late Saturday — the same windows that this group had
been banging on Friday were completely shattered with rocks. A neighbor
spotted the second attack on our office around 1:30 a.m. and called one
of our organizers. At least four assailants were spotted in a yellow
Ford Focus, the driver of which was a woman with blonde hair. Witnesses
have told us that it sounded as if they attempted to enter the office as
well. The neighbor called the police, who notably never arrived.
Early last year, the PSL was evicted from its previous office because of
the non-stop harassment of our landlord at the hands of fascistic
elements (the so-called “alt-right.”) They bombarded our office with
threatening phone calls after the PSL played a leading role in a mass
protest to greet President-elect Trump.
The “Shut Down PSL” Facebook event absurdly claimed to be in opposition
to white supremacy. But you only need to look at the scene to see that
this was a sham. The meeting being disrupted was of a group of
multinational workers — some with small children, some elderly, some
with disabilities, and most coming directly from their low-wage jobs —
who had gathered together at the PSL forum on a Friday evening. For the
record, the majority of the attendees were working class people of
color. This is the composition of the Albuquerque PSL branch as well.
They have pooled a portion of their wages to open this office after
fascists forced the closure of the last one. The PSL Juneteenth forum
was chaired and led by a Navajo queer woman, followed by presentations
from another queer woman on U.S.-Cuba relations, and an Indian immigrant
queer woman about racist police brutality. The event also featured a
video by a prominent Black radical Eugene Puryear, the PSL’s 2016
vice-presidential candidate, who has just done a series of lectures in
Washington, D.C. on the suppressed history of Juneteenth. This is who
and what this reactionary crew came to shut down. Although three of the
individuals who called for the “shut down” were Black, the majority of
those who showed up to disrupt were white.
PSL branches nationwide have held events about Juneteenth as a way of
raising historical and anti-racist consciousness among workers of all
backgrounds, and advocating for Juneteenth to finally become the
national holiday that it deserves to be.
Outside of the Albuquerque forum, as shown on a Facebook video, one
white woman who had come to “Shut Down PSL” screamed in the face of
women of color telling them that they have no business talking about or
relating to the Black freedom struggle. She then blared a bullhorn in
the window to try to impede the meeting. Another white disrupter was
spotted jumping the fence in the backyard to try to surreptitiously gain
access into our office.
Because the “Shut Down PSL” event had public registration, we could
identify and block those who intended to do so. This was doubly
confirmed because the disrupters assembled together nearby, sent scouts
to observe the entrance points and then marched up to our front door
together.
Thwarted from shutting down the PSL forum as they intended and
announced, the attackers immediately took down their “Shut Down PSL”
Facebook event and shifted to the false claim that the PSL had barred
people on account of their racial background from attending the
Juneteenth event. They are essentially objecting that the PSL violated
their “right” to shut down our own event. They also lied that the PSL
had called the police and somehow put them at risk.
This is a complete frame up and an obvious disinformation campaign. They
tried to shut down the event and announced their plans to do so. They
made false claims about our organization committing violence and extreme
bigotry. Video shows the police telling the disrupters that they were
called to the scene by neighbors (not the PSL), and also shows the PSL
asking the police to leave. By contrast, the disrupters’ own Facebook
videos reveal that when the police arrived, they offered them water and
joked around with them. They can be heard on camera recounting their
conversation with the police, “[The cops] told us, ‘next time you have
an event just call us, we’ll come out.” Another person on the video
confirms that the police told them: “If we’re planning on having another
big event, they said they’ll come out and assist us.” A lead disrupter
then shouts at our comrades, “We just talked to the police, they said
you’re wack too!” — proudly demonstrating a point of unity with the
armed forces of state repression and white supremacy against the PSL.
The next day our office was violently vandalized with large rocks thrown
through our windows – a clear attempt at intimidation. False rumors and
accusations are now spreading across the Internet, deliberately
fostering a climate of confrontation and confusion.
These are all the proven tactics that the FBI’s COINTELPRO operation, in
conjunction with local and state police, utilized to rip apart the
movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Since the 1970s, every sophisticated
activist organization has understood the real threat posed by state
infiltration and division, and consciously steered clear of these
tactics precisely because they invite state repression and pave the way
towards self-destruction. The escalation to violent rhetoric, and the
physical shutting down of events leads to a spiral of conflict and
distrust which then attracts more unstable and potentially violent
outcomes. Whether or not the disrupters work for the state, they are
clearly doing the work of the state.
There are modern parallels to COINTELPRO playing out today, as was
confirmed just last week with the leak of documents from the TigerSwan
paramilitary organization that had infiltrated NoDAPL events and stated
its intention to use covert and overt means against the ANSWER Coalition
meetings.
We were not intimidated by the right-wing campaign against us last year
and we will not be intimidated by this round of attacks. We call on all
people of conscience to denounce this reactionary, reckless and
counter-revolutionary attack on our organization – to defend the PSL
from these slanders and the campaign aimed at shutting down our
meaningful organizing in Albuquerque.
The statements of the disrupters are telling. Here are a few of the
things they said to our members and friends. We did not respond to any
of these insults or threats in the heat of the moment and maintained our
discipline.
◦ “Fuck you, gringo bitch” — said repeatedly to the entire security
team, most of whom were women of color.
◦ “You don’t know how to fight cause you’re scared of us.” — said in
the face of a Native women.
◦ “Have fun sucking each others dicks and eating each other out in there.”
◦ “We need to disrupt their event.”
◦ “It’s time to start getting loud so we can disrupt this event.”
◦ “Socialism has no place with colored people!”
◦ “Fuck you, bitch.”
◦ “Shame on you, shame on you” — yelled at an elderly forum attendee,
upon exiting the Juneteenth forum with the use of her walker
There is far more that could be said about these reactionaries in
disguise and their history of spreading false rumors against our
organization. We are certain that they will be isolated on account of
their actions and further exposed as more facts come to light.
The PSL in Albuquerque will not be bullied or deterred from our
meaningful and significant organizing. We are determined to keep
building a strong, socialist, multinational party and principled united
fronts with other progressive and working-class forces. We are
appreciative of the solidarity and support we have received as we
confront and overcome these attacks.
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July 8, 2017 in Civil Liberties, Marxist Politics and Philosophy.
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