Stop the Rising American Police State

Latest

pt.2015.01.03
At a time when poverty is spreading like wildfire and good-paying jobs are a thing of the past for most of us, regardless of color, America’s wealthy rulers are trying to keep the working class from turning on them. We can see their strategy in the way the corporate media portrays the ongoing police murders of Black workers: The rulers plan to ensure our working class is divided along lines of color and culture, and get us fighting each other instead of them. In the process they will try to provoke a crisis as an excuse for imposing a full-blown fascist police state.
History offers examples. On February 27, 1933, someone burned down the German parliament (Reichstag). The Nazi government falsely portrayed the fire as part of a Communist plot to overthrow the state, and the government suspended constitutional rights and decreed its authority to jail political opponents without specific charges, dissolve political organizations, and suppress publications.
America’s rulers are aiming for their own version of the Reichstag fire. First they launch an assault on the workers, focused on the Black workers. Given the legacy of slavery and the history of racism, at least a large section of society can be convinced that the assault is a “Black issue,” and therefore not their problem. The ruling class, through its militarized police forces, carries out repeated provocations against the Black workers in particular. The goal is to spark a provocation that will then be used as an excuse for a crackdown. A police state will be imposed in the name of fighting “domestic terrorism.” Workers will lose their rights.
The rulers need a police state because they have no solution to joblessness and poverty. The computer and the robot have wiped out jobs and created a new section of the working class that is permanently unemployed or marginally employed in low-wage jobs. Those of us who are in this new section of workers are of every color, nationality and age. We are united by our common conditions, and for us there is no resolution to the crisis except to overturn the existing economic system, which is based on the private property of the billionaires, and build a cooperative society where the means of producing the food, education, healthcare and other necessities are publicly owned and everyone’s needs are met. We, the workers who cannot survive under this system, are a threat to the ruling class, and so the rulers must guarantee we are divided, stripped of all rights, and unable to fight.
The protests are showing that we are one people and one class of workers, and an assault on any worker is an assault on every worker, and an attack on democracy. The workers of every color who are being discarded in post-industrial America face a common poverty, a common oppression and a common enemy. Our enemy is an economic system based on private property and the ruling class that defends it. We can build a new society free of poverty, racism and police terror. The key step is to build a powerful movement that fights every instance of police terror and that is united around a program that our government guarantee the basic necessities of life to everyone. It is in this fight against our common poverty that we can find true unity, true justice and real democracy.

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

The People’s Tribune opens its pages to voices of the movement for change. Our articles are written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Articles entitled “From the Editors” reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: peoplestribune.orgPlease donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement for change. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff. The People’s Tribune is a 501C4 organization.

1 COMMENT

  1. The issues being addressed in this article are exactly what I have been saying for years, sans the recent targeted killings of our citizens by law enforcement. I whole-heartedly believe that the vast majority of our news (mostly Mainstream Media) in our society is analogous to the Gestapo in a Fascist society. Since we live under the veneer of democracy a full blown security violent security apparatus cannot violently attack and suppress competing ideas or groups. This is where the propaganda machine comes in keeping us in line by creating false flags and dividing the populous. Our media creates the fear of terrorism and violence from people of color, protesters, and especially terrorists at home and abroad while and police/intelligence community carry out the assassinations and marginalization of said groups. We as a society must not fall into this trap. We must unite and see past these false social constructs and band together as one to fight the oppression of everyone. Because the murder of any citizen, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic position, sexual orientation, or ethnicity by the powers that be is the murder of my brother or sister and this has to stop! It’s time we took our country back and live in a truly free society.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

White House Demands Return of Food Stamps Distributed In November

This month the White House demanded that Food Stamps distributed to eligible people must be retrieved because the distribution was "unauthorized."

Undocumented Immigrants in Fear During Operation Midway Blitz

"I am scared. I’m scared for myself, my parents, my tios and tias, my whole family. We’re all vulnerable,” writes a Chicagoan about the terror of Operation Midway Blitz. "We're all vulnerable."

Mamdani Election and Others Offer a Light in the Darkness

From the editors: The recent election results, especially the election of Zohran Mamdani, offered a ray of hope for millions in America who have been struggling to survive economically and who are appalled by the rising fascism in the country.

‘Hope is Alive,’ says New York City Mayor-Elect Mamdani

Read New York City's Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's acceptance speech following his victory in 2025 Elections.

Mayor, Evanston, IL: ‘My Community Is Under Invasion from Our Own Federal Gov’t’

Amid federal ICE raids in Chicagoland, the mayor of one Chicago suburb is on the frontlines of the anti-ICE protest movement, saying ICE agents have invaded his city and are beating people up for no reason.

More from the People's Tribune