Justice for George Floyd! Dismantle the racist police!
Declaration of the International Socialist League
George Floyd was murdered by the police. Hanged by an agent's knee, I repeated “I can't breathe”. The words “I can't breathe” remember the murder of Eric Garner on Staten Island, NY, in 2014. These words are not the only thing they had in common. Both deaths, like thousands more, They are the product of deep-rooted racism and police brutality. And behind this is the structure of inequality and capitalist power. The structural racism of the capitalist State and its police forces is responsible for the death of George Floyd.
After the dissemination of a video that demonstrated police brutality, A protest movement has developed throughout the United States.. On its fourth day, actions were registered in at least 30 cities, including Washington DC, where a major mobilization forced the confinement and closure of the White House. A true rebellion is developing in Minneapolis and the State has deployed the National Guard and issued a curfew over the weekend.
The emergence of the black struggle on the scene and the development of a nationwide protest movement against police violence and racism is a fundamental event for the development of the class struggle.. Its importance transcends the borders of the United States. It is one of the great rebellions that have developed in an international framework opened by the pandemic. It is a preview of the struggles that will develop worldwide in response to growing misery.. It is part of the struggles that the working class has been developing., like the wave of strikes during the pandemic. It has the potential to open a new situation in the class struggle in the United States., strengthening the entire working class.
The State's response has been repression. The entire political establishment, from Trump to the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, They have come out to confront and criticize the protests. The first tweeted that the army was available to regain control, and that “when the looting begins, “The shooting starts.”. Frey, meanwhile, He said at a news conference Saturday morning that those protesting are not Minneapolis residents., but external people who seek to cause violence. It is the discourse that accompanies the repressive escalation. But from 1700 National Guard troops have been deployed in the city region, in the largest operation in the history of the state of Minnesota.
The depth of the structural inequalities of American capitalism, and its particular impact on African American and Latino communities, was once again exposed before the eyes of millions due to the pandemic. These communities are the hardest hit by Covid-19 cases and deaths, They are those who work in essential jobs and are exposed to poverty wages, They suffer racism and discrimination even in access to health, suffer the consequences of state disinvestment, and have the highest unemployment rates. police violence, poverty, low wages, lack of access to medical care, High-risk jobs are part of this systemic racism of American capitalism.
The Minneapolis metropolitan area and St. Paul is one of the most unequal and racially segregated in the country. Before the outbreak of the current economic crisis, unemployment affected 10% and poverty 32% of the black population of the “twin cities”, well above the national average. Segregation in urban space and in education is also very significant, the State that was the first to allow private schools with public financing.
This panorama can only be sustained through the exercise of systematic violence by the State towards the working class., the poor and African American and Latino communities. Police are trained to be brutal and to perform class and racial profiling. These are not isolated incidents. More of 1000 people a year are killed by police forces in the United States. In 2019 there was 1099 police killings. At 99% In most cases the police officers who committed these murders were not charged with a crime. This impunity guarantees the perpetuation of brutality. This structural violence is also related to systemic racism. African Americans and Latinos are targeted and harassed and are more likely to be victims of police violence and killings.
The protests have already achieved a first partial victory with the arrest and prosecution of Dereck Chauvin for murder. But this is not enough. The four officers who bear direct responsibility for Floyd's murder, as evidenced by video recordings from several cameras, They must be charged and convicted. further, The institution that produces these murderers should not go unpunished. To have justice for Floyd, and for all the murdered and harassed African Americans, we must dismantle the racist police. This institution exists to protect the interests of capital and forcibly maintain the inequalities that capitalism produces.. The fight for justice and against police brutality is part of the fight against the capitalist and racist system. The capitalist system produces and reproduces racism and racial oppression to sustain exploitation. That is why the fight against oppression must be combined with the fight of the working class and the people of the world against imperialism and the capitalist system., with the fight for socialism. With this perspective, From the International Socialist League we stand in solidarity with the rebellion in Minneapolis and throughout the United States and we call on the working class, youth, human rights organizations, the women who have been fighting against oppression, to accompany this fight for justice throughout the world.
