Chicago, February 2—More than 70 anti-racist students and community members converged on the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in opposition to the school’s speaking invitation to white supremacist Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former chief strategist.
Progressive Labor Party comrades were there to point out Bannon’s role in the context of rising fascism, and to offer revolutionary communist struggle as the only way to crush the capitalist system that creates racist scum like Bannon and his old boss.
Attack All Fascists, Head On
On the steps of the business school, leaders of various organizations emphasized that efforts against racism and sexism needed to go beyond the immediate struggle against Bannon. Speakers addressed the University of Chicago’s racist history of displacing surrounding residents through gentrification (see box).
PLP members held signs reading “Make Racists Afraid Again” and “No Free Speech for Racists” and joined in chants of “Say it loud, say it clear, fascists/Nazis are not welcome here.” About a dozen participants took CHALLENGE and the majority welcomed our presence in the march and rally.
One comrade approached a dozen fascists who were being protected by a line of kkkops across the street from the protest. This comrade went against the grain and sharply attacked their racism head-on. Our Party confronts racists because ignoring them will not aid us in our fight against the capitalist bosses’ increasing fascism. In fact, the liberal response of ignoring racist, fascist hate speech, in the name of some ludicrous “moral high ground,” has only led to more university appearances by gutter racist speakers nationwide, along with a sharp spike in violent crimes against Black, Arab, Latin, and Asian workers.
Capitalist ”Free Speech” Benefits Only the Bosses
University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer claims the institution stands for free speech for all. But when a group tried to deliver a petition to him opposing Bannon’s invitation, Zimmer showed a lot less interest in engaging with the petitioners than he had with Professor Luigi Zingales, the fascist collaborator who initiated the invitation. The racist capitalists back free speech only when it pits working-class people against one another and reinforces the rulers’ political agenda of dividing and exploiting the entire working class. Communists, on the other hand, value only speech that has scientific and objective merit, and is used to support the interests of the international working class.
Sharpening Future Struggle
After a brief march that included taking over an intersection, the group met at a local church to strategize plans for the next action. PLP comrades called for encircling and confronting racist counter-protesters at any future action. We also proposed that the march continue to take place in low-income, working-class Black neighborhoods on the periphery of this elite university, rather than downtown. A comrade joined other attendees in pointing out the importance of focusing the protests on the Black and Latin working class, as these workers are the primary targets of the racist and sexist attacks that are provoked by fascist mouthpieces like Bannon. Although the anti-racist struggle needs to be able to engage workers in downtown Chicago as well, it was telling that some liberal organizers placed a higher priority on bringing the struggle to this wealthier area.
Going further, a veteran comrade stressed the potential worldwide effectiveness of stopping Bannon here. The comrade cited a 1985 PLP action at Northwestern University, where comrades threw red paint on Adolfo Calero, the murderous Nicaraguan Contra leader. This comrade also pointed out the inverse relationship between the strength of the anti-fascist movement and the eventual strength of the fascist state. As we prepare for revolution, we are saving the lives of millions of workers. What you do counts!
We also said the problem was much broader than Bannon or Trump, and that racist oppression worsens under liberals like Barack Obama. We must fight the entire capitalist system.
The Party will continue working with these students as we broaden our appeal to workers citywide to fight fascists like Bannon and the capitalist class that protects him. Stay tuned!
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The Racist and Imperialist History of the University of Chicago
In 1857, the University’s founding endowment was donated by a notoriously cruel slave owner named Stephen A. Douglas. The ten acres of land from Douglas were drenched in the blood of Black slaves from Africa.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the University funded racially restrictive covenants which prevented property sales to Black buyers. The Chicago Defender reported that “many of the real estate owners in that area refer to restrictive covenants as ‘the University of Chicago Agreement to get rid of Negroes.’”
The University was home to arch-imperialist economist Milton Friedman, whose deadly policies of neoliberal capitalism were taught to a generation of Chilean ruling-class agents. “The Chicago Boys,” as they were known, piloted Friedman’s policies during the fascist rule of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), when countless working-class lives were destroyed through political repression or widespread privatization of the economy (Nation, 9/21/16).
UC’s siege of gentrification and displacement remains relentless to this day—most recently in Woodlawn, a working-class Black neighborhood just south of the University. Breaking an understanding that it would not build south of 61st Street, the University is expanding by building a new charter school and the Obama Presidential Center, among other projects.
After 25 years of protests demanding a trauma center to serve the South Side, the University is finally opening a trauma center at the medical school. For years, many workers have died needlessly from this blatantly racist disregard for their lives (The Chicago Maroon, 9/15/17).