Indigenous Day: Defeat nationalism with communist internationalism

NEW YORK CITY, October 10—A multiracial group of antiracists and Progressive Labor Party members helped organize a march today, Indigenous People’s Day at Columbus Circle. The main contradiction in this movement is nationalism versus working-class consciousness. We must reject unity on the basis of the concept of “race” and unite on the multiracial basis of our class, the working class. PLP members within this movement are struggling with friends and fighters to win them to this communist outlook.
Struggle inside the mass organization
The organizing committee was made up of Palestinian, Asian, and Colombian workers,  three of whom have indigenous roots. The initiative arose after an educational activity on ecology and politics in which we decided to focus on the struggle of indigenous workers and at the same time connect it with the environmental destruction.
In the organizing meetings, we addressed the capitalist interests that value nothing more than economic profits and that unleash imperialism, devastating extractivist projects. It was also discussed how so many other workers—indigenous, Black, Latin, Asian, white—suffers from the exploitation of the ruling class and the inhuman and destructive pursuits of capitalism.
New York City invests millions of dollars a year to protect Columbus Circle and the statue from the so-called “discoverer” of America. The country of the U.S. is made possible by the genocide of indigenous workers, enslavement of Black workers, and the servitude of white workers.
Workers here are mobilizing to change the holiday of Columbus Day and recognize it as the Day of the Indigenous People. In other countries, such as those of South America, October 12 is recognized as the International Day of Race or Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity.
But make no mistake—those countries aren’t any less racist against indigenous workers. Workers needs state power, not symbolic empty gestures. Only a communist party, PLP, can achieve that.
A sexist tradition is a sexist tradition
After chanting, we continued with a teach-in for which, despite the rain or thanks to it, we had an audience of 40 people. The first speaker told us about the need to take care of some traditions of indigenous communities as well as the environment. He also emphasized on the importance of connecting with nature and developing a different relationship with “mother earth.” The romanticization of indigenous culture exempts them—wrongly—from criticism and analysis. Today, one such tradition was exposed for its sexism.
During the ride to Randall's Island to join another Indigenous People´s event, each chant was multiracial and international. The march joined a cultural celebration. There, a PL’er who also volunteered for the event, suffered discrimination because she was a woman. The culture of this indigenous community bases this sexist discrimination on sacred and spiritualistic aspects of its tradition. But this is capitalist crap! Under no circumstances do racist and sexist practices of any kind have a basis and reason for being. That is why as a working class we have to continue fighting to abolish capitalism, the source of these divisions.
Workers must own what we produced
When we marched towards the subway station, we kept the doors open so we could have free access to a public service. “Whose streets? Our streets! Whose train? Our train! Whose bus? Our bus!” Public services—actually, all needs—should be free. Under communism, all worker needs would be met by us, the workers.
In addition to chants like “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! This racist system has got to go”,“ Who has the power? We have the power!” there were three short speeches in English and Spanish, one of them by a communist friend who described October 12 as the date that “symbolically constitutes the beginning of a political-military occupation that resulted in extermination of more than 80 million people and the slavery and forced displacement of another hundreds of thousands.”
Communist spirit
The last speech was by a PL’er, who spoke openly of her commitment to "overcome the dark night of capitalism and colonialism" and of the need for communism to solve the environmental crisis and racist discrimination. "We [working class] need to [smash this] profit-driven system so that we can survive as a species," In capitalism, “we are pitted against each other and against the planet that nourishes us ”.
A PL’er shared with us the CHALLENGE editorial (9/8) about the racist treatment of Haitian refugees.  This reminded us that the struggle for liberation and solidarity for our class is the same across the globe. The working class has a natural interest in unity—unity for equity, dignity and respect for our labor power. In every situation, communists struggle to demonstrate their love for the working class. We know that capitalism will be defeated and a communist world will prevail, where workers fight together for their common class interests. PLP is committed to doing that and bringing the best out of every individual with communist spirit.

****
SPEECH FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE´S DAY
I join you today as a member of the Progressive Labor Party, as a communist, who is committed to overcoming the dark history of colonialism and capitalism. We need to overcome the oppression of a profit-driven system so that we can survive as a species and so that we can continue with some of the qualities that make us worthy of survival. So much of what made humanity strong and beautiful has been lost to individualism and the placement of profit above everything, and it is killing us. Capitalism is always hungry for more resources to exploit—both from the earth and from us—and cannot tame itself enough to allow us to heal.
The so-called progress of capitalism has marched side by side with death in the form of war, colonization, industrialization, and the destruction of our interconnecting ecosystems and human relations.
Under capitalism, we have been turned against each other, so that our relationships are combative and monetized. [Capitalism has] turned against the planet that nurtures us.  It is good to get rid of the monuments to colonizers and murderers. It is good to have land acknowledgements. But what we need is a transformation, a revolution, that brings a new era without domination.
We cannot go back, only forward, and I have staked my commitment to communism—to a society in which people work together, as family, unifying humanity and restoring balance to a world that has been torn apart. And so in this struggle, I stand with you.
If the best parts of humanity are to survive, we must come together and end the destruction that is capitalism. I stand with you to honor our [working-class] ancestors by building a world that overcomes borders, nurtures the best in each of us, and heals the wounds from which we collectively suffer.
So let us celebrate our [predecessors] while we build toward something better—a world that honors [our class]. The Progressive Labor Party looks to a better future with you.