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Revolutionary Student Brigade Demos

By VVAW

WE WON'T FIGHT IN YOUR IMPERIALIST WARS!

"We Won't Fight in Your Imperialist Wars" -- "Superpowers! -Out of the Mid-East" were just two of the many banners and chants that led marches of hundred of students, workers, veterans and other people in 3 major cities. Two days of nationwide demonstrations were called, organized and led by the Revolutionary Student Brigade (RSB), a nationwide anti-imperialist student organization which is working in over 50 cities in the US.

The demonstrations were called to show the growing student movement's opposition to continued US intervention in the internal affairs of Indochina and the threat of impending war in the Middle East. Strongly emphasized at all the demonstrations was the fact that the US is not the only imperialist country in the world today. Imperialist powers have divided up the world amongst themselves in the scramble for profits. As the people of the world fight like hell to win control of their own countries, and the system of imperialism is in a deepening crisis, the imperialist must contend with each other, must re-divide the world in order to survive. The main contenders in the world today are the two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union. Both countries are pulling strings and applying pressure to the various Arab countries in the Middle East -- daily moving closer and closer to an all-out war in the oil-rich Arab states. While the oil found in the Middle East is not critical to either the US or the Soviet Union at this time, what is at stake is the economic control of the industrial countries of Europe and other highly developed countries like Japan -- all of whom depend on the Middle East for almost all their oil and petroleum products.

The major theme of the demonstration was: "WE WON'T FIGHT IN YOUR IMPERIALIST WARS," with the additional demands of "Superpowers! Out of the Mid-East -- Victory to the Palestinian People" and "Victory to the Indochinese People -- No Aid to Thieu & Lon Nol, Implement the Peace Agreement!" The demonstrations also assumed the character of celebrations for the recent victories of the national liberation struggles of the people of Vietnam and Cambodia.

The first in the series of demonstration was held Friday, April 18th, in Boston, Massachusetts when 600 people marched from Boston Commons, following a short rally, through the streets to within two blocks of where Jerry Ford, president and chief clown, was speaking. The predominantly Italian-American community of Haymarket Square, surrounding where Ford spoke, had been terrorized by police and FBI agents earlier in the day when the people of the normally busy community were forced off the streets and ordered to close their stores so the cops could turn the area into an armed camp. More than anything else the pigs feared that the people of the community would join with the RSB demonstration. RSB and other Boston groups had been doing a considerable amount of mass work in the community in preparation for the demonstration and had met with an overwhelmingly positive response from the people there. Unshaken by the massive police presence, the militant activities continued with a spirited rally following the march.

In Chicago on April 19th, 700 militant demonstrators marched through the downtown Loop area following a short rally the Chicago Civic Center. The march was punctuated by frequent stops to speak to and leaflet the thousands of Saturday afternoon shoppers in the downtown area. The people continued their march to the Federal Building where a rally was held with several speakers and cultural presentations focusing on the demands of the nationwide demonstrations. The demonstrators then marched back through the downtown area to the Chicago Civic Center where an effigy of imperialism was burned -- just as the real system of imperialism is being put to the torch by the people of the world. As the rally was breaking up, a handful of Chicago cops rushed from their nearby observation points to stomp out the burning effigy -- obviously mistaking it for one of the rich bastards they "Serve and Protect" (the lying motto of the Chicago P.D.)

Later the same day, 300 fired-up demonstrators, led once again by RSB, marched from Delores Park in San Francisco, through the downtown area where a militant rally was held with speakers from RSB, and other groups that supported the actions in the Bay Area. Around the country the actions were supported by groups including VVAW/WSO and the Revolutionary Union. In addition the Iranian Students Association brought out large, fiery contingents to the demonstrations in Chicago and San Francisco. The celebration of the victory of the Indochinese people was a major rallying point and source of militant organizing for the Bay Area demo.

Aside from the overwhelming success of the demonstrations, they were an important milestone in the history of the RSB and the growing anti-imperialist student movement. In their first nationally coordinated days of demonstrations, hundreds of students new to the struggle against imperialist were brought out to the demonstrations as a result of the consistent day-to-day work in the local chapters of RSB around tuition hikes, educational cutbacks, and the presence of military recruiters and ROTC on campuses. The RSB, in their struggles, are forging unity -- the unity and solidarity of a fighting student movement which is linking up to the struggles of veterans, GIs, working people and the revolutionary movements of the people of the world in our common struggle against imperialism.

For more information on the Revolutionary Student Brigade, contact: RSB National Office, P.O. Box A3423, Chicago, Illinois 60690.