Vol. 80/No. 15 April 18, 2016
SWP candidate backs fight to prosecute California cop
Accompanied by campaign supporter Anita Wills and this reporter, Hart traveled here March 30 to meet and express solidarity with those who have organized protests that forced the firing of Patrick Feaster, the cop who shot Andrew Thomas last November. Thomas died several weeks later and Feaster has been charged with manslaughter.
We visited the memorial to Thomas at the site on Pearson Road where Feaster shot Thomas as he was getting out of his car after it crashed. Both Thomas and Feaster are Caucasian.
Cop brutality is “a class question,” Hart told more than 50 students in two political science classes at Butte College near here. The rulers use cop brutality and their prisons to intimidate and punish working people, Black and Caucasian alike, Hart said. Police mottos such as “We Protect and Serve” refer to the cops’ duty to serve and protect the interests of the capitalist ruling class, not working people.
Instructor Jack Hames introduced Hart, explaining that members of the Socialist Workers Party had come from the Bay Area to Paradise before to support young friends of Thomas — including some in the classroom — and others who were protesting to get Feaster fired and indicted.
Hart said the Socialist Workers Party joins in the fight to win a minimum wage of $15 an hour, to support women’s right to choose abortion, to win union recognition for unorganized workers and to push back against cop brutality and killings. The fact that Feaster was fired and charged with manslaughter, Hart said, was an example of what is happening more often now as families and friends of many of those killed protest and put the spotlight on cop brutality.
“Keep the pressure on for a prosecution to the full extent of the law,” Hart said.
Hart explained the SWP’s revolutionary, anti-capitalist program and pointed to the example of Cuba’s working people and the revolution they made in 1959, overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. “We demand that Washington end its criminal embargo that punishes the Cuban people for their revolution and return Guantánamo,” he said.
A friend of one student challenged Hart. He said as an oil field worker, it would be “a slap in my face” if the minimum wage was raised to $15. He made $17 an hour until he was laid off, he said, and workers who hadn’t made the same “sacrifices” shouldn’t get paid nearly as much. He also attacked Cuba’s socialist revolution.
A vigorous debate ensued. “Wages are built from the bottom up,” Hart said, and millions of workers winning an immediate raise to $15 and organizing unions would advance the interests of all working people.
“Thank you all for taking the time to come up and really help inform us on the socialist platforms,” Elisa Bigham, one of the students active in the fight to indict Feaster, wrote to Hart after her class. “Thank you all for your support in fight for Justice for Andrew Thomas.” Eighteen students signed the note.
On March 31, Hart and Eleanor García, SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from California, joined 80 farmworkers from Washington state and Mexico and their supporters in a protest in Watsonville at the headquarters of Driscoll’s, a giant berry distribution company. Familias Unidas por la Justicia, the union that sponsored the action, represents farmworkers in Washington state fighting for union recognition, a pay raise and better working conditions. It has also organized activities in other cities in California and in Oregon (see On the Picket Line).
Hart and García both addressed the crowd, expressing solidarity with the fight.
“It’s not who you are against, it’s what you are for that matters” was the theme of Hart and García’s talks at the April 1 Militant Labor Forum in Oakland. García is on the ballot, listed as an “aerospace factory worker,” in the June 7 primary vote.
García pointed to the Familias Unidas por la Justicia protest in Watsonville, saying “everyone here should join one of the actions they are organizing.” She highlighted the importance of the farmworkers’ fight for “workers control of safety and conditions on the job.”
“You can see in these struggles people are trying to beat back attempts by the bosses to make workers pay for their crisis. That’s why even the small battles are important,” García said. “Fights are where workers learn and where they open up to new perspectives. It is only through struggle that men and women see their worth, and this is a perspective we offer working people and a reason to join the party.”
Related articles:
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Socialist Workers Party campaigns across Wisconsin against capitalism and its crisis
Join spring activities to build Socialist Workers Party
SWP Campaign
For $15 an hour and a union!
Cop account of killing of Jamar Clark ‘not true’
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