Why Made You a Revolitonary?

[La_revolucion_Vive]

My Conpaneros y guerrilleros... my question is what you think made you a socialist ...



My Companeros y guerrilleros... my question is what you think made you a socialist ...

If you ask me .. When i was a kid i saw everybody wanted to go to the USA. and i asked myself why.. why ppl keep leaving my island (Dominican Republic) to go there? so i started researching economy and i found that all countries in South the border are poor. and i saw something was wrong and that's how i found Che. and how he sac rife himself for his beloved south America.. before Che went to Bolivia he was going to take Dominican republic and start a revolution there. but that dictator we had at that time found and kill the Cuban revolutionary on the island.. i wish it be a different story today .. but oh wells

that's my reason why I'm a Left a guerrillero. these days is so hard to be a socialist because i live in the USA (not by choice but my parent brought me here following the American Dream..."bullshit" I'm not happy i wish i can get rid of being a American Citizen.... OK that too personal ... well that's what makes me a Revolutionary until Death.... my love for South American and too keep Che's dream of a united south America..

SO WHAT MAKE U A REVOLUTIONARY ? WHATS YOUR STORY ??

[rioters bloc]

why are you posting this in opposing ideologies??

[Columbia]

What made me a revolutionary?

King George III and his treatment toward the American colonies.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Originally posted by [email protected] 11 2005, 04:28 AM
What made me a revolutionary?

King George III and his treatment toward the American colonies.
I totally agree. I'm glad you are all abord with anti-imperialism now. All populations should kick out occupying troops and fight for self-determination.

I can't really boil it down to one thing that made me become a revolutionary. It was really a lifetime of a series of things which led me to think that there was something wrong with our leaders, governmet, and how society was organized. For example: my dad getting laid-off, not to mention my own, later, experiences in the working world - seeing the way people were treated by cops and the courts in my neigborhood - anti-immigrent racism in california really angered and radicalized me as well.

Also, moving from a smaller town to Los Angleses and being confronted with real inequality for the first time was also dramatic. Where I grew up everyone was at about the same income level more or less and I considered my parents "middle class" because we lived in a house. In LA I met people who I thought were extreemly rich and they described themselves as "middle clas" even though they owned multiple cars and huge houses in expensive neighboor hoods. At first I thought they were just crazy, then I worked for a family in Bel Air and found out what "rich" really was... and this family still has nothing on the Wal-mart "waltons". On the other hand, there were people living in my appartment building who were immigrents and they lived like 3 people per room in a two room appartment.

Despite all this, I wasn't really a revolutionary until I saw that people could actually do something about the structures that were hurting them. For me, this was the anti-globalization movement and being involved with that eventually made me beome more radical and eventaully a socialist.

[Columbia]

All populations should kick out occupying troops and fight for self-determination.

Whether you like the troops in Iraq or not (I personally believe in a time table that has a withdrawl by July 1, 2006) it was those troops which gave Iraq their self determination. There's now an elected government and the Iraq troops get stronger every day. It's not a simplicity that makes me say this, just common sense. There's a philosophy here at this board that says anything that happened after the coalition forces arrived "doesn't count". That can only be dertermined after they leave. But what will you say if, after they leave, the Irqi's keep in place the government they vote in in December and the army? How will you handle that? Do you honestly believe they'll say, "Hey, the Americans and UK forces left, now let's tear it all down and redo it."? Do you think that's what the citizens or Iraq would want and would demand?

[JKP]

Yes they would.

Iraq is three seperate countries; a blanket government is not going placate tensions- quite the contrary.

I would also like to add that recent surveys show that the overwhelming majority want the coalition to get the fuck out. In addition, more than 50% support the insurgency.

So much for democracy, eh?

[poetofrageX]

i agree w/ u JKP

Anyway, while i was in Ethiopia to visit some family, who are pretty rich by Ethiopian standards, i saw all of the poverty, and looked at my clothes and food and books, which made me seem rich by comaprison. Seeing all of those starving people disturbed me, but i didn't know that there was anything to be done about it until i read Animal Farm in 9th grade, and did all of the background reasearch on Communism nessecary to understand it. It interested me, I saw it as a solution to all of the poverty i saw in Ethiopia. And i started doing more reraserch than i actually had to for my english class. And my dad, who had been trying until then not to get me involved in Communism, saw me doing all of this reaserch decided to start telling me about Marxism, and his experiences as a memeber of an Ethipopian Marxist guerilla group. The rest is obvious, and here i am now, a Communist.

[JKP]

Your dad was a rebel fighter? Interesting.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Originally posted by [email protected] 11 2005, 05:10 AM

All populations should kick out occupying troops and fight for self-determination.

Whether you like the troops in Iraq or not (I personally believe in a time table that has a withdrawl by July 1, 2006) it was those troops which gave Iraq their self determination. There's now an elected government and the Iraq troops get stronger every day. It's not a simplicity that makes me say this, just common sense. There's a philosophy here at this board that says anything that happened after the coalition forces arrived "doesn't count". That can only be dertermined after they leave. But what will you say if, after they leave, the Irqi's keep in place the government they vote in in December and the army? How will you handle that? Do you honestly believe they'll say, "Hey, the Americans and UK forces left, now let's tear it all down and redo it."? Do you think that's what the citizens or Iraq would want and would demand?
Do you honestly believe our rulers will pull troops out of their own accord?

Imposed democracy and self-determination is not real democracy or self-determination simply for the fact that if it was not the people who created these things, then whoever did, could just as easily take it away. To say that a power like the US has any real intrest in granting other countries self-determination is just an absenthe hallucination! Why would the US be supporting coups in Venusula at the same time as granting self-determination to the Iraqis? Why is it that the rulers of the US get to decide who's worthy of democracy and who should have a military coup? Our rulers are only interested in control... democracy in Iraq is a bonus for them, not the objective. So they will allow democracy as long as the new government does not activily oppose the us in anything more than talk, hence that is not self-determination.

If we take your argument and apply it to the American Revolution, then the american revolution would have been just as justified if the French came in and installed new goveners in the colonies after kicking out the redcoats and wrote the constitution for us? No, the result would have been a French-style king in the colonies and then the french revolution wouldn't have been inspired by the American one and the old frech nobility would have stayed in power longer.

[Columbia]

Don't I wish the Americans wrote their constitution!!! You know that didn't happen that way.

The last time we wrote another nations constitution was Japan 1945. They're still using it.

Wonder why they haven't trashed it yet? Don't say because our cause was more moral in that case. I'm talking about why they didn't trash it after we left, or last month for the matter of that!

[JKP]

Because there was no sentiment to do so in Japan.

In Iraq there is.

Also you are comparing two very different societies with different objective material conditions.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Originally posted by [email protected] 11 2005, 05:56 AM
Don't I wish the Americans wrote their constitution!!! You know that didn't happen that way.

The last time we wrote another nations constitution was Japan 1945. They're still using it.

Wonder why they haven't trashed it yet? Don't say because our cause was more moral in that case. I'm talking about why they didn't trash it after we left, or last month for the matter of that!
Paul Bremmer wrote the rules that have governmend Iraq up until now. One of Bremmer's rules was that if you are an Iraqi working for an American company, you can not sue that company. Nice job. Nice self-determination and democracy for Iraqis.

I would like to see what your opinion on US policy towards Iraq vs. Venusuela is. If the US really cares about Iraqis, and wants to "give them" democracy (ignoring the facts that the US has frequently supported undemocratic regimes in the region as well as the rest of the world), why, at the same time, did it support a coup against a democratically elected leader in Venusuela? Why would the US rulers think that Iraqis deserve democracy while Venusuelans don't?

[guerrillero]

The book, Companero, Vida y muerte del Che Guevera really changed my political ideology.. Encouraged me to pursue further studies in politics, mainly those that affected and still today affect Latin America. Opened my eyes to the falts within Capitalism, Imperialism and what the US calls a democracy!

[Scottish_Militant]

The two “militant” elements I can trace in my family come courtesy of my Great Grandfathers on both my Mother and Fathers side. The latter was a militant Fife miner, details of his activity in the socialist movement only recently surfaced when I discovered a photograph of him in John McArthur’s “Militant Miners” book. On my Mothers side, my Great Grandfather was a Communist on Glasgow’s “Red Clydeside”.

His daughter (my Grandmother) had told me a lot of stories about him when I was younger, the one that stuck in my mind was during a visit of the future Queen Elizabeth to Glasgow. She was due to pass through their street in the Gorbals on parade, naturally people were lining the streets and hanging out windows waving Union Jacks and cheering. My Great Grandfather however, had told the family to close the curtains – not only that but they had made a red flag with a hammer and sickle and draped it from the window!

Of course I didn’t really understand the concept of socialism in those days, with my Grandmother being a ‘Catholic Socialist’ (quite a common thing on Red Clydeside) most of the information I got was well meaning, but confused with a heavily religious influence. This left seeds in my head however, and as I started to take a heavy interest in politics at the age of 15 I took great curiosity in the ideas of socialism. I bought some books during a visit to Glasgow, including the “Communist Manifesto”. This inspired me and I developed a thirst for Marxist theory. After reading Lenin’s “The State and Revolution” I felt comfortable with socialist ideas and considered myself to have a basic understanding of the fundamental principles of Marxism.

Coming from a strong Labour supporting family, and after discussions with many groups and parties through the internet I decided to join Socialist Appeal (British section of the International Marxist Tendency) and also the Labour Party. I came to consider myself a Trotskyist and on two occasions I attended socialist youth schools in Barcelona where I met and discussed with comrades from around the globe including Ted Grant, Alan Woods, Manzoor Ahmed and Esteban Volkov. This was a very enlightening period and I was enthusiastic to build and recruit. I became secretary of my Labour Party branch and was able to build links with a number of workers involved in industrial disputes at this time.

Latterly, I dropped the label of “Trotskyist” in favour of a more open “revolutionary socialist” tag, as I realised there were many Stalinists, Maoists etc that were very good people, people who I could get on with and relate to. It made me realise that there are many positives and negatives in all of the ‘categories’ of Marxism, and the sooner historical flame wars about Stalin and Trotsky were replaced by discussions on building for the future to fight for socialism and the defeat of imperialism the better.

As things changed, and as I myself have changed, I decided in July of this year (2005) to resign from both the Marxist Tendency and the Labour Party for reasons stated in my recent appeal to the socialist movement (http://freedom-is-slavery.blogspot.com/2005/07/personal-politics.html). As I am still only 21 I’m sure there will be plenty more experiences and events for me in the future, as I am unable to predict these this particular piece of writing will have to remain open for me to add to when things occur. Unless of course I get hit by a lorry…

I probably shouldn’t joke!

[Noah]

Basically..My dad was a communist guerilla in Iraq. When gulfwar one broke out he ran away because he got tipped off by a general, that they were looking to execute him. We came to england 14 years ago when I was about 3 months old.

When I got older, he told me about his stories in the guerilla group and about how the Baathists tortured his comrades. He then mentioned Che Guevara and told me about him.

This first thing I did was went out and bought 2 posters, a timeline and that really popular one with 9 pictures.

I started to read about him and communism and stopped buying the posters and the merch when I found about his cause.

It went on from there...my dad was critical for me to become left wing because he didn't want the same future, now he's doesn't mind.

[ComradeOm]

I read the Manfestio. It made sense.

[Loknar]

I believe Communism makes sense as well, I just don’t have faith in mankind to see that it is executed properly. If there was a choice between a perfect Communist utopia, and what I have now, I'd chose the Communist utopia any day.

Noah, I am curiously was your dad KWP?

[AfricanSocialCommunist]

What made me a Revelutionary is my nation, my father, my believe in justice and my absolute distrust in my leaders, my people, my nation.

My Father died in 1988, My Grandfather fought for and was a key members who united and ultimently overthrew the British and the Italian domination of Somalia. My Father was in fact a revelutionary, helping the coup that overthrew a capitalist nation in Somalia to set up a better nation for Somalia, and its people. However, once the new regime came into power, they quickly killed or elimanted any opponents and that was the end of the Somali Communist Party.

My Father realized that a Facist Regime came into power in the name of Socialist ideas, he sat quite for many years until the end of 1985, when he could not see all of these people suffer. He stood up and organized a small Party to reorganize a real Socialistic Party, which had good plans. My Father worked in many things, he was one of the many leaders of the of the organization and at the same time maintained his Generalship in the Army and the Air force of Somalia, which were poor and had no real power then. Seeing an opportunity, He excalated his role in the oragnization and became a Guerrilla Soldier, He wandered around the nation, which was unstable at the time and took every chance to spread Socialist ideals... Unfortunently, My Father was killed in 1988, 5 years later, The Facist Regime of Siad Barre, the leader of Somalia since the start of the 1970s was finally defeated thanks to people like my Father and many more brave young men, and leaders.

In the Spirit of My Father, I have inharited his traits. I follow current events in Somalia, and see horrible things happening. In March 2002, I started a Group named United Somali Front here in America, with plans to gain membership and spread a year later in Somalia and Collect members and Support there. I sad to say the Project failed, first, I had no one who was in any way politically minded in my camp, I found few people who were dedicated as me online but we lost contact after a while, and thus the end of that expiriment.

However, I did not stop there, now at the age of 18, I am starting to gather more steam to even do more, I am starting to formulate a plan for a possibility of a Guerrilla Warfare in Somalia and how to prepare myself, I am starting to read books that deal with Political Parties, how to start them, how to start a secret organization and so on. I have reached a point of no return, I feel like if I have to gain something I am going to have to lose somethings, and if I have to cancel any future capitalistic dreams out of my thoughts and second guessing myself I will in order to dedicate my life, my work and my dreams solely on Somalia.

In the Spirit of My Father, My People, Somalia and my agression against warlords and my wholehearted hatred for Capitalism, I will dedicate my life to freedom of Somalia and like Che' the Freedom of anyone who is trapped by Capitalism and the American Democracy.

So those are my dreams and that is why I am revelutionary.

[Loknar]

If those are your intentions you should have not said anything. Now American government agencies will keep track of you. You just shot your self in the ass.

[AfricanSocialCommunist]

ha ha ha, You have the same proplems as many leftist. You just can get it right when it comes to security. I doubt that the CIA or the FBI or anyone will waste thousands of money tracking some 18 year old who can't maintain his own survival in the capitalist. :D

Right now I have job and even though I don't like Capitalism, I am still pushged to get money for obvious reasons. Anyways, No one would waste money and personal to pursue me, I am hardly worth it for the US and anyone who seeks to kill leftist.

[Simotix]

Why do people say the FBI and CIA watch these boards?

[black magick hustla]

i am pretty sure they do.

I mean, revleft is the largest radical leftist community, after all.

[rioters bloc]

i became a revolutionary because i wanted to destroy stuff and smash shit up and adopting some kinda politics gave me justification to do so.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I'm a proletarian who gained class conciousness. My class origin & capitalism made me a revolutionary.

[Noah]

rioters bloc, you are an inspirational womyn!

[rioters bloc]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13 2005, 10:53 PM
rioters bloc, you are an inspirational womyn!
:D you just made my day

cheers, punk!

[Loknar]

Womyn.....and you wonder why men dont take the feminist movement seriously and make jokes like "get in the kitchen and make me some bean dip." If you woMEN were serious and said "we demand equal pay and treatement before the law..." ect...then we wouldnt make such a joke out of it.

[Zeruzo]

My parents are socialists, so i was raised socialist. Around the age of 15 i started studying marxism first i turned towards trotskyism beceause it is well... what communist turns to Stalin when raised in the west? :D (you keep hearing everyday how evil he was, you dont hear that of Trotsky so it's easier to defend Trotsky as a 15-year old...)
Eventually i started studying Stalin's achievements and works and turned Marxist-Leninist... Well thats about it, pretty boring compared to the rest...