Against racism worldwide!

Once again, an African American has fallen victim to police violence in the United States. George Floyd, 46, while under the pressure of a police officer’s knee, kept repeating, “I can’t breathe.” According to a restaurant video camera a policeman knelt on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The cameras showed that Floyd had been completely lifeless for the past 2 minutes and 53 seconds.

The anger caused by George Floyd’s murder by the police quickly led to an uprising in various American cities. Several similar cases have occurred in the city of Ferguson, including the murder of Eric Garner in 2014. At the time, this had also led to widespread riots and protests that lasted for weeks.

This time, however, the incident sparked much larger protests, against this racist and brutal police action, with far more outrage. Above all, George Floyd was not armed and there was no resistance to the police. Floyd’s murder took place in a bright street and in front of pedestrians. The incident was precisely recorded by a surveillance camera and a photo camera. Less than a week afterwards, at least in thirty cities in America, not only demonstrations and protests broke out, but protesters opposed, President Trump’s armed forces.

The active presence of many white people in this demonstrations, visible in films and photos, is impressive. This is due to the fact that Floyd’s alleged “crime” was said to have been shopping with a fake $ 20 bill. In the current situation, in which millions of people in the USA have become unemployed and are at risk of starvation and poverty, Floyd had also lost his job as a result of the Corona crisis. This had provoked a solidarity response in the large crowd.

In a place marked by systematic and work-related racism, which creates unemployment and hunger through the capitalist system and burdened at the same time with the threat to our life’s through the corona pandemic, many social classes and working classes lack the basis for existence. People will start to defend themselves, when they can no longer “breathe”.

Today, the capitalist system shows it’s ugly and racist face clearer than ever. The only solution to oppose this destructive system is to show solidarity and fight against the whole system. This struggle is no longer just strives to achieve better living conditions, but for millions of people this struggle is a requirement to be able to exist at all.

 Down with racism – down with capitalism

Long live international solidarity

Abroad committee Organization of Fadaian (aghaliyat)

May 31 2020