It was very good to see the timely polemic from Annie Day on the #RejectAIPAC Campaign. There's a need to wage sharp, principled struggle with forces that have been taking important stands to stop this U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinians, but are taking—or being taken—down a wrong road. This is part of a larger fight that needs to be broken open throughout society over the nature of the problem we face—that the horrors and outrages we are facing flow out of a system of capitalism-imperialism, what that system is and why it cannot be reformed.

I was eager to spread this to people in the very organizations taking up this campaign so I looked up what was happening in my city this past week. I went to two events: a small protest focused on #RejectAIPAC and an interfaith gathering a few nights later. 

I got a chance to pass out the polemic and talk more deeply with some of the organizers and participants. I also passed out a flyer with excerpts from Bob Avakian's social media dispatches on the situation in Gaza, why Biden, and basically the entire government and ruling class of the U.S., is supporting Israel in carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people, before the whole world... and what a just solution to all this is. 

The people I spoke with are deeply agonizing about what is happening to the people in Palestine—and there was a profound sense of moral responsibility, to say “not in our name,” both as Jewish people and as people living in the U.S., with our government backing and funding this genocide. But people are pretty mixed up about the deeper reality of why this is happening—and there was an openness to have more serious debate and discussion about this. 

In the main, people were very appreciative that I came with the polemic—and appreciated that this was done in a spirit of unity, and struggle. One person commented they were glad I took the time to bring this to their attention, and there was a lot of curiosity about wanting to read it, and watch the video from The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show. Another person took several copies—not because they necessarily agreed with me—but because they think the debate itself is important.

No one I spoke with was a strong defender of this campaign. Some people said they agreed with me outright, and didn't go to the protest specifically aimed at AIPAC because they really don't think that's the problem. Others argued that this wasn't saying taking on AIPAC was all we should do—and shouldn't we target all kinds of people that are part of creating public opinion for this genocide? Several people argued that while they agreed with me, a campaign like this would provide more mainstream Jewish people who were not yet willing to give up on the Democratic Party an avenue to act. 

But no one understood the actual harm this does—and this was a point of struggle. Something like this—which is not just saying what we should do, but how we should understand the problem—ropes people back into working within the killing framework of the very system that is driving this genocide. I specifically and repeatedly wielded the quote from the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian, “If you try to make the Democrats be what they are not and never will be, you will end up being more like what the Democrats actually are.” 

Interestingly, a number of people I spoke with have more recently come to learn more deeply about the scale and history of war crimes carried out by this system, and specifically the Democratic Party. But there's not a clear understanding that this is driven by the needs and requirements of this system of capitalism-imperialism which the Democratic Party is part of enforcing. And while the people I talked with are also agonized about the danger of fascism, everyone I spoke with said they couldn't bring themselves to vote for Biden in this next election. 

This underscored exactly the problem with this campaign. There are lots of people who are beginning to question whether their interests lie with getting behind one or another ruler, but this understanding is still inconsistent and not really rooted in a scientific understanding of the system. So even when they get that they don't want to rely on the Democratic Party, they still end up getting roped back in objectively—working to “improve” or, as Annie Day says, to “rescue” the Democratic Party.

Another point of struggle was about the need to base ourselves on—and really fight for—the truth. This is in opposition to how so many people are trained to think in this society, “Well I agree with you, but we can't really say that because too many people aren't ready for that. And it'll alienate some of the people who should be taking a better stand around Israel.” 

This kind of “realpolitik” of just saying what you think people want to hear, or what you think will get ahead, is a big obstacle to people getting, and fighting for, a scientific understanding of reality. 

We need to understand—and fight for—what's true. And challenge the masses of people very broadly to understand—and fight for—what's true. Without that, they can't come to a conscious understanding of what the actual problem that we're facing is, and what we need to do about it. (And not telling them the truth is not actually principled, and assumes that the people can't themselves act on reality, but need a watered-down version of it.) This goes along with training people to think entirely on the terms of this system and what already is, in opposition to the fundamental, revolutionary change that's needed. 

A big part of the breakthroughs in the new communism that Bob Avakian has developed speaks exactly to these kinds of questions—and this was something I pointed to specifically with a couple different people in the discussions I had.

Another big point I got into with people was about what time it is and how the revolution we need is more possible. Several people had heard of Bob Avakian, but didn't know his work—and I encouraged people to follow him on social media, and especially listen to the playlist Real Revolution—In This Time: What the Powers-That-Be Don't Want You to Know. A couple people were especially intrigued by this, and eager to dig deeper—both into why we need a revolution, and how that revolution is actually possible.

We talked about what's coming to a head, with this whole society being ripped apart—and people were interested to hear there was a basis through all this to actually overthrow this whole system. And there was a desire to really hear the argument that BA is making.

This was just a beginning of spreading this polemic, and much more of this kind of thing is needed—polemics and breaking open the urgently needed debate over what is the problem, and what is the solution.