Rev Left Radio - Showing Solidarity: In Support of a Comrade in Need

Episode Date: October 17, 2021

Venmo: @grttbnb (name on the account is "Roger Bane") CashApp: $Fight4JusticeNow   Thank you so much!

Hello everybody and welcome back to Rev Left Radio. So this is just a quick little micro episode fundamentally to help a friend in need. Before I get to that, though, I do want to mention because I haven't had the opportunity to do a full episode on this, and I plan my episodes weeks, if not a month out. So who knows when I'll get around to actually covering this more systematically, but we are in the middle of a pretty unprecedented strike wave here in the United States. The Kellogg's workers, for example, recently went on a strike here in Omaha, and that strike caught on to plants around the country. You have the John Deere strike.

You have McDonald's workers striking, I think, in Wisconsin under the fight for 15 flag, and many more. There is this shift in the wake of the pandemic and the economic chaos and the supply chain issues toward leveraging power more in the direction of labor. and labor overall seems to be rising to the challenge. These strikes are a really beautiful thing to see. And I just wanted to send my solidarity and love to everybody out there. If you're on the left, if you're involved in an organization, going out to the picket line, showing support, anything like that is helpful, boosting the message,

donating to some of these strike funds helps. They're all over online. my friend Mel is doing great work on this as well she's on she's on Twitter she's been a guest in the show many times and she often is talking about the Kellogg Strikes and plugging some of those strike funds etc so definitely help out in whatever you can even if that's just getting the message out and we want to see more of this we've lived in you know 40 years

of just brutal right-wing neoliberal corporate domination and right now the left is getting back on its feet and labor is getting back on its feet and it's a beautiful thing and the left should be showing unequivocal support for these strikes so that these strikers whose politics run the gamut I'm sure from right to left and everything in between but they see that it is the left that is the most vociferously on their side and the most, you know, in their corner when it comes to this stuff, whether that's on the ground, joining the picket line, donating to the strike fund, boosting the messages, whatever it may be.

It's really important to show that solidarity at this moment. But the main point of this quick little episode is to support a close friend and comrade in need. I cannot go too much in detail because of an ongoing, basically, legal issue, and there is some concern about various things. I just can't go into it, so I can't be overly detailed. But suffice it to say, a former guest of this show, a friend of mine, a genuinely good, dedicated, long-time comrade in the struggle on the left, has been recently brutally attacked, harassed, doxed by proud boys, neo-Nazis, right-wing hit groups, etc. To the point where he is now basically his job has put him on unpaid leave as they are moving possibly toward firing him completely.

This is somebody who absolutely loves his job and is being targeted solely for his political beliefs. It's absolutely disastrous and heartbreaking to watch him and his wife go through this. They have Nazis hanging out in front of their house 24-7. and they cannot go on a walk or drive anywhere without being harassed and followed. I've even heard that, you know, when they go into their car to drive anywhere, they're immediately followed and have even attempted to be driven off the road. And they have successfully, basically, you know, rallied the right to such an extent, focusing on his job that they've stripped him of his employment at right at this time.

He's on unpaid leave. so he's him and his wife have basically cut all expenses to make sure they can keep their house so that's what that's what they're going through right now is just trying to make sure they don't lose their house even if they lose their job and everything else so i reached out to him and said he didn't reach out to me i reached out to him after following his story and said can we use our platform at rev left to help out and he seemed very thankful for for that. He did say you can't get too much in detail because of some legal situations. His attorney is advising not to be too public facing with the fundraising campaign because that in and of itself can then

become the target of this really concerted toxic effort by the neo-Nazi right and the fascist right to just undermine everything he's doing. And really to destroy his fucking life simply and solely for the fact that he is an outspoken anti-fascist and an outspoken Marxist. And when something like this happens, we have to show community. We have to show that the left has the backs of other people on the radical left, especially when they're the target of either state violence or fascist violence. We cannot let our own comrades struggle through an incredibly life-changing traumatic experience without showing some solidarity and support back.

Now, luckily, he does have some good friends, some good comrades, and some organizational help in the locality out of which he lives. So he's not completely left alone at the local level. But nationally, because he hasn't been able to come out publicly because of the legal concerns and the safety concerns for his family, he hasn't had a lot of national support. And I think if this story was picked up broadly on the left, And the entirety of the details were laid out, the support would be pouring in.

And I really wish I could be more specific with what exactly is happening to him and why it's happening. And if I was, I think people would be mobilized immediately to help. But, you know, from the bottom of my heart, take my word on this. This is a good comrade, a friend of mine, a former guest on this show, and is in real dire need of base. help. And so with that in mind, I will be plugging in the show notes a Venmo and a cash app through which you can help this friend, even a couple dollars. Just allow them to create a savings, allow them to pay off their bills, allow them to have a little cushion for when the job is looking like it probably will be taken away, is taken away. In the meantime, he's

an unpaid leave. So, you know, the irony is in this society, a police officer can murder somebody on camera and get paid leave, but somebody whose job it is to inform a community and to help people is on unpaid leave simply because he was the target of a cynical far-right campaign and his political alignment, i.e. anti-fascist and Marxist, was leveraged against him to get him out of his job. and he gets on unpaid leave for that. So we have to have each other's back. We have to support a couple dollars.

I'm not asking you to empty the bank account. I'm saying if five percent of everybody listening to my voice right now donated a dollar or two, that would be a huge positive impact in his life and show him that where one of us are under attack, all of us are under attack, and we come to our comrades' aid, even if we don't fully know the story.

so that's my plea to you please help out the the two links the Venmo and the cash app will be in the show notes it goes to a genuinely good comrade in sincere need of real help and in the future once the legal situation is all wrinkled out i would love to have you know him on the show to talk in detail about what he's going through because it is absolutely fucking brutal but until then I have to remain very vague about the specifics just to protect him and to abide by the advice of his attorney so stay tuned for the future if we do get the chance to lay out more details we absolutely will

but in the meantime any help is needed a couple dollars goes a long way and I know that some of you out there are willing to rise to the challenge and help out so I don't do this often I never come to use this platform as a way to crowd fund except in those cases where it's truly needed

and there's real desperation behind the situation. I do not take this platform for granted and I do not take advantage of it. So when I come to you saying that there is somebody in need of help, you can bet your ass. They are somebody who is a good human being who genuinely need some help. So I'll end it there.

hopefully we'll do more episodes on the union strike pay close attention to how that plays out and if you have a couple extra dollars laying around shoot it to the Venmo or the cash app in the show notes love and solidarity