Link Arms Against Racism and Raise the Call Against Imperialism!

ILPS US links in solidarity with the recent protests by professional athletes against racism, police brutality, and the openly white supremacist politics of US President Donald Trump.This growing waves of resistance, initiated by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the US National Anthem, represents a rupture in the carefully managed landscape of patriotic American culture. In a courageous show of solidarity, players, coaches, and staff across the NFL, WNBA, NBA, and MLB have engaged in highly visible demonstrations on the field. Instead of silencing dissent, Trump’s offensive threats that protesting athletes should be fired have only multiplied it. Hostile capitalist bosses like Trump completely disregard the historical fact that it is the workers who built this country, and it is the workers who can tear it down and build a new society. The world of American sports, which has traditionally served as a propaganda platform for the US military and corporations, is proving to be a powerful, far reaching platform for resistance against a government which attacks its own people. We should be cautious of these protests being co-opted or watered down by the participation of the sports team owners, some of whom even donated to the Trump campaign.The protests of professional athletes have historically marked critical points in US and world politics and inspired many to join the struggles against racism and imperialist war. The 1968 Mexico City olympics, where Tommie Smith and John Carlos iconically raised their fists in the Black Power salute, as well as Muhammad Ali’s famous statements against the Vietnam war (“No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger”) represent important moments of international solidarity.These demonstrations in the world of sports correspond with ongoing people’s struggles against police brutality in the streets of cities across the US, such as St. Louis, where police brutally repressed protests regarding the non-indictment of a white officer who killed a black man, then claimed self defense. Upon inspection, only the officer’s DNA was found on the pistol supposedly carried by the victim, leading many to believe the weapon was planted.ILPS US applauds all participating in these historic protests in the face of repression and calls on peoples and communities across the US to raise their critique of President Trump and police brutality to a critique of the United States as a whole, a nation built on genocide and slavery, dedicated to the imperialist domination of the entire world. As the athletes demonstrated, the only way to challenge a deeply entrenched oppressive system is by oppressed people standing in solidarity with each other and fighting for a new world!Join ILPS in the fight against imperialism for a brighter future, click here to learn more.