San Francisco--- April 16 a small crowd of activists gathered in the Mission to protest civil rights violations, demanding prosecution of the people trying to get Ward Churchill fired for speaking out against Amerikan imperialism. Displayed around the area were large Ward Churchill campaign posters (1) along with signs reading "Fight for your civil rights" and "Amerikans, take responsibility for 9/11" as well as an old RAIL favorite, "Fighting Imperialism is not Terrorism." The activists collected petition signatures and handed out hundreds of flyers and newspapers.

The rally also featured speeches about the connections between attempts to take away Churchill's freedom of speech and repression against revolutionaries by the Amerikan government. In addition, a RAIL activist read some relevant excerpts from Churchill's writing, including the controversial "Some People Push Back." They also read a response to an interview question about the parallels between Manifest Destiny and the lebensraum policy of the Third Reich:

"Actually, the first person I'm aware of to make that connection was Adolf Hitler. He stated clearly in Mein Kempf that he did not take any of the old empires of Europe as the model for what he saw as the destiny of the German people. Rather he took the Nordic population, as he called it, of North America, who had had the 'strength of will' to exterminate an 'inferior' people and put their land to its own use, making of itself in fairly short order a continental power capable of projecting a global influence on the course of events."

At the rally this was put into the context of the current white nationalist uproar over Churchill's drawing parallels between the u$ and Nazi Germany. Clearly, the Nazis themselves saw the parallels. Instead, the fascists attacking Churchill are claiming genocide never happened in North America, while the liberals claim that all that messiness is in the past. On the contrary, the u$ was founded on genocide and the death toll only continues to rise to this day.

Later in the same interview Churchill addresses the issue of the white nation imposing blood quantums on First Nations, "What's a nation in terms of a racial code? There is no genetic structure that is Lakota, for example; Lakota is a political and cultural designation. But that's how they've indoctrinated Indians to think. We no longer have control over, or even common sense about, our own identity, not in terms of how our peoples always understood themselves in relation to their own society..." This same blood quantum question is now being used by amerikan nationalists to attack Churchill.

Also featured at the rally were songs from the likes of Immortal Technique, Tahir, WrossC and Mr. Lif, which variously dealt with 9/11 from the perspective of the oppressed, the struggle for free speech for revolutionaries during the War on Terror and the reactionary role of amerikkkan nationalism. The music was well received, drawing people into the protest to find out what was going on and even kept some around to dance. The message from these artists was consistent with our demands to hold the Amerikan government and Amerikan people, particularly the white nation, responsible for murder and exploitation both around the world and within u.s. borders.

The location of this rally is a place where a lot of poor and homeless Black and Latino people gather, in addition to seeing a lot of foot traffic from a diverse crowd of people. Many of these folks were interested in the campaign and happy to sign the petition. No stranger to civil rights violations themselves, the Mexican people passing by drew connections to their own struggles with the government, and the Black men saw the connection to prisons and repression as well. A few people hanging out in the area joined the demonstration for a while, helping to hold signs or listening to speeches.

The petition signatures gathered at this rally brought the Bay Area total to 610. After the rally several of the activists involved agreed to carry the campaign forward by holding regular protests every Wednesday for the next two months, with the goal of reaching a total of 1000 petition signatures. The protests will alternate between Berkeley and San Francisco, every other week with a schedule as follows:

April 20, May 4, May 18, June 1: 3-5pm, Mission and 16th St., San Francisco April 27, May 11, May 25, June 8: 3-5pm, UC Berkeley Sproul Plaza

We need help at these rallies to spread the word about this important fight for civil liberties. Contact us to pledge your involvement and sign up to join us on specific days.