by Mike Ely

“Above all: Let’s consciously go for the whole thing. The change we want is about taking the accumulated wealth, technology, hard work, science, and connections of a complex global civilization — and finally (finally!) putting it into the service of us all, including the very least and previously powerless among us. It is about the voiceless suddenly speaking, and the wealthy suddenly becoming silent.”

From “It is five minutes to dawn and the wind smells like freedom”

In a world of profound economic crisis and war without end, the times cry out for a revolutionary new politics and direction.

Millions are realizing that radical solutions are needed.

For too long the Tea Party crackpots and militia racists were virtually the only audible voices that spoke to radical sentiments and needs.

Large parts of the previous Left felt trapped  — repelled by the ugly Right, pressured to chase “lesser evils,” unable to speak their deepest desires and dreams.

We need to forge an alternative to all of that.

This system is unfixable. It was founded in slavery and genocide. It is not possible for oppressed people to “take America back” — we never had it.

This system thrives day-to-day only through the exploitation in sweatshops, mines, agribusiness plantations and shantytowns all around the world. We don’t want a way back in.We don’t want a seat at that table.

The end of this world is the beginning of the new. Everything will change. How it changes is up to us.

We don’t support Obama, the president from Goldman Sachs.  We don’t want to whisper in his ear. Or be trapped by the politics of petty reform and repulsive business-as-usual — defined by drones,  wars,  unemployment lines, the corrupt rule of money, and deepening serfdom to corporations.

We don’t want tactical advice from liberal pundits on “how to appeal to Middle Americans.” We intend reach the people ourselves (especially the youth of ghettos,  barrios, campuses and high schools — including in “Middle America”) with a potent subversive message that won’t compute in the calculators of this system.

A serious, creative political break is needed. To throw our hearts into that, we have formed Kasama over the last three years.

Kasama is first of all a communist project.

By that we mean: The problems of humanity require communism –  a global change that passes through the radical overthrow of a society of rich and poor, the development of a socialist sustainability to save the biosphere, the liberation of women from ancient subordination, the final overthrow of racist oppressions in the U.S., the vicious demonization of same-sex relationships, an abrupt end to this militarized empire (its global networks of mercenary forces, its torture camps and endless  wars), the social takeover of monster banks and corporations — all of which requires radically new forms of democratic control by previously powerless people.

Humanity is now able to free itself from from the restless, soulless rule of capitalist profit making. If we succeed, we face the possibility of a new historical epoch of mutual flourishing.

We are seeking to contribute to this. Join us in this work.

For that reason, we are actively trying to put communism onto center stage — as a necessary goal, as a fresh idea, as something that defines what is done now and at each stage. And (needless to say) that is unacceptable (!)  to those bankers and empire builders who insist they are “too big to fail” (or who insist that their own enrichment is the necessary prerequisite for any economic motion.) And it is also often startling for the millions of people awakening to political life — and whose discontent and anger still not yet found a name or a goal to be its focus. We want to speak the words that need to be spoken.

We think this is especially important because it is insisted (on many levels) that no alternative to capitalism is possible — that any attempt leads to chaos, despair, disillusionment or a worsening of human conditions. This is fundamentally wrong and a lie: Without a radical departure from capitalism — toward a radical egalitarianism on a world scale, toward a destruction of oppressive empires and parasitic corporations — the future of humanity will be dark and bitter.

We believe like the famous closing words of the Communist Manifesto: The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the overthrow of all existing oppressive social conditions.

We are building Kasama to serve as a catalyst. We seek to build a clear communist and internationalist pole within a larger revolutionary movement.

For that Kasama has to be refreshingly new and shockingly revolutionary — in how we organize ourselves, in how we speak among the people, in how we understand the goals and means of revolution, and in how we engage the ideas of others.

Organizationally we are organized in  collectives  in several cities, and a number of non-geographic work groups (our  theoretical projects, common work on South Asia’s revolutions,  investigative/reporting work teams, and our moderator teams).

Our network is young. The road stretches out before us all. Join in.

Learning, listening, creating revolutionary strategy

At this point, there are two painful absences facing oppressed and discontent people in the U.S.: the absence of a clear revolutionary strategy for this moment and this society, and the absence of a creative determined revolutionary organization that can learn and lead. The whole point of forming our Kasama Project is to make a  contribution to filling those voids — by engaging in the deep waters of political action and revolutionary theory.

The project has expanded into a network of revolutionaries and collectives in many cities across the U.S.

Kasama intends to identify those fault lines where radical thought and action can emerge. We want to go deeply among the people to prepare minds and organize forces for revolution.

At the same time, much remains to be fleshed out.

Any real-life revolution  is a many-to-many engagement among diverse currents and interests, not a one-to-many assertion of authority and conformity.. It requires a deep engagement with the people and problems of this moment and a profound creative process involving those just awakening to political life.

An emerging revolutionary movement in the U.S. can’t be envisioned out of thin air or dictated by old formulas. It has to arise from that generation of serious young revolutionaries now emerging — stamped by their experiences and invention.

Put another way: One old socialist movement was famous for saying “the movement is everything the final goal is nothing.” Kasama says (by contrast) “the final goal is our start, the ways of moving there are still emerging for us.”

Help expand our new organizing and theoretical projects. Let’s reconceive as we regroup in the intensifying storm.

A politics that can learn and  create

This is a moment that demands some non-messianic humility from revolutionaries. We need a movement that can listen, as well as speak. Kasama strains to make real contributions. And there may be contributions that only we can make. But we expect much from many other people. And we expect to do much together with others.

We urge those eager to walk the road of revolution, to join us in igniting a fearless, open-eyed debate, discussion and engagement — and seek to build that into a creative frisson of new politics. We offer a space for this — our Kasama website. — and are eager to participate in the spaces (online and in the streets) that emerge.

We are seeking to actively  investigate and understand key revolutionary experiences around our world today. We have set aside time and effort to promote new theoretical explorations and thinking — within a left that is too often on autopilot. And we are trying to bring that with us as we dive into the deep waters of today’s emerging movements against mistreatment and capitalism in the U.S.

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