The war was waged on the people a long ass time ago, we didn’t ask for it and we sure as hell do not deserve it. The most clear aggressor is the pig. The pig that patrols our hoods and shoots our children. Last night 10 to 11 pigs were shot in Dallas, Texas and 5 of them were slaughtered (at a mass demonstration against the systematic murder of black people). The system’s tears start to flow right away, but over here we shed no tears for dead pigs. This week alone the pigs killed four unarmed black people, so our thoughts and prayers go to them and to their families—not to some damn pigs. We have enough to cry about right here in the conditions of poverty and struggling to get by. We can shed tears for those locked up, for those cut down by drugs or drug/gang violence, for those who are sick and can’t get treatment, and most especially for those killed in cold blood by the very same pig forces that the news tells us to “mourn” or “come together and heal” around.

We are for coming together and we are for healing—with each other and not any damn pig. In fact, we see the dead pigs in Dallas as nothing—they are lighter than a feather. They did not die in service to the people, in fact they died opposing the people, armed with guns against the people and pepper spraying the people (as they do in many cities, from Ferguson, to Baltimore, to right here in Austin). They died in the service of white supremacy and capitalism, and that doesn’t mean a damn thing. What is a pig? A pig is an armed agent of the ruling class (mostly white rich people), which started out as a slave catcher and a strike breaker, functioning to this day to make sure all poor people—black, brown, and white, never get out of line and pose a threat to those rich white people. We don’t want pigs in our community, and more than that, we don’t need them.

Lots of sell-out activists in the anti-police brutality movement will sit up in their nice house and tell us we better mourn for a god damn pig. They are comfortable enough in their class to not have to deal with what we do, they forget where they come from. They became professionals and in that process started to forget about these streets and what it’s like out here. They got a lot and what do we have? Nothing. We cannot speak to the motive of the shooter in Dallas but what we will say is this: When pigs spend their time killing black people, it’s no surprise to us that sooner or later someone is gonna shoot back. The people are hurting and cornered and forced to shoot back.

We should also say that while we will never lose sleep over a damn dead pig, that these types of actions are not in and of themselves any type of solutions, they do not protect us from the pigs and can only be understood and empathized with as revenge, or at best the start of people fighting back, people trying to get a little justice. Fighting back against the pigs is anyone’s right and we cannot judge them for taking hold of their rights. We can say it’s not a winning tactic. We had nothing and after this we still ain’t got shit.

Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong once said, “Without a people’s army, the people have nothing.” We need to really understand this. The rich have their army, and it’s not only the pigs but the military too. The military is made up of mostly poor people recruited because they had nowhere else to go—they are manipulated or forced to kill other poor people in other lands. The rich have their army for fucking with the poorest countries in the world and they got their pigs for fucking with the poorest people in this country. So what do we poor and working-class people have to protect us? Right now we have nothing. The best we can do is get shot or bombed to death on some suicide mission, with our kids still getting locked up and shot in these streets. The pigs still walk around comfortable.

So what is a people’s army? First of all it’s an army not only composed of, but also in service of, the people. The people’s army is not a normal standing army that only focuses on military drills. A people’s army works alongside the people themselves. Think of the people’s army as radical, armed, and militant social workers, as red soldiers who study politics and sharpen themselves to be the front guard in this war waged by the pig system against the people. No fucking pig on earth can stand up to a true people’s army—the people’s army is invincible. Why we say this is simple: the people’s army loves the people and loves liberation and true freedom and equality, and these are the things they fight for. They do not fight for some fucking paycheck or some bullshit notion of “America,” which is just a damn plantation-prison to begin with. A people’s army is huge masses of people joining together, as what must be done cannot be done by only a few well-meaning troops or individuals.

Without actually having power over our lives and over our communities we can talk all day and get nowhere. Everything but people power is an illusion, and if we want power as a people and as a class then we have to start seriously looking at what we have to do to establish a people’s army. A people’s army might take us a long time. In the mean time we gotta get organized and take control of these streets. We gotta start talking real serious about forming community forces that can protect one another from crime and the pigs alike, and in the process form such organizations. We need to turn our hoods into no-pig-zones and live by the slogan “Act like a pig, get treated like a pig!”

There are organizations in this city and others that seek to build a radical new world and build the kind of revolutionary party that is capable of leading such a long term battle, and we encourage our readers to get involved, to help and build this new type of party. We start modestly by serving the people but it cannot end there. We need a revolution and to get that we need a party, a people’s army, and a united front of any organizations that are down to ride with the people against the enemy capitalist system.

We are all already at war as poor people in this rich man’s system. Let’s start acting based on that reality and with no deadly delusions of anything else. If you think like us and feel like it’s time to fight back, sign up, show up, and get involved with building this damn revolution before it’s too late.

Live from the police state on July 8, 2016,

Serve the People – Austin