 Andrew Castro |
The following is a presentation from the April 19 “Capitalism Is
Organized Crime” conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by the PSL.
Good afternoon comrades,
My
name is Andrew Castro, and I am a candidate member of the Party for
Socialism and Liberation here in D.C. As a candidate member of the PSL, I
have begun a six-month program that all new members go through to help
them learn the PSL’s political program and what it means to be in a
revolutionary party in the United States.
Let me share with you my story and the reasons why I joined the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
When
I was in high school in San Francisco, before I became radicalized, I
was socially conscious and volunteered in soup kitchens and homeless
shelters in what is known as the Tenderloin district. The Tenderloin is
one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. This experience made me
begin to question the systemic causes of poverty. I witnessed the class
contradictions inherent in this economic system and knew that
eliminating the oppression of the working class would require radical
change.
It was not until college that I began to get more
involved in the struggle for revolutionary change. When I entered my
junior year, I co-founded a Marxist student club on campus with the
intention of building a conscious and active student body. The club held
several educational workshops and led a few campaigns, including a
Killer-Coke campaign that succeeded in ending a virtual monopoly of
Coca-Cola beverages in our campus dining halls, vending machines and
bookstore.
A few months prior to the March 17, 2007, March on the
Pentagon, I learned about the ANSWER Coalition and its leading role in
mass anti-war mobilizations. It was at this period when I had my first
contact with members of the PSL when they came to speak on my campus
about the mobilization. For that demonstration, I was able to rally a
contingent of approximately 15 students from my college to challenge the
U.S. War Machine.
On the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion
of Iraq, I volunteered to be a part of the security team at the San
Francisco ANSWER mobilization, and then this year, on the sixth
anniversary, I volunteered for outreach in the months leading up to the
March 21 demonstration, and then did security on the day of. From my
involvement in these mobilizations, I have learned the important role
that the PSL plays as a member of the ANSWER Coalition in giving
leadership to struggles against imperialism, racism, sexism, anti-gay
bigotry and the economic exploitation of the working class by the ruling
class.
I hope everyone has taken full advantage of today’s
opportunity to learn more about the ills of capitalism, about class
struggle and how we can all build momentum for revolutionary change. I
strongly urge all of you to talk to a member of the party, to read our
publications, to visit PSLweb.org, and—most importantly—to consider
joining the party and becoming a candidate like me.
