SAN FRANCISCO (LNS)—Black Panther Party Chairman, Bobby Seale recently reiterated his call for a United Front against Fascism in America. The United Front is to be inaugurated at a National Conference called by the Panthers in Oakland, Calif., July 18-20.
To this Conference have been invited representatives of groups across the country, not just radicals, but all who consider themselves “progressive” and who “take a firm stand against the development of fascism in America.”
Out of this conference the Panthers hope to see a network of local committees formed to fight fascism with concrete programs across the country.
In an interview with Liberation News Service, Seale emphasized that the United front was intended to be separate from the Panther Party and that it would not necessarily take the same revolutionary line that the Party takes.
“We’re not asking people to like our ideology,” said Seale, “The conference is not being called to debate ideology, it is being called to put forth a concrete program of cooperation to combat fascism in America.”
According to Seale, representatives of many different groups who do not consider themselves revolutionary have been invited to the conference. These include church groups, labor unions, and even representatives of black policemen’s associations.
Fascism, said Seale, is not a thing of the past. “People have to see that they can’t just identify fascism with some old garments that fascism wore in history or in some other country. People have to realize that fascism is right in front of their noses in new garments and they have to identify it and recognize it for what it is.
Fascism in America, said Seale, uses the “two weapons of demagogy and mass terror.” The demagogy is the business of the lying politicians, the terror the province of the police forces.
Both the police and the politicians are financed and managed by the “avaricious businessmen” working through the state and federal governments. “In every major city,” said Seale, “wherever there are masses of people who are beginning to use their democratic rights righteously to oppose the oppressive system—police departments have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled.” To oppose this growing fascism, maintains Seale, is the duty and interest of many groups besides the Black Panther Party.
“When we say community control of police, we’re talking about something that affects everybody. When we say the existence of political prisoners, we’re not talking about only how the courts affect black people. We’re talking about -the Mexican-American brothers too, and the Puerto Rican brothers and white people and poor white people. We’re talking about everybody:”
The United Front against Fascism is not intended as a front group for the Panthers, but a working organization in which a great number of people besides black people have an interest.
For the Panthers, the United Front represents to some extent, a new tactic, for in the past the Panthers have worked almost exclusively with radical groups.
“We’re not even going to be talking about the Party’s ideology,” concluded Seale. “We are going to be talking about constructive action against fascism which has developed in the police state here in America.”