On January 9, a 21-year-old anti-ICE protester was shot in the head by a federal agent during an anti-ICE protest in Santa Ana, CA, reported anti-imperialist organization Dare to Struggle (DTS). Protesters had surrounded the local federal building when ICE agents charged at the crowd, shooting the protester and arresting another.
The protester, Kaden Rummler, was shot at point blank range by State forces. One other protester was arrested. While Rummler was shot with a so-called “less lethal” bullet, he was forced to undergo heavy surgery and permanently lost vision in one eye.
After the shooting, Rummler was detained by federal agents overnight and refused time-critical medical care that could have saved his eye. “They dragged this person bleeding from their face into a building where they were held overnight,” said DTS in a statement.
The bullet nearly struck Rummler’s carotid artery. “It’s going to affect every aspect of my life,” said Rummler in an interview with ABC News.
As of writing, Rummler continues to face mounting medical expenses as he recovers from State-inflicted injury. Support fund for Rummler can be found here.
Repression and violence against the masses of Santa Ana is not unique. Numerous video and photographic evidence depicted ICE’ complete disregard of US laws that it claims to defend. More than 3,000 people have been arrested in “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota alone, as Alex Pretti and Renee Good were murdered in plain sight and Victor Manuel Díaz died in ICE custody.
Throughout the country, numerous anti-ICE protesters were arrested and brutalized by federal agents and the police. In a strikingly similar case in Recife, Brazil, five activists protesting the US aggression against Venezuela were shot by the police on January 28. As more people join in militant struggle against imperialism, it responds with more naked reactionary violence in the vain hope of drowning the just anger of the people. These shootings, whether with lethal or “less-lethal” rounds, only serve to demonstrate the fact that the State is organized violence of the capitalist class to exert its dictatorship.
Revisionists Respond
A sinister role was played by revisionists – meaning those who are revolutionaries in name but serve imperialism in deed – to mislead the masses away from direct confrontations and to defame revolutionaries. The revisionist organization “Freedom Road Socialist Organization” (FRSO) was leading a separate, “peaceful” march when the shooting happened. FRSO forbade attendees of its protest from approaching the federal building and confronting State agents. Furthermore, its members physically assaulted protesters who tried to move closer to the building.
Most egregiously, a member of FRSO commented “let them get what they fucking deserve,” in response to the shooting of Rummler.
Revisionist organizations like FRSO are long known for collaborating with the State. Despite all the revolutionary posturing, the revisionists reject and condemn class struggle with every opportunity. In its stead, the revisionists direct the masses towards “legal” and “peaceful” means set up by the very US imperialism that exploits and oppresses them.
With every popular protest movement, the revisionists rush to tail behind them with the same tired call of “join an organization,” never mind the quality and conduct of such organizations. While the police and federal law enforcement agencies openly suppress the masses, revisionists like FRSO do so in a hidden manner, acting as a fifth column in the midst of the people.
Masses Advance
What began as local unrest in Minnesota has broadened into a wave of nationwide demonstrations. Organized events under banners like “ICE Out” have taken place across all 50 states, including general strikes and coordinated protests at ICE facilities and political offices. In many cases, ICE arrests of migrants were stopped by militant mass mobilizations which overpowered the agents and struck fear into their hearts.
Increased fascistization can only be defeated with increased mobilization, politicization and organization, linking the anti-ICE struggle to the struggle of the working class in general everywhere and anywhere.
