MIM and RAIL bring anti-imperialist ideas to Boston Pride Day

June 10 -- MIM and RAIL attended the annual Boston Pride Day 
parade and festival armed with revolutionary literature and 
agitation materials. This is a event is attended by tens of 
thousands of people and includes a parade and festival at the end 
of the route with music and speakers and many vendors. Although 
the political tone of the event is focused on celebrating 
sexuality and calling for greater access to imperialist rights, we 
brought revolutionary material to the people in an attempt to 
broaden the political discussion to anti-imperialist issues.

The crowd was far more receptive to our educational material and 
work fighting censorship in prisons than the typical Saturday 
afternoon crowd on the street. In fact, we ran out of anti-
censorship postcards after only a few hours. We were able to 
collect money for our Books for Prisoners program from most people 
who stopped to talk to us. In addition to gathering many 
signatures on postcards, we distributed hundreds of copies of MIM 
Notes as well as flyers publicizing our upcoming events and 
promoting our Books for Prisoners program. 

We were targeting a few prisons that repeatedly censor MIM Notes 
with postcards that will be sent to the warden and/or the 
superintendent of prisons in the state. The postcards demand an 
end to the political censorship that we face. One of the 
connections that people at the event drew to the prisons work we 
were doing was the possibility that they could be arrested under 
archaic sodomy laws and could eventually find themselves in 
prison. Others said they had heard that gay publications get 
censored in prisons. MIM agrees with these parallels but is 
careful to put them in context. The political literature that we 
send in gets censored the most because it is seen as a threat to 
the security of the institution. It is the oppressed nations that 
are most likely to get locked up, not gay white men (who made up 
most of the Pride crowd).

The political messages at the pride march included many floats 
playing music with dancers on board whose sponsors included 
Budweiser and other beers, other commercial products and local 
bars. Some of the floats were promoting social work and political 
centers but with all the commercial sponsorship it was hard to 
find the group's name. At this stage of the struggle, MIM does not 
oppose taking money from capitalist corporations to do political 
work. MIM would not oppose using the capitalists' money, half-
naked dancers, and beer ads to promote a strong revolutionary 
presence. But at the Pride parade the message was about sex and 
beer, so the corporate sponsors ruled the day.

The more political marchers were promoting their favorite gay 
politicians or demanding more access to imperialist politics. 
Within the imperialist system it is entirely possible for people 
who are not straight to gain access to the white house and 
congress. This is because the benefits of imperialism are spread 
to the residents of the u.s., distributed most favorably to white 
Amerikans. 

It is true that gay, lesbian and transgender people face 
discrimination in the united states. But the benefits they gain 
from economic ties to the system can lead to reactionary political 
demands for greater inclusion in imperialist plunder. Gaining 
greater access to the military or the house and senate are not 
progressive goals in and of themselves -- and at this point set 
the revolutionary anti-imperialist movement back. To achieve an 
end to oppression for all people we must work to overthrow u.s. 
imperialism and abolish patriarchy.