“Kasama is a communist project that, in theory and practice, fights for the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions.” from our 2008 Statement of Unity
This simple statement of radical end goals was adopted by the Kasama Project in its infancy in 2008. It is the opposite of “the movement is everything, the final goal is nothing.” Here the final goal is upheld, and the forms of movement are left open.
Yet in the years since, members of Kasama have been active in a number of movements and struggles from Occupy to #BlackLivesMatter. Our understanding of reconception and regroupment has expanded and deepened. And in a world of crisis and endless war, new possibilities are opening up and faultlines are being revealed. The statement of unity in 2008, while professing correctly our view of the end goal, needed to be deepened and expanded up.
Over a long weekend in October 2014, comrades of the Kasama Project from across the country gathered in the US south for a national conference, the first formal national gathering since our founding in 2008. With the goal of consolidating our project and strategizing a path forward for our work in the coming period, we adopted a new Political Unity statement, reflecting the understanding, experience, and unity forged over the half dozen years since our founding.
“The Kasama Project stands for the revolutionary overthrow of global capitalism and imperialism and the initiation of a socialist transformation leading to the consolidation of a global communist society.” -from our 2014 Statement of Unity
At this conference Kasama affirmed that capitalism is the fundamental cause of the problems afflicting humanity and that it is incompatible with a humane and a just society. Kasama stands for the overthrow of the US empire at home and abroad; nor do we respect its borders founded on genocide, slavery and conquest. We support the principle of self-determination for the oppressed peoples living within the current borders of the US, up to and including the rights of political autonomy and independence.
Our goal remains communism which we define as the abolition of all class distinctions that divide humanity; the abolition of the capitalist relations of production on which those distinctions rest; the abolition of all the other oppressive social relations that mutually reinforce these relations of production; the revolutionary transformation of all the oppressive ideas and values that have arisen from, or are attached to, all of these oppressive social relations; and finally, the abolition of the political instrument of class domination, the state.
Kasama believes that our politics must be grounded in our understanding of previous socialist revolutions, which made great advances to overcome class society, but ultimately were defeated. Kasama is ruthlessly critical in our examination of their triumphs, mistakes and errors of previous socialist experiments, but we are ultimately firm in upholding their accomplishments.
“We are guided by love for the people. We seek to embody a different way of living, the possibility of a different future. Communists should promote a style and aesthetic of humility, caring, militancy, universalism, a living radicalism, critical thinking, a deep practicality, and a respect for the planet’s life — its people, its many species and its biosphere generally. We should make a movement for total human emancipation seem like the most practical, radical, and loving thing in the world.” from our 2014 Statement of Unity
The name Kasama: In Tagalog, a language of the Philippines, Kasama is the word for the companions who travel the road together — in this case, the revolutionary road.
This is a moment that demands some non-messianic humility from revolutionaries. We need a movement that can listen, as well as speak. Kasama strains to make real contributions. And there may be contributions that only we can make. But we expect much from many other people. And we expect to do much together with others.
We urge those eager to walk the road of revolution, to join us in igniting a fearless, open-eyed debate, discussion and engagement — and seek to build that into a creative fusion of new politics.
We are seeking to actively investigate and understand key revolutionary experiences around our world today. We have set aside time and effort to promote new theoretical explorations and thinking — within a left that is too often on autopilot. And we are trying to bring that with us as we dive into the deep waters of today’s emerging movements against capitalism in the U.S.
To read our entire statement of unity click here.