About

Revolutionary Horizon is a revolutionary group that primarily consists of students at the University of Texas at San Antonio, yet is welcoming to all who agree with and accept our points of unity. Revolutionary Horizon strives not only to focus a radical, revolutionary lens on the struggles faced by the student community, but to connect our struggles to those faced by the broader San Antonio community and beyond as well.

 

Points of Unity

– We believe in LEFT UNITY. While we stand firm in our tendencies towards anarchism, we believe that the total exclusion of comrades of other leftist tendencies in our spaces over theoretical differences is ultimately counter-productive, and we strive to create a radical space that, while maintaining a fundamental focus on anarchism as a path towards liberation, is inclusive and welcoming to socialists and communists of the Marxist-Leninist and Maoist tendencies, democratic socialists, as well as other leftist tendencies, and is focused on uniting on our common goals and struggles, rather than sowing division over our differences.

– We are ANTI-CAPITALIST. Capitalism is a political and economic system that is defined specifically by the exploitative relationship between those who wield political and economic power, the exploiters, over those who must sell their labor in exchange for a miniscule fraction of the value their labor produces in return, the exploited. This relationship is not a voluntary one. Rather, it is forcefully imposed on the exploited and perpetuated through the violent occupation of marginalized communities by oppressive state and capitalist institutions. In relation to the so-called United States, the birth and evolution of capitalism was and continues to be dependent on this very violence for its continuation. The birth of capitalism in the U.S. finds its early conception in the mass genocide of countless millions of indigenous peoples by European colonizers, and its evolution into the economic system that is familiar today in the enslavement of millions of African people. We are committed to building and supporting the popular revolt of all oppressed people against the exploitative system of capitalism until its total and complete collapse, and stand in solidarity with those who strive to build de-centralized systems of mutual aid and horizontal organization in its place.

– We are ANTI-RACIST, ANTI-FASCIST, ANTI-SEXIST, AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA AND TRANSPHOBIA, AND AGAINST ALL OTHER FORMS OF OPPRESSIVE DISCRIMINATION. We approach these forms of discrimination with an absolute refusal to engage them through debate and civil discussion, and an absolute refusal to contribute to the normalization of oppressive ideological standpoints as causes worthy of a platform and consideration. Ideologies that seek to incite the genocide of all non-white, neuro and physically atypical, non-heteronormative, and all other LGBTQIA comrades are not worth consideration. Ideologies that consider non-white comrades biologically inferior to those with white skin are not worth consideration. They are to be resisted and defeated by any means necessary. We stand in solidarity with all who are dedicated to an absolute refusal to encourage any platform whatsoever to be granted to these beliefs in all of their various forms. In doing so:

– We RESPECT A DIVERSITY OF TACTICS. We stand in solidarity with all comrades who are committed to revolutionary struggle, regardless of the tactics or methods of action they choose to employ. In recognizing an inherent right of all to autonomy and self-determination, we encourage all comrades to participate in revolutionary struggle in whatever way(s) they deem most appropriate and/or are comfortable with, from pacifist and non-violent action to direct and militant action. We do not, however, stand in solidarity with those who demand an unwavering adherence to strict non-violence, as we believe that this adherence is born out a position of privilege and comfort that either is not aware of or refuses to acknowledge the necessity of the oppressed to defend themselves against the social, economic, and political institutions that dominate their lives, institutions that will never relinquish their power to dominate through internal processes of petition and reform, processes that those very same institutions possess and maintain centralized and authoritative power and control over. We do not in any way attempt to suggest that all who are dedicated to revolutionary struggle must commit themselves to violent and militant acts, we simply acknowledge militancy as a necessary and inevitable factor in any genuine struggle for liberation, as violent tactics are undoubtedly wielded primarily by the state in repressing social movements. We stand in solidarity with those who choose or are otherwise forced out of necessity to put their freedom and lives on the line by engaging in militant struggle and self-defense.

– We take an INTERNATIONALIST, ANTI-IMPERALIST APPROACH TO REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE. We consider imperialism – that is, the tendency of one state power to exert military force over another state, territory, or other foreign geographical location in order to influence the social, political, and economic dynamics of those states, territories, and geographical locations and gain control of local natural resources and industry for its own self benefit – to be an inherent byproduct of global systems of capitalism. capitalism can best be thought of as a virus, a sickness that takes hold of a host, in this case, the earth and all of its inhabitants, and can only ensure its continuation through a constant, relentless, and destructive expansion of its reach and control over the host. The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan by the United States military is one such example of this practice, as is the invasion of Vietnam, the various military invasions and regime change attempts in Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Venezuela, and many other Latin American countries, as well as the successful toppling of the Libyan government in the 2000’s and the relentless bombing of Yemen and Syria that continues to this day, among countless other examples. In recognizing that the United States is undoubtedly the most destructive and murderous imperial force in the entire world, we recognize a particular obligation of comrades in the United States to frame our revolutionary struggle in ways that actively seek to recognize, uplift, and engage in the struggles of comrades the world over, many of whom struggle against and are dominated by the very same oppressive forces that dominate our lives. We declare an internationalist approach to our revolutionary struggles, and stand in solidarity with those engaged in their own struggles all around the world.

– We are ANTI-STATE, ANTI-POLICE, ANTI-PRISON. We believe that the state is an institution that preserves minority class rule. We believe that the state preserves this system of power and domination through the use of violence – a violence which the state works to have a monopoly on, both through the forceful repression of liberatory movements and the swaying of public opinion in its favor. Through the use of violence perpetrated by so-called peace officers, the state is able to protect the interests of the capitalist class while simultaneously ignoring the demands of lower classes for change. These police officers (often times coming from non-capitalist class backgrounds and from different sexual orientations and identities) swap in their morality for a paycheck and power within the state. They use this power to force people into submission and uphold an unjust social order. We believe that this sort of control and domination is a function of the very nature of policing. The police claim that they exist in our communities to protect us, primarily to protect us from each other. For they know that as long as we are afraid of each other, as long as we would sooner dial 911 than have a conversation with our neighbors when they commit acts of wrongdoing, they will always be able to justify the continuation of their occupation. but we know that the true threat to our communities lies not in each other, but in the police themselves. The same police that have beaten, stolen, raped and murdered people like Rodney King, Fred Hampton, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Michael Lee Marshall, Michael Brown, Philando Castille, Sandra Bland and countless others. These police officers are the same officers who stand between the hungry person and the grocery shelves stocked with food, between the houseless person and the buildings standing empty and unused, between every immigrant and their family. It is the state and the police that put us in prison for breaking the laws and guidelines that the state has made for us without our input or approval. It is the state and the police that force people into steel cages, stripping them of their bodily autonomy and freedom, so that they may be exploited and have their labor extracted in exchange for pennies. We believe there are alternative and more effective ways to manage ours lives, keep our communities safe, and help those in need. Let us focus less on what the police claim to do and instead indict the institution for what it actually does. Whatever function the police fulfill only serves the systems of domination, oppression, and exploitation that they uphold and perpetuate. The police do not in any way represent an inherent need of any given society, rather, they represent a need inherent only to the very same systems they forcefully perpetuate, systems we desire no role in, outside of ensuring their collapse. Therefore, we seek no reform or reconciliation with the police, the state, or the prison industry, and have no desire to engage in discussions centered on notions of “police accountability” and “community reform”. We reject the idea that the police, the state, or the prisons could ever exist as anything more than the enemies of the people, and in that sense, we call for their complete and total abolition.

– CHARTING THE PATH TOWARDS REVOLUTION ON THE HORIZON. We view the state as being fundamental to and complicit in all forms of social, political and economic domination, as it creates and upholds a centralized, authoritative channel for the ruling class to impose systems of exploitation and oppression on the masses for their own self benefit. We oppose any false notion of liberation that seeks progress through the formal institutions of the state, whether it be in the form of state and federal elections or petitions to elected officials, and we reject the notion of the alienating and authoritarian system of representative democracy as possessing any real capacity to bring about true freedom for all. We believe that participation in these formal institutions only serves to advance the perceived legitimacy of the state’s existence and domination over land and people that it has no rightful claim to. In this sense, we reject any and all notions of reformism or negotiation with the state and its various institutions. Instead, we believe that the creation of autonomous networks and communities that possess the capacity for self-defense and self-organization are the true mechanisms for liberation, along with revolutionary social relationships that are loving, uplifting, and cooperative in nature, relationships that improve the lives of all, unconditionally. To be sure, we do not view revolution as some distant, abstract destination that must be worked towards and eventually realized. Rather, we see revolution as having a constant, visible presence in our everyday lives, as being an illuminating force that shapes our perspective and understanding of the world around us, and our desire to see it dismantled and rebuilt. We see revolution in every street occupied by those who demand freedom, in every restaurant, office, or factory that wears down, unrelenting, on the bodies and minds of its human machines, in every classroom or lecture hall that leaves a student feeling strange, alienated, and wrong for their burning desire for self-determination, in every homeless, poverty-stricken person who decides to take what they need today, rather than ask for and be denied it like yesterday, and every day that they can remember before, in every person of color who decides to stand up and fight back against a system that has denied them the freedom and dignity that it has instead reserved only for itself since its inception, in every person who chooses to love who they please, regardless of the looks and insults, in every person who picks up a makeup brush when they’re told that they should pick up a traditionally masculine hobby, in every person who does the opposite, in every person who puts their wants aside for the needs of others, in every house, in every street, in every factory and school and park and social center, in every corner of the world, in every person, we see revolution on the horizon. If you see it too, what are you waiting for?