Red Brush
An Interview with the Ottawa-based Indigenous Communist Artist
On Art and Revolution:
“A revolutionary artist must have the mindset of a guerrilla in enemy territory. All around the revolutionary artist is the enemy’s propaganda, their ideological attacks barrage us every day, to the point that many no longer see it as abnormal or propaganda at all. The revolutionary artist must strike against the ruling classes ideology, through these strikes and attacks by the revolutionary artist, a clear distinction between them and us is declared, between the old rotten system and the new world."
"I believe that everything, including art, has a class character to it and serves the interest of particular classes. The art establishment, like all mainstream media, schools, and institutions serves the capitalist. The revolutionary artist serves the people and the movement above all else, including themselves. The capitalist owns the establishment, so we must make our own terrain. This is why Red Brush targets the streets through tags, stickers, posters, and so on. This is also why virtual art online is used. These mediums are perfect for reaching the masses with little to no censorship by the capitalist."
"The class character of the art created, the tags and the slogans, along with linking them to a movement and the development of a genuine revolution puts Red Brush firmly positioned against the ruling class, their system, and their law. Art for political agitation is art for the proletariat, for the movement, and the development of the people's war. Art for political agitation is designed to raise the class consciousness of the people and normalize proletarian politics after the damage of Cold War anti-communist propaganda.”
On De-Colonization:
“Indigenous nations have had their lands stolen by the settler-colonial project that would become the modern Canadian state. Indigenous peoples in the Americas had thriving, complex societies with their own class struggles going on, their own developments, and everything else other societies have had. The myth that these lands were empty, or near empty is just that, a myth. The only reason there was land open for the taking was due to genocide, sickness, and war by a colonial force.”
“Now Indigenous nations have lost their lands and had their societies almost fully ended, the colonization of the Americas was an apocalyptic event for the peoples of North and South America. The Canadian state has no room for these colonized nations to have any real political or economic autonomy apart from Canada. There is a lot of talk by the Liberal establishment about ‘nation to nation’ negotiation for ‘Reconciliation’ in Canada. But no ‘nation to nation’ conversations can truly happen while we are still on unequal footing as nations. And while we, the Indigenous peoples, are denied our lands, national self-determination (like all nations have a right to), and our freedom. Only after colonialism has been abolished, destroyed, and national liberation has been achieved can we talk about ‘nation to nation’ negotiations with the non-Indigenous nations here. Until then, we are held captive by Canada as colonized Third World nations within the First World.”
“Fuck reconciliation, we want liberation!”
On communism:
“Communism is something harder to be able to describe, it is not something that any revolution has been able to achieve yet, and isn’t something that will be achieved anytime soon. Capitalism must be ended on a global scale and socialism needs to have won on every corner of our planet before communism can be achieved. So far, it is socialism that has been in the first stages of its birth in our world. What we have theorized about communism is this, it will be a society without classes, without a state, without borders, without money. It is a period in human history of abundance for all, where the productive forces are so efficient that the production and distribution of everything a person needs is so abundant, that it is free for all. The show Star Trek is a popular form of media that communists like to point to as one view of what a communist society could look like in the future. What we do know though is socialism, the lower stage of communism. The rule of the working class, the workers state, and the revolution that breaks down class distinctions.”
On Proletarian Feminism:
“Liberal feminism is happy with the political and economic realities of imperialist capitalism. It allows for and advocates for a small number of people who once were denied access to positions of power within the capitalist system due to their gender or other identities to now be able to take part in this system more fully. Their idea of equality or progress is more women as pigs (cops), brown bosses, and gay politicians. All while the vast majority of women, colonized peoples/peoples facing imperialism, and the queer community have a history of oppression at the hands of this capitalist system and still do face exploitation due to their class (many of these communities have high postages of proletarianization).”
“Proletarian Feminism is the feminism of the working class. Unlike Liberal Feminism, it sees the imperialist capitalist system as something inherently in the way of the destruction of patriarchy and the liberation of women, the queer community, and humanity as a whole. Also, unlike so-called ‘Radical’ Feminism, it does not see the main contradiction in society as being between men as a class and women as a class, or that there is an antagonistic contradiction between working-class women and working-class men. Proletarian Feminism sees that the main contradiction for women is their relationship to the ruling class and their system. This isn’t to say that there are not issues to be worked out between working-class women and men, along with people of other genders, but these are non-antagonistic ones, contradictions among the people that through revolutionary actions and the creation of a new world, can be overcome in unity. Proletarian Feminism aims to unleash the fury of working-class women as a force for the revolution, its aim is to develop the people's war as the primary tool for making revolution against capitalism and imperialism.”
On Revolutionary Organizing:
“Revolutionary organizing and activism’s goal is to fundamentally change the base of our society. The goal isn’t to achieve reforms and length the life of this rotten system like it is for Social Democrats. We want the end of it altogether. Thus revolutionary organizing and activism need to always be building up the political power of the working class, the fighting ability of the workers, the working-class political party (the Communist Party), the United Front, and the People’s Army. The main question between the two is: Reform or Revolution? And we say, revolution, people’s war! That’s what we fight for.”
