The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee is an activist group whose members advocate the overthrow of the current capitalist system as the only solution to classism, imperialism, racism, sexism, and homophobia.
Origins
In 1974, the book Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-imperialism was created as an ideological statement by various members of the underground group Weatherman Underground. The publication was created in six parts: "Arm the Spirit," "Vietnam," "On the Road: Impressions of US History," "Imperialism in Crisis: The Third World," "Imperialism in Crisis: The Home Front," and "Against the Common Enemy". The book's preparation was a 12-month process, written collaboratively and adopted as the collective statement of the Weather Underground. Mark Rudd stated that the book "was an attempt to influence the movement that we had abandoned back in 1969. It tried to reach many thousands of New Leftist and former New Leftists by saying "'Don't despair, we're all part of the same thing'". Bill Ayers explains that Prairie Fire "was an attempt to sum up our thinking since the 'Weatherman' paper and especially since the townhouse. Through it we hoped to consolidate our political organization and to forge unity with progressive activist". Ayers is referring to the 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion which killed 3 members of Weatherman, Diana Oughton, Theodore Gold, and Terry Robbins. The book was a call to organize. It was Weatherman's attempt to ask the questions that all revolutionary groups faced and to apply the lessons of former revolutionary groups to the present fight against imperialism. By creating this book, the Weatherman Underground required help from the aboveground community to distribute the book; participants in this work included Van Lydegraf and Jennifer Dohrn. Over 40,000 copies were distributed. Discussion groups were created to discuss the issues that arose from the book. This above ground organizing is how the Prairie Fire Distribution Committee was created, which in 1975 became the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee.
Ideology
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee regards American imperialism as the main enemy of the world's people, a position it initially took in contradiction to the Communist Party of China's critique of Soviet imperialism. They claim a long history of fighting for rights of all people and opposes white supremacy in all its forms, believing that it persists through practices such as racial profiling. They call attention to prisoners it deems political and state, "We know that close to 100 women and men are in U.S. prisons because they have dared to struggle for the liberation of oppressed peoples". The group's members are typically activists fighting U.S. imperialism. Their work proceeds from the premise that, while the U.S. remains in the global position that it currently occupies, there will be no freedom or peace for anyone. The book Prairie Fire was explicitly feminist, based on an understanding that success of imperialism relied on the oppression of women. One result of this point of view was the creation of childcare teams which collectivized the labor of raising children within the organization.
Activism and Solidarity Work
Much of the work of Prairie Fire focused on international solidarity. In 1979, the victory of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the FMLN-led "people's war" in El Salvador put the ideals of a just society at the center of attention. In the 1980s, a large solidarity movement developed in the U.S. in response to America's military intervention in Central America. Prairie Fire Organizing Committee actively participated in these efforts. In 1980, the U.S. government arrested eleven Puerto Rican members of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional who were committing acts of terrorism to gain independence for Puerto Rico. Prairie Fire worked as allies with the Puerto Rican independent movement to demand the release of these prisoners. Since 1984 Prairie Fire has been active in the annual International Women's Day celebration that is held on March 8 in Chicago. Members participate in marches and programs based around the event. In the 1990s, Prairie Fire joined WAC, the Women's Action Coalition, to take direct action against sexism by fighting for women's rights to their bodies and access to women's clinics. In 1996, Prairie Fire initiated the Not On The Guest List Coalition which organized a demonstration at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was a demonstration that focused its attention on the Death Penalty, racism and classism within the criminal justice system, and for the release of political prisoners which are held within the U.S. prisons. Currently, Prairie Fire also works with thousands of people in the U.S. to protest the war against Iraq and they are activists in many other domains of societal issues that are prevalent in the global community.
Cultural Production
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee produced the journal Breakthrough. Fireworks Graphics Collective, a Bay area printing collective, was their graphic production wing. Fireworks produced posters for international solidarity movements, women's liberation movements, LGBT issues, release of political prisoners, and more.
