Neutrality Is Violence

To do nothing to prevent violence is itself a form of violence.  There is no neutrality.  If you are an active reactionary or a passive observer, either way you are allowing the oppressive status quo to maintain its hegemony.  Dissent is necessary.  It is a moral imperative.  To speak out against oppression and exploitation is the least we can do to counter the hegemonic ruling class.  We must continually come up with more creative ways in which to resist the powers-that-be.  A successful revolution redeems all previous failed revolutions... and isn't today a good day for a revolution?

Reflection of the Zizekian Concept of Violence

Obama's AmeriKKKa

Prior to the 2012 election, reactionary pundit, Dinesh D'Souza (yeah, this asshole) wrote a book called The Roots of Obama's Rage and made a film based on it called 2016: Obama's America. It played in major theatures and grossed $32.9 million domestically, which according to Wikipedia, makes it "the fourth highest domestic grossing documentary and the second highest domestic grossing political documentary in the United States since 1982." (Farenheit 9/11 is #1 on both lists thankfully, as it was a scathing expose of the Bush family's role in 9/11 and one of Michael Moore's best.)  The film was worth seeing, as it precisely enunciated the conservative argument against Obama.  If you didn't see it, here is the trailer. 

D'Souza makes the argument that Obama is an anti-colonialist and for that reason he must be stopped from being the commander in chief of the greatest colonial power in the world.  D'Souza's argument is more like pro-Obama propaganda than anti.  He insists that American leftist heros like Frank Marshall Davis and Bill Ayers have been close comrades and mentors to Obama.  If this were true, it would certainly endear me to the current president.  Unfortunately, it is far from true.

Self-described democratic socialist and philosopher/African-American studies theorist Dr. Cornel West supported Obama's campaign in the early stages, but it wasn't long before he became critical of the man.  In a recent Salon interview, he had this to say about the president:

He doesn’t realize that a great leader, a statesperson, doesn’t just occupy middle ground. They occupy higher ground or the moral ground or even sometimes the holy ground. But the middle ground is not the place to go if you’re going to show courage and vision. And I think that’s his modus operandi. He always moves to the middle ground. It turned out that historically, this was not a moment for a middle-ground politician. We needed a high-ground statesperson and it’s clear now he’s not the one.

And so what did he do? Every time you’re headed toward middle ground what do you do? You go straight to the establishment and reassure them that you’re not too radical, and try to convince them that you are very much one of them so you end up with a John Brennan, architect of torture [as CIA Director]. Torturers go free but they’re real patriots so we can let them go free. The rule of law doesn’t mean anything.

I think sometimes well meaning individuals get involved with the Democratic Party for the right reasons.  Obama may be one of these individuals.  According to Thomas Surgue in a Salon article, "Obama worked for the Developing Communities Project (DCP) of the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC), a group on Chicago’s South Side whose tactics ... were inspired by [Saul] Alinsky." He also, occasionally, did go to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church. Unfortunately, however, along the way he became just another part of the establishment.  In fact, early in his political career, he ran against Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther,in a 2000 race for Illinois' 1st congressional district representative.  Already, he was flexing the stringy muscles of a moderate.

The situation in Ferguson, MO has shattered a lot of African-Americans' illusions about the extent to which Obama is their friend.  Red, black and green flags are a common site in Ferguson as the residents there express open resistance against the government.  In Texas, on August 9th, the "Huey P. Newton Gun Club" staged an "open-carry" rally in protest against "killer cops."

Obama's recent remarks on the Ferguson situation have been criticized as "tone deaf".  The fact that he has made any statement at all proves that it takes nothing less than a riot to get his attention.  Here is what he told demonstrators: 

While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving into that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos. It undermines rather than advancing justice.

It appears he is echoing the #notallcops and #stopthelooting cliche speech of such black liberals as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  

Mao said it best:

...[L]iberalism rejects ideological struggle and stands for unprincipled peace, thus giving rise to a decadent, Philistine attitude and bringing about political degeneration in certain units and individuals in the Party and the revolutionary organizations... 

To let things slide for the sake of peace and friendship when a person has clearly gone wrong, and refrain from principled argument because he is an old acquaintance, a fellow townsman, a schoolmate, a close friend, a loved one, an old colleague or old subordinate. Or to touch on the matter lightly instead of going into it thoroughly, so as to keep on good terms. The result is that both the organization and the individual are harmed. This is one type of liberalism.

For those leftists who think that collaboration with the Democratic Party is necessary or even advantageous, THIS is what happens when a member of the Democratic establishment threatens the reactionary status quo:

Maybe some politicians get involved with the Democrats for the right reasons, but they ultimately are forced to make compromises.  Obama's government is the drone warfare government, it is the Iraq War III government, the Afghanistan surge government, the unconditional support for Israel's attacks on the civillians of Gaza government, the deportation government, the cuts in Food Stamps government, the electronic surveillance government.

Basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabar recently penned a brilliant article on the source of the current tensions in America.  He writes:

This fist-shaking of everyone’s racial agenda distracts America from the larger issue that the targets of police overreaction are based less on skin color and more on an even worse Ebola-level affliction: being poor. Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.

And that’s how the status quo wants it.

The U.S. Census Report finds that 50 million Americans are poor. Fifty million voters is a powerful block if they ever organized in an effort to pursue their common economic goals. So, it’s crucial that those in the wealthiest One Percent keep the poor fractured by distracting them with emotional issues like immigration, abortion and gun control so they never stop to wonder how they got so screwed over for so long.

...Rather than uniting to face the real foe—do-nothing politicians, legislators, and others in power—we fall into the trap of turning against each other, expending our energy battling our allies instead of our enemies.

I will conclude with a speech by Fred Hampton, another individual murdered in cold blood by police, that demonstrates what is needed in these times, better than I could say it:

We've got to face the fact that some people say you fight fire best with fire, but we say you put fire out best with water. We say you don't fight racism with racism. We're gonna fight racism with solidarity. We say you don't fight capitalism with no black capitalism; you fight capitalism with socialism.

We ain't gonna fight no reactionary pigs who run up and down the street being reactionary; we're gonna organize and dedicate ourselves to revolutionary political power and teach ourselves the specific needs of resisting the power structure, arm ourselves, and we're gonna fight reactionary pigs with INTERNATIONAL PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION. That's what it has to be. The people have to have the power: it belongs to the people.

We have to understand very clearly that there's a man in our community called a capitalist. Sometimes he's black and sometimes he's white. But that man has to be driven out of our community, because anybody who comes into the community to make profit off the people by exploiting them can be defined as a capitalist. And we don't care how many programs they have, how long a dashiki they have. Because political power does not flow from the sleeve of a dashiki; political power flows from the barrel of a gun. It flows from the barrel of a gun! 

One of those capitalist men today is Barak Obama, and yes, his skin is of a darker hue. He has proven himself to be no hero, no progressive prophet.  Electing another liberal Democrat will not solve the problems of the working class in America.  We need a proletarian revolution!  Combat liberalism!  Defeat the capitalist pigs!