Word is getting out about an October 5 benefit concert for the protest group The World Can’t Wait (WCW), to take place at the reconstituted Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem. Free-jazz luminaries such as William Parker will perform.
I’ve remarked on WCW on this blog in the past. To recap, it is a front for the Revolutionary Communist Party, a Maoist group and personality cult founded by “Chairman” Bob Avakian. In the ’90s the RCP operated as the U.S. propaganda arm of the murderous Shining Path guerrilla movement of Peru. The RCP rails against civil liberties erosions under the Bush administration, but its political doctrine and stances reveal a profoundly antidemocratic outlook — indeed, a record of support for some of the world’s most vicious and disreputable political forces.
WCW’s stated goal, to “drive out the Bush regime,” should be understood in this context. The RCP glorifies violent revolution. It opposes not just the Bush administration, but the American republic as such. This is its right. There are others far less extreme on the American left who advocate sweeping, fundamental social change. Such advocacy is not antidemocratic in and of itself. But WCW/RCP, contrary to the ludicrous argumentation to be found on its FAQ page, is not the only viable opposition to the prevailing Bush madness. As I’ve noted many times, the most clear-headed and forceful opposition to Bush’s pro-torture policy is being led not by a Maoist, but by a conservative, Andrew Sullivan (whose latest call to conscience is here). Maoists, in stark contrast, have no credibility when it comes to opposing torture, arbitrary detention and other such abuses.
As I’ve argued in regard to Hugo Chavez, the RCP is capitalizing (irony unavoidable) on the utter disgrace of the Bush presidency. The political malaise in this country helps the RCP legitimize itself in a way that no Democratic administration ever could. Through the cynical but time-honored practice of forming front groups, the RCP gets to ride the wave of anti-Bush disgust, claim credit for big street protests and exercise disproportionate influence over the tone of those protests. True believers form the core of these actions, but the ranks are swelled by people who may not know exactly what they are supporting.
Political engagement is often spoken of in binary terms: Either you lend your support to anti-Bush protest forces — any anti-Bush protest forces — or you’re apathetic, part of the problem. It’s a logic that serves the likes of WCW/RCP very well. By this point, signers of the WCW call to “drive out the Bush regime” include Michael Lerner of Tikkun magazine, Lewis Lapham of Harper’s magazine, Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem, Cornel West, Tom Duane, Bill T. Jones, Martin Sheen, Jessica Lange — and most bizarre of all, Brig. Gen. (ret) Janis Karpinski of Abu Ghraib fame, right alongside the certified wacko Ward Churchill. On the right and on the left, judgment has been heaved out the window.
Comments are closed.