DiFranco creates no illusion that changing the attitudes of men is a solution to violence against women under patriarchy. In "If he tries anything," DiFranco debunks the reactionary socialization that women are powerless to protect themselves: "I'm invincible/ so are you/ we do all the things/ they say we can't do/ we walk around in the middle of the night/ and if it's too far to walk/ we just hitch a ride."
While the song recognizes violence as a product of this system, as opposed to a tease selected for a few women, this song's solution to domination over women ends up just reversing the domination into power games. "We got rings of dirt around our necks/ we smell like shit/ still when we walk down the street/ all the boys line up/ to throw themselves at our feet."
This ultimately leads to confusion because women who defend themselves from one type of domination will only encounter more unless patriarchy is abolished. "The commoditization of sex" presents the idea that as long as she has power in walking down the street or power in individual sexual games then she has control. "i say i think he likes you/ you say i think he do to/ i say go and get him girl/ before he gets you/ i'll be watching you from the wings/ i will come to your rescue/ if he tries anything".
The contradictions in this type of thinking result in an inconsistent reaction to similar products of patriarchy. The pseudo-feminist can choose to defend herself against those types of rape that are most offensive and welcome the temporary taste of pseudo-power, but following this recipe continues the idea that in the end women will lose--they accept the normal domination of gender relations in the sex they don't consider to be rape, instead of realizing women have the real power to destroy those relations too, through revolution.
"We are wise wise women/ we are giggling girls/ we both carry a smile/ to show when we're pleased/ we both carry a switchblade/ in our sleeves/ tell you one thing/ i'm going to make noise when I go down/ for ten square blocks/ they're gonna know I died/ all the goddesses will come up/ to the ripped screen door/ and say what do you want dear/ and i'll say I want inside".
In a vengeful "How have you been," DiFranco shows that coercion exists in all sexual relationships. Not surprisingly, she buys into the petty-bourgeois-scarred-for-life-psycho-babble that says she must be hurt and have a boil-your-bunny-mentality to get even. "Me and you and your girlfriend makes three/ in the interest of numbers I will make myself scarce/ i'll make myself scarcely me/ but i'll be outside your window at night/ pull up your shades/ leave on your light/ 'cause I don't want to come in between/ I just want to know/ how have you been..."
Because it is not in the interests of men to stay in relationships, they use lies as coercion and the revenge for power that Ani seeks in return is also power through sex. The problem here is that the reason it is not in the interest of men to stay in relationship rests in their existing strength under patriarchy, so the revenge sought through sex once again is a way for women to allow themselves not to have the hope and seize power through revolutionary struggle. When women are in relationships in which they know they are being fucked over, it is a way to permit themselves to not reach for more. "And i'd do almost anything once/ something about you / i think I'd do you more/ if I had my way I'd stay here."
In "Out of Range," Ani DiFranco cannot decipher the violence against women and the reason that it exists, so of course she runs away. "Just the thought of our bed/ makes me crumble like the plaster/ where you punched the wall/ beside my head/ and i try to draw the line/ but it ends up running/ down the middle of me/ most of the time."
MIM knows that First World women have the choice to leave their partners when abuse is involved, but since DiFranco sees no possibility for real victory the line is skewed.
Despite her attempts to reject socialization, DiFranco misplaces the oppression by the state, to lock up its opposition, and confuses the position of First World women. "Boys get locked up/ in some prison/ girls get locked up/ in some house/ and it doesn't matter/ if it's a warden or a spouse/ you just can't talk to 'em you just can't reason/ you just can't leave/ and you just can't please 'em."
MIM knows that women can leave their spouses but it is not in their short term material interests to do so, but the 3.1% of Black males in the country that are locked up by the state cannot leave; this much is true.
The result of DiFranco's weak analysis and perpetuation of reactionary stereotypes leaves her only an escapist alternative.
"I was locked/ into being my mother's daughter/ i was just eating bread and water/ thinking nothing ever changes/ then i was shocked/ to see the mistakes of each generation/ will just fade like a radio station/ if you drive out of range/ if you're not angry then you're just stupid/ or you don't care/ something's so unfair/ when the men of the hour/ can kill half the world in war/ or make them slaves to a superpower/ and then let them die poor."
Then when she begins to recognize the relationship between the system and the individual manifestations of patriarchy, she turns the song into a sad victim of love song. "Baby i love you that's why I'm leaving/ there's just no talking to you/ and there's just no pleasing you/ and i care enough/ that i'm mad/ that half the world don't even know what they could'a had".
In "Letter to a John," DiFranco again advocates the anarchist revenge that many pseudo-feminists opt for. Her hard-ass attitude is her way of saying that she is in control of the situation and her life as she rationalizes that prostitution is the way to take back the control she lost as a result of being sexually abused as a child.
"I'm just gonna sit on your lap/ for five dollars a song/ I want you to pay me for my beauty/ I think it's only right/ 'cause I have been paying for it all of my life/ I'm gonna take the money i make/ and I'm gonna go away/ I was eleven years old/ he was as old as my dad/ and he took something from me/ I didn't even know that I had/ So don't tell me about decency/ Don't tell me about pride/ Just give me something for my trouble/ 'cause this time it's not a free ride."
The solution that DiFranco proposes is reactionary because she seeks the power that will benefit herself only. MIM knows that the best revenge for violence against women is to build a revolutionary struggle. With her younger, more anarchist take, DiFranco ends up advocating the same that rich yuppie women advocate--"Now I just want to take/ I'm just gonna take/ I'm gonna take / and I'm gonna go away"--she just doesn't have it yet.
When First World women are enraged at the relative inequality within the white nation and seek revenge against the violence against women, they must also take a step further. Unless First World women are willing to fight against patriarchy and capitalism, they are accepting that they benefit from the status quo.
The most disgusting display of women being socialized to enjoy their submission on this album is where DiFranco sings: "we are made to fight/ and fuck and talk and fight again/ and sit around and laugh until we choke." When women are fascinated with violence and eroticize their loss of control, it only makes sense to find solace in the fact that you do not have to stand up and fight because you know you will not win.
Women have less economic and political power. In order to justify their passivity toward this, pseudo-feminists and anarchist feminists must play the game that they have some sense of power. Both groups are also actively on the side of the patriarchy when they do not organize and fight against the system itself.
Individual acts of power are temporary and revenge against all men is reactionary. It must come also with the understanding that the enemy is the system and the ally to the struggle of women are revolutionary feminists. MIM warns the revengeful anarchist feminists out there that you are not solving the origin of the problem if you are taking power back for the momentary image of control it gives. Feeding into this is feeding into the fact that anarchist feminists are merely taking advantage of their relative privilege under patriarchy.
The first thing to notice about Difranco's new album is the I'm-a-weak-womyn crouching on the front cover. Was this supposed to be a symbol of the position wimmin are unwillingly born into in society? Or is this what Difranco herself is advocating? After listening to the album, the latter is unfortunately the case.
In "Done Wrong" she takes the old love theme and metaphorically compares mending a broken heart to rain falling. "i guess that makes me the jerk with the heartache/ here to sing to you about how i been done wrong/i am sitting, watching/ out the window of the coffee shop/ and i'm waiting, waiting/ waiting for it to let up." Her creativity ends with the metaphor as she just rehashes the grief stricken womyn syndrome.
Wimmin don't have to be waiting around pondering the trials and tribulations of sex and romance, wimmin are quite capable of leading successful revolutionary movements. Revolution is not made by individuals indulging in self-pity, but by the oppressed using scientific analysis of history and present material conditions, and by taking that analysis and developing a revolutionary practice strong enough to topple the capitalist patriarchal system. Difranco only perpetuates the myth that wimmin are incapable of fighting for revolution. In doing so, she carries on the tradition of gender aristocrats whining about the status quo but doing nothing because in the end, the gender aristocracy benefits from patriarchal relations.
Seeking The Perfect Fuck
In "Untouchable Face" she sings about a one night stand with an already coupled person. She says "I see you and i'm so perplexed/ what was i thinking/ what will i think of next/ where can i hide". And in essence blaming herself for the pointless endeavor. The person supposedly won't recognize her if they meet again, and Difranco says "who am i/ that i should be vying for your touch". She is doing exactly what the patriarchy advocates for wimmin. She continues to look for perfect relationships that don't exist in a coercive system. She proceeds to blame herself, thereby individualizing the scenario and ignoring the systematic treatment of wimmin as sexual objects and the systematic passive reaction to objectification.
When it comes time to face the problem what does she say? Simply, "so fuck you/ and your untouchable face/ and fuck you/ for existing in the first place". That solves absolutely nothing. Making herself feel better about the one night stand, she says nothing of changing her compliance with patriarchal norms. She is ultimately saying that the power differences that show their faces in society are beyond the power of change that wimmin hold, so she concedes to patriarchy.
When it comes time for actual action on her part, individual men become the blame for the power differences, not the overall capitalist patriarchal system. In "Going Down", talking about oral sex with men, she sings "you can't get through it/ you can't get over it/ you can't get around/ just like in a dream/ you'll open your mouth wide to scream/ and you won't make a sound/.../you can't believe you're here/ and you're not gonna get through it/ so you are going down". So just keep doing it until it really reaches the point when she's "just about done/ with the oh-woe-is-me shit". She is saying that she hasn't gotten everything she wants out of this servile relationship yet, so she'll stick around for a little while longer. She tries to preserve the sex that is benefiting her for the time being, then when it isn't she says "and i want everything back/ that's mine". That doesn't sound much like rocking the patriarchal boat to really gain power. Instead she is rowing right along with it.
In "Outta me, onto you" she says "some people wear their heart/ up on their sleeve/ i wear mine underneath/ my right pant leg/ strapped to my boot/ don't think 'cuz i'm easy, i'm naive/ don't think i won't pull it out/ don't think i won't shoot". This shows the contradiction in her own line. At one instant she advocates looking and waiting for the perfect mate while also being prepared at any instant to shoot if they "push too hard" or "go too far." This reactionary and limited line is representative of the power that the patriarchy creates for wimmin. The system says wimmin have no choice or alternatives to complacency or individual reaction. There is another option though, the option to cease power through proletarian revolution where the entire system would be smashed and the oppression along with it.
How To Really Fight Patriarchy?
Patriarchy and all of it manifestations will not be abolished unless wimmin organize for complete revolution. By what Difranco is saying, she doesn't seem to mind. Like most white wimmin privileged enough to make up the gender aristocracy in the First World, as long as she gets the revenge she is seeking on all the men who haven't given her the sex that was beneficial to her, she'll live just fine with the concession given to her on the backs of Third World wimmin.
With this reactionary position, she comes to conclusions like that of the song "Napoleon" where she says "i knew you would always want more/ i know you would never be done/ 'cuz everyone is a fucking napoleon/ yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon" implying that all the oppression of the world is rooted in the natural human inclination toward greed. Relying on such reactionary theories will obviously not end oppression and will for that matter only support it. If it is just human instinct to oppress other humans, why bother reforming your own practice and try to create change? The human nature approach protects her own anarchistic line.
Difranco's politics only lead young wimmin's eyes away from overthrowing the entire system with the power all wimmin do possess. In "Shameless", she proposes that the answer to unequal relationships is same sex relationships. Though her analysis is correct saying "they're gonna wanna know/ how we plan to get out" and "they're gonna be mad at us/and all the things/ we wanna do" and "i gotta cover my butt 'cuz i covet/ another man's wife", focusing on the patriarchy seeing a threat in homosexuality, she still fails to realize that power differentials exist in all relationships. Engaging in homosexual relationships is not wrong, but the belief that they escape the coerciveness in society is incorrect.
If totally equal relationships is what Difranco is seeking, she is going to have to work for communism which would abolish the oppression of groups over groups. If she really wanted to take a blow at patriarchy, she should advocate asexuality. The next best choice being forever monogamy which reduces the threat of someone leaving for a "better" sex. But to advocate either of these, Difranco herself would have to give up the fun in the power games she plays and can benefit off of. Instead of accepting the power that the patriarchy concedes to wimmin, wimmin should fight for real power. By siding with the proletarian masses who don't have the choices like birth control and economic self-sufficiency that First World wimmin do, wimmin can throw out imperialism and the gender differences that go along with it. Revolutionary feminism, real feminism, gains power that includes real determination over one's sexuality through the overthrow of the voyeuristic coercive society.
The Cranberries's have a new song "Zombie" with reactionary pacifist politics that is getting a lot of air time. The song focuses on the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and condemns the armed liberation struggles of the oppressed while maintaining complete silence about the greater violence of the oppressors.
Most insidious, it appeals to the masses' strong and just desire for an end to war and violence and diverts that desire into counterrevolution and continued oppression.. As Mao Zedong said, "We [revolutionary communists] are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun."(1) To rid the world of war and violence, we need to first rid the world of the gross inequalities which make the violence of the oppressed against their oppressors just. To do so requires armed struggle which "Zombie" opposes.
Also insidious about "Zombie" is that it is pretty good musically, and likely to appeal to many potentially revolutionary youth on the grounds of musical quality alone.
About the only thing MIM can be happy about in "Zombie" is that it's hard to understand. The lyrics are printed in microscopic type, and unless you know that the Irish armed struggle started in 1916 and you saw an interview with the Cranberries where they explain that the dead person in the song was killed by the IRA, you won't get it. MIM tries to be as clear as possible in our limited media. If the reactionaries want to be muddled, that's fine with us.
Youth are a large part of MIM's organizing efforts, and the way in which some bands use their cultural popularity with youth to propagate reactionary politics is disturbing. The Beatles were probably the most popular band in this century, and they used their influence to spread pacifism and attack revolutionary science.
The Beatles' "Revolution," told youth to forget about upholding Chairperson Mao's revolutionary line and instead "free their minds," presumably with drugs, religion, psychology, Beatles music - i.e., with selfish, individualistic escapism. The Beatles, too, appealed to the young masses' hatred of war: "We all want to change the world, but when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out. You know it's gonna be all right.... [So don't worry about fighting imperialism, capitalism and patriarchy. After all, Maoists] want money for people with minds that hate."
Similarly, the Cranberries tell their young audience that the revolution is a result of a psychological problem, not a result of a real force: imperialism. According to the Cranberries, centuries of military, political and economic violence imposed on the Irish masses by British imperialism doesn't exist except in the delusional minds of Irish nationalists.
The song opens with a description of the death of a young British casualty of Ireland's just war for national liberation: "Another head hangs lowly...." The Cranberries say that "It's been the same old theme since 1916," when the Irish masses rose up against British imperialism.
Like the Beatles, the Cranberries ignore the violence of the oppressors and determine that the cause of war is revolutionaries' lack of individualism. To the Cranberries, revolutionaries are mindless zombies, hence the song's title.
Revolutionaries need to combat imperialist ideology in all arenas, including "alternative" pop music and culture generally. Young people who agree with us on this point should create anti- imperialist culture for MIM, or work in other ways to build MIM-led anti-imperialist institutions. By doing so, we can build towards the day when the airwaves are controlled by the people to serve the people, and reactionary pacifists like the Beatles and the Cranberries do not get disproportionate, unrebutted airplay.
- MC49
NOTES: 1. Mao Zedong "Problems of War and Strategy" Vol. II, p. 225.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of the most widely known political activists in the United $tates today. Some of these commentaries were originally recorded for the show All Things Considered on National Public Radio. But NPR decided not to air the commentaries due to police pressure, hence the name of the CD. But Mumia was able to gain support from others in order to get his message out to the public. MIM Notes has reported on Pacifica Radio's airing of Mumia's commentaries in the past (which led some Pacifica affiliates to drop that network's programs).
In addition to 16 Mumia essays, seventeen of his famous supporters recorded supportive introductions to the Mumia commentaries. These introductions represent a wide spectrum from actors to Assata Shakur to Howard Zinn. Even a retired Black cop participated, saying that Mumia was censored because his "voice threatens the smooth and orderly function of both state sanctioned murder and modern slavery."
This CD provides a thorough criticism of the current system here in the United $tates. Mumia's vast knowledge, poetic voice, and political consciousness all make this CD worth a listen. In track 4, "War on the Poor," Mumia describes how the system differs in its treatment of the rich versus the poor. "The only apparent solution to the scourge of homelessness is to build more and more prisons." He goes on to state statistics on poverty, showing how it falls disproportionately on the Black nation.
Mumia closes by saying, "It must come from the poor, a rebellion of the spirit that re-affirms their intrinsic human worth, based upon who they are rather than what they possess." MIM points out that the majority of people in the United $tates are rich, relative to the rest of the world, and the principal contradiction is actually between the oppressed internal semi-colonies (Blacks, Latino and First Nations within U$ borders) and the imperialist white nation.
In track 6, "Media is the Mirage," Mumia criticizes the bourgeois media as being geared towards entertainment, rather than education. He asks why people are so misinformed when our resources and technology are so great. And he answers that the media is driven by profit and corporate interests. This is why it is so important to build independent media. MIM and RAIL have done this with our newspapers and publications, RAIL's radio show, and our webpages. But obviously there is much work to be done, since MIM does not possess the capital that the corporate media do. It is our goal to get the resources and technology available in all fields and to apply them in ways that best serve the majority of the people rather than the imperialist bankers and corporations.
To Mumia's analysis, MIM adds that the bourgeois-owned media did not become so devoid of useful content on their own. Because even those who are nationally oppressed in this country are not majority proletarian, we must analyze this country's culture and leisure time pursuits closely. Most people in the u.$. devote well over half their time to leisure ITAL during their working years END; the proportion of time spent on leisure explodes when we look at the full lifetime of a u.$. citizen -- from late starts on employment to early retirements. The emphasis on entertainment even in so-called news media is a reflection of how much time people here spend at leisure. For this reason people in this country are most interested in news that is devoid of meaningful political content and packed with gossip, sex and sports.
Of course, Mumia spends some time discussing the MOVE movement, and the violent repression it faces by the state, which he reported on extensively before being locked up. He points out that the police repression has only encouraged more people to join in the struggle. Another track criticizes the hypocrisy of Christians for worshipping god while serving the dollar, pointing out that Jesus was a poor man on death row.
Many of the chapters of this CD focus on criticizing the U$ injustice system. In "When Ineffective Means Effective," Mumia describes how the constitutional right to assistance of counsel is said to be fulfilled even if an appointed lawyer sleeps through parts of the trial or is high during the proceedings. Mumia puts no weight in the words that are supposed to provide us with certain rights under democracy, and neither does MIM. In "No Law, No Rights" Mumia describes how this is especially true in prisons. This is clear in the letters that MIM receives from prisoners all over the country describing repressive conditions, which we publish in our biweekly newspaper.
One notable disagreement with Mumia's commentaries is with track 24 "NAFTA: A Pact Made in Hell." It's simply not true that "NAFTA pulls the plug out of the tub, and quickens the economic whoosh down the drain for U.$. labor." While NAFTA and similar agreements has been a blow to some U.$. workers, but not for the group as a whole. The bulk of workers in North Amerika are in alliance with the bourgeoisie against the Third World for a share of super profits. The whooshing sound that Mumia and Ross Perot talk about it not labor getting sucked down, it's the entire Amerikan nation sucking up the blood and sweat soaked labor of the Mexican people.
Mumia ends the commentary: "Consider any politician's stand on NAFTA and you will know whether he supports the rights of those who labor, or those who boss and profit from labor." Among others, the Klu Klux Klan, Ross Perot, Patrick Buchanan and Strom Thurman all oppose NAFTA. These reactionaries don't support those who labor, they support the Amerika-first bourgeoisie and the labor aristocracy afraid of losing jobs. The real laboring masses are those in the Third World whose suffering under U.$. imperialism began long before NAFTA.
In track 12, Mumia describes how the death penalty is only considered as a punishment for the poor, obviously an issue he's had a lot of experience with. He ends the CD comparing the United $tates to South Africa, pointing out that at least South Africa has declared the death penalty unconstitutional. MIM adds that the United $tates incarcerates a greater number of Blacks than apartheid South Africa ever did. It is obvious that U$ imperialism is alive both at home and abroad. MIM encourages all who agree to join our campaigns in opposition to this system.
All Things Censored is available from RAIL by sending $15 made out to MIM to the address on page 2. Or you can order them from Prison Radio/Quixote, PO Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94141 415 648 4505. Prison Radio sells single copies for $15 (including shipping) and orders of 10 or more are $6.50 each plus 5% for shipping. Excerpts from this CD can also be heard on RAIL's radio program on prisons: Under Lock and Key.
Source: MIM Notes 135 1 April, 1997.
reviewed by MC5, November 2, 1999
Here we are again reviewing another Time-Warner corporation product. Peeling off the tape on the CD, one can see the shiny "W," the mark of the beast. MIM is not smart enough to review the local music scene, so we review this corporate schlepp, in order that our Maoist-minded readers will grow sickened and take up the reviews of smaller but political local bands that make independent institutions of the oppressed possible.
The reviewer is not sure why, but the Time-Warner HQ web site (http://www.music.warnerbros.com/)is not boasting its relationship to "Queensryche," while it is quite proud to announce its ownership of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vitamin C, Stone Temple Pilots, Halloween, Filter, Paula Cole Band, Tori Amos, The Doobie Brothers, Eric Clapton, Adam Sandler, Missy Elliott, Kid Rock, Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, Goo Goo Dolls, Staind, Everything But the Girl, Iron Giant, Nu Flavor, A Century of Women in Music, Gloria Steinem and Susan Faludi. Aside from Atlantic, Time-Warner also owns the Elektra, Warner Bros, Rhino and Reprise labels, at the very least.
It works out well when one owns half the actors, actresses and musicians of Hollywood and the news magazines and news networks to publicize their existence. Stars who do not make the news in Time Magazine or CNN can be featured in puff pieces in Life or Entertainment Weekly and still be in the same corporate family. Rock stars who make a mark can also appear in Time-Warner's TV show on rock history.
When DJs play enough Time-Warner music, they can get a vote in the Jenny Jones Show for best DJ. The Jenny Jones Show is also owned by Time-Warner along with Seinfeld and ER. Oh it pains us, but Time-Warner owns movie-of-the-year candidate "The Matrix."
Entertainment Weekly (EW) gave the Stone Temple Pilots a "C" for its "No 4" album of 1999. We agreed with their review that it was "unexciting and obvious." However, EW reviewed, mentioned and featured Stone Temple Pilots repeatedly over the years.
In the case of Queensryche, there were also several references, but "Q2K" has not been reviewed yet.
There is no doubt the "Q2K" is a demonstration of musical talent. Q2K's music is very entertaining, but like the Stone Temple Pilots, Queensryche is not able to put anything much into their lyrics. Their lyrics are perhaps more psychologically involved and mature than the ones in Stone Temple Pilots' "No 4," but they still lack originality.
Most of this album is still the same old boring romance culture schlock. This reviewer thought at one time that Queensryche was a Marxist band or pseudo-Marxist band of some kind or another. Right now it seems to be just another rock band that knows how to play its instruments, but doesn't have anything to say.
rage against the machine is holding strong to anti-imperialist politics but still has not given up the anarchism that marked the group's past CDs. This latest release opens with "People of the Sun," a reminder of oppression and exploitation "since 1516:" "Neva forget that the wip snapped ya back, ya spine cracked for tobacco, oh I'm the marlboro man." The answer: "Now you found a gun/This is for the people of the sun." Righteous armed struggle is the answer, but this struggle must be organized and led by an organization with a political line and strategy that can win and make progressive change.
"Tire Me," "Vietnow," "Without a Face" and other songs also bring up the history of imperialist repression the world's people have suffered. Other tracks defend the right of people to self- determination. "Wind Below" upholds the struggles of the women and men from the south, including armed struggle. This song ends with "They force our ears to go deaf to the screams in the south."
One theme to this release is the miseducation of the masses which is attacked in many of the songs. The song getting the most play on the radio, "Bulls on Parade," takes on the right wing hypocrisy: "They rally round tha family/with pockets full of shells/weapons not food, not homes, not shoes." It goes on to attack the miseducation system: "I walk tha corner to tha rubble that used to be a/library/line up to tha mind cemetery/what we don't know keeps tha contracts alive an/movin'." This suggests that it is just lack of information that keeps the masses from fighting back. "Vietnow" carries on the attack on the masses as miseducated sheep forced to listen to misinformation, duped by religion and ends by asking "Is all tha world jails and churches?"
While miseducation has always played a role in keeping the oppressed down, in Amerika there is the important question of material interest that keeps the majority of the people so readily willing to accept and support imperialist bullshit. Miseducation is rampant in all countries controlled by imperialism but it is not just misinformation that is keeping the majority of the people in Amerika from rising up in revolutionary struggle. The white parasitic labor aristocracy doesn't resist the miseducation because they want to hear that the brown people down below are inferior and terrorists and stealing their jobs because they want to continue to benefit from the exploitation of the world's majority. It is not just lack of information that has made white Amerika non- revolutionary, it is their benefit from the exploitation of the people of the world that has created a labor aristocracy willing to support fascism before thinking about supporting just struggles for national liberation.
"Down Rodeo" points out "A ballots dead so bullets what I get". This is one of the best tracks on this CD and suggests that maybe rage against the machine understands the national contradiction in the United Snakes and why the whites have been bought off into passivity:
"So make a move and plead the fifth 'cause ya Can't plead the first Can't waste a day when the night brings A hearse So now I'm rollin' down rodeo wit a Shot gun these people ain't seen a Brown skin man since their grandparents bought One Bare witness to tha sickest shot while suckas Get romantic They gonna send us campin' like they did my man Fred Hampton
Year of tha Boomerang lays out the revolutionary plan just short of a call for Maoist organizing, invoking the memory of Mao's comment that a death for the people is as heavy as Mount Tai:
So I grip tha cannon like Fanon and pass tha Shells to my classmates 'Cause tha bosses right ta live is mine ta die So I'm goin' out heavy sorta like mount tai Wit tha five centuries of penitentiary so let Tha guilty hang In the year of tha boomerang I got no property but yo I'm a piece of it So let tha guilty hang In tha year of tha boomerang An now it's upon you
But in the end rage against the machine is still calling on people to take up guns and not offering them any leadership or organization to work with in this country. They seem to be leaning towards the Revolutionary Communist Party, acknowledging several of their front groups as comrades on the jacket of the CD, whose influence could explain the failure to adequately distinguish between the white nation parasites in Amerika and the oppressed nation allies of the revolution as well as the derogatory attacks on the masses as miseducated sheep.
In spite of these failings, overall this is an excellent anti- imperialist attack on the Evil Empire of Amerika so long as the listener bears in mind that the Amerikans (a.k.a white labor aristocrat parasites) are a part of this Evil Empire and want to continue to be a part of it. And in order to really make our deaths as heavy as Mount Tai we must work together in an organization that can lead the revolution and make every life and death count.
reviewed by MC5, November 2, 1999
The release of "The Battle of Los Angeles" in October and November, 1999 is a great artistic event for the proletariat of North Amerika to celebrate. Every song is political. Not one is a love song, sucking up to the romance culture. Hard-driving and artistically excellent and consistent this album will uplift the spirit of many in the just struggles of the oppressed and exploited.
The first subject of the first song "Testify" is the ongoing bombing of Iraq by the United $tates. The media and temples are soothing those who should be uprising: "I'm empty please fill me--mister anchor assure me--That Baghdad is burning--Your voice is so soothing--That cunning mantra of killing."
The second song "Guerrilla Radio" takes the line we share that the world is in the midst of the "third world war." It also contains the first of the album's mentions of Mumia.
"Voice of the Voiceless" says "So long as tha rope--Is tight around Mumia's neck--Let there be no rich white life--We bound to respect--Cause and effect--Can't ya smell tha smoke in tha breeze--My panther my brother we are at war until you're free."
Although Mumia belonged to what used to be a Maoist party, the Black Panther Party, there is one barb thrown at us communists in the album. It's not surprising, because the vocalist Zack De La Rocha is a great internationalist but still an anarchist. In "Sleep Now in the Fire," Zack interchanges Jesus and "The Party" in a description of oppressive stewardship of the planet.
According to Zack, Marxist-Leninist communism's organization known as the vanguard party can be used to commit all the atrocities that the imperialists already commit right now. Hence Zack comes off as against all authorities. MIM would say in response that the worst authority is the authority that does not claim to be one: it is unaccountable. Since Zack speaks consistently of the need for armed struggle in various contexts, he should dump anarchism's lack of accountability. Once people organize force in armed struggle, they have a state or proto-state whether they know it or not.
Zack is not a lousy libertarian. He speaks for the humyn needs of the hungry and homeless. His internationalism shines through, but what he is talking about has set back movements for the satisfying of humyn needs. No movement against all authorities has ever succeeded in advancing the survival needs of the people. Such movements end up falling back into support for the status quo.
As an artist, Zack has plenty to talk about negating the oppression in this capitalist world. It's just that his solutions lack in actual strength in the world. To the extent that Zack negates the status quo and takes stands on individual issues, we at MIM say "excellent." To the extent that his solution has shown no promise in the world, we say that he has failed to take sides in a general ideological way. The best politics integrate all the issues across-the-board and do not require the shopping approach where one checks out this or that issue while ignoring the others. For example, there are many others in the same position as Mumia and Leonard Peltier.
Marxism is still the best all-around integration of the issues of oppression and exploitation. Because it has no record of success, anarchism can be a way of escaping responsibility for what happens in the world and dragging us back to fighting one issue at a time while the ruling class attacks on all fronts simultaneously.
Sometimes such anarchists as Zack are called "communist anarchists" to separate them from the libertarians. Zack is the real kind of anarchist, the original kind, not like the many fakers calling themselves anarchists today. His vision of the "black flag and a red star" in "War within a Breath" is the symbolism of communist anarchism. The song ends chanting "land or death" for the starving peasants. Zack understands the reality of the world's starving people unlike most calling themselves anarchist.
The success of Rage Against the Machine that makes it a mega multinational corporation has not caused it to mellow musically or politically. The fact that it has held firm has given Rage the chance to be a rallying point for further advances, including by newer or less-popular artists. MIM hopes to spend most of its time reviewing bands that are not giants like Rage.
While Rage's musical health is not to be doubted, of somewhat more concern is the list of political action groups that Rage has endorsed in its CD jacket. They leave the impression of the shopping approach to single issues and a refusal to confront oppression across-the-board.
The first group is "Unite!" a sort of AFL-CIO type outreach to young people. We approve of the work being done in connection to sweatshops in the Third World, but labor aristocracy issues from the imperialist countries have been thrown in as well. It has a heavy reformist bent that will sidetrack people.
We certainly can't object to the committees working for Mumia and Leonard Peltier featured. There is also "Rock for Choice," the RCP-front group "Refuse & Resist" and a non-profit for wimmin suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Perhaps the most representative site is the one that finally delves into the kind of anarchism seen in Rage, the AK Press at www.akpress.com. This site is potentially the deepest, and one where MIM's disagreements with Zack will come out most clearly. If Zack wrote newspapers, we would disagree often, but music is usually not as didactic and analytical and hence MIM can share great unity in spirit with Rage Against the Machine.
A new song by the band Stabbing Westward is hitting it big on the airwaves. In August the band opened for the Sex Pistols along with Gravity Kills.
At a Massachusetts concert the band's lead singer said, "I don't understand not playing with the Sex Pistols. Who wouldn't open for the Sex Pistols?" in reference to the fact that another band turned down the chance. So Stabbing Westward looks up to the Sex Pistols which indeed did not get shown up by Stabbing Westward or Gravity Kills being some poor rehash of its old self.
The Sex Pistols of 1977 and 1978 were the epitome of punk rock. Now, without their old bass player, they still sound like their records of the old days and they didn't play any love songs at their Massachusetts appearance this August. What the Sex Pistols do say about love in their songs is scathingly sarcastic.
However, Stabbing Westward's song brings us back to the decadent romance culture with a vengeance. "What I was died with your belief in me. . . I don't know what's true emotion. HOW CAN I HAVE SEX WITHOUT YOU!". This last sentence is yelled staccato and screams for our militant submission to the romance culture. According to Stabbing Westward's lead singer, he doesn't know emotion or sex without his lover.
In any kind of popular music in the imperialist countries, a central criterion is can the music entertain without relying on and reinforcing the romance culture? For MIM, Stabbing Westward's energies are misplaced and sold-out to the romance culture. There is much that needs to be said and done with a vengeance, writing more love songs is not one of them.
It is typical in the decadence of imperialism that the strongest feelings of the youth concern the romance culture. The system reinforces the idea that there seems to be nothing of importance to engage the youth with otherwise. The imperialists have no forward-looking agenda to tap the energies of youth, except offering bought off complacence into the oppressive culture. Because the imperialist education and media system does not allow youth to learn of or gain contact with the life-and-death struggle of the international proletariat, romance culture seems like the only alternative. MIM sees, as a principal contradiction within the white nation, an antagonism between youth and imperialism. The limited offerings from imperialism are a short lived existence of environmental degradation and world-wide oppression. To the pent up anger and vengeance of Amerikan youth, MIM says to organize with the internationally oppressed, and build a real movement against imperialist limitation and oppression.
reviewed by MC5, November 1, 1999
Stone Temple Pilots can be darn entertaining musicians. Too bad they have nothing to say in this album, just the same old sexual angst.
It's about girlfriends leaving or unattainable for these four men composing Stone Temple Pilots. Even the song titled "MC5" is no real tribute to that revolutionary band.
If elevator music were created to soothe patients from a certain era before they went to the dentist, is Stone Temple Pilots destined to play the same role for the X Generation rockers 30 years from now when they visit their plastic surgeons? Dare we add that some of the music on this album is reminiscent of '60s "classic rock" of a syrup-like nature? The ability to play loud, crashing but disciplined rock music is somehow associated with discontent and rebellion.
Yet, if the only discontent is sexual, the Stone Temple Pilots may be just the elevator music of the future. It just cries for entrapment by the romance culture, a stultifying and conservative effect. Now that they are rich, we hope they find some other subject matters to match their musical style.
There is probably no way to avoid singing about gender matters entirely. All we ask is something original or it might be better to sing about the Internet. At least that is new.
Tool is a fast-paced hard rock band that shows promise, but hasn't quite delivered yet by Maoist standards. The cover of the Undertow album gets our attention with the picture of a pig with dozens of forks sticking up underneath it.
In an interview with Toronto radio, a Tool singer told listeners that its outlook on life, as reflected in its music, is indeed bleak. Tool recognizes that the rich and powerful don't want to change because "they don't have to change." According to Tool, this arrogance leads to many social problems such as homelessness and hunger.
MIM agrees with Tool that there aren't any quick or easy solutions to this problem. It isn't clear to listeners what Tool thinks of the best way forward, but MIM is very clear on the fact that we need a revolution in Amerika, and it is going to be a long, hard journey.
Tool obviously put a lot of effort into the graphic and instrumental parts of the album, but very little effort into the lyrics. The lyrics that MIM can understand often attack abuses of power. The problem is that this is often done at a psychological level and not a systematic one. This approach makes it easy to blame the masses for their own oppression instead of the power structure.
One song damns a "belligerent fucker," who Tool wants to "shut down." Instead of offering a material analysis of problems, Tool thrashes wildly. People who are looking for serious social change need to come up with effective strategies, not make directionless attacks on power.
MIM can sympathize with people who are angry, disgusted or depressed with everybody around them. The people of Amerika, more than those of any other empire in history, are indeed the most corrupted by privilege. Instead of randomly blaming the masses, we need to analyze which groups benefit from the current structures and which don't. Then we need to take sides.
Tool appears to be heading in the correct direction, but it needs to make a greater effort to define its politics if it's future albums are to be a force for positive change. --MC5
reviewed by MC5, November 1, 1999
"This sort of behavior is left to the psychotic, dogmatic, fundamentalist believers you see on your T.V. everyday letting off bombs and killing people in the name of God. Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing," says the Tool CD art jacket. On the basis of this, we would hope this is another anarchist band. Our suspicions are reinforced by the Internet FAQ, which says they like their t-shirt slogan, "all Indians, no chiefs."
We at MIM believe anarchists should stick to music, poetry and art, because their political prescriptions and analysis are often lacking. We agree with the anarchists on their long-term goals of stateless society, no bosses, no coercion necessary. In the arts, the sentiments of the people are more relevant than specific analysis and plans, so our unity with the anarchists in music is usually greater than in other areas. Tool conveys a general rebelliousness and opposition to religion and that is a good thing in the context we are in.
Fans claim to see something profound in Tool's hard, psychedelic rock probably referred to as the all-encompassing "alternative." One fan--(no we can't assure you it's not a corporate set-up)--one fan at http://www.zork.net/~alhambra/east/ claims that Tool is the only band that unleashes his yin energy.
Tool refers to the "science of crying" or "lachrymology" as its inspiration. The proper word is "brooding." That is Tool. Brooding is something that imperialist country people should do, because there is much to stop ignoring. We do not mean that they should be "in touch with their inner child." No, we mean that people should be suspicious of being happy in the midst of oppression and exploitation in the U$A.
There is something of Satanic imagery behind Tool as well. We also like Tool because according to its official FAQ it met partly through Tom Morello of "Rage against the Machine."
The title of the album and first song called "Stinkfist" go together well. "Aenima" or "Aenema" (spelling controversy being deliberate) is a combination of "anima" and "enema." In MIM's opinion, the Amerikan people do have a stick up their ass that needs to be pulled out. Only a piece came out in the U.$. Civil War, but even pulling out just that bit made things much better.
"Hooker with a Penis" is a common anarchist refrain about the commoditization of art, instructing us listeners that we sold out by buying their album. It's a good point: we should be reviewing someone without corporate backing. When we at MIM review what is already popular, we may be relating to music and pointing a direction, but we are not building. "Aenema" went platinum. Hence, MIM is only relating to where the masses are already at. Let's point out the good things in Tool and move on.
The song with the same name as the title seems to be saying Los Angeles in particular should go down the drain. It would be OK for anarchists except that it makes Arizona out to be better than Los Angeles.
The album ends shouting "crying open my third eye." The eye imagery is connected to the eye on the back of the dollar bill. We like the connection of crying open an eye to see the ruling class.
The official Tool web page trails off into the mists the way the psychological side of Satanism does as well. Like a lot of music web sites, this one points to a web site against censorship. Another web site against scientology and L. Ron Hubbard is the next sharpest statement made. Since Tool is pointing toward psychology almost as a replacement for religion, it is not surprising that Tool does not approve of L. Ron Hubbard. The album is a lot like the web pages and discussion. It fades in and out of recognizable political consciousness. However, we will give Tool the credit of not being aimless. The music is also highly entertaining.
by MC49
Rap artist Tupac Shakur (AKA 2Pac) died on August 13th, six days after being shot four times in a car-to-car shooting in Las Vegas. The imperialist press described Shakur as being "known for songs of violence" and wrote that "Shakur often boasted of his 'gangsta' ties and had the words 'Thug Life' tattooed across his abdomen."(1) The Los Angeles Times also ran a sidebar headlined "Rap Violence" next to an article about Shakur.(2) Blaming the victim, imperialist lackey Jesse Jackson said of Shakur, "Sometimes the lure of violent culture is so magnetic that even when one overcomes it with material success, it continues to call. He couldn't break the cycle."(3)
Furthermore, the imperialist press is doing its best not to let people know about Shakur's more political statements and lyrics. One quote from Shakur sums up the tension between his lumpen gangster side and his proletarian revolutionary side, while also serving as an answer to the hypocritical rulers and lackeys who point their fingers at imperialism's creations: "I'm a product of this society....You know, I'm a revolutionary. I'm straight thuggin' out here. Thuggin' against society. Thuggin' against the system that made me."(4)
MIM does not agree with Shakur's equation of "thuggin'" and revolutionary activism. MIM's enemy, furthermore, is not society. We seek to unite all the elements of society which can be united against imperialism, capitalism, and patriarchy -- principally imperialism at this time.
While Shakur had his lumpen "gangsta" side, he also had a self-critical take on his role in it. "'This thug life stuff, it was just ignorance,' Shakur said in an interview last year with Vibe Magazine. 'My intentions was always in the right place...I'm going to show people my true intentions and my true heart. I'm going to show them the man that my mother raised.'"(2)
In 1971, Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mother, was one of the "Panther 21" defendants falsely accused of a bombing conspiracy. As a result, Tupac was in literally in prison before he was born.(3) His mother was in prison for years for the crime of being anti-imperialist. The son that his mother raised would be a revolutionary son who would fight imperialism on the side of the oppressed people of the world.
The best answers to Shakur's self-righteous critics can be found in his lyrics. In that spirit, some of his best are excerpted here.
Violent (1991)
They claim that I'm violent Just 'cause I refuse to be silent
These hypocrites are having fits 'Cause I'm not buying it, defying it
Envious, because I will rebel against Any oppressor,
and this is known as self-defense ...
I told'em fight back, attack on society
If this is violence, then violent's what I gotta be
If you investigate, you'll find out where it's coming from
Look through our history; Amerika's the violent one
Unlock my brain, break the chains of your misery
It's time to pay back for evil shit you did to me
They call me militant and racist cause I won't resist
You wanna censor something?
Motherfucker, censor this!
My words are weapons, and i'm steppin' to the sirens
Waking up the masses
But you Claim that I'm violent
...
Words Of Wisdom (1991)
Killing us one by one
In one way or another Amerika will find a way to eliminate the problem
One by one
The problem is the troublesome Black youth of the ghetto
And one by one
We are being wiped off the face of this earth
At an extremely alarming rate
And even more alarming is the fact
That we are not fighting back ...
This is for the masses
The lower classes
The ones you left out
Jobs were given,
Better livin'
But we were kept out
Made to feel inferior
But we're superior
Break the chains
In our brains
That made us fear ya'
Pledge allegiance to a flag that neglects us
Honor a man that refused to respect us
Emancipation, proclamation, please!
Lincoln just said that to save the nation
These are lies that we all accepted
"Say no to drugs",
But the government's kept it
Running through our community,
Killing the unity (5)
The war on drugs is a war on you and me
And yet they say this is
"the home of the free"
But if you ask me its all about hypocrisy
The Constitution, yo, it don't apply to me and Lady Liberty,
stupid [sexist epithet deleted-- MIM] lied to me
Steady strong nobody's gonna like what I pumpin'
But its wrong to keeping someone from learning something
So get up, its time to start nation-building I'm fed up, we gotta
start teaching children
That they can be all that they want to be
There's much more to life than just poverty
This is definitely words of wisdom
I charge you with the crime of rape, murder, and assault
For suppressing and punishing my people
I charge you with robbery for robbing me of my history
I charge you with false imprisonment for keeping me
Trapped in the projects
And the jury finds you guilty on all accounts
And you are to serve the consequences for your evil schemes
Prosecutor, do you have any more evidence? ...
On with the knowledge of the place we've been
No one will ever oppress this race again
No Malcolm X in my history text
Why is that?
'Cause he tried to educate and liberate all blacks
Why is Martin Luther King in my book each week?
He told Blacks, if they get smacked, turn the other cheek
I don't get it, so many questions went through my mind I get sweated,
They act as if asking questions is a crime
But forget it, 'cause one day I'm gonna prove them wrong ...
The Amerikan dream, though it seems like its attainable
They're pulling your sleeve, don't believe
'Cause it will strangle ya' ...
Thought they had us beaten when they took out King
But the battle ain't over till the Black man sings
Words of Wisdom
Nightmare
that's what I am--Amerika's nightmare
I am what you made me
The hate and the evil that you gave me
I shine of a reminder of what you have done to my people
For four hundred plus years
You should be scared
You should be running
You should be trying to silence me
But you can not escape fate
Well it is my turn to come
Just as you rose you shall fall
By my hands Amerika,
You reap what you sow 2pacalypse--Amerika's Nightmare
Ice Cube and Da Lench Mob--Amerika's Nightmare
Above the Law--Amerika's Nightmare
Paris--Amerika's Nightmare
Public Enemy--Amerika's Nightmare
Krs-One--Amerika's Nightmare
New Afrikan Panthers--Amerika's Nightmare
Mutulu Shakur--Amerika's Nightmare
Geronimo Pratt--Amerika's Nightmare
Assata Shakur--Amerika's Nightmare
MIM notes the passing of Tupac Shakur with sadness, and encourages his fans to work with us to follow through on the revolutionary, proletarian aspects of his message.
Notes:
1. Los Angeles Times, 14 September, 1996, pp. A1, A18. Also in Los Angeles Times, 9 September, 1996, p. A1: "the rap star known for the violence in his lyrics and his life".
2. Los Angeles Times, 9 September, 1996, p. A16.
3. Los Angeles Times, 14 September, 1996, p. A18.
4. Spin, date unknown (approx. 1995), p.44.
5. Shakur was completely correct on this point. See MIM Notes article in this issue.