Sylvia Federici
There’s a profile of Silvia Federici in today’s New York Times magazine which is worth reading. The article is partly a profile of Federici and the Wages for Housework movement, but also looks at the way Covid has had an impact of domestic labour.
In the Bleak Mid-Winter
In Canada, we call them snowbirds; People who spent their summers in Canada, but come the cooler weather (Insert Canada joke of your choice here), they fly to warmer climes. My grandfather used to spend half of his year in California with his cousin). With Covid still ranging, this has been more of a challenge, but the rich and the powerful still practice the policy. Here’s a few cases from Canada and the US proving F Scott Fitzgerald’s quip, the rich are different from us; they have more money.
- Ted Cruz was the gold standard for this sort of behaviour as one day after telling people shivering without heat or power in Texas to stay home, he boarded a flight to Cancun for a vacation. It feels important to mention too that Cruz had a police escort to the airport… Leaked texts revealed, even though the political and social media shit-storm forced Cruz to return the following day, the Cruz clan were planning to spend a week away from Texas. Cruz initially threw his daughters under the bus, before conceding the trip was a mistake. Cruz insisted his daughters wanted to go, and he was being a good dad, presumably by teaching them the valuable lesson that when things go bad, if you have money you can flee. I’m sure he is truly sorry (he got caught).
- Rod Phillips was the Finance Minister in Ontario until he took a trip over Christmas to the swanky exclusive resort of St. Barts during the Covid lockdown. Unlike Cruz who flew economy plus and was photographed on the trip to Cancun, Phillips attempted to cover his tracks: He pre-recorded a Christmas video complete with him sitting by a roaring fire in a turtleneck. He wore a similar turtleneck during a zoom cabinet meeting in which, if you listen carefully, you’ll swear you can hear the waves from the sea in the background. When the con was exposed, Phillips resigned, although Premier Doug Ford who apparently knew he was out of the country even before the story broke but did nothing, did not. (Ford initially claimed he didn’t know where his finance minister was for two weeks)
- An unnamed Ontario judge apparently travelled to Turks and Caicos on January 19 and conducted trials through a video-link. While we are all being encouraged to work from home if we can during the pandemic, flying to a warmer locale to do so seems to be observing the letter, but not the spirit. The Judge is no longer presiding over cases, but will remain there until the end of the month (so…still on vacation)
- In Alberta, six members of the Legislative assembly and three high level staffers for the ruling United Conservative Party left the country over the Christmas break for warmer locations including Mexico, Las Vegas, and Arizona. Most apologized, expressing regret for getting caught. The Premier of Alberta, Jason Kenny, whose approach to the pandemic has veered between claiming everything is fine, to everything is Justin Trudeau’s fault accepted all apologies with a kind of “Well, they said sorry” shrug.
- I also hear Rush Limbaugh is heading somewhere warmer.
Notes on Joss Whedon
Let me say first of all, I’m a huge fan of Joss Whedon’s work. I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly. I watched Dollhouse, the Firefly movie Serenity, the adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing, the two Avengers movies, and Cabin in the Woods. I still read the Buffy comics. Frey, a Buffy-verse comic featuring a future-slayer, was great. Whedon’s work on the X-men and Runaways was also terrific. (There are almost a dozen posts on this blog referring favourably to Whedon)
Whedon’s work was intelligent, politically liberal and hugely influential. The idea that high school is hell, or that when you sleep with your boyfriend he turns into a monster, were transformed into season long arcs which in the case of Buffy were literally true. Highlights for me: “Hush” (Season four – the episode with almost no dialogue), “The Body” (Season five – the death of Joyce Summers still makes me cry), and “Once More with Feeling” (Season six – the musical episode that influenced so many shows). And there are many, many others. Truly marvellous television. I never owned the “Joss Whedon is my Master” t-shirt, but I could have done. So recent developments horrify and dismay me.
Whedon and his wife Kai Cole split in 2012 (divorcing in 2016), amidst allegations that he was a serial cheater. Cole argued that Whedon’s persona as a nice guy, a feminist, a person who wrote and treated women well, allowed him to create a shield for what was an abusive personality. Later, when Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg, came forward with allegations that Whedon had created a toxic work environment when he took over the Justice League movie, those accusations resurfaced. This week, Charisma Carpenter came forward, with allegations of bullying, abuse and toxic environments, she was supported by Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), Amber Benson (Tara), Marti Noxon (writer), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Eliza Dushku (Faith), Anthony Head (Giles), James Masters (Spike), and… Sarah Michelle Geller (Buffy herself), again, I felt sick and disappointed.
One of the joys of owning the Buffy DVDs was the commentary tracks, and Whedon’s were always the best. I got a real insight into the show (it seemed). It may have been in one of the early ones or in a featurette, when Whedon described his motivation for Buffy: The typical monster movie always saw the young blonde girl as the victim. What, asked Whedon, if the young blonde girl was the hero? Not the person who needed rescuing from the big bad, but was the person the big bad feared. By creating powerful three-dimensional women characters in pretty much all of his work, Whedon enjoyed a reputation as a feminist, whose characters could easily pass the Bechdel test. The revelations this week are a betrayal of all of that. (The most horrifying was Michelle Trachtenberg’s comment that there was a rule on the set of Buffy that Whedon was never allowed to be in a room alone with Michelle …again) .
We have yet to hear from Whedon. Will it be a mea culpa and apologies or denials? Stony silence until we move onto the next scandal to briefly occupy our attention? We have all worked in environments with abusive co-workers or, more commonly, bosses. The entertainment industry, like all other businesses, maintains and encourages those power structures. Some abusers revel in their power barely deigning to conceal their abhorrent behaviour. While the net result is not worse, adding hypocrisy seems to rub salt even deeper into the wound.
January 6 and the Rise of the Far-Right
The following is a comment on Sander’s article The Storm That Gave Biden Wings on the Internationalist Perspective website.
While I broadly agree with Sander’s conclusions about the likely political consequences of the events in Washington on January 6, I want to develop the background and significance beyond the two options of a failed coup d’etat or a successful coup de theatre.
There are many markers by which to judge the Trump presidency; too many to name here, but surely among the most sinister is the growth and entry into the mainstream of American life of openly far-right and fascistic organizations during the last four years, even since the events of Charlottesville in 2017. The Trump regime in the White House not only refused to condemn these organizations, in part due to Trump’s transactional worldview and the rightists seemingly bottomless adoration for him, but encouraged and promoted their ideas and accompanying conspiracy theories.
At the raucous first presidential debate between Trump and the eventual winner, Democractic Party stalwart Joe Biden, when Trump was given another opportunity to disown these group, he declared instead, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” And they did.
In a post on the Notes from Underground blog on January 8, 2021, I referred to Trump as a “lazy fascist” and January 6 as a “lazy barely-competent proto-fascist attempt at a coup.” Compared to the brutal effectiveness of the military’s recent action in Myanmar, Trump’s would-be insurrectionists were largely amature hour, but an action shouldn’t solely be judged by its result, but also by its intent.
That the crowd was spectualcular inept, taking selfies, making no attempt to conceal identities and posting to social media with abandon does not decrease the significance of the event.. (Could this be because they thought their efforts might be successful and that the President had their backs? – in which case they were spectacularly misinformed)
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But if there were riot-tourists seemingly caught up in the moment and overcome by the sense of “We’re doing it, we’re really doing it,” there were also those with a more sinister and professional purposes: Members of the Proud Boys, III Percenters, Oath Keepers, and Boogaloo Boys were all present (It’s worth noting that all of these organizations were formed prior to Trump’s presidency, but which have assumed far greater prominent since 2016)
On several occasions last year, armed members of militia groups legally entered the Michigan legislature in efforts to intimidate the governor into ending the lockdown measures in the state. This set the stage for an October attempt by members of the Wolverine Watchmen militia (who had loose ties to the Boogaloo movement) to kidnap the anti-Trump governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer. No doubt, Whitmer would have been “tried” and possibly executed; that the plot failed does not discount it. If anything, it showed the seriousness of the situation.
Could the actions have succeeded? It seems highly unlikely. The military was not onside and many participants who were interviewed seemed to have no clear plan other than to “Stop the Steal.” But the picture of a crowd that simply got out of hand then stood confused as to what to do next is not accurate either:
If the action failed to go further, it was not for the following factors:
- Christopher Miller, the acting Secretary of Defense, disarmed the National Guard, limiting the number of troops present in Washington and restricting their actions (this is in stark contrast to degree of military force on display against peaceful Black Lives Matter marches in 2020)
- It has been revealed that explosives found in the Capital region were planted the night before the action.
- It was also revealed that on January 5th, some of those later involved in the events took tours of the Capitol building.
- During the occupation Republican lawmakers like obnoxious gun troll Lauren Bobert tweeted where Nancy Pelosi might be. If leftist Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez or Ilham Omar had been captured by the mob what would have been their fate? Or for that matter, Mike Pence, given that a gallows was seen outside the Capitol building and calls were heard for his execution as a traitor.
- During the events, contrary to his assertion, Trump did not call out the National Guard immediately, instead he and his toast Rudy Giuliani were on the phone to Republican senators trying to turn the delay to their advantage. Finally in the address that got him banned from Twitter, continued to incite by maintaining the election was stolen from him, and while he told the rioters to go home, he also told them that he loved them.
Since January 6, it’s absolutely true that there has been blowback against the Trump forces. it was a gamble, with long odds, that didn’t pay off. Those who supported or were seen to have contributed to the riot were isolated, but with generally minor consequences: A lost book deal, a cancelled Twitter account. Parlor was effortlessly crushed by Amazon, and some conservatives learned how their beloved free market could be used against them, even as they mouthed pro-forma condemnations of violence (eventually)
What is remarkably indicative as to how the Republican Party has transformed itself and how the party caucus has largely maintained solidarity with Trump. The Senate will vote for acquittal and continue to whine about moving on, while allowing the outliers in its caucus to continue without sanction. Potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2024 see Trump’s coveted base (the loathsome duo Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley to name just two) among others and others. The House of Representatives even has its own crazy conspiracy monger in the person of the deranged Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose promotion of QAon’s anti-semitic conspiracy theories has appalled even some of the Republican establishment publically; but not enough to for them to actually do anything about her.
It remains unclear as to whether Trump himself will go quietly into the void, all the while proclaiming that he will return. It is possible that he will start his own news network or political party. It’s also possible that his personal trajectory will be like that of Sarah Palin, who after John McCain’s failed presidential run was thought to be the next big thing, until she wasn’t.
As Sander notes, members of the far-right see the events of January 6 as a victory. They have accomplished things beyond their wildest dreams. It is possible that Trump and the Republican establishment will be cast aside. In the aftermath, many Trumpists, including most notably the QAnon Shaman felt that Trump had thrown them under the bus (apparently they had not been watching the news for the past four years in order to understand Trump’s M.O.) That the November election failed to be overturned for Trump does not indicate a failure of events. Rather, it represents a possible beginning of something larger and much more dangerous.
Fischer
The Insurrection that wasn’t
The following piece is from the Socialist Project’s list by the excellent Canadian historian Bryan Palmer
Music Notes: January 2021
Something nice to hear.
- Bree Runway – 2000and4Eva
An artist I’d never heard of until one of her songs appeared in an IG post for the Face. Infectious sounds. Could probably listen to “ATM” all night. - The Sleaford Mods – Spare Ribs
And out of the darkness…if you’ve never listened to the Sleaford Mods, you’ve missed out. What can be said? Minimalist, hilarious, abrasive, brilliant. One of their strongest albums. - The Gun Club – The Las Vegas Story
I was a huge Gun Club fan, and one of my biggest disappointments was seeing them live at Larry’s Hideaway. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was drunk, and most of the show was a shambles. C’est la vie. The Las Vegas Story always felt like a let down after the mutant country punk-blues Fire of Love and Miami. but listening to it years later, and it has aged well. - Amyl and the Sniffers – Amyl and the Sniffers
Old school punk rock from Australia. A record you need to listen to at volume. Guaranteed to brighten your day. - Run the Jewels – RTJ4
Ah, you already know about Run the Jewels and how good this album is. - Sid Griffin – Million Dollar Bash
Not only is Griffin a part of the Long Ryders, but he’s also a historian of Americana. Here’s a quite wonderful book on Dylan’s “Basement Tapes.” For every fan of those recordings. - The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground
After the sonic speed rush of White Light / White Heat, the Velvets’ third album is a dramatic shift. Folky, reflective , and with fewer songs about drugs and stuff. Sometimes overlooked in the Velvets’ collection, but undeservedly so. - Fontaines DC – “A Hero’s Death” (Soulwax remix)
OK, this was unexpected. A fantastic Irish post-punk band remixed by two Belgian DJs. The results are fantastic. - The Kills – Little Bastards
The Kills are one of my favourite bands. We’re all hoping for new material soon, but this collection of B-sides and rarities will do for now. - The Cowboy Junkies – Whites off Earth Now!
The band’s second album The Trinity Sessions was the wider world’s introduction to their craft, but the debut contains startling revelations. All but one song is a cover, but they all sound like originals. The Junkies’ laid back country blues is perfect for a long drive through the night on the road to who knows where.
Till next month.
“The Storm that Gave Biden Wings”
Here’s an article from an Internationalist Perspective member of the events of January 6. There are points of disagreement between this and the brief comment I made on this blog, but this is important – especially considering the consequences of the day: The Storm that Gave Biden Wings
Whatever Happened to the Spartacist League ?
Years ago when I was a member of the Toronto branch of the Bolshevik Tendency, the assignment I hated most was having to go to Trotskyist League forums. We were banned from meetings of the Internationalist Socialists and whatever the Mandelites were calling themselves, but we were allowed into TL meetings. Unfortunately…
We were required to sit at the back of the meeting in designated seats. After the presentation, we got to make one intervention (3 minutes although the time limit only seemed to apply to us), following that numerous TL members and supporters would shriek abuse at us (we were supposedly racists, anglo-chauvinists, cop-lovers, dubious elements, quitters, etc. etc.). Then at the end, we were herded out to prevent us from talking to anyone who was actually crazy enough to have come to this meeting in the first place (I suppose that included us too).
And they were always on a Saturday night.
Sustained by coffee and cigarettes, very energetic were the TL…and the rest of their international tendency. Among the first to arrive at an event, the last to leave. Always the most annoying: New issues of Workers Vanguard, Spartacist Canada, Spartacist, Women and Revolution, Black History and the Class Struggle, a pamphlet or two, and always always on sub-drives or so it seemed.
Workers Vanguard came out every two weeks for as long as I remember, until last year. In April, the ICL posted on its web site that the frequency of WV would be …irregular. That has turned out to be a bit of an understatement; it has been over seven months since an issue of WV has appeared.
On October 30, a new SL item appeared on the site: A perfunctory “Don’t Vote for the Democrats” leaflet which could easily have been written by a new member of the Spartacus Youth League (does that still exist?), but nothing since then to indicate to regular readers that Biden won the election and has since been sworn in as president, or that a motley crew of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building on January 6th. Odder too is that the SL does not appear to have written a single word on the uprising that took place after the police murder of George Floyd (or even the murder itself – if I’m wrong, please let me know)
A quick scan through the International Communist League web site and the pattern is the same. Some sections have not had a new item on their pages for almost a year. The Canadian section’s most recent post dates to October, but is a reprint of a leaflet from August about a ten-day strike. It too is of a generic variety of Spart cliches. You can’t help but think, something is going on.
In 2017, the ICL-FI published a long document, “The Chauvinist Hydra” which seemed to consist mostly of a lot of trashing of various sections on the national question. Spartacist leader James Robertson died in 2019. His passing was marking by a brief notice and then months went by before a more substantial obit was published. It’s temping to believe that there’s a power struggle taking place in the group which has paralysed the organization, but that it would have prevented them from publishing across their international tendency to this degree is difficult to accept. The Internationalist Group, led by former WV editor Jan Norden speculates the group is on the verge of collapse, but they wrote that in MAy of 2020. I suppose it’ll all come out in the wash.
But seriously, whatever happened to the Spartacist League?
Eugene Debs – A Graphic Biography
Shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone here, I’m a big fan of comics and graphic literature. Been reading Paul Buhle and Steve Max’s graphic novel biography of Eugene Debs (art by Noah van Sciver). It’s a good historical read charting Debs’ rise, his politics and his greatest moments.
Couple of things jump out. The introduction attempts to connect the popularity of Debs and the Socialist Party of America with the campaigns of Sanders and the growth of the Democratic Socialists of America, itself a split from the SPA after it had morphed into Social-Democrats USA. It’s telling that “socialist,” “communist,” “Marxist,” and “extreme left” have been reintroduced into political vocabulary as insults (they never truly disappeared, but had faded somewhat), but even the “radical” DSA would be at best centrist New Democrats in Canada. Whatever the pros and cons of Debsian socialism, it was a good deal more radical than many who claim its legacy.
But, here’s something else. I do like the format. There’s a bit of snobbery around comics and graphic novels. They aren’t regarded as “serious” in some circles because they have pictures (guess the people never go to art galleries…). It’s been argued that by the use of imagery and text, you can convey even greater ideas and concepts (Not arguing against traditional books here either), but it something works,, it works. The Johnson Forrest tendency used to publish pamphlets in a format that could easily fit in someone’s pocket, so they could be carried and read on the bus or on a break. If your ideas are important enough to be read, it’s important to find a way they will find readers.
Trotskyism and Science Fiction
I’ve loved science fiction since my teens. And through my twenties I was a Trotskyist. You can the see the reason for my fondness for Ken MacLeod who I believe was in the British International Marxist Group in the 1970s, and later the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Still if MacLeod is a science fiction writer who draws on Trotskyism, could there be Trotskyists who draw on Science Fiction? The answer , of course, is yes.
The group led by the late Argentine Trotskyist Juan Posadist is, fairly or not, best known for two things: Its seeming advocacy of nuclear war as a step toward socialism, and its belief in UFOs. I admit to never having read a single word of Posadist material, but I did read this interview in Jacobin with A.M. Gittlitz who has just written a book on Juan Posadis called I Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs, and Apocalypse Communism. And, I now I want to read the book.
For anyone interesting in picking up the book, it’s published by Pluto Press. (There’s a TOC and extract on the Pluto page)
