From the Gitmo to the Supreme Court: Christian Fascism Marches Forward
13 Comments Published by LeftyHenry on Wednesday at 8:58 PM.
In the past couple of months I've been pretty busy. I've become increasingly active with the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA and found that the past 3 or so months were very crucial on all fronts to step up the pressure against alot of the shit we see the state doing. Because of this, I got distracted and found very little time to sit down and blog. While I was away I read alot, from Lenin to Mao, to Stalin and beyond. I helped get out the message for the March on the Pentagon and nearly got arrested when we attempted to actually march to the pentagon not into the parking lot, I marched on May day for immigrant and workers rights, and I took a bus down to Philly to show solidarity with Mumia Abu Jamal on his last court date. I've been hitting the streets getting out Revolution Newspaper with other RCPers and I've been generally active on all fronts as much as I could really be. The title of this piece is not taken lightly, as everything I have witnessed while active in the past months has really reinforced and even I think to a large extent, made me even more aware of the situation we're currently in: a rise in the fascistic and religious elements of this government and the increasing evidence of this.
The Christian Fascist Attack on Womyn's Rights
The bible taken literally is a piece of literature which is oppressive and degrading to womyn. There are countless undertones of womyn being inferior and weaker than men and thus must stay home. According to the bible in fact, womyn were basically the mutant spawn of a rib of Adam because he couldn't reproduce with other animals! While I have nothing against people of faith, and openly work with progressive religious people, this is among the reasons WHY I am an athiest. The fact that the bible is wrong! One of my favorite resources on judging the bible is the Skeptics Annotated Bible which I encourage people of faith to check out and engage with because it really exposes line by line what is plain wrong with the bible.
Now in relation to the attack on womyns rights, the current issue and issue #86 of revolution newspaper deals with how we are seeing a attack on the womyn's right to choose. Last week the Supreme court voted to uphold the ban "partial-birth abortion". The ban will force womyn, against their will to commit to a life changing decision which they are not ready for based on the idea that the state thinks it is in its interest because it "traumatizes" womyn. Despite the fact that there is no evidence proving it! This is the exact logic behind the fascist ideology which seperates from all others. The idea that the state knows what's best for the masses and that the masses exsist only to serve the state. In fact the only place that this suspicion was voiced, the idea that it traumatizes womyn, was from a far-right militant christian group which convinces people out of the "sin of abortion" through a telephone hotline.
All of this represents a the crackdown on people's rights in fascistic way based on so called "religious morality" a concept that has been bankrupt for centuries. What future does the bible taken literally hold for womyn? For homosexuals? For non-christians? The answer? A nightmare
The Fascist Assault on Human Rights and the move to a Police State
Another Gitmo detainee comitted suicide today for "unknown reasons". Unknown reasons? Perhaps it has something to do with what it's like living in Delta Camp at Guantanamo Bay. Since the camp opened in 2002, it has been a horrific example of fascitic terror. Inmates are tortured, beaten, denied basic human rights like proper places to rest or the right to a lawyer. Very few of the inmates have even been charged with anything at all. What's worse is that its not just Guantanamo, these type of secret camps have been set up throughout Afghanistan and Iraq and represent virtually a leap towards a global police state in direct corralation with America's system of imperialism.
On the homefront the police murder of Sean Bell and 2000+ others have been documented in a project started by the October 22nd Coalition Against Police Brutality and the Criminalization of a Generation called the Stolen Lives Project. Overwhelmingly these murders have been caused by a simple abuse of authority and nearly always the police get off free. What's worse is that these cases are almost always directed at working class people. Why? Because it is the working class which the state is most afraid of. The primary purpose of the Police Department as an institution is to be the frontlines of the system, the protectors of property relations and the oppressive system that it creates. In particular the people who are being killed, brutalized, and attacked by police are Chicano, Hispanic, and African American peoples. This is proven in my very own city, where a recent report by the NYCLU has confirmed what we already know: That minority working class neighborhoods are patrolled by police like an occupying military force would. In NYC alone, about 86% of all people frisked in 2006 were black or hispanic. If anymore evidence of what is fundamentally, a budding police state is necessary, please tell me because I'm at a loss for words.
What do we do?
There are many more examples of my point then I can name here. I really want to go into the Patriot Act as well as the resurgence of the Creationist and Intelligent Design movements which are making a real comeback in many states in regard to education, but the point of this piece is not to be a resource but just a alert of the situation we're in. I often get critiscized for holding this position from both sides. Marxists tell me its just captialism and capitalists tell me don't worry about it, its in freedoms name and against terrorism. But the facts remain and this is not a society which is "free" or "safe" for us. It's not a society I want. Thus It's important that people get active. Join local Anti-Fascist, Anti-Imperialist, and Anti-Racist Groups. Contact others who hold similiar views as you do and start a club or committee in your town, workplace, school, or neighborhood. Recently I did this and while it seemed like an unrealistic task, there are lots of people out there searching for something better and it sometime takes struggle but struggle is necessary when you live in the belly of the beast. Look for a Part II later : )
I'll respond tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight. Although I think you have misrepresented/misunderstood many aspects of Christian doctrine, I do admit many adherents do the same.
I'm glad you're back. The Red Mantis is in limbo as I'm debating whether or not to abandon it in favor of this organic pamphlet system I've started or keep it around as a memento. I'm still here. If you want to read what I'm up to, I'm currently writing on my blog/pamphlet called "Federal Socialism". It's a slow process because I, like you, am very busy. Still, I like to blog when I can.
Cheers, Henry.
I have a question. What is the best refutation of the Halliday book about Mao?
"The World Can't Wait" was successful here in Minneapolis. I don't know any local RCPers, although some must be here. I know several Freedom Road people.
I remember Avakien from SDS. I was in another faction. I forgot which one, except it started with the letter P.
I appreciate your contributions to the comments during the Chavez discussion.
dave,
what exactly is federal socialism? I look forward to your post on it because I'm not very knowledgable on it. BTW, I thought your Socialist Revolution pieces were very good and to the point
Ren,
I think aside from the fact that the book is riddled with inaccuracies, and uses sources like the KMT archive and 90 year blind people who she just randomly picked up on the street, the RCP wrote a very short exposure on some of the fallacies in the text located here. Also, Raymond Lotta of the RCP has been giving a speech as part of the Set the Record Straight! project which has the goal of refuting alot of the distortions and lies floating around about socialism, communism, and the history of our movement. The speech is located here and has some very good points, especially in regard to Maoist China.
that's cool that you were part of SDS, I met up with the SDS contingent on the march on the pentagon, and it was well worth it. : )
Its good to here the World Can't Wait is successful in its work in Minneapolis. Here in NYC it is largely RCP members.
Thanks for posting that article. I think it was really informative. I just think its hypocritical that people are calling this totalitarian or whatever because this was actually something that should've been done immediately after he came back to power and the RCTV back-coup had failed.
Federal socialism is at its core, Leninism decentralized. After reading a lot of papers from early patriots like Madison and Hamilton, I started to realize how well the concept of U.S. federalism could coincide with socialism.
I'm developing the ideas little by little.
Sorry I've been so lax on my response. I have actually thought a lot of what you wrote about and I'm sort of formulating a legit response. Good to see you back though, Henry. Your presence we missed in the blogosphere.
Comrade agree with what you said on the blog... the Hindu nazi's in India have been able to ferment some trouble leading to loss of lives in the terai region and now an attack on the HQ.... I wouldn't be surprised if the some Indian or US security organisation is providing active support....
As regards to peoples war in Iraq...we can't say anything because the maoists in India and nepal are fighting a jungle guerilla war.... while in iraq it is mainly a urban one... so that complicates it
If you want to meet up, certainly...my email is whiteriotfred@aol.com
Of course I disagree with some things you have posted here, but I think I have stated my reasons in the past.
The bible taken literally is a piece of literature which is oppressive and degrading to womyn.
No, although to be fair, this requires a two-pronged response. If you wish to discuss to Old Testament, Hebrew women were actually treated better and given more rights than other cultures. Any sexism was indicative of the culture at the time. If instead you are referring to laws from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, that's a separate issue (how modern followers of Christ are to look at these) which I am happy to discuss in a different venue.
From a New Testament perspective, I'm not sure that Christ could be anymore egalitarian: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3:28]" Is it any surprise Christ went to poor men, prostitutes, slaves, invalids, and outcasts during his time? I cannot defend what has been done to women by the church in the past, nor can I defend how the Bible has been misused to justify sexism (along with racism, xenophobia, and a host of other atrocities). However, I hope you can be moderate enough to see that this isn't Christ, the Bible, or Christianity but rather the very human and very sinful followers.
According to the bible in fact, womyn were basically the mutant spawn of a rib of Adam because he couldn't reproduce with other animals!
This is an unfair claim, ridden with extremist rhetoric. If women really were "mutant spawn", why would Christ have anything to do with them? Contrary to popular belief, their is no human hierarchy, no classes, and no worth in the doctrines of Christianity.
Henry, I always enjoy your posts. If I would recommend anything, it would be to try and look past the fallibility of "Christians". It sucks that most of us don't do what we are called to do; hell, I fall into that category every day. But blaming doctrine for the sins of its followers is on par with what the capitalists do to us, in terms of throwing the lot of us in with Stalin and Pol Pot, though they have little to do with communist/socialist thought.
I am glad you're back blogging, though. When I finally start this Federal Socialism series on Red Mantis (I abandoned my original idea of operating a separate blog), I look forward to your feedback.
Cheers!
Hi - I've just come across your blog. Good stuff! Mine's here at http://mike-servethepeople.blogspot.com if you want to check it out.
regards from down under
Dave, the point is quite frankly Christianity itself is a religion that is WRONG. No matter what its "moral" implications are, there is certainly in this respect something to mention to the fact that secular humanists have out grown Christian morality....that is yeah Christianity indeed had some historical worth and is a part of our tradition, but honestly Jesus is not a revolutionary what so ever and is dangerously not what a Communist should want to mimic.
I mean beyond the whole fact that there is just not a God, the whole argument there is no "class heirarchy" in the Bible is fundamentally wrong...in fact Christianity could not have been what it came to be without the strict heirarchal teachings of St. Paul...further lets recognize the role that the institutional Church played.
On women, yeah perhaps Jesus was a kind of Tribalist feminist, but is that liberating to people today? I mean some omnipotent loving God, huh? How is treating women like they are property to be respected liberating?
Dave, the point is quite frankly Christianity itself is a religion that is WRONG.
Prove it. That is, prove it without rattling off some materialist screed that since you cannot see it, it doesn't exist and that "religion is the opiate of the masses". I grow so weary of the left's militant anti-theist stance. Oppose right-wing bigotry if you want but you are a fool to castigate the Christian left (of whom Chavez and Ortega are both a part of) on the basis that it doesn't make sense to you. Grow up.
The idea that Christ-followers are knights marching off to slaughter Muslims is archaic. Yes, many "Christians" in mainstream politics are extremely hateful and bigoted, and I denounce them as I do any religious extremist. But they no more represent Christ-followers then Pol-Pot represents Marxists.
The "materialist screed" (Empiricism) is good enough to prove that Christianity like any other religion is wrong in its fundamental hypothesis...That of there being a Supreme Being.
And Please...I never spoke of the political history of religion itself, I am speaking about its fundamental tenent.
Which is merely illogical and I shall show how in quick prepositions.
1) God is defined as being a Supreme omnipotent and omniscient Being.
2) Being is defined by its very existence in the world.
3) God by definition can't be a Being since he can't "Be" in the world...he is omniscient, omnipresent, ominpotent. All categories give him properties beyond the natural order.
There for by definition a God can't exist, since it is no Being. By proxy of contradiction this definition can't serve well.
Further the logic goes further down when we speak of specific religions such as Christianity. Christianity's tenent of the trinity is just merely absurd. Think of it like this, for Christians (specifically Catholics), the trinity is the nature of God...there are three persons in God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit...they are three seperate entities but yet make ONE God. How does the Church settle this contradiction, by merely stating they are consubstantiative of God.
And easy way to dismiss a logical contradiction.
Further we one speaks of the nature of Jesus of Nazareth himself, you see how silly it becomes even further. Jesus is both 100% man and 100% God at the same and exact time. Christianity has to settle this obvious contradiction, but saying Jesus was 1/2 man and 1/2 God serves no better...that would mean God would have DNA (which of course be ridiculous). So stating Jesus is both fully man and God is a way the church has settled this contradiction.
Now the question of Morality is much more important since Christians tend to say Christianity has given them morality. I like to argue with God anything goes. In fact in the Bible you see this a lot, the murdering of whole nations and tribes, spreading of diseases (Jehovah, the first Bio warfare user), etc. In fact for the religious these are all justified because of the word of God and his command. This is as they say, Moral Relativism...God commands an immoral action, yet it becomes moral because it was commanded by God.
Here is the problem, Morality if it isn't relativistic must be beyond God...that is God wouldn't be able to will his consciousness and create the Ethical. Which would just be another contradiction since God is supposedly omnipotent.
I haven't castigated "Christians," though I would castigate Ortega very easily, I am merely stating their beliefs are silly and illogical. I shouldn't criticize now because there are a few christian leftists floating about?
"But they no more represent Christ-followers then Pol-Pot represents Marxists."
But Dave that is the thing, Pol Pot is a part of the Communist legacy just as much as all the Popes were.
I think you should add the photo George Bush in Nazi getup. Displaying the image of George Bush in decent suit is bad. You can find a lot of images of George Bush in Hitler's suite while googling images.