western marxist perspectives after the iraq war

"The two-day-long rebellion of African Americans against police abuse that broke out in Benton Harbor, Michigan on June 16-17 says more about the state of this country than the recent global summits and photo-ops meant to showcase the U.S. military “victory” in Iraq. The rebellion in Benton Harbor, a city of 12,000 that is 92% Black, occurred after Terrance Shurn, a Black man, died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident after being chased through the town by white police officers.

Residents say that the outburst was a result of years of police harassment against the African-American community. The depth of anger in the community is reflected in the fact that even the arrival of hundreds of police from around the state failed to “restore order” after the first night of violence. Many residents were so angry at police misconduct that they threatened to set the police headquarters on fire.

The events in Benton Harbor reflect the simmering unrest that exists in African-American communities across the U.S. which could explode at any time. Yet the news media barely mentioned the rebellion until 48 hours after it began. It is one more reflection of the servility of the mass media towards the prevailing powers in this country.

That servility is bound to get worse in light of the June 3 decision of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to dramatically relax limits on the ability of media conglomerates to own TV and radio stations, newspapers and cable operations. The FCC’s ruling shows that the concentration and centralization of capital in fewer hands that Karl Marx spoke of is neither merely theory nor related only to relations in production. It is immanent in the entire nature of the present stage of capitalism.

The key question facing us is whether the forces of revolt will project a viable alternative to this stage of capitalism. The fact that political protests have fallen off elsewhere in the U.S. since the end of the Iraq war does not mean that the hundreds of thousands who participated in anti-war protests have become quiescent. Many are thinking of what to do next and do not buy George W. Bush’s rhetoric that outside military intervention is the only way to “liberate” oppressed peoples. Yet the lopsided scale of the U.S. victory, which was able to blunt much of the anti-war opposition, combined with the failure to project an emancipatory alternative from the Left, is making it more difficult than ever to envision a transcendence of the present stage of capitalism.

If Marxist-Humanism is needed for anything at the present moment it is to help break through the ideological notion that masses of people cannot transcend capitalism, racism, and imperialist war through their own ideas and volition."