163 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
163 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
No Justice, No Peace, No Excuse
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BAD Broadside #7
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Since late April, much has been written in the left and anarchist
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press about the acquittal of the cops who beat Rodney King and the
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beatings, killings, and stealing that followed shortly afterwards in
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Los Angeles. As could be expected most of the leftist press either
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endorsed or apologized for the violence committed by the residents of
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LA, while justly condemning that of the LA Police Department. What is
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more distressing, but no less surprising, is the fact that some of the
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anarchist press, as well, has either supported or been unwilling to
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criticize the beatings and killings that took place in LA on April 29
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and the following days.
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During the "uprising" or "rebellion," as leftists and many
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anarchists are fond of calling the events in LA, people of many
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different colors were beaten and/or killed, for no reason other than
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hatred; hatred sometimes based on racist feelings, sometimes simply
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based on viciousness and lack of respect for the lives and property of
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others. Few of those attacked were cops and none of them were
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politicians, judges, or even jurors in the trial of the cops who beat
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King; they were primarily people going about their own business who
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were unlucky enough to cross the path of their attackers. The
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businesses, homes, and meeting places of many people, again, people of
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various colors, were trashed, burned and stolen from, including the
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Aquarian bookstore, the oldest black bookstore in the united states,
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and the First AME Church, the oldest black congregation in LA. These
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were not generally the businesses, homes, or institutions of the
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wealthy, but the small shops of neighborhood businesspeople and the
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homes of poor people.
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Is this what the revolution means to the left in the united
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states? Is this the kind of society anarchists wish to build?
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From June Jordan in The Progressive, to the editor of The
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Libertarian Mutualist, to Barbara Smith and Phill Wilson in Gay
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Community News, to the anonymous anarchists who produced LA Today, to
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the writers in The Revolutionary Worker, leftists and anarchists have
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defended, and "understood," and explained, and excused this hatred and
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violence. They blame Reagan and Bush and racism and the courts and
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the cops and the firefighters for the destruction and murder in LA.
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Not one of them has said beating and killing other people who have not
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initiated or planned to initiate violence against another person is
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wrong, regardless of what happened in the courts earlier that day. The
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writers in LA Today were blunt enough to label the violence in LA as
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not only justified, but necessary, while the editor of The Libertarian
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Mutualist was moved to "commend the brave perpetrators of random
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violence for being right on target." Neither have any of these
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writers said burning down other people's homes and shops is wrong.
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Ayofemi Folayan, in Sojourner, even implicitly blamed the fire
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department for the fires in LA, despite the fact that firefighters
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were being attacked when they tried to do their job, instead of
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holding those who lit them responsible. They all apologize for
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(in the words of Anti-Authoritarians Anonymous) "the excesses
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committed by a population enraged beyond measure," as if rage is an
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excuse for murder.
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When a man, frustrated by his job and life in general, beats his
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girlfriend, do these people call on us to understand his rage? When
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cops, enraged by the refusal of one of their victims to obey their
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orders beat the shit out of him, are we expected to understand their
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rage? No, of course not. In such circumstances, we are expected to
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hold these violent individuals responsible for their actions and
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condemn them accordingly. The events in LA were no different. The
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haters there were no more defensible than the cops who bashed Rodney
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King.
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The reason these writers were willing to defend the perpetrators
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of the violence in LA is because they apply a double standard to
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people, a racist and class-biased double standard. They seem to
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postulate that, because of institutional racism and economic
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inequality, black and/or poor people are incapable of making the same
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moral choices that non-black and/or non-poor people make, and are
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therefore not responsible for the violent acts that some of them
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engage in. On the other hand, many of these leftists consider white
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people universally responsible for the actions of some people who are
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white, and therefore, in their moral system, all white people are fair
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targets for the "rage" of the "oppressed." As someone wrote in LA
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Today, "We have to realize that the conditions people of color suffer
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under in this country fully justify any act of resistance they choose
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to take, even if it "takes out" a few of our kind ("our kind" meaning
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whites, anti-racists and racists alike). Some of the victims may be
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good persons, activists, good friends or lovers, but we must be
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careful to lay the blame where it belongs: not on Black[sic] people
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but on the racist white capitalist system itself. In the blinding
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anger of insurrection people don't stop to ask your class credentials
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or your opinions on racism: if you're white you're a target. This is
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to be expected Not fun, but expected." Note that they say that racist
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murder is "not fun." They never say it is "not good."
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Poor and/or black people, despite having fewer options in a number
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of areas in their lives, due both to racism and restrictive laws,
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still are capable of making choices about their actions, and are
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responsible for the consequences of their decisions, just as other
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people are. To think otherwise is to infantilize black people and/or
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poor people, to consider them less fully human than other people. Such
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thinking lays the basis for parentalistic interventions in their lives
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by the state, ensuring their continued dependence and poverty. Despite
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the fact that leftists blame the state and white people for the
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violence and destruction in LA, they turn to the state (run primarily
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by white people) to remedy the situation, not by leaving people alone,
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but by becoming more involved in people's lives. They support
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government housing, government jobs, welfare, government-funded and
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regulated child care, government funded drug "treatment," more
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black cops, and other government-centered programs and activities. If
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racist government is the problem, how can it be depended upon to
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change things to the benefit of poor black people? Getting government
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out of the way is the only thing that will lead to the changes that
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can produce an improvement in the lives of people in LA. One important
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first step would be abolition of laws which restrict the entry of poor
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and/or black people into various jobs. Taxi regulations which
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constrict the transportation market, licensing of hairdressers, nurses
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and other occupations which excludes people who can+t afford
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government-certified training programs or licensing fees, and zoning
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laws which prevent people from working out of their homes or setting
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up shops in some areas are all forms of government intervention in our
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economic life which keep many black people in poverty. Another area
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where state intervention is harming poor people is housing.
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Government-protected titles to abandoned property prevent people from
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homesteading and developing empty buildings, forcing them to rely on
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dirty, dangerous government housing. Additionally, drug laws, which
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criminalize a voluntary, private activity, promote the violence and
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theft that devastate many neighborhoods where black people live.
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Encouraging people to rely on themselves instead of the state can lead
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to self-sufficient, independent, and, hopefully, more rebellious
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people; people who will rebel against the real evils in society, the
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government and its laws, courts, cops, and military, not their
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neighbors and other non-coercive people.
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The events in LA pushed leftists and anarchists to show where they
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stand, and, unfortunately, too many of them are standing on the wrong
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side. Leftists have been embracing government, racism, nationalism,
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murder, and destruction as the means to a free society at least since
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1917. Historically, however, anarchists have talked of the need for
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consistency of means and ends, i.e., only moral or ethical means can
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yield moral or ethical results. But the anarchists who produced LA
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Today and The Libertarian Mutualist and those who share their views,
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expect us to believe that murder, assault and theft today will somehow
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lead to freedom and anarchy in the future. The experience of the
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authoritarian socialist movement has put the lie to such ideas, but
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apparently many anarchist are slow to learn. Unless anarchists develop
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a critique of the welfare state, abandon their leftist racism, and
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encourage people to rely on themselves and assume responsibility for
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their lives, there will be little to distinguish them from the rest of
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the authoritarian left, their anti-statist posturing notwithstanding.
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Only by encouraging libertarian actions in the present can we have any
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hope of a libertarian future.
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NO COPYRIGHT
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Please send two copies of any review or reprint
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of all or part of this to:
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Boston Anarchist Drinking Brigade
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(BAD Brigade)
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PO Box 1323
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Cambridge, MA 02238
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Internet: bbrigade@world.std.com
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July, 1992
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