Salon.com > Marxism

A rapper’s red scare

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:45:00 +0000

Grammy Award-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco, who once called President Barack Obama a terrorist, is known for his outspokenness, provoking debates about politics, government and rap. In March, the on-again-off-again Twitter user drew fans in with a spirited Twitter discussion over violence in rap with socially conscious rappper Talib Kweli.

But Fiasco's Twitter presence is now at threat, as his management took control of his feed after the rapper prompted a conversation about Marxism:

Were the Tsarnaevs nuts or revolutionaries?

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Why do we Americans find it so important to believe that terrorists and assassins in the U.S. can be dismissed as mere emotionally disturbed maniacs, rather than viewed as revolutionaries in the thrall of militant political or religious ideologies? Why are so we intent in removing the political from political violence?

These questions are timely, following Vice President Joe Biden’s dismissive description of the Boston Marathon bombers as “knockoff jihadis.” Mere amateurs, these brothers, who were capable of murdering several marathon participants, maiming scores more and shutting down a major city and even rail lines for hours or days. The real amateurism, it might be suggested, is that of the pundits and journalists trying to psychoanalyze the Tsarnaev brothers and their relations from a distance.

But there are already reports that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving killer, has said that he and his brother acted in response to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — wars that they considered to be attacks on Islam. What if this really was the motive? What if these brothers really were sincere Islamist revolutionaries, like the thousands of others who have rallied to militant jihadism in the past several decades, whether they were connected to international Islamist networks or acting on their own? That doesn’t exonerate their brutal crimes in any way. But surely Islamist terrorists are best understood in terms of the common Islamist ideology they share, rather than personal or familial experiences that are unique to each.

When Derrida discovered Marx

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 15:00:00 +0000

ON THE OCCASION of the 20th anniversary of the “Whither Marxism?” conference conceived by Stephen Cullenberg and Bernd Magnus and organized by the Center for Ideas and Society at the University of California, Riverside, we asked Peggy Kamuf to reflect on the lecture that Jacques Derrida delivered there: “Specters of Marx.” The lecture was eventually published as a book, translated into English by Kamuf, and subtitled The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, and the New International. It stands as a landmark text in Derrida’s oeuvre.

“I meant to read Marx my way when the time came.” So Jacques Derrida declared in an interview with Michael Sprinker in 1989. Four years later, the conference “Whither Marxism?” was going to give him the occasion to do just that: read Marx his way. That was also the year, of course, the Berlin Wall fell, and then the dominoes continued to fall all over the former Communist bloc. So — in the ruins of Marxism, on the grave (good riddance!) of Marxist-Leninist-Stalinism, or whatever name is finally settled upon for the monstrous construction that had just fallen apart — the time had finally come to read Marx.

Marxist terrorism is alive and well in Turkey

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:08:00 +0000

ANKARA, Turkey — When a suicide bomber blew himself up at the US Embassy here on Friday, many suspected Al Qaeda or another militant group. After all, it’s been only five months since Islamists killed a US ambassador in Benghazi, Libya.

Friday’s attack killed a Turkish security guard and seriously injured a well-known Turkish journalist. She’s now recovering in the hospital.

Even before American officials would discuss a possible motive, however, Turkish police linked the attack to a domestic leftist militant group called the People’s Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. It took responsibility the following day.

In a statement posted on the internet, the group accused the Turkish ruling AK Party of being a US puppet and condemned Washington for waging war in the Middle East.

Quote of the day: In memoriam

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 21:32:00 +0000

Celebrated Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawn left behind a wealth of insightful critiques and comments when he passed away early Monday morning. We find this simple thought, which Hobsbawn uttered in 1998, bears repeating:

"The world will not get better on its own."

Eric Hobsbawm in quotes

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:24:00 +0000

In the early hours of Monday morning, celebrated British historian, staunch Marxist and public intellectual Eric Hobsbawm died at age 95.

Hobsbawm's ideas will long survive him, especially through his major works, "The Age of Revolution," "The Age of Capital," "The Age of Empire," "History of the 20th Century," "The Age of Extremes," which has been translated into 40 languages since its 1994 publication. Despite shifting trends in the academy, Hobsbawm stuck by his Marxist guns throughout. Here are a few of his thoughts on war, capital and nationhood:

On war and capitalism:

"War has been the most convenient pseudo-solution for the problems of twentieth-century capitalism. It provides the incentives to modernization and technological revolution which the market and the pursuit of profit do only fitfully and by accident, it makes the unthinkable (such as votes for women and the abolition of unemployment) not merely thinkable but practicable. What is equally important, it can re-create communities of men and give a temporary sense to their lives by uniting them against foreigners and outsiders. This is an achievement beyond the power of the private enterprise economy when left to itself." (The Observer Review, 1968.)

Colombia’s government to hold peace talks with FARC

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Editor's note: Updated with the Colombian president confirming his government has agreed to hold peace talks with the FARC guerrilla group.

BOGOTA, Colombia — For the first time in a decade, the Colombian government appears set to sit down for peace talks with the country’s largest Marxist guerrilla organization in an effort to end nearly half a century of fighting.

Late Monday, President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed mounting speculation that talks between his government and leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, are beginning.

“We’re going to learn from past mistakes so as not to repeat them,” Santos said in a short televised address. “The Colombian people can fully trust that the government is working prudently, responsibly and firmly, always putting the well-being and tranquility of our country’s population first.”