Morning Comrades.
I really did not want to tap into the feigned moral outrage by everyone that never listens to the warnings of radicalism of capital in regards to Kanye West’s most recent public anti-semitism but here we are. Seemingly I can’t get the noise out of my head and thus its being talked about here today. This place wouldn’t be this place if however, I will write about this differently than the meaningless noise of the guilty.
As per usual, let’s start this week with a new playlist though. Again, everything that needs to be said about these playlists has been said already except that I am thinking about taking a break with these in the new year. Not because I don’t enjoy these anymore, on the contrary but I fear that might other work schedule is going into February is going to be insanely demanding time wise so I need to shuffle a few hours here and there to make all that happen. Again, we’ll see but that just as a heads up. Click on the below for new tunes.
Fascism in the Age of Celebrity
Technically, and despite my obsession with clarity in speech and writing, I should have entitled this anti-semitism since this topic was sparked by Kanye West but I purposely chose Fascism for a reason. One, anti-semitism, as part of the racist tropes is a tool employed by Capitalism via the means of Fascism to achieve their goal. It is a faux and faulty ideology employed by capitalists to lure and employ the alienated and violent to do their bidding. Make no mistake, I am not belittling anti-semitism let aline racism, on the contrary, but for the sake of clarity this needs to be understood.
The capital-F Fascism of authoritarian government is possible because of the lower case-f fascism and its relate racism, or “othering”, that thrives in everyday life under capitalism. The centralized state was an invention of the bourgeoisie, a business innovation necessary to manage its affairs. Its bureaucracy stands ready-made for takeover by fascist thugs. Eichmann-like obedience necessary for the Fascist political project is inculcated by the state and corporate bureaucracy built by the bourgeoisie. Fascists march to war down roads that were paved by centuries of European colonialism and imperialism. The fascist discourse of national greatness is nothing more than a continuation of the nationalism of the imagined community constructed by the bourgeoisie.
The fascist enforcement of gender norms is a grotesque exaggeration of the patriarchal division of labor engendered by one form of capitalism. Fascism’s celebration of hierarchy and legitimation of class society is an extreme form of the twin lies of liberalism: “meritocracy” (barely distinguishable as a concept from Social Darwinism) and racist essentialism. Racism itself was born of the Western project of colonialism, and given a stamp of legitimacy by Enlightenment science that sought to taxonomize all things, plants, animals and people.
And so we arrive at Kayne West. Or not, to be honest. As I understand it and want to convey the importance of this subject, Kanye West, whilst being a massive problem in regards to his dangerous radicalization, is only partly what we need to understand and act on. Neither his radicalization ( or anyone’s for that matter, I am genuinely only using him as an illustrative example at this point ) nor the size of his platform, reach for that matter is created in a vacuum and most definitely on his merit alone.
Would West be as impactful if it was only about his music? I don’t think so, no, the reason his reach, his platform has become so global is because of the ancillary economic platforms resulting from his music. Plainly speaking, his deals with brands such as adidas and Gap, for example. That brings us to the main point of this:
Yes, West is a problem, his radicalization is a problem and his platform is a fucking problem. The real problem, however are the people that allowed this to happen. Specifically, the brands and platforms, who run by people with names and addresses, that very clearly understood his path of radicalization and danger to vast minority groups around the world and not only ignored this but continued to push his “social wealth” and thus reach for continued growing quarterly profits, ensuring their own bonus’ - for that extra yacht down in St. Tropez you know.
This being the point, in the age of celebrity and destitute of ideological, material morality, promoted predominately through “speech”, the celebrity is the highest form and economic metric for the capitalist. The frustrating part of this is History, neither Hitler nor Mussolini would have ever risen to power without not only the wilful ignorance of the bourgeoisie but more importantly, the support of the silent minority that are the capitalists. They nodded these showmen off, paid them, used them to increase profits and as horrible and immoral as this sounds, and is, this is what is happening here, again. Additionally, West is not singular in this reality. The Fox News’ and their European counterparts, all the right wing talking heads, journalists etc etc - they are being enabled, promoted, paid and distributed in a coordinated method by the 1% - and this is happening around the world.
So whilst it is extremely vital to always oppose, by all and any means necessary, the lower case confrontations of fascism, in all its forms, it es equally vital to not only understand but oppose and fight the Capital F- Fascism, their enablers, their bosses, the banks and so on. I know, no one ever said this was going to be easy, but it’s not impossible. Understanding the root of the problem is necessary to successfully employ tactics in the strategic fight for a better tomorrow.
Calamity of epic proportions awaits millions in the working class. It is already too late to prevent much of this. But it has always already been too late. Untold tragedy is the legacy of capitalism, and of every return of fascism. That is why we fight for the future. That is why we fight to win.
Yours, anti-fascist for a better tomorrow,
V.