{"id":5638,"date":"2009-08-08T02:00:27","date_gmt":"2009-08-07T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=5638"},"modified":"2009-08-08T02:00:27","modified_gmt":"2009-08-07T16:00:27","slug":"defend-the-legacy-of-michael-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=5638","title":{"rendered":"Defend the Legacy of Michael Jackson!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, choreographer, actor, businessman, “King of Pop” — and Philosopher King — Michael Jackson is dead<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The intellectual legacy of Michael Jackson is complex and controversial<\/a>. Best known as the author of Off the Wall<\/em> and Thriller<\/em>, James also made significant contributions in the fields of music criticism, African-American history, literary criticism, Pan-African politics and Marxist theory. Though many academics and political activists have attempted to do so, it is impossible to isolate any one period of Jackson’s life as his true legacy. Many have lamented the lack of “a coherent sense of Jackson’s life as an integrated whole<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Jackson’s musical and political activities extended over more than four decades, crossing all continents. Such a long and extensive career easily lends itself to interpretative debate. Nevertheless, his key insight remains: “The success or failure of the working class to achieve victory depends upon the organization and consciousness of the struggling masses, i.e., on revolutionary leadership. The revolutionary party is the indispensable weapon of the working people for their victory.”<\/p>\n

As an expression of political solidarity with The International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist)<\/a> — “a proletarian, revolutionary and internationalist tendency committed to the task of building Leninist parties as national sections of a democratic-centralist international” — I re-publish the following.<\/p>\n

Long live James Robertson and the intransigent revolutionaries of the ICL (FI)!
\nFor the communism of Lenin and Trotsky!
\nDefend the advanced positions of Nina Hartley<\/a> and the musical genius of Michael Jackson!<\/em><\/p>\n

Michael Jackson and Racist America<\/h2>\n

Workers Vanguard<\/em>, No. 940
\nJuly 31, 2009<\/p>\n

On June 25, black megastar and musical icon Michael Jackson died at his home in Los Angeles. The \u201cKing of Pop,\u201d as he has been known for decades, was one of the most successful recording artists of all time and has remained hugely popular throughout the world. Following his death, there were spontaneous gatherings of fans dancing to his music in Harlem and doing the \u201cmoonwalk\u201d or holding tributes as far away as Mexico City, Hong Kong and Paris. Rio de Janeiro\u2019s mayor announced the construction of a statue of Michael Jackson in the slums where he filmed one of his videos to \u201cThey Don\u2019t Care About Us.\u201d In Algiers, hundreds of singers and dancers from across the African continent performed the Jackson 5\u2019s \u201cBlame It on the Boogie.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tragedy of Jackson\u2019s death is that an extremely influential music career was driven to the brink of destruction by a savagely racist and puritanical witchhunt spanning more than a decade. The mass hysteria whipped up against Jackson over charges of \u201cchild molestation\u201d was an indictment of this anti-sex, bigoted capitalist society, where being an eccentric black celebrity is enough for the state to try to frame you up with something. The stunning hypocrisy of the bourgeois media\u2014which hounded and scapegoated Jackson as a \u201cpedophile\u201d when he was alive, even after he was acquitted of all charges, but then teemed with adulation and tributes after he died\u2014was captured by an article in the Los Angeles Times<\/em> (27 June): \u201cThe tabloids that had baited him mercilessly, dubbing him \u2018Wacko Jacko\u2019 for his erratic behavior, increasingly strange looks and accusations of child molestation, were suddenly effusive in their praise of a man \u2018who provided the soundtrack to a billion lives\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victim of Racist Vendetta<\/strong><\/p>\n

During his highly publicized career\u2014which soared when he was only eleven years old as the lead singer of the Jackson 5 under Motown Records, through his solo career as a songwriter, musician and performer up until age 50\u2014Michael Jackson was famous not only for his talent and versatility, but also for challenging both racial and sexual identities. In the spirit of other \u201ccrossover\u201d artists like Chuck Berry<\/a>\u2014who was one of the first artists to perform to multiracial audiences\u2014Jackson was known for breaking down racial barriers and was the first black artist to get heavy airplay on MTV.<\/p>\n

But the \u201cinexcusable\u201d racial barrier that he attempted to break down was his appearance. Whether due to vitiligo or to skin bleaching, the fact is that his gradual \u201cwhitening\u201d and plastic surgeries did nothing to make him less black in the eyes of racist America\u2014a twisted confirmation of the color-caste nature of black oppression. No money in the world, no changes to your \u201cracial\u201d appearance, could ever change the fact that, if you are born black, capitalist America will make sure to try to put you in your place. In a country where the white supremacist ideology of racial \u201cpurity\u201d resulted in the \u201cone drop of black blood\u201d rule, Jackson\u2019s physical transformation became a transgression that the bourgeois media and \u201cpublic opinion\u201d would not let him get away with.<\/p>\n

There is a real connection among blacks to someone who, no matter what he did, always had to respond to this society\u2019s expectations of what a black person should look like, act like and sleep with. Even in death, the mud continues to be slung against this enormously talented and idiosyncratic man, with most black people defiantly coming to his defense. In the last few weeks, it was not rare for TV and radio commentators to ask why black people seem to identify with Michael Jackson since he \u201clooked white.\u201d Rabidly vile Fox News commentator Bill O\u2019Reilly ranted on his show The O\u2019Reilly Factor<\/em> against blacks seeing Jackson as their own when he looked white and \u201cchose to have white children.\u201d In pure O\u2019Reilly fashion, this was a bitter and unfiltered expression of the American bourgeois psyche.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Race and Sex in America<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we stated in our article \u201cStop Vendetta Against Michael Jackson!\u201d<\/a> (WV<\/em> No. 818, 23 January 2004): \u201cThe Jackson case represents an intersection of blatant anti-gay bigotry, the reactionary state-enforced stigma against intergenerational sex, and racial prejudice.\u201d The intense vilification of Michael Jackson served the bourgeoisie\u2019s aim to whip up hysteria over race and sex, which is all too common in a country where blacks (famous or not) are frequently indicted on false charges involving sex. In 1913, black boxer Jack Johnson was arrested because his relationships with white women were deemed to violate the Mann Act<\/em> against transporting women across state lines for \u201cimmoral purposes.\u201d In 1960, black rock \u2019n\u2019 roll artist Chuck Berry was also convicted under the Mann Act<\/em> for transporting an underage girl across state lines. More recently, R&B singer R. Kelly<\/a> was dragged through the courts on sex-related charges. Frenzy about black male sexuality is a common thread in American culture, long used as a justification for lynch rope terror.<\/p>\n

Many black establishment figures who wouldn\u2019t normally go near a contentious \u201csex\u201d issue have felt obliged to come out in Jackson\u2019s defense. The day after Jackson\u2019s death, black Representatives Jesse Jackson Jr. and Diane Watson asked for a moment of silence in the House of Representatives in Michael Jackson\u2019s memory, with at least one Congressman storming out in protest. When Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee put forward a resolution proclaiming Jackson \u201can American legend, musical icon and world humanitarian,\u201d it was promptly killed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to the pleasure of Republican Representative Peter King. King infamously called the media coverage of Jackson\u2019s death an \u201corgy\u201d and ranted on a YouTube posting about Jackson being a \u201cpedophile\u201d and a \u201cpervert.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Jackson was the victim of a depraved social order with a degenerate and cruel sense of \u201cmorality.\u201d And all of these politicians\u2014black or white, Democrat or Republican\u2014are staunch defenders of that very social order, i.e., American capitalism.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s Puritanical Values<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Michael Jackson was twice dragged through the courts over accusations of child sexual abuse, we defended him through his legal trials and tribulations. The cases relied on hearsay, contradictory testimony and zero physical evidence. As we stated in \u201cMichael Jackson Defeats Racist, Anti-Sex Vendetta\u201d<\/a> (WV<\/em> No. 851, 8 July 2005):<\/p>\n

\u201cJackson steadfastly maintains that he has been asexual in his relations with boys, which is certainly possible\u2014but for us, that is irrelevant. The state\u2019s vendetta against Jackson rested upon anti-sex laws that we oppose on principle\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cSex is a natural activity for humans\u2014even children. We believe that in any kind of sexual relations, the guiding principle should be effective consent, regardless of age, gender or race. That is, if those involved have effective knowledge and desire to do whatever it is they will, that should be the end of it. We oppose arbitrary and reactionary state interference in such intimate matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our steadfast defense of privacy and sexual freedom, more generally across the board and more specifically in the Michael Jackson case, has earned us the contempt of the liberals and the reformist left, who groove on being the \u201cmorality police\u201d when sexual matters are involved. The most extreme demonstration of this was when our comrades in Germany were excluded from a conference called \u201cSocialism Days\u201d hosted by Sozialistische Alternative Voran (SAV), the sister group of Socialist Alternative in the U.S., both of which are associated with Peter Taaffe\u2019s Committee for a Workers\u2019 International (see<\/em> \u201cGerman Taaffeites Exclude Defenders of Michael Jackson,\u201d WV<\/em> No. 847, 29 April 2005). For the Taaffeites, anything that doesn\u2019t conform to bourgeois society\u2019s chauvinist and repressive values deserves political censorship. Outrageously, the Taaffeites slandered our position in the Michael Jackson case as \u201cdefense of rapists\u201d and \u201crelativizing child abuse\u201d! Whether explicitly or implicitly, much of the left was happy to jump on the \u201cstrange means guilty\u201d bandwagon around the Jackson case, thus demonstrating their embrace of prudish bourgeois morality and their fundamental loyalty to the current social order.<\/p>\n

Michael Jackson\u2019s sex life was nobody\u2019s business but his own. But not unlike the countless people branded \u201csex offenders\u201d in this country who have committed no crime and hurt no one and yet whose lives are made a living hell under bourgeois laws and media hysteria, Jackson had to withstand the bourgeoisie\u2019s attempts to railroad him for falling outside the norms of this society. Today, after his death, the media is replete with discussions over his finances, custody of his children and the raid on his doctor\u2019s office for suspected manslaughter.<\/p>\n

Black Democrat Al Sharpton is a political hustler who specializes in corralling black anger at racist injustice into support for the capitalist Democratic Party. But at Jackson\u2019s elaborate, lavish and emotional memorial, he had a moment of honesty, stating: \u201cI want his three children to know, wasn\u2019t nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with.\u201d The fact that the very gifted Michael Jackson was one of the entertainment world\u2019s biggest sources of scandals and attacks was not an indication of what he did, but of the sick society in which he lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, choreographer, actor, businessman, “King of Pop” — and Philosopher King — Michael Jackson is dead. The intellectual legacy of Michael Jackson is complex and controversial. Best known as the author of Off the Wall and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[127,224],"class_list":["post-5638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-michael-jackson","tag-spartacism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6AyE-1sW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5638"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5690,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5638\/revisions\/5690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}