THE PROTEST Fall 2012
inside obama’s drone war page 10
www.the-protest.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 ARE CELEBRITIES ADVANCING LGBT EQUALITY? 4 NEW VOICES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE 6 COMING OUT OF THE DOUBLE CLOSET 8 THE LIMITS OF ELECTORAL POLITICS 10 INSIDE OBAMA’S DRONE WAR 12 SPEAKING SOFTLY 15 SOLD IN SEOUL 18 COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: NORTH KOREA 20 WHY DO POLITICIANS LIE? 22 COMMUNISM AND LEFT MELANCHOLY
THE PROTEST | FALL 2012 www.the-protest.com nuprotest@gmail.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MATTHEW KOVAC FEATURE EDITOR JOYCE LEE SENIOR EDITORS KATHRYN PRESCOTT CHARLES ROLLET LEAH VARJACQUES DESIGN EDITOR KK REBECCA LAI DESIGNERS CAMERON ALBERT-DEITCH CRYSTAL KIM JOYCE LEE CHRISTINE NGUYEN REBECCA SAVRANSKY PHOTO EDITOR NICOLE MAGABO
WEB EDITOR YOONA HA
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PUBLISHED BY PEACE PROJECT, AN ASG-RECOGNIZED AND FUNDED ORGANIZATION. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS PUBLICATION DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF PEACE PROJECT OR THE ENTIRE MAGAZINE STAFF.
PHOTO BY JOYCE LEE
PHOTOGRAPHERS YU SUN CHIN YOONA HA JOYCE LEE JENNY STARRS DAVID UBERTI
COVER PHOTO BY AARON CYNIC
Are Celebrities Advancing LGBT Equality? Uncloseted stars have varying effects on public opinion By James Bien and Justice Pettigrew
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lash for it. Some viewers turned against Winfrey and producers refused to consider Oscar nominee Dern for roles, according to an August article on The Huffington Post. But DeGeneres responded to such hate with poise, shining a positive light on the LGBT community. Her likability gave homophobes no negative attributes with which to generalize LGBT people. As Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, explains, it is Ellen’s “level of maturity” in this matter that makes her the most suitable spokesperson for LGBT equality. Unfortunately, not all cases of celebrities coming out are as well-regarded as Ellen’s. George Michael, an English musician, was arrested for engaging in public anonymous sex with a man in 1998. Michael later admitted that it was a subconsciously deliberate act, and that he did it because part of the kick was being found out. Not only was the way Michael came out very provocative, but also it brought to light many stereotypes that gays are sexually driven and animalistic. “What they [celebrities] do before they come out makes a difference,” Thayer says. The problem is that once a celebrity is outed as LGBT, he or she automatically becomes a spokesperson for the com-
munity, regardless of qualification or desire. Thus, the way any LGBT celebrity behaves has an impact on the perception of the entire community. For example, celebrity news blogger Perez Hilton, who strongly supports gay rights and marriage equality, also relentlessly criticizes movie stars and artists on his website. His identity as a peacemaker as well as a bully creates a conflict that causes his concern for equality to seem inauthentic. Nonetheless, the increased visibility of LGBT individuals has to some degree helped to increase acceptance of LGBT people nationally. Polls now suggest that most Americans (54%) support the legalization of same-sex marriage, and President Obama has recently showed support for marriage equality in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington. Despite the increased positivity that some celebrities have brought to the LGBT community, it cannot be ignored that many have not been as successful in that endeavor. Although celebrities can play a role in the LGBT community’s push toward equality by influencing public opinion, there is only so much they can do. As Thayer puts it, “People win their own liberation and no celebrity coming out will help them win it but themselves. It may help, but the only way to win the battle is by asserting your own rights.” Read more online at the-protest.com
PHOTOs COURTESY OF ronpaulrevolt2008, Kimi Kagami and wikipedia
he surge in celebrities coming out of the closet in recent years has undoubtedly served as encouragement and support for LGBT individuals in today’s society. However, we are faced today with what seems to be more cases of LGBT bullying than ever before. According to a 2010 study by doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, LGBT teens are bullied two to three times more than heterosexual teens. Are celebrities really helping the cause of LGBT equality by coming out? How do these supposedly brave acts affect their fellow lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders? There have been many cases in which a celebrity coming out has promoted the acceptance of the LGBT community, as when Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian in 1997. She did an interview with Time disclosing her true sexual orientation, then had her character in the sitcom Ellen come out as a lesbian, drawing parallels to her own life. It is beyond question that DeGeneres put a lot of thought into the process of coming out. As a result, when the interview was published and the episode aired, she was prepared to handle all that was thrown at her: media interrogation, criticism, a drop in ratings, etc. Both Oprah Winfrey and Laura Dern starred in the infamous episode and faced a fierce back-
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New Voices for Social Justice Shake Up Activist Scene Students, speakers revitalize campus activism By Jeff Bilik
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n the last two years, Northwestern’s student activist community has reshaped itself with several new and growing student groups. Causes range from fighting slavery in the Chicagoland area and abroad to rallying against the costly and ineffective War on Drugs. All, however, represent an atmosphere of resurgent student activism on a campus too often written off as pre-professional and individualistic. A relatively long-standing organiza-
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tion that has recently become abuzz with renewed activity, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) works to promote human rights and Palestinian self-determination. Serene Darwish, a sophomore and student representative for SJP, says that the organization “has had a presence on Northwestern’s campus for years, but just these last couple years we have made much bigger strides toward making it a more permanent structure.” SJP recently held several major events, including bringing journalist and former Daily Beast writer Max Blumenthal to speak about liberal Zionism in the U.S. and abroad. They are now working to bring Chicago Divests to Northwestern. Chicago Divests aims to educate professors and staff about corporations that profit from the Israeli occupation and encourage divestment. Fight for Freedom (F3) is an anti-slavery student organization founded last fall by Weinberg junior Judith Kim , that aims to raise awareness and educate students about the issue of modern-day slavery in and beyond the Chicago area — and ultimately to lead student action to fight against it. Still a small organization, it has received the support of Not For Sale, an international anti-slavery group, and brought in Ethan Batstone, the campaign coordinator of Not for Sale, last spring quarter. F3 also recently hosted Greg Darley, director of College Mobilization at the International Justice Mission (IJM), a leading human rights agency working to prosecute traffickers internationally and to provide aftercare for survivors. “Chicago is at the center of this huge upcoming
movement against human trafficking that was very new in the United States,” Kim says. “I realized that Northwestern is in such a great position, being an incredible university with all of these professionals right in your backyard doing great work.” F3 hopes to become a major source of information and education for the anti-slavery cause in Chicago. Last year, Northwestern also saw the founding of a campus branch of the nationwide organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) by Frances Fu and Marko Pavisic.
“I realized that Northwestern is in such a great position, being an incredible university with all of these professionals right in your backyard doing great work.” Since then, SSDP has held meetings and film screenings questioning the validity of the decades-long War on Drugs and working for greater awareness of alternatives. “We want to change Northwestern’s drug culture, make it healthier, [and] promote open and honest drug education,” says Fu, a SESP sophomore and co-founder of SSDP. Specifically, among their many goals, the group is aiming to change Alcohol Education to make it more relevant and useful for students by working with University Health Services. But, Fu says, the group has faced some difficulties because Health Services is unwilling to work with
David Batstone, president and co-founder of not for sale, shows his support for fight for freedom.
PHOTOs by joyce lee and judith kim, photo courtesy of sjp
a political group. “We’re going to try and join health services. We want to get Red Watch band trained as facilitators,” Fu says. “We do care about making the campus healthier in that way.” A campus branch of the International Socialist Organization, a major left-wing group in the U.S., was established this fall. While it is the youngest of the new social justice organizations on campus, it has held educational meetings and events. Weinberg senior and member Mauricio Maluff Masi says that the branch means
to “create a space for left-wing politics on campus and to participate in the ongoing struggle against racism on campus.” Aside from collaborating with other student social justice groups, it has been successful in bringing the Midwest Marxism Conference to Northwestern — a major event with several speakers. The branch also plans to host a talk by author and activist Sharon Smith later this year. Two of the organizations, Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Students for Justice in Palestine, partnered with Peace
Project, The Protest’s parent organization, to form the Social Justice Coalition and win a seat in ASG Senate. The coalition elected Weinberg sophomore Cory Behroozi to represent their constituency in ASG. “I feel it is my responsibility to do everything in my power to advance the spirit of activism and forward thinking on Northwestern’s campus,” Behroozi says. The future for social justice on Northwestern’s campus seems to be bright one. Here’s to keeping it that way.
Frances fu and Marko Pavisic of ssdp
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Coming Out of the Double Closet Undocumented LGBTQ activists share their stories By Yoona Ha
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PHOTO by yoona ha, photo courtesy 0f vv zebest
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he day Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed and the DREAM Act fell, Reyna Wences, co-founder of the Immigrant Youth Justice League, says she felt an emotional divide that reflected the atmosphere of those who waited with her in Senate chambers. As she stood among groups of cheering and crying people she found herself caught in an emotional tug-of-war between her identities as an UndocuQueer woman: undocumented and queer. “I was really glad that part of my identity won, but at the same time I really started to question what was happening to my undocumented side,” she sighs. “I really wanted Congress to acknowledge the fact that there are people with multiple identities and you just can’t acknowledge the validity of one identity and not the other.” As an UndocuQueer, Wences had to come out of what she calls a “double closet.” For her, it was harder to come out as undocumented than to come out as queer. The struggle to retain and claim both parts of her existence has been an integral part of Wences’ life since her near-death experience two days after high school graduation. “I always knew I was undocumented but I got depressed because I thought nothing I would do would matter, even going to college,” she says. “I tried to commit suicide but when I survived it was a wake-up call that I needed to change my life from depression.” But Wences wasn’t alone in her need for a wake up call. For Prerna Lal, a George Washington University Law School student, being gay has been a part of her life as long as “the hair on her head.” Although she has never felt the need to come out because of her parents’ assumption of her homosexuality, Lal says she felt the need to talk about “queering the undocumented experience” and introduce the concept of queerness into the undocumented dialogue. “I think I realized that I had a narrative to tell myself, and started to share more about myself and my life,” Lal says. At a conference called “Undoing Borders and Queering the Undocumented Narrative,” Lal says she spoke about the necessity of having a holistic vision in the practice and pursuit of immigration status. “It means talking about and recognizing that people are whole beings,” she says. The barriers to openness have forced many to stay in the closet, especially those
INTERSECTING IDENTITIES As an undocumented queer woman, Reyna Wences fights for both LGBTQ and immigrant rights.
who find themselves needing to come out of one closet just to be trapped in another. The fear of the unknown becomes more than a spiritual uncertainty, as it often is for LGBTQ citizens. In fact, it becomes heightened by the threat of being deported back to a country one cannot call home. There was something about this reality and need for support that touched Timothy Farrell, a heterosexual collegiate sports information director. Although his personal narrative is strikingly different from those of Wences, Lal and other UndocuQueers he supports, that hasn’t deterred Farrell from being an active member of Dream Activists for Ohio and coordinating the first known UndocuQueer web book, titled “UndocuQueer: Sharing the Stories in the Intersection of the Queer and Immigrant Movements.” “The key aspect to this project is to have people to tell their own stories and telling your own story is so much more powerful than having someone else do it,” he says. “There are people who are nervous about coming out and this project will let them see and identify with the brave storytellers in this project.” UndocuQueer Book is a project of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance that contains the self-written stories of 18 authors, including Wences, who describe the UndocuQueer experience. It was a conversation with one of the authors that inspired Farrell to get involved with undocumented immigration issues. Farrell agreed that coming out is a personal decision and that there needs to be a movement to raise awareness of a community that is not concerned with being accepted by society. “I don’t think it’s right to have these people only describe the benefits and positive
points of publicly claiming their identities,” he says. “I want it to read like a transformative experience that shows that the writers endured their pain and overcame their difficulties.” Wences says she still remembers feeling empowered and emancipated the day she came out fully as undocumented after coming out as queer. “The identities we choose are not the problem, it’s society’s rules and labels,” she says. “You have to deconstruct the things we are told and follow our own existence and that means that I am not going to live by the rules and labels of me.” Lal agrees that her identities have not been barriers to where she wants to be and what she wants to accomplish. She blogs regularly and has written for websites like The Huffington Post and Alternet.org about undocumented and LGBTQ issues. Perhaps what Wences, Lal and Farrell’s activism reveals is more than a plea for society to adjust its attitude, but an effort to respect and empower those who choose to face uncomfortable truths rather than living a lie. “We don’t have enough honest conversations and uncomfortable moments when talking about our mental identities,” Wences says. “But national organizations have evolved into somewhere we can talk about ourselves and who we are.” She says they’re tackling things as they go, but bringing queer into the undocumented conversation is a goal she shares with even those hundreds and thousands of miles away like Lal and Farrell. “I remember one of the supporters for repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell looked at me and said ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be next!’” Wences says. “And that’s a step we’re trying to take, to be next.” T H E P R O T E ST | FA LL I SSUE 7
The Limits of Electoral Politics How the electoral process suppresses democratic values By Rebecca Savransky and Rebecca Friedman
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lections, in theory, represent the most basic American democratic value — a government run for the people, by the people. Yet there are many ways in which the electoral process actually suppresses democratic values. Much of it has come with the evolving political process, the rise of new media and increased campaign spending. Even the fundamental process of the Electoral College discourages people from voting and changes the meaning of each person’s vote based on their state.
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make members more beholden to their natural constituencies and more afraid of violating party orthodoxies.” Bayh explains that when vulnerable members of Congress make agreements with corporations or unions they will get a response similar to, “We only support candidates who are with us at least 90 percent of the time.” Members of Congress are encouraged to agree to the corporation’s conditions because such a large amount of campaign money is on the line. Policy issues are decided over money rather than what’s best for the country, and these policy decisions push members of Congress further into their side of the aisle. Benjamin Page, a political science professor at Northwestern University, thinks the presidential election is not the main election affected by the decision. “I suspect that the effects are much stronger in the lower-level races, for the
PHOTO by joyce lee
Money With the Citizens United decision in 2010, the Supreme Court indirectly increased the deadlock and animosity in the political process. This decision allowed corporations to more easily donate money to Super PACs, which are not directly affiliated with campaigns, giving them
more resources to fund ads supporting their favorite candidates. This means more negative attack ads against the opposition. These ads only increase animosity between candidates as well as amongst the public. The incredibly polarizing ads are often not true and are geared almost entirely toward the already committed voter base for that party. According to a study done by Rutgers University, negative ads don’t do much to sway independent voters. They only serve to polarize their own base. Another detrimental effect of the Citizens United decision is how much sway corporations have over members of Congress. Evan Bayh, a former Indiana senator, pointed out in his February 2010 piece “Why I’m Leaving the Senate,” that thanks to the Citizens United decision, “The threat of unlimited amounts of negative advertising from special interest groups will only
U.S. House of Representatives, where a few million dollars’ advantage to one side can wipe out an otherwise strong candidate,” Page says. New Media With the rise of new media, the diversity of sources, outlets and news formats has increased tremendously and, as such, has had a huge effect on the American political system. More sources of information can certainly be a good thing. Voter knowledge about candidates and policies has improved. Officials are also more informed about the preferences of the electorate. However, the change has also strengthened the partisan divide. Media is splintered and segmented — some outlets slanting to the left, others to the right. Rarely is there a middle-of-the-road source. “The media increases availability of political information, which is good, but it also biases election results and public policy toward the owners of media, usually wealthy families or corporate shareholders, who favor things that ordinary citizens do not,” Page says. “Because of the hunger for audiences, the media increase sensationalism, simplification, negativity, and party polarization.” Even President Barack Obama has connected this splintering of media with the lack of compromise in government. In a speech he made in Maryland in July 2011, Obama explained, “You’ve got a media that has become much more splintered. So those of you who are of a Democratic persuasion are only reading The New York Times and watching MSNBC and if you are on the right, then you’re only reading the Wall Street Journal editorial page and watching Fox News. And if that’s where you get your information, just from one side, if you never even have to hear another argument, then over time you start getting more dug in into your positions.” A 2010 Gallup Poll asked voters if “it’s generally more important for political leaders to compromise to get things done, rather than sticking to beliefs.” The results showed that 59 percent of Democratic voters tilted toward compromise, while 18 percent tilted toward sticking to beliefs. It was reported that only 32 percent of Republican voters supported compromise and that 41 percent favored sticking to beliefs.
The Republicans in Congress are sticking to their values because that is what their supporters believe in. The voters are polarized because of the segmented nature of the media and the representatives in government are responding. The fact that so many voters are only informed from biased sources, or may not even be informed at all, is yet another important limit of electoral politics.
“You’ve got a media that has become much more splintered.” The Electoral College The presence of the Electoral College and swing states is another factor limiting electoral politics. Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin are all swing states. These are the states that presidents campaign through, trying to win the votes of every undecided citizen. “Not only is this likely to depress turnout in non-battleground states, more broadly, it deprives citizens in those states of full deliberation about the election choices,” Page says. “People may be grateful to avoid an onslaught of unpleasant ads, but they also miss a high level of discussion.” Due to the presence of the Electoral College, campaigns target specific places, while other areas obviously leaning one way are not met with the necessary information needed to make a decision. Many people in non-swing states choose not to even vote. “The reason that I didn’t vote was because I felt like my vote didn’t even matter and my state was already decided, regardless of if that’s true or not,” says Northwestern sophomore Katie Dickinson, a native of Minnesota. Kenneth Janda, a political science pro-
fessor emeritus at Northwestern, points out criticisms of the Electoral College, but also recognizes certain advantages. Janda says by supporting the federal government, one can also defend the electoral vote system because it gives small states more weight in the vote. He also comments on the problems with the popular vote. “If you do not want to risk a nationwide recount in a close election, multiplying by 50 the counting problems in Florida in 2000, then you might want to keep the current system,” he says. The Two-Party System The presence of the two-party system in the United States is one of the biggest limits of electoral politics, according to Page. “The two-party system restricts our choices and permits certain kinds of elite domination where the Republican and Democratic Party establishments agree,” Page says. Countries with multi-party systems still have their politics influenced by the wealthy and big corporations, but almost certainly less so than the U.S. does. Instead of having the opportunity to choose from a variety of different parties with different values and opinions, citizens in the U.S. can only choose between two groups. Currently, the Republican and Democratic parties agree on topics such as unrestricted free trade, on proper treatment toward big banks, and on entitlement reform to cut benefits. However, the presence of a multi-party system could also bring with it a series of negative consequences. This would eliminate many of the moderate views required for a two-party system, causing political views to stray away from mainstream public opinion. Additionally, if the population is split between a variety of parties, it is likely the one ruling will not have won a majority in a major election. It could also create coalition politics, as is the case in India, leading to corruption and disunity within parties. The U.S. provides a balance between different viewpoints with its two-party system. However, it undoubtedly imposes many limits on electoral politics. The huge sums of money spent, development of new media, presence of the Electoral College, and existence of the two-party system all serve to limit the role the electorate plays in the democratic system. T H E P R O T E ST | FA LL I SSUE 9
Inside Obama’s Drone War Behind a wall of CIA secrecy lie hundreds of civilian deaths By Ellen Garrison
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one of the reasons the government uses drones is that there is no danger to American troops. “Drones allow you to go places that we almost certainly would not go with manned aircraft,” French says. “It is inconceivable to me that the U.S. would have launched hundreds of manned missions into Pakistani airspace. But you can do that with an armed drone.” Since 2004, the U.S. has ordered at least 350 drone strikes, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Two hundred ninety-eight of those were during Obama’s time in office. The Bureau has compiled thousands of reports from news organizations and researchers on the ground to determine that there have been at least 2,593 deaths from drone strikes, including at least 475 civilians. Last winter, the Bureau reported that CIA follow-up strikes in Pakistan have “killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals.” Because of the lack of transparency about the military and CIA use of drones to target specific suspected terrorists and militant groups, the exact numbers are
difficult to determine. What can be determined, says Jennifer Rowland, a program associate with the New America Foundation’s National Security Studies Program, is that the government has come to rely on drones. “Undoubtedly, the drones have become a very significant weapon in terms of protecting our national security, as far as the government sees it,” Rowland says. There are two types of drone strikes. The first is a targeted or personality strike, “where you know the person you’re going after,” says French, from the National Security Network. “You have actionable intelligence about that person’s whereabouts and you can target them specifically.” The second type of strike is the signature strike, “which is where you don’t know the people that you’re targeting, but you have targeting criteria,” French says, “where in some cases it’s just males who are gathered in a group who are of age for military service in certain areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas [of Pakistan]. In those cases, I’m very concerned that drone strikes are not effective because you don’t know who you’re targeting.”
PHOTO by Aaron Cynic
ince taking office, President Obama’s administration has increased drone strikes fivefold in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia with what appears to be little regard for civilian life. This year alone, the government has ordered anywhere from 30 to 80 drone strikes, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Yet the U.S. has no official policy regarding the use of drones in warfare, opening the door for covert operations in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. Drones are unmanned aircraft, remote-controlled from bases around the world. The U.S. government primarily uses drones to target suspected terrorists in dangerous regions. Aside from what the government has termed “targeted killings,” drones are also used to spot training camps and groups of militants on the move. Since 2002, the U.S. Army has increased its arsenal of Predator drones from 162 to over 7,000, according to a report by researchers from New York University. Bill French, a research associate at the National Security Network, says that
On Sept. 3, 2012, a drone strike killed 13 civilians in the al-Baitha province of Yemen. The intended targets were two suspected al-Qaeda operatives in a nearby vehicle, who escaped unharmed. The incident provoked widespread rage in Yemen. Because the U.S. rarely comments on reports that it has ordered drone strikes, U.S. involvement was not officially confirmed.
PHOTOs by jenny starrs
Because of the lack of transparency about the military and CIA use of drones . . . the exact numbers of deaths are difficult to determine. However, this strike was the fourth reported that week. The first three allegedly killed 12 al-Qaeda members. Drones have been used to target and kill high-ranking members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but at what cost to civilian life and America’s reputation? A study released in 2010 by the New America Foundation found that 80 percent of citizens in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan oppose American drone strikes. Only 16 percent think that these strikes accurately target militants; 48 percent think that they mostly hit civilians, and 33 percent think that they hit both militants and civilians. Eight in ten Pakistanis have an unfavorable view of the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center survey. Only seven percent of the Pakistani population trusts Obama to do the right thing in world affairs. Obama often personally approves drone strikes in the FATA, promoting general ill will in the region. According to a New York Times article published in May, Obama also signs off on every strike in Yemen and Somalia. Government sources claimed that the CIA only makes the decision to send in a drone if they can say with “near certainty” that there will be no loss of civilian life. Any other strikes must be personally approved by the president, according to government officials. In the same article, officials explained that the administration considers “all mili-
tary-age males” killed by drones to be militants. This is in blatant opposition to one of the rights guaranteed to U.S. citizens: the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. In many cases of “signature” strikes, the identities of those killed are not known. A 2012 Pew Research Center Study determined that, of all the countries polled, America is the only one where the majority of the population supports drone strikes. Even in America, support for drone strikes is falling as more information becomes available. In early October, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay began officially questioning the legality of the U.S. strikes in Pakistan and called for an investigation of the Obama administration’s drone use. Even Americans are slowly becoming wary of drone use since President Obama began ordering strikes on American citizens. After the drone attack that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and alleged al-Qaeda operative, the CIA and the Defense Department faced questions about assassinating U.S. citizens without the right of trial guaranteed by the Constitution.
In a talk at the Northwestern University law school last March, Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., claimed that the use of drones against American citizens overseas was justified. According to Holder, Congress gave the authorization to use all necessary force against those responsible for 9/11 and their agents back in 2001. Referencing a recent Washington Post series about the continuation of the War on Terror, Rowland, of the New America Foundation, says there is no end in sight for the use of drones. “According to the reporting, [the U.S. government] intend to stretch the war on al-Qaeda another decade,” Rowland says, “and they seem to be writing into policy the use of drones.” Rowland says that although drones are a significant part of the U.S. national security apparatus, there are doubts about their use. These uncertainties are at the center of an ongoing debate surrounding the CIA’s covert drone war. “There is the question of how long we’re going to use this,” Rowland says. “Are we creating as many militants as we’re killing? I mean, we can’t kill every single person who doesn’t like America.”
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Speaking Softly This motley crew of activists protests through healing By David Uberti
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step. The black phalanx approaches methodically — seemingly in slow motion — while the diverse mob of protesters braces for impact. Caught in the middle is Trinidad’s privacy circle. Each step from the police feels like another tick of the clock — a foreboding countdown until the red crosses are swept away. The black wall of armored officers doesn’t break stride as it scatters her small group and pushes it back into the crowd. But before the dark-complexioned Trinidad, wearing a green shirt, black jeans and red glasses, can evade the advancing police, she suffers a baton blow to the elbow. Her small frame recoils. And she darts back into the mob — still several hundred strong — as it is pushed west. After struggling against demonstrators streaming from the intersection, she finally makes it to the sidewalk. Trinidad quickly checks her arm and then continues to weave through the crowd, sharing water and doling out earplugs.
The police drive a wedge between the two streets, separating Trinidad and me from the most stubborn remaining demonstrators. The authorities eventually lead a trickle of protesters, several bloodied, out of the fray in our direction. Chicago police arrested 45 activists that day, an effort that was widely lauded by city officials who had prepared for the worst. But for those wearing red crosses on their clothes — like Trinidad — success isn’t so easily quantifiable. Trinidad doesn’t hold signs, chant slogans or challenge cops. Her brand of activism is of an entirely different sort. The University of Illinois at Chicago graduate is a street medic, an informally trained emergency responder who treats injuries on protests’ front lines. And she’s not alone. Today’s era of activism — spearheaded by the Occupy movement — has led to a coast-to-coast boom in loosely organized street medic collectives. Medics frequently coordinate with Occupi-
PHOTOs by david uberti
rimson blood shimmers in the early afternoon sun as it flows down the back of the protester’s pale, shaved head. A man with red crosses taped to his clothes holds a bandage against the wound, keeping calm in the center of the largest protest of Chicago’s NATO summit on May 20. The five-foot-two Monica Trinidad — her backpack and fanny pack also sporting red tape — darts through the increasingly belligerent crowd packed into the Cermak and Michigan intersection. She locks arms with a number of similarly marked activists, forming what she calls a “privacy circle” around the bleeding man and his caretaker. But that’s when the chanting starts, and that’s when I realize there’s nowhere to run. Lining the intersection are hundreds of riot police, all of them gripping nightsticks and wearing black body armor. The red crosses on Trinidad’s bags look like targets as police begin advancing from all sides, yelling “Move back!” with each
ers, who have protested in at least 116 cities nationwide, according to St. Pete For Peace, an anti-war group that tracks Occupy arrests. More than 30 medics — many from Chicago Action Medical like Trinidad — converged on the Windy City for May’s NATO summit, teaching first aid and nursing injured protesters. Street medic groups now span the country, from the Seattle Street Medic Collective to the Atlanta Resistance Medics to the North Star Health Collective in St. Paul, Minn. Collectives’ numbers fluctuate widely with the level of need. But they don’t stop at the U.S. border. Fledgling international groups, such as Street Medics for Tahrir in the Middle East and the Melbourne First Aid Care Team in Australia, have begun sprouting up around the world. Most recently, medics provided support at this year’s political conventions in Charlotte, N.C., and Tampa, Fla. For Trinidad, the draw is simple: street medics are part of a wide-ranging support system for today’s activists. “EMTs sometimes can’t get to those people right away because officials deem those situations too dangerous for them to go into,” she says. “I’m willing to put my life on the line to help somebody as immediately as possible . . . and then hope that I don’t get smashed.”
“Military Medics Without the Military to Protect Them”
The West Town building appears long forgotten. Its beige lobby, illuminated by dim, yellow lights, is flanked by mirrors running the length of the narrow room. After taking the elevator to the fourth floor, I find myself in an entirely different
world: basic training. “Street medics are military medics without a military to protect them,” says Grace Keller, a 28-year-old veteran medic. A dreary rain pounds against the windows, clouding the view of the Chicago skyline. Ripped couches and creaky chairs fight to stay out of shadows in the unevenly lit room. A fiery red mural spans an entire wall, depicting clenched fists and reading “Solidarity” in bold letters. Opposite is a small stage where five street medics explain how to treat injured protesters. Three dozen people feverishly take notes as the trainers speak. College kids, senior citizens and every age group in between have come to learn street medicine. The 20-hour workshop is part of the Spreading the Health Conference, a weeklong forum organizing and training medical volunteers two weeks before the NATO summit. Street medics are unlicensed. They’re loosely organized into metropolitan or regional collectives. And they don’t carry traditional, over-the-counter drugs. But that doesn’t stop them from providing grassroots medical care. Instruction at the conference focuses on what street medics often see among protesters: dehydration, blisters and headaches. But attention is also given to more serious, though less common, injuries like broken bones. Juliana Grant, an Atlanta-based public health physician and medic with Atlanta Resistance Medics, says informally trained volunteers are often better prepared for protest situations than their professional counterparts. The latter may have superior knowledge of physiology, Grant says. But medics prepare specifically for protest situations. Medics’ role in protests, however, goes beyond the front lines. Chicago Action Medical manned
its NATO Wellness Center with about 35 volunteers, including self-trained herbalists, acupuncturists and massage therapists. And they don’t just relegate themselves to live action such as global summits or national political conventions. Zoe Williams, leader of the Colorado Street Medics, says her group holds educational programming throughout the year. “We always do CPR and first aid classes — the sort of standard — so people have those certifications,” says the 26-year-old medic veteran.
Trinidad doesn’t hold signs, chant slogans or challenge cops. Her brand of activism is of an entirely different sort. She is a street medic, an informally trained emergency responder who treats injuries on protests’ front lines. Keller, a 5-foot 10-inch medic with straight, blond hair and an easy laugh, volunteered in post-Katrina New Orleans, post-earthquake Haiti and various protests across the country. The NATO summit, she says, “was too compelling to resist.” “You’ve got war and austerity meeting at the same time,” the Louisiana native says. “That’s a big draw. That’s a lamp to a bunch of moths.”
Child of the ’60s
The medics eat lunch in the early afternoon, picking up vegetarian or vegan potluck dishes from a dark kitchen attached to the main room. They shuffle back to their couches, chairs and floor for a short break. Street medicine first appeared in the 1960s, when the Medical Committee for Human Rights called on healthcare professionals to provide first aid during civil rights demonstrations in the South. Ann Hirschman, one of the original street medics, says many early adopters had a “rescue-fantasy-adrenaline junkie mindset.” “It occurred to some of us that a) we want to be more politically involved . . . and b) people needed first aid,” Hirschman says. “I have a personal problem with people bleeding on the floor.” The recent rise of street medicine beT H E P R O T E S T | FA LL I SSUE 13
gan amid increasing anti-globalization and anti-war demonstrations in the past five years. Participation depends on each individual action, says Williams, who estimates the Colorado Street Medics range between 15 to 30 members per protest. The Occupy movement shot additional life into street medicine last year, as long-term camps often required more organized medical support systems. When protest movements lull, however, medics don’t stop providing grassroots healthcare. Scott Mechanic, a Chicago Action Medical organizer was among the volunteers who founded and staffed the Common Ground Health Clinic in post-Katrina New Orleans. The non-profit exists to this day, providing low-cost primary care to The Big Easy’s poor. “It’s a natural step for street medics to go beyond doing care for protests and to do more community health work,” Mechanic says.
“Bringing your own medics has always been something successful warriors do . . . I do consider activists warriors.” — Ann Hirschman Despite the recent growth of street medicine, there are few ties between it and conventional healthcare providers. But that’s not to say they don’t exist. Indeed, Atlanta Resistance Medics includes “two physicians, a couple nurses and a number of EMTs,” according to Grant. In a Journal of Emergency Medical Services article following the 2009 G20 Summit, meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s former EMS Chief Robert McCaughan even suggests coordinating future care with street medics. Matt Anderson, a physician and professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, says developing working relationships between medics and healthcare professionals has been difficult. “There have been a lot of cultural differences that we’ve had to iron out,” Anderson says. Whereas street mediTH E P RO TEST | FALL ISSUE 1 4
cine’s non-hierarchical model has evolved through trial and error, medical professionals strive for rigorous performance analysis and standardized training. But trying to professionalize street medics, he adds, could “be impractical and violate the ethics of street medicine.”
“You Don’t Win at the Action”
The struggle between protesters and authorities on Cermak continues as I watch more riot police march toward the intersection. Barricades and law enforcement vehicles block all the major streets, making it nearly impossible for Trinidad and her medic partner to rejoin the main crowd. As we rest on the sidewalk, an order from a nearby police commander breaks a momentary calm. “Get ’em out,” he barks. Dozens of reserve riot police in formation on Michigan Avenue drop to a knee as one. Only a few arm-lengths away, I watch in dismay as they simultaneously reach into black pouches on their upper left thighs: gas masks. “You ever been gassed before?” Trinidad asks coolly. She quickly reaches into her backpack, pulling out a windbreaker, plastic goggles and a surgical mask. After calmly removing her charcoal gray bucket hat — revealing a small tattoo on the back of her neck reading “Resist” — Trinidad dons the only armor she has. I shake my head at her and jerk the collar of my t-shirt over my nose. I’m not ready for this. For Hirschman, a medic at the 1973 Wounded Knee incident that left three dead, such potential danger is a trifling concern for many medics. Some are “rescue nuts . . . wanting adrenaline to pump,” she tells me over the phone. “Bringing
your own medics has always been something successful warriors do,” Hirschman says. “I do consider activists warriors.” But it doesn’t end with physical protests like those at the NATO summit, according to Keller. Providing low-cost community healthcare — occasionally for long periods of time — is the foundation of street medicine, she adds. “As I got older, I realized that you don’t win at the action,” Keller says. “You win in the years after the action.” The demonstrators had been steadily pushed away from McCormick Place — without the help of tear gas — giving Trinidad time to weave through open side streets and countless police barricades to meet them. The protesters are losing both their numbers and energy — and understandably so. My body aches from hours of action. I depart when Trinidad takes a short break, slowly shuffling west toward the Cermak-Chinatown ‘L’ stop. But I stop before losing sight of the action. I raise a hand to block the yellow glare of the early evening sun, and my eyes return to where Trinidad stood only minutes before. She, her backpack and partner have disappeared into the shrinking mob of protesters. I continue scanning the area, struggling to find where the street medic has gone. My eyes never find her — not her personally, at least. But my gaze falls elsewhere in the crowd, focusing on what look like small targets. They’re unmistakable, even from a few hundred feet away: bright, red crosses plastering medics’ bags and bodies — scarlet symbols of calm gleaming boldly in the setting sun. Read more online at the-protest.com
Sold in Seoul
PHOTOs by yu sun chin
The thriving sex trade in South Korea By Yu Sun Chin
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“J
enny” first arrived in South Korea from the Philippines, nursing hopes for a singing career. The 23-yearold had auditioned for the spot with a local agent, who then promised her a lucrative entertainment stint in South Korea. But the job was not what she expected. As soon as she landed in South Korea, Jenny was forced to work as a “juicy girl” at a club in a military camp town, forced to provide drinks and sexual services to customers almost daily. She worked there for one year and eight months until her escape. “I felt like I was a slave in the club,” says Jenny, who currently lives at a shelter for foreign sex trafficking victims in Korea. “We always followed what [the owner] wanted — we didn’t have a choice.” For Jenny and hundreds of other foreign victims in South Korea, human trafficking persists as a silent and pervasive threat. Although the country takes pride in its top-tier ranking in the U.S. Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, it still remains a major source, transition and destination country for people subjected to forced prostitution and labor. Foreign women from the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries are forced into sexual servitude at Korean bars and clubs once they TH E P RO TEST | FALL ISSUE 1 6
enter the country on E-6 entertainment visas. Brokers and entertainment companies recruit hopeful women from their native countries, and often confiscate the women’s passports after their entry into Korea, robbing them of proper identification. About 82 foreign women were victims of sex trafficking in 2010, according to a study done by Durebang, a shelter for foreign victims of sex trafficking in South Korea.
“I felt like I was a slave in the club.” Most foreign women like Jenny are not informed of the exact nature of their job until their arrival in South Korea, according to Su-mi Park, head of Durebang. Foreign women are especially vulnerable to traffickers due to their unfamiliarity with the language and country, Park says. “Victims are often so brainwashed by the club owners and traffickers to the point that they cannot identify themselves as victims even after their rescue,” Park says. South Korea currently has one law prohibiting human trafficking: the 2004 Act
on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic and its Labor Standards Act prescribe up to five years and 10 years’ imprisonment for labor and sex trafficking, respectively. But the law is not without its limits. While businesses selling sexual services have been convicted under the law banning prostitution, there have been no convictions of traffickers under the human trafficking law, Park says. “The lack of convictions makes it hard for us to protect the victims effectively,” Park says. “If the burden of proving the trafficking continues to fall to the victim as it does now, any new trafficking law will prove useless.” Under the law, foreign sex trafficking victims may avoid deportation under the G-1 visa system, which allows them to remain in South Korea for up to one year to participate in investigations against their traffickers. But allowing victims to legally remain and work in South Korea even after the one-year period and pursue the case is crucial in order to gather evidence against the traffickers, says Jong-chul Kim, head lawyer for Advocates for Public Interest Law (APIL), an NGO that gives legal assistance to forced migrants. Prosecuting is also made more difficult
due to the traffickers’ psychological manipulation of the victims, Park says. Victims are sometimes too scared of the potential retaliation from the traffickers if they go through with the prosecution, she says. “These traffickers often have complete control over [the victims’] personal information and have ties to their families and acquaintances back home,” Park says. “Prostitution, even if it was forced, is still a stigma in Korea and in their home countries — victims don’t want their experiences publicized to everyone they know.” Many foreign victims instead choose to return to their home countries without convicting their traffickers. The psychological burden stretches on for the victims who do choose to stay and fight for justice. Jenny, who is currently pursuing a case against her traffickers, says she still has not told her parents about her actual job. “I know they’re going to be hurt if they know what happened to me in Korea,” she says. “That’s why I need to be strong.” The sex trade does not only prey on foreign victims: domestic sex trafficking also thrives in the intricate mafia-run network of red light districts, massage parlors and “kissing” rooms. About 40,560 South Korean women were involved in the sex trade in 2010, according to a study in the same year by the South Korean Ministry of Gender Equality & Family. But the actual number of domestic victims is much higher due to the hidden nature of the crime, according to pastor
Eddie Byun, president of Not For Sale Korea, an anti-slavery non-profit organization based in Korea. About 350,000 to more than one million South Korean women have been forced into prostitution in Korea, many of whom are sexual abuse victims with troubled family backgrounds, Byun says. “If it’s not their choice to either start or stay there, then that’s a sign of slavery,” Byun says. “That’s basically destroying the dignity of women in our country.”
About 350,000 to more than one million South Korean women have been forced into prostitution in Korea. Byun also points to the compliance of police and government authorities as a major challenge to addressing the issue. “Prostitution is illegal in this country, but everyone knows where the red light districts are,” Byun says. The distorted general awareness of the issue also hinders the path to potential solutions. For many South Koreans, “human trafficking” comes across as a starkly foreign concept; when asked to describe the issue, most people point to organ traf-
ficking or images of the van kidnappings that took place in the politically unstable ’80s, in which mafia-run enterprises would randomly kidnap people off the streets to sell their organs. “The Korean people’s perception needs to catch up with the global perception of human trafficking,” Park says. “Reforming the law is important, but the general awareness has to shift with that in order for the law to be truly effective.” Correcting the general population’s perception of the victims is also crucial to changing this paradigm of trafficking, Byun says. “So many people . . . think women in the prostitution industry are there by choice, are making a lot of money, that they want a Gucci bag,” Byun says. “We really want to demystify and break those stereotypes.” For Jenny, the road to legal redress seems endless. The complications of pursuing the case and tracking down witnesses is taking a serious toll on her mental health, she says. But for now, she says she enjoys the newfound freedom she has at the shelter. She likes being able to meet new people and learn skills like baking and jewelry-making. Most of all, Jenny wants to stay strong for her family, she says, fingering a photo of her two children back in the Philippines. “I want justice — that’s all I want,” she says.
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North Korea Country of Origin:
How one North Korean refugee and her family overcame the odds to resettle in the United States By Joyce Lee
W
hen Jin Hye Jo was given the choice to resettle after escaping from North Korea, Jo and her family chose the United States over South Korea without hesitation. While hiding in China, Jo and her family were drawn overseas by the promise of the American Dream. When they came to the U.S., Jo, now 25, says she was given the chance to learn at a high school for adults, and life was just as they had imagined. But resettling was not easy, and Jo and her family struggled to balance going to school and working to pay the bills. For the first few years, Jo’s day would begin at 8 a.m., and after three hours of school, Jo would work two part-time jobs until 2 a.m. “It was very difficult, I had a lot of nosebleeds and I cried a lot because it was so hard,” Jo says. “But even so, no one was trying to capture me, like we feared in China, and because I didn’t have that fear, I liked the United States.” Adjusting to life in a different culture meant Jo and her family also faced discrimination. While most of the people they met were good to the family, Jo says there were several occasions — at work, mostly — when people gave her the strange stare that sometimes greets refugees. At one point, for example, she was made the scapegoat while working at a restaurant when a wrong order was delivered to a table. Rather than standing up for the employee, the head of the restaurant blamed the wrong meal order on Jo’s being North Korean. TH E P RO TEST | FALL ISSUE 1 8
A simple mistake, she says, was amplified by the naïveté of people who would rather cast blame than prop up their employees. “A lot of times, my heart hurt,” Jo says. And at other times, Jo says she was disappointed by the frivolity of the culture and its youth. “In past wartimes, youth were full of heart, fire, they wanted to do something. Now, in this century, there’s nothing to make the youth feel that way,” Jo says. “They put all their energy into movie actors and pretty clothing.” To Jo, in a world where a country like North Korea keeps its citizens prisoner, youth have a larger role to fill. Jo is one of 135 North Korean refugees living in the U.S. as of 2012, according to the State Department. It’s a small number, but cast as one of the countries in the Axis of Evil by then-President George W. Bush, that number carries a great burden, according to both human rights activists and the refugees themselves. When North Korean refugees apply for refugee status in the U.S. from undisclosed locations in Southeast Asia, they must go through a lengthy application process that takes an average of 10 months to complete. Only then can those seeking a new home emigrate to the U.S., according to a recent report by the United States Government Accountability Office. During this processing time, Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), a non-profit organization that works to aid North Korean refugees and share their stories, prepares refugees as best they can for life in the U.S. That includes teaching their clients
English, as well as how to use an ATM machine and set up a bank account. But adjusting to life in the United States can’t be taught in a few lessons. One has to be absorbed into America’s mixed culture, and that takes time. “Just from my observation, we feel like they’re lacking confidence,” LiNK President Hannah Song says of the refugees she works to help assimilate. “They also have identity issues; they don’t have a clear sense of identity because their sense of identity was the government, ideology.” How well North Korean refugees are able to resettle in the U.S. depends heavily on their community. Each case is different, Song says. Some North Koreans are immersed in the local Korean society while others live in communities dominated by a white population. Though the latter population often speaks perfect English, they may have had a harder adjustment surrounded by neighbors of a different culture. What North Korean refugees need in order to survive is not to be pitied, Song says, but to be treated as equals. Many Korean American churches do this unintentionally and give refugees everything they need. But “giving them handouts isn’t going to help [refugees] when they run out,” Song says. This common mistake shows a larger lack of understanding and knowledge about North Korea and its refugees. This is where youth come in. Jo says she wants youth to take up the North Korean human rights effort and support, not pity, North Korean refugees living in the U.S. That
way, when refugees embark on the difficult journey to resettlement, they’ll be met by understanding rather than ignorance. After Jo spoke at a college in Chicago, for example, students organized a sports competition and used the entrance fees to provide a scholarship for a refugee to go to college and help him afford a car. “That refugee is now living well,” she says. “So that they don’t have to suffer like I did, I want people here to support these refugees.” Now that Jo has settled into a new life in the United States, she has become a human rights activist, helping fellow refugees: Jo has testified before Congress, at universities across the U.S., in churches, and in front of North Korean human rights organizations about her experiences in North Korea and her native country’s human rights abuses. Jo speaks only of the human rights abuses she has personally encountered, such as how her father suffered and eventually passed away in a prison camp, how she was also tortured in a camp after repatriation to North Korea, and how the famine struck so many in her hometown, tak-
ing the life of her younger siblings and an estimated million others in North Korea. Jo says she seeks to raise awareness in the U.S. about the circumstances in North Korea and to act as a voice for the North Korean people. “Even if it’s just a little, if the world pays attention, maybe North Korea will do a little less evil,” she says. “Just watch-
ing the situation in North Korea and staying still doesn’t seem to be the right thing to do.” And on a global scale, Jo says, the North Korean people need youths to speak for them and for the country’s future leaders to learn about North Korea, so they are prepared to help when their time comes. Jo also says she wants to see American youth speaking for repressed North Korean youth, who are unable to voice their struggles. “North Korean youth struggle because the families of many youth have starved to death and many [youth] don’t have any dreams,” Jo says. “Even if they study well and they’re smart, they can’t go to another country or move forward.” In the face of the atrocities that occur daily in North Korea, Jo says not enough is being done for the country’s silenced citizens. “A lot of people shout, cry, and do demos for North Korea, but I think it’s too small compared to what North Koreans are suffering,” she says. “I wish more people would stand up and make an effort.”
Nichole Pedro, a sophomore at the University of Chicago, was first drawn into North Korean human rights activism because of Emancipate North Koreans’ 31-hour fasting campaign to raise awareness for the 31 North Korean refugees repatriated earlier this year by the Chinese government. Pedro now participates regularly in the group’s events.
David Tian, a junior at the University of Chicago, is a member of Emancipate North Koreans, a nonprofit organization based at the university which aims to raise awareness about North Korea’s deplorable conditions and create campus-wide movements to protest human rights abuses.
“That refugee is now living well,” she says. “So that they don’t have to suffer like I did, I want people here to support these refugees.”
PHOTos by joyce lee
Student Spotlight
Grace Lim, a junior at Northwestern University, leads the North Korea (NK) group at Northwestern to help promote human rights. Lim’s aunt, an involved North Korean human rights activist who has traveled several times into North Korea, served as a source of inspiration for Lim.
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Why Do Politicians Lie? The contradictions of liberal democracy By Mauricio Maluff Masi
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olitics in the United States is the art of choosing the second-worst option — or so seems to think the average Northwestern liberal. When it comes to telling the truth, on the other hand, politicians prefer the opposite strategy. If honesty is the best policy, they will always choose the second-best, as George Carlin said. Political lies are par for the course in modern, liberal democracies. That is not up for debate. But why do they lie? Is it just for their personal political gain? And if it is, why can’t voters choose the ones who are really out there to serve the public? Most mainstream pundits tend to attribute the problem to “politicians” in the abstract — they lie because they’re politicians. This is an absurd proposition. It’s not like there’s a class of politicians genetically predisposed to lying, all bred in secret villages somewhere in Wyoming where they’re trained in the arts of deceit. And no, law school doesn’t count. Besides, politicians don’t lie to everyone. Can you imagine Obama making a campaign promise to the CEO of Goldman Sachs, and then, once in office, doing the opposite? Of course not. His political career would be ruined, his party would be sunk until they once again proved their alTH E P RO TEST | FALL ISSUE 2 0
legiance to the nation’s capitalists. And here lies the source of the problem. Politicians in a capitalist democracy are stuck in a permanent contradiction. There is a class of people to whom they cannot lie, that class who funds their campaigns, the class that spends millions in lobbying, the class that they hope will hire them after they retire from politics.
Most mainstream pundits tend to attribute the problem to “politicians” in the abstract — they lie because they’re politicians. This is an absurd proposition. But in order to maintain the pretense of democracy, they must also make promises to the people: promises of jobs, welfare, or whatever they think will get them the necessary votes. This often, if not always, requires them to pretend that they will go against the interests of the people who fund them. That is, to be a politician in a liberal democracy, one is forced to make promises that one cannot keep.
Broken promises are not the only example of political lies, or even the worst kind. There are clearly limits to how many lies of this kind the people will buy into. Even the most cunning liar can’t get away with promising his constituents zero taxes and 12 million new jobs. So instead, politicians have to get voters to believe that they’re defending their interests in ways that don’t challenge the class interests of the owners of this country. Lies inciting racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia are examples of this. If a politician can convince voters that their biggest enemy is Black “welfare queens,” women getting abortions, gays getting married, or immigrants “stealing their jobs,” perhaps voters will forget about the people on Wall Street kicking them out of their homes. And so all politicians have an interest in fanning the flames of hatred so they can get away with selling off the welfare state to the highest bidder. In a society divided by class, politicians must pretend to represent the interests of people of all classes. But when the contradictory interests of owners and workers are irresolvable, their pretense of neutrality can be nothing but a lie. So long as it is capitalists who control the state, democracy and truth are necessarily dead.
PHOTos by joyce lee
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Communism and Left Melancholy Are contemporary attempts to reformulate and reappropriate Communism utopian dreams of the “left melancholic”? By Rafael Vizcaíno
Walter benjamin, philosopher (1892-1940)
T
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We all know the problem: neoliberal capitalism corrupted (the anarchists would say: colluded with) the representative-democratic State to form what Badiou calls capitalo-parliamentarianism. We leftists, radicals, progressives, dreamers, revolutionaries, believe in the possibilities of a different world. As such, we all seek to challenge, in the unity of our divergent ways, this repressive System that likes to present itself as an absolute necessity. There is an interesting argument, however, that seems to reduce the recent reformulations and reappropriations of the label of Communism as suffering from a particular case of “left melancholy.” In a brief article published in 1999, Wendy Brown reads Walter Benjamin to define
the “left melancholic” as “the revolutionary hack who is, finally, attached more to a particular political analysis or ideal — even to the failure of that ideal — than to seizing possibilities for radical change in the present.” A question that is then worth asking is: Are contemporary attempts to reformulate and reappropriate Communism utopian dreams of the “left melancholic”? There is an argument for a positive answer to this question. To use the label of Communism to designate the alternative to capitalo-parliamentarianism is to fail “to apprehend the character of the age,” as Brown would say. It would be to fail to realize the extent to which the Idea of Communism has been damaged by the ca-
photo courtesy of bluinfaccia
here is now a growing number of people that define their theoretical and socio-political practice under the label of “Communism.” This shows that more and more people are coming to realize that our current systems of politico-economic organization are very far away from their promises. Theorists like Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek, Jodi Dean, and Santiago Zabala are presently putting forward different formulations of Communism as an alternative to our current systems of politico-economic organization. Similarly, one can perceive an increased presence of “Communist rhetoric” in recent social and political movements like some Arab Spring uprisings and the student movements in Chile and Quebec.
tastrophes of 20th century Socialism and the “successes” of its capitalist counterpart. It would be to posit an anachronistic ideal that would not find any connection whatsoever in peoples today. Instead of holding to these “long-held sentiments and objects,” this argument says that we must cure our “left melancholy” by seeking instead for “the possibilities of political transformation in the present.” Forget Communism, after Stalin and Mao any radical-left project’s credibility will be forever shattered. Similarly, haven’t you heard that the notion of revolution is completely unviable in our 21st century? Reform won the historical battle, so if you want to change the world, you must work from within the existing capitalo-parliamentarianist System, so as to slowly reform it for the better. Radicalize social democracy, though beware of totalitarianism.
photo courtesy of Akademie der Kunst, Berlin and Alexis Gravel
One can perceive an increased presence of “Communist rhetoric” in recent social and political movements like some Arab Spring uprisings and the student movements in Chile and Quebec. There is, however, also an argument for a negative answer to our question — and here I will follow Dean’s recent articulation of “the Communist Horizon.” This argument says that nothing like the word Communism expresses anti-capitalism, which is why we must retain, reappropriate, and reformulate the label of Communism. We must also realize that the prevalent discreditation of Socialism and Communism is not just a result of Stalin and Mao, but also the legacy of McCarthyism. Capitalo-parliamentarianists want us to believe that because of the disasters of Stalin and Mao, the possibilities of a radically different world are gone forever. We must acknowledge, however, that this is not the case. Indeed, we can learn from history! Here we must mention Samuel Beckett’s famous quote as appropriated by Žižek: try again, fail again, fail better. This failure, which is nonetheless better than the previ-
ous realization, remains a failure because Communism is an Idea, one that, like the Idea of Democracy, we can only forever approximate without ever actually reaching. The problem then would not be that a call for Communism is anachronistic and as a result it would not find any connection whatsoever in peoples today. Instead, the problem becomes a matter of how well we can actually define and articulate the new road to the Communist Idea vis-à-vis the present and future failures of capitalo-parliamentarianism. I would say, then, that inasmuch as Communism is an Idea, contemporary attempts to reformulate and reappropriate it are only to that extent expression of a “left melancholy.” However, this conclusion does not at all entail that these attempts to reformulate and reappropriate Communism are somehow futile. For just as the impossibility of its realization is inherent in Communism, this impossibility is also inherent in, say, the Market and Freedom. The point then is that it must also be recognized that all those who adhere to the capitalo-parliamentarianism System do so out of some sort of melancholy as well (“liberal melancholy” could be an appropriate label). Thus, the solution to our so-called “left melancholy” does not necessarily entail a call to work from within the existing capitalo-parliamentarianist System so as to slowly reform it for the better. A radically different world is indeed possible! And
whether this radically different world could be achieved through revolution or reform is still an open, context-dependent question. What we must do, however, as leftists, radicals, progressives, dreamers, revolutionaries, is to minimize our potential “left melancholy” as much as possible — since it is impossible to get rid of it altogether. What we must take from Wendy Brown’s article is the understanding that we must be ruthlessly rigorous with ourselves in our assessments of the contemporary historical situation so as to minimize any anachronisms as much as possible. I believe that only by taking these steps will we begin to see the outline of an alternative to capitalo-parliamentarianism.
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PHOTO BY JOYCE LEE
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