by Bob Avakian

March 17, 2022

I have already written fairly extensively about what is seriously wrong with “woke cancel culture.”1 More needs to be said about this, but here I am going to be speaking to the question of individuals, and beyond that social forces and institutions, that should actually be “canceled”—or, more correctly put, exposed, denounced and actively opposed.

Definitely among the forces that fall into this category are the Christian fundamentalist fascists in this country, based on the ideas and actions they aggressively put forward and carry out. I will have more to say about them shortly. But first, let’s look at the larger picture.

There are key institutional pillars of this system—including the police and the so-called “justice system”—which embody and enforce cruel and murderous oppression.

There are the politicians, of whichever party and whichever race or gender, who support the coups, invasions and other acts of war carried out by this country, in pursuit of the capitalist-imperialist interests of its ruling class. Certainly any political figure supporting this imperialist aggression and plunder and in general the imperialist actions and aims of this ruling class—as well as any media people seeking to justify this and parroting propaganda in support of it—also deserve to be denounced and opposed.

The armed forces of this country have repeatedly carried out horrendous acts of massacre and destruction, from the beginning of this country and down to the present age, on this continent and all over the world: the genocide against the indigenous peoples; the invasion of Mexico and the theft of a huge part of its territory, primarily for the purpose of expanding slavery; and, in more recent times, the slaughter of millions of civilians in Vietnam, and in Korea before that, and then the illegal invasion of Iraq, with all the death and destruction it has unleashed. These are just some of the war crimes and crimes against humanity that they have carried out.

This is the only country that has actually used nuclear weapons—the atomic bombs with which it incinerated hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2. This is something that should not be forgotten, or ignored, particularly now when there is talk among some in the ruling circles of this country about getting more directly involved in military action in Ukraine, which would lead to war with Russia, and very possibly the use of the much more massively destructive nuclear weapons of today, which could actually lead to the extinction of humanity.

And here are people who definitely deserve to be sharply condemned: Any media person, in this country especially, or anyone else in a position to influence public opinion, who serves as a mouthpiece for the imperialist rulers of this country in their rivalry with the imperialists of Russia, or China—who condemns atrocities committed by those other imperialists while supporting, defending, or “justifying” the atrocities of “their own” imperialists.

This includes all the media people, and other people with a significant “public platform,” who have railed against Russian actions in Ukraine but not the actions of Saudi Arabia in Yemen—backed and armed by the U.S.—which have caused even worse carnage and suffering for the civilian population in Yemen, especially children, than what Russia has inflicted on Ukraine and its people.

Those who deserve to be condemned certainly include the politicians, media people, and “celebrities” who now denounce Russian atrocities in Ukraine but supported the slaughter by Israel of over 2,000 civilians, including hundreds of children, in the small, confined, densely populated area of Gaza, Palestine in 2014—something, once again, fully backed by the U.S. government and its president at the time, Barack Obama. (The Israeli government uses the obscene metaphor of “mowing the lawn” to describe its repeated slaughters of Palestinians—while the state of Israel itself exists on land stolen from Palestinians, by bloody warfare and terroristic means. What would U.S. politicians, media, etc., say if Putin described what is happening in the Ukraine as Russia “mowing the lawn”?!)

As I have written previously, in regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

Of course, this act of imperialist aggression by Russia deserves to be condemned. But especially for people residing in this country—which, again, by far holds the record for such acts of aggression—it is a matter of basic principle and profound importance not to be echoing the positions and serving the aims of “our” imperialists, and instead to be making very clear our opposition to the aims and actions of these (U.S.) imperialists, who are using opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, not as a way of promoting “peace,” or “the right of nations to self-determination,” but as means of furthering U.S. imperialist interests, in opposition to the rival Russian imperialists.2

And, then, as referred to earlier, there are the Christian fundamentalist fascists. These Christian fundamentalists aim to institute a theocratic dictatorship in this country: the same capitalist-imperialist system but one where tyrannical rule is enforced by authorities basing themselves on their fundamentalist version of Christianity, with all the horrors this involves—including rabid male supremacy and anti-LGBT hatred, as well as aggressive white supremacy and xenophobia (hatred of foreigners and immigrants, especially from non-white countries) and unrestrained plunder of the environment—all backed up by institutionalized anti-scientific lunacy.

(Some Christian fascists try to claim that they are not racist, but the fact is that Christian fundamentalism and white supremacy have been tightly bound together, throughout the history of this country and right down to today. That is why the strongest support for this Christian fascism today is among white racists in the old Confederate territory in the South, and among white people, especially in rural areas, throughout the country who rally behind what is represented by the Confederate flag, the symbol of slavery and lynching.)

Fundamentally It Is This System That Must Be “Canceled”

In writings of mine, and other material at revcom.us, the point has been made that, through the operation of this system, people in this country—and this includes “woke” people who are forever talking about “privilege” and “colonization”—are living off the children in Congo mining the raw materials that are essential for things that are part of everyday life in this country, including computers and cell phones. And this is just one example of the parasitism that comes from living in the USA, which has been, for generations, the most powerful oppressive and destructive capitalist-imperialist country, whose ruling class is able to pass along to people in this country some of the “spoils” from its worldwide plunder, even as these “spoils” are shared in a highly unequal way.

To put an end to the life-stealing super-exploitation of people not only in Congo but throughout the countries of the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia) which are still effectively “colonized” (controlled and dominated) by capitalist imperialism—to put an end to all the outrages perpetrated by this system, including its exploitation and oppression of masses of people right within this country, as well as the threat it poses to humanity as a whole through its devastation of the environment and the danger of nuclear war—requires an actual revolution, to overthrow this system and replace it with a radically different, emancipating system, aiming for the final goal of a communist world, with the abolition of all systems and relations of exploitation and oppression everywhere. A sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for that radically different, emancipating system is set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have authored.3

Such a revolution, and the establishment of this kind of emancipating system in this country, would strike a tremendous blow and constitute a powerful inspiration for the oppressed throughout the world, to carry forward the fight to break the stranglehold of this system of capitalism-imperialism and make possible a world without all the horrors that are daily life for the masses of humanity and the very real danger this system poses to the future of humanity.

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At revcom.us, as well as the weekly YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, there is ongoing scientific analysis of important developments in this country and in the world overall, the true history and present reality of this country, the actual nature of the system that rules in this country and dominates the world—the system of capitalism-imperialism—and the basis and strategy for making revolution to finally be rid of this system and replace it with a radically different and emancipating system. As an important part of this, works by Bob Avakian are regularly featured at revcom.us, including the following which are referred to in this article.

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FOOTNOTES:

1. “Bob Avakian On Fascist Lunacy and ‘Woke Folk’ Insanity: A New ‘Two Outmodeds’”and “I’m So Sick of this Whole ‘Identity Politics’ and ‘Woke’ Thing: Revolution and Emancipation—Not Petty Reform and Revenge, On Movements, Principles, Methods, Means and Ends.” [back]

2. “Imperialist Parasitism and ‘Democracy’: Why So Many Liberals and Progressives Are Shameless Supporters of ‘Their’ Imperialism” [back]

3. Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America [back]