"Rachel Corrie, A Message Crushed Again"

Katharine Viner, Los Angeles Times

Three years after American activist Rachel Corrie died under an
Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, her words are being censored for political
reasons.

The flights for cast and crew had been booked; the production
schedule delivered; there were tickets advertised on the Internet.
The Royal Court Theatre production of "My Name Is Rachel Corrie," the
play I co-edited with Alan Rickman, was transferring later this month
to the New York Theatre Workshop, home of the musical "Rent,"
following two sold-out runs in London and several awards.

We always felt passionately that it was a piece of work that needed
to be seen in the United States. Created from the journals and
e-mails of American activist Rachel Corrie, telling of her journey
from her adolescence in Olympia, Wash., to her death under an Israeli
bulldozer in Gaza at the age of 23, we considered it a unique
American story that would have a particular relevance for audiences
in Rachel's home country. After all, she had made her journey to the
Middle East in order "to meet the people who are on the receiving end
of our [American] tax dollars," and she was killed by a U.S.-made
bulldozer while protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes.

But last week the New York Theatre Workshop canceled the production —
or, in its words, "postponed it indefinitely." The political climate,
we were told, had changed dramatically since the play was booked. As
James Nicola, the theater's 's artistic director, said Monday,
"Listening in our communities in New York, what we heard was that
after Ariel Sharon's illness and the election of Hamas in the recent
Palestinian elections, we had a very edgy situation." Three years
after being silenced for good, Rachel was to be censored for
political reasons.

PLP Takes the Agit-Prop Challenge:

Three Music Albums from the Progressive Labor Party

Spencer Sunshine

Reviewing:

"Power to the Working Class" — "A World to Win" — "Songs of the International Working Class"

I've always been a connoisseur of Leftist agit-prop bands. The thumpier, the better, as long as the political program is in their lyrics, and not just in the music (John Cage) or politics of the individual members (U2's Bono).

Mostly, I have been drawn to punk bands, including the Dead Kennedys, Crass, Chumbawamba, Bikini Kill (and later Le Tigre), D.O.A., the Ex, Gang of Four, D.I.R.T., the Subhumans (both the Canadian and UK bands, and Citizen Fish as well), Zounds, Reagan Youth, Tribe 8, Nausea, and the Dils (and the list could go on and on.). And while there's occasionally good political rock (Steve Earle, MC5, John Lennon, Stereolab), it's much easier to find a worthy reggae group (Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mad Professor, Sister Carol and the 'conscious reggae' genre — and, of course, Bob himself).

I also like the occasional industrial or hip-hop act, in particular Tchkung!, Consolidated, Public Enemy and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (pre-Spearhead), as well as Afrobeat bands like Fela Kuti and Antibalas. I'm aware of the "Red Folk" tradition, as well as the feminist (Roches, Ani Difranco) and environmental (David Rovics, Casey Neill) folkies, but neither ever particularly moved me. Nor did the "alternative rock" of Rage Against the Machine (an ex once quipped: "I lean towards their politics and away from their music") or their progeny, System of A Down.

Since seeing the Infernal Noise Brigade (INB) in Seattle in 1999, I have been an active groupie of the "anarchist" marching bands, especially NYC's own Hungry March Band (HMB) and Rude Mechanical Orchestra (RMO). You can dance your booty off and, more importantly, refer to them by their acronyms! But their non-linguistic ontology makes them non-agit-prop almost by definition.

Politically, the punk bands almost all leaned towards, or were activists in, the anarchist tradition. Crass are the best example; they even forged their own unique ideological brand of ethical pacifist (but militantly atheist), individualist, feminist, pro-animal rights anarchism. Gerry Hannah, the original bassist of the Canadian Subhumans, was jailed in the early '80s for his participation in Direct Action, the group that bombed a Canadian company that made weapons components for cruise missiles. The hip-hop and reggae bands tend towards a Lefty Black nationalism or pan-Africanism. The marching bands are "anarchist" in an aesthetic more than a political sense; nonetheless many are active anarchists or sympathisers, and they frequently participate in the contemporary mass protest scene (both the RMO and INB were arrested en masse at Union Square during the protests against the Republican National Convention).

But the question that presents itself is this: can the Communists hold their own in the field of agit-prop music?