- Mitchel
Bob Avakian and Cornel West at Riverside Church HOW DID THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY GET LOST?
by Elizabeth Liberty
A full page ad in The New York Times promoted the event "Religion and Revolution" as a serious dialogue between Bob Avakian, the relatively unknown Chair of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and prolific writer and activist Cornel West, one of the primary Black intellectuals in the U.S. and an activist professor of theology at Union Seminary. The event was held November 15th at the historic Riverside Cathedral, where Martin Luther King gave his seminal speech against the Vietnam war in 1967, a year before he was assassinated.
What was behind the thinking of the endorsers-funders of this program in enabling the Revolutionary Communist Party to spend $80,000 to place that ad in The New York Times and the approximately $8,000 to rent the famed Cathedral? Were they intending to give a boost to the RCP by enabling it to gain prestige for itself? To impress the NY Times' readership? To put Avakian and the RCP on the map and promote them as the "go to" parties on the Left, despite the fact that a number of Leftists who have a much deeper grasp of the topic were excluded from this advertised "dialogue"?
The RCP's ad in the New York Times presented a roster of notable supporters for this event, including celebrity Ed Asner and intellectuals such as African-American theologian James Cone. There were at least six Columbia University professors among the supporters.
Did the endorsers have any idea of how Bob Avakian and the Revolutionary Communist Party would set the arrangements for this event, slanting it towards promoting Avakian, referred to as "BA" -- and if not, why not? Avakian, who is white, was allowed to monopolize 2-1/4 hours of the speaking time with much of his talk going on about the evils of white supremacy. Ironically unaware of his own supremacist behavior, he left only 1/2-hour for African American scholar West, in spite of outcries from the audience, "Enough! Let Cornel Speak!"
Since the supporters of this event are all sophisticated intellectuals and individuals concerned with social justice, why did they not inform themselves of how the event would likely unfold, and the historical record of this organization's approach? Why did they not designate a moderator to keep the "dialogue" (or lack thereof) in balance?
Why did WBAI radio, a knowledgeable voice of the Left, agree to be an advertised media sponsor of the event without on-air debate beforehand nor any investigation of the philosophy behind those organizing the dialogue? What is the responsibility of endorsers towards this or any other event they are endorsing?
We have yet to hear an explanation of the endorsers' reasons for their blank-checque support for such arrangements, which enabled this event to take place and be presented in such a strange manner, fostering Avakian's and the RCP's agenda. Simply by lending their names to this event, the endorsers legitimized Avakian's claim to be THE revolutionary leader and elevated him to a position of prominence he has not earned.
This event was promoted as a dialogue on religion and revolution. But Bob Avakian's advertised new synthesis was never presented. Instead, Avakian reiterated the disasters of Capitalism for the first half hour, which nearly everyone in that audience already knew, and then went on to recount more and more examples of U.S. imperialism. His listing went on interminably, long past the point needed to offer a convincing argument, without furthering any analysis of how to combat the dynamics of global capitalism that continually inflict such devastation on the world. In doing so, Avakian undermined any potential for actual dialogue and squandered the good will the audience had at first extended to him.
Avakian revealed a stunning lack of insight on multiple issues. While verbally slashing at racism and white supremacy, he left no room for the Black speaker, whom a majority of the audience came to see. While slashing at sexism, he presented a non-critical assessment of the major issue of state-institutionalized marriage and the nuclear family.
When Avakian discussed religion, he did so from his own sectarian mindset and general lack of knowledge of this topic. Avakian seemed to think the only way to approach the Bible is from the fundamentalist and textually literal standpoint. He correctly cited the contradictions and the racist and sexist aspects of many texts. But he did not take into account the Bible as a collection of books written over a period of more than a thousand years by people from tribal cultures, nor the continuous evolution in interpreting the Bible as time unfolds. He seemed unaware of the scholarship that has resulted in new biblical translations, which attempt to be gender-neutral and non-sexist.
He dismissed any non-fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible, throwing out the teachings and focus of the social gospel by simply deriding and dismissing them as "salad bar."
Avakian ignored and was unable to account for the actual lived experience of many people who have used the Bible, and religion, to address philosophical questions and to guide them in resisting slavery and fascism. (See the spiritual writings of Thomas Merton in opposing the Vietnam war, Christian Bonnhoffer in opposing Hitler, and numerous religious philosophers and writers in opposing chattal slavery as well as capital punishment.) By ignoring the social justice teachings of the Bible, Avakian evaded the prophetic inspiration underlying the Social Gospel Movement, the Abolition and Civil Rights Movements, and Liberation Theology. All of these are revolutionary historic movements relevant to the event.
Why did the thoughtful Cornel West agree to accept the procedure for this event?
Avakian completely ignored Karl Marx's historical rendering and brilliant critique of religion as "the opium" of the masses in the double meaning of the word "opiate," as both a drug but also as a "protest against real suffering," "the spirit of spiritless conditions" and "the heart of a heartless world" -- an easing of the otherwise intolerable pain of living under capitalism, slavery, the violence of misogyny, exploitation and oppression.
In this time when our planet is tottering on the brink of apocalypse, the dialogue should have focused on exploring the intersection of people's hunger for spiritual connection with revolutionary plans to end capitalism and save life on this planet. Avakian, the author of Away With All Gods, failed to express the empathy that is needed for understanding those intrinsic longings in alienated societies such as ours. What a lost opportunity!
Why was there no discussion of the need to shape prophetic consciousness into a revolutionary movement for systemic change? This event was a great lost opportunity to explore ways to reconcile the longing for spiritual connection and transformation that underly Religion and the drive for liberation and justice that underlies Revolution into an actual new synthesis. Since what was promised did not occur, the reconciliation of these forces -- and that critical dialogue -- still needs to take place.
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* Protesters, Cops and the Mayor -- the movement to end violence by police sweeps across the country (Mitchel Cohen, Dave Zirin, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar); FOX-News Twistory: 'Kill a Cop' never said!
* WHY I HATE THANKSGIVING by Mitchel Cohen
* Audio: Listen to poems by Mitchel Cohen: "The Permanent Carnival," and "In Memoriam: For Fallen Comrades"
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The Coming Race War Won't Be About Race
* Mitchel Cohen: Is Violence in Your Genes? Genetic Racism & Biological Determinism Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in. ~ Leonard Cohen
Realize that little things lead to bigger things ... And there's a wonderful parable in the New Testament: The sower scatters seeds. Some seeds fall in the pathway and get stamped on, and they don't grow. Some fall on the rocks, and they don't grow. But some seeds fall on fallow ground, and they grow and multiply a thousandfold. Who knows where some good little thing that you've done may bring results years later that you never dreamed of. ~ Pete Seeger