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> From: Robert G Goodby <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CHOMSKY] LA rebellion & youth gangs
> Date: Friday, June 20, 1997 8:16 AM
>
> Bill Bartlett wrote:
>
>
> This would suggest that the main difference was merely one of tactics.
The
> tactics of the alienated working class youth of LA were to simply take
> what they wanted and hit their enemies where it hurts most, their
> property.
> Organisation styles differ, but that is to be expected in view of the
> comparatively stronger forces ranged against the youth of LA,
particularly
> when we take into account Chomsky's point that the Chiapas rebels have
> massive public support that tempers the state's response.
>
> I have no way to judge who is right but it certainly appears that Chomsky
> is wrong to say that the youth of LA don't have social bonds, goals or
> hopes.
>
> But then I admit that I am hardly objective. I can still remember the
> surge
> of elation and solidarity I felt when I saw footage of the oppressed
> people
> of LA looting and burning. Taking what they wanted and destroying the
> property of their (and my) class enemies. I'm sure it was an inspiring
> sight to millions of other people all over the world.
>
>
> Bill--I'm afraid I have to agree with Chomsky on this one. To say the LA
> riots/uprising were the oppressed taking on their class enemies is really
> dosen't square with what happened. Like many urban riots in the US, state
> power effectively confined it to the poor sections of the city, so that's
> where all the damage was.

Keep in mind that one of the root causes of the alienation felt by people
here is the fact that they DON'T own much, even in their own neighborhoods.
Although I don't have title evidence on hand, I'd bet that poor LA is
mostly owned by rich LA, just like poor NY is mostly owned by rich NY (I
have seen the title evidence here...)

> While a lot of burnings, beatings, lootings,
> etc.were specifically directed, the targets tended to be small-scale
Asian
> businesses. The real class enemies were snug and secure in Brentwood &
> Beverly Hills, and likely never heard a shot.

I bet their insurance went up!
>  And, of course, some of the
> violence was purely random, such as the infamous beating of
> working-class truck driver Reginald Denny, simply for the crime of being
> white.

And, gee, wasn't THAT well publicized.

> While it may have been nicely hidden by the media, I really can't find
> signs of real organization in what happened.

And, in my opinion, and as measured against history, therein lies the
problem.

>  For one thing, it didn't
> sustain itself for more than a day or two. For another, despite their
> romanticization by some on the left, the LA gangs really seem to be
> criminal organizations before anything else. They are the primary

!!! Do you consider 7/11 the PRIMARY means through which beer and
cigarettes reach suburbia??? What about tobacco farmers, RJR &al, etc.,
etc.???

>  means through which crack and other drugs reaches the urban poor (how it
gets to
> the gangs is of course another matter). They are linked with countless
> episodes of violence, directed not against any class enemy but against
> other gangs, often with innocent bystanders killed as high-as-a-kite
> hoodlums gun each other down with the most sophisticated of weapons. To
> the extent they nare orgnaized, it is as capitalist enterprises, working
> through drug sales, gun sales, extortion, theft, etc. to wring as much
> wealth out of the impoverished ghettos as they can.

Look, no one in their right mind would suggest that (the LA uprising(s),
riot(s), whatever) is(are) a model to follow. It was (they were?) rather
something to study and understand: causes; mechanics; etc. We should be
asking questions like "are people anywhere fed up enough to rebel?", "what
are they experiencing that makes them feel angry or frustrated enough to do
so?", etc., etc.

> No, I'm afraid if you want a hopeful case of class solidarity and
> resistance Chiapas is, for now, the place to go.

Class solidarity is a fact. The poor share common experience.  Class
consciousness is not.  Therein lies the answer to the question "what is to
be done?"