Van Jones, Barack Obama and the Audacity of Capitulation

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The Afrikaner Party Draws First Blood:
Van Jones, Barack Obama and the Audacity of Capitulation

by Tim Wise

http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/the-afrikaner-party-draws-first-blood-van-jones-barack-obama-and-audacity-capitulation

timwise-225Van Jones, special advisor to the President’s Council on Environmental Quality,has resigned from the administration. To be honest, he was forced out. Oh, perhaps not directly, but if not, then by the stunning silence of his employer. An employer more concerned about appeasing the right-wing bullies who sought to make Jones a liability for him, than about standing up for a brilliant thinker on both economics and ecological issues, and confronting the conservative talk-show hosts who have libeled and slandered Jones (literally) over the past month.

The right has shown no shame in their relentless pursuit of Jones’s political scalp. They have fabricated from whole cloth details of his life, calling him a convicted felon and instigator of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. This, in spite of the fact that he has no criminal record whatsoever and wasn’t even in Los Angeles when those riots were happening. His arrest at that time was part of a sweep of dozens of peaceful marchers in San Francisco, involved in a protest at the time of the riots. He was released, charges were dropped, and he was paid damages by the city. This is not what happens to criminals, but rather, innocent people who have done nothing wrong. Jones should sue the living shit out of Glenn Beck, his employers at Fox News, and every other prominent liar who has repeated the baseless allegations of his criminal record in recent weeks. He should wipe them out, take their money, leave them penniless and begging on the streets, without health care. They would deserve it. Perhaps Beck’s AA sponsor or the Mormons who he credits with “saving” his wretched soul can then take care of him and his family. Since surely he wouldn’t want the government to lend a hand.

They have twisted other aspects of Jones’s past, suggesting his brief stint with a pseudo-Maoist group makes him a secret communist in the heart of government, this despite his more recent break with such groups and philosophies, in favor of a commitment to eco-friendly, sustainable capitalism. They have called him a black nationalist, which he admits to having been for a virtual political minute in his youth, and have suggested he’s a “truther” (one who believes George W. Bush masterminded the 9/11 attacks as an “inside job”). As for this last charge, their evidence consists of Jones’s signature on a petition, which originally called merely for more openness about the pre-9/11 intelligence available to the former administration, but which was later altered to reflect the conspiratorial lunacy of its creators. Jones, and many others who reject the truthers’ nonsense, were tricked into signing and were appalled by the final product. But none of this matters to the right. Because after all, none of it was ever the point.

The right says they have problems with convicted felons unless that felon happens to be a guy like Oliver North

The right says they have problems with convicted felons unless that felon happens to be a guy like Oliver North

This is not about convicted felons. The right loves convicted felons, as long as their names are Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy. The former of these (whose convictions were eventually vacated on a technicality) helped direct an illegal war from the Reagan White House, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent Nicaraguans. And the latter helped plan the Watergate break-in, advocated political assassination during his time in the Nixon White House, and even advised folks on how to kill federal agents several years ago, from his radio show perch (“head shots” he roared). But none of his friends on the right ever suggested that such talk put him beyond the pale, or should result in him being silenced.

This is not about having an arrest record. After all, there are many
anti-abortion zealots with arrest records, hauled in and then ultimately
released after blocking access to family planning clinics. But Glenn Beck
doesn’t make them public enemy number one. Nor would he, or any of his
political soulmates, seek to prevent such persons from having roles in a future
Presidential administration. Indeed, they would likely consider such a record a
bonafide qualification for higher office.

This is not about believing in conspiracy theories. Surely not. Beck of all
people can hardly condemn anyone for that–even if Jones did subscribe to such
things, which he doesn’t–for it is he who believes, among other things that
Obama is planning on a mandatory civilian defense corps, which will be like
Hitler’s SS, that Obama “hates white people” and has a “deep seated hatred for
white culture,” that Obama is pushing health care merely as a way to get
reparations for black people, and that he secretly wants to bankrupt the
economy to force everyone to work for ACORN. It is Beck who is among the
leading voices suggesting that the President’s upcoming speech to
schoolchildren–in which he will implore them to study hard–is really just an
attempt to indoctrinate them into a new version of the Hitler Youth. No, these
people love to push nonsensical conspiracy theories. It is their bread and
butter. It is all they have, in fact.

Nor is this about Jones’s remarks in a speech, given prior to becoming part of
the administration, to the effect that the reason Republicans get things done
is that they’re willing to be “assholes,” while many Democrats, including
Obama, aren’t. Conservatives don’t mind that kind of talk. They loved it when
Dick Cheney said go “fuck yourself” to Senator Patrick Leahy in 2004. Not to
mention, right-wingers say far more offensive things than that, on a regular
basis, but remain in good standing, and are surely never condemned by their
fellow reactionaries. What’s worse: Jones calling Republicans assholes, or Rush
Limbaugh
saying that most liberals should be killed, but that we should “leave
enough so we can have two on every campus–living fossils–so we will never
forget what these people stood for?”**

What’s worse, Jones’s asshole remark, or Anne Coulter saying, among the many
venomous syllable strings that have toppled from her lips, that the only thing
Tim McVeigh did wrong was choosing to blow up the Federal Building in Oklahoma
City, rather than the New York Times building?

This is not about socialism, as Jones is not a socialist. Oh sure, he’s
associated with some, and might still be friends with several to this day. And
so what? Martin Luther King Jr. associated with socialists and communists
because they supported the civil rights struggle and the black freedom movement
at a time when the rabid anti-communists were at the forefront of attempts to
maintain formal white supremacy. Which is to say that the socialists and the
communists were on the right side, and the red-baiters were on the wrong one.
Which was also true about the fight for the 40-hour work week, the 8-hour day,
the end of child labor, the right of women to vote, and every other advance for
freedom and justice in this nation in the past 100 years. But of course, Glenn
Beck explained on the radio this past July 4th that he “hates the last 100
years of American history,” so I guess we know what side he would have been on
in all those battles.

Let’s be clear, this is about one thing only: namely, the attempt by the right
to exploit white reactionary fears about black militancy. It is the same tactic
they tried with Rev. Jeremiah Wright in 2008. They did not confront Wright’s
narrative–the accuracy of which was far stronger than they would like to
admit–nor do they actually grapple with Jones’s ideas (it is doubtful that
Beck has even read Jones’s best-selling book, for instance). Rather, they
present a caricature, a bogey man with black skin, an occasional scowl, and an
attitude. Angry, confrontational, “uppity,” and too close to the President.
Which means that Wright=Obama=Jones=Malcolm X. It’s a trope the right has
banked on for years: using racial memes and symbols to scare Jim and Susie
Suburb. Put the face of black anger out there and watch your devotees respond
like Pavlov’s dog.

The right is always looking for Black bogeymen-Ice T was one such example who raised up by former Vice President Dan Quayle

The right is always looking for Black bogeymen-Ice T was one such example who raised up by former Vice President Dan Quayle

It’s something I first saw up close and personal in 1992. The woman I was dating at the time was an interior designer and had scored a contract to decorate the VIP lounges at the Houston Astrodome for the GOP National Convention. I viewed it as a great opportunity to do some enemy reconnaissance, so I lurked around the literature tables and took in the imagery beamed from the jumbotrons to the assembled conventioneers. One afternoon, we arrived before the main hall was opened to the delegates, and as I looked up at the screens above the floor, I saw the image that would be there to greet them as they entered a half-hour later: a massive, pixillated image of hip-hop artist Ice-T, whose speed metal band Bodycount had recently gotten in trouble for their song, “Cop Killer.” The Republicans wanted their delegates to know who the enemy was. Not just Ice-T, but anyone who listened to his music, anyone who looked like him.

And that is what the attack on Van Jones is about: exploiting white fears and anxieties. Anxieties about a black President, anxieties about a basket-case economy (which they’re trying to blame on the black President even though it was well in the crapper before he came along), anxieties about a changing demographic balance in the nation (which animates their fear and anger over immigration), anxieties about a popular culture whose icons look less and less like them as the years go by. And so they play up the militant black guy image, turning a low-level bureaucrat into a “Green Jobs Czar,” (the latter of which term they have sought to spin into a communist thing, despite the fact that the Russian Czars were actually the royalist pigs who were thrown out by the Russian left, a small historical detail which doesn’t matter to illiterate people of course), and making him the bad guy who’s running the Obama administration from behind the scenes.

No, it’s not only about race. But if you think it’s merely a coincidence that
the right has sought to make Jones such an issue–rather than some of the other
administration officials they are now threatening to “expose” (two of whom are
white)–then you haven’t been paying attention to Republican and conservative
politics for the past forty years. This is what they do. It’s the only language
they speak, at least fluently. Which is why when John McCain–to his
credit–tried to move away from this method a bit, and refused to push the
Jeremiah Wright theme during the general election campaign, so many on the
hard-right criticized him. They didn’t want him to talk about Bill Ayers: they
wanted him to talk about Wright. Even though Ayers was the one with the
criminal record and the links to political violence, while Wright was the
military veteran and preacher with a storied history of community
contributions. Why? Because they knew that Wright would be the better image. To
link Obama to a white radical is one thing. But to link him to a black one? Oh,
much, much better. This is why, in the instant case, they kept pushing Van
Jones’s non-existent connection with the Los Angeles riots, and his supposed
felony record. Nothing better than a marauding criminal black man to get white
fears into the stratosphere.

This is, it appears, the emerging political agenda of the Republican Party, and
certainly its right-wing: a group that has decided, apparently, to go all in as
a party of angry white people (and the few folks of color willing to look past
their incessant race-baiting). They have circled the wagons, all but given up
on reaching out to black and brown voters, and are putting all of their chips
on white.

And everything they are saying about Van Jones was what people like them said
about civil rights leaders in the 50s and 60s: about Dr. King and Ralph
Abernathy
, and John Lewis, and Fannie Lou Hamer. They were communists, and
revolutionaries, and a danger to the republic. Make no mistake, had they been
old enough in those days, Beck and every modern-day movement conservative would
have stood with the segregationists, with the bigots, with the mobs who burned
the buses carrying freedom riders. They would have stood with the police in
Philadelphia, Mississippi, even as they orchestrated the killing of Andrew
Goodman
, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner. They would have stood with Bull
Connor
in Birmingham. How do we know? Easy. Because not one prominent
conservative spokesperson of that time did the opposite. Not one. That’s who
they are. And the minute you forget that, the minute you insist on treating
them better than they would treat you, the minute you insist on playing by
rules that they refuse to as much as acknowledge, all is lost. They do not
believe in democracy. They believe in power. White power. They believe in the
past. They are Afrikaners, and it’s about time we started calling them that.

(**) This quote, which appears in David Neiwert’s book The Eliminationists was
reported originally in the Denver Post, December 29, 1995.

Tim Wise is the author of four books on race. His latest is Between Barack and
a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama
(City Lights: 2009).

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5 Reasons Why Van Jones and Progressives are Better Off With Jones Out of the White House

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The truth is, progressives need Van Jones working on the outside providing vision and leadership, not on the inside with his mouth buttoned.

5 Reasons Why Van Jones and Progressives are Better Off With Jones Out of the White House

By Don Hazen, AlterNet.

http://www.alternet.org/story/142460/5_reasons_why_van_jones_and_progressives_are_better_off_with_jones_out_of_the_white_house/?page=entire

vanjonesmicThe end of Van Jones’ brief career as a White House insider, in the semi-obscure position of special adviser for green jobs at the Council on Environmental Quality, is likely good for Van Jones and very good for progressives.

Yes, currently it seems as if Fox News’ Glenn Beck — who spent the past few weeks viciously smearing Jones — has won one. In fact, Beck has done Jones, and all of us, a mitzvah.

And considering that the White House, and for that matter Washington’s liberal establishment, failed to come to his defense in the face of relentless attacks by the right-wingers at Fox (very similar to what Fox did to Barack Obama leading up to the election), Jones’s liberation should make him a happy camper.

Early Skepticism

Much of Jones’ broad base of fans was excited when word spread that he would be taking his prodigious talents to the White House, working on the inside to spread the gospel of green jobs. Many were surprised and pleased to see Obama, ever the centrist, willing to bring in a firebrand like Jones to shake things up.

But more than a few wondered, “Jeez, how is that going to work?” They knew that Jones, arguably the most effective communicator in Democratic and progressive politics — and yes, that includes  Obama — was going to have to control his tongue, and in many cases shut his mouth.

Part of what made Jones popular was telling it like it is. Jones inspired audiences, especially young people, with the notion that a radical vision, combined with innovative ideas and fundamental organizing, could work in tandem with our political system.

And some also wondered, was green jobs enough when it was health care, the banks and economic crisis, the escalation in Afghanistan, and the battles with the right, that were dominating the national discourse. We knew he was the “green jobs czar,” but there were 30 czars in the White House — so many that Obama was known to joke about a show called “Dancing with the Czars.”

Why was Jones going indoors, when there were big fights outdoors, all across the country?

As it turns out, the White House may have taken him in with open arms, but apparently was glad to see him go.

FireDogLake‘s Jane Hamsher wrote: “Now he’s been thrown under the bus by the White House for signing his name to a petition expressing something that 35 percent of all Democrats believed as of 2007 — that George Bush knew in advance about the attacks of 9/11. Well, that and calling Republicans ‘assholes.’ ”

So where are all the statements defending Van Jones by those who were willing to exploit him when it served their purpose? Why aren’t they standing up and defending one of their own, who has done nothing that probably the majority of people in the Democratic Party haven’t done at one time or another? Is he no longer “one of their own?”

So yes, Jones tried the inside, but now he’s back on the outside. Here are five reasons why we are all better off:

1. Now a He’s Household Name: Beck has increased Jones’ visibility and name recognition immeasurably. Although he has been wildly popular in progressive circles, and a headliner at progressive conferences like Take Back America and the Netroots Nation, Jones was still a relative unknown for the population at large. Now he has a national stage.

2. He’s Been Rescued From Obscurity:
Special adviser to the Council for Environmental Quality. Hmm. That doesn’t quite have the ring of power and influence. Jones took one for the team by taking an obscure position in the first place. And he took another one for the team by realizing quickly that the right-wing smear campaign against him was going to be a distraction.

Now Jones is free to climb to a much higher level of visibility and influence millions of people in ways he couldn’t at that White House job.

3. He’s the Leader Progressives Need: Let’s face it. For reasons not altogether clear, there is no single powerful, articulate leader of progressive forces, which include many millions of Americans. It’s time we have such a leader.

With key elements of the union movement squandering enormous resources and time fighting each other, and many issues competing for air space, a credible, charismatic strategic leader like Jones could help to give direction, set priorities and generally give shape to what has so far been an anemic progressive presence in the Obama era.

Those with the most popularity and name recognition among progressives — Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Bill Moyers and Robert Reich to mention a few — can’t do what Jones can do. Donna Edwards and Keith Ellison are emerging in Congress as national leaders, and they will be strong complements to Jones — in fact, the three represent a new progressive generation, one less lily white than the one that preceded it. But Van is the Man.

4. He Has a Renewed Charge to Speak the Truth: Jones was attacked by the right for basically saying what is true: that Republicans are assholes (but he also said: “I, Van Jones can be one, too.”); that green-jobs organizing has to go far beyond solar panels; that African Americans are victimized by environmental racism by “white polluters, and the white environmentalists are essentially steering poison into the people of color’s communities because they don’t have a racial justice frame”; and the biggie — that the Bush administration had to be challenged on 9/11.

At a minimum, given all the information they had, Bush, Cheney and Co. were colossally, and perhaps criminally, inept leading up to 9/11, and no doubt there is much more to be told about their story.

5. He Can Provide Real Vision and Organizing Framework: Jones’ book: The Green Collar Economy, was briefly a New York Times best-seller, and now it just might make it back on the list (just as Jeremy Scahill’s book on Blackwater has reappeared on the N.Y. Times extended list for the third time due to Blackwater staying in the news).

The liberation of Van Jones will give him the opportunity to fully explain his blueprint on green jobs, but also connect it to the political economy and the need for resources to train young people in the skills needed to bring a green economy to the U.S.

But perhaps even better is that Jones will be free to draw out the complex connections between various issues, such as the huge waste of resources and lives in the war on Afghanistan and how that affects jobs and the environment — here in the U.S. and in that war-torn, abysmally poor country.

And Jones will be free to mobilize people in support of climate-change protection. As my colleague Addie Stan notes:

The right-wing attacks on Jones may well be linked to organizing against Obama and the Democrats’ plans on the environment. GOP Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, who lends his endorsement to Grassfire, an organization that organizes members of the armed patriot movement through its ResistNet site, called on Jones to resign, saying, “His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate.

Grassfire is currently organizing ground-level opposition to the clean-energy legislation — especially its cap-and-trade mechanism — supported by the White House.”

Jones Will Be Stronger

Some may think that the relentless red-baiting and piling up of distortions and lies by the right-wing media machine might leave Jones politically wounded. I doubt it.

Fame is a valuable commodity in our society. And now, it is clear that Jones is a celebrity. In a short time, people will have a hard time remembering exactly what made Jones famous, but famous he will be. And he will have a major pulpit — thanks to his oratory gifts and to how the media treats notorious celebs.

There is a long history of political resurrection in America. Remember that the Rev. Al Sharpton was sued for slander and ordered to pay $345,000 in damages after he was deemed guilty for making defamatory statements about the Dutchess County, N.Y., prosecutor, Steve Pagones, after Sharpton insisted in the infamous Tawana Brawley case that Brawley’s fabricated story of rape was true.

And according to Wikipedia, on May 9, 2008, the Associated Press reported that Sharpton and his businesses owed almost $1.5 million in unpaid taxes and penalties. Sharpton owed $931,000 in federal income tax and $366,000 to New York, and his for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owed $176,000 to the state. Yet few would disagree that Sharpton is currently one of the 10 most influential African Americans in America.

Consistently, fame seems to trump radicalism and scandal.

Yes, Jones was a leader in the retro-named, radical group STORM: Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement. But that is nothing compared to Germany’s Joschka Fischer. Fisher was able to become foreign minister, despite the fact that Fischer was a leader of a radical group called the Putzgruppe, which had fought in several violent street battles with the police.

A series of photographs taken at a street battle in 1973 clearly show Fischer clubbing a policeman, to whom Fischer later apologized. This was but one of a range of politically radical acts by Fischer.

Seeing what happens next in the trajectory of Jones will be very interesting. But the betting on this end is that Jones will return to his role as visionary leader of progressive forces, and he will be in a stronger position to promote change, provide inspiration and rally the troops.

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