BOURGEOIS FEMINISTS

DAVID WALSH-In his own speech to the court, Weinstein explained that he thought the relationships with the various women were consensual and suggested, in the words of the New York Times, that “he was the victim of a rush to judgment.” He argued, according to the Times, “that the #MeToo campaign was similar to the Red Scare of the 1950s and compared himself to the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was jailed and blacklisted after joining the Communist Party. ‘I think that is what is happening now all over this country,’ Mr. Weinstein said.”

ALEX LANTIER—#MeToo’s role exposes the interaction of petty-bourgeois identity politics with the agenda of capitalist governments. Promoting gender politics in opposition to class politics, #MeToo has relentlessly moved to the right.

Macron has reacted to 16 months of mass strikes and Yellow Vest protests against its overwhelmingly unpopular pension cuts and tax cuts for the rich by cultivating far-right police forces to assault protesters. Since Macron hailed France’s Nazi-collaborationist dictator Philippe Pétain as a “great soldier” in 2018, police have arrested over 11,000 people, wounded nearly 5,000 and killed two.

ERIK SCHREIBER—the movie minimizes the reactionary, warmongering politics of Fox News (and of its main characters) and fails to examine how these politics enable the disgusting behavior of Ailes and others. Bombshell obscures the class-based politics of its characters and promotes the politics of gender. The film’s depiction of Kelly as a champion of women’s rights rings false.

MARGO STILES—When you talk decadence in a world overrun by morally indifferent humans, Bravo’s shows, (an NBC property) nurtured by Andy Cohen, especially the Real Housewives franchises, take the cake. I admit watching them often: they CAN be entertaining. But what bothers me no end is how this bunch of mostly well-off people WASTE their celebrityhood in endless petty bickering punctuated by bouts of outrageous self-pampering. Their egos are so fragile, their vision of life so myopic, that the slightest real or imagined slight is cause for a feud that can last ages.

We speak to political commentator Jimmy Dore on the Mueller report’s summary showing no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, he says the media has no credibility and is bought by the people they’re supposed to be investigating, says the failure of the American neoliberal system led to Donald Trump and gives his take on US regime change attempts in Venezuela.