Art through a revolutionary lens: concert & show reviews

• Tree, Critical Mass, Shoot the Hostages Play RAIL Benefit
• Mumia Benefit Sends Mixed Message to Mixed Crowd
• RAIL Holds Punk Show to Benefit Books for Prisoners(W.MASS)
• Krema-1 Pushes Dead-End Politics
• Hardcore Scene has Revolutionary Potential
• RAIL Holds Punk Benefit in Long Beach
• Ecuadorian Youth Rock Against Imperialism
• Warped Tour 1996 Hits Northampton, Massachusetts

This section is a collection of shows and concerts that MIM and RAIL have reviewed. All reviews on these pages reflect MIM line unless otherwise noted. Some of the shows listed were sponsored by MIM and RAIL and serve as examples of organizing to help others who want to put on benefit shows. The rest comment on the politics of both the bands and the crowds in order to sort out the good and the bad of these cultural events. Culture can play an important role in building popular support for revolution. Certain scenes such as punk, hardcore, and underground hip hop tend to have such revolutionary potential because the music appeals to youth -- who have least to lose and the most to gain from taking up revolutionary politics.

MIM holds cultural work to a high standard for this reason. We do not believe "art for art's sake" exists. Beauty and value are defined by the society in which we live. In Amerika, this is a capitalist class society in which the bourgeoisie defines education, politics and culture in its own image. By its definition, art can either acknowledge these influences and comment on them, or it can adhere to them. Artists may wish to withdraw from political debate, but just as the international proletariat cannot elect to withdraw from its conditions of exploitation and prisoners in this country cannot elect to live communally without chains, artists cannot deny the influenc they have. They use this influence either to encourage political activism or discourage it. The critiques you read here show an open preference for art that encourages political rebellion.(for more on culture see MIM Theory 13: Culture in Revolution, available from MIM for $7.50)

We have reviewed some of these bands' albums in our bookstore. You can purchase these albums and thousands of others through www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/bookstore/ Doing this supports MIM's Serve the people programs by donating a portion of the sale proceeds.

this page written by MassRAIL