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Maoist movie reviews
"District 9" whitewashes the white bourgeoisie called "workers,"
whitewashes the majority of imperialism
District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Key Creatives, QED International and WingNut Films
R
112 minutes
2009
Reviewed August 2009
"District 9" is a sci-fi thriller about the relocation of a stranded
alien population from outer space. The movie follows the point of
view of a man in charge of evicting aliens whose self-interest aligns
with the aliens' interests unexpectedly. Much of the movie consists
of documentary-like footage.
It's no secret that "District 9" is inspired by its director's
experiences, but I'm not entirely sure why U.$. reviewers are
discussing "District 9" as a South African apartheid allegory when
there are racism and xenophobia problems in the United $tates today
and most Amerikans will neither watch "District 9" to learn about
apartheid nor go learn about apartheid after watching it. One might
hope that "District 9" will raise ideas about Palestine, but it is
more likely that "District 9" will encourage Amerikans to think they
are rescuing Third World people from other Third World people. The
aliens are leaderless, save one alien named "Christopher," his son
and a friend who work on trying to recover the mother ship floating
in the sky. The aliens are submissive, though they are capable of
using fantastic weapons that humans are unable to use. Nigerians
depicted in "District 9" are both dependent on and menacing toward
the aliens, though in the real world Nigerians themselves are
migrants in Johannesburg. The Nigerians enticing the aliens with cat
food and capturing them to eat their body parts are like
superstitious cannibals. Is "District 9" racist or is it
so-racist-it's-not-racist? Even if the moviemakers were intending to
be subtle, such subtlety would be lost on Amerikans.
The entity oppressing the aliens in "District 9" is called
"Multi-National United" (MNU), a corporation involved with weapons
and military operations. "District 9" seems to critique everyone
except white workers: corporations and street gangsters. Even MNU
office bureaucrats have an innocence about them. Though "District 9"
might work better in other countries, "District 9" misrepresents the
situation in the United $tates. Despite the connections of
politicians in Congress, it is not the imperialist class or its
representatives pressuring the government to repress migrants.
Neither is it lumpen Blacks doing so, notwithstanding tensions
between Black gangs and gangs of other oppressed nations. It is the
labor aristocracy of privileged U.$. workers. It is also the labor
aristocracy at the forefront of keeping Third World workers outside
of First World borders to exploit Third World workers. The labor
aristocracy struggles with the imperialists for profit. With the
labor aristocracy, the profit is just formalistically mislabeled
"wages" and "earned income." The media covers and echoes what the
labor aristocracy does, but it is not the media leading the
repression.
It is mentioned in "District 9" that hundreds of thousands of aliens
are in South Africa. They live in slums. In the real world United
$tates, there is a migrant "problem" that it seems everyone
recognizes and wants to "do something about." Some labor aristocrats
concerned about wage competition want to give migrants inside of U.$.
borders legal working rights and stop new migrants from coming in.
Other labor aristocrats worried about wage competition want to just
push migrants out and keep migrants out. Others stress policing
employers for a more "humanitarian" approach friendly to the labor
aristocracy. So-called migrant advocates raise citizenship for
undocumented migrants and other Amerikanization ideas and create
illusions about Congress as if how best to go about repressing
migrants was not what the Congress debate was all about all along.
Today's hot-button issue is health care. Ironically, no health care
proposal will be implemented if it is seen as benefiting undocumented
migrants. Its ironic because it is the labor aristocracy that most
wants health care reform. Though health care reform is still just a
subject of debate and no health care system reform proposal has been
passed, the debate is already having consequences for undocumented
migrants, because there is renewed parasite interest in undocumented
migrants and what to do about them, now in the context of health care
reform. The idea of a "path to citizenship" so migrants can approach
the health care system as people with legal status and don't have to
use the health care system suboptimally (migrants in the emergency
room because of a lack of preventive care, etc.) is just going to
stir up white workers even more. It will be easier for Amerika to
accept health care reform if undocumented migrants are repressed. Of
course, the smooth-talking fascist Barack Obama knew that when he ran
for President on a platform including health care reform. Chicago had
been the site of some of the largest migrant demonstrations.
In the Third World, it is not U.$. labor aristocrats themselves in
the streets (other than spies) attacking Third World workers. The
idea of a corporation with paramilitary capabilities is more
appropriate in the Third World context. Nonetheless, corporations in
the Third World to a great extent reflect the interests of First
World workers in keeping wages in the Third World low and arranging
the Third World economy to export to the First World. With regard to
corporations, there are things that require some unraveling in
analysis, but to have yet another movie focusing on corporate
executives or a faceless shady corporation is misleading. Corporate
executives, particularly those with more nation-specific interests,
are better seen as highly paid consultants to the labor aristocracy
that the pro-capitalist labor aristocracy as a whole wants. A
majority and in most cases the entirety of First World workers' wages
is value transferred to First World workers from Third World workers.
The young alien character in "District 9" who saves the day happens
to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe the moviemakers
noticed the many youth in migrant demonstrations. This reviewer would
characterize those youth's participation as
in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time. Many undocumented migrant
children's parents cannot leave work or work in the evening/at night.
Also, school students have some, limited protection from repression.
The youth contribution was not a movement against youth oppression,
adultism, or "authority" in general. In contrast to oppressed nation
youth demonstrating against repression, white youth in Europe
attacked migrants. Children are under oppressed under the patriarchy,
but youth movements reflect various relationships and contradictions.
Understanding children's situation requires deeper and more
comprehensive considerations than a single movement or a collection
of movements might suggest.
One "socialist" review of "District 9" criticizes the movie for
failing to address racism and xenophobia as global problems. It is
true, for example, that Asians from Japan and the "Four Asian Tigers"
had privilege in apartheid South Africa compared with Blacks, but
racism and xenophobia are not universal problems the way some have
suggested. It is not white labor aristocrats migrating to Nicaragua
or Cambodia to work or flee war, and people in denial about this, or
trying not to alienate white workers in North America or Western
Europe, are covering up for international exploitation. Furthermore,
pan-Third Worldism opposed to xenophobia and imperialism has a
different content than unity projects in the West between citizens
and non-citizens or whites and non-whites. Racism and xenophobia in
the Third World lower Third World wages; racism and xenophobia in the
First World (typically against Third World people) generally increase
First World wages, pre-eminently because First World workers are
themselves capitalist exploiters, in countries with finance capital
and infrastructure and other advantages established under
colonialism. Comparing anti-migrant activity in Europe to xenophobia
in the Third World is a sick joke when the Obama regime is bombing
Afghanistan and Pakistan and causing Afghans and Pakistanis to
migrate to Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively and to other places
such as Iran, and doing so on the basis of multicultural support in
the United $tates and Western European, Canadian and Australian
support. The Western European and Western European-descended nations
have great white unity with room for some non-whites and
"compassion," at wages that are multiples of Third World wages.
Meanwhile, Third World people prevented from crossing First World
borders, and whose placement outside of First World borders is
required for the exploiter wages of First Worlders to exist, are
exploited and repressed by First Worlders spreading fantasies about
productivity and opportunity. First World xenophobia won't end until
imperialism ends. First Worlders oppose xenophobia and support
economic struggles of Third World people only insofar as it seems to
be in their economic interests, military interests, public opinion
interests, or other oppressor interests.