Rick Sunderland, owner of the nightclub Dusk in Providence, has cancelled a show by the band Inquisition over charges that band members, Jason “Dagon” Weirbach and Thomas “Incubus” Stevens are white supremacists or Nazis. For information on the accusations against the band, see here and here.
Weirbach has denied that he is a Nazi, but that hasn’t persuaded a number of local Rhode Islanders from sharing their reservations about the band playing in Rhode Island on social media.
As the controversy heated up on Facebook, Sunderland cancelled the show and issued a statement saying, “I want to let you know… I will not let one event give what I’ve built for seven years a bad name… and I never want to alienate or hurt anyone’s feelings or be insensitive to their beliefs… therefore I’d rather have you guys always loving and enjoying Dusk. As a result of my introspection. I am not gonna allow the show to take place. Respect to all everyone.”
Activist Naomi Chomsky, who helped alert me to this issue, wrote to me after Sunderland’s statement was made public. She said, “As an anti-racist and a socialist, I don’t believe that it is ever acceptable to give white supremacists a platform. I believe it to be our duty to vehemently oppose it whenever it rears its ugly head, but it is especially heinous given that this band was dropped from another providence venue because they didn’t want to give their stage to white supremacists. I applaud Dusk’s decision to cancel their appearance. Providence does not welcome Nazis or their sympathizers!”
Huh, I didn’t think you guys went for censoring art. Plus, I thought these guys disavowed white supremacy. There are plenty of bands that actively identified as such, I didn’t think this was one of them. I thought it was more nebulous and in that weird metal grey area, like Lemmy from Motorhead being a Nazi memorabilia collector.
Not that I support white supremacy or giving them a platform, but this seems a bit over the top for me to be comfortable. The tactics here seem to take a page out of the fascists playbook. “Are you or have you ever been a white supremacist? Can you provide me a list of names?”
Is there an album burning bonfire scheduled? Let me know, I’ll bring the marshmallows.
Naomi Chomsky isn’t related to Noam Chomsky: he supports free speech, she doesn’t. And it’s misleading when Naomi Chomsky gave the impression that anti-racists and socialists oppose free speech. That’s wrong, since Noam Chomsky, who is anti-racist and socialist, has always been a strong supporter of free speech. Of course Naomi Chomsky has a right to choose a name for herself that’s based on other people’s names — maybe she meant to honor Noam Chomsky, or maybe it means she’s doing more of a parody. Still, her quote in this article is worth questioning and placing in context. I know in the past she’s defended the right of her fellow socialists to speak. But when she says that her allies have a right to speak, while insisting that people with opposing views must not have a platform, that’s simply abandoning the principle of free speech. It’s saying that people will be allowed to speak only when it suits your goals. The right to express yourself and develop your thoughts further through discussion with others is an essential part of human dignity — it’s how people slowly learn for themselves to become more authentic, more creative, and more able to improve the world whether the powers that be like it or not. When systems of power try to suppress discussion, even when they claim it’s to protect something good, it becomes an easy excuse for more oppression. And when people who want to make themselves into a system of power act that way, it’s a sign that they’re on the road to becoming oppressive, whether they realize it or not. No system of power has ever been able to try to silence a lot of outrageous and bad views without also repressing a lot of good people that it finds threatening. There isn’t enough free speech now, especially not for people of color, but trying to diminish the amount of free speech we have is just a gift to the power structure and to anyone else who wants to repress the vulnerable. A society with less free speech would be more ignorant, more corruptly run, more manipulated, less creative and more silently miserable. To clarify, I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing to ask a single concert venue to cancel a show, but when people go as far as saying they want “no platform” for their opponents, they’re moving into McCarthyist-style repression. I like Naomi Chomsky personally but on this issue, I’m more with what Noam Chomsky says.
Some good stuff by Noam Chomsky on free speech:
https://zcomm.org/wp-content/uploads/zbooks/www/chomsky/dd/dd-c12-s20.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuB5Y2yhCT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSTsdkbQEeA&start=1170&end=1441
Well put, Randall, but it’s worth noting that this isn’t really about giving people a platform. The band publicly disavowed white separatism and say that is not what they or their art stands for. The accusations are that it looks like a guy in the band said some horrible things anonymously on an internet forum, and possibly in private. I’m not sure if that’s enough to harass a local business over. There’s enough shithead racists out there who publicly admit to it and work to further their awful agenda, let’s focus on them first. Naomi and her supporters like this site took it upon themselves to decide who’s on what side of the fence, and not allowing the accused to have a voice. That’s a very dangerous thing to do, and I think they owe some people (especially Dusk) an apology. Don’t do this again please.
Hi. Naomi Chomsky is a drag persona that is based on Noam Chomsky, but that’s where the similarities end. I often admire Noam Chomsky’s analysis, but disagree wildly with some of his conclusions, and this is one such instance.
I think defense of free speech is often confused with expressing disgust at hate speech or art that promotes fascism. Technically, racists have every right to say whatever they want, but i think it’s a mistake to allow that to be out in public without public opposition. The folx who expressed opposition to this band coming to dusk (and I was definitely not alone) were using our free speech to prevent a Nazi band who had been disinvited to another pvd venue for the same reason. And honestly, I think Dusk did the right thing by not allowing a racist band to take their stage; this isn’t censorship.