CHICAGO, September 11—In yet another example of the anti-working-class nature of the bosses’ state, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the permit today for the massive rock concert Riot Fest to return to Douglass Park this month. Riot Fest is a for-profit event that has raked in handsome profits for years by exploiting public parks that supposedly exist for working-class recreation.
Given Douglass Park’s location in between Black and Latin neighborhoods, cutting off access to much-needed green spaces and sports programs is a despicable racist attack. Local residents and organizers have long suffered and documented the damage done to the park as tens of thousands of concert goers trample through during the three-day fest. Two nearby hospitals serving lower-income workers are confronted with loud music and snarled traffic despite being designated as official “quiet zones.”
During the public comment period of the board meeting, several workers spoke out against Riot Fest, including a member of the communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP). It’s inspiring to see grassroots organizing efforts continue to oppose racist Riot Fest. However, we can never expect the government bodies under capitalism to fundamentally serve our interests. They will always exist to enforce the will of the bosses and their profit system, from the U.S. presidency all the way down to local park district boards.
To experience a government and society that is truly reflective of the needs of the international working class, we need a society that is RUN by the international working class. We need to reject all these gross opportunistic politicians in favor of mass working-class power, won by international communist revolution and PLP!
Liberal bosses lay out the welcome mat for exploiters
For those of us living near Douglass Park who have been involved in the efforts to get Riot Fest out, we were beyond excited to hear in June that the concert organizers had decided to relocate the fest to a stadium in the southwest suburbs. The owner of Riot Fest went on record painting themselves as the victim, calling out the park district board and saying they were left with “no choice” but to leave (Block Club Chicago, 6/12).
Unsurprisingly however, Riot Fest still had some friends in high places who were willing to mend the fence, not least so-called progressive Mayor Brandon Johnson who held meetings with the concert founder (CBS News, 8/14). So hardly two months after celebrating what we thought was a decent reform win for workers in the area, we learned that Riot Fest was again coming to Douglass Park, “back by popular demand.”
We tried to bounce back even with short notice to mobilize speakers and a press conference for today’s park board meeting, but the approval already appeared to be a done deal. Opportunistic Alderwoman Monique Scott organized her own crew of vocal pro-Riot Fest supporters, who all praised the alleged economic growth and shamelessly kept referring to the concert organizers as “family.” Although she claims that she’s standing up for the Black workers and youth in her neighborhood, by fully embracing profit-hungry developers she’s leading the efforts to push through racist gentrification and displacement on the west side of the city.
Even though the approval for Riot Fest was essentially a done deal, the PLP member spoke in their statement about the workers near Douglass Park not giving up:
I believe in working-class power over those who would exploit public space and other people for their own gain, and again, I believe that we will win. The demands for transparency from Mayor Johnson and this board are clear from hundreds of supporters who want Riot Fest out, and who are ready to fight for a more equitable city. We await your reply. And we’re not going anywhere.
Keep fighting Riot Fest and racist capitalism
Facing another year of Riot Fest, the workers near Douglass Park are not giving up. We’re going to continue our efforts of documenting the damage done to the park, registering complaints, and building relationships with our neighbors and co-workers. As PLP members connected to this fight, we need to expose the contradictions of the system and the pitfalls of relying on any bosses to solve the problems that our class faces.
Although a worker-run society may seem far off, the seeds of a world beyond capitalism are already taking root. Through collective action we are reminded that it’s the masses that make history, and not relying on politicians and voting which just pulls the wool over our eyes. To fight against Riot Fest is to fight against racist capitalism!
