Fun with language

You can read it here. Misnamed brands are fairly 101 level humour:

The Japanese have maintained a rich tradition in this area. Mazda has recently offered the Bongo Wagon and Subaru a Sambar Dias II Picnic-Car Astonish. In London, you could go and buy a Toyota MR-2, but if you live in Paris you would want to do no such thing as, pronounced the French way, that name sounds like "emmerdeur", or "shitty". In Sweden, there is a biscuit called Bums and a lavatory paper sold as Krapp. The old system of Cona coffee percolators had some difficulty establishing itself in Portugal since that word is the equivalent of the last English four letters retaining an ability to shock.

If you want to go spart on the topic (if you don't... too late) it also shows the perennial problem of international commerce versus national culture. It is an analogue of the more specific problem of imperialism. In order to create a global market for products capitalism has to smooth out differences and uneveness, but to do this you have to reduce culture to a very simple level (radio rock, cookie cutter RnB, blockbuster moviese etc).

The only area where difference and uneveness is desirable is the labour market. This is an obvious area of conflict. How do you make western standard consumer products at third world costs? In the long run this is not possible.

Capitalism promises a global culture without ever delivering. I bet you can't guess what I think the solution is?

Lobby the Home Office tonight

For the SOAS 9. Lobby the Home Office, 5.30-6.30pm, 2 Marsham St, Millbank, SW1.

Blur

Things to do at this year's Marxism

First thing's first, if you haven't signed up do so here. Secondly, come up with a decent theme for this year's event. 2007 was Puntanamo Bay. 2008 was Meeting Title Tombola. This year I think maybe the Mixed Metaphor Awards or Inappropriate Speakers, but better suggestions are welcome (worse one's aren't).

However, here are some other things you can do:

1) Standing ovation for every Irish comrade everywhere they go.
2) Linksruck are very thorough caucusers. Caucusing is good. Now they are Marx 21 it will be interesting to see how long they take.
3) Make sure you see Bat (Why Does Racism Still Exist?) first thing on Thursday, Ian Birchall (Tony Cliff) on Friday, Neil Davidson (Feudalism to Capitalism) Saturday, Neil Faulkner (The Decline of the Roman Empire) Sunday.
4) See Johnny Jones bring a little pizzazz to the annual nerd-off, otherwise known as the dialectic meeting.
5) Get more women speakers next year.
6) Tour the picnic sites to see which district does the best catering, but pay your money first. Unless you're going with a specific district, in which case discipline, comrade...
7) However you find sustenance do not resort to the Institute Cafe. If you're feeling that way inclined simply burn a five pound note instead.
8) Entertain yourself without recourse to Jazz. There is a piano in the Institute bar that no-one ever plays. Why?
9) Leave plenty of money (and room) to buy books from Bookmarks.
10) Don't go to a meeting every single session. The event is tiring. If you're feeling a bit slouchy and, suddenly you're seeing two speakers whereas previously there was only one, get some fresh air.
11) Don't buy a copy of Workers' Toenail.
12) Do sing the Internationale on the tube and/or bus to and from Marxism.
13) If you're feeling aggrieved about the party line on something form a secret faction in the bar, get drunk to celebrate, wake up in the morning, forget what the faction was about. A time honoured method.
14) If you lose a copy of the timetable with all your handwritten notes and witticisms don't worry, there are thousands more copies available at strategic points. Doodling shall be unbound.

Roobin's list of the also-dead

John Lennon
Jimi Hendrix
Kurt Cobain
Johnny Cash
James Brown
Miles Davis
Mama Cass
Sid Vicious
Syd Barrett
George Harrison
Freddie Mercury
Janice Joplin
Brian Jones
Lenny Bruce
Lester Bangs
Bill Hicks
George Carlin
Buddy Holly
Richie Valence
Bono (inside)
Keith Richards (outside)
Liam Gallager (nasal capilaries only)
George Romero (living dead)
Norman Tebbit (the original zombie)
Andy Murray (tennis racket being a cheap substitute for a secular soul)
Paul McCartney (may as well have been replaced by a stand-in)
Tupac Shakur (although he's still managed to put out seven more albums)
Biggie Smalls (currently living in the House of Rock)
David Cameron (dead between the ears)
Richard Bacon (dead between the hours 9am - 5pm)
Hotblack Desiato (spending a year dead for tax purposes)
Ben Elton (is dead to me)
The Cutting Crew (died in your arms tonight)
Alan Bennett (dyed in the wool)
Michael Hutchence (died wanking)
King George the 5th (buggered Bognor)

Pause for Thunk

There was little of influence in sixties culture that did not find its way, somehow, into the music of the Beatles. So says Ian MacDonald. The Beatles were complete cultural path breakers. They got there first. Everything they did became cutting edge.

Once they achieved global fame they settled into a new category of nouveau riche. They were rock stars. As such they were able to sample everything that was new in youth culture months before everyone else. They fed these new influences into their music, from eastern religion and TM to cannabis and LSD, Dylan and the Beats to musique concrete and fluxus.

This process was captured in the Beatle buzzword “random”. In making music they tried to explore every what-if they could think of. They tried to capitalise on fortuitious mistakes, stimulate their unconsciousness, introduce chance elements into composition and recording.

But, as Ian McDonald points out in Revolution in the Head, without a defined system of song writing their enthusiasm for random risks sliding into whimsy and incoherence. This is exactly what happened when the Beatles musical partnership began to fall apart (though even in decline they still managed to produce some fantastic music).

You don’t have to stretch too far to see the parallel with the interaction of political movement and organisation. There is an argument that left unity must come from real social forces, out of mass movements, not by clumping together bits of the pre-existing organised left. This argument is broadly right.

I recently heard this extended by the notion (I paraphrase) that we must be prepared to make unexpected alliances with new groups. In this case people have been learning positive lessons from the Respect experience. But it’s an intriguing notion. How do you anticipate something unexpected?

Clearly there is such a thing as overachievement. The past is not a perfect analogue of the future. There is an argument, famously drawn out by Rosa Luxemburg, that organisation comes out of action. An old aphorism: a ton of theory is worth an ounce of practice. But people do not embark upon activity without preconceived notions. The ideas that people hold ultimately determine the outcome of their actions.

It may well be time we reconsidered the relationship between materialism and idealism. A ton of theory is worth a ton of practice. Actually a ton of theory is a ton of practice. Theory and practice are aspects of the same thing, conscious activity.

Activity itself, the movement, does not produce organisation. You cannot have a strike committee without the preconceived notion of direct democracy, just as you cannot write a song without preconceived notions of what it might consist of. If a new organisation is to come out of a mass movement we have to hold notions such as what is this movement, what does it consist of and where do we want it to go?

Being practical means the idea must come first. If we wait for the material basis for left unity to come about we will wait forever.

The penultimate nonsense: Part 12

There had been some disquiet brewing. Since the assembly had been called people began appearing mysteriously in meetings, arriving at workplaces, across the streets, speakers who would berate the commune and it’s failings, alluding to order, tradition, legitimacy. They’d mostly get short shrift, but they just kept coming and coming in seemingly bigger numbers? What was going on?

The campaign of arson attacks, which had peaked in the summer before the Knights uprising, began again. The communards questioned some of those caught in the act, prisoners, many of whom pledged allegiance to the Bishop, none of whom gave any clear clue to his organisation. Shortly before the emergency kicked off there was an unsuccessful attempt to firebomb the Root and Branch HQ. The culprit eventually caught confessed to be an agent of the Bishop quite readily. He seemed pleased with himself, assured of something, a little to eager to oblige his captors.

The prisoners were the source of an ongoing argument amongst the communards. The prisons in London were largely abandoned at the onset of the crisis. Some guards opened the gates before leaving. Others locked the doors behind them, perhaps expecting that they would return to their posts someday. One prison, Yarlswood, was taken over by a prisoner coalition.

People paid very little heed to these Victorian fortresses in the early days. It was only after the first uprising that people began to search the prisons for people to set free. The old order was dead. There was no crown to detain anyone. The people had to be set free. There was no going back.

Except what to do with the saboteurs, vicious agents whose actions cost life, limb and precious resources, people who sowed discord and fear amongst ordinary people? Prison was a brutal, repressive tool. It was a hangover from the middle ages, when it was possible for one body to own another: but what to do?

Various militia would apprehend an arsonist (or arsonists) and take them to the nearest secure building, usually an old police station. There they would question them. Who are you? What are you doing? Who do you work for? Almost like an old-fashioned police interview, except much less effective.

Regardless of what progress was made or light shed there was very little for the militia to do. There was no recognised law, no crime with which these people could be charged. Sometimes the prisoners would be let go. Sometimes they were beaten or even killed. Most often they simply became the property of the local commune.

As the campaign continued the problem began to fester, all these people going nowhere in permanent custody. What to do? Some argued that they should be set free. Some argued that they were a menace and had to be done away with. A life and death struggle was being fought on the city streets, day and night. It was the communards or the saboteurs.

In the end a call was agreed that each commune could set up its own legal system, with open court and all the usual democratic controls, to find a solution to the problem. Anything too intractable was to be referred to the all London council.

It became common for any troublemakers who could not be trusted to be put to work. Some called it slavery. The Bishop used it as an example of the brutal mob rule that was engulfing the nation. Despite the unease it was generally agreed as an expedient, an unfortunate necessity of the times.

The Bishop’s supporters were the first to be rounded up in the emergency. They had been gaining in confidence. They had become more and more open and direct. There were a few demonstrations that bubbled over into street fights. On one occasion collective buildings in Central London were attacked. One gang attempted to ransack the Recovered University.

While the letter of ultimatum was being delivered to the assembly groups of pro-Bishop speakers were trying to hold meetings, boasting of immanent violence and retribution. People were afraid. Six hours later most of the Bishop’s gangs were gathered up or had gone to ground. The prisoners were put to good use on the front line, digging and building duty.

The following morning, the streets swept, calls called, bells rung, the message spread, morale turned around, the biggest urban overhaul began.

Communal London got busy. The assembly convened early in the morning and decided to go into immediate, permanent session. A plan was drawn up.

The militia were all mobilised, mostly to search for any of the Bishop’s supporters. Units not on search detail were told to inventory all arsenal, food and medicine in their jurisdiction for later distribution. The leaders of each militia were summoned to two bases. One was in an old hotel in Bloomsbury, commandeered. The other was in Newham Town Hall, near the likely front line. The defence of the city was turned over to the militia leaders, who would report back to the council every half hour.

Various metal workshops were commissioned to work overnight. Every drop of fuel that could be found, every battery that could spared or recharged was turned over to production of weapons and tools. Crews of scavengers were sent down to the dead zones to search for any useful materials that could be dragged to the workshops or the front line.

Riders were sent out into the night with bundles of leaflets. Each neighbourhood was to be woken with the news (although word spread quicker than the riders). London was in danger, but the commune was going to act, once and for all, to purge the threat hanging over it. All able bodied citizens not already employed in the workshops, the militia or scavenging the dead zones were to assemble 6am at the nearest communal meeting point.

The following morning tens of thousands of ordinary Londoners appeared across the city. They split into two rough groups, spades or arrows. Across the morning, as streets were dug up, barricades erected the tens turned into hundreds of thousands. Each major road was blocked off and guards put up. Every large junction was booby trapped and covered by snipers, rifles and bows. All working machineguns were commandeered and placed either high up or in street level trenches. All groups were kept in touch my phone, bicycle courier or rider.

While the rearguard was busy the frontline was braced. As the first full day of the emergency wore on no signs of movement came from the other side. News of the conspiracy and the counterblast was broadcast on the radio or distributed by notice. To begin with many on the frontline thought they were making a last stand. Peace reigned at the front while the tide began to turn abroad.

Peace of a sort. The hot, yelled diplomacy continued at a greater intensity. On the second morning, after reading out the communal response to the Bishop’s ultimatum the militia got a universal response. Up and down the line the militiamen and women (reinforcements only just starting to fall in) were told to expect an attack within two hours. Each militia had that time to surrender and ask for mercy. Once the assault was underway no prisoners would be taken.

The officers in the Bishop’s army did not expect many late defections. After all, the militia were defending their own city. Across the morning into afternoon news began to feed through the balance was shifting, in France, in Germany, Egypt, Poland, America… The tremendous catastrophe in the west.

The militia would announce each new story over a battery of megaphones freshly rustled up. They got more and more bold, stepping over the barricades, into clear sight. The day stretched out, no attack came. Some of the Bishop’s men even started asking for updates.

That night fresh batches of militia arrived at the front. Something had happened. The Bishop’s men had not attacked. Chances of a fresh assault receded with each passing hour. Volunteers with contacts or intelligence on the other side were asked to go over and talk to the Bishop’s soldiers, bring them back across. Wave after wave went over, up and down the line, 5-6 at a time until almost dawn. The Bishop’s men received each delegation peacefully.

Shortly after dawn on the third morning word crossed both sides. A dozen representatives from each side were to meet at an agreed spot over no man’s land, as it happened a small field just west of Grays. Nerves were taught. Most of the night volunteers were able to return to the commune’s side. Some stayed on to talk with the Bishop’s soldiers. Momentum was in the commune’s favour, but there was no telling what would happen until the meeting.

12 noon a dozen people on each side broke cover and made for the elected spot. From the militia came 6 men and 6 women, dressed in the basic denim and canvas communal uniform. They were met by 12 men; traditional looking officers, dressed in uniforms and insignia lightly adapted from the old regime. They were well polished and groomed but distinctly tired looking.

It turned out the conspiracy had fallen apart. The Bishop and his leading henchmen had fled. They may have even left the country. The remaining members of the army wanted to make peace with the London Commune and the coming Assembly. The militia delegates were happy to accept and, on that basis, offered the army to send (unarmed) delegates to the assembly to negotiate a full peace.

They shook hands and parted ways, and with that peace came to Britain for the first time in almost a year.

The enormous mind of Brian Eno

A brilliant, thoughtful humanist. Let's have a revolution so we can build civilisations in his image:



Oh, and, um, Music for Airports:

The British Ruling Class

I'm going to quote an article by Johnathan Freedland, not because he isn't a bollockpeddler, not because there aren't a fair amount of rhetorical exterior gonads lurking in said article. But, he lands right on our current predicament:

What's it going to take to make things change round here? If events of the last few weeks and months haven't triggered a massive upheaval in the way we organise ourselves, then what will?

The two example he cites being the crisis in the City and the crisis in Parliament.

John Bercow's election [to speaker of the house] is similarly discouraging, and not only because he used his inaugural address to empathise with those MPs feeling "very vulnerable". It is the manner of his elevation, not the man himself, that is troubling. He was the beneficiary of a classic Westminster game, with Labour MPs choosing a Tory who would get under the nose of other Tories. They weren't seized by a collective desire to change their ways, but rather by a partisan wheeze. They had returned to politics as usual.

What we're talking about is another set in the open-ended match of class war. The British ruling class is the oldest and cleverest ruling class in existence, perhaps even the most entrenched. It has got itself out of so many difficulties it's hard to see it ever falling from power. It will have to be given a firm shove.

This is a class that knows how to give the cheapest concessions, while keeping hold of the richest prize. This is a class so secure it can even deny its own revolutionary origins. It has been up to the far-left, people outside parliament, to maintain the memory and traditions of the English revolution.

Another illustration of the problem: most people still view benefit claimants in a poorer light than robber barons. This in incredible, given the revelations gleaned current crisis, the violent unmasking of the City.

Everyone recognises the extent of our collective deterioration. We can all see the rot, smell the sulphur. The question is what to do. No one agrees. British society is a choking, stagnant pond. As the stagnation progresses it encourages all forms of life within more and more to give up the struggle. The process is self-reinforcing.

Yes, in the long term, there's the matter of struggling for hegemony. This acknowledgement is usually plastered in phrases like "grass roots campaigning", "building from the bottom up", "we need pluralism", "getting down to serious work"... blah, blah, blah. This should be done, really, rather than said. But if there's a way of fasttracking the process (to borrow a phrase), then by all means we should do it.

If there is a way of turning the current Iranian revolution from a spectator sport into a potent example let's find it.

BNP to be outlawed?

Here's something interesting, the BNP may be legislated out of existence. The Equality and Human Rights Commission believes the BNP's membership rules may be in breach of the Race Relations Act.

You think? The nazi constitution "requires that all members must be members of the Indigenous Caucasian racial group", which is something Nick Griffin can tell at a glance, you just know, apparently.

The problem is fascism cannot just be legislated out of existence. Welcome though this judgement is (as it causes the BNP difficulty, adds weight to the argument that they are not a legitimate party), a legislative solution can be bureaucratically checked. The BNP could, for example, declare itself open to all creeds and colours. They just need to find an Asian or Afro-Carribean person willing to tolerate their company.

The struggle against fascism and racism will have to go on, everywhere, up and down the land. But, if the Equality and Human Rights Commission has a problem with a whites-only party, you have to ask, why doesn't the BBC?

The Kingsnorth Video

Is discussed here (with some context) by one of the people arrested. Here's the video itself. There is a head of steam around this issue, worth stoking further. I don't think for a moment we can change police tactics from the top. The FIT Watch team have some excellent ideas about turning the tables. This is far from the be-all-and-end-all of modern politics, but we (the broad 'we') have to be organised on all fronts. That means countering the police assault on the right to political expression.

More like it

Titan (one of the most amazing little worlds in the solar system) crossing Saturn's rings from the perspective of the recent Cassini-Huygens mission (with Enceladus, an active moon, peaking onto the crescent).

Roobin's update: today's online Graun has a feature called Visions of Saturn, taken from the Cassini-Huygens mission. Coincidence.....................? Yes. There's an exhibition of mission pictures on at the Greenwich Royal Observatory until 31st of August.

Newsargh!

Yes, we live in a democracy. You can vote on anything and everything... except anything that matters. Even so, why not have your say? Should Obama have swatted that fly? What no one has commented on, as far as I can see is where did Obama get the cat-like reflexes to catch a fly twixt thumb and forefinger?

Iran seems to be going through something close to revolution. The Tomb formula of with the protestors not the leaders (more or less) seems fine to me. The interesting tactic they have is silent marches. I've not heard any audio from the demos, but that's something very hard to pull off.

In Britain there is a current tube dispute, post dispute and an ongoing struggle on powerstation construction sites. This hardly exhausts the list of struggles either. It would be silly to say we are on the cusp of an upturn. The fact of the matter is more people are going to know the meaning of the word "strike" in coming weeks and months.

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad... you get the picture.

BA is asking 40,000 of it's staff to work for free. Ostensibly it's to get the company back on track (they call it a "cash saving drive"). This is not unusual, example, the Honda plant in Swindon shut down for 4 months. I'd totally forgotten about this until I heard adverts on the radio boasting that the plant was reopening, which is hardly something to boast about... plus I'm still not going to buy a car.

Still, now the BA stands for Bugger All wages, I saw on the BBC breakfast news the glowing mannequins discussing this with a psychologist and some bloke off the TV show Dragons Den (who, apparently worried about shaving off his sideburns as they had formed part of his corporate identity... yeah). The presenters encouraged people to phone, email and text in with their examples of how they are chipping to help fight the recession.

People are being actively encouraged to sacrifice themselves for someone else's cause. Not once did anyone stop to ponder, in a system driven by profit, why, once profit rates were driven back up, would the rich and the powerful suddenly give all this lost income back? Are we barmy or are they taking the piss?

This chimes with the common public response to the recent RMT strike. Only roughly 25% of Londoners supported the strike (bizarrely while only 7% of people blamed chump mayor Boris Johnson, 41% of people blamed Gordon Brown's government). The common complaint was "lots of people are suffering in the recession, why do RMT members think they can be an exception?"

Well, they have a strong union which looks after it's members. Precious few people probably gathered this as an argument for more and better unionisation. It seems we are being overwhelmed by the volume and infinite variation of Keep Calm and Carry On. The response has to be tied into the drive for left unity and a strong cross-union campaign to actively fight the effects of the recession.

Watch out son, I've got a taser gun.

Remember when civil liberty was one everyone's collective mind? Me neither, but then our collective mind is a foggy wasteland of goldfish and sheep. He's an interesting bit in the Graun, some horrific examples of taser use by British police officers. It seems its not so much an instrument of control as an instrument of torture, an instrument of first resort for police officers lairy of taking a broken bottle from a suicidal 89 year old. Poor lambs.

On a different note, first person to nail the very obscure quote in the title wins, um... probably nothing because no-one reads this blog.

Happy Bloomsday, everyone

Except the people who don't deserve a happy Bloomsday... But, nevermind. I feel a couple of lists coming on. In the meantime here's a link to one of the greatest literary lists, Chapter 17 of Ulysses, commonly known as Ithaca.

Free the SOAS 9

Demonstration tonight outside the School of Oriental and African Studies, Malet St, Bloomsbury, starting 4.30pm.

Wither the two-state solution?

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has set out his terms for accepting a Palestinian state. Primary point is:

Israel would accept a Palestinian state but only if it was demilitarised, with no army or military agreements with other states.

The Palestinian state would also not control its airspace, there was no mention (at least in this report) about access to the sea. Kind of redefines the meaning of the word 'state', doesn't it?

He [Netanyahu] mentioned a Palestinian state only once [in his speech] and at other times talked only of areas under Palestinian control, saying the Palestinians could have their own "flag, anthem and administration".

The baubles of nationhood.

The Palestinians, especially Hamas and their supporters, are often defined as intransigent. If that's an appropriate adjective then intransigence is appropriate, given the length and depth of the barbarity meted out on them by the Israeli state. To demand that Palestinians recognise Israel as a fundamentally Jewish state is to demand that they accept the results ethnic cleansing. Why should they?

Given the history, culture and politics of Israel it is understandable that the Israeli prime minister might put conditions like these to the Palestinians (while insisting they must meet for negotiations without placing conditions themselves). Does the Israeli prime minister seriously think such conditions can be met? They sound more like terms given to be refused, terms designed to bring about more war.

If the Palestinians and Israelis cannot live separately, with separate states, surely they must live together, under one bi-national state.

Phil Space

Sigh. More space to fill. I've just finished reading the latest Charlie Brooker collection. Damn fine it is too. Someone who hates the things I do in ways that I do... and he swears at the telly like me. X.L.N.T.

I can haz strikes update

Complete - and utter - Victory at Linamar. Rob Williams is reinstated. Well done to everyone involved.

Bob Crowe on the RMT Tube Strike

He lays it down pretty well. Some choice cuts:

On London Underground, bosses are threatening to tear up an agreement aimed at safeguarding jobs, and have refused to rule out compulsory redundancies. Up to 4,000 jobs are at risk as part of a multi billion pound cuts package that can be traced directly back to the collapse of Metronet and the failure of the PPP.

The financial and organisational chaos unleashed by the Metronet collapse well and truly nailed in a National Audit Office report only last week, has helped to blow a multi-billion pound black hole in the tubes finances and it's that cash gap which is driving the cuts programme. RMT warned that privatisation would be a disaster and we don't see why our members should be forced to carry the can now that reality has dawned...

Some commentators have argued that we should accept that, in a recession, our members should be grateful that they have jobs. RMT rejects that. It wasn't our members who created the downturn and we will not be bullied into accepting that they should be forced to pay for an economic crisis that was cooked up by the bankers and the politicians.

RMT has also exposed the hypocrisy of senior tube managers on pay when 123 of the top TFL bosses are paid over £100,000 plus bonuses. It is those same managers who are attacking, bullying and victimising RMT members over our campaign for job security and a living wage.

It has taken the RMT seven months and two ballots to get TFL to even negotiate. Most people with a mind wouldn't consider this fair or right. The RMT is a very strong union. In many ways it's too strong for its own good sometimes. More people should be won to their side, the union shouldn't just rely on sectional strength. RMT members are right to strike for over jobs and conditions. If they win it should encourage every union member to fight harder and every manager (especially in the public sector) to at least think twice about trying to force cuts.

Attacking the problem

This chart here shows the class make up of the active membership of the BNP. Politics is an art. There are many practical activities that a revolutionary party must keep up. In order for political activity to be revolutionary, as it were, it needs to be done with an immediate tactical and long-term strategic goal in mind. Everything we do at one moment in time is dedicated to getting one step further to the ultimate goal. We must identify the key point of intervention.

The BNP have an active membership of 3,000 but a support base of up to 900,000. The BNP claim to be champions of the white working class but their active membership is profoundly middle class. It may sound funny at this point in time but it shows the long term crisis in fascism.

The basis of fascism is the disinheirited middle class. The original fascist bands were the Freikorps in post WW1 Germany, disgruntled, demobilised ex-officers at the core. This trend has continued down the decades. The middle class is shrinking globally. Such as there is a fascist ideology, it is losing its basis.

Fascists have to compete for the support of people who do not naturally share their point of view, hence the advent of Euro-fascism. This creates an ongoing explosive tension within the fascist movement, between the hardliners and the leaders pitching for respectability. The fact the BNP's membership list was leaked is testament to this.

The rise of the fascism can be resisted.

[Roobin's note: outclassed again] Check out the summary of the BNP vote over on Lenin's Tomb. The nazi vote appears to be not simply working class, but an adjunct of the working class, i.e. the working class Tory vote, the unorganised working class. The BNP's support is formally quite hardcore. As of yet it is still passive.

Something Loud

Muthahubbard!

The darker the night the brighter the stars

Not so much a fact as an imperative for all of us. Fascism, or at least support for fascism is now pandemic in Britain. If you take into account the successes of the hardly better English Democrats and the UK Independence Party we have to be prepared for a shift to the right in political attitudes. When it comes to issues of race and/or immigration (which will be blurred) at least be prepared for a number of heartbreaking arguments with people you know and love.

What can we take from this? Six weeks ago people were predicting 3-6 Euro seats would be taken by the nazis. The fact they only have two (only!) is not a victory. It shows that anti-fascist campaigning can have an effect. These were tight elections. The word on the grapevine is the total nazi vote has not increased significantly over 2004, just a particular major party vote collapsed.

People are right to abandon the Labour Party. The question is what comes next. Chtat Delo? I think (1) we strive to prove the fact we, the anti-fascists, are the majority and (2) we do our best to ensure at least the left outside Labour, a considerable number, co-operates to raise each other's profile.

PR an' that...

A thousand flowers are blooming on CiF, as everyone has chipped in with their idea of democratic reform. Key to this is the idea that we need to elect parliament by some sort of proportional representation.

The Cos chows down on some of the bolus in this week's SW. The first thing to note is, in terms of PR, it has been pushed for twenty years nearly by the Liberal Democrats. I think we should be in favour of PR as part of a package of democratic reforms but we should also be clear, when it comes democracy, that this doesn't solve the problem.

There is a practical problem for reformers who look to parliament. Any party that gains power by the current system would be foolish (or very honourable) if they dismantled the system. In the short term it means having to share power. In the long term it means the closer the system is to genuinely proportional representation the more political elite would have to acknowledge the true breakdown of political opinion. It would be staring at them in the chamber.

But is the below true?

I think that the left does have to look seriously at PR. But the most popular proposals – the Alternative Vote Plus and Single-Transferable Vote – are those that would prop up the existing party system. The strongest argument for electoral reform is that it would help break the dominance of two increasingly unrepresentative big parties.

Maybe it would, but maybe we'd end up with a grand coalition, such as in Germany at present. The majority of people in Britain are looking for a democratic solution to the current, wide-ranging crisis in our society. Straightforwardly suggesting communal democracy is a leap to far. But we do have to put the case that democratic culture goes beyond parliament and the town hall. The ruling class can find endless ways to subvert the democratic will. The struggle must go out outside parliament.

Bus wars

Unfortunately I don't mean strikes on the buses. But this is still slightly interesting. Nice people take drugs. The drugs charity Release have bought a number of bus signs to bring their message:

Over one third of the adult population of England and Wales has used illegal drugs and almost 10 million people have smoked cannabis. According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, one in eight Britons under 35 has taken cocaine. Some will have experimented with drugs with little apparent consequence, some will continue to use them on occasions.

When dealing with the so called "war on drugs" you always have to step back, take a deep breath and look at it again. It's a war on personal freedom, in particular the freedom of the lower classes. The law is far behind public opinion (not to mention behaviour). This advert itself is after the fact. Just as the atheist adverts didn't lead to a boom in secular materialism, this advert probably won't change government policy... But, then, what does?

When things do begin to shift in Britain this is one of the things that will move.

Come for the lists, stay for the hegemony

There has been series of articles in SW focusing on Marxism in the 1930s. The last article is on Walter Benjamin. It quotes contrasting aphorisms by two great Marxists:

George Plekhanov, the “father of Russian Marxism”, expressed this… when he wrote, “We, indeed, know our way and are seated in that historical train which at full speed takes us to our goal.”

Benjamin responded with, “[Karl] Marx says that revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps it is quite different. Perhaps revolutions are the grasp for the emergency brake by the human race travelling on the train.”

It sums up the two souls of Marxism very well. What is the focus of revolutionary thought and effort? Are we concerned with the internal workings of class society, form and function of each class, their interests and so on, or is the point of interaction between one class and another, or the interaction between different groups within each class the real issue?

Are we intervening in a process or crowning it?

Part 11: silliness unbound

News of the Bishop’s march was like a pistol crack through the gathered communards, the different groups already assembled in Alexandra Palace.

The huge building was part hostel, part debating chamber. Delegations would arrive, register and debrief. Delegates had been arriving for nearly a fortnight. They were supposed to be posted out to various parts of the city. Numbers soon overwhelmed the organisers and, besides, the different parties were keen to win over new arrivals. People often stayed overnight, sometimes several nights. Halls would turn into debating chambers. In many ways the assembly had already begun.

When the news broke it put a stop to a brewing argument between the London League of the Root and Branch Party and the Constitutionalists over who could have access to the main hall. Instead it set off an argument over what should be done. How should the commune respond?

The Root and Branchers and their supporters stood for action. The whole of London should be mobilised, including the delegates if necessary; send word to the other towns and cities for help. Many of the Root and Branch members didn’t even wait for any resolution. The Root and Branch party led many important communes in East and Central London. They had taken the brunt of the Bishop’s aggression and weren’t going to stand for being overrun.

The Constitutionalists tried to stop them, literally. There was a huge ruckus on the steps of the Palace as they fought to keep people inside. Though they failed, the Constitutionalists took their case to the All London Council, which was now meeting in uninterrupted session.

The Bishop’s army was too big and too well organised to be defeated. News of the conspiracy filtering through seemed to confirm this, a global effort to re-establish the old order in the face of the crisis. The Constitutionalists stood for reincorporating parts of the old order into the new. The communes were a means to an end. If there was a government in exile then it should be allowed to present itself to the assembly, along with the Bishop. They proposed the Bishop be allowed delegates at the assembly.

The Root and Branch members pointed out that the Bishop had not asked for delegates but complete submission. He did not recognise the communes and would only enter London with the backing of his army. If the assembly met while surrounded by soldiers it might as well not meet at all. The Bishop, and the government he claimed to represent, had lied to (as if he had 100,000 troops), hidden from, arrested and shot at the free people.

The communes were the only organisations that fought against the catastrophe, they only guarantee of a democratic constitution. Whether or not they continued to exist in the same form after the assembly didn’t matter, at least for the sake of the current argument, what mattered was the threat massing on the outskirts of the city.

Despite the arguments people were taking action, namely the London Militia. The militia, commonly known as the people’s army, was a formally non-party body, although the Constitutionalists always accused it of following the Root and Branch party (there was some cross over, but all parties had members in the militia). The militia was mostly led by ex-soldiers, although the majority of its members were volunteers. They formed around the communes as the army disintegrated. Soldiers disappeared from their barracks and either went home or, if there was no home to go to, the nearest shelter.

Soldiers were put to quick use defending the commune’s precious resources. Homes became fortresses, fortresses mini citadels. They would show the civilian communards how to consolidate and repair. They would also them how to make and use weapons, in defence and attack.

The teams of men and women gathered around the soldiers. The groups strengthened as communes teamed together. By the time of the first all London gathering they were autonomous bodies. Representatives were elected from the militia to their own special seats.

(After the Knights’ rising) a typical commune of 1,000 people would have somewhere between 50-100 people dedicated to the militia. Not all of the militants would be full time and every member would have some kind of idea how to build a barricade, throw a Molotov cocktail or wield a hand weapon.

The basic unit of the militia was usually 5. Somewhere between 10 and 15 would make a team. Each team had a leader. Each team leader was responsible to an overall leader (the overall leaders were often called Subcommandante, in honour of the Zapatistas). Each team had a daily task, either set by rota or by the commune. The militia members were usually either delegated or selected by rotation. The leaders of the militia were always delegated and answerable to the commune at large.

There was never a typical militia arsenal. The London Council tried to sort this decreeing an audit and redistribution on weaponry. While this had some success there were various communes with heavy machine guns and working armoured cars, hard fought and hard to come by. They were reluctant to give them up.

The first source of weapons was whatever any soldiers had brought into the commune, rifles, submachine guns, grenades, occasional rocket launchers and mortars. These were generally very good, although ammunition and ancillary supplies were hard to come by. The next, most common, source of conventional weapons was those taken from the old police, usually batons and shields, although there were plenty of police rifles and submachine guns, tasers and even pistols.

The third source was the redistribution from private collections. Common in this category was spoils from the former criminal underground, which had a glut of handguns, knives, machetes, knuckledusters, whips and such like. Criminals were never great communards. Most of these weapons were scavenged from dead bodies. The biggest haul was from the clear up after the initial bout.

The bulk of London’s arsenal however was adapted or built from scratch. There were a number of simple things Londoners used to beat off early attacks, home made barricades, Molotov cocktails, torches, fire axes and kitchen knives. Many old sets of railings were cannibalised and either made into barriers or broken up and turned into spears. Then there were the lash ups. Crude bow and arrow sets were built. In time these were refined. One workshop began producing crossbows; they became very popular. Another resourceful group sharpened a load of spades. These also became commonplace. Some groups attempted to make catapults, large and small, using various debris, rubber and rope. The early designs were usually either useless or dangerous. Some groups persisted though. There was one particularly fearful, giant catapult that stood guard over Tower Hamlets, atop some old student buildings in Mile End.

The militia groups were initially undistinguished bands. When the armed forces disintegrated and the government fell they were tools of an uprising. After the first period of stabilisation they fell into routine, almost like the old police force. Some even argued they should be disbanded. The shock of the Knights uprising followed by the campaign of fire galvanised the groups once more. Their role diversified, as a body they were incorporated more formally into the communal system establishing itself in the city. They became the effective National Guard.

The militia who saw the most action were the East London units. They were the ones who had to deal with the Bishop’s soldiers. As there was no agreed jurisdiction there were many conflicts, armed skirmishes, often over who and what could come in and out of the city to and from the east. Very few people were ever harmed. Neither side had the means or momentum to conquer. Most disputes were solved with a battle of numbers, show of strength.

After The Knights were defeated the front line effectively ground to a halt. The Militia and the Bishops’ army would usually patrol at about a distance 200 metres, anyone who strayed much closer would get shot at, or, usually, around. Bored with the situation, each side would swap insults or bits of propaganda.

The militia were more driven to win the other side over and so would usually make the first approach. They usually adopted a refined, political angle, explaining the ideas and achievements of the commune. There were some defections from the army. The most effective approach, however, was when they found out a little about life soldiering under the Bishop. The army had great problems with food and medical supplies, though the militia fared little beter. One example, it did manage to win a whole squadron over from the army with the promise of tea and scones in return for their arms, both sides lived up to their side of the bargain.

It was this prickly but real relationship between the militia and the army that eventually brought the Bishop crashing down.

Newsgrazers

Jacqui Smith to resign. Oh yes, praise god, praise allah, praise buddha, David Ike, David Shayler, David Seaman, Frank Sinatra, Captain Birdseye, Terry Wogan, Turanga Leela, Joan of Arc... she's going! Yes! Fingers crossed she'll take idiot Geoff fucking Hoon with her, Geoff we let public think 45 minutes related to WMD Hoon.

For a bit of variety, Barack Obama has said his government will be "tough but fair" in resctructuring General Motors.

"I want to be honest with you: building a leaner GM will come at a cost," he said. "You will have to make a sacrifice for the next generation so that our children can grow up in an America that still makes things."

Who the "you" is in this case is hardly a moot point. Change has come to America, folks. The ruling class's spokesman says "sorry, but I'm going to have to shit on you from a great height". Btw, Obama's off to Egypt soon, where he intends to speak to the Arab world:

"This isn't a speech to leaders," [White House Press Secretary Robert]Gibbs said. "This is a speech to many, many people and a continuing effort by this president and this White House to demonstrate how we can work together to ensure the safety and security and the future well-being, through hope and opportunity, of the children of this country and of the Muslim world."

Perhaps he'll save some strong words for the torturer Hosni Mubarak. Maybe he'll even choke off the $2 billion in aid given annually to the Egyptian dictatorship... No, I didn't think so, either.

Race against time

In the last month the spotlight has turned on the British Nazi Party. Unfortunately their campaign is starting from far too high a base. Mainstream politics and the mass media have provided too much cover for the fascists to. The powers that be haven't wanted them out as nazis and they've been quite happy to go along with the fiction.

But in the last month people have been turning on to the danger posed by the BNP. People's minds are fixed on June 4th. Win, lose or draw there will be a struggle after the elections. The BNP don't like being exposed for what they are, which is why facts like these are quite useful:

• Jeffrey Marshall, senior organiser for the BNP's London European election campaign. Following the death of David Cameron's disabled son Ivan, Marshall claimed in an internet forum discussion: "We live in a country today which is unhealthily dominated by an excess of sentimentality towards the weak and unproductive. No good will come of it."

Later, in response to comments made by others on the site, Marshall is alleged to have written: "There is not a great deal of point in keeping these people alive after all." He said the comments were private and some had been paraphrased and taken out of context. He admitted making the former comment, but said he could not recall making the latter one in an email to the forum, a copy of which is in the Observer's possession.

• Garry Aronsson, Griffin's running mate for the European parliament in the North West, posts an avatar on his personal web page featuring a Nazi SS death's head alongside the statement, "Speak English Or Die!" Aronsson proclaims on the site: "Every time you change your way of life to make immigrants more comfortable you betray OUR future!" He lists his hobbies as "devising slow and terrible ways of paying back the Guardian-reading cunts who have betrayed the British people into poverty and slavery. I AM NOT JOKING."

• Barry Bennett, MEP candidate for the South West, posted several years ago under a pseudonym in a white supremacist forum the bizarre statement that "David Beckham is not white, he's a black man." Bennett, who is half-Jewish according to the BNP's deputy leader, Simon Darby, continued: "Beckham is an insult to Britishness, and I'm glad he's not here." He added: "I know perfectly respectable half-Jews in the BNP... even Hitler had honorary Aryans who were of Jewish descent... so whatever's good enough for Hitler's good enough for me. God rest his soul."

• Russ Green, MEP candidate for the West Midlands, posted recently on Darby's web page: "If we allowed Indians, Africans, etc to join [the BNP], we would become the 'British multi-National party' ... and I really do hope that never happens!" Darby said he echoed Green's sentiments.

• Dave Strickson, a BNP organiser who helps run its eastern region European election campaign, carried on his personal "Thurrock Patriots" blog a recent report of the fatal stabbing of a teenager in east London beneath the words "Another teen stabbed in Coon Town". The site also carried a mock-up racist version of the US dollar entitled "Obama Wog Dollar". Darby said the BNP did not endorse these comments and described them as "beyond the pale".

• Lee Barnes, the BNP's senior legal officer and one of Griffin's closest allies, has posted a video on his personal blog of a black suspect being beaten by police officers in the US and describes it as "brilliant". Barnes adds: "The beating of Rodney King still makes me laugh".

So use them.