Spews being the operative word. Away from Willie Walsh driving British Airways into the ground for the sake of anti-union monomania we see this:
Israel attacks Gaza flotilla
Somewhere in the region of 10-20 people onboard the ship have been killed. Most outlets are repeating that Israeli soldiers were attacked with axes... yes that's axes versus assault rifles. I mean, the nerve! On Auntie's breakfast broadcast I heard one account where, apparently, one of the peace activists wrestled a gun from one the soldiers and wounded him with it. It's almost like he was afraid for his life.
This wouldn't be the first time hasty lies were used to cover up naked agression.
Stop the War have called a demonstration in London for 2pm, outside Downing Street. The Israeli embassy might be more appropriate, but then I think this one's going to run for a while. Those of you who make it there remember to put Nick Clegg's promise to the test.
Btw, 15 people in Israel were killed by Palestinian rockets between 2001 and 2008. The Israeli army have killed more people in one night of piracy than seven years of bottle rockets.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Come for the sideview, stay for the cod-science!
I was watching a programme on BBC 4 recently, about the atom. It quickly resolved into the contest between acolytes of Albert Einstein and Nils Bohr to accurately describe the atom.
The above physicists are known generally as the champions of relativity and quantum physics. Their contest was characterised (very roughly) as equivalent to the ancient struggle between materialists and idealists. The presenter also frequently referred to Einstein as an old guard, conservative and Bohr a revolutionary.
The presenter/physicist declared Nils Bohr the winner. The atom cannot be meaningfully described through visual representation but only approached through mathematical equations. There have been some exceptionally useful observations made through quantum physics.
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states at the smallest level what we observe we distort (“no fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it”). Social sciences have had to cope with this fact for years. Nonetheless the idea that something can be understood without being experienced is absurd and offensive to the Marxist mind.
However, it is considered today that theories of relativity rule over large scale theory. This suggests a future fusion and superseding of each theory.
The above physicists are known generally as the champions of relativity and quantum physics. Their contest was characterised (very roughly) as equivalent to the ancient struggle between materialists and idealists. The presenter also frequently referred to Einstein as an old guard, conservative and Bohr a revolutionary.
The presenter/physicist declared Nils Bohr the winner. The atom cannot be meaningfully described through visual representation but only approached through mathematical equations. There have been some exceptionally useful observations made through quantum physics.
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states at the smallest level what we observe we distort (“no fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it”). Social sciences have had to cope with this fact for years. Nonetheless the idea that something can be understood without being experienced is absurd and offensive to the Marxist mind.
However, it is considered today that theories of relativity rule over large scale theory. This suggests a future fusion and superseding of each theory.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Your Face
James had a problem. He had no face.
Actually he had a face and he knew he had a face. He could see it in the mirror. Eyes, nose and mouth were there where they were supposed to be, on the front of his head. He could see it. It’s just nobody else could. They saw through his face, around his face and everything but his face. There was nothing there but visual ambience.
Even from the beginning his mother was puzzled and standoffish. His father came home from work every day and was surprised each time he spoke. Who could they talk to? He had no face.
Despite this James grew up otherwise normal. He could kick a ball, count to 100 and find Africa on a map. Nobody noticed, however. Why would they? He had no face.
James came of age. He found he liked girls. He was completely uncomplicated in this. If he liked a girl he’d go up to her, talk to her, try to find things in common, impress her, make her laugh. But every time he met her again he’d have to start over. Why? She could barely remember him. He had no face.
James had to find a way round this. His solution was to listen and look and remember. He had to hang on every word, every expression and every inflection of the people around him, reminding them of themselves. It wasn’t all bad, mind you. If people remembered him they often liked him. He was a blank canvas. People projected onto him what they wanted to be. He could be handsome, tough, friendly, aggressive… anything they wanted.
The one thing he couldn’t be though was a person. He wished he had a face.
When James left school he was nothing bad but nothing great either, nothing to write home about. He found an appropriate job, working in an office, inputting data. His life would glide by from day to day, week to week. He had a few girlfriends, a few mates. People would come in and out of his life. Though he’d barely register on them, they left a mark on him.
He wanted a face. More than anything in the world he wanted a face that could be recognised, seen by others. The more he thought about it he thought, why should he be denied?
As this began to weigh on his mind someone came into James’s life, not a person, but a film star, a face. Known all over as “Brad”, his was the most famous face in the world. His was a wonderful face. His face would grace action movies, play romantic leads and light up madcap comedies. With a simple wrinkle or a smile Brad could bring whole audiences to tears of laughter or smiles of joy.
Brad’s face was everywhere; in films, on TV, on posters, in adverts and magazines. Everyone wanted to know Brad, to be close to him. Stories of his life were everywhere. It was almost all anyone ever talked about. There was so much detail about him that it may have seemed, behind the face, was an ordinary man, fragile, vain and fearful. Behind his face was a two time divorcee, a man convicted of drunk driving, rumours of gambling debts and drug abuse. But what a face!
James knew what to do. He went to see Brad’s films, watched his TV interviews, read all about him in books and magazines. He studied Brad, everything about him, in particular his face. He ended up knowing pretty much everything about Brad.
Then James quit his job. This didn’t really register with anyone. He had to hand his notice in three times before his line manager even accepted it. James had saved up a lot of money over the years. Now he’d spend it. The morning after he left work he took a flight to America, to Los Angeles. Getting off the plane he immediately booked a cab, up the hills to the great mansions, to one mansion in particular, Brad’s stately abode.
Every day, and some nights, James would go up to the gates of Brad’s LA mansion and watch what went on. He did this for several weeks. Normally someone doing this would be spotted quickly and arrested, but not this time. No one spotted James. He had no face.
James would watch people come and go, cleaners, builders, executives; he watched and waited. Then one afternoon he saw a blacked out sports car pull up into the drive. The occupant didn’t get out, speak into the little box and ask to be allowed in. The gates just parted. It was Brad.
James waited until it was dark then sprung into action. He broke into the compound with a ladder and some wire cutters, crept up the long garden to Brad’s house. There was a light on at the first floor; at the window the silhouette of a man. Brad was alone. James crept into the house, climbed up the stairs and made for the lighted room.
Brad spotted him standing in the doorway. After a moment’s awful pause:
“Who are you?” said Brad, audibly frightened.
“My name is James”.
“What do you want?” said Brad, backing away, quaking. “I have money”.
“I don’t want money”, said James.
“Why can’t I see you? Come into the… I’m not afraid. What do you want?” Brad babbled. “I have a car? A TV…? Drugs…? I have drugs; coke, weed, ecstasy?”
“I don’t want those things”, said James.
“Why can’t I see you?” said Brad, looking around for something to arm himself with. “What to do want?”
James walked forward, into the light. He said:
“I want your face”.
Actually he had a face and he knew he had a face. He could see it in the mirror. Eyes, nose and mouth were there where they were supposed to be, on the front of his head. He could see it. It’s just nobody else could. They saw through his face, around his face and everything but his face. There was nothing there but visual ambience.
Even from the beginning his mother was puzzled and standoffish. His father came home from work every day and was surprised each time he spoke. Who could they talk to? He had no face.
Despite this James grew up otherwise normal. He could kick a ball, count to 100 and find Africa on a map. Nobody noticed, however. Why would they? He had no face.
James came of age. He found he liked girls. He was completely uncomplicated in this. If he liked a girl he’d go up to her, talk to her, try to find things in common, impress her, make her laugh. But every time he met her again he’d have to start over. Why? She could barely remember him. He had no face.
James had to find a way round this. His solution was to listen and look and remember. He had to hang on every word, every expression and every inflection of the people around him, reminding them of themselves. It wasn’t all bad, mind you. If people remembered him they often liked him. He was a blank canvas. People projected onto him what they wanted to be. He could be handsome, tough, friendly, aggressive… anything they wanted.
The one thing he couldn’t be though was a person. He wished he had a face.
When James left school he was nothing bad but nothing great either, nothing to write home about. He found an appropriate job, working in an office, inputting data. His life would glide by from day to day, week to week. He had a few girlfriends, a few mates. People would come in and out of his life. Though he’d barely register on them, they left a mark on him.
He wanted a face. More than anything in the world he wanted a face that could be recognised, seen by others. The more he thought about it he thought, why should he be denied?
As this began to weigh on his mind someone came into James’s life, not a person, but a film star, a face. Known all over as “Brad”, his was the most famous face in the world. His was a wonderful face. His face would grace action movies, play romantic leads and light up madcap comedies. With a simple wrinkle or a smile Brad could bring whole audiences to tears of laughter or smiles of joy.
Brad’s face was everywhere; in films, on TV, on posters, in adverts and magazines. Everyone wanted to know Brad, to be close to him. Stories of his life were everywhere. It was almost all anyone ever talked about. There was so much detail about him that it may have seemed, behind the face, was an ordinary man, fragile, vain and fearful. Behind his face was a two time divorcee, a man convicted of drunk driving, rumours of gambling debts and drug abuse. But what a face!
James knew what to do. He went to see Brad’s films, watched his TV interviews, read all about him in books and magazines. He studied Brad, everything about him, in particular his face. He ended up knowing pretty much everything about Brad.
Then James quit his job. This didn’t really register with anyone. He had to hand his notice in three times before his line manager even accepted it. James had saved up a lot of money over the years. Now he’d spend it. The morning after he left work he took a flight to America, to Los Angeles. Getting off the plane he immediately booked a cab, up the hills to the great mansions, to one mansion in particular, Brad’s stately abode.
Every day, and some nights, James would go up to the gates of Brad’s LA mansion and watch what went on. He did this for several weeks. Normally someone doing this would be spotted quickly and arrested, but not this time. No one spotted James. He had no face.
James would watch people come and go, cleaners, builders, executives; he watched and waited. Then one afternoon he saw a blacked out sports car pull up into the drive. The occupant didn’t get out, speak into the little box and ask to be allowed in. The gates just parted. It was Brad.
James waited until it was dark then sprung into action. He broke into the compound with a ladder and some wire cutters, crept up the long garden to Brad’s house. There was a light on at the first floor; at the window the silhouette of a man. Brad was alone. James crept into the house, climbed up the stairs and made for the lighted room.
Brad spotted him standing in the doorway. After a moment’s awful pause:
“Who are you?” said Brad, audibly frightened.
“My name is James”.
“What do you want?” said Brad, backing away, quaking. “I have money”.
“I don’t want money”, said James.
“Why can’t I see you? Come into the… I’m not afraid. What do you want?” Brad babbled. “I have a car? A TV…? Drugs…? I have drugs; coke, weed, ecstasy?”
“I don’t want those things”, said James.
“Why can’t I see you?” said Brad, looking around for something to arm himself with. “What to do want?”
James walked forward, into the light. He said:
“I want your face”.
Monday, May 24, 2010
The internet left blog post generator
A few tips:
1. Regardless of the issue always start with the SWP. Adding the words Socialist Workers Party to a post on a leftlinked blog is equivalent to typing, SEX, SEX, SEX, SEX, VIAGRA, GIRLS, SEX on most others. Do this regardless of whether the SWP is central, perhiperal or completely unconnected to the issue at hand.
2. Find a way to combine the words (or variations of) with suitable pronouns, conjuntions and prepositions: "ultra-left", "reactionary", "student", "popular front", "party front", "middle-class", "wreckers", "substitutionalist", "rule or ruin", "no one will go near them now". It doesn't matter if it makes much sense or not, it's the general effect that counts.
3. Always contrast this to: "grassroots", "democratic", "pluralist/pluralism", "broad", "open", "community campaign/ing/er", "getting down to some serious work".
4. Ask whether this might be the end of the SWP.
5. Forget that you predicted this last year, and the year before, and the year before that...
6. Don't forget to point out that there are many reasonable, hard-working and serious SWP members. You never know, they might join your outfit. Whilst doing this please also add that they are high-fallutin intellectuals with no connection to the working class and simultaneously mindless drones.
Sit back and watch the hits roll in. If someone appreciates your post compliment them on how "thoughtful" they are.
1. Regardless of the issue always start with the SWP. Adding the words Socialist Workers Party to a post on a leftlinked blog is equivalent to typing, SEX, SEX, SEX, SEX, VIAGRA, GIRLS, SEX on most others. Do this regardless of whether the SWP is central, perhiperal or completely unconnected to the issue at hand.
2. Find a way to combine the words (or variations of) with suitable pronouns, conjuntions and prepositions: "ultra-left", "reactionary", "student", "popular front", "party front", "middle-class", "wreckers", "substitutionalist", "rule or ruin", "no one will go near them now". It doesn't matter if it makes much sense or not, it's the general effect that counts.
3. Always contrast this to: "grassroots", "democratic", "pluralist/pluralism", "broad", "open", "community campaign/ing/er", "getting down to some serious work".
4. Ask whether this might be the end of the SWP.
5. Forget that you predicted this last year, and the year before, and the year before that...
6. Don't forget to point out that there are many reasonable, hard-working and serious SWP members. You never know, they might join your outfit. Whilst doing this please also add that they are high-fallutin intellectuals with no connection to the working class and simultaneously mindless drones.
Sit back and watch the hits roll in. If someone appreciates your post compliment them on how "thoughtful" they are.
I was a Right to Work attendee
Not 'delegate', no one there was a delegate or could have been a delegate; delegates can't just turn up on the door. That aside, I stayed for the morning rally (before having to do some personal business), and a fine rally it was. There was one clear high point, a very personal and eloquent description of the BA/BASSA dispute. Very well worth hearing.
I went away and came back in the evening for drinkies. To my surprise I was drinking in the middle of a controversy. As we all now know, after the conference a group of delegates/attendees decided to protest outside ACAS, where talks were going on between Willie Walsh and Tony Woodley/Derek Simpson et al. Despite not having been on the demonstration I know exactly what happened; someone left the front door open.
Now, the motivation for the demo was certainly right. The talks between BA and Unite were no such thing. Derek Simpson himself said the BASSA strike committee were "clowns", the strikers "deluded" (not forgetting the priceless observation "we can’t give so much support to our people they won’t settle". With friend like these who needs sell-outs? Let's not forget as well Willie Walsh owned up on the Andrew Marr show, the protest did not cause the breakdown in talks.
These talks were designed to fail.
Whether the tactics employed were right is another thing. If the whole stunt was done with some kind of BASSA approval fine and dandy (I can't think of how this could have been got, but anyway). If not then, at best, it was a very big gamble for such a small number of people to make. But they were only gambling with the Socialist Workers Party as chips, no one and nothing else.
Let's end with some perspective. The strike is on, it is right that it's on. Willie Walsh is not coming for pay or travel perks (although he'd like them back), he's coming for the union itself. I am sure the BASSA members on strike will give it their all. They are first in line of a whole number of great battles to decide who will pay for the recession. They deserve your support.
* Visit picket lines at Heathrow from 8am every day this week and the strike centre at Bedfont Football ground. Bring banners and delegations.
* Collect for the strike fund.
* Send messages of support to chairman@bassa.co.uk
I went away and came back in the evening for drinkies. To my surprise I was drinking in the middle of a controversy. As we all now know, after the conference a group of delegates/attendees decided to protest outside ACAS, where talks were going on between Willie Walsh and Tony Woodley/Derek Simpson et al. Despite not having been on the demonstration I know exactly what happened; someone left the front door open.
Now, the motivation for the demo was certainly right. The talks between BA and Unite were no such thing. Derek Simpson himself said the BASSA strike committee were "clowns", the strikers "deluded" (not forgetting the priceless observation "we can’t give so much support to our people they won’t settle". With friend like these who needs sell-outs? Let's not forget as well Willie Walsh owned up on the Andrew Marr show, the protest did not cause the breakdown in talks.
These talks were designed to fail.
Whether the tactics employed were right is another thing. If the whole stunt was done with some kind of BASSA approval fine and dandy (I can't think of how this could have been got, but anyway). If not then, at best, it was a very big gamble for such a small number of people to make. But they were only gambling with the Socialist Workers Party as chips, no one and nothing else.
Let's end with some perspective. The strike is on, it is right that it's on. Willie Walsh is not coming for pay or travel perks (although he'd like them back), he's coming for the union itself. I am sure the BASSA members on strike will give it their all. They are first in line of a whole number of great battles to decide who will pay for the recession. They deserve your support.
* Visit picket lines at Heathrow from 8am every day this week and the strike centre at Bedfont Football ground. Bring banners and delegations.
* Collect for the strike fund.
* Send messages of support to chairman@bassa.co.uk
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Get yr strike on!
C'mon Unite members, you're not just striking for your pay and conditions, everybody is watching you, what you do. If you win out of strike action you will turn heads. If you humble Wee Willie Walsh you will raise the spirits of millions of people who want to see a better world, everyone will want to know how did you do it?
Unite leader Derek Simpson is too often wrong, but he's right when he says: "This is not a moment for being triumphant. We shouldn't have been in this process".
Do not rely on the good will of judges, bureaucrats or politicians. You can do it for yourself. Get yr strike on!
Unite leader Derek Simpson is too often wrong, but he's right when he says: "This is not a moment for being triumphant. We shouldn't have been in this process".
Do not rely on the good will of judges, bureaucrats or politicians. You can do it for yourself. Get yr strike on!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Newsburp
The Red Shirt struggle in Thailand goes on, despite their barricades in the capital being stormed. There has been comparatively little liberal goo-goo-ga-ga about this movement, compared to, say the Tibetan independence movement or the monk led anti-junta movement in Burma. I watched one live BBC report and I swear the most common phrase was "it has to be done".
But the Thai government has been no less ruthless than the Chinese or Burmese. Sample:
Massacre:y/n?
Surely the Red Shirts are fighting for democracy and justice. How do we explain this lack of platonic gestures? Interestingly, it may be British made bullets currently ripping across the streets of Bangkok. That'd be a start.
But the Thai government has been no less ruthless than the Chinese or Burmese. Sample:
Soldiers fired at fleeing protesters and shouted: "Come out and surrender or we'll kill you."
Massacre:y/n?
Surely the Red Shirts are fighting for democracy and justice. How do we explain this lack of platonic gestures? Interestingly, it may be British made bullets currently ripping across the streets of Bangkok. That'd be a start.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Big meenie has some think
It's a given, which if I remember correctly comes from Trotsky; the older and richer the culture the more conservative it is. Not necessarily conservative in the perjorative sense, but specifically conservative in that ideas that go into making society (customs, norms, social values etc) are tenacious and slow to change.
A few examples spring to mind about the SWP as organised philosophy. I am going to pick on one and be a big meenie. A review of Nina Power's book One Dimensional Woman from the recent ISJ:
The reviewer asks the right question. SWP cadre love theory, but they love only theory that's coherently linked to action. This is an exceptionally healthy attitude, although it does skirt close to theory-is-the-handmaiden-of-practice/an-ounce-of-action-is-worth-a-ton-of-theory. All SWP published articles are trying to get to the point of action. They march (or should march) like Roman soldiers, toward chtat delo...
The trouble is in times like these, when a mass movement the organised working class is at best a reasonable possibility, popularising socialist ideas is difficult. There is an dense, seemingly endless forest of intellectual possibilities to be hacked through.
The monogamous nuclear family is essential for the reproduction of capitalism. Perhaps every fuck can be a kind of communism? How can this argument be resolved outside of contemporary practice? Our job, as Gramsci put it, is the critial renovation of consciousness. Judging from the review, Nina Power's ideas can be engaged with but not absorbed into the SWP. Is isolation the price of being right?
A few examples spring to mind about the SWP as organised philosophy. I am going to pick on one and be a big meenie. A review of Nina Power's book One Dimensional Woman from the recent ISJ:
Power asks, “What if every fuck was a kind of communism, egalitarian, joyful and for the good of all? This would precisely not be communalism, a kind of withdrawn fellowship, but a re-establishment of the link between sex and politics.” But how can such personal solutions generate the collective power needed to change society at large?
The reviewer asks the right question. SWP cadre love theory, but they love only theory that's coherently linked to action. This is an exceptionally healthy attitude, although it does skirt close to theory-is-the-handmaiden-of-practice/an-ounce-of-action-is-worth-a-ton-of-theory. All SWP published articles are trying to get to the point of action. They march (or should march) like Roman soldiers, toward chtat delo...
The trouble is in times like these, when a mass movement the organised working class is at best a reasonable possibility, popularising socialist ideas is difficult. There is an dense, seemingly endless forest of intellectual possibilities to be hacked through.
The monogamous nuclear family is essential for the reproduction of capitalism. Perhaps every fuck can be a kind of communism? How can this argument be resolved outside of contemporary practice? Our job, as Gramsci put it, is the critial renovation of consciousness. Judging from the review, Nina Power's ideas can be engaged with but not absorbed into the SWP. Is isolation the price of being right?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
A world of silly...
Here's the proposition (this may become a game for Marxism 2010). The people who rule the world are stupid, the people who make films are even stupider. In a world of stupid great film is one great film is just one great film, but two films run together don't just equal good times two but good to the power of oh yeah.
Here are our initial suggestions for film crossovers:
Godfather of the Bride
Battle Royale Family
The King and Ice Station Zebra
The Heroes of Telemarketing
A Hard 30 Days of Night
Alien Goes to Monte Carlo
9 1/2 Things I Hate About You
Jason and the Autobots
An American Werewolf in Madison County
The Pirates of Madison County
Das Boots Were Made for Walking
Snow White and the Seven Samurai
Seven Brides for Seven Samurai
Seven Brides for Seven Dwarves
Cheaper by the Dirty Dozen
Kramer vs the Volcano
Kick Ass to Victory
My Fair Lady in the Hood
Big Momma's Animal House
Dances with Jaws
Cool Running Man
Cannonball Running Man
Cannonball Running Man on Empty
It's a Chickenball Run
My Big, Fat Greek Clash of the Titans
Dam Busters Go Bananas
Apollo 13: coming to America
Chasing Nemo
The Jurassic Roundabout
Nightmare on 34th Street
Every Which Way But Toy Story
Another 48 Hours in Tibet
Silence of the Breakfast Club
It's a Wonderful Bug's Life
Rocky 2: lost in translation.
Here are our initial suggestions for film crossovers:
Godfather of the Bride
Battle Royale Family
The King and Ice Station Zebra
The Heroes of Telemarketing
A Hard 30 Days of Night
Alien Goes to Monte Carlo
9 1/2 Things I Hate About You
Jason and the Autobots
An American Werewolf in Madison County
The Pirates of Madison County
Das Boots Were Made for Walking
Snow White and the Seven Samurai
Seven Brides for Seven Samurai
Seven Brides for Seven Dwarves
Cheaper by the Dirty Dozen
Kramer vs the Volcano
Kick Ass to Victory
My Fair Lady in the Hood
Big Momma's Animal House
Dances with Jaws
Cool Running Man
Cannonball Running Man
Cannonball Running Man on Empty
It's a Chickenball Run
My Big, Fat Greek Clash of the Titans
Dam Busters Go Bananas
Apollo 13: coming to America
Chasing Nemo
The Jurassic Roundabout
Nightmare on 34th Street
Every Which Way But Toy Story
Another 48 Hours in Tibet
Silence of the Breakfast Club
It's a Wonderful Bug's Life
Rocky 2: lost in translation.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Fecal matter makes contact with rotating blades
Oh dear, what metaphors and/or allusions are going to come leaking out (there's one already). Full stinky horror of what awaits our society is beginning to rise. The Tories (blue and yellow) are planning 15% cuts in all government departments except health and foreign development.
But HOLD YOUR HORSES...! We're all in this together, you understand? David Cameron has ordered all cabinet members to take a 5% pay cut... They're sharing the pain... OK, so the typical cabinet minister would have expected to take home £80,000 (in addition to their basic MPs salary of £64,000), and, OK, so 23 of the 30 current ministers are already millionaires, but it's the thought that counts.
Nurses on £21,000 a year, Social workers on £23,000 pa, Posties on £256 a week, caretakers on £6 an hour, dustbin workers on £5.80 an hour... and all the rest of you, should bear that in mind.
But HOLD YOUR HORSES...! We're all in this together, you understand? David Cameron has ordered all cabinet members to take a 5% pay cut... They're sharing the pain... OK, so the typical cabinet minister would have expected to take home £80,000 (in addition to their basic MPs salary of £64,000), and, OK, so 23 of the 30 current ministers are already millionaires, but it's the thought that counts.
Nurses on £21,000 a year, Social workers on £23,000 pa, Posties on £256 a week, caretakers on £6 an hour, dustbin workers on £5.80 an hour... and all the rest of you, should bear that in mind.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Radical chains...
I just happened to be travelling on the 88 bus when saw some comrades demonstrating outside the Cabinet Office. I thought I'd join in... as you should do. The Tories were very upset with us. Apparently we don't agree with the democratic process... of groups of politicians meeting behind closed doors to decide who will form the next government. They were upset. Not only do they want to make us all slaves, they even want to stop us from rattling our chains.
Now is the time, as they say.
Now is the time, as they say.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Govenor of the Bank of England to be made Pope
You can have all the electoral reform you like, and I think we should support PR as a tactic.
The trouble is whoever you vote for "the markets" get in (the markets have been permanently pluralised, just like "the media"). I realised on Thursday night/Friday morning why I generally don't watch TV, especially TV news. David Dimbleby sitting there like a human toadstool, ten hours broadcasting live, phewee!
First tedious canard passed around was proportional representation will lead to "back room politics". The fact that first past the post is also currently leading to an unsatisfactory lash-up was glossed over (the fact that all mainstream politics is done in a back room, the Cabinet, PFI deals, the civil service, newspaper editorials, was also forgotten).
This was usually followed by, "because we need a strong government". Why? Because of the markets. The markets won't tolerate weakness in the face of the poor... sorry, the national debt. Everyone said these cuts have to be done, cuts have to be done, have to be done, everyone said, done, have to be done, cuts have to be done... Have you got the message yet?
Britain is a one party state now so decadant it has three parties.
The trouble is whoever you vote for "the markets" get in (the markets have been permanently pluralised, just like "the media"). I realised on Thursday night/Friday morning why I generally don't watch TV, especially TV news. David Dimbleby sitting there like a human toadstool, ten hours broadcasting live, phewee!
First tedious canard passed around was proportional representation will lead to "back room politics". The fact that first past the post is also currently leading to an unsatisfactory lash-up was glossed over (the fact that all mainstream politics is done in a back room, the Cabinet, PFI deals, the civil service, newspaper editorials, was also forgotten).
This was usually followed by, "because we need a strong government". Why? Because of the markets. The markets won't tolerate weakness in the face of the poor... sorry, the national debt. Everyone said these cuts have to be done, cuts have to be done, have to be done, everyone said, done, have to be done, cuts have to be done... Have you got the message yet?
Britain is a one party state now so decadant it has three parties.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Friday, May 07, 2010
One preposterously slim ray of hope
Normal people apparently think the worst. election. ever. is the most exciting and intriguing election ever. However, despite the hung parliament, despite the intransigence over details of electoral reform, the mainstream parties all agree on the crucial issue of our time. They all agree that working people should pay for the borrowed money propping up the City of London.
They will all make us pay. In fact I don't know what they're complaining about. Now's the chance for a National Government, they can share the bastardy, spread the blame. That or given public sector cuts apparently have to come, taxes have to rise, why didn't we save the bother of queuing up outside polling stations at 9.55pm and just head on down to the Bank of England or the CBI? We should just dispense with democracy (as they're trying to do in Greece) and worship our new banker overlords.
But there is one preposterously slim ray of hope. Margaret Hodge, MP for Barking, was targeted by nazi Nick Griffin. He was hoping to at least give her a run for her money. The nazis in fact came third, and Margaret Hodge won an increased majority.
Margaret Hodge is one of the worst Labour MPs going, gormless, charmless and as as New Labour as they come. She won, in fact she bucked the night's trend because anti-fascists, principally trade unionists were mobilised to stop the forward march of the nazis in East London. Though the council results are not yet in, it seems to have worked very well.
If Hodge had the nous, she and her Labour comrades would ask, if the anti-fascist/trade union activist base can do this what else can they do? Could they stay mobilised? How could she appeal to them? Could they shift other issues back to the left?
The setback for the nazis was our doing. If a united and active anti-fascist campaign can do this we could achieve all manner of things (especially as the national political future is in immediate doubt) if we act with similar resolution.
Will Margaret Hodge and co recognise this? I've no reason to suspect they will. Never mind, eh?
They will all make us pay. In fact I don't know what they're complaining about. Now's the chance for a National Government, they can share the bastardy, spread the blame. That or given public sector cuts apparently have to come, taxes have to rise, why didn't we save the bother of queuing up outside polling stations at 9.55pm and just head on down to the Bank of England or the CBI? We should just dispense with democracy (as they're trying to do in Greece) and worship our new banker overlords.
But there is one preposterously slim ray of hope. Margaret Hodge, MP for Barking, was targeted by nazi Nick Griffin. He was hoping to at least give her a run for her money. The nazis in fact came third, and Margaret Hodge won an increased majority.
Margaret Hodge is one of the worst Labour MPs going, gormless, charmless and as as New Labour as they come. She won, in fact she bucked the night's trend because anti-fascists, principally trade unionists were mobilised to stop the forward march of the nazis in East London. Though the council results are not yet in, it seems to have worked very well.
If Hodge had the nous, she and her Labour comrades would ask, if the anti-fascist/trade union activist base can do this what else can they do? Could they stay mobilised? How could she appeal to them? Could they shift other issues back to the left?
The setback for the nazis was our doing. If a united and active anti-fascist campaign can do this we could achieve all manner of things (especially as the national political future is in immediate doubt) if we act with similar resolution.
Will Margaret Hodge and co recognise this? I've no reason to suspect they will. Never mind, eh?
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Take Greece!
Take it back. Take it now. Take it forever. Never let it go.
Your government is conspiring against against democracy, to turn Greece into a financial colony and it's citizens into peons. You have the right to overthrow your government. The Greek working class can take the first step to freeing the rest of Europe.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Monday, May 03, 2010
This week's lazy, insight-free, justly ignored comment
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Obama Wades Into Oil Disaster. I hope he's wearing some wellies. Doubtless the dogged amongst us will eventually find a story of neo-liberal corner cutting, the reccession probably mandated safety cutbacks on BP rigs (what on earth British Petroleum is doing off the coast of Louisiana is anyone's guess): non-linear feedbacks, age of doom etc. The rest of us goldfish will have moved onto the latest awful disaster, probably a liberal-tory government.
The Beeb informs us that:
The Louisiana National Guard is on standby to help with security, medical needs and engineering.
Surely they could get medics and engineers to do the last two jobs. Security, however, is puzzling. Yes, that is the formal role of armed bodies of men and women but, hang on, what're they going to do, shoot the oil? Its a weird but unfortunately standard ruling class response to even mild disaster. Send in the guns.
Meanwhile, election, remember? David Cameron reckons he's got a six-month headstart before people start objecting to social armageddon. There you have it, our target. We must move heaven and earth to reduce the time he has. Here's a start.
But, to round off with a reasonable sense of foreboding, nazis have occupied the proposed site of a new mosque in Dudley. They are blasting heavy metal and chucking rocks at bystanders and the police are doing everything in their power to protect them. You know, I know, Bob knows, the bank knows the dog knows this is textbook violent disorder. Don't expect any high-profile Gaza cases with exemplary sentences. You can't even call a bigot a bigot these days. It's political correctness gone mad.
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