A young man is sitting at a sofa, leaning forward, holding a remote control, watching a broadcast programme on a slightly elderly television set.
Anchor: … of a large and ferocious fire broke out last night in the Underworld music venue. 25 people are known to have died in the blaze, although that total is expected to rise. Investigators are refusing to rule out arson, which would make the fire the first instant of crime since the notorious Art Wars nearly twenty years ago. Eyewitness report the blaze starting deep in the chill-out room.
Eyewitness 1 (wearing partial face mask): I was by the bar when I remember seeing, it was like, these loud bangs, flashes like indoor fireworks going off in the corner from behind the sofa. Then the drapes started going up, a few of us started backing off, you know? Then there was the big... noise, and the heat, I can still feel it (gently touches mask).
Eyewitness 2: You could hear it, the bang, two floors above. Everybody stopped for a moment. Then there was panic, everywhere, a huge surge for the door. Something, it looked like a flaming cocktail but bigger, something got chucked across the room. I know people got trampled. I thought the sprinkler system would go off. It didn't.
Anchor: While the investigation continues the future of the Underworld looks uncertain, however messages of condolence have started arriving on Camden, sympathisers have already set up a web page to collect them. Local authorities are expected to make a statement by this evening.
News theme music and shifting graphics.
Anchor: The fire in the Underworld nightclub has no precedent in living memory. We turn now to Aaron Fillmore, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Camden. Professor, what is fire?
Professor: Fire is a combustive chemical reaction wherein...
“Turn that shit off man”. Thom thumped down the stairs, holding his head, not in the best mood. The news broadcast grated against his hangover.
“Good night?” asked Johnny, sitting at the sofa, still watching the TV.
“You'd know” said Thom. “You were there”.
“No...” said Johnny, pointedly. Johnny switched the TV to mute with the remote and shifted to talk to Thom. “I wasn't...”
Thom, standing in the doorway to the room: “what'd you mean no? You came out with us, the Underworld... bar”.
“What were you up to, man? What were you drinking... or snorting?”
“You know I don't do that stuff” said Thom, defensively.
“I heard you on the phone... What was all that stuff about lines?”
“Acting, me duck, lines”. Thom shuffled away from the door frame. “Me and the guys from the repertory...”
“Where're you going?”
“Cup of tea?” Thom offered, from inside the kitchen.
“No thanks” said Johnny. “Get back in here... I'm talking to you... This is important”.
“Alright, hang on”. Thom filled the kettle, set it on and went rooting for a cup and bag. The cupboard was pretty bare, although they did have some extra strength GM tea. Just what the doctor ordered. Two minutes to boil, nice and black.
Thom padded back into the front room. “Budge up”. Thom plonked himself down, hard, on room made on the sofa. “Where were we?”
“The Underworld's burned down” said Johnny, “and you were there”.
“But you weren't?” said Thom.
“So... who was that?”
“Who what was that?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“I don't know what you mean, Thom. I was up all night... here”.
“Here?”
“Yes, the Earth Music project...”
“Oh...” Thom eventually remembered.
“Well, it's a montage” Johnny added.
“How's that going?” asked Thom.
“It's at an interesting stage... Thom, The Underworld burned down last night and you were there”.
“But you weren't....”
“No, I wasn't Thom... Goodness me, how many shots did you have? You didn't mix drinks did you?”
Thom nodded ruefully. The TV was showing silent images of burned wreckage, cut to grim talking heads. “So... what was I talking to then... with the...” Thom, picturing something in his mind's eye, made vague gestures.
“I don't know” said Johnny, butting in. “What happened? What did you see?”
“It was just an ordinary night, a bit too ordinary. Are you sure you didn't come out last night?”
“No”.
“I'm sure you were the one who told us about the rave up on Hamster Hill... Anyway”, said Thom, getting back in track, “that's why we left. It was, some of the crew wanted to go and check out the rave. Oh but, Gideon, he said about these girls...”
“Women”, Johnny reminded Thom.
“Yes, these women he knew from the Fine Art course said they'd be at the Ursa Major bar. I went with Gideon... They weren't there... That was when we... The shots...”
“So you didn't see anything?”
“No”, said Thom. “Nothing unusual. Why?”
The kettle had boiled.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
World of Stupid - open this weekend.
Hey dudes, remember when the Iraq war was great because it meant Iraqis could have trade unions (George Bush being such a BIG supporter of collective bargaining)? Well, now they can't:
Quick, to the AWLmobile!
Also, remember when the anti-war movement had blood on its hands for opposing war in Iraq (pre-war speech by Tony Blair)? You might have forgotten because I certainly can't find the speech on google. In further nostalgia, members of the current US government have lashed out at the Wikileaks website:
Because, of course, if no one leaked those war logs then people would not notice how awful the Afghan war is, no one would be upset, especially the Afghans and we'd all be living in a land of sunshine and lolly pops. At least chutzpah's still in vogue.
Where does this leave us now, today, in 2010 and so forth? Well, one of the most effective ways to annoy a monkey is to place it in proximity to a flying squirrel.
The order, issued on 20 July, "prohibits all trade union activities at the [electricity] ministry and its departments and sites". It orders the police "to close all trade union offices and bases and to take control of the union's assets, properties and documents, furniture and computers". It also instructs the ministry to take legal action against trade union officials under anti-terrorism laws.
This decree follows an earlier one that means that Iraqi trade unionists who travel abroad to international events could face jail when they return.
Quick, to the AWLmobile!
Also, remember when the anti-war movement had blood on its hands for opposing war in Iraq (pre-war speech by Tony Blair)? You might have forgotten because I certainly can't find the speech on google. In further nostalgia, members of the current US government have lashed out at the Wikileaks website:
The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, claimed in Washington: "The battlefield consequences are potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies and Afghan partners, and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world."
Because, of course, if no one leaked those war logs then people would not notice how awful the Afghan war is, no one would be upset, especially the Afghans and we'd all be living in a land of sunshine and lolly pops. At least chutzpah's still in vogue.
Where does this leave us now, today, in 2010 and so forth? Well, one of the most effective ways to annoy a monkey is to place it in proximity to a flying squirrel.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Once digested Boosh
The most common staple of situation comedy is a group of people bound together, either by love or necessity, but drive each other mad. The potential for this scenario is huge, from very warm comedy such as Father Ted or the Simpsons, to exceptionally bleak, Red Dwarf or Steptoe and Son. This is, more or less, the family dynamic.
Less common, but equally interesting, is the adolescent gang. As far as I can see this is a boy thing, almost certainly down to comparative expectations of girls and boys. For better or worse boys are considered to be clumsier and less developed than girls their age. They have greater license to be crude, to fall short, to be inept.
Comedy revolves around the contrast between a person's inner regard and outer appearance. Characters in said comedies must permanently be on the cusp of achieving something, that or trying to achieve something way beyond their abilities. The Mighty Boosh is this sort of comedy.
Howard and Vince are aspiring artistic intellectuals. Howard (the Genre Spanner) Moon has sky high ambitions, he's a poet, novelist, cyclist, he organises raffles. If you put a boundary round him he'll eat the boundary and wash it down with a cup of hot, steaming rules. The trouble is he's useless. Vince is equally inept, although he gets a lot more credit and esteem than Howard. Vince is almost a better Nathan Barley than Nathan himself. Everything is handed to him, but he loses what's given through a combination of dimwittedness and lack of motivation.
There's nothing more Boosh-y (and adolescent) than the part in the Electro episode where Howard and Vince spot the Electro Girls, Neon and Ultra; they straighten themselves up, head over and try out their best moves. Howard typically overcomplicates things and gets shot down in flames. Vince succeeds with mindless charm and, of course, teases Howard about it.
Though Howard's personal life is dramatically unsuccessful (that said he does win the affection of three different people, Jazz Girl, Eleanor the Whore and Old Gregg) Vince doesn't exactly set the world on fire either. In all such situation comedy the lead characters turn to each other for comfort and affirmation. Vince is continually referred to as Howard's “wife” or “ugly girlfriend”. This relationship is made more explicit in series 2 and 3, example being characters like Old Gregg (Vince's hermaphrodite anima) or scenes like the end of the Party episode.
The last thing to mention is The Mighty Boosh has a relatively young following, evidenced by their live shows. Fantasy is very important in our society. Popular culture is about erecting icons. For better or worse, millions of young people growing up develop their personality through identifying with a pop star or film star etc. The Boosh audience enters into the performance through dressing up as different characters.
Despite never featuring anything approaching sex The Mighty Boosh is all about sexuality.
One last, last thing. It has been three years since the last series. There is apparently a Boosh movie in the making. I wonder if there will be a fourth series. The meta joke in the Boosh is the characters are much younger than the actors. There comes a point where this is so obvious its no longer funny. The Mighty Boosh could branch off into family set-up comedy. The Board of Shamen would make an excellent cast for a spin-off series.
Less common, but equally interesting, is the adolescent gang. As far as I can see this is a boy thing, almost certainly down to comparative expectations of girls and boys. For better or worse boys are considered to be clumsier and less developed than girls their age. They have greater license to be crude, to fall short, to be inept.
Comedy revolves around the contrast between a person's inner regard and outer appearance. Characters in said comedies must permanently be on the cusp of achieving something, that or trying to achieve something way beyond their abilities. The Mighty Boosh is this sort of comedy.
Howard and Vince are aspiring artistic intellectuals. Howard (the Genre Spanner) Moon has sky high ambitions, he's a poet, novelist, cyclist, he organises raffles. If you put a boundary round him he'll eat the boundary and wash it down with a cup of hot, steaming rules. The trouble is he's useless. Vince is equally inept, although he gets a lot more credit and esteem than Howard. Vince is almost a better Nathan Barley than Nathan himself. Everything is handed to him, but he loses what's given through a combination of dimwittedness and lack of motivation.
There's nothing more Boosh-y (and adolescent) than the part in the Electro episode where Howard and Vince spot the Electro Girls, Neon and Ultra; they straighten themselves up, head over and try out their best moves. Howard typically overcomplicates things and gets shot down in flames. Vince succeeds with mindless charm and, of course, teases Howard about it.
Though Howard's personal life is dramatically unsuccessful (that said he does win the affection of three different people, Jazz Girl, Eleanor the Whore and Old Gregg) Vince doesn't exactly set the world on fire either. In all such situation comedy the lead characters turn to each other for comfort and affirmation. Vince is continually referred to as Howard's “wife” or “ugly girlfriend”. This relationship is made more explicit in series 2 and 3, example being characters like Old Gregg (Vince's hermaphrodite anima) or scenes like the end of the Party episode.
The last thing to mention is The Mighty Boosh has a relatively young following, evidenced by their live shows. Fantasy is very important in our society. Popular culture is about erecting icons. For better or worse, millions of young people growing up develop their personality through identifying with a pop star or film star etc. The Boosh audience enters into the performance through dressing up as different characters.
Despite never featuring anything approaching sex The Mighty Boosh is all about sexuality.
One last, last thing. It has been three years since the last series. There is apparently a Boosh movie in the making. I wonder if there will be a fourth series. The meta joke in the Boosh is the characters are much younger than the actors. There comes a point where this is so obvious its no longer funny. The Mighty Boosh could branch off into family set-up comedy. The Board of Shamen would make an excellent cast for a spin-off series.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Some news
The Greek government is trying to apply emergency legislation, forcing striking truckers back to work by requisitioning their vehicles. The good reason is to ensure the "normal functioning of health and welfare services and public order". In that case why doesn't the government (currently the Greek party of labour) settle with the strikers? No. The REAL reason is truck driving is a closed shop and the Greek finance minister has promised to... "open up" all Greek industries.
In one dumb leap...
Last week I became my branch's Rosa Luxemburg 'expert'. You may laugh, in fact I'm fairly sure you will, but it's not the greatest achievement. I was rather unkind to her.
The first thing that should make you suspect her politics is the number of liberals and useless labour-types who love her (OK, some like Gramsci too, but we'll skate over that anomaly). The intro to the Routledge edition of The Accumulation of Capital sprinkles her with the highest praise, "a Marxist who criticised Marx". Happy joy! She loved democracy and didn't like Lenin. Put your anxieties to bed.
Look closer. The trouble with Rosa Luxemburg (the theoretician) is all her great insights (and they were great) have to come with brightly lit warnings.
Reform or Revolution (as its generally known) is a brilliant dissection of what was then called revisionism. The trouble is her critique is shackled by the idea reformism is an alien force that invades the working class movement (petty bourgeois deviation etc). To criticise an object's outward manifestation without criticising its basis is to not criticise it at all. For Rosa Luxemburg the argument over reform vs revolution was one to be had inside the party.
The Mass Strike is another great work. It successfully identified the new motor of revolution, pointing how long-term political agitation can pay sudden unexpected dividend, how the previously 'unorganisable' masses can quickly build into an immensely powerful force. The trouble is one does not have to be a revolutionary to take part in such action (we're sent heading back to the problems regarding reformism). The truly revolutionary legacy of the 1905 revolution was the workers council, a force for hegemony. If we use medieval war metaphors, the mass strike is the cannon that breaks the wall, but the soviet is the castle that dominates the surroundings.
A final example, already mentioned is The Accumulation of Capital. It is a flourish of learning and insight, a labour of love (the opening section is almost frustratingly intense). The central argument is that capital does not actually exist as a circuit (M-C-M) but an ever expanding spiral. How is surplus value realised in a wholly capitalist society? Aside from the problem of capitalist crisis being the alleged result of 'underconsumption', the solution Luxemburg hits on is that capitalism must continue to expand into not-capitalism.
This would have been abundantly clear to her in 1913, at the height of formal empire. But there is a problem with this idea. If in order to grow capitalism must expand geographically into not-capitalism the end of capitalism must come once the entire planet is absorbed into the system. But what happens next? We have to ask this because we are what happened next. Capitalism is still here.
The central assumption in the Accumulation of Capital is a catastrophist inversion of the Second International's view that socialism was inevitable. The almighty crisis that had to come once capital had nothing to expand into would surely be a gigantic spur to mass working class action. Reformism would surely be wiped out as capitalism would no longer be capable of reform.
I could go on in more detail. I am, of course, being immensely harsh toward Rosa Luxemburg. These are all unoriginal observations made with the benefit of hindsight. For example, it's generally understood that reformism springs from everyday divided consciousness, not superprofits or petty bourgeois deviation. But it does us no harm to have a dust down of what we really think once in a while. Hindsight's a good thing.
The first thing that should make you suspect her politics is the number of liberals and useless labour-types who love her (OK, some like Gramsci too, but we'll skate over that anomaly). The intro to the Routledge edition of The Accumulation of Capital sprinkles her with the highest praise, "a Marxist who criticised Marx". Happy joy! She loved democracy and didn't like Lenin. Put your anxieties to bed.
Look closer. The trouble with Rosa Luxemburg (the theoretician) is all her great insights (and they were great) have to come with brightly lit warnings.
Reform or Revolution (as its generally known) is a brilliant dissection of what was then called revisionism. The trouble is her critique is shackled by the idea reformism is an alien force that invades the working class movement (petty bourgeois deviation etc). To criticise an object's outward manifestation without criticising its basis is to not criticise it at all. For Rosa Luxemburg the argument over reform vs revolution was one to be had inside the party.
The Mass Strike is another great work. It successfully identified the new motor of revolution, pointing how long-term political agitation can pay sudden unexpected dividend, how the previously 'unorganisable' masses can quickly build into an immensely powerful force. The trouble is one does not have to be a revolutionary to take part in such action (we're sent heading back to the problems regarding reformism). The truly revolutionary legacy of the 1905 revolution was the workers council, a force for hegemony. If we use medieval war metaphors, the mass strike is the cannon that breaks the wall, but the soviet is the castle that dominates the surroundings.
A final example, already mentioned is The Accumulation of Capital. It is a flourish of learning and insight, a labour of love (the opening section is almost frustratingly intense). The central argument is that capital does not actually exist as a circuit (M-C-M) but an ever expanding spiral. How is surplus value realised in a wholly capitalist society? Aside from the problem of capitalist crisis being the alleged result of 'underconsumption', the solution Luxemburg hits on is that capitalism must continue to expand into not-capitalism.
This would have been abundantly clear to her in 1913, at the height of formal empire. But there is a problem with this idea. If in order to grow capitalism must expand geographically into not-capitalism the end of capitalism must come once the entire planet is absorbed into the system. But what happens next? We have to ask this because we are what happened next. Capitalism is still here.
The central assumption in the Accumulation of Capital is a catastrophist inversion of the Second International's view that socialism was inevitable. The almighty crisis that had to come once capital had nothing to expand into would surely be a gigantic spur to mass working class action. Reformism would surely be wiped out as capitalism would no longer be capable of reform.
I could go on in more detail. I am, of course, being immensely harsh toward Rosa Luxemburg. These are all unoriginal observations made with the benefit of hindsight. For example, it's generally understood that reformism springs from everyday divided consciousness, not superprofits or petty bourgeois deviation. But it does us no harm to have a dust down of what we really think once in a while. Hindsight's a good thing.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Planet Camden - Nativism and the Galactic Express
For many years Planet Camden was admired and loved and occasionally satirised for its absurdly placid, enlightened and harmonious society.
After several cycles of economic growth (1) speculative bubbles arose in sectors such as tachyion pulse communications, light hydrocarbon finance and eastern spiral arm real estate (have you ever bought a whole moon?). Said bubbles burst with violence, dragging many star systems into deep recession and tipping several planets in the eastern arm into direct revolution (2).
Camden and its allied planets escaped pretty much unscathed from the recession. The economy recovered but there was a lasting effect, a reactionary movement against the unaccountable paradise. Camden is a heavily subsidised planet. It always was, ever since it was fixed up with an artificial core and colonised. The university with its huge student body, the great library and printing press, the art grants and municipal music venues and more; it all added up to a hefty public purse. While other planets languished why should Camden continue the way it had?
A huge campaign, centred around the Galactic Express ground into motion. Stories were traded of abstract courses, bewildering and possibly obscene art, incomprehensible media/creative jobs. No right-wing columnist, no populist politician could resist putting the boot in. The figures didn't lie, Camden was a net drain on the inhabited galaxy. Or was it?
Camden, its defenders pointed out, gave as well as took. The university turned out thousands of graduates every cycle. The language department produced students fluent in dozens of languages who'd go on to work in trade, communications or interplanetary diplomacy. The library, all 1.5 million cubic kilometres of it, held the greatest collection of of digital and printed literature known to life kind.
Each document received would be republished in all the common languages. Camden was the centre of the broadcast industry, it had the largest art market in the galaxy and its research labs turned out an average of 60 patented inventions per semester.
Though much heat and outrage was expelled the powers that be knew the worth of the paradise planet. Camden continued was it was. As bust turned to boom it had a large influx of people looking for work. The Galactic Express' campaign took a different turn (3). Who were these people? They were mostly the eastern spiral arm (a hotbed of radicalism and minority religion). Were they 'legal' or 'illegal'? Either way they were surely a threat to the western way of life, what with their habits... their religions... their... radicalism...
The Express' low-level campaign became the rallying point for a much more sinister movement, Western Nativism. Nativism was and still is a minority movement. The crucial difference between Nativism and common bigotry is it takes what its followers call direct action. Instants of violent racism grew in number across the allied planets. It began with sporadic beatings, vandalism and verbal abuse directed at eastern immigrants.
Nativism hit mass consciousness after a Vegan taxi driver was murdered after an argument in a Greenwich space-rank. It turned out three of the four assailants were members of the Western Spiral Nationalist Party, a vocally right-wing group with small but steady support on a number of border planets. Suspicion fell, the suspects were well-known activists. What were they doing so far from home? Had they come just for the fight?
The men were convicted of murder. Their party distanced themselves from the murder (though keeping their thinly-veiled rhetoric). The WSNP went into electoral decline but the Nativist movement continued by other means.
Camden was a particular target for Nativists. Their deepest specific nightmare (brought out in core Nativist meetings and documents) was species bonding, that the pure blood of the Western Spiral natives would be mixed, diluted and impurified by race mixing. Though the galaxy was very social (humanoids are notoriously easy) it is rare for different species to be able to produce children. Though some species have grown closer with time, it usually takes courses in gene therapy before a mixed-species couple can conceive (4).
However, Camden is a fertile exception. the famously positive radiation on Camden transforms disparate species into universally pleasing and compatible forms. The planet is the galactic centre of species bonding and, though many of its inhabitants were blissfully unaware, it was the ultimate object of Nativist fear and hate.
After several cycles of economic growth (1) speculative bubbles arose in sectors such as tachyion pulse communications, light hydrocarbon finance and eastern spiral arm real estate (have you ever bought a whole moon?). Said bubbles burst with violence, dragging many star systems into deep recession and tipping several planets in the eastern arm into direct revolution (2).
Camden and its allied planets escaped pretty much unscathed from the recession. The economy recovered but there was a lasting effect, a reactionary movement against the unaccountable paradise. Camden is a heavily subsidised planet. It always was, ever since it was fixed up with an artificial core and colonised. The university with its huge student body, the great library and printing press, the art grants and municipal music venues and more; it all added up to a hefty public purse. While other planets languished why should Camden continue the way it had?
A huge campaign, centred around the Galactic Express ground into motion. Stories were traded of abstract courses, bewildering and possibly obscene art, incomprehensible media/creative jobs. No right-wing columnist, no populist politician could resist putting the boot in. The figures didn't lie, Camden was a net drain on the inhabited galaxy. Or was it?
Camden, its defenders pointed out, gave as well as took. The university turned out thousands of graduates every cycle. The language department produced students fluent in dozens of languages who'd go on to work in trade, communications or interplanetary diplomacy. The library, all 1.5 million cubic kilometres of it, held the greatest collection of of digital and printed literature known to life kind.
Each document received would be republished in all the common languages. Camden was the centre of the broadcast industry, it had the largest art market in the galaxy and its research labs turned out an average of 60 patented inventions per semester.
Though much heat and outrage was expelled the powers that be knew the worth of the paradise planet. Camden continued was it was. As bust turned to boom it had a large influx of people looking for work. The Galactic Express' campaign took a different turn (3). Who were these people? They were mostly the eastern spiral arm (a hotbed of radicalism and minority religion). Were they 'legal' or 'illegal'? Either way they were surely a threat to the western way of life, what with their habits... their religions... their... radicalism...
The Express' low-level campaign became the rallying point for a much more sinister movement, Western Nativism. Nativism was and still is a minority movement. The crucial difference between Nativism and common bigotry is it takes what its followers call direct action. Instants of violent racism grew in number across the allied planets. It began with sporadic beatings, vandalism and verbal abuse directed at eastern immigrants.
Nativism hit mass consciousness after a Vegan taxi driver was murdered after an argument in a Greenwich space-rank. It turned out three of the four assailants were members of the Western Spiral Nationalist Party, a vocally right-wing group with small but steady support on a number of border planets. Suspicion fell, the suspects were well-known activists. What were they doing so far from home? Had they come just for the fight?
The men were convicted of murder. Their party distanced themselves from the murder (though keeping their thinly-veiled rhetoric). The WSNP went into electoral decline but the Nativist movement continued by other means.
Camden was a particular target for Nativists. Their deepest specific nightmare (brought out in core Nativist meetings and documents) was species bonding, that the pure blood of the Western Spiral natives would be mixed, diluted and impurified by race mixing. Though the galaxy was very social (humanoids are notoriously easy) it is rare for different species to be able to produce children. Though some species have grown closer with time, it usually takes courses in gene therapy before a mixed-species couple can conceive (4).
However, Camden is a fertile exception. the famously positive radiation on Camden transforms disparate species into universally pleasing and compatible forms. The planet is the galactic centre of species bonding and, though many of its inhabitants were blissfully unaware, it was the ultimate object of Nativist fear and hate.
(1) Time is a varied experience across the galaxy. What time is it right now? The answer depends on where you are. Most civilisations measure its passing by a combination of diurnal rotations and annual orbits. Life on Earth was greatly helped by the Moon. Amongst other things, the Moon's 28 day orbit was a natural chronometer, allowing intelligent Earthlings a finer awareness of time. Planet Camden is radically different. Most people on arrival are struck by its timelessness. Camden orbits a cool star, taking only seven days (summer festivals are barely over when its time for the mid-winter revels). So different galactic civilisations can have a common reference a galactic cycle is measured (in multiples) against the rotation of various neutron stars. The process is always undergoing refinement, even so a galactic cycle, conveniently enough, is roughly equivalent to an earth year.
(2) The eastern arm of the galaxy had for a long time been dominated by gross oligarchies with rigged economies, which was part of the attraction for western finance. After an immense movement of people the Borneo-Java archipelago, a lush, rich double planet was governed by a communal democracy. This lasted for almost two cycles before it was controversially overrun by a mostly private army, raised with western capital.
(3) The Galactic Express, a controversial right-wing publication, available online and printed in several star systems. It is notorious for its demagogic headlines: sample – Hooded Polysexual Javans to go to the Top of Hospital Waiting Lists.
(4) Many Nativists also claim to be followers of conservative religions. This fact also provokes a slightly contradictory fear that species across the galaxy will simply have sex for pleasure.
Monday, July 26, 2010
This week's Tales... Of... Interest...!
The Graun has published a number of leaked war logs. Yes, yes, I know, what the fuck is a 'war log'? It's a weird and gauche as Tony Blair's 'dossier' on Iraq. Some poor bastard's going to have to wade through treeloads of soldierese to get close to the unvarnished truth. They'll get there and, no doubt, it'll be spectacular.
This week's Tories-can't-believe-their-luck-and-making-things-up-as-they-go-along: Britain will have its first private university in 30+ years. This is of course simply the thin end of the wedge. BPP (whatever that stands for) will be allowed to set its own fees, at a time when demand for higher education is such that 170,000 young people will not be accepted on a course in September. BPP will become the marker for the race to the bottom in education.
Carl Lygo, BPP's chief executive, said:
Which translates into English as:
But this government is definitely in a hurry. Why is it using emergency legislative powers to push through its break up of LEAs? What call is there for a British FBI? It's almost like they don't expect to be here in five years time.
This week's Tories-can't-believe-their-luck-and-making-things-up-as-they-go-along: Britain will have its first private university in 30+ years. This is of course simply the thin end of the wedge. BPP (whatever that stands for) will be allowed to set its own fees, at a time when demand for higher education is such that 170,000 young people will not be accepted on a course in September. BPP will become the marker for the race to the bottom in education.
Carl Lygo, BPP's chief executive, said:
"The education landscape is changing, and over the next decade we will see a different picture emerging, where both students and employers will drive demand for their preferred method of study and training."
Which translates into English as:
Meyah, meyah, meyah, PFFFFFFFFFFFT.
But this government is definitely in a hurry. Why is it using emergency legislative powers to push through its break up of LEAs? What call is there for a British FBI? It's almost like they don't expect to be here in five years time.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Reasons to be cheerful
A reason at least. Yunus Bakhsh has won his employment tribunal. From SW:
After a four-year battle for justice, sacked and victimised nurse Yunus Bakhsh has won a landmark victory at an employment tribunal.
The judgment finds that he was unfairly dismissed by Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Trust because of trade union activities, and that he also suffered disability discrimination.
His employer, a mental health trust, sacked him for being an active trade unionist and for being on the sick with depression.
A remedies hearing will now take place to determine damages and other matters.
The finding entirely vindicates Yunus's long campaign to reveal the truth about what happened at the Trust after he was suspended from work in 2006.
His health has suffered and he has suffered financially. But he kept going – and he was right.
He was attacked by his employer, by his own union, and by BNP members – but he won.
"I want to thank very much everyone who stood by me through a long and difficult time," Yunus told Socialist Worker. "This is a victory for us all and a success for every trade unionist. We want no more union victimisation, and we need no more union witch hunts."
Such a clear judgment has implications for the employer and for the Unison union. Unison used essentially the same "evidence" as the Trust to expel him from the union. And the union leaders then told Yunus he had no chance of winning his case at an ET and refused to fund the challenge.
He has been sustained by socialists and trade union supporters.
Those responsible for the unfair dismissal should be sacked from the Trust.
Yunus should be immediately reinstated to Unison, and celebrated as someone who has stood up to anti-union bullies.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
How to murder in broad daylight and get away with it
Wear a uniform.
In fact, you can be caught on camera, with the images seen by millions, all you need is a crooked CPS, a non-independent IPCC, and a bent pathologist.
Let's look at the history. 40 years. Over 1,000 deaths at the hands of the police, either on the streets or in custody, and only 1 officer ever convicted, and not of murder or manslaughter. No justice for the 96 killed at Hillsborough. No justice for Blair Peach (even though we all know exactly who murdered him - in fact he appeared on Newsnight a few months ago). No justice for Roger Sylvester, who was also examined by the bent Freddy Patel. Nor for Jean Charles de Menezes (they promoted the officer in charge of his killing). Nor for Paps Ullah, Ricky Bishop, Sean Rigg, Kevin Gately or any of the others.
Be careful on your way home from work. The armed face of the state knows it can kill and get away with it. And expect this to be unleashed more and more against our class as protests and strikes increase. The state will happily murder us - the only way to answer that is to smash it.
This week's minor kerfuffle - Johnny Rotten hearts white supremacy
Asked for his considered opinion on boycotting Israel John Lydon said:
As far as we might care what this sunbaked butterpeddling exile who hasn't put out a decent record in at least 15 years says he has found a uniquely cruel and stupid twist on a common canard: de muzzies is undemocratik. First of all it is logically inconsistent, until Palestinians start exercising democracy they should be denied democratic rights, which is a bully's logic. Secondly it's historically wrong, even as recently as 2006 the Palestinians themselves attempted to practice democracy. The result was not to the western powers' liking and so there was a coup in the West Bank and a siege placed on Gaza. Finally, don't forget Lydon appeals to supposed common sense: "I won't understand how anyone..." etc.
The first link is a comment piece by a CiF writer disappointed with John's rotten politics. Of course Lydon was never a radical but a controversialist. The trouble is such barbaric logic should shock. These days there are too many people who take statements like these in their stride.
"If Elvis-fucking-Costello wants to pull out of a gig in Israel because he's suddenly got this compassion for Palestinians, then good on him," Lydon told the Independent. "But I have absolutely one rule, right? Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won't understand how anyone can have a problem with how they're treated."
As far as we might care what this sunbaked butterpeddling exile who hasn't put out a decent record in at least 15 years says he has found a uniquely cruel and stupid twist on a common canard: de muzzies is undemocratik. First of all it is logically inconsistent, until Palestinians start exercising democracy they should be denied democratic rights, which is a bully's logic. Secondly it's historically wrong, even as recently as 2006 the Palestinians themselves attempted to practice democracy. The result was not to the western powers' liking and so there was a coup in the West Bank and a siege placed on Gaza. Finally, don't forget Lydon appeals to supposed common sense: "I won't understand how anyone..." etc.
The first link is a comment piece by a CiF writer disappointed with John's rotten politics. Of course Lydon was never a radical but a controversialist. The trouble is such barbaric logic should shock. These days there are too many people who take statements like these in their stride.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Nostalgia, aka the No Shit Sherlock Awards
Former head of MI5: "Saddam posed very limited threat to UK...". No, don't undercook it, Saddam Hussein's regime posed no threat to the British state.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Socialism for the rich
That's what the government means by 'outsourcing'. As with private finance (started by the Major government but greatly extended by Blair and Brown), outsourcing public services to private companies is better than full-blown privatisation. It is much harder for a government to go bankrupt than a corporation. When you read:
You'd think it was springtime for British capitalism... and it is in many ways. Don't forget this will also be a blow for democracy, should outsourcing happen. As truncated as democracy is in Britain you can vote out a mayor and/or a group of councillors. You can't get rid of the head of Capita (to coin a pun).
The tories and their chums are relying on their opponents doing nothing. So long as the opposition respects the rules (written and unwritten) of mainstream politics the tories can ignore the fact they won less than 1/3 of the electorate's support at the last election and rule like kings.
When you hear on the grapevine that Diane Abbott says she opposes the tory formula of 80% cuts 20% tax rises to pay off the debt by suggesting it should be 50-50 you're tempted to lose all hope. I have also been told that the TUC general council have considered a general strike as a last resort. The fact they are even possibly considering a general strike is significant (if its true). We should push the idea, strike hard, strike often and strike together. That could turn things around very quickly.
Executives at Capita, the UK's largest outsourcing firm, said the number of opportunities for local authority contracts has already doubled this year and they see the healthcare market as "vast and potentially lucrative".
Richard Marchant, head of local government strategic partnerships at Capita, an FTSE-100 company which already works for councils in Harrow, Swindon, Southampton and Sheffield, said: "A major problem for the public sector is, we feel, a significant opportunity for us. Opportunities are at their highest level in two to three years. This year we have probably seen a 100% increase in opportunities [compared with 2009] and I suspect we will see another 50% increase in the following year."
You'd think it was springtime for British capitalism... and it is in many ways. Don't forget this will also be a blow for democracy, should outsourcing happen. As truncated as democracy is in Britain you can vote out a mayor and/or a group of councillors. You can't get rid of the head of Capita (to coin a pun).
The tories and their chums are relying on their opponents doing nothing. So long as the opposition respects the rules (written and unwritten) of mainstream politics the tories can ignore the fact they won less than 1/3 of the electorate's support at the last election and rule like kings.
When you hear on the grapevine that Diane Abbott says she opposes the tory formula of 80% cuts 20% tax rises to pay off the debt by suggesting it should be 50-50 you're tempted to lose all hope. I have also been told that the TUC general council have considered a general strike as a last resort. The fact they are even possibly considering a general strike is significant (if its true). We should push the idea, strike hard, strike often and strike together. That could turn things around very quickly.
Friday, July 16, 2010
It's not random, it's various
Don't worry, something substantial will cross my mind soon. In the meantime please make do with this handy guide to Daily Mail obessions.
Also, a minor thought, regarding all this fuss about Raoul Moat tribute pages do you ever get the feeling David Cameron's advisors told him, "you know, Dave, it's really important for you to come out against murder"?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Planet Loony
It's a c-c-c-c-crazy world out there. A former MI6 spy was told by "voices in head" to sell state secrets. That's nice. I don't want to mock the afflicted but surely those voices weren't saying "you can't live on £2 million, hold out for £3"? You don't have to be mad to work for the secret services, but it helps.
The Olympic games will apparently be finished on time and underbudget. Leaving aside the suspicion the Olympics will be renamed the E-Z Games, I wonder where the £850 million underspend will end up? No doubt the 15 executives of the Olympic Delivery Authority will get a nice fat bonus for their oh-so wonderful performance and anyone who calls it fraud by deliberate overestimate is a fool and/or a communist.
Who else has been performing well? Why it's 'Flagship' Barnet Council or, more precise, Barnet councillors, who have awarded themselves double-digit pay rises for the brilliant innovation of selling off every service, every last fucking service to the private sector. That'll warm up your pay-freeze!
And finally, the French Parliament has voted to ban full face veils, because everything is going so well in the Serene Republic that they've got time for a bit of racism. You watch, the moment things get a bit dicey for our scum overlords, they'll peddle this canard out for all its worth.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A typical case for Old Bob
What did Old Bob, the one man, non-bureaucratic police force do?
For many years art on Planet Camden was dominated by one man, Fabian Dedalus. Fabian came to Camden as a young man, a hitch hiker working his way across the galaxy. He came from a humble background, a family of humanoid Martians. He left home instead of going down the mines, he left home to pursue his dream of being a galactically recognised artist.
His goal was Camden, where no talent went unrecognised. Sure enough he found his big break. Working the bar in the Spiral Strand Hotel, Fabian spent quiet times and lunch breaks doodling cartoons and character sketches. He showed a few to a punter, who turned out to be the Deputy Editor of the Camden Free Journal, which had a vacancy for Junior Cartoonist. Fabian was hired on the spot.
His new day job was untaxing but well paid helped fund his more artistic pursuits, which at the time was cubist photography and digital portraiture. With two friends he helped found an off campus art centre in Somers Town. Noted in the cultural press, it was deemed an offbeat move holding exhibitions in a Poor area. Before long Instant Pixelism (1) (as their movement was called) became the hot new sensation and Somers Town the edgy new district, pounced upon by artists, students, dealers and scenesters.
Fabian left his job to pursue fame, and sure enough Fabian and friends became famous. The toast of the town to some, bete noir to others. Was it art or anti-social behaviour? The debate, which took up much time and space in the culture pages, was resolved by Old Bob, who said Pixelism was a fine art so long as it was produced with the permission of its subjects.
He had official approval now, but Fabian was a restless talent. He moved on into various different media and genres, such as deuterium fountain sculptures, crystal programming and limestone/acid murals. He was in the middle of a particularly epic mural (an off planet commission for Wandsworth) when he read of the man who was to become his deadly rival, Lucien Fabulous.
Like Fabian, Lucien had come from humble beginnings on Mars. He was discovered by the culture editor of the Camden New Press, whittling statues from blocks frozen nitrogen he'd lifted from the kitchen of the Pluto Savoy. He was living in a commune in St Pancras, which became the base of operation for the Action Muralists (2).
Fabian was scanning the daily papers, sitting in his studio munching down his breakfast before getting to work. He saw in the CNP culture pull-out, in the midst of a friendly interview, Lucien outline his motives for Action Muralism:
“I think it's important to get beyond the staid, prefabricated outlook of public art. We need to inject some spontaneity, some outrage into our environment. The Pixelists, the old-guard have sold-out. It's time for them to take a step back”.
Fabian was interest was piqued, although he didn't respond. Lucien's star began to rise. Together they were the leading lights of Camden art.
After completing his commission Fabian had some good money in his pocket. He decided on a break and change of tack. After six months off the scene he arranged an interview with the CNJ to announce a new exhibition. Fabian was moving into infra red portraiture, an under explored area.
Shortly before the exhibition opened Lucien and co put on their own feature, an exhibition of young artists work in the medium of false colour portraiture.
Asked about the coincidence Lucien shrugged and answered with a question. Why simply rely on the infra red spectrum? His only regret was there was no safe level of gamma radiation, at least not a usable level.
Fabian sent one of his collective to check out Lucien's scene and report back. Judging from the leaked conversations reprinted in various websites and scandal sheets he wasn't happy. Lucien pulled off the ultimate coup. He got Old Bob to sit for him.
Things went on like this, Fabian would attempt something that Lucien would anticipate or ape. Fabian collaborated with acclaimed Boreal director Lazlo Panaflex on an impressionist reworking of Hamlet. Lucien meanwhile worked with the up and coming Betelgeusian auteur Hans Freshenmeyer on a minimalist revision of West Side Story. Fabian produced a small book of his early sketches. Lucien responded by releasing a photo collection of his preliminary carvings.
The competition spilled over into angry words. Fabian accused Lucien of plagiarism. Lucien countered that Fabian's art rested on ideas and his technique relied upon technology, neither of which could be copyrighted or plagiarised. Fabian suggested Lucien's work lacked hand eye dexterity, let alone wit. Lucien responded by taking over the CFP cartoon page for a week. Lucien called Fabian a cheap controversialist. Fabian said this was cheap coming from a man who started out throwing paint at bus shelters.
The popular media was soon consumed with the Art Wars, critics, editors, students, other artists, members of the public each threw their weight behind Fabian or Lucien. The scandal was ramped up a notch when one of Lucien's camp revealed Fabian's origins were not so humble, he was not a runaway from a mining family but a petty bourgeois scion. His father owned a small chain of chemists on Mars. Fabian travelled the galaxy on a trust fund. His biography was a fraud. Days later Lucien's back story was the scoop of the day. His background was even more privileged. Fabian may never have come from the mines. Lucien's family owned shares in a number of mining companies. His name back on Mars was not Lucien Fabulous but Leon Fabricant.
Despite the widespread enthusiasm people began to wonder if the situation was getting out of control. Should someone try to mediate? Where was Old Bob? He normally dealt with these situations. Where was he? Bob was spotted all over the place, on the Hemstede, round the campus at the Kentish Town Forum. But not once did he weigh in.
The argument seemed to boil over at special dinner and award ceremony, the Camden Academy Film Awards. Despite Fabian and Lucien's entourages being seated at the opposite end of the hall they managed to meet in a chaotic brawl, flying plumes of cocktail sausages, egg and salad. Both parties were bundled out of the ceremony, but still managed to upset the awards in the evening news. Though virtually everyone disagrees on what exactly happened, Fabian Dedalus and Lucien Fabulous committed themselves to a duel on the Hemestede the following dawn.
Sunrise, thousands of people were waiting on the peak for the duelists to arrive. Six in the morning both Fabian and Lucien were spotted with their cronies marching up the hill, either side. A nervous cheer swept over the crowd. The antagonists were eyeing each other up, wondering what on earth you did in a duel, when a second hubbub brewed. The crowd parted. It was Old Bob.
“Now, lads, lads, what's going on, eh?”
“It's a duel, Old Bob”, said Fabian. “I teaching this whelp a lesson”.
“I take nothing from a man who wanted to fight with crossbows for aesthetic reasons”.
“Why you little...”
“Listen... listen... LISTEN”. Bob got their attention. “Crossbows... swords... laser beams... Why are you trying to kill each other?”
“He is a plagiarist”.
“He has insulted my honour”.
“Come on now, be reasonable” said Bob, shaking his head. “Both of you are very famous men, are you not?”
The crowd cheered lightly.
“Famous, respected and, let's not forget, fairly wealthy men”.
The men assented to this.
“In the past few months you have inspired each other to greater artistic heights... What will become of you if you kill each other, or if one lives and the other dies? This feud has set the art world alight. Why stop it now...? Go home, lads. It's for the best”.
And they did. That was the kind of guy Bob was.
For many years art on Planet Camden was dominated by one man, Fabian Dedalus. Fabian came to Camden as a young man, a hitch hiker working his way across the galaxy. He came from a humble background, a family of humanoid Martians. He left home instead of going down the mines, he left home to pursue his dream of being a galactically recognised artist.
His goal was Camden, where no talent went unrecognised. Sure enough he found his big break. Working the bar in the Spiral Strand Hotel, Fabian spent quiet times and lunch breaks doodling cartoons and character sketches. He showed a few to a punter, who turned out to be the Deputy Editor of the Camden Free Journal, which had a vacancy for Junior Cartoonist. Fabian was hired on the spot.
His new day job was untaxing but well paid helped fund his more artistic pursuits, which at the time was cubist photography and digital portraiture. With two friends he helped found an off campus art centre in Somers Town. Noted in the cultural press, it was deemed an offbeat move holding exhibitions in a Poor area. Before long Instant Pixelism (1) (as their movement was called) became the hot new sensation and Somers Town the edgy new district, pounced upon by artists, students, dealers and scenesters.
Fabian left his job to pursue fame, and sure enough Fabian and friends became famous. The toast of the town to some, bete noir to others. Was it art or anti-social behaviour? The debate, which took up much time and space in the culture pages, was resolved by Old Bob, who said Pixelism was a fine art so long as it was produced with the permission of its subjects.
He had official approval now, but Fabian was a restless talent. He moved on into various different media and genres, such as deuterium fountain sculptures, crystal programming and limestone/acid murals. He was in the middle of a particularly epic mural (an off planet commission for Wandsworth) when he read of the man who was to become his deadly rival, Lucien Fabulous.
Like Fabian, Lucien had come from humble beginnings on Mars. He was discovered by the culture editor of the Camden New Press, whittling statues from blocks frozen nitrogen he'd lifted from the kitchen of the Pluto Savoy. He was living in a commune in St Pancras, which became the base of operation for the Action Muralists (2).
Fabian was scanning the daily papers, sitting in his studio munching down his breakfast before getting to work. He saw in the CNP culture pull-out, in the midst of a friendly interview, Lucien outline his motives for Action Muralism:
“I think it's important to get beyond the staid, prefabricated outlook of public art. We need to inject some spontaneity, some outrage into our environment. The Pixelists, the old-guard have sold-out. It's time for them to take a step back”.
Fabian was interest was piqued, although he didn't respond. Lucien's star began to rise. Together they were the leading lights of Camden art.
After completing his commission Fabian had some good money in his pocket. He decided on a break and change of tack. After six months off the scene he arranged an interview with the CNJ to announce a new exhibition. Fabian was moving into infra red portraiture, an under explored area.
Shortly before the exhibition opened Lucien and co put on their own feature, an exhibition of young artists work in the medium of false colour portraiture.
Asked about the coincidence Lucien shrugged and answered with a question. Why simply rely on the infra red spectrum? His only regret was there was no safe level of gamma radiation, at least not a usable level.
Fabian sent one of his collective to check out Lucien's scene and report back. Judging from the leaked conversations reprinted in various websites and scandal sheets he wasn't happy. Lucien pulled off the ultimate coup. He got Old Bob to sit for him.
Things went on like this, Fabian would attempt something that Lucien would anticipate or ape. Fabian collaborated with acclaimed Boreal director Lazlo Panaflex on an impressionist reworking of Hamlet. Lucien meanwhile worked with the up and coming Betelgeusian auteur Hans Freshenmeyer on a minimalist revision of West Side Story. Fabian produced a small book of his early sketches. Lucien responded by releasing a photo collection of his preliminary carvings.
The competition spilled over into angry words. Fabian accused Lucien of plagiarism. Lucien countered that Fabian's art rested on ideas and his technique relied upon technology, neither of which could be copyrighted or plagiarised. Fabian suggested Lucien's work lacked hand eye dexterity, let alone wit. Lucien responded by taking over the CFP cartoon page for a week. Lucien called Fabian a cheap controversialist. Fabian said this was cheap coming from a man who started out throwing paint at bus shelters.
The popular media was soon consumed with the Art Wars, critics, editors, students, other artists, members of the public each threw their weight behind Fabian or Lucien. The scandal was ramped up a notch when one of Lucien's camp revealed Fabian's origins were not so humble, he was not a runaway from a mining family but a petty bourgeois scion. His father owned a small chain of chemists on Mars. Fabian travelled the galaxy on a trust fund. His biography was a fraud. Days later Lucien's back story was the scoop of the day. His background was even more privileged. Fabian may never have come from the mines. Lucien's family owned shares in a number of mining companies. His name back on Mars was not Lucien Fabulous but Leon Fabricant.
Despite the widespread enthusiasm people began to wonder if the situation was getting out of control. Should someone try to mediate? Where was Old Bob? He normally dealt with these situations. Where was he? Bob was spotted all over the place, on the Hemstede, round the campus at the Kentish Town Forum. But not once did he weigh in.
The argument seemed to boil over at special dinner and award ceremony, the Camden Academy Film Awards. Despite Fabian and Lucien's entourages being seated at the opposite end of the hall they managed to meet in a chaotic brawl, flying plumes of cocktail sausages, egg and salad. Both parties were bundled out of the ceremony, but still managed to upset the awards in the evening news. Though virtually everyone disagrees on what exactly happened, Fabian Dedalus and Lucien Fabulous committed themselves to a duel on the Hemestede the following dawn.
Sunrise, thousands of people were waiting on the peak for the duelists to arrive. Six in the morning both Fabian and Lucien were spotted with their cronies marching up the hill, either side. A nervous cheer swept over the crowd. The antagonists were eyeing each other up, wondering what on earth you did in a duel, when a second hubbub brewed. The crowd parted. It was Old Bob.
“Now, lads, lads, what's going on, eh?”
“It's a duel, Old Bob”, said Fabian. “I teaching this whelp a lesson”.
“I take nothing from a man who wanted to fight with crossbows for aesthetic reasons”.
“Why you little...”
“Listen... listen... LISTEN”. Bob got their attention. “Crossbows... swords... laser beams... Why are you trying to kill each other?”
“He is a plagiarist”.
“He has insulted my honour”.
“Come on now, be reasonable” said Bob, shaking his head. “Both of you are very famous men, are you not?”
The crowd cheered lightly.
“Famous, respected and, let's not forget, fairly wealthy men”.
The men assented to this.
“In the past few months you have inspired each other to greater artistic heights... What will become of you if you kill each other, or if one lives and the other dies? This feud has set the art world alight. Why stop it now...? Go home, lads. It's for the best”.
And they did. That was the kind of guy Bob was.
(1) Instant Pixelism is commonly described as LSD for reality. It is a form of photography utilizing spontaneous life composition. A small portion of the universe is sealed off by a light/matter permeable membrane. Programmed determination is applied by an probability machine that generates various alternatives to the present universe. Subjects (who are sometimes unknowing) wander into this temporary structure and a liable to change direction, colour, clothing, sex, size, species or any number of personal variables. The result is captured by digital camera.
(2) Action Muralists took spontaneous composition into the streets. They'd spray paint buildings, chuck buckets of paint in the road, drop paint bombs from helicopters, commandeer old fire engines and coat neighbourhoods with dye. The point was to get at the interface between random human interaction and pre-determined structure.
Monday, July 12, 2010
From ritual into politics
Walter Benjamin states that art in the age of mechanical reproduction (capitalism) is underpinned by politics, prior to this stage it is bound to ritual.
In the old world people were organised along religious lines and, in the towns, according to craft and commerce. Through notions of democracy and citizenship the French Revolution made politics a public matter. The revolutionaries in Paris created clubs, which organised according to political programmes. They were the ancestral form of modern political parties.
Artistic movements are pretty much always more diffuse than political movements. Artists do not make a class as workers or capitalists do. They can often be bound quite closely, examples being the music scenes in Liverpool and Los Angeles in the early to mid-sixties. This is, in the cases cited, down to instants in the process of capitalism; points where artists appear more like wage workers.
It's worth noting at the dawn of capitalism there was no single Romantic Manifesto (although various writers did put down written thoughts on Romanticism); there was a Surrealist Manifesto. As capitalism developed the was a tendency for artistic intellectuals, like workers to be gathered by capital in greater numbers. Film and television is perhaps the summit of this process, with thousands of hands and brains working in cooperation. It's probably no coincidence people working in these industries are relatively well organised, in unions and guilds.
In this sense the Beat Generation were an exceptionally political movement. They met frequently, before and after their rise to prominence. They discussed and debated their collective outlook. They collaborated together. They frequently promoted each other's work. They explained their philosophy through articles and interviews, frequently in through their own magazine publications (which also carried examples of their works in progress).
Whilst far from being a political party, union or chamber of commerce, The Beats' self-organisation was similar to modern hegemonic apparatus.
In the old world people were organised along religious lines and, in the towns, according to craft and commerce. Through notions of democracy and citizenship the French Revolution made politics a public matter. The revolutionaries in Paris created clubs, which organised according to political programmes. They were the ancestral form of modern political parties.
Artistic movements are pretty much always more diffuse than political movements. Artists do not make a class as workers or capitalists do. They can often be bound quite closely, examples being the music scenes in Liverpool and Los Angeles in the early to mid-sixties. This is, in the cases cited, down to instants in the process of capitalism; points where artists appear more like wage workers.
It's worth noting at the dawn of capitalism there was no single Romantic Manifesto (although various writers did put down written thoughts on Romanticism); there was a Surrealist Manifesto. As capitalism developed the was a tendency for artistic intellectuals, like workers to be gathered by capital in greater numbers. Film and television is perhaps the summit of this process, with thousands of hands and brains working in cooperation. It's probably no coincidence people working in these industries are relatively well organised, in unions and guilds.
In this sense the Beat Generation were an exceptionally political movement. They met frequently, before and after their rise to prominence. They discussed and debated their collective outlook. They collaborated together. They frequently promoted each other's work. They explained their philosophy through articles and interviews, frequently in through their own magazine publications (which also carried examples of their works in progress).
Whilst far from being a political party, union or chamber of commerce, The Beats' self-organisation was similar to modern hegemonic apparatus.
Friday, July 09, 2010
This week's mild interest
Is your local school falling down?
And what about your university?
Are you feeling the heat in the job market?
Or just flipping out at the weird shit on TV?
Well don't worry, ever, because Nick Clegg's giving a once in a lifetime opportunity for voting reform. You, yes you, can vote for more Lib Dem MPs.
Hoorah!
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Armageddon Outta Here!
I think it was Jean Paul Sartre who said there's not such thing as a natural disaster. If you build your house on top of a tectonic rift don't be surprised if one fine day it falls down. It should go without saying the vast majority of people do not have any practical say in where or how they live.
A structural crisis of society (roughly equivalent to an earthquake), will see the system we live under consistently boke up tragedy and horror. We are living through such a crisis, disaster seems to lurk around every corner.
There is a minor spate of ultraviolence has surfaced in our society (or at least our mass media). From the current hunt for Raoul Moat, to the Cumbria killer, to the less well reported (but much more significant) spate of nazis found building illegal arsenals.
Take the upsurge in violent fascism. It fuelled by establishment islamophobia, racism toward muslims. This is in turn an important ideological prop for the War on Terror, actually a war to rebalance the world system of states in favour of western capitalism by taking firm control of the middle east oil spigot. Is it a shock when, nearly ten years after said war was declared, after a decade of relentless propaganda against a minority of our society, that alienated individuals are preparing genocidal terrorism against muslims?
Lets consider the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This was not down to bad luck or human error. The confluence of peak oil and global recession (not separate, discrete events - post war booms have been built on increasing oil consumption) led BP to drill for oil in deeper and more dangerous spots, whilst cutting back on safety procedures to save time and money.
The more prolonged this recession is the greater the size and number of disasters there will be. Calamity will in turn react back on the economic crisis in unexpected ways.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Marxism 2010 - some stuff
A quick dash of thoughts. Marxism 2010 was comparable in size to last year. The event has grown noticably after a mid-decade lull (in small part to do with the 7/7 bombings which drastically cut the size of Marxism 2005 - hey, not the worst outcome of the attacks, but nonetheless the case).
The best of the star turns were Gary Younge, John Holloway and Slavoj Zizek. I think it's fair to say the Younge and Holloway are Marxists (or at least marching politically toward the same goals), Slavoj Zizek is not. Both Holloway and Zizek apparently agree with the labour theory of value, but only Holloway sees any use for working class organisation (although even then as an adjunct to a wider anti-capitalist movement).
It was wonderful to see the Irish comrades again and go to their meetings. Eamonn McCann's talk on Bloody Sunday was enthralling and horrifying, but we should certainly be pleased for the Bloody Sunday relatives, whose family members have been cleared of all suspicion. Richard Boyd Barrett's meeting on current class struggle in Ireland helped put our comrades' rather militant optimism into context. I certainly hope the Irish SWP are proved right.
Other meetings I enjoyed:
Dan Mayer on state capitalism, mostly because it was pitched as an unfamiliar but exciting and liberating idea. This was good as most of the (at least 100-strong) audience was young.
Peter Thomas on reading Gramsci politically. The title was not immediately obvious to me. Thomas argued, however, if we take Gramsci as political rather than cultural thinker (Gramsci's right-wing 'friends' always exclude his politics), we have to insist on a much tighter unity in Gramsci's mind between moments of force and moments of consent. This makes Gramsci's writing much easier to read and understand, not to mention put into practice.
Sarah Creagh gave a clear and concise summary of the English revolution and Oliver Cromwell, which knitted in nicely with a closing summary about the revolution's signficance and legacy today.
The only small downer (apart from no bar for the comedy night) was China Mieville raising what I felt to be distinctly straw arguments to land hard on two members of the audience... but you can't have it all... well, not without socialism.
The best of the star turns were Gary Younge, John Holloway and Slavoj Zizek. I think it's fair to say the Younge and Holloway are Marxists (or at least marching politically toward the same goals), Slavoj Zizek is not. Both Holloway and Zizek apparently agree with the labour theory of value, but only Holloway sees any use for working class organisation (although even then as an adjunct to a wider anti-capitalist movement).
It was wonderful to see the Irish comrades again and go to their meetings. Eamonn McCann's talk on Bloody Sunday was enthralling and horrifying, but we should certainly be pleased for the Bloody Sunday relatives, whose family members have been cleared of all suspicion. Richard Boyd Barrett's meeting on current class struggle in Ireland helped put our comrades' rather militant optimism into context. I certainly hope the Irish SWP are proved right.
Other meetings I enjoyed:
Dan Mayer on state capitalism, mostly because it was pitched as an unfamiliar but exciting and liberating idea. This was good as most of the (at least 100-strong) audience was young.
Peter Thomas on reading Gramsci politically. The title was not immediately obvious to me. Thomas argued, however, if we take Gramsci as political rather than cultural thinker (Gramsci's right-wing 'friends' always exclude his politics), we have to insist on a much tighter unity in Gramsci's mind between moments of force and moments of consent. This makes Gramsci's writing much easier to read and understand, not to mention put into practice.
Sarah Creagh gave a clear and concise summary of the English revolution and Oliver Cromwell, which knitted in nicely with a closing summary about the revolution's signficance and legacy today.
The only small downer (apart from no bar for the comedy night) was China Mieville raising what I felt to be distinctly straw arguments to land hard on two members of the audience... but you can't have it all... well, not without socialism.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)