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In light of the recent presidential election in the United States of America and the potential problems of living under the 2nd Trump Administration for folk there, I would take opportunity to link the following by It's Going Down. This was written before the results came forth on the election.

This provide guidance on organising. From empowering existing projects to building regional capacity, from mutual aid to anti-repression defense, moves will need to be taken to ensure people will be able to resist the coming storm.

Survival is a basic, yet vital, means of resitance.

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Palestinian-American professor, political activist, and author of Orientalism Edward W. Said throws a stone over the border between Israel and Lebanon, July 3rd 2000

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The riots in Southport are just the latest flashpoint in a long history of British reactionary politics. In Fractured, Michael Richmond and Alex Charnley move away from the ahistorical temper of the identity politics debate, exploring how historical class struggles were formed and continue to determine the possibilities for new forms of solidarity in an increasingly dangerous world. In this edited excerpt the authors explore the relationship between street racism and the modernisation of policing and immigration controls.

A imporant reflection by Charnley and Richmond in light of the recent pogroms in Britain.

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The riots in Southport are just the latest flashpoint in a long history of British reactionary politics. In Fractured, Michael Richmond and Alex Charnley move away from the ahistorical temper of the identity politics debate, exploring how historical class struggles were formed and continue to determine the possibilities for new forms of solidarity in an increasingly dangerous world. In this edited excerpt the authors explore the relationship between street racism and the modernisation of policing and immigration controls.

31 July 2024

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We are so back.

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Credit to @notthertenews

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General Election 2024: Void of Choice

I have gone through a political journey since first posting before, from a social democratic consideration to a more... liberterian socialist to communual & anarcho element but it appears the journey has not been only momentum, as it were.

Although I came, behind the scenes, see the 2019 in terms of less damage option when I supported Labour back then, not out of loyalty but of countering Boris, there were some argumentation that there were divides between the reds and blues. Of course, the question of EU membership did cause a issue that hindered the Corbyn campaign, in ways it did not in 2017.

Yet now we can see the return of New Labour and the more managable conservatism that echo it... heck, more so now than it was back in the 1990s, as even Blair then had more attempts to diverse himself from his Conservative counterparts. But Starmer vs whatever Tory PM of the year? The whole thing about two parties being similiar is again at heart, especially on their policies relating to austerity, LGBT+ rights (especially when it comes to the T), disability, privatisation and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The primal area of divergence on asylum seeking is Rwanda but then they both still set on a harsh contest to be against those seeking refuge.

In the end, my true desires are of course towards emacipation but of the best of the worst options would be a hanged parliament, someting to not reward the sadism of the Conseravative Party but also not to reward the callousness of the Labour Party. If one did set on electoralism, this election would still be broken to them. Generally, at least I can see arguments on SNP in Scotland, Plaid in Wales and the Greens generally but these will not be suffecient to what must be done.

It neccessary we build at the grassroots. The hot years of industrial action was a important step but we need to think on how to review such momentum and to set this into greater pressure. It imperative groups, from asylum seeker rights defense groups to queer rights organisations to trade unions to anti-genocide actions and more so, make alliances for a injury to one is a injury to all. Intersection will be a key to make sure people can gather forth.

More importantly, we need to realise dual power and the context of resillance.

To be honest there are those who will better at me in organising and the strategy elements but a call is needed if we to find true people power, as oppose to the electoral dictations we have.

In the end, an injury to one is an injury to all.

Let us use this opportunity to start sowing the seeds of a alternative!

Solidarity forever!

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“Well, they both support committing genocide so you have to commit to support the lesser evil”

Are you out your fucking mind?

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It looks like the British government is angling to ban the protest against the genocide in Palestine next Saturday. The reasoning is especially dumb given that nothing happens on Armistice Day other than the two minute silence and the protest begins two hours after that.

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While the links between the anti-trans moral panic and the far-right are well-documented, 'Gender Critical' feminists are able shield themselves from that connection because of the common assumption that feminism and fascism are polar opposites. But, at many points in history, the distinction between feminism and fascism has been far from clear cut.

Alex Charnley and Michael Richmond, authors of Fractured, discuse UK & US transphobic "Gender Critical feminists" in historical context with the British Union of Fascists and the Women's KKK.

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since it looks like all of y'all bitches have forgotten. if you're protesting in the UK and someone hands you a sign advertising the Socialist Worker's Party, either don't take it or rip the name off.

they're shady as fuck, they've covered up sexual assaults, and they raise a bunch of money ostensibly for "socialist causes" that they use to line their own pockets. don't buy the newspaper, don't advertise their shit, and don't carry their signs at protests

Google "comrade delta" for more information I cba to add it but its publicly available knowledge

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Pondering on Feminism and What Can be Learned from a Recent Discourse

A recent discourse has made rounds on Twitter by a David, who has taken a buzzwording on the topic of ‘discrimination against men’ as it were. He had argued the Left (which as a term something I will need to dissect later) is ‘too mean to men.’ At the same we have figures to take a high ground that reeks of centralism, trying to use this on topic of ‘countering cultic recruitment’ (with the key speakers of this, Vaush, is actually done opposite with his platforming of fascists while engaging in bigotries) and try to mark the ‘opposition’ (AKA the feminists calling David out) as a mob that is not acting ‘adult’ (’funny’ women get infantized). 

This has indeed ugly turnings but there are elements can be salvaged, but in a way that demands we realise that the negative expression men face are a by-product of patriarchal systems.

I am reminded of a article by William Gillis on the abuser manifesto  "Conflict is Not Abuse" by Sarah Schulman; I do recommend one read the article,  One Giant Red Flag, Folded Into A Book. Anyway in the article Gillis makes a very good talk on the topic of power, concepting that:

The ideology of domination is absolutely founded in a drive for stasis and isolation. Power – at every scale – is about reducing complexity in the world, simplifying to what can be controlled, what can be made rigid. The drive for power is deeply tied to a fear of the complexity created by other people having choices and thinking for themselves. Nationalism is a great expression of this: violently slicing through the complex tangle of actually existing human relationships and creating prisons in which to contain people, limiting their choice in possible relationships.

Power hates ‘complexities’ and it many ways this is a good way to conceptualise the system of patriarchy that oppresses women and does harm men too. 

Power likes to treat people in over simple manners to use them and patriarchy can make things simple by turning people into this and that, in tight boxes which is enforced many methodologies, a load of them with the threat and usage of violence. Under patriarchy women are restricted by power. The same systems also requires a ordering of men to ensure they maintain to their function (particularly remember as this sits alongside class, racism and other elements to keep things ‘simple.’) Those men who do not uphold the standards face great penalties, for none shall go outside the box be the motto of power, in many ways. The fear of complexity is such as no method of containing deviation from the boxes is too great.

It would requires it own greater project to further develop from this but yo can see where I am aiming for.

Patriarchy is harmful to all, including men who are dictated by its standards but it necessary to remember its function in denial of the agency of, to put it mildly, big proportion of the population. In order to full dissect where David follied, is that he blamed feminists rather than investigate the systematic matters in ploy. At best he has taken a failure to realise, that worse he has not unlearned his bigotries. 

Anyhow: men will find that feminism can help too, for I recommend one reads the following works by bell hooks:  The Will to Change which talks about love and masculinity, as well as Feminism is for Everybody which talks on the enduring importance of feminism. 

I also suggest in light of the discourse that the book zoom Fractured: Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics by Michael Richmond & Alex Charnley needs to be read, in order to help avoid the pitfalls of status quoism. Their book is also good for its sections of Black Feminism in the USA and UK.

Longer pieces would be needed to fully address but the prime factor is that feminism is for all. 

As for Vaush of course the platformer of fascists would have a dog in the race, as it were, in regards to this. The funny thing is that the figure he uses, Tate, has fallen recently by hands of him being angry at Thunberg to the point that he made a error in his rant video of a pizza box. Anyhow, the fact that certain figure is taking a “critical thinking requires to take his word...” approach is a pointless abstraction and a sign of not judging motive and not realising one can take elements without criteria to those to do so for objective that would be damaging to causes of liberation. 

Feminism is a very significant ingredient to liberation. 

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local idiot gets kneaded

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The UK government is considering a new 'Nationality and Borders' bill to criminalise refugees.

The bill passed its second reading in the Commons yesterday, 20/07/2021, with 366 votes for, and only 265 against

This bill violates:

The 1951 Refugee Convention

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention

It will criminalise arriving in the UK 'irregularly'. This means via another country and across the channel. It could also mean refugees who entered the country via plane with a valid visa whos visa expires during their asylum claim.

It will criminalise anyone who helps these refugees cross the border. This is ostensibly to target traffickers, but the clause 'for gain' has been removed and so it will also include regular people/lifeguards who help boats in distress (yes, including the Royal National Lifeguard Institution (RNLI)!) who could be sentenced to life imprisonment.

This all means refugees crossing the Channel:

Could be imprisoned for up to four years

Would not have the same rights to family reunion - currently 90% of family reunion grants are for women and children to join their families in the UK.

Could be removed to 'a safe third country' who agrees to take them on

Refugees who fly to the UK with a valid visa could also be subject to these rules if their visa expires during their claim for asylum

Refugee Council:

The proposals in the New Plan for Immigration essentially create a two-tier asylum system in the UK, with applicants treated differently depending on whether they entered the UK via a regular or irregular route. The proposals also seek to afford completely different rights and entitlements to people recognised as being in need of protection depending on their route of entry to the UK

Maritime News:

Clause 38 amends an offence under the 1971 Immigration Act of assisting an asylum seeker. The clause increases the maximum sentence to life imprisonment, from 14 years, and removes the words “for gain”, which previously limited prosecutions to paid people smugglers.

RNLI statement:

“We are a life-saving charity and, under maritime law and the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (Solas), our volunteer lifeboat crews will always go to the aid of those in danger at sea,” says the RNLI.

Sources:

The impact of the New Plan for Immigration Proposals on asylum - June 2021, Briefinf, PDF, accessed 21/07/2021, Refugee Council

'Proposals to further criminalise and imprison people seeking asylum to cost more than £400m per year', 19/07/2021, Refugee Council

RNLI issues defiant statement regarding migrant rescues, 13/07/2021, Maritime Industry News

Thousands of refugees to be turned away under new anti-refugee Bill, 5/07/2021, Refugee Council

UK: Home Office set to make asylum system 'far worse', 20/07/2021, Amnesty International UK

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"In Afghanistan, it is not only the Taliban who are murdering people, but the inherent violence of the border state, which prevents people from escaping, and traps them under authoritarian, fascist rule. As Greece frantically completes a 25 mile extension to its border wall with Turkey to deter Afghan migrants from entering the country, and French president Emmanuel Macron gives a speech claiming France must “protect itself from a wave of migrants” immediately after Taliban takeover of Kabul, it is a feminist’s job to fight for open borders and a safe right of passage for all people. We must not allow our agenda to be set by celebrity activists and commentators who were persuaded by intervention in 2001, nor public figures who set a false binary of military involvement versus total inaction."

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I don't know if you guys heard about it but a couple of days ago Emmanuel Macron made an 11min speech regarding what's happening in Afghanistan, saying that France will 'fight against the upcoming irregular [immigrant] influx' alongside other European countries like Germany (you can hear about it here, at ~1m10). Irregular immigrant influx as in: we will fight so that afghans fleeing terrorism cannot enter the country

This is why I hate Emmanuel Macron and the other countries of the European Union