tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63052564365562347242024-03-04T23:04:42.297-08:00Anarchy IslesInform yerself! Opinion, analysis, links and other bits and pieces from an Irish, Internationalist, Libertarian Socialist perspective.Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-40992796067839991312016-06-25T12:46:00.000-07:002016-06-25T12:48:58.015-07:00This Place We Call EuropeA part of Eurasia, a multitude of nations<br />
A corner of the globe that's spawned so many invasions<br />
Divided on many fronts, relieved to have a union<br />
We called it peace but who were we foolin'?<br />
You may paper the cracks but it was long falling apart<br />
Blind yourself to the injustices that were there from the start<br />
Yet remember when all's said and done and you're feeling forlorn<br />
This place we call Europe has yet to be born!<br />
<br />
Now, it's from the border of the two Ireland's hail I<br />
And already I hear you asking "which side?"<br />
So you can put me in a box, put a label on it<br />
Forget we're all European and think you're in credit<br />
Credit where credit's due, what say you my friend?<br />
Are you still thinking of your pocket and how much the banks will lend?<br />
Or are you asking yourself what can be done<br />
To bring real harmony, to bring real love?<br />
<br />
For there are crooks in power, whether in Brussells or London<br />
In league with the Devil they spare but no one<br />
To make us fodder for corporations, steal what they can<br />
If you're not awake to this, you've your head in the sand<br />
Did you know the word Tory comes from the Irish for criminal?<br />
Many a crime they've gotten away with but our reaction has been banal<br />
Like the Blairites of New Labour and all neo-liberals of Europe<br />
They threat us like fools and tell us to shut up<br />
<br />
We'll shut up no more, we'll take back our lives<br />
That's if we're serious about stopping these crimes<br />
Environmental destruction, war, economic collapse<br />
The rich get richer; they've led us on a merry dance<br />
To stop the tide of fascism we need a real union<br />
Joining all the folk of a continent in democratic institutions<br />
We'll start over again in solidarity not scorn<br />
This place we call Europe has yet to be born!<br />
<br />
Now you may think I'm mad for dreaming so high<br />
Tell me what the alternative is if the limit's not the sky<br />
Being shafted from all directions, a taste of the barbarism to come<br />
Look what they done to Iraq and imagine it was your home<br />
The EU and its leaders are in thrall to the US Empire<br />
In all of human history has there been anything so dire<br />
As that bottomless pit that consums all in its wake<br />
We're reaching the precipice...do you realise what's at stake?<br />
<br />
But fear not ye sheltered liberal, there's hope for us yet<br />
Throw off the chains of dellusion, face up to the threat<br />
Though the corporate media will twist, lie, turn all to distortion<br />
No one can be left behind on the march of progression<br />
We face the choice now, whether to occupy ourselves with triffles<br />
Or stand and be brave about something that matters<br />
Take the bold step and ensure equality for all<br />
It's then that Europe could be a beacon for the world<br />
<br />
Fuck me my friend, is that already the time?<br />
Are we still at this place of infighting and crime?<br />
What happened to Greece was just the start of the commotion<br />
We're next to be sacrificed at the alter of capitalist consumption<br />
The 30s in Germany were a warning from history<br />
And still we sleepwalk to a future so gory<br />
That the lessons of the past pass us by is the norm<br />
This place called Europe has yet to be born!<br />
<br />
Manchester is in Europe and that's a geographical fact<br />
You don't need the EU or Westminster to tell you that<br />
Freedom will come when the imperial yoke is thrown off<br />
Whether its from the European elites or Tory toffs<br />
Internationalism will happen when we're on an equal footing<br />
A federated Europe instead of widespread looting!<br />
Democracy from the bottom-up, no hatred or spite<br />
To guard against their reaction, we'd have to try with all our might<br />
<br />
As I pen this from a finca in Spain, abandoned to nature<br />
I marvel at the bounty and what we endure<br />
There's so much that distracts us from all that's important<br />
To get back to our roots and cooperate, we'd surely have abundant<br />
To live lives fulfilled, to meet our potential<br />
Free of greed and fear to a world without exclusion<br />
But these are mere words I know, they've been said before<br />
It's only action now that can open the door<br />
<br />
A continent-wide movement, sweeping all curruption aside<br />
We're better than this cry the masses, we'd slowly turn the tide<br />
To a future where we could face our children with pride<br />
Through all the troubles and whatever the outcome, at least we'll have tried<br />
A vision of hope, no longer being weary<br />
We'd decide our own fate, be able to see clearly<br />
That we're all one, we'd hesitate no more<br />
This place we call Europe has yet to be born!<br />
<br />Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-65943457540213072882014-09-18T03:02:00.001-07:002014-09-18T08:15:05.595-07:00A Free Scotland...and Ireland?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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As I write this from the other side of the world in Vietnam,
the people of Scotland are going to the polls to vote on their future. From a
country that’s no stranger to the wrath of an imperial power, I’ve been
following the Yes campaign with admiration and a growing excitement. All my
life I’ve desired an end to the UK state and almost out of the blue, it’s a
real possibility. Growing up in the borderlands between the two Irelands,
British army checkpoints, patrols, watchtowers and the incessant hum of helicopters
were all a constant reminder of what it meant to be ruled by a far-away,
unaccountable, illegitimate power. This was the reality of the ‘unity’ of the
‘United Kingdom’; an Orwellian unity enforced militarily to ensure a sectarian
statelet remained under her majesty’s rule. Today, the army has gone from the
borderlands but political deadlock in the form of the peace process has offered
little hope for further progression; entrenched sectarianism has kept both
sides stunted, unable to move beyond the narrow parameters of ‘power sharing’.
Scottish independence could change all this.</div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Imagine (not hard at this stage) the result of today’s poll
is Yes. Imagine the UK government decides to accept the result on the condition
that the Scottish government agrees to key terms including the partition of
Scotland. The border counties and wealthy areas of Edinburgh are to remain part
of the United Kingdom. This new Southern Scotland will take in as much land as
possible while ensuring that the No-ers are the majority of the population.
Yes-ers must accept their new status as second-class citizens. Another
condition is that the Scottish government has to swear allegiance to the Queen
and ensure that Westminster’s key business interests north of the border are
not threatened. The large landowner estates are to remain untouched in the new
Scottish Free State. And what if the Scottish government refuses to comply with
Westminster’s demands? Well, Scotland will be faced with “terrible and
immediate war” from the British state if it doesn’t take what’s being offered. If
you’re finding it difficult to imagine all this, there’s no need to strain
yourself…just think back the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Through the fog of the official narrative (i.e bullshit),
the reality of what happened in Ireland is often forgotten now but it has
echoes in the behavior of the British <strike>crooks</strike> politicians over the past few
weeks. Like the forces of Mordor, the establishment has rounded on Scotland
with a combination of platitudes and thinly-veiled treats, supported by its
subservient state and corporate media. If only it was 1921, they wouldn’t have
to pretend to be nice…they could just threaten terrible and immediate war. It’s
so much harder these days, what with having to rely on the BBC and the rest of
the ‘mainstream’ media for propaganda. Plus, they’ve got their hands full
causing carnage and plundering the Middle East…it’s no surprise they’ve taken
their eyes off the ball when it comes to their own backyard. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The history of the Republic of Ireland offers Scotland a
good case-study and warning on how not to run a country. Although proportional representation is an
improvement on first-past-the-post politics, it isn’t the fix-all solution
proponents make it out to be and a quick glance at the political situation in
the 26 counties proves this. Politicians still lie, cronies still plot and the
media still distorts and omits the truth. Unless there is an organized mass
movement from the bottom up, which holds those who make decisions to account,
there can be no true democracy. The Republic may be the poster-boy of a
well-behaved, IMF/EU colony where austerity is the norm, but in the minds of
all those who yearn for real freedom, it is a laughing stock. North of the
border, needless to say, the situation isn’t any better. A deeply divided land,
where the main parties endorse a cruel neo-liberal agenda, the possibility of
an independent Scotland has confused politicians as it has done for those south
of the border. This new political reality offers a vague threat to their
complacency and comfortable position and like the politicians across the water,
they’ve been caught napping. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What happened to the real prospect of a United Ireland? Out
of all the excellent articles on Scottish independence, I’ve read none
suggesting this possibility could be any closer with a Yes vote. There’s been a
lot of ‘I wonder what will happen to Wales and Northern Ireland?’ and
suggestions of independence for both those ‘countries’, an argument that fails
to see that ‘Northern Ireland’ is not and never was a ‘country’. “But what
about the Protestants who want to remain part of the UK?” comes the predictable
reply to the question of a United Ireland. That’s the thing…there won’t be a UK
any longer due to Scotland’s remarkable freeing itself from Westminster’s
shackles. It won’t exist, like
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia no longer exist; cheerio UK! Unionists will face
an identity crisis and I wish them all the best adjusting to a more
accommodating future and riding themselves of illusions of grandeur. It’s
unchartered waters and no one can predict the consequences for the 6 counties
and the course of events but it’s clear that a United Ireland will be an
inevitable consequence of the break up of the UK. It won’t happen straight away
but once the reality sinks in on all sides…the natural momentum will be in this
direction. Talk of Northern Ireland as an independent country is absurd, as is touting the longevity of a fUK (former UK) in the form England, Wales and NI. A
united, federated Ireland, safeguarding the rights of all should be worked
towards if there’s any chance of peace and prosperity on the whole island…and I
argue this not from a nationalist perspective, but from an internationalist
one. The hope is that England too will throw off its shackles and become a
federated, democratic country, as will Wales. An independent Scotland should be
a catalyst for a people’s movement. The initiative should be seized now, when
the time is ripe for positive change. As contradictory as it sounds, a new
Scotland could mark the beginning of a point of no return towards a world where
borders are broken down and the people of different geographical locations
cooperate, heralding a fairer and more equal planet that collectively steers
civilization away from its doom-laden
path to destruction.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, all this depends on a Yes vote. I have no idea
how it’s going to go. The polls and the bookies are telling us the No side will
narrowly win, while the voices of Scotland who are witnessing the public mood
are confident the Yes side will win by a healthy majority. The precedent of
Quebec narrowly voting against independence in 1995 provides a note of caution.
In the event of a No, the momentum of people’s participation in real politics
will either continue or dissipate, depending on how people chose to act.
Whatever way it goes, there’s a choice to be made: either sit on your arse and
complain or stand up with yer pals and fight for a better world. You aren't going to be offered that better world by those at the top...you have to take it. By tomorrow we
could see the beginning of the end of the defunct UK/Republic of Ireland states
and the start of a progressive process of radical change for all the peoples of
these isles. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Alba gu bràth!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-61491113831346706652012-05-20T11:59:00.000-07:002012-05-20T11:59:37.542-07:00An International Organisation for a Participatory Society?<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>The following has been posted in the online edition of <a href="http://theoccupiedtimes.co.uk/?p=4634" target="_blank">The Occupied Times of London</a>. It was written collectively by myself and some other members of the Greater London Chapter of the interim <a href="http://www.iopsociety.org/" target="_blank">International Organisation for a Participatory Society</a>. </i></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i> </i>How does one approach the creation of a new world in the face of such
confusion, cynicism, ignorance and alienation? The left has failed at
offering an effective, unified resistance to rampant neo-liberal
capitalism. Weak from the many assaults from the establishment and the
constant propaganda of the corporate media, the progressive/radical
movements and organisations plod along fatigued from incessant external
and internal conflict. The divided strands of radical individuals and
groups don’t stand a chance against the clinical structure of the elite
with all the apparatus of the state at their disposal. The Occupy
movement has gone some way to refresh the left and offer new hope…the
Thatcherite mantra <em>There is No Alternative </em>has never sounded so
hollow in the face of people coming together with a common purpose to
show how a different, more sane way of living can emerge from the most
difficult of circumstances. In this respect, the Occupy movement has
much in common with (and yet can learn a lot from) much of the destitute
of the world who struggle as whole communities as a means of survival.
In our materialistic Western society, we often forget or underestimate
the value of mutual aid, respect and spiritual health. Our egos are
trained to take over our minds and put the selfish, superficial needs of
the individual above all else. Even those of us who keep our egos in
check and battle the predatory values of capitalism, be it the
conscientious political activist, caring social worker or the wise old
neighbour next door, fall victim to self-indulgence occasionally.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
How then do we overcome our own conditioning and move from an
oppositional force on the margins of public discourse to a wider
movement with majority support and participation? At the beginning of
2012, leading activists from all over the world (including Noam Chomsky,
John Pilger, David Graeber and others) came together to attempt to
answer this question and formed the interim committee of the
International Organisation for a Participatory Society (IOPS). The core
values of this new, ambitious organisation were agreed to be:
Self-Management, Equity/Justice, Solidarity, Diversity, Ecological
Stewardship and Internationalism. These values would determine the
vision of the organisation which would treat the Political, Economical,
Kinship and Community/Culture spheres as being of equal importance to
one another as part of a philosophy of complementary holism. In other
words, all aspects of life should be considered in offering a vision for
participatory societies, forming a network spanning the local, national
and international. Self-determination for all peoples, whether in
Shrewsbury or Shanghai, Lagos or Los Angeles wouldn’t contradict
cooperation between the local and global. A bottom-up structure would
facilitate this network of individuals and communities, groups and
projects, to form a truly participatory world where every person could
reach their full potential.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Needless to say, such an idea seems utopian to many but this is what
means to think of a better world. We set the parameters; we decide our
future, unhindered by what is promoted as <em>realistic</em> or <em>acceptable</em> by
elites and their cronies. In April, the interim website of IOPS was
launched to help fulfill this vision. Partially inspired by Occupy and
the decision-making processes of its assemblies, IOPS aims to encourage
people to deliberate online and face-to-face. Local, Regional and
National Chapters in a framework of nested councils would link whole
countries and continents showing how they can function horizontally,
where real power is held by the people in a truly democratic way. We
hope that in this initial stage, IOPS can help provide a platform for
the Occupy movement, improving organisation and advocating the worldwide
expansion of the activities and core values at its heart.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obviously there are many challenges to such a radical, international
organisation. It is our hope that existingcampaigns on many fronts can
use IOPS to broaden and sustain their activism beyond
local/one-off/single-issue campaigns. Being at the interim stage of the
organisation and having most of the members on the interim committee
from either the United States or Europe, it has a long way to go to be
truly international in the sense of having the participation of members
in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The website has been translated into 9
other languages so far and is continuing to look for volunteers to
translate yet more. The name and logo or the site is also interim….this
is all open for democratic discussion and will be open to a popular vote
once there is sufficient participation internationally. There is also
the issue of excluding the illiterate and those without regular access
to the internet but this problem can be overcome at a later time if the
organisation grows in such numbers internationally that it reaches
critical mass and ensures its core values are effectively promoted to
all. Once we effectively organise, the main obstacles are the
governments, corporations and financial institutions. Their power is
illegitimate – more and more people are become conscious of this and
crying out for something that realises all their hopes. Once this
becomes global, the old order would crumble under the weight of popular
resistance and solidarity. Our main challenge is convincing ourselves
that we are capable of winning a better world. If we do that and
organise relentlessly to achieve our goals, all this may eventually
become more than an impossible dream.</div>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-17884678807049971622012-05-06T05:04:00.000-07:002012-05-14T05:54:42.735-07:00Freedom and Democracy in Fallujah<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="texto1">"The total number of victims is still unknown. In fact, many of them are not born yet.</span>" <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107424" target="_blank">IPS</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the
Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004,
exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.” <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assault-on-fallujah-worse-than-hiroshima-2034065.html" target="_blank">Independent</a></blockquote>
Remember Iraq? That country that was crippled by Western sanctions and then mercilessly attacked, occupied and thrown into sectarian strife and civil war, remember? You don't hear much about it these days, never mind the the specific details of what life entails for the unfortunate souls of certain shattered cities in the country. The US government doesn't want you to know the truth about what happened in Fallujah. <a href="http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2012/03/censored-fallujah-lost-generation" target="_blank">This video</a> was repeatedly taken down from YouTube without any explanation. If the horrendous consequences of the use of depleted uranium by the US military in Fallujah became widely known and understood, more people might question future wars of conquest. The lost generation in Fallujah could easily be the lost generation of Bradford or Derry or Portland in years to come. Don't think they wouldn't use this weaponry against their own populations if things got out of hand. We're heading in that direction. On the periphery of Empire, the dark-skinned people can easily be sacrificed for imperial ends, all in the name of freedom and democracy, with the corporate media largely complicit in this rendering of innocents 'non-people'. They have the power to determine what is worthy of news and what is <a href="http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5:beyond-hiroshima-the-non-reporting-of-fallujahs-cancer-catastrophe&catid=1:alerts&Itemid=34" target="_blank">not</a>. But this will come back to haunt the peoples of the West when they are on the receiving end of the tyranny to come. That is unless we speak out and act now.<br />
<br />
With 'humanitarian intervention' on the rise again and the drum beats of war beating louder for an attack on Iran, opposition to Empire is more crucial than ever. Many were fooled by the propaganda on Libya that enabled that country to be attacked and carved up by western backed militias, often aided by al-Qaeda. Many more are fooled by the message that we 'need to intervene' in Syria, as if 'we' (i.e Western elites) were interested in anything but stealing other countries' resources and keeping their populations subjugated. Fallujah shows what happens to a place that dares offer resistance to the US when it has decided to occupy a foreign country. Afghanistan is still experiencing the same brutality. Drones have killed countless civilians on the borderlands with Pakistan. Fallujah is just one tragedy in a series of tragedies on an epic scale. Obama continues Bush's war of terror without looking back on the devastation in its wake. It is inevitable that this insatiable desire for never ending expansion and exploitation will result in the entire imperial edifice crashing down, as has happened with all empires, but this time the damage to the world could be apocalyptic given the multiple environmental, economic and social crises we face. We can't afford to ignore the continued expansion of the US Empire.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5N04qnzo7FJIYPly-VsjTZjCKADC-e45rF7zWCKsELPKkLUCq_FZrqTaTDyvjkL8sM4CZirpd3Y6j8LCT5QkkuCQq-tkH43tbfWyMXNJzpIJVxQBokW3o6c0_ZjhkdmtYIOAlB5ZhIE/s1600/us+military+bases+around+the+world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5N04qnzo7FJIYPly-VsjTZjCKADC-e45rF7zWCKsELPKkLUCq_FZrqTaTDyvjkL8sM4CZirpd3Y6j8LCT5QkkuCQq-tkH43tbfWyMXNJzpIJVxQBokW3o6c0_ZjhkdmtYIOAlB5ZhIE/s320/us+military+bases+around+the+world.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-72573712171803360992012-04-10T08:09:00.001-07:002012-04-13T14:43:04.294-07:00Cambridge: Jolly Good Old Boy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjy_wzJFPp9wIcHVE3nGoBf6UXb693g1hQ84iPMzxBdJcnGjlNPw8122S8eahV5miyzzBUmjxSj2PHX6e2YIkwuICBWKGt3-b62PKXO_vbb9c1kpm7e3bfZYS1UeYjFw4qcWny5YmWdI/s1600/DSCF8641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjy_wzJFPp9wIcHVE3nGoBf6UXb693g1hQ84iPMzxBdJcnGjlNPw8122S8eahV5miyzzBUmjxSj2PHX6e2YIkwuICBWKGt3-b62PKXO_vbb9c1kpm7e3bfZYS1UeYjFw4qcWny5YmWdI/s320/DSCF8641.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Isn't it <strike>scary</strike> lovely. I've spent a long time in England (mainly in Surrey and London) but being in Cambridge actually feels like you're in England... or the stereotypical version of it. Aesthetically it feels somewhat protected from the worst excesses of corporatism/neo-liberalism.Wandering around the place it's obvious that the powers that be have some respect for it, unlike most of the rest of the country where rabble like myself live. I felt I was intruding on their privileged playground, but if you ignored the fact it's a bastion of elitism (along with Oxford), there are worse places you could spend an afternoon. It's also sobering to see where the the moneyed class send their privately-educated kids to develop their superiority complexes. The <a href="http://www.democraticaudit.com/are-public-school-boys-still-running-britain">stats</a> speak for themselves.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz8Q8vMBU4DianbAH8CcrWJdxcdbkSh2qXSwL0ICVx9E6XtXHZ8NHq3RoAad7FlQ-8ckCMNlU-DlTuf1eTuB-OuCgBSRDAXRyaUW5cQNPEXFf4ESkQep458amrEEzuXTvS5WzOApzgvsk/s1600/DSCF8709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz8Q8vMBU4DianbAH8CcrWJdxcdbkSh2qXSwL0ICVx9E6XtXHZ8NHq3RoAad7FlQ-8ckCMNlU-DlTuf1eTuB-OuCgBSRDAXRyaUW5cQNPEXFf4ESkQep458amrEEzuXTvS5WzOApzgvsk/s320/DSCF8709.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-52249319772101227002012-04-01T10:18:00.015-07:002012-04-07T05:14:41.753-07:00Exile in LondonA year consumed between the hours of 9 and 5. Even outside the hours of wage slavery, there is no space: underground connections, stony faced automatons, red buses, endless polluting traffic, fretting about spending. Parks and the likes offer occasional rest bite but you get spent eventually. Spending life and cash, preoccupied with the logic of the market even if you denounce it. The divisions of this city are blurred: exploitation and alienation transcend privilege and class. Although the rich often pretend otherwise, they are surrounded. The same goes for the poor. 2 cities overlapping, and it's not always easy to tell which one you're in.<br />
<blockquote>
<br />
'You did an excellent job. You've seen how we work. Nowhere else works like the cities,' he said. 'It's not just us keeping them apart. It' everyone in Beszel and everyone in Ul Qoma. Every minute, every day. We're only the last ditch: it's everyone in the cities who does most of the work. So if you don't admit it, it does. But if you breach, even if it's not your fault, for more than the shortest time...you can't come back from that.'...........<br />
.........HE WAS RIGHT. I imagined myself in Beszel now, unseeing the Ul Quma of the crosshatched terrain. Living in half of the space. Unseeing all the people and the architecture and vehicles and the everything in and among which I had lived. I could pretend, perhaps, at best, but something would happen and Breach would know.<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">'The City and the City', pp 370-371, China Miéville</span></blockquote>
Cool, cloud covered days, the remnants of a wishy-washy winter give way to a sun blessed week. Clear skies a reminder that freedom is something more than a mere dream. Gliding through the more 'interesting' parts of the city in the mild warmth of a Saturday in Spring, the roar of the jet engines above have a more familiar, soothing sound.<br />
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOO5HButZ2kAVKnhktw8R5rmhsVVJ84iugDNmRh-Z9O165sGsdK9JzQsos4qbEosqPMVHYoEqnIjDUGyO85czm-y7azwK2WJo8h9NccyY-6egVDlav8nZgQwAg7vy7xI7kPnDBfUUQGNo/s1600/DSCF8565.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726494215964840786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOO5HButZ2kAVKnhktw8R5rmhsVVJ84iugDNmRh-Z9O165sGsdK9JzQsos4qbEosqPMVHYoEqnIjDUGyO85czm-y7azwK2WJo8h9NccyY-6egVDlav8nZgQwAg7vy7xI7kPnDBfUUQGNo/s320/DSCF8565.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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A turn in the weather. A trip away from London through endless estates, suburbia and industrial waste-space. The blue skies are still there - you just can't see them for the clouds. Great dark clouds reflecting the colourless colonisation of life below.<br />
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Corrugated iron grid fences lining railway tracks and adding mediocre fortressing to the stolen land of corporations. Thousands, maybe millions of miles of it - mass produced for a mass-produced enclosure, sectoring the all-pervasive concrete. Scar on scar on a scarred environment.<br />
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Pylons, loading bays, warehouses, yards. The urban periphery and those unfortunate enough to live amongst these neoliberal ruins - they can't afford to move elsewhere. Elsewhere: somewhere away from the saturating grey.<br />
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This is progress. It doesn't have a beginning or an end - there is no memory here. Welcome to the echo chamber of banality. A Europe more vividly dull and meaningless than its continental counterpart, nearing its critical mass. The crash won't bring celebration on the streets - just panic at empty supermarket shelves and whole communities suddenly realising it's too late. The hollow, make believe world they sleepwalked through in abundant times was an illusion afterall. The shell of civilisation bruatally exposed to the coming revenge of nature.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jMYzA7AqpujTbZBAt2Rcy74uPWtznuhCEm1afWGmCozUvPukpZlP0iQjQj3tWnuwnZPQVoW-VWeR5DtAZhJJYm9o9H2jln6dxd9j7b4UDYSEB1TUKmgh6of-ZzrwE6osWNuqF2Qk4Oo/s1600/DSCF8626.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726539384746396994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jMYzA7AqpujTbZBAt2Rcy74uPWtznuhCEm1afWGmCozUvPukpZlP0iQjQj3tWnuwnZPQVoW-VWeR5DtAZhJJYm9o9H2jln6dxd9j7b4UDYSEB1TUKmgh6of-ZzrwE6osWNuqF2Qk4Oo/s320/DSCF8626.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-12630102122998374492012-04-01T09:07:00.004-07:002012-04-01T14:20:48.795-07:00Giving the blog another goAfter a 3 year absence Fionn is back. I'll try to last longer than a month this time before getting distracted. I've yet to define a real purpose for this blog - is it a reflective personal journal for my political ramblings or a resource for those interested in radical political and creating a better world than the current 1984-like one we inhabit? Fuck knows. Maybe a mixture of both, or something more frivolous. I'm hoping with a bit of patience it'll evolve into something more coherent anyway.<br /><br />It was created at a time when the deadening impact of unemployment was taking its toll - aimlessness had me in its grasp. Years of drifting across Ireland, Scotland and Spain interspersed by periods of fortnightly visits to the dole office finally pushed me over the edge and into the more tangible life of full-time work, where I'm kept busy but stressed. All the more stressed for having moved to London. I don't yearn for the dole again but having been in the big smoke for over a year, it's time I left and returned to the less materialistic life of a drifter.Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-18438980143955950972009-02-24T10:30:00.000-08:002009-02-25T06:10:45.231-08:00Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009<p></p><p align="justify">American website <a href="http://projectcensored.org/top-stories/category/y-2009/">Project Censored </a>has compiled a list of the top 25 Censored stories for 2009. If the press was truely free, these stories would receive more coverage but the mainstream media continues to churn out the same irrelevant nonsense to ensure people have more in common with mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed on shite) than they do with intelligent thinking beings. </p><p align="justify">Top of the list is the information from prestigious polling organisation Opinion Research Business that <a href="http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/1-over-one-million-iraqi-deaths-caused-by-us-occupation/">over one million Iraqi people have been killed as a result of the US occupation</a>. Reliable research also concludes that up to 4 million Iraqis have been made refugees during the same period. Out of this, there are 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria alone. Where are the extensive media reports and interviews from the people suffering from this massive humanitarian disaster caused by imperialism? They don’t exist because for the mainstream media, the Iraqi people are non-people. The BBC for example spent most of one of its news programmes on the snowfall across Britain. By the way it was reported you’d think it was the start of the next ice age with the world as we know it coming to an end. Another example is the latest coverage about an ex-Big Brother celebrity who happens to be dying of cancer and getting married. I’m ashamed I even know about it, but you couldn’t escape it. That’s what people are paying their TV licences for. I can only imagine how angry and disturbed the average Iraqi is at everything that’s happened. Their country has been mercilessly ripped apart. I read an emotional <a href="http://uruknet.info/?p=m51628&hd=&size=1&l=e">article</a> last week by an Iraqi woman, expressing some of this anger. You’d never be let hear anything as real as that on the BBC (or indeed, the RTE).</p><p align="justify">This top 25 list is a good reminder to anyone interested in knowing what’s actually happening in the world; real human stories effecting real humans. Massive government corruption, undercover ‘security’ agreements and general erosions of civil liberties are not new revelations to anyone regularly looking at independent media. This also goes for the stories about <a href="http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/15-worldwide-slavery/">slavery</a> (there are more slaves in the world today than at any other time in history) and the widespread oppression of indigenous peoples. I’m sure so much more could be added to the list – it’s just a snippet of underreported stories.</p>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-45294461593464065042009-02-14T07:00:00.000-08:002009-02-14T08:40:02.384-08:00Occupation 101Trailer for film documentary Israel doesn't want you to see:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GuoKwAHmJo4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GuoKwAHmJo4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-53266823157683659342009-02-12T11:04:00.000-08:002009-02-14T07:30:50.178-08:00Wallowing in our own misery<div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">Last night the Republic of Ireland soccer team scraped a win against a poor Georgia side. I’ve seen some bad games of football in my life but by Jaysis, it was painful to watch. Georgia scored after 46 seconds and then were content to sit back for the rest of the game, which seemed a good tactic considering the impotence of the Irish attack. I reckon all would have went well for the Georgians if the referee hadn’t decided to gift Ireland a penalty for no reason in the second half. After that, it came as no surprise that Ireland scored again. The goal celebration of Robbie Keane was euphoric enough to make anyone believe that going 2-1 up against Georgia at home in the 80th minute is something worth getting euphoric about. Maybe I’m a killjoy but I think that was shameful. In such a shite World Cup qualifier, a bit of humility wouldn’t have gone amiss, especially considering the fans paid around €50 for the privilege (I watched it on the telly thank God). I cringe at the thought of them playing a decent team. I was looking forward to all this being pondered by the panel after the game - I expected Eamonn Dunphy to rip into the team, the manager and the FAI but to my disappointment he was very subdued in his criticism. Fleeting references to two of Ireland’s best players not even being picked for the squad were made but any anger he felt over that didn’t show. He must have used up all his anger on <a href="http://www.rte.ie/tv/latelate/av_20090206.html?2488947,null,228">Saturday night during the Late Late show </a>when he was talking about the recession. That was vintage Dunphy. He was passionate and emotional because he was discussing a serious issue, but even then he didn’t go half far enough in expressing what’s actually happening. </div><div align="justify"><br />For anyone who missed the end of the Late Late Show on Saturday night, it was fascinating stuff. As unlikely as that sounds (I happened to come across it by accident while flicking through the channels) and as much as I dislike Pat Kenny as the next person, it was a great insight into the way the country seems to be ‘dealing’ with the ‘economic crisis’. Not that Pat Kenny was anything to do with how insightful it was. His bland and often irrelevant questions often led to bland and irrelevant answers from the two other middle aged men with Dunphy. The senator defended Biffo and the other scoundrel from the moneyed class slobbered on about how “we shouldn’t get caught up in obsessing about taking our anger out on bankers”. Rightly Dunphy got wound up by all the nonsense coming from the other two and said that the people that caused the crisis should be brought to justice. He went on to say that as much as he respected Biffo for “giving his life to public service” he was wrong not to attempt to hold such people to account. Tears weld up in his eyes when he reminisced about when his own father lost his job all those years ago and how he knows how difficult it is for working families being threatened with losing their homes. All this got a good response from the studio audience who clapped at his more honest analysis of the situation. People have had enough of official apologists and their servile explanations of the crisis - most people recognise bullshit for what it is. Despite this, there is a lot of confusion about what should be done. Taking to the streets is very much on the agenda but unless people are demanding real change- i.e. revolutionary change, then they are going to be screwed over even more than they have been. I understand Dunphy’s difficulty in expressing a more truthful/radical analysis of the situation considering his prominence on mainstream TV and radio, but it really needs to be said. Biffo deserves zero respect – he is part of a political class that looks out for itself and not the people – that is the case for any politician from a mainstream political party. The whole system is rotten to the core. If Dunphy took the same honest approach to this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yciN0SCYg7Y">as he does with Chrisiano Ronaldo</a>, he’d be calling us all “petulant brats”. People whinge about the government and yet, with infantile expectations, they expect the same crowd of gangsters to get us out of the mess. It’s time we collectively grew up, grab the social/economic bull by the horns and stop wallowing in our own misery. </div><div align="justify"></div>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-17320275684104305322009-02-12T10:57:00.000-08:002009-02-12T11:20:32.127-08:00Capitalism vs. Democracy<div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Michael Parenti’s recent <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21957.htm">article</a> on the self-destructive nature of capitalism focuses on the economic meltdown in America but it is relevant to all Industrial countries faced with the same crisis. It’s ironic to hear the self-righteous voices of parliamentarians complaining about rogue elements within the financial system as if they are the exceptions rather than the rule;</div><div align="justify"><br />“Capitalism breeds the venal perpetrators, and rewards the most unscrupulous among them. The crimes and crises are not irrational departures from a rational system, but the converse: they are the rational outcomes of a basically irrational and amoral system.” </div><div align="justify"><br /> </div><div align="justify">Parenti goes on to highlight the corrupt nature of ‘bailouts’;</div><div align="justify"><br />“Worse still, the ensuing multi-billion dollar government bailouts are themselves being turned into an opportunity for pillage. Not only does the state fail to regulate, it becomes itself a source of plunder, pulling vast sums from the federal money machine, leaving the taxpayers to bleed...Those who scold us for “running to the government for a handout” are themselves running to the government for a handout.”</div><div align="justify"><br />The very people who cause the crisis and whose mantra is “Greed is good” are being rewarded for their capitalist astuteness at a cost to other capitalists and non-capitalists alike. Democracy continues to be subverted throughout the world for these means and as wealth accumulates, poverty spreads.</div>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-37759201942435123082009-02-06T09:01:00.000-08:002009-03-05T12:00:32.930-08:00Demanding the Impossible: Anarchy and the real world<div align="justify"><br />Man is only truly free among equally free men.<br />Michael Bakunin<br /><br />From the way people carry on with their everyday lives you’d think the word isn’t heading towards complete disaster. It’s nearly as if climate change, economic meltdown, environmental catastrophe and all the immense suffering to come is never going to happen. Those thoughts about immanent disaster are kept safely at the back of people’s heads, although sometimes fleeting glimpses of them break out in the form of art. This can be seen in the abundance of films with apocalyptic themes (28 Days Later, Children of Men, Cloverfield, I am legend, etc), which reflect the underlying fears of our times. It’s an entertaining theme with flashy explosions and adrenalin but the fact that such issues aren’t taken seriously is evidence enough of the backwardness of capitalism. Most people recognise the down side of capitalism when it’s pointed out- it’s so obvious that it’s impossible to dispute but with this recognition comes a feeling of helplessness. A recent conversation with my friend MacAodha (to give him his Gaelic name) conveys this typical sentiment. It went something like this:<br /><br />Me: Fuck capitalism: it needs to be destroyed.<br />MacAodha: Aye, that’s all fine and dandy Fionn, but what’s the alternative?<br />Me: Anarchy or Libertarian Socialsim. You know I’m an anarchist don’t you.<br />MacAodha: Anarchy!?! Ah come on! You have to have some rules otherwise there’s just chaos- you can’t have everyone going about willy nilly.<br />Me: Anarchy doesn’t mean chaos; it means ’without authority’.<br />MacAodha: But you need some sort of organisation going on or everything would just fall apart.<br />Me: You’re right but that doesn’t have to happen in an unfair way through force in the form of government and laws. It’s not beyond the bounds of reality that society could be organised on the basis of voluntary cooperation, compassion and solidarity.<br />MacAodha: Ah, I don’t know now. That all sounds very pie in the sky to me.<br /><br />’Pie in the sky’ it may be but if you take into consideration what has been achieved by determined groups of people in the face of adversary over the past couple of centuries, freedom begins to look a lot more possible. I say ’freedom’ because that’s exactly what we haven’t got under our current system- the western world is ironically known as ’the free world’ but we’re a long way from being free. The fact that a ’western world’ separate from the rest of the world even exists is testament to humanity’s lack of freedom. The ’western world’ is just another name for rich countries that have benefited from colonialism, exploitation and slavery at the expense of poor countries. The same principle applies for the separation of people into ’upper’ and ’lower’ classes; the upper class benefits from the exploitation and perceived inferiority of the lower class leaving everyone impoverished. In a free world, the majority of people wouldn’t have a disadvantage when it comes to basic well being.<br /><br />Throughout history, there have been many movements against such disadvantage but none was more inspirational or achieved as much as the anarchists during the Spanish revolution during the 1930s. They showed that it is possible to have a more equal society where everyone was mobilised to work together for the general good. Factories were taken over by the people and the land was collectivised resulting in more efficient work despite the population of Republican Spain being at war with the fascist forces of Franco. In ’Homage to Catalonia’, George Orwell described Barcelona in 1937 as being the only place he had been where, "the working class were in the saddle". In that book he gives a first hand account of the sabotage of the revolution by the communists which were backed by Stalin who cared more about destroying the hard won achievements of the people than he did about fighting Hitler’s ally in Spain. The same goes for the ’leaders of the western world’ at the time who would rather stay neutral than support the side fighting fascism. In the end, the communist attack on the anarchists resulted in a break of solidarity and defeat at the hands of Franco who remained dictator of Spain until 1973. The moral of the story: freedom is possible but those who advocate it will be attacked on many fronts. If Stalin hadn’t stuck his dirty, big authoritarian tentacle into Spain and Hitler hadn’t supported Franco, the revolution would have continued to progress. But that’s history.<br /><br />I’m not saying that the anarchism in Spain at that time was perfect or getting to that stage now would be easy but it might be worth elevating our aspirations so that we’re at least on the same track as those who had the nerve to believe in something decent. Deep down, everyone holds these ’radical’ aspirations but when it comes to acting on them, understandably people prefer to turn away from the harsh truth- its easier to just accept the way things are as long as it’s not too unbearable. That’s why anarchy hardly ever gets a shout in. The conventional view of anarchy can only be broken through education and awakening.<br /><br />When I think of how I used to view anarchism, it’s not so different to how I used to view sex. When I was young and first started hearing about how babies come about, I was disgusted at what a couple had to go through to procreate. For years before puberty, when I obtained an erection, apart from not knowing why it happened, it was nothing more than an uncomfortable inconvenience and the thought of having to squeeze it into a tight space filled me with horror. "I’m not looking forward to having to go through that", I would say to my friend as he explained the process of intercourse and we’d swiftly move onto less shocking topics of conversation. But over time, sexual indifference gave way to curiosity and curiosity soon gave way to desire. It wasn’t long before girls became an obsession and the idea of sex, which had once made me squirm, became pure bliss. Now, like most men, I can hardly go three seconds without thinking about it. Obviously this is a normal transition from childhood to adulthood but a similar transition took place with my ideas of anarchy. A revolution can only come through the development of knowledge and attitudes towards the world. That way, people would learn to demand the impossible.<br /><br />Until we face the fact that government doesn’t work and start to think about the alternative world we want to live in and the way it should be organised, the future will continue to look very scary indeed. On those terms, such talk begins to seem a lot less idealistic and becomes more realistic.</div>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6305256436556234724.post-53754291100828572602009-02-03T13:16:00.000-08:002009-02-24T13:55:31.210-08:00So it begins...<div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">With all the talk these days of recession and economic turmoil, there seems to be an even greater volume of bullshit coming from television, radio and newspapers. Misinformation lies, distortions and distractions are nothing new for the mainstream media when dealing with important issues, but at a time when jobs continue to be lost by the thousands every day, the absurd nature of the official narrative becomes ever more prominent. The worrying thing is that many people’s views on this subject are influenced by this official narrative – their apathy and/or confusion a reflection of all the twisted and irrelevant messages they are bombarded with. Same goes for the public’s opinions on most subjects – health, education, wealth, transport, relationships, community, international politics. It’s only natural that we have many taken-for-granted assumptions about all different aspects of life, considering that we are part of a system that demands our compliance and acceptance of conformity. But at a time like this, an opportunity arises to stand back and take a fresh look at what is happening around us. Is the way we live our lives sane? Are we right just to accept the way things are and try live our lives as usual? How is all this connected to the wider world? Just what the f*ck is really happening? Not easy questions to face up to, especially if the word ‘revolution’ sounds threatening to you. But it’s in all our interests to ask and genuinely attempt to answer such difficult questions. It’s easy for politicians and other fat cats to tell us that we’re ‘living beyond our means’ while they continue to set the rules of the game in their favour and fill their own pockets. But leaving the complete hypocrisy of that remark aside, they have a point. We are all living unsustainably – in terms of the costs to people and planet, we greedily consume more than our fair share without making any attempt to understand the way the system works. We only live such materially comfortable lives at the expense of others. These unseen others are savagely exploited and oppressed so that we have more. This exploitation and oppression is inherit everywhere in the capitalist system – it wouldn’t function otherwise. It perverts the way we live and think. But if you break from orthodox ways of thinking about yourself and others (both locally and globally), you’ll have a much better chance of living and contributing to a better life, free from the constraints and confusion of a sick society.<br /><br />So, I’m hoping to document much of what our sick society in Ireland (and other countries) needs to face up to if it is ever to recover. I’ll be looking at how capitalism and true democracy are incompatible, how taxes are immoral and should not be paid, the need to oppose all governments, how making poverty history means making capitalism history, colonialism and exploitation of poor countries today, mutualism in society, making resistance mainstream, an explanation of the economic situation for dummies, why the mainstream media can’t be trusted to report honestly, international conflict,<br />and much more in an attempt to highlight important issues. If all that sounds ‘extreme’ to you, yeah – I suppose you’re right – but no more ‘extreme’ than allowing ourselves passively and ignorantly watch our whole world round us turn to shite.<br /><br />I’ll also be providing links to other websites, blogs and articles that give accurate reporting and analysis of events and current affairs. All in an attempt to do my wee bit to help people get more informed...</div>Fionnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495440688882412477noreply@blogger.com0