Wallowing in our own misery

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 Saturday night during the Late Late show 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.

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 as he does with Chrisiano Ronaldo, 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.

Capitalism vs. Democracy

Michael Parenti’s recent article 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;

“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.”

Parenti goes on to highlight the corrupt nature of ‘bailouts’;

“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.”

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.

So it begins...

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.

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,
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.

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...