Pound in me pocket
I got no pound in me pocket
I ain’t got an eye in me socket
But Keef’s Labour
Will be our saviour
And boost Great Britain
Just like a rocket
That’s wot he say anyway
Growth the secret of our payday
Rach sez there’s nay money
But we’ll be in’t land of honey
Cos Keef’s Labour
Will be our saviour
Be sad if it weren’t funny.
Welcome to the new dystopia, same as the old dystopia. It's Monday, and less than forty-eight hours ago Iran, in conjunction with Hezbollah and the Houthis, launched a series of missile and drone attacks on Israel. Twitter was alive with tweets about the assault, including footage of the iron dome, and the media stations quickly picked up the attack. WWIII was trending.
The Guardian later reported that:
"The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that about 360 missiles and drones were fired from Iran and that “99% of the threats” had been intercepted in a successful defence mission that may have cost Israel £800m – but will have saved many lives and dented Iran’s military credibility."
It's hard to find really accurate information on the attack and the extent of the success of it. It seems that Iran and its allies weren't expecting to cause very many casualties, and I've read that the drones that they used weren't the most sophisticated they have, though to date I've been unable to verify that.
I've no doubt that millions of people, including me, are sick and tired of the horrors of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, supported by the USA, UK and its allies, and are desperate for the slaughter to end. But Israel has impunity despite the so-called 'rules based order', and is able to get away with mass murder. As a result, the whole of the west has blood on its hands, and has lost all credibility, if it ever had any.
One of the worst offenders is Germany. They have offered unqualified support to Israel and have attacked genocide protestors in their own country. The Palestine Conference which was meant to be held in Germany on Saturday was raided by the police and shut down. One of the Jewish speakers was arrested. Yanis Varoufakis who was invited to speak via streaming has since been banned from entering Germany or making any political broadcasts there. You can find the speech that was banned here.
It's important to know that the dystopian world we live in now isn't new. It's been around for a very long time. When I was a kid, the Vietnam War was raging. The USA dropped many thousands of pounds of bombs on Vietnam and Cambodia, and rained down Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide, onto the rain forests. This series of photographs captures some of the horrors of that time. I was able to witness many of these horrors on TV news at home. Coverage was much more graphic in those days. And, since then, we have had other horrors in the former Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This bloodshed has been going on for the whole of my life in the supposedly civilsed world, most of it initiated by the imperialist USA.
Here we are in our very own dystopia, wondering whether it's really all going to kick off. My view is that it won't - not for a while yet - but I can't be sure. Nobody can. This all comes on top of shit rivers, failing NHS, no dentists, shit post and public transport and a life negotiating potholes on the roads - #BrokenBritain - as they say. What can we do? Stay calm, organise, organise and fight back is the only real option. Support independent and independent socialist candidates in the upcoming local and national elections. Vote Green if you can (I'm not a massive fan, but they are a better option than any of the other parties), and boycott genocidal Labour and the Conservatives.
If you want to find out about more of the history and background to our current problems, check out my post on Western Culture.
Labour loves Thatcher
Did you know that your oppressors are the real victims? The people that keep you poor, without access to a dentist or healthcare, and living in grotty rented accommodation. That's what we learned this week after the farcical 'Gaza ceasefire debate' in parliament on Wednesday. Apparently, the fiasco, which scuppered the SNP motion on Israeli genocide wasn't down to Keir Starmer twisting the arm of the speaker Lyndsey Hoyle to break with precedent and allow Labour's amendment to the SNP's motion - it was really about the fear that MPs have of being threatened by protestors.
As the guardian reported: 'Hoyle on Thursday again apologised for a “wrong decision” and said his mistake had been made in pursuit of looking after MPs, after being told of “absolutely frightening” threats against them if the Labour position was not debated'.
Since then, we have had MPs whining about 'threats' from peaceful protestors who have questioned them about their support for Israeli genocide in Gaza. On Thursday, Glasgow MP Paul Sweeney claimed that his constituency office had been "stormed" by people protesting about Gaza. MPs are the real victims, not the helpless people of Gaza who are being slaughtered because of their refusal to support a ceasefire.
The National reported on the protest at Sweeney's office:
"However, Police Scotland has now confirmed it was not aware of anyone storming in or threatening Labour staff.
Police Scotland also said it was made aware of a "peaceful protest" that officers attended with no issues because the protestors involved left of their own accord."
Victimhood has always been a weapon of the far-right. The Nazis started out of victims in a world that was 'controlled by Jews'. Wherever you look, the same thing is happening now. Liz Truss is apparently the victim of the 'deep state' rather than her own incompetence. This is what she said at the CPAC conference in the US with her far-right chum Stave Bannon. With these delusional goons, nothing can ever be their fault. There is always someone else to blame.
Expect a rise in victimhood as the far-right continue to exploit the anger and resentment of the millions that they have impoverished through austerity, profiteering and privatisation. It is those things which are driving far-right populism and the growing threat to what is left of our failing democracy.
On the 26th January, a few days ago, the International Court of Justice delivered its interim verdict on the charges of genocide in a case brought by South Africa against Israel. The outcome was much more positive than many of us thought it would be.
Although the word genocide wasn't mentioned, the court did refer to genocidal statements made by Israeli politicians and officials. The court made clear that Israel must not commit war crimes including injuring and killing Palestinian civilians, and denying them, food, healthcare and energy.
As you would expect, the Israelis dismissed the finding of the court and continued to bomb Gazaand deny food, medical supplies, and energy to the Palestinians trapped there. So, the genocide continues.
The following day, Israel claimed that twelve members of UNWRA took part in the 7th October attacks by Hamas. This has lead to Many countries including the USA, UK, Germany to cease funding to the relief orgainsation, further worsening the plight of the people of Gaza. I haven't been able, as yet, to confirm this allegation is true, but if it is, why did the Israelis wait until the 27th January to reveal this? Why didn't we know weeks ago?
It has also been reported that Israeli settlers are trying to block aid entering Gaza.
And so, the death toll continues to grow, and the catastrophe remains with no end in sight. If you want to donate to UNWRA to help the Palestinians, you can do so here.
The big news this week was the hearing at the International Court of Justice (IJC). South Africa, a state which itself has been a victim of apartheid, brought a case of genocide against Israel. On Thursday 11 January, South African lawyers delivered a compelling case to the court, detailing Israel's slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and the bombing of hospitals, schools, churches and mosques, as well as the denial of food, water, electricity and medical supplies. Their arguments were delivered calmly and convincingly.
There can be no doubt that the South African case is irrefutable. Not only is the damning evidence there for all to see, but Israeli politicians have gone on record openly calling Palestinians animals and supporting their elimination. They have condemned themselves through their own mouths.
On the following day, Israeli lawyers delivered a predictable response - Hamas, Hamas, Hamas and accusing their detractors of lying and blood libel.
The media coverage was - no surprise - appalling. The South African case was ignored by the major channels (Sky, BBC, CNN etc) who then proceeded to broadcast the Israeli case the following day.
The result ought to be a forgone conclusion - Israel is guilty as charged, but unfortunately it's more complicated than that. The ICJ 'judges' are appointed by UN countries, the chair by the USA, and the UK, Germany, France and other Israeli allies. How will they rule in judgement? I think we know the answer already. As Craig Murray said, "Israel is not on trial here, what's on trial is actually the international court".
If, as it seems likely, the court will rule against South Africa, where do we go from here? Well, we can keep up as much pressure as we can through the massive global demonstrations that have been taking place and increase the pressure for boycott, divestment and sanctions, which is already having an effect on Israel and the corporations, such as Starbucks, that support it.
I doubt that this will be the end of legal attempts to stop the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but we must hope that the IJC ruling will be in favour of South Africa and keep up the fight!
One of my best cultural highlights arrived on screen recently. It’s an episode of Imagine on iPlayer which deals with the cultural and economic revival of Manchester in the late 70s and early 80s. Titled - The Factory Made in Manchester - it focusses on the new arts centre being built in Manchester and tells the story of the Manchester music and club boom led by Tony Wilson and Factory records. Great bands, great music and the Hacienda! Yentob nods along as Maxine Peake and others celebrate that golden era and look forward to a brighter future. As a Manc I loved it! You should too.
I have to confess I developed a phobia about crowded spaces during covid but recently have started going out to theatres and bustling pubs again (been a lot to our local but early evening when its fairly quiet). But in June I went with a friend to see Lemn Sissay in Huddersfield. Good night out, lots of laughs, he was on top form. He had a very tough upbringing in Wigan and I recommend his memoir if you haven’t read it. The same weekend we saw a one-man production of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Neil Gore. It was absolutely excellent and I left the theatre ready for the fight! Great stuff! I also saw good old Attila the Stockbroker who came to the best pub in my local town. Another great night out. If you haven’t heard his latest album 40 Years In Rhyme, check it out.
Finally, book of the year is Technofeudalism by Yanis Varoufakis. I confess I’m only 3/4 of the way through, but it is a compelling dissection of the current global economic situation. He takes us on a journey from the feudal lords and the enclosures, through to the industrial revolution, and profit driven capitalism, to the rentier capitalism, and cloudalist serfdom of the 21st century. How do we deal with this? I’m guessing it may be something to do with economic democracy - a solution most socialists don’t take seriously enough, but if you want to know his answers you’ll have to read the book. Also, check out The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas. It's a book about five of the USA’s biggest campaigners and organisers, people who know how to bring about positive change. Something we need more than ever right now. And to finish, read Let This Radicalise You by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba. The book is intended to aid and empower activists and organisers as they attempt to map their own journeys through the work of justice-making.
Have a good Xmas and a happy New Year!
I need to start this post by explaining that I don't condone the killing of anyone, anywhere, anytime. I'm against wars and for peace. Likewise, I don't support the death penalty and wouldn't even for someone like Harold Shipman.
I'm horrified by what is happening now in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinian people, including 6,500 or so children, are dead. Many more have been injured and maimed. Hospitals have been bombed and destroyed. In addition, Palestinians are being killed and displaced from their land in the West Bank. I utterly condemn this genocide, and with many others have been calling for a ceasefire for weeks.
The seventh of October will go down in history, but the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians started decades before. This has been going on for seventy-five years since the Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948 when seven hundred thousand were expelled from Palestine.
It's important to understand that Palestinians under occupation, and subjected to ethnic cleansing, and genocide by the Israeli government have a right to resist under international law, and that includes armed resistance. As Al Jazeera reports:
"In accordance with international humanitarian law, wars of national liberation have been expressly embraced, through the adoption of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (pdf), as a protected and essential right of occupied people everywhere."
Don't expect the media to tell you this. You won't hear about it.
It's time there was peace in Palestine and the international community brokered a one-state solution where Jews and Arabs can live in peace together. With western support for the war on Palestinians, don't expect this to happen any time soon.
In the meantime, we all need to work to #FreePalestine.
Last Sunday I attended a rally and march in Liverpool calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the terrible bombing and destruction which has cost so far an estimated 9,061 Gazan lives. Of these 3,760 are children. Of course, I condemn the attacks on Israelis by Hamas, but the Israeli response has been disproportionate and amounts to war crimes which include, collective punishment, the use of phosphorous bombs, and the denial of food water and energy to a population of two point two million, half of whom are children.
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| We met up at the bombed out church in Liverpool |
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| The March started off down Bold Street The march was full of energy with people chanting 'ceasefire now!', 'free Palestine' and 'from the river to the sea Palestine will be free'. I'd estimate the crowd to be about two and a half to three thousand people. Not as big as the London demo the day before - which attracted half a million protestors - but nonetheless significant and satisfying. Sadly but predictably, Zionists have been claiming that 'from the river to the sea Palestine will be free' is an antisemitic chant - it isn't. It's a call for the only solution - a one-state solution where Palestinians and Jews can live together in peace. How long this horror will continue, I don't know. I pray it will end soon. One thing I know for sure is that it won't bring an end to Hamas or Palestinian resistance to the racist, apartheid state of Israel which has been involved in the oppression and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians since 1948. |
A while ago, I wrote a post about western culture. It was called "Western culture is toxic and damages all of our lives". Here is a link. In it, I explored the way our culture actually harms people through patriarchy, misogyny, homophobia, racism, transphobia, criminalisation, othering of nature and many other factors. This post should be read in that context. But it's not just prejudice that damages us, it's the way we live our lives.
Recently we witnessed one of the horrors of the climate crisis. In Derna, Libya, horrific flooding led to many thousands of deaths after a storm and heavy rainfall. The flooding was exacerbated by the collapse of two dams. What most of the media failed to mention was that the infrastructure hadn't been maintained, and this was due in large part to the destruction of Libya by western powers. Libya, once one of the most affluent countries in Africa, is now one of the poorest - due to western interference. There's a lot of blood on the hands of western leaders.
One of the key features of western culture is the nuclear family. We live in small family units isolated from our neighbours. This weakens our communities and isolates many people. There are probably about 400 houses on my street. About a quarter of these are lived in by elderly couples or older individuals. The nuclear family weakens our communities and makes them less sociable and supportive. That doesn't mean there aren't good things happening in communities, but our communities could be much stronger if we lived collectively as other cultures such as indigenous peoples do.
In the Derna flood, many died, and hundreds of children were orphaned. The Guardian reported :
"Nawal Alghazal, a 62-year-old resident of Benghazi, has started a campaign to collect breastmilk from women already breastfeeding their own children and distribute it to children whose mothers are dead or missing.
“The least we can do for our country and the people in Derna is to take care of their children,” said Alghazal, who has taken 70 young children into her care since the disaster."
It's great that the local people are offering to support and care for these children, but maybe it's time we thought about them and other children people's children as 'our children'. We are social animals. We need to escape from the prison of the nuclear family and begin to learn to live together better. That is the one of the routes to building a better, fairer, more inclusive world.
I'm a bit late in posting this, but on Sunday the 8th of October I had a day out in Liverpool - something I always enjoy - to meet up with a group of activists from Transform Politics. We assembled at Albert Dock and then did a slow march, in silence, to the Labour Party conference venue. The participants were wearing 'Labour is Dead' T-shirts and carrying a black coffin. My role was largely as photographer.
When the welfare state started post WW2. Most people who were in receipt of old age pensions from the state weren't expected to live very long. It wasn't unusual for men, who worked hard in manual labour - coal mines, shipbuilding etc - to die not that long after they had retired at 65. Life expectancy has improved dramatically since then.
About a decade ago, an attack was launched on pensions by the right wing press. It was aimed mostly at 'pension fat cats' - public sector workers with final salary pensions. A deliberate attempt was made to drive a wedge between public and private sector workers, who were said to have less good pensions, which was true, on the whole. Divide and rule. Of course, the aim of the campaign was to reduce pension benefits for all workers, and it had some success.
Now, we see a similar battle being fought on pensions. The starting point is the 'triple lock'. The triple lock, introduced by the Tories, means that annually, the state pension rises by whichever is the highest of three factors: earnings growth, inflation, or 2.5%. Last year it was inflation and the pension rose by 10%. Next year it is predicted to rise by 8.5%. This has caused outrage on the right, who claim it is unaffordable. There are also moves on the right to raise the pension age. Ian Duncan Smith, the ex-leader of the Tory Party, has suggested the pension age be raised to the age of 75. As Jim Mills says in the linked article, this is "class warfare".
The reality is that the UK has the lowest pension of any country in the developed world (OECD). In 2022 the number of pensioners living in poverty rose by 200,000:
"One in five pensioners – more than 2 million people – are living in relative poverty in the UK, an increase of more than 200,000 in the past year alone, according to a comprehensive review of national data."
In addition, if the 8.5% rise goes ahead it will put many pensioners above the tax threshold and their pensions will be taxed.
A key part of this new campaign is - you've guessed it - divide and rule. This time, it's the young being pitted against the old. Young people are struggling, unable to afford a mortgage, saddled with student debt, and paying extortionate rents. They are what Dan Evans in his excellent new book describes as the New Petty Bourgeoisie*.
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| A Nation of Shopkeepers: Dan Evans |
All of this, apparently, is the fault of the elderly, who were lucky enough to grow up in a time when it was possible to get a mortgage and a half decent pension. They are being blamed by the pundits. Don't be fooled. All of this is the fault of successive Conservative governments, whose policies have brought about this situation. At this rate, with more class warfare to come, by the time that youngsters reach old age, all except the wealthy few, will be living in poverty.
Don't let them divide us. Decent state pensions for all are affordable, as Richard J Murphy explains in his blog here. Get the rich to pay some damn tax!
* I highly recommend you read Dan Evan's book. Lots of food for thought about the state of class in the UK and where our nation is going.
Kid Starver
There once was a man
Called Kid Starver
Who always went on
About his father
His dad made other tools
As well as him
And he crawled up the greasy pole
Despite being dim
He said what he needed to
To get where he wanted
When telling lies
He was never daunted
He once had a job as DPP
A role he filled disastrously
He then became a Labour MP
And lied his way to the top
Using Brexit as a prop
But the voters sussed
He had nothing to offer
And so he failed
A national disgrace
With blood on his hands
And egg on his face.
The Red Wall
I am sad to say
I’ve visited the red wall
Where knobhead working class Tories
And the petty bourgeoisie
Live in thrall
To Rupert Mordoch’s Scum
And the Daily Heil
They believe what they read
And take it up the bum
Trashed by Sunak and Truss
They can no longer catch a bus
Or afford to get their teeth fixed
So they get screwed
While the rich fill their pockets
And kill the planet
As they look on
With their empty eye sockets
Moaning about small boats
And devoid of nous
Within their Hinch-clean Deano house
They struggle with the cost of living
In constant pain
But at least they can still shag
The union flag
Before they end up
In a body bag
