alanjjohnstone
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Desperate for justification, America resorts to the same lie as Saddam Hussein – complicity with 9/11
Trump unites Iran
Not so long ago, our blog was reporting the grassroots opposition to the Iranian government and the repressive actions of Soleimani’s Revolutionary Guards
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2019/11/iranian-protesters-murdered.html
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2019/11/iran-ignites-in-protest.html
https://www.wspus.org/2020/01/war-with-iran-teetering-on-the-brink/
Stephen Shenfield, gen.sec. of the WSPUS, offers his view
The first bit of real sense I have read on the web.
“Ironically, before the most recent US attacks, tens of thousands of Iraqis were demonstrating against Iran’s presence in Iraq. In November, protestors even burned the Iranian consulate in Najaf, Iraq. Recent Trump administration actions, however, have swung Iraqi popular opinion against the US, and the anti-Iran demonstrations have stopped…The people of the US have no national interest in protecting oil company profits. Recent events have shown that people in the region don’t want to be dominated by any foreign power, whether the US or Iran.”
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/01/04/whats-really-going-us-and-iran
https://www.wspus.org/2019/05/iran-again-in-the-crosshairs/
“…Above all, American strategists seek to deprive Iran of its status as a regional power in West Asia. That means halting Iran’s development of ballistic (i.e., long-range) missiles, even armed with conventional warheads. It also means ending Iran’s support for political and military forces in other countries of the region – the Syrian government, Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, etc. Here the US is fully in synch with its allies in the Middle East – Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States…”
Now comes the disinformation
We can always expect the media to be fed story-lines that justify any war.
And a legal debate of the killing
No longer Labour leader but still Corbyn anti-war message must be attacked
Our blog issues a statement on behalf of the WSM
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-socialist-declaration-of-peace.html
Much more could be said and it could be said much better but least it something people could link to in the meantime.
Our blog has a post on Luddism and also explains that they should not be portrayed as simply machine-breakers.
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/01/blood-for-blood-says-general-lud.html#more
“The Luddites were rebelling not against machines, but against ‘The Machine’ ”
But also as we recall General Ludd, we cannot neglect Captain Swing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Swing
Bookchin did a very effective demolition job on the deep green primitivists
“…people we pass on the road to socialism who are going back in the opposite direction….”
My concern, ALB, is that nobody is bothering to ask us for directions and when we plant our sign-posts indicating the right way to go, nobody is seeing them.
On one of my last visits to conference (or ADM) I paid a visit to Speakers Corner when DannyL was persevering at it.
What a disappointing experience it was. Danny was the only political speaker, the few others were religious nutters from either Christian or Muslim faiths.
I don’t think it was even still on the tourist trail.
A useful link (hat-tip to StephenS)
What age are you Kaz?
I ask because your style of posting makes me think it is coming from one of the Inbetweeners, in particular, Jay.
It might amuse some on the forum, but i’m not one. (but I’ve never been known for my sense of humour)
I’m sure those who are challenging the authoritarian State in Hong Kong aren’t downloading kiddie games on their phones.
The protest movement is propelled largely by social media platforms, including anonymous chat app Telegram and the LIHKG forum. A bit more technologically advance than pinning notes on the 1970s “Democracy Wall”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/16/social-media-has-become-a-battleground-in-hong-kongs-protests.html
“…the movement this time around has been without a figurehead, social media tools have given the “leaderless” pro-democracy movement “characterization.”
Technology is merely a tool…it is used by the State for repression and now because of the nature of it, people can use it as liberatory instrument. It may not “prepare” the way for socialism but it certainly potentially smoothes the way for those seeking it.
Or shall we close down all the SPGB social media as a 21st Century distraction from the 15th Century invention of printing?
Pity the poor defenceless hard-done-by Hong Kong policeman
Police in Hong Kong Brutalized by Rioters While Attacked by the Western Press
I know I didn’t become a socialist because I woke up one day and, hey presto, suddenly all the answers were before me. It wasn’t a Damascene epiphany. Socialist ideas didn’t come in a flash of blinding light. I needed to learn, to study, to educate myself with the able assistance of comrades, usually over a pint rather than pouring over a copy of the Socialist Standard
The first lesson was that we weren’t the illuminated ones, the enlightened, but just ordinary mortals fortunately enough to discover and discuss with fellow-workers who shared a similar experience of the learning-curve.
I was not dismissed as unworthy because I never read Marx’s Capital Volumes 1, 2 and 3 or that I hadn’t a perfect grasp of all the intricacies and nuances of the Socialist Party case.
I carried political baggage and one isn’t aware of the baggage upon ones own back.
It is a process to acquire socialist consciousness. Many take wrong turnings and go down dead-ends. It’s understandable since rarely have they even heard of the SPGB, much less know of its message.
I don’t cast blame upon my fellow-workers for their ignorance or stupidity.
I know it takes time and effort by ourselves to make our particular case for socialism sufficiently strong enough for people to give it further thought and consideration when we are confronted by a overwhelmingly dominant and powerful ideological industry.
I would be suspicious of anyone who is easily convinced by glib arguments.
As Debs said…if we could lead people to the promised land…others could easily lead them out again.
As Dietzgen said, “If a worker wants to take part in the self-emancipation of his class, the basic requirement is that he should cease allowing others to teach him and should set about teaching himself.”
All we can do it offer the tools of critical thought. As Marx said, “Doubt Everything”
Our last hopes for a better planet in the future rests in a maturing, developing human consciousness. In light of changes in class consciousness that i do perceive going on, we may one day find a socialist society on the immediate agenda. What is important to see is that the fact that many of us prefer capitalism does not give capitalism any greater credibility. Socialism is not inevitable but only a possibility. The SPGB like a magnet attracts iron filings, attempts to draw the masses in our direction. Nobody AFAIK purposefully searched out the SPGB but by fortuitous events and accidental coincidence came across it. Our job is to make that a lot easier.
It’s never over until it’s over.
