[alanjjohnstone]

Well, the nationalists in Scotland seem to have a strong case for another independence referendum…i hope we can present a stronger presence second time around. Alex Salmond reckons in two and half years time so time enough to prepare. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein are using their remain result to ask for a referendum for Northern Ireland and a United Ireland. If not, that border will become a smugglers' paradise. I note Lambeth was particularly strong remain vote…maybe we should build on that cosmopolitanism with world socialism in the next run of elections there

[alanjjohnstone]

Now that that the distraction of the EU referendum is now nearly over we can return our attention to our more important and interesting topics.Read this in the Guardian today:

Quote:

UBI becomes a consolation prize for those whose lives are disrupted. Benefits still accrue to the designers and owners of the technologies, but now with less guilt and pushback about the collateral damage. Rather than steer technology towards social progress by promoting projects that contribute to public benefit and human flourishing – not just reflect the desires of privileged groups – Silicon Valley elites can shake off critics by pointing to UBI as the solution, and one that does not restrict their profit motive. UBI can, in some ways, be seen as welfare for capitalists. Now, more people can drive for Uber and work for TaskRabbit – at even lower wages! – because UBI subsidizes the meager paychecks earned by hustling for the sharing economy. The tech companies take home the profit and face even less pressure to pay a living wage to their non-employee employees.Second, support for UBI is framed in terms of human capital. Steve Waldman, a well-known programmer and economics writer, praisesUBI by referring to it as “VC for the people”. VC, venture capital, invites people to embrace their inner entrepreneurs, he believes. Thus, UBI is not (only) a moral response to economic harms or a political response to social injustice, but a sound financial investment in the startup-of-you. A way of producing more makers, risk-takers, and move-fast-breakers – the type of people that tech culture values above all others. Thinking of UBI as a financial innovation represents the “businessification” of government; now we talk about the “return on investment” of social policy, rather than outcomes in terms of public good. When social policy is evaluated using economic standards you get starkly different policies, different expectations, and different beneficiaries. Third, the version of UBI backed by Silicon Valley – and others who lean libertarian and conservative – is a regressive redistribution. With UBI gaining popularity it is not hard to find people making “the case for free money”, as the New Yorker recently put it. Of course, the money is not free. It has to come from somewhere, but where? For many supporters it only makes sense that the budget for UBI would come from cannibalizing existing welfare. UBI would not exist as an add-on benefit. The logic is to shut down “public housing, food assistance, Medicaid, and the rest, and replace them with a single check”, writes Nathan Schneider in Vice. The welfare system can finally be eliminated and the state bureaucracy consolidated into an efficient, simple solution for poverty. No wonder that technocrats and Tea Partiers can come together in support of UBI.

It concludes with the rhetorical questions

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But the trouble comes when UBI is used as a way of merely making techno-capitalism more tolerable for people, when it is administered like a painkiller that numbs the pain and masks the symptoms of economic injustice without addressing the root causes of exploitation and inequality. We cannot treat UBI like an endpoint; it should be a stepping stone to fixing core issues.Why do the wealthy and elite support seemingly radical social programs? Have they grown enlightened and concerned with the plight of everyone else? Is this a mea culpa designed to make exploitation more bearable, a bit of comfort to soften the crushing pressure of life? Or is it a stealthy way for them to backdoor their own politics and values, while also protecting their positions in society?

The way i see it, UBI is a two-edged sword. Yes it can have the potential to be progressive and innovative  as Stuart argues. But it can also be used by the ruling class to  slice into the gains the working class have made over the decades. It depends on i guess on the political consciousness of the working class but if they are able to determine that only the positive points are implemented and that the welfare state is not only left intact but even strengthened, it pre-supposes a very strong class consciousness so why should it constrain itself into the narrow parameter of the UBI inside capitalism.Will there be a concomitant rise in the demand for the end of wage-slavery that socialists can tap into? Or will the working class be effectively bought off by the capitalist UBI? Will the class struggle be emasculated or intensified?These are the questions i seek answers to? I'm sure others have many other different questions of how an UBI will effect and impact upon the working class and socialists.Do we drop our present case for socialism, all that Marxian economic  baggage of surplus value and tendency declining rate of profit and much more, or do we re-emphasise those since the UBI cannot exist without the wealth created by the working class…but can we maintain that claim when wealth will be created by robots that build robots on behalf of investors. I think a few of our more insightful members should Vulcan mind-meld (Spock-style) and produce a clear analysis that we can link to and promote on the net.

[alanjjohnstone]

We now see how Wall St are pre-empting any "radicalism" in Hilarity Clinton's choice of Vice-President but threatening to close down endorsements and donations if Elizabeth Warren is her choice. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/elizabeth-warren-wall-street-vice-president-224489

[alanjjohnstone]

For the late left Leave voter – the counter argument from Ewa Jasiewiczhttp://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/06/22/why-im-pushing-lexit-wont-help-migrants-or-working-class

Quote:

When migrant workers are the pawn in this game of EU and domestic class control, voting for a move which will exclude them, and normalise restrictions on their rights, will not encourage their participation in a political process – a left wing alternative – which needs to include them as a part of the whole UK working class.

[alanjjohnstone]

Most of those refugees come from countries that the US/UK/NATO invaded or supply rebels with weaponry, the exception being Syria where Saudi Arabia and UAE assist in the arms supply and destabilisation.We have to remember that refugees in Europe get the publicity but the 3 countries with the most are Turkey, Lebanon, and Pakistan.Africa has a refugee crisis. Asia has a refugee problem. Latin America has refugeesI don't think we should consider it as a uniquely Islam situation 

[alanjjohnstone]

I live in Thailand and eating various insects is common as it is in other parts of Asia. A bit crunchier than those slimey yucky things the rich presently eat out of shells… snails and oysters…And i am sure the King of Thailand has often eaten insects…Gourmet cooked, of course. All i have read suggests that globally we have to reduce our meat eating and it will become a niche market for special festive occasions or where the geography permits nothing but rough grazing for goats and the such-like. Maybe we may well eat many more rabbits and guinea-pigs which may be more sustainable flesh. 

[alanjjohnstone]

This is the left-wing appeal to vote leave just to balance out the debate herehttp://www.alternet.org/world/eu-neoliberal-nightmare

[alanjjohnstone]

Has the referendum campaign resulted in an irreparable Tory Party?Has the Remain vote drawn the teeth of UKIP which can now only be an openly anti-immigration party in future rather than disguise it as anti-EU?But to be truthful, like the extraordinary focus upon the English football team, there are more important things going on in the world for the working class and for world socialists than Brexit, imho.The consequences of 65 million refugees and climate change to name only two but i doubt either will shift people off their fat backsides to do anything other than continue to whine and whinge….Roll on catastrophe and the apocalypse   

[alanjjohnstone]

Quote:

The Chinese government has outlined a plan to reduce its citizens’ meat consumption by 50%, in a move that climate campaigners hope will provide major heft in the effort to avoid runaway global warming.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/20/chinas-meat-consumption-climate-changeIf China can do this, will a socialist society do a lot better?  Globally, 14.5% of planet-warming emissions emanate from the keeping and eating of cows, chickens, pigs and other animals – more than the emissions from the entire transport sector. Ssaid James Cameron. “Animal agriculture emits more than all transportation combined. Reducing demand for animal-based foods is essential if we are to limit global warming to 2C as agreed at COP21.” Livestock emit methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, while land clearing and fertilizers release large quantities of carbon. China now consumes 28% of the world’s meat, including half of its pork. Research released by the thinktank Chatham House in 2014 forecast that China alone is expected to eat 20m tonnes more of meat and dairy a year by 2020 and warned that “dietary change is essential” if global warming is to not exceed the 2C limit eventually imposed at the climate accord in Paris last year.

[alanjjohnstone]

Fair-dos, ALB.In the context of this discussion, during the Sanish Civil War more commonly called the Spanish Revolution by anarchists, proponents of free access existed and to a far more limited extent, models of free access did exist also. (Next month happens to be the 100th anniversary of its beginnings so it is apt it is once more on the discussion agenda). But were outnumbered by those who advocated half-measures with the price-system continuing. And the article speculates that the compromise would prevail and eventually dominate as n exchange-economy again. …Something i think some on this thread suggest (such as Robbo) would happen with YMS concessions.More importantly, for me, it's confirmation that Wolff's and others Cooperative workers self-managed enterprises offer little alternative to the capitalist norm 

[alanjjohnstone]

I thought comparing these two videos offer us some insight into Britain First's very differing attitudes to the Cox murder and the Orlando slaughter – one is seen as a mental health issue – the other is an Islamic terrorist act. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlFnJkLdzWMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfMjbuSSD4s

[alanjjohnstone]

I may be wrong but i thought MB was involved with the Anarchist Federation. But i stand to be corrected and have no wish to ascribe to him membership of AF if he hasn't been. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Across at Libcom in a topic about mutualism, AF activist, former Subversion and ex-SPGBer, Spikymike had this to say which i thought had a relevance to this thread.#6Top

Quote:

Indeed we cannot predict exactly how a revolutionary transformation might start out and it's initially sporadic and geographically dispersed nature might well see experimentation in hybrid forms of collectivised production and distribution. The essential point is for organised pro-revolutionaries to promote the rapid expansion of such a movement (outside of any state control and across national borders) by subverting attempts to stabilise the process into separate and competing collective 'enterprises', encouraging the planning of useful production for common use and it's distribution according to needs without recourse to monetary or other forms of private property exchange. In that struggle libertarian communists would be in conflict with any ideologically based 'mutualists'. Failure to win that battle would surely see a reversion to some form of what might be seen, at best, as a form of 'self-managed' capitalism.

 

[alanjjohnstone]

Quote:

And thus dies the 'mental illness' alibi in the media

I think there may well be still a mental health problem in the attack although it very clear he subscribed to racist right-wing views. But what worries me is that reports that his racism such as insulting Asian cab-drivers was well known that a local cab company were preparing to ban him yet neighbours are insisting he was a quiet nice helpful person – Does it mean that they had selective hearing and such remarks did not warrant any comment or criticism from the folk around him because most shared his racism. 

[alanjjohnstone]

I feel that certain activities are being blanked out from her history on the BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36322972But this website also omits a vital period of her lifehttp://www.sylviapankhurst.com/about_sylvia_pankhurst/politics_&_world_affairs.php

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