alanjjohnstone
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i have just been reading a story about the measles outbreak in the US and many on the comments section are anti-vax and demanding their right not to vaccinate their "property"…their children….I don't want to debate thier reasons as valid or not but keep to this thread Hypothetically we can put this to a vote….all children are vaccinated unless a medical reason not to….make it compulsory…but just what rights do the individual hold to defy the majority and by doing so, directly putting many others at risk, by their decision to flaunt democracy…is it to be classed as a form of child abuse…or anti-social activity…but do we fully support society to impose its democracy…i do
The escalation“the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the cold war…Nato declared on Thursday it will set up six new command posts on its eastern borders and create a 5,000-strong rapid reaction force… It will be supported by air and sea forces as well as special operations units, and two more land brigades on standby in the event of a major crisis. Altogether, 30,000 Nato troops will be assigned to bolster the alliance’s eastern defences… UK would contribute 1,000 troops and four RAF Typhoon jets for “air policing” in eastern Europe. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/05/nato-rapid-reaction-force-counter-russia-ukraine
An example of the diplomatic rift between "allies"http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/02/07/munich-conference-us-hawks-press-military-escalation-towards-russia
Over a million refugees and it doesn't get highlighted…where are the camera crews, the interviews. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/one-million-people-forced-to-leave-their-homes-because-of-ukraine-conflict-un-says-10030722.htmlThe craven media again…follow the politicians, forget the people
Vin, you will also have noticed that i had to eat humble pie and apologised for my mistaken interpretation in a later message and that i recanted and did engage directly with the original poster. The moderator did not follow my advice (and proved to be right) and if i recall i did not repeat my call, therefore i do not consider i deserved any punishment from the moderator, although i was again rightly chastised by another contributor, SP. Oranges and Apples …
Vin, please desist from diverting attention away from the letter (which also means not replying to that remark) I found that the signatories are an unusual collection and the text very questionable but i think we can accept the sentiments of it in criticising those who keep supporting anti-imperialism, regardless….and it has always been our case that it is a sterile analysis…"my friend is my enemy's enemy" Strange we have never released a press release on the issue of political islamism (and specific significant events of its manifestation) and likewise the rising islamophobia (which i consider more ominious than the recent attention to a rise in anti-semitism) particularly since we hold the high ground in our attitude to religions and wars.
Thats a very pertinent point, ALB, particularly as people keep referring to the return of the Cold War. Maybe you can expand on it in April's Standard. Bellicose Russia simply following a policy begun by the tsars. But i doubt the historians will be honest enough to entitle this war the Russian Autocrats versus the American PlutocratsI agree Darren. Even on this discussion list, my thread has elicited little response so it shows how easy we can be driven to war without serious questioning. On quite a few websites it is seen as EU expansionism to land grab the farms, a Chinese purchase of vast acreage has been thwarted i believe …(i even heard it is a Monsanto GM ploy to get around EU rules!!)…….i think energy is part of the reason…the largest importer of Russian gas is Germany, hence their reluctance to block the supply. The pipeline issue is a long-standing one.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Ukraine_gas_disputeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_in_the_European_energy_sectorFrance is less dependent, being more nuke-powered (in contrast Germany is ridding itself of nuke stations) so not sure of France motives for being dilomatic moderates. I think i'll read my Marx again, this time perhaps the conspiracy theorist Marx…Palmerston the Russian agenthttps://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/palmerston/
yup, i am well aware of that quote and i have used it a lot as a put down….and i often cite lettuce as an example..tasteless bit of greenery slapped on the sandwich or plateBut without being malicious or conspiratorial…it does say Bill Read had a vested interest – a cafe owner…What was his menu consist of and what items provided his best profit margin…i dare say it just might be his Full Monty breakfast…not those who ordered his beans on toast …(mere guess-work on my part)Not all in the party are food reformers, as you say…but neither have all members been involved in the labour/union movement but i'm sure they take a class position upon it . .i think the Monument describes how many members sought occupations that were in many ways escapes from employment/wage slavery…antique dealers…booksellers…various self-employed like printers, (Wasn't Glasgow Branch nicknamed the Socialist Party of Glasow Bookies)because during the time of illegality many sought income as bookie-runners) …perhaps a disproportionate number, i'm not sure,) compared to the fate as those of us those who were subject to bosses and overseers and the 9-5 and had to seek the protection of the union and were active in it for self-defence…i'm sure there may exist a divergence of emphasis between those two type of members …but i speculate…you been a member and known more members and their background than me…but what i am saying is that we are not all sociological homogeneous…and that may reflect in our attitude towards various issues… a member brought up in the country, just might be more sympathetic to the huntin', shootin', and fishin' pastimes than a city bred person like myself…I still maintain that the food movement is part of the environmental movement (they overlap considerably) and the party as a whole cannot ignore it…even if not all members as individuals choose to recycle or choose to cycle or shop at the local Oxfam charity shop instead of M and S or Primark …it isn't about lifestyles, imho, but politics and the socialist answer to capitalism.
Much of our case and propaganda is promoting the possibility and the feasibility of a sustainable future society.We suggest and accept that there must be changes in energy policy, to waste and pollution management, but most of all in our food production system. The SPGB case is that these necessary changes cannot and will not be permitted by capitalism. I argue that what you eat, the social cost of what you eat and the environmental and health consequence of what you eat are part of the class struggle. They are determined by the profit system and by those who owns the means of production and distribution…the food and retail industry, I think it is no coincidence that most revolutions are spurred by the lack of affordable food and that one of the common demands concerns access to food. A look of history will see a correlation between food and politics. I am not arguing that vegetarianism will make socialists but i am saying that socialism will create vegetarians. We tend to avoid saying that this will be necessary for fear of putting people off. Indeed, i think in Germany it was calculated by promoting vegetarianism policies the Green Party lost 2% votes. But we aren't in politics for popularity. We are saying present society is not providing for people because of its economic imperatives and that we can change those by political action which will then permit people access to a better life…a better well-being both physically and mentally…Are we to not to say how that can be achieved ?Too often we get accused of not talking about peoples daily lives…the bread and butter issues (pun intended) ..yet you seem to say that what we eat and need to survive…what it is ….how it is produced…the way it is distributed…is in some way not a class issue.I'm not declaring it our number one priority as you infer by your VPGB remark.But like many things whats now being called "food sovereignty" has become a political question that we must answer.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_sovereigntyIt took us long enough to start raising our profile on the environment which i still think we have not done sufficiently.I place food alongside the nationalism/immigration as topics that have become part of the everyday fare of popular politics where we have to show that socialism provides the only permanent answer.
Much of this thread has been about the moral/ethical concerns but i think the socialist case is the ecological/health one. We argue for a rational society broadly planned for peoples needs and welfare. "Production of one pound of beef protein causes 250 times the GHG emission as compared to the production of one pound of legume-derived proteins. Or another way for comparison, 20 servings of vegetables correspond to less GHG emission than one serving of beef. if the current cultural and diet trends continue to 2050. During this period, increase in global population by 36%, together with increase in dietary shift towards meat consumption, will cause an increase of estimated 80% in GHG emission from food production. This increase in emission is equal to the total 2010 global transportation emission. Furthermore, a substantial increase in land needed for agriculture will be necessary. A global shift from the omnivore diet to the alternative plant-based diet can dramatically slow down this trend. The scientists estimate that this global diet change with several other changes (such as reduced wastage of fresh produce) will reduce agriculture derived GHG emission by 30-60 % and reduce land usage by 20-30%. "http://www.science20.com/thoughts_for_food_and_beyond/blog/diet_health_planet_trilemma-152991
Quote:Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. – Albert Einstein£100,000 a month, or £1.2m if continued for a whole year. Put another way: one in every £17 the Tories spent on the last general election campaign is going towards drumming up support on Facebook.http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/feb/06/tories-pumping-facebook-advertising-email-ukip
I recall the para-military uniform act was brought in to stop the black shirt BUF parading in the 30s .Here in Scotland i think it has only been used once ever, against some protester wearing black beret, combat jacket and sunglasses, shouting "up the IRA" at a troops out march in the 70s.I watched Question Time today….George Galloway, himself a victim of political violence, correctly describing how the BBC pre-planned for him to be thrown to the lions and how the press gleefully described the heckling of himThats the grey area i think we should be concerned with. Not the principle on no platform but how the media manipulates who is given a platform and for what purpose, acclaiming such rights as supposed free speech to ensure that one voice is heard loud and clear.Along with the usual we had a business think tank as there often is. Since the departing of Bob Crow, has there been a trade unionist on QT for them to attempt to crucify? I recall in my youth TUC leaders were worthy of regular tv exposure and their conference given live coverage…ahhhh…those were the days….I think those who protest Le Pen at a meeting where it is totally voluntary to go or not…and their absence from protesting the media who are in our sitting rooms shoving their billage down our throats uninvited is the real issue…the antics of no platform is trivial and distracting from the real question we face about democracy and free speech.
For those who contributed to this thread, an article on Twitter and social media might be of interesthttp://www.ipsnews.net/2015/02/twiplomacy-gets-its-day-in-the-sun-at-u-n/
Coincidental David Harvey
Quote:Q. So let utopian visions run riot. You're one who talks about utopian desires and how we need to express them. Express them!A. Well, I think one of them is abolish the exchange-value structures. And, of course, the exchange-value also rests on something called money. And money is a great corrupter, as we know, of our desires and our needs. We spend a lot of time worrying about money, desiring money, wanting money, and then you think to yourself, "This is stupid." You know, this is not a good life to become fetishistically focused on how much of this money . . . I mean this is crazy. Thomas More suggested a moneyless economy. And he then said, in a moneyless economy you would sleep very well at night. And I don't sleep very well at night, so I'm looking forward to a moneyless economy where we can all sleep very well at night.And then as the song goes…he goes and spoil it by saying
Quote:Is there a way where we on the left can construct an alternative monetary system, which is actually much more democratic and much more socially constructed?
