alanjjohnstone
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An interesting analysis of the Mexican vigilanteshttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/01/mexico-vigilante-monster-201412754425289780.html
As we always argue – the State is the agent of the capitalist class. Ministers are considering changing trespass laws to make it easier for energy companies to carry out fracking beneath people's homes without permission. Currently operators need to ask homeowners before they drill under their land, but they have a right to appeal by law if an agreement cannot be reached. "There is an existing legal route by which operators can apply for access where this can't be negotiated. We're currently considering whether this existing route is fit for purpose," said a spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate Change. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25914066
It was a very tenuous link to be truthful.Simpler put, my reality was perhaps not your reality Another recollection of my youth were the white sheet collections. If someone died , neighbours went around the estate door to door holding a white sheet in which money would be thrown to pay for funeral costs. That survived in other forms today in the estate i lived in and also the place i worked. Yes there exists community and society. While not denying the reactionary attitudes of my class, and it would be very easy to detail these, i also recognise their strong socialistic tendencies which is being suppressed. Instead of forcing people to live another way, which i think is a moralising religious approach, the aim is to allow them to live as they truly are. Socialism is merely removing the obstacles to a way of life in which ‘humanness’, which already exists, would be allowed to develop. To blame Wilshaw personally for not understanding socialism , we might as well blame every teacher , every social worker, every psychiatric/occupational nurse for the exact same failure and by logical progression , blame each and every individual member of the working class for their own suffering. Didn't another thread or forum have someone say we are against the system, not the person and our task is to explain the system, not scapegoat individuals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo I do not recognise your "Peter Pan, never never land,
I am minded by the saying that it takes a village to rear a child and when i was brought up, neighbours and family friends were an integral part of my upbringing. The debate about the continued existence in socialism of the family and "my" kids, i believe, has not been resolved completely. Whose house we were in at meal times fed us, we stayed overnight with one another, and we got hand-me-downs when other children outgrew their clothes. We were protectively watched over by non-family members and sometimes chastised by them. As teachers are parentis loco, so were next door neighbours and the wider community. The atomisation and isolation is a problem of capitalism which doesn't just effect children but often our lonely old folk and the sick and disabled. Showing concern about possible neglect, which depriving a child of learning and interaction with his or her age peers could be a sign, surely does not deserve a Geordie handshake or a Glaswegian kiss. The more we intervene and interact with those around us, the more it should be welcomed. SOCIALism.I am sure the suggestion by Ofsted is about creating some formal structure and not organising vigilantes.
Zambian writer Dambiso Moyo is particularly scathing about Bono. She objects to how celebrities such as Bono have "inadvertently or manipulatively become the spokespeople for the African continent" and noted in an interview with The New York Times that on the only occasion in which she met Bono, at a party to raise money for Africans, she was the only African there.
i think we would all agree that SPEW-son-of- Militant seek martyrdom for their town councillors and expect the Green Party to follow suit. Surcharged and disqualified – that's the way SPEW recommend.
The Luppies make their first demand of capitalism – Take Channel 4's Benefits Street off the air http://21centurymanifesto.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/left-unity-calls-on-channel-4-to-cancel-benefits-street/
According to the research pay went up for everybody but the top 10% who failed to match inflation. Of course that would be the case for those who are wealthy enough to have accountants and financial advisors.They were advised that the 50% rate will be replaced by a reduced 45% rate so defer income (for example, dividends and bonuses) into 2013/14 to benefit from the reduced rates. Having been told by Osborne in advance of the change the top 10% switched money from the year ending in April 2013 (the year conveniently chosen by Cameron) to the following year. The object – to avoid taxes. No surprise then that the income of the top 10% in that year failed to beat inflation. So this little trick of shifting income to the year before the higher rate was introduced – to justify the reduction in the rate to 45%; now they are using the same income numbers (as manipulated by the rich to save taxes in the year to April 2013) to say how poorly they did as a band compared to the rest of the country. OH how sad for those on £150,000 plus – Smoke and mirrors.
I couldn't resist posting this in response to a early commentALB – "I wonder if he's a redhead" A man who slashed his neighbour's throat with a butcher's knife after being taunted about his ginger hair has been jailed for life for murder… Storie told police after he was arrested that Mr Findlay would never call him "ginger-heided" again http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25859849 — You got to watch out for those red-heads…fiery tempers are in their DNA, they are all genetically disposed to tribal violence…just ask those who remember little Billy Bremner and Alan Ball !!! (or was that because they were wee men?)
Simon Jenkins of the Guardian comes out in support although i think his remark that the Greens are the pawns of the Big Renewables maybe a bit tongue in the cheek http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/23/brighton-council-tax-revolution-democracy-eric-pickles-green-party
Saul Alinsky – Rules for Radicals: Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat. The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat. The fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity. The fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage. The sixth rule is: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic. The seventh rule: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sunday mornings. The eighth rule: Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose. The ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself. The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign. The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its negative. The twelfth rule: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. You cannot risk being trapped by the enemy in his sudden agreement with your demand and saying "You're right — we don't know what to do about this issue. Now you tell us." The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
The task of the Socialist Party is to show workers that it is a practical proposition which calls for their urgent attention in order to transform a picture of how we could live into a movement for how we shall live. To transform this desire into an immediancy for the working class. Democratic decisions will need to be made, not by leaders but by all interested people. That people are capable of organising their own affairs in common is one of the things that has clearly demonstrated. The socialist movement must be "the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interests of the immense majority"(Communist Manifesto). SOYMB blog has a useful post discussing this topic which i recommend.http://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/07/who-we-are-socialist-party-of-great.html#morehttp://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/07/who-we-are-part-2.html And my own http://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2012/02/socialism-and-socialists.html
Their decision is much appreciated. But i am curious about their decision-making which seems surprisingly speedily for a democracy.!!Since they are neighbouring constituencies (i'm assuming) perhaps there may be a case for perhaps joint public meetings, suitably titled to distinguish our two differing viewpoints to the election . For ourselves, the advantage may come in attracting a larger audience plus drawing more local attention to the existence of HO and for Bone the benefit being lowering his campaign costs.
