A fool or a knave?
Immigration and race are right wing wedge issues. The ruling class's wants a stratified and atomised work force in order to up the general rate of exploitation, boosting profits. That's the plan, anyway.
Modern governments are compelled to violently manipulate the working population. That's why, regardless of their political persuasion, a generation of Home Secretaries have tried to outbid their predecessors in obnoxious authoritarianism.
The only trouble is, at least for the Labour Party, is, as (former Home Secretary) David Blunkett has pointed out:
When you play this game you aren't triangulating but helping to shift political discourse to the right.
If Blunkett is sincere there is a degree of irony involved. He was the Minister who introduced the Britishness Test (because nationality can not only be measured but sorted into increments). Blunkett also had the children of asylum seekers segregated from other children to prevent swamping; yes, your children are being swamped by a tiny minority and no it's not to facilitate divide and rule, preventing local families getting dangerously familiar with potential refugees... oh no. Blunkett also did his bit to improve race relations in Britain by describing the young men incarcerated for trying to stop violent nazis from rampaging through their neighbourhoods as whining maniacs.
Erstwhile war-supporters used to say things along the line of "it's all very well making these points with the benefit of hindsight". The obvious answer was that many of us seemed to have the benefit of foresight. If Blunkett knew all this before and during his career in government then he is a deeply cynical man. If he's only just realised this now he's merely a total and utter fool.
Modern governments are compelled to violently manipulate the working population. That's why, regardless of their political persuasion, a generation of Home Secretaries have tried to outbid their predecessors in obnoxious authoritarianism.
The only trouble is, at least for the Labour Party, is, as (former Home Secretary) David Blunkett has pointed out:
You can't outdo the Conservatives in relation to immigration.
When you play this game you aren't triangulating but helping to shift political discourse to the right.
If Blunkett is sincere there is a degree of irony involved. He was the Minister who introduced the Britishness Test (because nationality can not only be measured but sorted into increments). Blunkett also had the children of asylum seekers segregated from other children to prevent swamping; yes, your children are being swamped by a tiny minority and no it's not to facilitate divide and rule, preventing local families getting dangerously familiar with potential refugees... oh no. Blunkett also did his bit to improve race relations in Britain by describing the young men incarcerated for trying to stop violent nazis from rampaging through their neighbourhoods as whining maniacs.
Erstwhile war-supporters used to say things along the line of "it's all very well making these points with the benefit of hindsight". The obvious answer was that many of us seemed to have the benefit of foresight. If Blunkett knew all this before and during his career in government then he is a deeply cynical man. If he's only just realised this now he's merely a total and utter fool.
Brian Coleman is a fat piece of shit
In the Evening Standard of all papers:
Brian Coleman, a senior member of Boris Johnson's administration and leading Barnet councillor, responded to Sharada Osman's appeal for help by telling her that people in her situation should "deal with their own issues".
Ms Osman, 39, today accused him of "hypocrisy" and called for an apology. Part-time student Ms Osman has lived in North Finchley for six years with her six-year-old son Kylan, who has learning difficulties.
She wrote this month to Mr Coleman, who is said to earn almost £120,000 a year, asking for help after her private landlord increased the rent for her home from £950 to £1,100. In an emotional email, unemployed Ms Osman told the Tory Assembly member that she was writing to him "out of desperation in hope that someone can offer some help and guidance". Ms Osman told Mr Coleman that she wanted to avoid having to apply for a council house.
Mr Coleman, chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, replied nine days later and suggested she turn to the private sector, saying: "There will never be enough council houses available."
Ms Osman, who made clear she was living in private, rented accommodation, replied and said: "I am in complete shock by your lack of empathy and regard for my situation."
One hour late Mr Coleman replied and said: "Lack of empathy?????? Councillors simply cannot conjure housing out of thin air and the private sector is your only option. That is a fact.
"I am afraid you have to live in the real world where the country has no money and residents will have to deal with their own issues rather than expecting 'the system' to sort their lives out. This correspondence is now closed."
It's the last line that's the most infuriating, I think; don't bother me again, peasant. I'd also like to point out a common Tory canard, it's been on my mind for a while: "there is no money". No money? Maybe Brian Coleman is paid in kind, perhaps £120,000 worth of pies. He looks jolly enough, like Father Christmas, but in reverse.
Roobin's extra note: as was pointed out in the comment section, thanks to Finchley Methodist Church, a charity, Brian Coleman's monthly rent is £546; half that of his constituent, Ms Osman. Link here. The peasants may not be living in the real world, but Mr Coleman's clearly living in the Land of Chocolate.
For no raisin
Some Fast Show sketches.
The Off Roaders:
Fat, Sweaty Coppers:
Indie Club:
And finally John Actor is... MONKFISH!
The Off Roaders:
Fat, Sweaty Coppers:
Indie Club:
And finally John Actor is... MONKFISH!
Hmm... How to express it... Are words even adequate any more?
Rents are going up. Wages are stagnating. Housing benefits have been capped. Now the Tories want to make it a crime to see an empty house and try to live in it.
Kenneth Clarke, Secretary for 'Justice', was caught recently fobbing off half his council tax and claiming the mortgage on his second home as a parliamentary expense.
Would it be so bad if his two (no doubt luxurious) homes burned to the ground?
Thought Police Note: I am not saying anyone should do this. It would be a lot a time and effort wasted not affecting government policy in the slightest, not to mention risking a life or two. But wouldn't you savour the irony of Kenneth Clarke kipping on David Cameron's sofa while he got his life back together (as tens of thousands of people are having to do right now, thanks to the Tory government)?
Kenneth Clarke has moved to toughen up his controversial sentencing bill by criminalising squatting and strengthening the law of self-defence for those who confront intruders in their own homes.
The decision to ban squatting in residential buildings has been taken despite warnings that making trespass a criminal offence could also affect sit-ins and occupations and lead to an increase in the most vulnerable homeless people sleeping rough.
Kenneth Clarke, Secretary for 'Justice', was caught recently fobbing off half his council tax and claiming the mortgage on his second home as a parliamentary expense.
On 12 May 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported that Clarke had "flipped" his council tax. He had told the Parliamentary authorities that his main home was in his Rushcliffe constituency, enabling him to claim a second homes allowance on his London home and leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill for the council tax due on that property. However, he told Rushcliffe Borough Council in Nottinghamshire that he spent so little time at his constituency address that his wife Gillian should qualify for a 25% council tax (single person’s) discount, saving the former chancellor around £650 per year. Land registry records showed that Clarke did not have a mortgage on his home in Nottinghamshire, where he has lived since 1987. He instead held a mortgage on his London house, which he had most recently charged to the taxpayer at £480 per month
Would it be so bad if his two (no doubt luxurious) homes burned to the ground?
Thought Police Note: I am not saying anyone should do this. It would be a lot a time and effort wasted not affecting government policy in the slightest, not to mention risking a life or two. But wouldn't you savour the irony of Kenneth Clarke kipping on David Cameron's sofa while he got his life back together (as tens of thousands of people are having to do right now, thanks to the Tory government)?
But seriously, folks...
Autonomists disagree with Marxists, generally speaking, in that they don't see socialism (or whatever you'd call an egalitarian democracy) as immanent within capitalism. Hence the need, one assumes, to create autonomous space outside of capitalism. If that is the case then autonomists cannot help but agree with Tory MP Louise Mensch's contention; you cannot criticise capitalism from within it.
But, if you do agree, you're missing one of the most basic philosophical points assumed (assumed but not often understood). It is generally given that to critique something you have to know it. The surest form of knowledge comes from a combination of theory and practice, hence Engels's conclusion that the working class, which both thinks and does, is the inheritor of German classical philosophy.
You cannot criticise capitalism, practically, theoretically or practically/theoretically without being within it. So enjoy your coffee.
But, if you do agree, you're missing one of the most basic philosophical points assumed (assumed but not often understood). It is generally given that to critique something you have to know it. The surest form of knowledge comes from a combination of theory and practice, hence Engels's conclusion that the working class, which both thinks and does, is the inheritor of German classical philosophy.
You cannot criticise capitalism, practically, theoretically or practically/theoretically without being within it. So enjoy your coffee.
Hearken, self-styled revolutionaries
Thanks to the bold effort of Leftie Hippie, working up the concise materialist observations of Tory MP and Living Genius, Louise "if you drink coffee you can't protest" Mensch, we now have The Louise Mensch Beverage Scale of Permitted Capitalist Criticism. Observe:
Level 4
Permitted criticism of capitalism = Total. Academies, Goldman-Sachs, concentration of capital, etc.
To achieve level 4, you must drink untreated mineral water collected yourself from a babbling mountain brook near your hermitage. Of course, you must not boil the water before drinking it, unless you mine the metal to create a kettle yourself. Purchasing so much as a camping kettle with one of those little whistle cap thingies on it basically takes you right back to the level of the Koch brothers.
Famous Level 4s: none.
Level 3
Permitted level of criticism of capitalism = TNCs, sweatshop labour and the military-industrial complex.
To achieve level 3, you are allowed to drink water from the tap, despite its being produced by privatised water companies. You *must not* add Robinsons' Barley Water to it to make a weak lemon drink, however.
Famous Level 3s: basically, this is John Harvey Kellogg.
Level 2
Permitted level of criticism of capitalism = privatised train networks, quality of the gifts in Kinder Surprise.
To achieve level 2, you may drink tap water and fairtrade tea and coffee. On no account must you purchase this coffee from some kind of franchise or drink Ribena. THIS WILL RENDER YOUR UNHAPPINESS WITH TRAIN JOURNEYS NULL AND VOID.
Famous Level 2s: Lucy Mangan, probably.
Level 1
Permitted level of criticism of capitalism = the speed of service in Nando's. AND NOTHING ELSE.
Level 1s will drink Fentiman's lemonade at National Trust gift shops, then think NOTHING of washing it down with R Whites. Why don't these people just FUCK OFF AND DIE? They probably drink Ty-Phoo, the despicable BASTARDS.
Famous Level 1s: YOU. If you're LUCKY.
Level 0
Permitted level of criticism of capitalism = What on earth makes you think you can criticise capitalism, you insignificant, smelly turd? IT PROVIDES YOUR BEVERAGES.
Level 0s would drink Coca-Cola at a Showcase Cinema, EVEN IF SOMEONE WAS WATCHING.
Famous Level 0s: given the size of the sample, it was hard to narrow it down.
Life of Brian vs Animal Farm
The Life of Brian was rebroadcast on Saturday night, I watched it again for the umpteenth time and enjoyed it very much. I love the satire on left-sectarianism, because it's partly true but also in the spirit of the-only-thing-worse-than-being-talked-about-is-not-being-talked-about.
The trouble is LoB a millstone around our necks. A bit like Animal Farm and 1984, it is a work of fiction that's often taken as proving something in real life. Animal Farm doesn't prove that all attempts at socialism end in dictatorship. It is a work of fiction. If it proves anything it shows you shouldn't put pigs in charge of farms.
There are some who use the People's Front of Judea witticism as a form of alert. The left can and does involve itself in bitter, directionless faction fights; but doesn't every political persuasion? Isn't the Labour Party wracked by conflict between the Blairite and Brownite factions? Don't the Tories regularly tear themselves apart over the European Union issue? Aren't the BNP currently imploding?
But not every argument is a fruitless faction fight. Godwin's Law is invoked sometimes too often; occasionally the people we discuss are nazis. The same applies for the People's Front of Judea. Sometimes things have to be debated to a conclusion.
But the Life of Brian is also a prime weapon in Red Baiting. It often shows the red baiter's paradox. Revolutionary socialists are at the same time both Students Waving Placards and a Sinister Worldwide Plot; but they can't be both, they have to be one or the other. Get it right, either the left is too fractious to ever get it together (Life of Brian) or it is full of brilliant, machiavellian schemers secretly bent on absolute power (Animal Farm).
The trouble is LoB a millstone around our necks. A bit like Animal Farm and 1984, it is a work of fiction that's often taken as proving something in real life. Animal Farm doesn't prove that all attempts at socialism end in dictatorship. It is a work of fiction. If it proves anything it shows you shouldn't put pigs in charge of farms.
There are some who use the People's Front of Judea witticism as a form of alert. The left can and does involve itself in bitter, directionless faction fights; but doesn't every political persuasion? Isn't the Labour Party wracked by conflict between the Blairite and Brownite factions? Don't the Tories regularly tear themselves apart over the European Union issue? Aren't the BNP currently imploding?
But not every argument is a fruitless faction fight. Godwin's Law is invoked sometimes too often; occasionally the people we discuss are nazis. The same applies for the People's Front of Judea. Sometimes things have to be debated to a conclusion.
But the Life of Brian is also a prime weapon in Red Baiting. It often shows the red baiter's paradox. Revolutionary socialists are at the same time both Students Waving Placards and a Sinister Worldwide Plot; but they can't be both, they have to be one or the other. Get it right, either the left is too fractious to ever get it together (Life of Brian) or it is full of brilliant, machiavellian schemers secretly bent on absolute power (Animal Farm).
For no raisin
On the right LkCa 15, roughly 450 light years away, it is the closest we have to a second pale blue dot. This is a cloud of incandescent gas halfway to becoming a a Jupiter-like planet, discovered through some of the latest tricks in studying distant, faint light. See here.
Naomi Wolf on her recent arrest
Link here. The incident began at an evening dinner event called Game Changers 2011 - a group of OWS supporters wanted to speak to Governor Andrew Cuomo.
On our exit, I saw that the protesters had been cordoned off by a now-massive phalanx of NYPD cops and pinned against the far side of the street – far away from the event they sought to address.
I went up and asked them why. They replied that they had been informed that the Huffington Post event had a permit that forbade them to use the sidewalk. I knew from my investigative reporting on NYC permits that this was impossible: a private entity cannot lease the public sidewalks; even film crews must allow pedestrian traffic. I asked the police for clarification – no response.
I went over to the sidewalk at issue and identified myself as a NYC citizen and a reporter, and asked to see the permit in question or to locate the source on the police or event side that claimed it forbade citizen access to a public sidewalk. Finally a tall man, who seemed to be with the event, confessed that while it did have a permit, the permit did allow for protest so long as we did not block pedestrian passage.
I thanked him, returned to the protesters, and said: "The permit allows us to walk on the other side of the street if we don't block access. I am now going to walk on the public sidewalk and not block it. It is legal to do so. Please join me if you wish." My partner and I then returned to the event-side sidewalk and began to walk peacefully arm in arm, while about 30 or 40 people walked with us in single file, not blocking access.
Then a phalanx of perhaps 40 white-shirted senior offices descended out of seemingly nowhere and, with a megaphone (which was supposedly illegal for citizens to use), one said: "You are unlawfully creating a disruption. You are ordered to disperse." I approached him peacefully, slowly, gently and respectfully and said: "I am confused. I was told that the permit in question allows us to walk if we don't block pedestrian access and as you see we are complying with the permit."
If you want an illustration of the fear and loathing in in every copper's (reptile) heart:
He gave me a look of pure hate. "Are you going to back down?" he shouted. I stood, immobilised, for a moment. "Are you getting out of my way?" I did not even make a conscious decision not to "fall back" – I simply couldn't even will myself to do so, because I knew that he was not giving a lawful order and that if I stepped aside it would be not because of the law, which I was following, but as a capitulation to sheer force.
This is the point. If the police break the law what do you do? The police are a legalised crime syndicate, an armed gang employed to solve rich men's problems with force.
Ms Wolf was then arrested.
The police are now telling my supporters that the permit in question gave the event managers "control of the sidewalks". I have asked to see the permit but still haven't been provided with it – if such a category now exists, I have never heard of it; that, too, is a serious blow to an open civil society. What did I take away? Just that, unfortunately, my partner and I became exhibit A in a process that I have been warning Americans about since 2007: first they come for the "other" – the "terrorist", the brown person, the Muslim, the outsider; then they come for you – while you are standing on a sidewalk in evening dress, obeying the law.
The purpose of the War on Terror was not just to shift the balance abroad but at home as well. In many countries government agencies now have sweeping, ill-defined powers. Often you need a permit for most basic aspects of political activity (or if not the cop in question takes it for granted you do) - not so much different to Imperial Germany, where a policeman would sit on every platform in every public meeting to make sure the Kaiser wasn't insulted. We can't all be famous, well-to-do writers, there is only safety in numbers. We must exercise our rights or risk losing them, and at a time of greatest need.
News: many and various
Sometimes I feel like a right sour old git, but sometimes I have the courage of my convictions, like when I see It's Time to Democratise Money Creation . I just think: "Is it...? Is it really?"
Meanwhile in Chile military service is obligatory, public education is not.
Chilean government is preparing for war on someone, probably the Chileans.
New spaceport opens, new tax-funded (but privately owned) $209m spaceport offering $200,000 2 and 1/2 hour flights, 2 and 1/2 hour flights with 5 minutes zero gravity, new spaceport opens for test flight. We at TtSD are all in favour of this, on one condition, they set the controls for the heart of the sun. Blastoff! Feel the world getting lighter!
Follow coverage of the Dale Farm evictions, LIVE! Watch marauding police and bailiffs batter ordinary people, LIVE! Watch people's homes and lives being destroyed, LIVE! Then go back to your business as if nothing's happened.
Meanwhile in Chile military service is obligatory, public education is not.
Chile has given nearly 57,000 18-year-olds one month to report for potential military duty, saying the government needs to fill gaps in its armed forces because a nationwide student protest movement has reduced the number of volunteers it usually gets.
Chilean government is preparing for war on someone, probably the Chileans.
New spaceport opens, new tax-funded (but privately owned) $209m spaceport offering $200,000 2 and 1/2 hour flights, 2 and 1/2 hour flights with 5 minutes zero gravity, new spaceport opens for test flight. We at TtSD are all in favour of this, on one condition, they set the controls for the heart of the sun. Blastoff! Feel the world getting lighter!
Follow coverage of the Dale Farm evictions, LIVE! Watch marauding police and bailiffs batter ordinary people, LIVE! Watch people's homes and lives being destroyed, LIVE! Then go back to your business as if nothing's happened.
Not about left and right?
This is the statement-cum-list of demands from the London occupation:
Some vague, some very specific and challenging but, more importantly, if you go to the link and look at the swarm of right wing trolls hurling idiotic abuse at the occupation from the safety of the CiF comment section, the right think it's aimed at them because, well, it is.
1 The current system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust. We need alternatives; this is where we work towards them.
2 We are of all ethnicities, backgrounds, genders, generations, sexualities, dis/abilities and faiths. We stand together with occupations all over the world.
3 We refuse to pay for the banks' crisis.
4 We do not accept the cuts as either necessary or inevitable. We demand an end to global tax injustice and our democracy representing corporations instead of the people.
5 We want regulators to be genuinely independent of the industries they regulate.
6 We support the strike on 30 November and the student action on 9 November, and actions to defend our health services, welfare, education and employment, and to stop wars and arms dealing.
7 We want structural change towards authentic global equality. The world's resources must go towards caring for people and the planet, not the military, corporate profits or the rich.
8 We stand in solidarity with the global oppressed and we call for an end to the actions of our government and others in causing this oppression.
9 This is what democracy looks like. Come and join us!
Some vague, some very specific and challenging but, more importantly, if you go to the link and look at the swarm of right wing trolls hurling idiotic abuse at the occupation from the safety of the CiF comment section, the right think it's aimed at them because, well, it is.
More vicious, sectarian carping
In attempting to conquer space from capitalism we must give regard to the enemy defending it. The ruling class, in the form of the state has the benefit of prior organisation. An anti-capitalist movement must be equal to this organisation otherwise it will not be effective, unless of course you intend your movement to be merely platonic.
Which begs the question, has there been a serious attempt to put together serious political economy for autonomism, beyond constructing neologisms like precariat? Don't autonomists adopt neo-liberal paradigms (such as the end of the working class, horizontal organisation, power is everywhere and nowhere, grandnarratives are oppressive etc) and simply invert them?
There are two pitfalls to a purely moral opposition to capital. One is voluntarisn, the dangerous kind that can lead to totalitarianism (or would lead, if it were not completely Utopian at this point). The other is platonic, gesture politics, the kind where a demonstration stops to work out the fine details of democratic decision making while the police are swiftly kettling it.
In order to achieve any worthwhile goal you need a tested and trusted political tradition. You can't make one up as you go, least of all pretend you don't need one. Your demonstration has to be about left or right (approximate as those political coordinates may be) or it's about nothing.
It's a shame that some people don't see any viable political tradition that can express their political will, but it's pointless crying over such things. They can't be made to see it. But there are others, often first to the megaphone, who actively seek to keep things primitive and inchoate. As far as I can see we may lose the world, but at least those people get to keep their beautiful souls.
Occupy CoL - some observations
The picture sums the current situation up. To be blunt anyone who is not rooting for the St Paul's campers is an idiot or a scumbag. I went along to the inital demo to check it out. The following thoughts occur:
(1) A few thousand people put together in a few days by people working over the internet is not to be sniffed at. Of course larger, formal organisations can deliver greater numbers and have them better organised, which leads on to...
(2) There is not enough time to faff around with demonstrative democracy when there's a job to be done - if you're going to occupy the stock exchange work out how you're going to occupy it (preferably don't advertise it to the police first) occupy it and, once that's done, then you vote on stuff...
(3) If you were asked to rebuild the pyramids you wouldn't round up 10,000 slaves, you'd buy a load of JCBs. If there is no prohibition on amplifying your voice in the City of London there's no need for a human megaphone - it's just frivilous. If this was anything else but the beginning of something you'd be tempted to think the camp is just mass playacting.
(4) Da sound of da police: According to the Graun:
The Metropolitan police said some "containment" had been in place to prevent a breach of the peace... An utterly baffling reversal of logic. The only purpose of kettling is to give the police total physical superiority in order to provoke and frustrate, thereby allowing them to pick off 'troublemakers'.
The cops made a serious bodge when they didn't close down the nearby shops and restaurants before putting their kettle in place. It meant they had to 'assess' (their exact word) who was legitimate and who wasn't.
PC Brains: Why're you here, sonny jim?
Person: Well it's just such a beautiful day...
Brains: Not good enough.
Regards whether this was collective imprisonment I also heard from two separate plods that it's not imprisonment because you're not being held under a roof; which is a novel definition, one that may have been comfort to Ivan Denisovich.
I felt lucky to get out when I did... Once they weeded out the tourists, I expected a police riot on Saturday. Give them time... or don't, actually, give the campers your support.
True or False?
Jeremy Irons
Britney Spears
Stevie Nicks
Ryan Giggs
Axl Rose
William Shatner
Thora Hird
Shabba Ranks
Busta Rhymes
Gordon Burns
Mark Spitz
Muddy Waters
Roger Waters
Bill Withers
Jimmy Greaves
Chaka Khan
Brian Cant
Jedward
Lee Majors
Stephanie Powers
Britney Spears
Stevie Nicks
Ryan Giggs
Axl Rose
William Shatner
Thora Hird
Shabba Ranks
Busta Rhymes
Gordon Burns
Mark Spitz
Muddy Waters
Roger Waters
Bill Withers
Jimmy Greaves
Chaka Khan
Brian Cant
Jedward
Lee Majors
Stephanie Powers
Yay! Radiohead can be bothered!
I'm a bit mean, a bit unfair, they all have lives and families, bur, rejoice, Radiohead are going to make another album.
Unlike the boring old Dadrock fans who still pine for The Bends, I only got into The 'Head after Kid A. The King of Limbs was a fine, if slight, album, crying out for a quick follow-up, a companion record. Here is one of the highlights of the last album, Separator:
Also, a possible album track, The Daily Mail:
They have planned recording sessions for December and January, and at least one song – Come to Your Senses – is nearly finished. "It's a five-minute rehearsal, but it has the essence of what we need," he said. "There are a few of those. It would be fun to have them ready when we go to play next year. I don't know how we would release them."
Unlike the boring old Dadrock fans who still pine for The Bends, I only got into The 'Head after Kid A. The King of Limbs was a fine, if slight, album, crying out for a quick follow-up, a companion record. Here is one of the highlights of the last album, Separator:
Also, a possible album track, The Daily Mail:
Because everything looks bad if you remember it
Iain Duncan Smith is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore:
Campaigners accused the welfare secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, of "losing his cool" after the cabinet minister launched an extraordinary attack against a charity for challenging the government's proposed housing benefit reforms in the courts, describing the action as "ridiculous … irresponsible behaviour (and) an ill-judged PR stunt" which resulted in "a massive waste of taxpayers' money and court time".
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) had sought to overturn the government's cap on housing benefit, arguing in the high court that such a move would result in the "social cleansing" of expensive areas of the UK.
How dare anyone attempt to use the state and law to anyone's benefit...? Anyone except defence consultants and arms dealers... and Vodafone... and News Corporation... not forgetting the City of London... How dare they point out the likely shortfalls of my policies?
The caps mean that benefits paid to the poor to cover rents cannot exceed £250 a week for a one-bedroom property, £290 for two bedrooms, £340 for three bedrooms and £400 for four bedrooms. The government's own assessment shows that groups affected include people with disabilities, teenage mothers and ethnic minority families.
Charities had argued that the effect would be felt first in the capital, saying 9,000 London households facing would have to leave their homes as a result of the caps – and about 4,600 would be unable to find anywhere else to live "locally".
This could mean upwards of 20,000 children having to move, 14,000 out of their local area, resulting in disruption to education, health and social services.
Oh that's how. It could be argued that the way to reduce the housing benefit bill would be to tackle unemployment, poverty pay, introduce rent control and a building and renovation programme (it's not as if there isn't large unemployment in the construction sector, hey!). But that would involve siding with the poor against employers and landlords, and that would be wrong, wrong, WRONG!
Jim Crows again...
The state of Alabama has passed a law making immigration all but a crime in itself. The same law also allows private prisons to use prisoners far more extensively for work. A Guardian writer wonders where this is going?
It has been well observed that the American prison industry is huge. The justice system is a racist system, the cutting edge of a racist society, disproportionately punishing ethnic minorities. Work is effectively forced. Slavery has effectively been restored.
But the relation of work to compulsion and control. We are all wage slaves. We don't need a whip, merely an alarm clock to make us fall into line. We don't have to work for anyone in particular, but we have to work for someone. What the capitalist class wants is, in effect, labour like water. It can turn the tap off and on as and when it needs to.
The capitalist class's plan, it's only plan, for dealing with the current depression is to hold down costs, especially wages, and export. Individually this makes sense, as a collective this is madness, but competitive accumulation drives this system, the first point of view must dominate. Racist laws such as the one passed in Alabama are not just an attack on a people but a class, an experiment in setting a new, lower baseline in working class life. A portion of the working class will go from working for next to nothing to all but nothing, a further downward pressure on all working people, at least in Alabama. It is another illustration why the working class, if it is to be a class for itself, for its own interests, must be staunchly anti-racist.
The difference between Alabama and adjoining states is that it is willing to go further down this track. Recently, John McMillan, agriculture commissioner, proposed that the farm work left behind by immigrant workers be supplied with inmate labor. Decatur, a private detention center about 50 miles to the north-west of Alabama, which had been unable to find jobs for inmates, has now witnessed record numbers of requests for labor (for an estimated 150 detainees a day).
So, here is how it goes. First, the state passes a harsh immigration law. Then, it detains large numbers of immigrants. Third, private prisons (LCS, CCA, GEO) receive fresh inmates. And finally, the artificially created labor shortage is supplied by the new inmates. Does this sound like modern-day slavery to anyone?
It has been well observed that the American prison industry is huge. The justice system is a racist system, the cutting edge of a racist society, disproportionately punishing ethnic minorities. Work is effectively forced. Slavery has effectively been restored.
But the relation of work to compulsion and control. We are all wage slaves. We don't need a whip, merely an alarm clock to make us fall into line. We don't have to work for anyone in particular, but we have to work for someone. What the capitalist class wants is, in effect, labour like water. It can turn the tap off and on as and when it needs to.
The capitalist class's plan, it's only plan, for dealing with the current depression is to hold down costs, especially wages, and export. Individually this makes sense, as a collective this is madness, but competitive accumulation drives this system, the first point of view must dominate. Racist laws such as the one passed in Alabama are not just an attack on a people but a class, an experiment in setting a new, lower baseline in working class life. A portion of the working class will go from working for next to nothing to all but nothing, a further downward pressure on all working people, at least in Alabama. It is another illustration why the working class, if it is to be a class for itself, for its own interests, must be staunchly anti-racist.
Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists’ statement on the massacre of Copts at Maspero
Link
Glory to the martyrs of Bloody Sunday
Shame on the military and the reactionaries
The Revolutionary Socialists send sincere condolences to the families of the peaceful demonstrators who were murdered by the bullets of the Central Security Forces and crushed by the military’s armoured cars after they came on the night of 9 October to defend the right of Coptic Christians to freedom and equality.
The police repression of the demonstrations is an extension of Mubarak’s policies, just as it is a continuation of the policies of oppression of the Copts which goes hand-in-hand with a policy of divide and rule between Christian and Muslim working people, while the bosses and the military from both sides enjoy the fruits of their hard labour. And at the same time as these events, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has announced new decisions which will assist the followers of the old regime in their takeover of parliament, in order to tighten their grip once again.
The goal of the counter-revolution led by the Supreme Council at this moment is to distract the masses in preparation for striking a blow at the revolution. The military’s crime is an expression of their fear, and the fear of their internal and external allies of developments in our continuing revolution.
Over the last three weeks more than half a million working people, Muslim and Christian have joined the struggle, in the historic strikes by teachers, public transport workers, doctors, irrigation ministry workers and others. Muslim and Christian have been on strike together, and they have joined the sit-ins together. Sometimes they have faced repression, at other times they have been victorious. Their struggle has provided the finest examples of how to erase the false divisions which our exploiters impose on us for their own benefit.
This coalescence between Muslims and Christians proves the interconnections between the struggle for social justice on one hand, side-by-side with our fight to defend full equality for the Copts and all the oppressed in this country.
Meanwhile Mubarak’s generals continue to use the blood of the workers and peasants who fell in battle during their past wars with Israel to glorify themselves and their role in history. The truth is that the policy of the Military Council is an extension of Mubarak’s policy of weakness and subservience to the Americans and the Zionists. The generals have not taken any position against the continued aggression of the Zionists against our brothers in Palestine, or even over their killing of Egyptian soldiers. The Military Council responded with silence, and with the crushing of demonstrations demanding the rights of the martyrs.
The perpetrators of the massacre at Maspero are not only those who took part in the killing in person; soldiers and those the military and the Interior Ministry like to call “honest citizens”, the thugs which the Interior Ministry put into action and some of the reactionary religious forces which spout sectarian rhetoric and whose followers are themselves directly involved in the crimes of burning churches and incitement to tear down buildings in the name of religion. They did not commit the massacre of Maspero on their own. Their accomplices are all those who published ‘facts’ in order to mislead the masses, all those who justified the slaughter in cold blood, and all those who refused to see that these are crimes against humanity and not only crimes against the Copts.
We will continue to defend our revolution, and the people’s right to free expression, to protest, demonstrate and strike, in order to restore our stolen rights, and to cleanse the country of the roots of corruption, which is still poisoning our revolution and attempting to overturn it.
In defence of freedom of expression, we declare our condemnation of the attack by the Military Council on the 25 January and Al-Hurra TV stations because they were broadcasting the massacres committed by the army and police that night.
While we know that it will probably not wipe away the tears or quench the burning loss of a son or loved one last night, we swear to continue the struggle for the success of the revolution, so that our country can become a nation of equality, freedom and justice.
The Revolutionary Socialists
4am, 10 October 2011
Raisins ahoy!
For no particular raisin, except that I don't want that butt-ugly picture at the top of my blog for long, here's a list of probes active in our solar system. There are currently five probes heading out of our system. The oldest active probe, if it is active, is Pioneer 6, launched in 1965.
En route
Rosetta, launched after several delays and mission changes, is currently on an intercept course with 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will deploy a lander for further investigation after reaching the comet.
New Horizons was the fastest artificially-accelerated object and will be the fifth probe to leave the solar system. It will be the first spacecraft to study Pluto, ultimately destined for the Kuiper Belt.
Juno is on route to Jupiter and upon arrival will enter a polar orbit around the gas giant.
Mission in progress
The Cassini orbiter began studying Saturn and its moons after passing Venus and Jupiter and deploying the Huygens landing probe to Titan. It is primarily investigating Saturn's rings, its magnetosphere, and the geologic composition of its satellites; the mission may potentially continue until 2017.
2001 Mars Odyssey, a tribute to the classic novel and film, is one of three active human-made Mars satellites. It will continue its mission to map the surface of Mars until at least September 2010.
Mars Express: Mars orbiter designed to study the planet's atmosphere and geology, search for sub-surface water, and deploy the Beagle lander. Mission extended until at least December 2012.
MESSENGER is studying Mercury. It is only the second probe to do so and is the first to orbit the planet. Technologically, it is far superior to its 1975 predecessor, Mariner 10. Having previously passed Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury three times, it entered orbit in March 2011.
Opportunity Rover landed on Meridiani Planum. Expected to last 90 Martian days (sols), it continues to function effectively after sol 2470. Its twin, Spirit Rover, explored an area on the other side of the planet, but became stuck in soft soil May 1, 2009, and communication was lost March 22, 2010 (sol 2210).
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the second NASA satellite orbiting Mars. It is specifically designed to analyze the landforms, stratigraphy, minerals, and ice of the red planet, which will aid in selecting a landing site for future lander Mars Science Laboratory.
Venus Express, modeled after the Mars Express, is collecting data on the Venusian atmosphere and cloud conditions. Mission extended until at least December 2012.
Dawn successfully entered asteroid Vesta's orbit on July 16 2011. It will study Vesta until July 2012, when it will depart for dwarf planet Ceres and arrive sometime in 2015.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is engaged in lunar mapping.
Chang'e 2 is studying the geography of the Moon.
Mission complete: New mission in progress
Voyager 2 has not yet left the solar system, but will become one of the first five probes to do so eventually. Its mission to study all four gas giants was one of NASA's most successful, yielding a wealth of new information. As of January 2010 it is some 91 AU from the sun,[2] and it is hoped that it will continue to operate until at least 2020. As with Voyager 1, scientists are now using Voyager 2to learn what the solar system is like beyond the heliosphere.
Voyager 1 is currently the farthest man-made object from Earth. As of January 2010 it lies about 112 AU from the sun[2] (10 billion miles, or 0.0018 light years), and it will not be overtaken by any other craft. It was originally tasked with investigating Jupiter and Saturn, and the moons of these planets. Its continuing data feed offers the first direct measurements of the heliosheath and may eventually provide data on the heliopause. It is hoped that Voyager 1 will continue operating until at least 2020.
Deep Impact was designed to study Comet Tempel 1 by impacting it with a high-speed projectile and photographing the results. This accomplished, a mission extension to Comet Hartley 2 was authorised (target changed from Comet Boethin).
New mission under consideration
ISEE-3's original mission was to study the solar wind; later, redesignated ICE, it flew by Comet Giacobini-Zinner. It is currently[when?] in a 355-day heliocentric orbit. Deactivated on 1997-05-05 leaving only a carrier signal, it was reactivated on 2008-09-18. NASA began considering using the spacecraft to observe additional comets in 2017 or 2018. No decision has been reached on the future use of the spacecraft. If no future uses are made, the spacecraft could be captured and given to the Smithsonian Institution in 2014. Reuse of the spacecraft would delay the possible capture to 2040s.
Akatsuki would have been the first Japanese Venusian probe. Also known as Planet-C and Venus Climate Orbiter, Akatsuki failed to enter Venusian orbit in December 2010. It is still functioning, and has a possible second chance to orbit Venus in 2017.
No future missions projected
Pioneer 6, launched in 1965, is the oldest functioning probe (if still operating). Contact was last attempted 8 December 2000 to celebrate its thirty-fifth anniversary, and the attempt was successful.[3] Like the three craft which superseded it, it took measurements of the solar wind, solar magnetic field and cosmic rays.
Pioneer 7 was last contacted 31 March 1995; no attempt has been made since, and this probe may or may not be operational.
Pioneer 8 was last contacted in 22 August 1996; no attempt has been made since, and this probe may or may not be operational.
Giotto approached within 600 kilometers of Halley's Comet on its flyby mission, and survived some particulate impact on the inbound flight to capture scientific data and stunning images of the comet's nucleus. Its multicolor camera was subsequently destroyed, but the probe remained otherwise functional. Its mission completed, deactivation commands were transmitted on 15 March 1986. Awakened four years later on 2 July, it studied the comet Grigg-Skjellerup as it approached within 200 kilometers eight days later, and was again deactivated on the 23rd.
Genesis returned a capsule with a solar wind sample to Earth in 2004. The rest of the probe was put into a parking orbit near Earth's L2 point.
Elsewhere in fascism
The EDL's women's division (known as the EDL Angels - eww) were due to hold a demonstration outside Downing Street. Judging by the pictures their women's division is rather small and dominated by poorly-disguised transvestites. Look at them... don't they just look like angels...? Did I say angels? I meant violent fascists.
The weird world of nazis
Or it's really is a mad, mad, mad, mad reich... Last night Panorama broadcast another show about the British Nazi Party. It was generally instructive; professional fraud, amateur kidnapping, lies and general nastiness (what, no solidarity among the master race?). The climactic scene was fittingly menacing and bizarre. The reporter managed to secure a meeting to put various accusations to Nick Griffin. He was led a merry dance round various carparks of Greater Leicester by BNP security men until they reached a hotel. Once inside their furher read out a brief, whacky, paranoid statement in front of some cameras before hot-footing, leaving his goons to surround and intimidate the reporter and his crew.
There was only one problem, the documentary deliberately left aside the issue of racism and fascism. There is no apart-from-the-violent-racism with the BNP. You cannot interview loonies like Mark Collett (Mark "AIDS is a friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it" Collett) like they're just members of the public... Unless, of course, you're a BBC reporter.
There was only one problem, the documentary deliberately left aside the issue of racism and fascism. There is no apart-from-the-violent-racism with the BNP. You cannot interview loonies like Mark Collett (Mark "AIDS is a friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it" Collett) like they're just members of the public... Unless, of course, you're a BBC reporter.
News and Spews
I've not really got into the meat of this matter. It's hard to summon up much forensic outrage when you know the party of government is basically the political wing of the City of London. You associate Tories with corruption the same way you associate puppies with soiled rugs. Why shouldn't it extend to the (heavily subsidised) armed wing of the bourgeoisie
But I love this: Liam Fox apologises but denies any wrongdoing. In which case what is he apologising for? It's part of the modern art of lying and swindling; only apologise for trivial things or abstract ideas (like the impression of wrongdoing) and, if in doubt, play the good-faith card. I told you this in good faith. I came out with a pile of transparent nonsense and believed it at the time. It was real for me then, why can't it be real for you now?
Elsewhere, self-styled Hugo Chávez has condemned the "horrible repression" of anti-Wall Street styled protesters and self-styled described a US Republican presidential self candidate as "self crazy" for his criticism of Cuba and Venezuela.
Although still convalescing from self-styled cancer surgery in June followed by four rounds of chemotherapy, the 57-year-old Venezuelan president is quickly self returning to his self-styled tough self rhetoric and styled strong views.
Really? What's wrong with calling Mitt Romney crazy?
Around the world: newspaper hacks breathe a sigh of relief as the nascent and inexplicable rebellion against global capitalism finds its first articulate and photogenic spokesperson. Give it time and perhaps Camilla Vallejo will become the self-styled Camilla Vallejo. Still it beats the dark, deadly and possibly muslamic rebellion in the Middle East.
But something like that could never happen here... oh, hang on.
But I love this: Liam Fox apologises but denies any wrongdoing. In which case what is he apologising for? It's part of the modern art of lying and swindling; only apologise for trivial things or abstract ideas (like the impression of wrongdoing) and, if in doubt, play the good-faith card. I told you this in good faith. I came out with a pile of transparent nonsense and believed it at the time. It was real for me then, why can't it be real for you now?
Elsewhere, self-styled Hugo Chávez has condemned the "horrible repression" of anti-Wall Street styled protesters and self-styled described a US Republican presidential self candidate as "self crazy" for his criticism of Cuba and Venezuela.
Although still convalescing from self-styled cancer surgery in June followed by four rounds of chemotherapy, the 57-year-old Venezuelan president is quickly self returning to his self-styled tough self rhetoric and styled strong views.
Really? What's wrong with calling Mitt Romney crazy?
Around the world: newspaper hacks breathe a sigh of relief as the nascent and inexplicable rebellion against global capitalism finds its first articulate and photogenic spokesperson. Give it time and perhaps Camilla Vallejo will become the self-styled Camilla Vallejo. Still it beats the dark, deadly and possibly muslamic rebellion in the Middle East.
But something like that could never happen here... oh, hang on.
Socialism for the rich...
According to David Cameron, under New Labour we had a casino economy and a welfare society. That may have been the case (it wasn't) but under David Cameron we've got a welfare economy and a casino society... and you can have that witticism for free.
That discreet Tory charm
Apparently David Cameron has decided to rewrite his conference speech, due today, particularly the section where he tells the public to pay up and be grateful. Yet another example of that discreet Tory charm.
Getting down to some serious work...
Best of all is serious work in local communities... Don't you just love this injunction? It's common on leftie websites; a phrase (with a few variations) that says everything yet means nothing. As if we were doing silly work up until that point, reeling about in clown outfits going honk-honk or somesuch.
Getting down to some serious/hard work/graft in the (local) community is usually contrasted to high-profile campaigning of various sorts (maybe even involving students - boo! boo!). When it comes down to it serious work can only mean doorknocking about local issues, bin-collections, pest control, meals on wheels, etc, the stuff of local government.
Back in the day it may have been possible to change the world, or at least believe you can change the world, though local government. The recent history of local government, from the abolition of rates up to the Chancellor George Osborne's recent council tax freeze, the role of local goverment has diminished to all but a rubber stamp... and then there's Barnet Council, a mere kitemark on a bundle of services.
What is left of getting down to serious work, other than a rhetorical flourish on Socialist Unity?
Getting down to some serious/hard work/graft in the (local) community is usually contrasted to high-profile campaigning of various sorts (maybe even involving students - boo! boo!). When it comes down to it serious work can only mean doorknocking about local issues, bin-collections, pest control, meals on wheels, etc, the stuff of local government.
Back in the day it may have been possible to change the world, or at least believe you can change the world, though local government. The recent history of local government, from the abolition of rates up to the Chancellor George Osborne's recent council tax freeze, the role of local goverment has diminished to all but a rubber stamp... and then there's Barnet Council, a mere kitemark on a bundle of services.
What is left of getting down to serious work, other than a rhetorical flourish on Socialist Unity?
Cameron to Peasants: "don't worry, I've still got a job"
David Cameron will urge us all today to pull up our socks, pay up our debts and have a general can-do spirit about, I don't know, voting Tory or something. But, apparently:
...people want to know why the good times are so long coming.
"The answer is straightforward, but uncomfortable. This was no normal recession; we're in a debt crisis. It was caused by too much borrowing, by individuals, businesses, banks – and, most of all, governments."
It's almost like he's bothered having to explain. D'uh, it's obvious! Are they still asking about this?
But this is a gross elision of the truth. The crisis was not caused by government borrowing. The hike in government borrowing was preceded by the banking collapse in 2008. Only a fool or a liar would deny that. Which are you, David?
It is a fact the capitalist class went to the exchequer to be helped out of its crisis, a crisis it created, that is a fact. Let's not forget the Tories did not so much as put a peep of opposition at the time. Actually, the process amounted to was the public, us, you and me, taking on the sins of the elite, for we it is now being crucified... and there is no need, as UK Uncut continually demonstrate:
We are told that the only way to reduce the deficit is to cut public services. This is certainly not the case. There are alternatives, but the government chooses to ignore them, highlighting the fact that the cuts are based on ideology, not necessity.
One alternative is to clamp down on tax dodging by corporations and the rich, estimated to cost the state £95bn a year...
Another is to make the banks pay for free insurance provided to them by the taxpayer: a chief executive at the Bank of England put the cost of this subsidy at £100bn in a single year...
Either the tax avoided and evaded in a single year or the taxpayer subsidy to the banking industry could pay for all of the £81bn, four-year cuts programme.
No wonder you're grumpy. Even just judging by today's news you're stressed at work, the most fundamental cause being job insecurity; if you become ill long-term because of this you can now 'buy' treatment on the NHS with vouchers, and you thought you already bought it with taxes; you're cutting back on non-essential spending; why wouldn't you, what with seemingly permanent and overwhelming economic turmoil.
But, if you insist on feeling a little put out by the situation just remember 'our' best days are ahead of us... even if they're a long day ahead of us and, whatever you do don't strike. Workers cannot be allowed to shut down vital public services. Only the Tories are allowed to do that.
It's a mad, mad, mad, mad reich
No self-respecting white supremacist likes admitting they're prejudiced toward the ethnic minoritah. It's a state based ethnic purity and superiority, like good old Rhodesia, but with much better liberal cred. Given that it was founded as an understandable, if flawed response to the awful crime of the holocaust, anyone who actively opposed to the Israeli state is a genocidal fascist, and anyone who has any sympathy for Palestinians is an appeaser. As we know from Godwin's Law it's always a good thing to be seen as fighting fascism. The Israeli state is also the cutting edge of western imperial intervention into the Middle East, it's two for the price of one! So it was no surprise when:
It's because it was a scabrous, lefty mind-wash trying to prove that Palestinians are actually existing people. It can't possibly be because Palestinians have a vibrant and interesting literary culture worth exploring in any way. They can't have. They don't exist. And it was definitely a low-brow left-fest because it was only supported by a former Children's Laureate and a local MP.
Our rulers are loonies. Expect being Palestinian to be deemed anti-Semitic in and of itself by 2015.
Education Secretary Michael Gove stopped eight schools sending pupils to a Palestinian literature festival.
Mr Gove challenged headteachers in Islington and Haringey to justify why they planned to participate in the event, run by a branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
It's because it was a scabrous, lefty mind-wash trying to prove that Palestinians are actually existing people. It can't possibly be because Palestinians have a vibrant and interesting literary culture worth exploring in any way. They can't have. They don't exist. And it was definitely a low-brow left-fest because it was only supported by a former Children's Laureate and a local MP.
Our rulers are loonies. Expect being Palestinian to be deemed anti-Semitic in and of itself by 2015.
If I can shoot rabbits...
I think this every year, whenever the Tories meet - where's the IRA when you need them? Not because I think isolated terrorist acts are an effective vehicle for change (any Police or Secret Service reading this take note) but because at present there's no adequate way to express how much I hate them...
I mean, look at this, bootcamps for children Boris Johnson doesn't like (ugly, poor ones spoiling his Olympics). Why only bootcamps? These are supposedly 'feral', i.e. inhuman children we're talking about here. Go the whole hog, have sweatshops, slavelabour, get them stitching Nike trainers in 50 degree heat, that'll show 'em. Arbeit macht frei. Dachau on Thames. Proudly sponsored by Barclays Bank.
Remember how you used to pay a portion of income in the form of tax to go toward collective provision of things like health, education, pensions, rubbish collection, fire fighting? Forget that. George Osborne's going to give it to Barry the Bodger to prop up his ailing business. You're lending small businesses money so bankers don't have to.
And this is just day two.
Introduction to a Short Biography of LSD
A lot of things get listed as the essence of humanity. One thing that could be said is as long as humans have had a mind they've had a mind to alter.
Most common mood altering substances we know today have a long history. One of the earliest verified reports of cannabis use was in Herodotus journals, where he describes Scythian tribesmen throwing seeds on a fire, inhaling the smoke and howling with joy . Stimulants have played a role in many religions. Shamanic ceremony is often cited, but how often do people read the Bible, with it's winged angels, burning bushes and ravaged cities and wonder what on Earth these people were on?
The point is drugs began, like all other aspects of ancient human culture, tied to ritual, in particular religious ritual.
But LSD is almost unique. It is a 20th century drug, a capitalist drug. It was first synthesised in 1938, in a Sandoz laboratory. For twenty years after the Bicycle Day the company made and exported the drug around the world until it was almost universally outlawed in the mid-60s . In that time (and for some time after) it had an incredible history, attracted many great minds, inspired much thought and debate.
To begin with it was seen as a powerful aid to psychotherapy . There were investigations into its usefulness treating alcoholism, initial results suggested it was five times more effective than Alcoholics Anonymous though the studies were never carried through to a satisfactory conclusion.
The Cold War military/industrial complex then took an interest in the drug. Army chiefs saw it as a powerful chemical weapon. There is ample (and often hilarious) footage, now available online, of British and American soldiers attempting to drill and manoeuvre under the influence. The connection between soldiery and science was particularly strong in Southern California. It was through this connection that LSD found its way down from intellectual circles, onto the campus and into general society. By the mid-sixties it was transformed from an object of military study into the sacrament of anti-militarist counter-culture.
The sixties counter-culture may one day be seen as unique, a radically empty movement to refound the world. It's agent of change was not a class or country but a chemical.
General and Chemical
The human body is in constant dynamic equilibrium. Human beings need continual chemical input in order to survive, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, oxygen and so forth. We don't, of course, need recreational drugs to get by but the principle is similar. You put a chemical into your body in order to get a certain reaction. This is a choice informed adults of sound mind and body should be able to make. One of the biggest problems with prohibition is it means recreational drug users cannot make a strictly informed choice. Prohibition cannot eliminate supply, let alone quell demand .
LSD is an hallucinogenic drug. It is beyond being a stimulant, heightening the faculty of perception to the point where it it becomes distorted. Common physical effects include:
LSD has a very low toxicity, you're more likely to overdose on caffeine than LSD. Of course the psychological effects:
So common they're quoted on Wikipedia.
It's the psychological effects of LSD that fascinate so, in particular the 'unitive' sense inspired by the drug. It is what inspired the revolution behind the eyes. It seems almost serendipitous LSD appeared in public life at the moment it did; a time that saw the first faint signs of the end of the post-war boom, the cresting wave of the Civil Rights movement, growing opposition to the Vietnam War. Perhaps above all else a generation of people was reaching adulthood who knew nothing of the war or the depression. They were presented with a life choice between a slot in a faceless corporation and the ranks of the military and found it no choice at all.
But before that we have to go to Switzerland.
Most common mood altering substances we know today have a long history. One of the earliest verified reports of cannabis use was in Herodotus journals, where he describes Scythian tribesmen throwing seeds on a fire, inhaling the smoke and howling with joy . Stimulants have played a role in many religions. Shamanic ceremony is often cited, but how often do people read the Bible, with it's winged angels, burning bushes and ravaged cities and wonder what on Earth these people were on?
The point is drugs began, like all other aspects of ancient human culture, tied to ritual, in particular religious ritual.
But LSD is almost unique. It is a 20th century drug, a capitalist drug. It was first synthesised in 1938, in a Sandoz laboratory. For twenty years after the Bicycle Day the company made and exported the drug around the world until it was almost universally outlawed in the mid-60s . In that time (and for some time after) it had an incredible history, attracted many great minds, inspired much thought and debate.
To begin with it was seen as a powerful aid to psychotherapy . There were investigations into its usefulness treating alcoholism, initial results suggested it was five times more effective than Alcoholics Anonymous though the studies were never carried through to a satisfactory conclusion.
The Cold War military/industrial complex then took an interest in the drug. Army chiefs saw it as a powerful chemical weapon. There is ample (and often hilarious) footage, now available online, of British and American soldiers attempting to drill and manoeuvre under the influence. The connection between soldiery and science was particularly strong in Southern California. It was through this connection that LSD found its way down from intellectual circles, onto the campus and into general society. By the mid-sixties it was transformed from an object of military study into the sacrament of anti-militarist counter-culture.
The sixties counter-culture may one day be seen as unique, a radically empty movement to refound the world. It's agent of change was not a class or country but a chemical.
General and Chemical
The human body is in constant dynamic equilibrium. Human beings need continual chemical input in order to survive, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, oxygen and so forth. We don't, of course, need recreational drugs to get by but the principle is similar. You put a chemical into your body in order to get a certain reaction. This is a choice informed adults of sound mind and body should be able to make. One of the biggest problems with prohibition is it means recreational drug users cannot make a strictly informed choice. Prohibition cannot eliminate supply, let alone quell demand .
LSD is an hallucinogenic drug. It is beyond being a stimulant, heightening the faculty of perception to the point where it it becomes distorted. Common physical effects include:
LSD can cause pupil dilation, reduced appetite (for some, it increases), and wakefulness. Other physical reactions to LSD are highly variable and non-specific, and some of these reactions may be secondary to the psychological effects of LSD. The following symptoms have been reported: numbness, weakness, nausea,(decreased or increased body temperature),elevated blood sugar, goosebumps, increase in heart rate, jaw clenching, perspiration,saliva production, mucus production, sleeplessness, hyperreflexia and tremors.
LSD has a very low toxicity, you're more likely to overdose on caffeine than LSD. Of course the psychological effects:
Some psychological effects may include an experience of radiant colours, objects and surfaces appearing to ripple or "breathe", coloured patterns behind the closed eyelids (eidetic imagery), an altered sense of time (time seems to be stretching, repeating itself, changing speed or stopping), crawling geometric patterns overlaying walls and other objects, morphing objects, a sense that one's thoughts are spiralling into themselves, loss of a sense of identity or the ego (known as "ego death"), and other powerful psycho-physical reactions. Many users experience a dissolution between themselves and the "outside world". This unitive quality may play a role in the spiritual and religious aspects of LSD. The drug sometimes leads to disintegration or restructuring of the user's historical personality and creates a mental state that some users report allows them to have more choice regarding the nature of their own personality .
So common they're quoted on Wikipedia.
It's the psychological effects of LSD that fascinate so, in particular the 'unitive' sense inspired by the drug. It is what inspired the revolution behind the eyes. It seems almost serendipitous LSD appeared in public life at the moment it did; a time that saw the first faint signs of the end of the post-war boom, the cresting wave of the Civil Rights movement, growing opposition to the Vietnam War. Perhaps above all else a generation of people was reaching adulthood who knew nothing of the war or the depression. They were presented with a life choice between a slot in a faceless corporation and the ranks of the military and found it no choice at all.
But before that we have to go to Switzerland.
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