Suzanne Moore has had enough of irony, which is nice. Not always the most spot on commentator, here she it right by completely failing to hit the target. Irony, detachment, postmodernism are so utterly infuriating because they're so protean, you think you've got then it completely slips your grasp. Irony has been declared over more than once before. Only shoot hipsters in the head. Make it a quick, clean kill, otherwise they will enjoy being shot ironically.
It is a fascinating aspect of ideological struggle. Commodity fetishism is the result of alienated labour, we come to see the results of our labour, goods and services, as having life on their own. For example, from the smallest level, where we might feel we express ourself through a ring tone or a book collection, to when we see the result of, say, an election in Greece and wonder how "the markets" will react. This fact is a building block of bourgeois ideology: the mass of humanity is worthless except as slaves, tied to the whims of a computer or a lathe or some other object (often people have to compete with lifeless objects for work). But in an age of mass media and mass education this is difficult to sustain. Irony, detachment, distance, whatever you call it, helps ideologically sustain the whole cycle of capital accumulation. You can be knowlingly exploited, ironically condescended to, enjoy living through worthless, substandard commodities, it's so bad it's good.
But the main fact about postmodernism is it is hyper-liberalism. Relativism, the death of grand narratives etc so practiced really does dissolve all forms of solidarity. We are all little atoms bumping around in a vast chamber (capitalism as a mystery box, which magically generates surplus value). Each interaction, each insight is a meaningful as the next, and so meaningless; hence, I think, the drive to rationalise the Arab Spring or the Occupy movement as leaderless or propelled, somehow, by social networks.
So long as it's only individuals who have had enough of irony and detachment, such attitudes will prevail, earnestness and involvement being just another set of postures, as good as any other.
This week's thoughts for the brain...
Those of you who hang around the same parts of the internet as I do will know there is a debate going on. The Greek and French election indicate a potential sea change in European politics. To use the precise meaning: austerity rolls, but anti-austerity politics have found their voice. There are now rallying points, in Greece it's Syriza, in France the Left Front. These are not Bolshevik organisations. The question then is what does the left of the left, including revolutionaries, do?
Let me make one thing clear, however. The people in places like Britain arguing with headbanging sincerity about the need for entryism are total phonies.
But if these results are indicative, it means rough equivalents of these organisations will appear everywhere. The British political system is the most resistant to political breakthroughs (regional assemblies and local mayors not withstanding). Fans of doorknocking, sorry, getting down to some serious work in local communities, might not see too many tangible results so soon. One thing I think we can definitely say is there is not simply a vaccum on the left, at least not one we can fill ourselves.
It's worth going over what it took last time to give the left unity and purpose. At the height of the anti-war movement, in the weeks before the attack on Iraq, I attended organising meetings (not rallies, organising meetings) where 100 people occupied one room and 100 more taking up an overflow room, with runners heading between them and the local news crew confused as to who they were supposed to film... and yet things worked perfectly, with no foul-ups, no duplication and no sectarianism.
The point is, partly, that the organisation which received most of the anti-war movement was set up in anticipation, as opposed to the left unity project, which was a reaction to events. Perhaps when Respect was formed the moment was already passed. Certainly between the first unity rally in October 2003 and the foundation in January 2004 Bob Crow, George Monbiot, the Green Party, the Socialist Party and the CPB all backed off.
For better or worse, we were in a position where we had to substitute for a united left in the anticipation of future success or effectively cancel the project. Let's never get into that pickle again. No substitution or liquidation; perhaps easier typed than done.
Blog of interest...
I don't know what it's like where you are but London is currently decked out like a Louise Mensch reboot of Triumph of the Will. We are being bombarded with relentless festivities that are part of a political campaign to take us back to the 1930s and make us be pleased about it. There's the jubilee, the football, the tennis and then six weeks of Olympics; wall to wall flags, cops, soldiers, missiles, tourists, tories and traffic jams.
If for some bizarre reason you to the upcoming summer-long reactionary gang-bang, full-on naked toryism in our streets, may I reccommend to you the Official (sorry OFFICIAL) Anti-Olympics Blog. You will like it. For example:
“Poppycock!” they cry. “This is a time to rejoice, not to whinge and whine and moan and talk of democracy. Let’s put up the bunting, wave our flags, cheer for all that is good about being British!” Well, I hate to disagree… No, wait, scrub that. I love to disagree!
Damn right!
Micronews
Earlier this year Bozo Johnson's communications chief, Guto Harri, threatened to unleash a newspaper vendetta against the BBC in retaliation for its 'biased' coverage. The examples listed in the email are bizarre in their microscopic focus. Don't bore yourself unravelling the logic behind this, there is none, except that the Tories are using the current political juncture not to govern judciously and fairly in difficult times but to drastically gerrymander the terms of politics for the foreseeable future. If the Mayor of London is allowed to micromanage his (or her) coverage in supposedly independent mass media, we are living in a truly sick society.
But there's more, and it's more interesting. How can this be a plausible threat, for the Mayor of London to use the right-wing press to bring down the British Broadcasting Corporation? Have you been following the Leveson inquiry? This week's theme of investigation is the links between the political and media elite: it should be revealing (Tony Blair was today's star witness, according to him phone calls to Rupert Murdoch in the run up to the Iraq war were "nothing odd").
And finally, if you need any more evidence, just how thick these theives are, Guto Harri is now the communications director for News International.
Jubilee!
The most interesting thing about King Charles the First was that he was five foot six inches tall at the start of his reign, but only four foot eight inches tall at the end of it.
Geography lesson with the International Olympic Committee
Adrian Beecroft thinks Vince Cable is a socialist...
The question is, with the vast number of raw idiots in the world, who cares? Well, Adrian Beecroft is a Tory party donor (according to one source, I don't know how reliable, he has donated a total of £537,000 "in recent years"). Adrian Beecroft is a venture capitalist (well blow me down, he's a rich man), meaning large-scale investor. One of his most successful ventures is Wonga.com, a payday loans company recently slammed for its aggressive collection methods.
But Beecroft is also a government advisor. Yes, this government is taking advice from glorified loan sharks. He recently advised the government to do away with employment rights, the headline being he wanted the government to allow employers to sack employees at short notice without fault. Such a move would apparently boost the economy to the tune of £50 billion. Leaving aside the obvious mistake of thinking fewer people in work would add to the general wealth of society, don't think for a moment that £50 billion would have headed your way, it would have gone straight into Adrian Beecroft's pockets, him and his ilk. But comrade Cable put a stop to all that, boo-fucking-hoo (I say "put a stop to all that" the Beecroft Bill, AKA The Enterprise and Regulatory Bill, is being put to parliament today - minus no-fault sackings, but with a whole host of other horrors, e.g. limiting unfair dismissal payments to one year's wages).
But why care? First, I think this is indicative of an attempt to import post-Regan rhetoric into Britain, partisan hysteria not just about people who exist outside mainstream political consensus, but even those who operate inside it. Secondly, we must bear in mind the Tories strategic outlook. Like Regan, who attacked the legacy of the New Deal, this government is trying to destroy all bases of social democratic opposition (not to mention further left-wing opposition). The Tories electoral base is dwindling. It was dropping away even before the effects of austerity began hitting them in the polls, hence the Tories could not govern on their own after the last general election. This is why they've been so hasty, so reckless, so provocative (not to mention so surprised when their provocations failed to rouse much practical opposition) and why they have responded to all obstacles, even imagined ones, with such hyperventilating craziness.
David Cameron in calculated insult to logic
And all those who practice such a quaint art. From a heavily armed bunker in Chicago he said:
It's not for me to say what Greek parties should and shouldn't stand on and how the Greek elections should work.I bet you 420 billion Euros the next word is "but..."
But it's very important that everyone is clear that...Ha! I win. Sorry, you go on Dave...
But it's very important that everyone is clear that the choice Greece faces is maintaining its commitments and maintaining itself in the eurozone, or deciding that is not the path it wants to take... So this decision point, the Greek election, has got to become the moment where all of the right plans are put in place to secure the future of the eurozone currency.The Euro was not good enough for David Cameron, though it's clearly good enough now for him to secure its future. Look, Greeks, stop spoiling things! Either you're going to vote for the sado-monetarist destruction of your society, or Cameron and co are going to put 'the right plans' in place to ensure it. That's democracy for ya!
For no raisin
Part one of the BBC documentary, The Planets, scored by Gustav Holst (sort of...) and narrated by a Socialist Alliance candidate. The series is actually more about the story of the exploration of the planets. Since this was made the Cassini probe has thoroughly charted the Saturn system. The our knowledge of the major parts of the solar system has slowly filled out. The cutting edge of discovery is in the Asteroid Belt and beyond Neptune.
The BBC in its wisdom does not have this series out on DVD. Enjoy.
Mo' thoughts
Fantasy in fiction is inescapably political, and not just in the sense that all culture is inescapably political (art in the age of mechanical reproduction is no longer underpinned by ritual but politics… and so forth). Fantasy scenarios are most often based in the future or the past, or a future/past; we’re talking Star Trek or Lord of the Rings. The other not so common scenario is deconstruction of the present, near future or recent past; some titles plucked out of the air, Ape and Essence, Children of Men, The Mighty Boosh.
Fantasy can be a critique of our own society, taking modern institutions and prevailing ideology out of their context. This is satire. Satire is generally motivated by a reformist impulse, to expose hypocrisy, set wrongs right and so on. Satire, though a totally valid art-form, is actually a form of release. By focussing on specific issues it eases the pressure, ideological pressure, on our ruling class. We may be laughing at our rulers, but that means we’re not grabbing pitchforks and heading for Versailles.
But fantasy can also be experienced as a sublimated form of anti-capitalism, a desire to crack open reality in order to release the repressed potential inside. If for whatever reason the urge overthrow the current order is repressed, the drama of revolution is overlooked, instead it can come out as desire for restoration of the old order. All that is sacred is profaned by capitalism, so, goes the logic, we must restore what was once sacred. This is why we can root for Aragorn and Frodo, despite the fact their literal cause is the restoration of the King of Gondor. Lord of the Rings is a reactionary fantasy, but there is more than enough flexibility, in the film, in the book and in the genre, to allow multiple interpretations.
Further lists
A list of all your favorite words/phrases coined/revived by The Simpsons. Including:
Assal horizontologyYou may also be please to know Aussie Rules fans say boo-urns.
Bemusement park
Cromulent
Decleratrix
Embiggen
Floor-pie
Glaven
Hoyven-mayven
Introbulate
Jebaditis
Killbot factory
Land of Chocolate
Malparkage
Nutty fudgekins
Okeley dokely
Postureologists
Quetezacatenago
Rageohol
Saxamophone
Tromboner
Unpossible
Velocitator
Walking bird
Yoink
Zazz
Article of interest...
Something of interest: a short article about extreme energy. A summary: despite the ongoing recession, the price of oil is creeping back up, almost to pre-recession records. This begs the question, have we reached peak oil production? Is humanity currently extracting as much in the way of hydrocarbons as its ever going to extract. If we are not there we will shortly get there.
The input to output ratio of energy extraction is rising. It takes more energy put in to get less energy out (similar to the rise of constant to variable capital). This is because the oil fields easiest to tap have been run down. Oil companies are now looking at more remote, more inaccessible sources. The Deepwater Horizon disaster was especially catastrophic because of the difficulty in capping the well. If we continue to have a commodity economy based on fossil fuels our society will have to account for more disasters like these.
But, more significantly, if we continue to have a commodity economy based on fossil fuels, once peak oil production is passed, the price of oil will go up and will not stop. One of the key factors which broke the last boom, sending us into the current recession, was the price of oil. Without change, we face the prospect of permanent economic turmoil.
A small illustration of the Tory agenda
The next boss of the BBC must be a Tory, according to the mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the guarantee of funding from the licence fee left BBC staff with "an innocent belief that everything in life should be 'free'".
He said: "No wonder – and I speak as one who has just fought a campaign in which I sometimes felt that my chief opponent was the local BBC news – the prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and, above all, overwhelmingly biased to the left."
On this face of it this is hairy-assed nonsense (and bloody cheeky, firstly, because he had the slavish backing of most of the mainstream press, including all the papers in London, secondly, because this is a man with a definite naive sense of entitlement, whose idea of a jolly jape is to pretend his chief election rival is a concierge). It's utter gibberish not a million miles from the hard-right guff about 'cultural marxism'. But this is the Tory agenda. Their aim is to use as much of their time in government to go about rigging the terms of political debate for the next generation. The BBC is a throughly establishment establishment, for example, a senior figure from MI5 is always on the Board of Directors. But it is not right-wing enough for the Tories.
In other news...
Piggy parade
Be afraid...
That's the message from Greek nazi leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos:
Indeed. But why be afraid, bloodcurdling rhetoric and threats (like - Kommt Zeit, kommt Rat, kommt Attentat) aside, of a party that only gathers 7% of the national vote? Well, not long ago they could only count on nought point nothing of the Greek electorate. Of course fascists aren't interested in elections, only to use them to build support for building a street army, use your imagination.
The recent elections have been a disaster for the Greek and European ruling classes. There is a clear anti-austerity majority in Greece but, partly due to the vagiaries of the Greek electoral system (the party with the most votes gets 50 bonus seats - like some kind of gameshow), and partly due to the compromised Greek Labour party, which would certainly have to be part of any left-government, an anti-austerity government seems a long way off.
What's the solution, another round of elections? That hardly seems likely. One can never say there is no reformist solution in any situation, but it would require a massive U-turn from the European ruling class. If the Greeks successfully turn back the austerity programme (even after all the damage it has done to their society) their example could prove dangerously popular. This is only how it seems to me but the Greek left has all the support but none of the power. Without turning to extra-parliamentary action, its hard to see how they can wield power, either way, the right will give them all the blame. This is where the Golden Dawn could prove dangerous, just use your imagination.
"Greece is only the beginning," Michaloliakos shouted. "You know exactly what I mean."
The party's principal idea is to rid Greece of all "illegal immigrants".
"Out of my country, out of my home! How will we do it? Use your imagination..."
The recent elections have been a disaster for the Greek and European ruling classes. There is a clear anti-austerity majority in Greece but, partly due to the vagiaries of the Greek electoral system (the party with the most votes gets 50 bonus seats - like some kind of gameshow), and partly due to the compromised Greek Labour party, which would certainly have to be part of any left-government, an anti-austerity government seems a long way off.
What's the solution, another round of elections? That hardly seems likely. One can never say there is no reformist solution in any situation, but it would require a massive U-turn from the European ruling class. If the Greeks successfully turn back the austerity programme (even after all the damage it has done to their society) their example could prove dangerously popular. This is only how it seems to me but the Greek left has all the support but none of the power. Without turning to extra-parliamentary action, its hard to see how they can wield power, either way, the right will give them all the blame. This is where the Golden Dawn could prove dangerous, just use your imagination.
Greece is now an anti-fascist issue.
Airport delays could be solved by "a bit of racism"
But, because it's Jeremy Clarkson saying it, it will be ironic racism, and we'll all laugh heartily, like yuppies pissing on a homeless teenager. I do wonder what it's going to take to bring Clarkson down? Does he need to say something like: "I would like to see sections of the current population shot or gassed based on their skin colour, nationality, political opinions, physical fitness or level of income", before someone who is in charge of something says, "hang on a minute... that's not on". These are mere pipedreams. If he said that the Director General of the BBC would just shrug and reply: "he earns lots of money through DVD sales, what'd you want me to say?"
A little treat
A little bit of beauty for your bank holiday weekend. The collection of April pictures from NASA/ESA have been published in Guardian: Shanghi at night, ice-floes off Kamkatcha, San Francisco from the air, a gem of a collection. On balance this is my favourite picture, the East African Rift, one of the most spectacular geological features on the face of the planet. In a few thousand years this will be an ocean floor, enjoy it while you can:
Is this for real?
Here's the deal, folks
Ken Livingstone getting elected will be a good thing because he will do some good things while in office. It will not transform the direction of national politics however. This government does not have a democratic mandate and does not need a second term to complete its mission.
This government's mission is to destroy all currently existing bases for working class resistance. It is doing three key things (1) curtailing working class access to higher education (2) destroying the public sector unions as an effective force (3) gerrymandering constituencies and destroying public housing simultaneously through social cleansing.
Two things can stop the government. One is the hacking enquiry, the other is massive civil unrest centred around strikes. We cannot bring the first to any conclusion, and the ruling class is not going to destroy the police, the mass media and the three main parties at a time like this. The second we can bring about.
If we don't, regardless of who wins any election, we will get another generation of right wing governments.
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