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.

Fascism and anti-fascism: mini-roundup

The headline news is of course that one in five French are nazis, a grossly unfair observation no doubt, but a national fascist vote of 18-20% is a matter of shame, it is also a matter of urgency... we have been here before. It's often noted how the French left is weakned by a dogmatic attachment to Republican ideals, it has failed to tackle state-led islamophobia (although the Mélenchon campaign was maybe the start of something different). Could this also be a long-term result of half-hearted denazification, which was known in France as Epuration Legale, which saw many collaboration politicians and civil servants granted amnesty under the Fourth and Fifth Republics? Whatever the background, the French labour movement is capable of making sharp upturns, even scoring major victories. This can be turned around.

Meanwhile in Norway, fascist child-killer Anders Breivik is still turning his trial into a grotesque circus. The court has paid far too high a price to get him to talk about what he actually did. He does seem to have offered a bit of leverage, he will aparently do "anything" to avoid being committed. His sanity is questioned apparently to discredit him, and maybe it does to some, but then I would guess most people are against mass murder already. Breivik is sane. Questioning his sanity actually lets him off the hook, lets the whole system of state racism off the hook and denies what should be the obvious fact: he did what he did because he is a fascist. His brutal rampage was fascism in action.

But a bit of good news from Britain to end on. The BNP is in turmoil and probably irreversable decline. The EDL meanwhile is going through serious doldrums. The nazis attempted to hold a demonstration in Brighton this weekend. Though they had heavy police protection (including horses and tear gas) they had a miserable day, outnumbered 10 to 1 and hounded every step of the way. Well done to all involved.