Category: Joined-Up-Campaigning

Recent Thinking

Recent Observations

Much of my time is spent reading various reports, news items, and analytical pieces, which in turn I may share or comment upon with others.

In between all of that I will produce various short analytical observations which are just too short to turn in to articles, but which you might find of interest.

Here are a few of the most recent ones.

The St Francis Cafe

Now how is this for a fine example of why many religionists just don’t think logically.

There is a Christian bookshop just around the corner from where I live. Outside of it is a oversized A board, which in passing I should mention is both an obstruction and unlicensed. Upon it there is a list of what a cafe in the shop sells. This includes dead pig corpses, which are otherwise known as bacon.

What I don’t understand is how they can do such a thing if they have read or heard about St Francis.

If they had done so then it would be known as the St Francis cafe, and only have vegan food for sale.

Then this on Budget Day

Today’s budget has cut taxes on climate damaging petrol and diesel which fuel extreme energy personal vehicles.

What should of been done is make boots and shoes VAT ( sale tax ) zero rated. That would of encouraged more people to walk more and thus save our environment. has cut taxes on climate damaging petrol and diesel which fuel extreme energy personal vehicles.

The Current and Future wars

Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing a lot is reading about the weapon systems now being used in the Ukraine, and which in turn will have a major effect upon the arms trade.

The main points being that there will be a lot more small drone weapons in use, with more missile launchers used, while tanks have become much more vulnerable to attacks.

Some NATO countries such as the Netherlands have already started to move away from the use of tanks.

Longer term I think there will be a lot more 3D printers in use nearer to the fighting.

All of which we do need to keep in mind for future arms trade campaigning.

Think Now In Order To Act Now

No Matter What Your Main Concerns Might Be

No campaigning can be effective in isolation.

That is why we need to think in terms of Joined-up-campaigning.

Joined-up-campaigning requires doing a lot of joined-up-thinking,

It requires having lots of imagination.

It means being able to be very pragmatic, yet very consistent in terms of Ends and Means.

Then applying all of this in the way we act and live our lives.

Never has it been more important to act and think this way.

Changes

Changes In Our Thinking

As a individual I want to change the kind of world we live in, but first of all that requires a little rethinking from everyone about how this might be achieved.

For example: –

I think discipline is needed – Self Discipline.

While we need to move away from think in terms of consumerism, so that it becomes more about the quality of life.

Just as we need to stop thinking about profits, but think in terms of environmental gains.

While also stopping to refer to the military as defenders. That is because it is health workers who help defend us from ill health.

Changes In What They Should Do

It is so very easy to create a list all ecological and social problems which we need to address, and then produce an even longer one of what needs doing to solve them.

Yet even those who get to understand some of these problems land up creating even more of them.

This is well illustrated by the daily media coverage of politicians who talk about solving out ecological problems, while they continue dinning out on lamb and salmon.

These same politicians pontificate about global warming.

Yet they still continue to promote a technology which causes both global warming and many other forms of pollution.

e.g. Nukiller Power.

Or trade unionists who go on about protecting their members and creating jobs, while at the same time promoting the arms trade.

Never mind how they keep promoting the nukiller power industry, rather than promoting the building of wind farms which will create many more safer jobs.

Neither do we just need to focus our criticism upon the above, as so many individuals who get involved in campaigning take an almost nihilistic back to an illusionary better past in to a better future approach to campaigning.

An Educational Failure

Though in many ways what we have is a failure of the educational system which causes the above, and in particular a failure on basic education.

A society which has so many functionally illiterate, and scientifically illiterate individuals, will always have a problem with people understandings statistics, economics, demographic changes, or be able to criticise bad science.

To that list must be added a failure to teach linguistics and ethical education in our schools.

One only has to glance at the Brexitland press in order to illustrate just how things really are right now.

Looking Back – Looking Forward

Yet for all the criticisms about what is wrong about ill informed so called leaders, politicians, trade unionists, capitalists, and so forth,

we still are left with our own To Do list.

I’ll not repeat this list as I would just be repeating myself, and a To Do list is no use in isolation of an even longer how to achieve changes list.

I’ve always said that the most important job of radicals, be they anarchist pacifists or no, is to identity what needs to be done, initiate campaigns, and then move on when these become main stream concerns.

All of this is doable if we apply a little clear thinking.

Though there is a immense mess to clear up which is not going to be achieved without about what needs doing 10, 20, or 30 years in to the future

—- and yet —

It is possible to improve the education system right now,

but this can only be done by putting more effort in to creating much better Adult Education.

—- and yet —

There are some issues which will take many lifetimes of campaigning to solve.

 

Whatever Next ?

Here is how we now seem to start Every Day.

And Today’s Crisis is …

Just reading the newspapers or listening to the radio news it seems to be that way.

Brexitland

We have now moved from the Shambolic world of politics, to an everyday story of a dystopian folk, or life under the Rabid Right Wing Tory Government.

The list of what is going or has gone wrong within the last year would take just too many hours to list.

All I will say is that the whole Brexit disaster can be summed up as a totally predictable mess.

Planetary Disaster

Next we have the ongoing radioactive and planetary mess which needs to be cleaned up, but again this is just too long to list.

Nukiller New Build, Radioactive or Chemical Waste dumps, the failure to tackle global warming, create a safe sustainable transport, etc, etc.

The list goes on and on and on and on.

Yet there are still too few activists working to reverse this unfolding disaster.

While there is still a shocking lack of attention paid to recycling, or stopping to produce those items which are very difficult to recycle.

Eating and Riding Our Way to Disaster

If we are what we eat, then we also live in an environment which is the product of our eating and travel habits.

It always amazes me just how many can not see that being vegan and campaigning for pedestrian rights is so tied up with creating an environmentally sustainable lifestyle, or how it matches up within the concept of Joined-up-campaigning.

If

If all of the above seems to be the product of some highly depressing thinking about what we face right now, then you are right to do so.

Yet

Yet there is still a lot which we can all do right now, while planning for some major changes and mass demonstrations once the present pandemic is over.

May Day

May Day is an ideal time to stand up against the Rabid Right Wing Tory Government.

May the 9th is Europe Day.

That is an ideal day to engage up campaigning against the Brexitland Disaster.

In between Time

This is now an ideal moment to read up upon all those various issues which we do need to get back to active campaigning upon later on in the year.

While looking at all those lifestyle changes which we need to make.

The present dire situation we are in is one of the worst we have ever experienced.

Yet very soon the cry will start : –

Today’s Solution is ––

Crisis & Solution[s]

Old Thinking – New Thinking

I’ve been thinking a lot of late about the kind of dystopian solutions which various politicians have been coming up with, and about finding solutions to the current multiple messes we are all in.

Of course it’s very easy to see how fiscally and scientifically illiterate most of them are, but there is much more to it than that.

Most policy makers look at the world from within their own social class, or political party perspective.

Yet it goes way beyond that, as the majority of them are neither lateral thinkers or possessed of much imagination.

As a friend of mine said to me recently about both society and the economy is going: “ We are in to new territory”.

Thus a lot of new imaginative thinking needs to be delivered, and in a very short amount of time.

We have to do that thinking.

We have to be pragmatic.

We have to be the ones to sort out our global mess, as none of our lords and masters, or any of the policy makers are capable of doing so.

A Multi Faceted Crisis

Just the ecological crisis includes the housing, transport, energy, land use and farming, but that in turn impacts upon many different social and economic issues.

Yet we still think about solving them all in isolation, or as separate campaigns.

While many of the radical political groups or organisations view what can be done in terms separate solutions., such as dealing with unemployment first, rather than question just what kind of employment that might be.

As I keep on saying.

We need both Joined-up-thinking, and joined-up-campainging.

 

Proactive & Reactive Campaigning

There are two kinds of political action : proactive and reactive.

Much in the same way as many protests are reactive, they should not be mistaken as the only form of campaigning, which is long term long term in nature.

That’s why we always need to focus upon a wide number of immediate issues which are at a crucial stage or critical crisis point.

That’s why most of my attention is focused upon stopping the Nukiller power industry, pedestrianising our cities, reversing the brexit disaster, antimilitarism, and pushing for proper recycling schemes.

For many of these issues our time to solve them is very short indeed.

Long term or short term, it is consistent hard slog campaigning work that’s needed.

Supporting Campaigns & Campaigning Projects.

Just as a reminder

If you want to give money to a campaigning organisation, then state if you want it to go on running costs and more particularly staff funding.

This is because most funders will only give grants to project work.

Will it Away

If you wish to give money in your will to a registered charity, then that money will be taken out of the estate and not count towards the amount pay in death duties. For some estates this will bring the residue down to an amount below the death duty threshold.

Thus it is a very tax efficient way of giving support to those working up issues you feel very strongly about.

It’s not something which most activists think much about, but it’s something we should all keep in mind, as money could be very difficult to raise over the next few years.

In Times Gone By And In Times Present

In Times Past

Much of the current social and political debate is about how society is changing for the worst, while others might argue how some things are much better now than in decades or centuries ago.

Yet nothing is said about how this really compares to the past.

Here are two examples how things have changed for the better over the last 100 to 150 years: –

The School leaving age

and

Life Expenctency

Henry Mayhew

I wonder just how many of the younger generation realise just what the reality of life was like in an earlier age as described by Henry Mayhew.

Or

How many of the younger generation would know about, of ever come upon a Tosher or Mud Lark did?

Now that might seem like ancient history many people, but some of the descriptions within the Road to Wigan Pier are still within the living memory of many of the older generation.

Housing

It’s not so long ago that a very high percentage of the population lived in bedsits or HMOs as they are now classed as being.

Remember the expression ‘A shilling for the gas’ ?

Or

How it was normal to sleep in the same room as a gas cooker before that become illegal.

Yes things have improved a lot over the years.

Yet they have not.

– We now have a lot more rough sleepers than in many decades.

– Adult education in terms of evening classes is now almost a thing of the past.

– While one in seven of UK adults are functionally illiterate to a greater or lesser extent.

In Times Now

Margaret Thatcher said that:- “there is no such thing as society”.

While many of her supporters said “Greed is Good!”.

To which there was a response which went:-

The family is dead! Long live the family !

All of which are totally wrong, but they are attitudes which still prevail to this day.

In times to come

Social Change or Social Revolution ?

If history and all the recent events have taught us anything, then we must care for both society and the individual.

That’s something which compliments the concept of: –

Think Global Act Local.

Extracts From The Book – Poverty and Ecological Disaster. A Post Brexit Study

The following book extracts are taken from the most renowned academic study of the UK during the first half of the 21stnd century.

Poverty and ecological disaster.

A study of life in Britain during the post Brexit years .

Published by the CLO University press.

The Peak district School.

2052.

Chapter 1

The Brexit disaster.

‘ As predicted the state of the UK rapidly declined with the introduction of Brexit.

The dysfunctional desires of the rabid right wing Tory government were no more than a delusional set of nightmare policies.

After Brexit the UK continued its rapid economic decline.

In the poorest areas of the country begging for food on the street increased at an alarming rate. This was not helped by the fact that most of the population no longer had the income to be able to donate to all the food banks which had rapidly increased by the 2nd decade of the century.

The social and economic effects of the withdrawal of all the EU regional funding to some of the poorest areas of Europe was increasingly noticeable as the years went by.’

Chapter 16

Eduction and Illiteracy.

‘Unlike the rest the rest of Europe, British government public spending on education plummeted.

Thus by 2038 the official school leaving age dropped to 14. That was the same as it had been a century before.

The rate of public library closures continued.

Most alarming of all the rate of functional illiteracy in the country rose from 1 in 7, to 90 in 100 of the population.

Thus the rate of unemployment rose, as fewer and fewer of the population became qualified or skilled workers.’

‘The effects upon higher education became profound. This was especially so after the universities of Cambridge, London, and Oxford were forced to merge and become the CLO university.’

Chapter 22

The Toxic Legacy.

‘ One of the most alarming aspects of the period was that all the nukiller plants became engulfed by rising tides, as did many of the radioactive and toxic waste dumps. The government stated that dealing with this was a priority, but there was no money left in the exchequer to solve it.

Thus the UK government had to declare a national emergency, but it was just too late to solve all these problems.

Thousands died of starvation and exposure to all the radioactive and toxic waste.’

‘ Finally, in 2042 the country became such an ecological disaster area, that the UK government begged the EU to become a European dependency, as it was totally incapable of becoming a full EU member state.’

– – –

Postscript.

December 2019

All of the above could happen: –

If we don’t take Action Now !

Campaigning For Failure.

A Few Observations

Aim for revolution and you will achieve some reforms.

Aim for reforms and nothing will fundamentally change,

Engage in a tactical non-violence, as opposed to a Principled Nonviolence, and we will not achieve a total Nonviolent Social Revolution.

What Needs Doing.

In order to achieve any fundamental social change, or ecological improvements, we must: –

Make sure all our actions are consistent as Ends and means.

&

Engage in joined-up-Campaigning.

I hate to Say this.

Extinction Rebellion are not engaged upon campaigning against Nukiller Power, or actively promoting Veganism.

This failure to do so will mean that their aim of stopping climate change will not be achieved.

If Extinction Rebellion does not change this policy of blocking such important issues, then all radically realistic environmentalists will need to create a new campaigning body which will do so.