Belarus - Inside Europes Last Dictatorship

Reporter Brian Whelan has written some extensive articles on fascists and right wing extremists here and in the UK and Europe. In line with that he has written an excellent article on the dictatorship of Aleksander Lukashenko, often referred to as Europes last dictator who has been in power since 1994. Opposition parties are banned and gatherings are tightly controlled, even handing out opposition literature is frowned upon and can result in jail sentences. The regime has a lot of blessing from Russia with a lot of Russian owned businesses in the region and these have become a target for anarchists. Recently at a punk gig, a hundred fans were arrested in a development that does not seem to have hit main stream headlines. Anarchists are being treated like scum and sent to labour camps for speaking agianst the autocracy. More information here...

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/every...ion-in-belarus

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/belar...sts-fight-back

Radical Politics - What are you scared of?

Radical politics have come in for a lot of criticism recently from all sections of society including both the left and the right from where they see it as being somewhat too grandiose and idea and the very people who think radically are attached with some sort of stigma that follows them for being involved in radical politics. The left seem to believe that we are selling out our sovereignty and the right has come to the conclusion that such right politics are the preserve of loony lefties intent on some sort of anarchy to disrupt society, the centre remains indifferent and will do whatever gets them votes. Republicanism seems to have a chip on its shoulder with radical politics and this comes as surprising seen as the radicalism that has come out of Republicanism with its violent past. Republicanism was radical at one stage and has since run out of fuel .

Radicalism offers a solution to the problems we are facing and by looking at the other philosophies in place we can look at the perhaps the best ideaologies and what applications these may have to providing a radical solution to the future we are faced with.

Communitarianism is a dirty word in the circles of radical politics. Often it is associated with authoritarian regimes however some of the principles it guarantees are basic rights that we should enshrine in good old Bunreacht na H-Eireann such as access to healthcare, education but most importantly the right to work . Jobs have been seen to be a privilege, how often has it been heard by the dog on the street that “You’re lucky to have a job” as if it some reward. Communitarianism is built on the basis that communities should mould the individual which then pushes the common good for all concerned. Ireland at the moment is experiencing something of a crass indivudualisation with a heavy dollop of materialism that is creating no social movement and breathing apathy. The comparison with authoritarianism is idiotic In the extreme as authoritarinsim is accompanied by use of violence to co-erce a people into a way of thinking or subduing them as is being done by the democratically elected government of Greece. Working together as a community ensures that we all benefit and working together casts of the shackles of capitalism to ensure a fair world. This is done through the use of community projects or solidarity as exemplified by the Campaign Against Household Waste or other similar movements that galvinise a community together in the face of financial oppression.

Through Progressivism we can achieve a more democratic orientaited society that is built by the people for the people. Too often we are left with the faceless bureaucrats or politicians lining their own pockets for their own benefits,we need a system which will benefit us , the people to empower ourselves and take back the structures of society back so that we can run things as a collective society. A lot of progressives made great inroads in the inner city deprived areas of Chicago where welfare reforms were set up and social workers and properly trained people were put in place to address the issues that they were faced with. These included back to work programmes, back to education programmes and the creation of a programme where children were guaranteed at least one meal a day . Labour laws which were very anti child were reformed to ensure that those whom were the most vunerable in society were changed so that they got an education and matured so they could benefit importantly themselves and then secondly society as a whole. Following on from this there was more of an empowerment of unions which worked for the people as in complete contrast to now where they are agents of the bourgoise and work for no one but themselves.

Finally the one thing we need to do to effect change is anarcho-pacifism and a revolution. Anrchopacifism is the use of non violent means in order to achieve this as so used by Ghandi to great effect. Mass strikes, boycotts, cyber anarchy , actually anything that disrupts society . This needs to coincide with a revolution in the way we think. We need to revolutionise the the thinking of the proletariat in this country to crack the corridors of power that are in existence. Seems awfully romantic how it is phrased but it’s the truth.

Radicalism is not a dirty word, it’s a way of thinking. Don’t be scared by it, think outside the box….

Revolution in a Modern Context

The world is in a state of flux at the moment with the working man coming under more pressure from the establishment to give up more of his wage and people being sidelined as the cogs of the capitalist machine roll on and on. The use of clichés can be forgiven as this is not a metaphor but in a lot of cases this is the actual situation that is taking place. Through years to come and in time that has passed , the more the working man is thrust into the mud, the angrier he becomes but how is this anger to be channelled directly?

Currently the energy is, rightly or wrongly directed at the state through marches and protests with the most notable being the Occupy Dame Street while garnering a lot of attention did not really achieve much bar a footnote in the Indo and pictures of protestors rolling out the same old clichés when questioned by journalists what they are about (it was akin to them having a book of stock answers that they would answer out of, heaven forbid they should think for themselves in a hive entity).  Most weeks Richie Boyd Barrett can be seen marching in the name of something or other and Ming can be seen tending to the needs of the bog cutters but is this revolution? Are these going to make a difference? From memory the only marches that stand out as being successful in Ireland is the march the pensioners took for medical cards. These marches only work when a whole community gets together (as did the African American community in America to fight for rights ).  On the other flip side of the coin is those whom call for a “bloody revolution”, a revolution of guns and for the blood of others to be spilled all in the name of achieving a goal of a socialist state. There must be a happy medium surely between these two?

Marching can only achieve so much, the net effect of marching as can be seen from the Occupy Dame St is that people are only tolerant of so much and the malaise of indifference can settle so much so , that really in the end no one cares. On the other hand a bloody revolution effects change quick but inflicts so much suffering and torture on the innocent, we have to question, is it really worth it? Is it worth spilling the blood of those whom we are intending to protect? This begs the question, how is a modern revolution going to work and if so how can it be done?

Rosa Luxembourg discussed the issue years ago and called for a revolution lead by the people with no leadership but that it must be a proletarian revolution.  This revolution must be led by the people and assume a role of spontenaiety , catch the bourgoise and the capitalists by surprise.  This can be explained in a modern context through the use of the internet. The internet acts as a tool in real time allowing people to work, in a lot of cases anonymously and in other cases not, to organise and create everything from a flash mob to hooligans and everything on the spectrum in between. The internet provides a powerful tool for creating a revolution by which we can effect change in this country. A mass movement by people to change the indifference that is suffered by others could very well move the proletariat forward. The government sees how unpopular they are and they themselves lose confidence and therefore lose the will to govern and call an election. Strikes can be called nationwide in order to get better working conditions for workers whom are struggling after numerous attacks on them by the current government.

A revolution is needed but it needs to be modern, it needs to effect change and will only work with the people on board.

http://www.socialistaction.org/revolution.htm

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89581

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxemburgism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletarian_revolution

Anarchopacifism - lets play the capitalists at their own game

Mulling over an idea. What about if we were to try and play the capitalists at their own game? Capitalism is an ethicless ideal, the exploitation of people for their own financial gain making a two tiered society but say we were to play them their own game? A number of people create a company to challenge the dominance of current corporations such as Chiquita (who whinged when the Honduran govt was going to raise the minimum wage by 60 percent , people there are in dire economic straits more info here http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/07/...latin-america/). We pay decent enough wages but we dont aim for profit which allows us to have minmum profit margins and anything we do make we pour back into the poor countries. I know there is the idea for co-ops and places like that but the problem with that is in places where there is military dictatorships co-ops are seen as a bad idea as the govt is in the pay of some corporations as happens in places like Colombia. Any company created could move in to pay decent wages to the workers and muscle in on the money being made by these corporations . Its guerilla captialism with an ethnic twist, hit the corporations where it hurts, financially.