On the 8th of August following a week of sporadic rioting, civil disorder and racially aggravated violence stemming in part from the horrific murder of three children at a Taylor Swift themed dance class several anti-racist gatherings took place across the United Kingdom. These were at least partially driven by allegedly leaked telegram chats and other disclosures from far-right channels which detailed their next targets of attack which included immigration-related charities, advice centres and solicitors. These disclosures as well as spurring nationwide call-outs introduced a palpable sense of tension with several shopping centres either closing for the evening and additional...
There has been a growing discomfort with the limits of discourse surrounding the Israel and Hamas conflict, as highlighted by an increasing number of articles. A recent speech by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek at the opening ceremony of the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair perhaps best encapsulates this emergent dynamic, despite Žižek’s typically verbose style. The moment was made even more poignant by the subsequent prohibition of pro-Palestinian protests. Žižek began with a straightforward condemnation of Hamas and the events of October 7, acknowledging Israel’s right to defend itself. However, he then posed several provocations that unsettled the audience, leading...
At the time of writing I am currently muddling through my second COVID infection, similar to my first it’s been accompanied by general fatigue, headaches, coughing and the occasional spike in temperature which has often impeded my ability to sleep. I found out that I was positive with the virus after feeling particularly sickly one morning with symptoms similar to those typically associated with COVID and after venturing into my local pharmacy to buy and administer a test I subsequently confirmed my diagnosis. Free tests previously available via the NHS are no longer available, which has been the case in...
The last few weeks last few years have been marked by a constantly reoccurring question of what exactly is neoliberalism. Whether that’s rethinking how neoliberal ideology shapes the current discourse around economics. How its ideas permeate society. Or in some admittedly rare cases whether neoliberalism as it’s usually conceived even exists. Among the many interesting curiosities listed in McKenzie Wark’s latest work ‘Capital Is Dead’ is a retelling of the traditional tale of the rise of neoliberalism through what she describes as a somewhat vulgar Marxist lens. Instead of focusing on ideology Wark specifically pinpoints changes within the forces of...
I’ve dabbled a bit in the past with Left Accelerationist tendencies mainly through stressing the development of productive forces as a necessary part of Marxist praxis, although in many ways I see this as much a part of orthodox Marxism as of accelerationism. With Marx and with Marxists more broadly, I feel there’s always different viewpoints, different approaches and different focuses and with Accelerationism being at least partly based on Marx it was unsurprising that it would branch out in some many different directions. My principle interest in acceleration, however, isn’t so much within its emancipatory possibilities, but more as a...
In a speech delivered near the end of September 2017 at Sorbonne University, the French President, Emmanuel Macron outlined his vision for a post-Brexit Europe. Amongst various statements detailing the struggles facing Europe, he signalled a commitment to common European policies on defence, asylum and taxation. The formation of new European universities, geared towards the adoption of new languages. The creation of a position of finance minister to supervise the 19 member state eurozone area and a European Monetary Fund. His plans for taxation included an expansion of existing laws to allow for the taxing of multinational technology companies based...
The continuous reoccurrence of crises has, in both Marxian economics and the wider economic field has often been perceived as a moment of reckoning, a chance to examine the fundamentals of the current socio-economic system and the contradictions that lie behind them. What has now across the United Kingdom and further afield been labelled the cost of living crisis marked by spiraling inflation, a rise in the prices of essential goods and corresponding fall in real wages. By now the origins of these various phenomena have been found to be relatively varied with some being traced to abnormal climate conditions1,...
Aside from attempting to strike the usual balance between work, leisure, interests and various collisions of the three, part of what has kept me away from writing for so long has been a project which was intended to combine much of the work that already went into ‘The Production Of Plagues’. This new project was intended to look at the the connection between capitalism, neoliberal economic policy and healthcare in order to provide a cogent analysis of the response to COVID so far beyond provocative conspiracy theory manifestos and what could be described as a more vulgar Marxist analysis. Unlike...
The following contains many ideas first written about in Lupus Draganowl’s pamphlet ‘Against Identity Politics’ which I’ve liberally borrowed from to the extent that this could be considered far more of a detournement of an existing piece as it is an original work the aim being to use recent events as a useful jumping off point for a wider discussion on Stirnerite philosophy and it’s implication for a politics of liberation. Despite the fact that I’ve included many of the concepts which could be considered the core of the pamphlet, I would highly advise reading the original pamphlet however which...
Among the stories that emerged from what was in many ways a historic European Parliament Elections, one I felt particularly attached to was Laura Parker’s campaign. There were many reasons for this, her campaign was socialist, environmentally conscious which lead to her signing up to the European Green New Deal, she’s a high-ranking member of Momentum and she was running in Islington traditionally a Labour heartland however these things appeared to be superseded by Brexit which lead to the election of the Liberal Democrat candidate. This I felt was symptomatic of the current effect that Brexit has on the British...
