It has been the convention of libertarians to disparage Corbyn as a socialist zealot who hasn’t grown out of the debates of the 70s and 80s. Certainly there are areas of economics where he falls flat on his face, particular his love of the state and its capability to redistribute wealth. However, libertarians shouldn’t just dismiss him out of hand. His ideas on People’s QE, nationalised energy and rail markets and foreign policy are both interesting and admirable. At the very least, they provide something of a debate on these issues which have been pushed to the wayside since the days of Thatcher and the beginning of neoliberal capitalism. It creates questions where there was once consensus which can only be a good thing. Continue reading →

As someone who would describe themselves as a Eurosceptic, I do find this current debacle over the EU rather pathetic and tragic. The campaigns have made it all about reclaiming sovereignty, bringing back powers and so on. Yet from where I’m standing, looking at the webs of regulations and entry barriers in the economy, and the continuing political centralisation at all levels, I’m stood here wondering what leaving the EU would actually change about that. Continue reading →

While universities are stereotypically seen as hotbeds of radicalism, particularly of a left-wing type, the bureaucracy and fake democracy that sits within most universities doesn’t really fit this mould. Most real power-holders in university (deans, chancellors and the heads of bureaucratic committees) aren’t elected and have little contact with the general student body, as well as the professors and researchers. Thus the students unions also become stunted, taken over by radical leftists who launch programmes or campaigns that bare little relevance to students’ issues, or they become quagmires of wannabe politicians who see this as a CV booster. Issues of accommodation, living costs, study spaces and class times, as well as the wider problems of the neoliberalisation of universities by cutting ties to local communities in which these universities are located, attracting international investment at the expense of local investment and student experience and denigrating certain degrees so as to favour more income-intensive ones, are ignored by the universities power-holders. Continue reading →

The increasingly globalised, transnational character of contemporary capitalism, with its attendant instability and crises, has led to the development of globally oriented social movements. These movements are an answer to the injustices and failures found in international capitalism, and aim to combat it through an equally internationalist outlook with heterogeneous characteristics and multiple sites of resistance. The post-industrial, fluid nature of capitalism has allowed for the structure of society to change in a way that suits global social movements. In particular, the capitulation of capitalist economies after the 2008 Great Recession and the move toward more networks within capitalist structures has created conditions that show weaknesses in capitalism’s armour. It provides an opportunity for social movements to create resistance and change economic identities. As Touraine describes it, “the reference is not to a certain type of civil society, but to a process of social transformation, to a process of globalization”[1]. Continue reading →

Today I fell into the unfortunate circumstance of watching three diatribes of absolute stupidity being put forth in a pointless CNN debate on Islamophobia and the West’s reaction to Islam. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ztGWnTU5oM Continue reading →

Within global society, we see a large entrenchment of identity crises as globalisation and the neoliberal discourse that backs it creates new forms of exploitation both in Western society and in much of what is termed the Global South. The typical recesses of community and the socio-cultural as well as economic identities it created have been regressed through time, whether it be with the end of labour subsidiarity under Thatcher in Britain, the neocolonial practices of modern corporations backed up by US trade power or the pillage of tribally owned knowledge and resources through increasingly stringent intellectual property processes. Continue reading →

With the recent vote in parliament rejecting a proper recall mechanism, it is more important than ever to stress the importance of proper recall in the modern British electoral system, particularly as an anarchist. For many years, British political power has been centralising exponentially, with the ability for members of parliament to effectively sit idly in the House of Commons and yet still win elections, despite multitudes of people not voting because they’ve come to the realisation that these waste-of-space MPs aren’t worth voting for or against. Continue reading →

With the rise of globalisation we live in a seemingly post-modernist world with a high degree of individualism. Within this individualised atmosphere the political elements have followed suit, becoming more focused on single issues that have a global perspective rather than on particular party ideologies that encompass a particular range of ideals. Continue reading →