Potentially we are all refugees

Imagine if we let the thick of neck, knuckle dragging, beer bellied, spotty, low IQ, shouty white blokes take over. Think about that. Think it couldn’t happen? Think again. The Brexit vote happened because filthy rich white blokes exploited the intellectually challenged members of society. Those simple souls who can only think in black and white. The filthy rich could take back even more control! Think!

If that were ever to happen what would you do?

Under fascism no one is safe. Not even the fascists. Fascism rules through fear. Fear breeds distrust. Distrust creates purges. People, yes real human beings, are vapourised. A knock on the door in the dead of night, a scuffle, and you are spirited away. Your name erased from history. Think!

Imagine this happening, then imagine having to get out of your house as quickly as possible and fleeing in fear of your life. What would you take with you? What of your most prized possessions would you love into your single solitary suitcase? This is the dilemma that hundreds of thousands have to face each year. Your life in a suitcase.Think!

What would I take? I really couldn't say. A change or two of clothes I guess. But what else? Important financial records/papers perhaps, a small momento or two, relevant medication, travel kettle, iPod and perhaps a travel radio might fit in two. I guess it would also be useful to take small things of high monetary value like jewellery. Things that could be sold to raise some cash. Have I forgotten anything? Probably. Think!

What would you pack in a solitary suitcase? Could you cope with that? You'd have to. It would be cope or die. Think about that!

Being a refugee as far as I can see is no fun. You don't upsticks just because you fancy a change of scenery. Refugees are people. People fleeing persecution. Put yourself in their shoes; you've escaped persecution or death, wouldn't you hope to be welcomed when you reach a safe haven? What if there were no safe havens? Where would you go if you needed to?

We all have a responsibility to help refugees.

Think!

I don’t like flag waving...

...I consider it jingoistic and neanderthal; the territory of the fascist. It’s a practice encouraged by the elite to help keep the plebs in their place. It’s a badge of tribalism. Tribalism is what holds the human race back. Tribalism is why we are oppressed. Tribalism suppresses intellectual thinking. I’ve always distrusted nationalism for similar reasons. Along with it’s bastard son patriotism, nationalism too is the last refuge of the scoundrel. It’s saying ‘hey look at me, I’m great because of where I was born’, which is nonsense because it’s something that is serendipitous and something none of us had any control over.

I like to think of myself as an international socialist. We humans are all equal in my eyes. Countries are a human construct. A way of dividing and ruling. Having said that countries can be an efficient way of organising government or collectivism. A country that is truly democratic and open can be a force for good. Countries go wrong when an elite take charge and a fortress mentality is adopted. Isolationism will destroy us. In this world we are witnessing the beginning of the last days of the human race because of our selfishness and our inability to co-operate with each other. The planet isn’t in imminent danger but all of the people are. People are an endangered species.

Nationalism is something that I don’t think I could ever subscribe too. It’s too dangerous. Like fascism it devours even the most loyal supporters. Recently I have learned that there are two types of nationalism, civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism. I understand what this means and in terms of civic nationalism yes I sort of buy it. Sort of, but not quite. To fully accept it would be no different to suggesting that there was such a thing as benign fascism.

Don’t get me wrong I have no desire to stand in the way of self-determination for people. I certainly believe that Catalonia, Kurdistan, Palestine and Scotland, to name but a few, should have the right to decide how they are governed. If I lived in Scotland (which I would quite like to do) I would certainly vote for independence if given the chance. For too long, so many of us living in these islands have suffered from Westminster’s oppression. An oppression orchestrated by vast wealth. I don’t blame anyone for wanting to break free. I really hope I see Scottish independence in my lifetime. Scottish independence would be a good thing, but it doesn’t need nationalism to achieve it. Civic collectivism might perhaps be the better way forward?

Superstition

Religion and right wing politics exist to exploit and oppress large groups of people; enabling a few to control the many. They both offer easy answers. Answers that people can accept at face value without any thought. Answers that are no more than advertising slogans. It doesn't matter that the answers they give are not evidence based, or what they promise fails to materialise; there will either be an excuse, a distraction or a lie to cover up their failings, a papering over the cracks to hide their charlatanism.

Reactionaries and devotees of magic men with beards (right wing politicians and clerics to the simple) operate using the K.I.S.S. form of delivery: 'Keep it simple, stupid'. Not my phrase but one once used in business presentation circles. People like simple. Simple enables them to believe without intellect. They can relate to X being the problem and Y being the solution. They can't relate to the possibility that the solution might require measures that are complex and perhaps need to run in tandem or appear on the surface not to be directly connected. If chaos theory is correct (obviously it's a theory so it might or might not be) then existence is a multitudinal array of chain reactions going on ad infinitum.

Of course some questions/problems in life might not have a known answer/solution. This never worries the right-wing politician or man of religion. In religion if there's something wrong it's the work of a devil or the punishment of a god; little matter that there is absolutely no proof of the existence of either. In right-wing politics if there is a problem it's the fault of someone 'different' to their perceived norm; they'll blame foreigners, the sick, the infirm, the poor etc. There's always a handy scapegoat.

'Humankind cannot bear very much reality'. T. S. Eliot.

It used to be said that the Church of England was the Tory party at prayer. I'm not sure how accurate that is but in many ways they were/are similar in one respect in that they both peddle lies. Religion and reactionary politics are not based on facts; they are based on a warped faith. Faith is illogical, it is not thinking, but laziness. They are each no more than superstition.

Nothing is ever black and white. There isn't always an answer.

And now a few words from the master of right-wing propaganda* Joseph Goebbels:

'A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.'

'There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be "the man in the street." Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology.'

'...the rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious.'

* These principles are still being used today.

Cry. Sod Harry. Fuck England and St George!

I’m not against collectives per se. Collectives based on progressive ideas can be a force for good. The concept of international socialism is a laudable cause. But when collectivism manifests itself as nationalism and/or patriotism then we need to worry. Being proud of where you are born, a land mass, a line drawn in the sand is the territory of the half-wit. Why should you want to identify with the people that live in your vicinity just because they live in your vicinity? Life should be all about toleration and celebrating diversity and not about being in one homogenous tribe.

Down the centuries so many barbaric acts have been committed in the name of England, or more accurately the English elite that lord over us, that effectively as a ‘nation’ we all have blood on our hands.

How do we define being English anyway?

We can’t. There is no such thing. Genetically we are a mongrel 'nation' and have been since time began. The Englishman* is a myth.

*I use the masculine term because in this unequal world it is men who have invented nationhood and religion in order to oppress.