Some thoughts on Libya: against intervention!

When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire when the pro-government forces are still fighting opposition forces in Libya. The pro-interventionists gave two hearty cheers; one for the UN resolution which argued for a “no fly zone” and air strikes and another one for the supposed ceasefire that doesn’t seem to be happening. And ask yourself, is the UN doing this ‘cos it’s the right thing to do or is it ‘cos they have interests in the region? If you have a vague knowledge of imperialism you would know that Western imperialists don’t intervene due to any belief in solidarity (that word is not in their lexicon) they’re doing it based on their own terms.

The intervention in Libya exposes the hypocrisy, why doesn’t the UN impose a NFZ over Israel along with air strikes due to the massive bombardment of Gaza? Why not Yemen. Why not Saudi Arabia? Why not Burma? Why not the Ivory Coast? You may agree with intervention but you’re not a Western leader dictating the terms. Andy Newman asks a very pertinent question, “What will be the quid pro quo from the West to reward those anti-democratic Arab governments who side with the West in the confrontation in Libya? Will the Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, be given a free hand to dispose of their own pro-democracy protesters, accompanied by much hand-wringing and weasel words from the West, while they continue the oil business as usual.”

Indeed, will it go something like “well you’ve backed us over Libya then we will conveniently ignore your tyranny..”

The West has an ongoing history with a Machiavellian love/hate relationship with various nasty pieces of work, they would preach, “Yes, they’re thugs but they’re our thugs”… But perish the thought that one day certain thuggish nasty pieces of work bites the hand that feeds it then the West attacks… Iraq being a case in point. The West ignored the gassing of the Kurds when it happened during the 1980s but it became prominent news during the invasion in 2003. Cynical? Damn right. The West called upon Iraqis to rise up against Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, they did, the West deserted them and they were murdered. Again, this is evidence enough that the West does things on its own terms.

And again, look at the history of intervention. Did Nato troops keeps the peace in Bosnia? Srebrenica was deemed as a “safe area” by the UN yet Nato troops failed to stop thousands of Bosniaks from being massacred by Bosian Serbs during 1995. The nationalist community in the North of Ireland welcomed the British troops to protect them from loyalist paramilitaries but they soon turned into occupying oppressors. Has Iraq or Afghanistan improved under the imperialist jackboot’s style of “liberation”? No things have worsened immeasurably (let’s not forget that Iraqis are also demonstrating at the moment).

The political calls was for  a no-fly zone over Libya. Now there is UN authority for any kind of action so there could be ground action soon. It is completely understandable to want the rebels in Libya to win and to win quickly. But do you trust the western powers with armies in another Arab country? Do you really think that does not and will not occur to them to put the imperial interest first?

See as well Seumas Milne and LRC article.

The drugs do work…??

Watching an old episode of House on C5, the eponymous anti-hero shouts, “This patient needs Doxycycline”! I shouted at the telly in response, “Ha! I know that drug is an antibiotic”… And feeling very pleased with myself in the process. The reason I know that specific antibiotic is that I have been prescribed numerous times over the past 6 months for either sinusitis or a chest infection. So there you go… my experiences of meds has been useful!

Though combined with the various antibiotics foisted on me another drug has been prescribed, Citalopram, a SSRI…selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. I used to pride myself on the knowledge of psychopharmacology, mainly through loads of meds prescribed. Also because of my initial naivety and lack of knowledge of what these drugs are capable of doing, or should I say hideous side-effects from the hideous chemical coshes that were dolled out like Smarties. After becoming tangled up with the effects, chucking the tabs down the loo and feeling emancipated from the chemical straitjacket I bought a dictionary of drugs and read up on them. As the saying goes forewarned is forearmed.

I experienced the awful chemical coshes but also the dawn of a new psychopharma  age …. Prozac and its relatives. Unlike Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac did nowt for me. On was on it a couple of times, unlike the heavy dosages of the chemical coshes that zombified me instantly Prozac was a slower drug. I didn’t see any improvements after months and months of taking the damn thing. If it didn’t work, did that mean I wasn’t really depressed?

I have been clean from psychopharma for years except in 2007 where I was precribed Sertraline another SSRI… on it for months and months nowt change. Did that mean I wasn’t depressed? The only med that lowered my anxiety was the short-term usages of beta-blockers.

Depression and anxiety is what has been scribbled in my doctor notes now computerised. This diagnosis goes back years and years along with a brief alteration in labels with short-term definition of my so-called madness being Schizophrenia. That didn’t last long as shrinks shook their collective heads and retreated back to the common and garden depression and anxiety. But living with depression and anxiety isn’t life so ordinary it can be incapacitating, controllable, then uncontrollable, then stability. I have never been able to shake off the fug of misery and anxiety and all that goes with it. Negative outlook, despondency, panic and stricken by the queasy sickness that lurked inside of me.

Enter Citalopram, my GP raved on about the benefits of this drug. It does seem to be the fashionable med to take, seems like everyone is on it. Citalopram is the new Prozac. Me being the cynical person I am when it comes to meds I kinda muttered to myself inside, “Yeah, where have I heard this before”… Again I was told it will take a couple of weeks to reap the benefits (when you’re feeling lowest of the low you want instant gratification and to feel as happy as happy can be….). So, ok, I persevered, including the early side-effects of headaches and lack of appetite. They disappeared though the dry mouth syndrome is still there (all the psych drugs I have ever been prescribed cause a dry mouth) and I am sure my intake of liquid has decreased.

But there have been changes. The anxiety has lessened considerably though the depression lurks in the background but not as noticeable. Sometimes it seems like chicken and the egg scenario, what came first… The symptoms of my anxiety include nausea, increase heart rate, lack of appetite… yet now when I feel anxiety coming over me the drugs minimise the usual response. Though sometimes stark feelings and reactions are blunted and numbed. Sometimes I feel happy to have the edge taken off my feelings as undiluted can be too much overwhelming which kinda spiral down into a thick treacly emotional molasse.

I am not giving credit to the exploitative pharma companies as I don’t think any recovery is down to a medical model, I think it has many explanations including counselling. The science of these meds emphasise the lack of the ‘happy hormone’ Serotonin (even though it is not a hormone). So these SSRIs  increase the levels though there have been disputes over whether Serotonin or the lack of causes depression.

Maybe it’s all down to neurogenesis….

But I can give concrete examples of the changes in me, from 20mg to 30mg, such as less anxiety, migraines have disappeared, so has the sickness I get (is that due to Serotinin levels?). Also my problem with heights (which has only appeared in the past 15 years or so) has largely disappeared. The anxiety connected to going in boats and ferries such as horrendous sea sickness even in dead calm situations causes throwing up (though the ante was upped regarding my loathing for sea journeys during a trip from Cork to Swansea combined with a storm where I spent the 12 hour crossing throwing up, trying to sleep and hallucinating that I was on the Titanic…though it had a nightmarish reality feel as the cabin started to leak sea water!). Funny thing I do feel more confident and creative though I do worry what it will be like to come off these drugs (addictive?) and whether the positives will remain as I don’t want to live my life in a chemical haze. Maybe it is all dialectical at the end of the day

So who knows, maybe the drugs do work….. Yeah, right….

Daffodils and Midsomer

I must have been around 4 or 5 years, standing staring possibly mesmerised by a colourful arrangement of flowers. They were situated on a kinda grassy roundabout by a school. The school being the one my elder brother attended and the day I recall was one where my parents had gone for parents’ evening. My dad had disappeared from inside the school to standing on the grass by this beautiful flower arrangement, he was wasn’t taking much notice (I had followed him out) due to the addiction of nicotine, smoking furiously staring into space while I, unbeknownst to him, became so entranced by the flowers that I tentatively walked towards them, they seemed so inviting that I felt compelled to pick one or maybe two or three… I chose the roses (ouch…thorns) because they were nice and pink… Then all of a sudden a man’s sharp voice interrupted my fun, I looked up and saw him all authority like and scary. I certainly felt scared and frightened as this man looked very annoyed blustering with anger at my dad’s apparent lackadaisical parenting skills. He said to my dad, “Is this your child”? The response being “Yes”… The Scary man, “Well, can you stop your child from picking the flowers!” along with “Can’t you keep your child under control”!!… And then shouty man disappeared back into the school while my dad muttered something about leaving the flowers alone.

The reasons for this flowery trip down memory lane is because I read this story. I felt sorry for the two young girls involved, I mean, they were only picking daffodils. I was lucky in some way as I had some mean horrible teacher with a posh accent telling me off at least it wasn’t the cops which these girls encountered. Rather massively over-the-top and wasted use of resources. And these girls are now are too frightened to go to the park as worried the cops will “take them away”… To reiterate, there are worse things happening in the world than two girls picking daffs! Also, it’s a Tory council (what a surprise!) and a mean heartless Tory councillor blustering defensive excuse after excuse for the explaining why these girls were stopped by the police. Over the top, perchance?

Like the story of my own telling off by man in authority who scared the life out of me and made me feel I was some very bad kid I wonder how these girls will remember their own harsh brush with the law over daffs when they’re older…?

————

To be honest, I watch Midsomer Murders mainly to take a tally of the number of killings in one episode with a cop formerly known as Bergerac who fought crime in Jersey (not tax theft unfortunately!). Very gruesome place to live (Midsomer not Jersey). But it did occur to me over the years that there weren’t any Black characters, it was all genteel and twee….and very white….that highlights a racist and reactionary notion of  country life. Brian True May, executive producer, had this to say about Midsomer ‘last bastion of Englishness’ which relied on an ‘English genteel eccentricity’, and suggested it would not work if there was racial diversity in the village.

As Hannah Pool rightly argues that it’s ok to depict murder, blackmail, infidelity and so on but don’t dare show any Black characters…is insulting and beyond contempt. And True May’s belief that it wouldn’t be “English” to depict Black people also illustrates his own vile racism that English = White… and everyone else who don’t fit the white, jam making laced with arsenic, wellie wearing fornicator resplendent in Barbour, shotgun waving genteel type with an accent RADA would be proud of ….. That sums up Midsomer Murders. A past time that  True May hankers after all Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming and Enid Blyton, lashings of Ginger Beer and a rigid class syste . But Pool also asks, does he [True May] think Midsomer fans are racist?

Pool states, It is of course true that the majority of Britain’s ethnic minority population live in urban areas – according to the last census 45% of the non-white population live in London with most (but by no means all) of the rest in major cities like Birmingham, Leeds and Leicester. I worked some years ago in a small town in East Hertfordshire, Ware, where I met a young Black woman who worked in a community centre. She told me that on her first day at the local college in Ware during the mid 1980s to study for A Levels she was stared at for days because she said, “I doubt if any the students had ever seen a Black person before”… And that’s what I noticed when I worked around Hertfordshire (and this had started the conversation originally) was just how white it was and that really unnerved me as I was brought up in the West Midlands and have lived in cities which are multicultural. I lived in London and so did the woman as she just didn’t feel welcome in these small towns (and I know racism and racist attacks were high as well as there had been a anti-racist campaign set up where Black people who were invisible in these areas came forward to speak out).

And True May has been suspended for his comments. I agree he should and there will be an investigation. But didn’t this occur to the production company before that there have been no Black characters in Midsomer Murders? Or did they just ignore it until True May articulated his hideous racism?

Spring….kinda

My favourite banker jokes….

A few of my favourite banker jokes (courtesy of this blog)

On Fred the Shred: “You can call him a tosser, You can call him a wanker, But whatever you do, Don’t call him a banker”

A banker, a Daily Mail reader and a benefit claimant are sitting at a table sharing 12 biscuits. The banker takes 11 and says to the Daily Mail reader: “Watch out for the benefit claimant, he wants your biscuit”

What’s the problem with banker jokes? Bankers don’t think they’re funny, normal people don’t think they’re jokes.

When will Labour ever show any opposition…?

I want to use my last few seconds to say how appalled I am by the brutalisation of claimants by the privatised companies that have taken over the assessments and the administration of benefits. The brutal treatment of my constituents is a harshness that denigrates the entirety of the work of the House and the Government. (Extract from John McDonnell’s speech during the the debate on the Welfare Reform Bill)

Twenty-two MPs voted against the draconian and heartless Welfare Reform Bill. The list include:

The 22 MPs who voted against the Bill were: Ronnie Campbell (Lab), Katy Clark (Lab), Michael Connarty (Lab), Jeremy Corbyn (Lab), Jon Cruddas (Lab), Mark Durkan (SDLP), Jonathan Edwards (PC), Dai Havard (Lab), Kelvin Hopkins (Lab), Stewart Hosie (SNP), Sian James (Lab), Elfyn Llwyd (PC), Naomi Long (Alliance), Caroline Lucas (Green), Angus MacNeil (SNP), John McDonnell (Lab), Angus Robertson (SNP), Jim Sheridan (Lab), Dennis Skinner (Lab), Eilidh Whiteford (SNP), Hywel Williams (PC) and Mike Wood (Lab).

According to John McDonnell, Ed Miliband called upon the PLP “to only vote for amendment to Tories Welfare cuts Bill & then abstain”. John McDonnell and 21 other MPs rightly voted against. But surely this exposes Labour’s continued can’t-give-a-damn-approach towards their core voters. To say I am appalled is an undertstatement but hey, not surprised as NL was the government (from vile John Hutton to vicious James Purnell and useless Yvette Cooper) who created the ideological groundwork for the vilification of the poor. From privatisation of the benefits system, incentivisation rubbish speak, Workfare, contracting out to companies who see the benefots system as one long exploitable gravy train, further sanctions and conditionality… And the creation of the “culture of dependency” myth. What the ConDems are doing is turbo-charged onslaught on the welfare state continuing where Labour left off. Ed Miliband voted for proevious deaonian welfare reform legislation along with Balls, Cooper, Byrne, Alexander and so on. So is it really surprising that they abstain as opposed to vocally opposing this piece of legislation? It is times like these when I actually do ask myself why am I member of a party which brutally and viciously attacks the poor in this society, usually their core supporters? The party that created this stigmatisation and vilification of the poor? Ed Miliband and the front bench make me sick. They make me sick because they created this climate of hate towards the poor, aided and abetted by a populist driven media (“work shy”, “benefit scroungers”…). Even when Mister Ed appeared on Andrew Marr just after he won the leadership contest he (along with Marr) was clueless about the benefits system, referred to Incapacity Benefit when it’s ESA (hey, Mister Ed it became ESA under NL and the hideous James Purnell…You chuffing well voted for it!). There you have it, a leader whose knowledge of the benefits system can be written on the back of a match box! Also, this is the leader who has no obvious alternative strategy just scarpers when the going gets tough, and becomes the invisible establishment-friendly Mister Ed who is possibly waiting this out, playing the long game who will ride to our rescue in 4 years…and many will cry, “Who the heck is that”?

See as well the LRC Briefing to MPs over the Welfare Reform Bill

Hutton’s gotta go (and take Frank Field with you)

More money to get less pension – after working longer. There’s no doubt that public employers have a tough sales job on their hands, and – despite a few worthwhile ideas – yesterday’s report from the New Labour peer turned coalition adviser, John Hutton, barely sweetens the pill. The taste will be bitter for many a modestly paid public servant planning a modest retirement, as the unions explained yesterday.

So says the Guardian editorial today about Hutton’s report on pensions. But, c’mon, are we really surprised by Hutton’s recommendations? This man has an utter hatred for the poor, you coulda seen his conclusions regarding pensions a mile off especially considering his rep when he was head honcho at Work and Pensions. He started the process of privatising the benefits system, aided and abetted by his side-kick Jim Murphy and he was the one who brought in lie detectors. So are we still surprised by his recommendations? The fact that he jumped at the chance to collaborate with the ConDems also says it all (along with Frank Field who is past master of shafting the poor yet he is still a LP MP…. ).

And now many on the Left are arguing that the NEC should investigate him. Bit late, but hey, I suppose better late than never. The Left should have done something back in the summer when Hutton was co-opted by the ConDems and not wait for the inevitable.

My view back in the summer was that he should be kicked out the Labour Party along with Frank Field… these Blairites built their profession on careerism, opportunism and loyalty to wealth and business. Never on principle nor the politics of the labour movement. There’s no room for them in the LP. Or should be no room for them. But will the NEC investigate…time will tell.

As I said back in the summer about Lord Hutton, Expel him now from the LP along with Frank Field and any other class traitor Labour person who is happy to work with the orange and blue Tories.

NB: see Mark Serwortka on co-ordinated strike action over Hutton’s hideous plans

Disabled People Against the Cuts

ConDems Welfare Reform Bill is being debated by MPs tomorrow although this is only the second reading stage. The first speaker is Eleanor Lisney from  Disabled People Against the Cuts while the second speaker is Sasha from Black Triangle both make very powerful contributions about this pernicious and vicious bill which attacks the core of the welfare benefits system (DLA to be destroyed by the Bullingdon Boys club). I would really recommend that you watch these 2 videos as it brings home the realities of the attacks on disabled people.

Women Against the Cuts

I attended the Women Against the Cuts demo at Trafalgar Square. Women speakers spoke of the devastating and ideologically driven cuts  which will have a disproportionate impact on women. Today being International Women’s Day is a good enough day to outline and highlight the continued oppression of women.

I said hello to the lovely Natalie Bennett, was glad I had finally met her. Will upload videos later.

Pragna Patel - Southall Black Sisters

International Women’s Day: solidarity & unity

The Socialist women’s movement in Germany is inspired with the monumental dictum of Karl Marx “The philosophers hitherto have only interpreted the world in different ways; what has yet to be done is to change the world.” It strives to help change the world by awakening the consciousness and the will of working-class women to join in performing the most Titanic deed that history will know: the emancipation of labour by the labouring class themselves. (Clara Zetkin, 1909)

It is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. Guardian newspaper has drawn up top 100 women and by category you can see these so-called inspirational women. Had a special look at the politics and there was Margaret Thatcher. What? A feminist symbol for bourgeois reactionary ruling class imperialist terrorist? If Thatcher’s in there then so should anti-imperialist women such as Mairéad Farrell (who was murdered by the British state and that symbol of women…Margaret Thatcher) and Leila Khaled. I suppose she represents that brand of hideous individualism which so enamoured the Spice Girls! This list overall includes women who have done something “inspirational” in bourgeois terms… But what the Guardian conjures up as inspirational doesn’t represent mine… Angela Mekel, for example,  is a neoliberal whose policies oppress women. Many of these women do not represent solidarity nor fighting oppression some dish it out. Hilary Clinton (???), Harriet Harman (who played lip service to equality)… Women who have achieved acceptable positions in the world. No mention of ordinary women globally battling against the odds, bearing the brunt of capitalism and the neoliberalism….from Egypt to Wisconsin!

Ordinary women who played an integral part at the moment in the Arab world. Trade unionist women, activists, fighters against oppression. Globally faceless and invisible. This should be a day of bringing women to the forefront, a day that remembers and a day that challenges the oppression women still face day after grinding day. As a socialist feminist the Guardian bland list doesn’t speak for me and possibly countless other women. Where’s Angela Davis, for example?

I wonder if International International Women’s Day has lost its roots. It seems there has been a corporate takeover, all slick and brash with diluted politics. Class certainly makes no appearance. And not more so than this rather creepy luvvie inspired cliche nonsense.

As a trade unionist I prefer to remember the women have led the way, in struggles that continue. Women have always been historically involved in fighting for their rights, organising collectively and in solidarity. Let us remember 200 brave young women who took on Bryant and May (‘Matchgirls strike’) in 1888 who went on strike for 3 weeks. Cradley Heath Women Chainmakers, who in 1910 went on strike for ten weeks and were successful in winning the first ever minimum wage (their successful struggle was celebrated last year by the TUC organised event, hosted by the Black Country Living Museum). Women at Ford Dagenham fighting for equal pay. Struggles such as Grunwick which was led by predominately Asian women fighting for union recognition and in the latter years Gate Gourmet strikers a majority of which were Asian women fighting for their rights. I want to remember the solidarity of Women Against Pit Closures, they were integral to the 84/85 Miners’ Strike.

All these women encountered obstacles of sexism, racism but they remained defiant and brave and fought on with support and solidarity from rank and file activists. I want to remember working class women who fought tirelessly for the vote, anti-imperialist women, women who fought/fight against racism and apartheid. Ordinary women who took a stand against oppression by saying, “NO”!  Women fighting for equal pay to abortion rights. These are the women I want to remember, living or died, based on unity, collective action and solidarity not bourgeois women trailblazers for respectable and acceptable activism and individualism. They don’t speak for me.