I think it's generally taken that anarchists don't take part in elections and election campaigns. I'm not sure why that is so - it's a bit like saying that atheists shouldn't read the Bible, sing hymns or celebrate Christmas; once you decide that religion is meaningless shite then even going to church isn't going to be a problem as long as you recognise it for what it is, a purely cultural phenomena and something that can be enjoyed on that basis only, and not as a philosophy to live your life by.
My argument has always been that anarchists may legitimately do what they need to do to achieve what we need to achieve which leads one down the sticky route of legitimising violence. and of course, contrary to all that Gandhi bollocks, violence is certainly required even if its only the sort of violence designed to repel the violence from the state that will be directed at us. Unfortunately for the idealists we do live in a physical universe and violent interaction of parts of that universe, even in the tree of life, is a fundamental part of that reality!
It also means, that in the cause of pragmatism, if we choose to hijack an election for our purposes then we may perfectly legitimately do so, as long as we make it clear that we are not playing their game, but we are disrupting their game. This I am seriously considering doing at the next general election! I may well stand as a "none of the above" candidate, if I can rally enough support for it.
While the forces of state oppression and corporate fascism are influencing and fixing elections then I think it ill behoves us to completely ignore the party political arena unfortunately, and especially while most people still look to "legitimate" and prescribed politics for their answers.
Yes, I've been pissing around with all sorts of ideas ever since Reclaim The Streets collapsed and the forces of democratic justice decided our democratic views were surplus to requirement. I even joined the Green Party for a bit, but as of this week, I am poltically a completely free agent once again. Happy to work with the Green Party where I see that their cause is the same as mine, but not happy to play the game of parliament and the sham democracy our lords and masters see fit to allow us!
Before the next General election though - there is another election I would like to influence. That is the London mayoral election. Boris as mayor has been far more damaging than I ever expected and the situation just cannot continue. Boris must be ditched!!
My personal take on this comes from suffering from poor air quality and grave concerns over whether I have somewhere affordable to live in the future (Johnson is offering nothing in his manifesto, not a fucking sausage).
Add to that concerns about my job, the environment in general, transport, cycle facilities (Boris being the only candidate not endorsing LCC demands fr better Dutch style facilities).
Environmental pledges
Boris Johnson's idea of a transport policy and the most expensive bus in history
Boris's idea of managing pollution is to directly sabotage the monitoring system and to attack the regulators ... not actually giving a shit about those of us who are suffering.
In the next few days I hope to be putting together an argument for voting Green and putting Ken as your second preference - which is what I'll be doing.
As for Brian Paddick - the flakey ex policeman who may or may not have been an anarchist - what an utter wanker!! He too lacks credible policies - not much on transport, little on housing, and if you want to sort out racism in the Met electing an ex copper to do it would be a grave mistake. Anyway - who the fuck is stupid enough to trust a Lib Dem these days?
So, in conclusion, if you vote for Boris you're voting for 4 more years of waste, neglect, increasing pollution, and lost opportunity and basically voting in someone who doesn't really want the job and is using it as a politcal stepping stone; if you vote Paddick then you're voting for a vanity candidate with no credibilty. This really leave just two options left. The Greens and Ken Livingstone do have an agreement. They are urging their supporters to put the other down as a 2nd preference. My own instinct is to vote Green to enable the green party to have more clout in the next administration just because London is crying out for a better environment for all of us - I'm sick of seeing people around me getting sicker and sicker, not to mention myself!
So - vote green and put Ken down as 2nd preference, that way we may end up with the best of all worlds.
Livingstone's Energy Pledge:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/19/ken-livingstone-energy-firms-mayoral
Air Pollution:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/6122/
This is a documentary "Pancevo Mrtav
Grad" which talks about Pancevo, the bigger industrial site of former
Yugoslavia holds headquarters. This town is also known for being the
most polluted in Europe. Meanwhile Pancevo people are getting cancer
and the kids crowd the hospitals because of very serious breathing
problems.
and there's the no arms fair pledge too!
My argument has always been that anarchists may legitimately do what they need to do to achieve what we need to achieve which leads one down the sticky route of legitimising violence. and of course, contrary to all that Gandhi bollocks, violence is certainly required even if its only the sort of violence designed to repel the violence from the state that will be directed at us. Unfortunately for the idealists we do live in a physical universe and violent interaction of parts of that universe, even in the tree of life, is a fundamental part of that reality!
It also means, that in the cause of pragmatism, if we choose to hijack an election for our purposes then we may perfectly legitimately do so, as long as we make it clear that we are not playing their game, but we are disrupting their game. This I am seriously considering doing at the next general election! I may well stand as a "none of the above" candidate, if I can rally enough support for it.
While the forces of state oppression and corporate fascism are influencing and fixing elections then I think it ill behoves us to completely ignore the party political arena unfortunately, and especially while most people still look to "legitimate" and prescribed politics for their answers.
Yes, I've been pissing around with all sorts of ideas ever since Reclaim The Streets collapsed and the forces of democratic justice decided our democratic views were surplus to requirement. I even joined the Green Party for a bit, but as of this week, I am poltically a completely free agent once again. Happy to work with the Green Party where I see that their cause is the same as mine, but not happy to play the game of parliament and the sham democracy our lords and masters see fit to allow us!
Before the next General election though - there is another election I would like to influence. That is the London mayoral election. Boris as mayor has been far more damaging than I ever expected and the situation just cannot continue. Boris must be ditched!!
My personal take on this comes from suffering from poor air quality and grave concerns over whether I have somewhere affordable to live in the future (Johnson is offering nothing in his manifesto, not a fucking sausage).
Add to that concerns about my job, the environment in general, transport, cycle facilities (Boris being the only candidate not endorsing LCC demands fr better Dutch style facilities).
Environmental pledges
Boris Johnson's idea of a transport policy and the most expensive bus in history
Boris's idea of managing pollution is to directly sabotage the monitoring system and to attack the regulators ... not actually giving a shit about those of us who are suffering.
In the next few days I hope to be putting together an argument for voting Green and putting Ken as your second preference - which is what I'll be doing.
As for Brian Paddick - the flakey ex policeman who may or may not have been an anarchist - what an utter wanker!! He too lacks credible policies - not much on transport, little on housing, and if you want to sort out racism in the Met electing an ex copper to do it would be a grave mistake. Anyway - who the fuck is stupid enough to trust a Lib Dem these days?
So, in conclusion, if you vote for Boris you're voting for 4 more years of waste, neglect, increasing pollution, and lost opportunity and basically voting in someone who doesn't really want the job and is using it as a politcal stepping stone; if you vote Paddick then you're voting for a vanity candidate with no credibilty. This really leave just two options left. The Greens and Ken Livingstone do have an agreement. They are urging their supporters to put the other down as a 2nd preference. My own instinct is to vote Green to enable the green party to have more clout in the next administration just because London is crying out for a better environment for all of us - I'm sick of seeing people around me getting sicker and sicker, not to mention myself!
So - vote green and put Ken down as 2nd preference, that way we may end up with the best of all worlds.
Livingstone's Energy Pledge:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/19/ken-livingstone-energy-firms-mayoral
Air Pollution:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/6122/
This is a documentary "Pancevo Mrtav
Grad" which talks about Pancevo, the bigger industrial site of former
Yugoslavia holds headquarters. This town is also known for being the
most polluted in Europe. Meanwhile Pancevo people are getting cancer
and the kids crowd the hospitals because of very serious breathing
problems.
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