All of this came from activists who exhort others to ‘be kind’. A courtesy they’re unwilling to extend to anyone raising questions and concerns about their beliefs. Anyone questioning them is told that the issue is ‘not up for debate’. Anyone questioning them is subject to abuse, threats and as we have increasingly seen, actual violence.
What next? Dystopia?
We’ve tended to write about dystopia as something to fear in the future. That was a mistake, a massive one to be honest. Why is that? You only have to look at the state of the world as it currently is to realise that to all intents and purposes, we’re living in a dystopia right now.
The abuse of a term
As the word ‘fascism’ been used in such a scattergun way, when actual fascism really emerges, too many people won’t recognise what’s actually going on until it’s too late.
Honesty vs tribalism
Looking back over the last six years, the issues I’ve had with now former comrades stem from me wanting to find out the truth of a situation as best I can and to then formulate what I felt was an honest opinion. What I found was that some of the opinions I formed were at variance with what could best be described as the prevailing orthodoxy. I don’t use the term orthodoxy lightly but, on a range of issues where I has differences with comrades, it transpired that there was very little room for an open and honest debate.
Complexity, collapse and radical change
As society becomes ever more complex, as well as becoming harder to develop any overview of how it functions, it’s also becoming more vulnerable to disruption and eventually collapse.
It’s been an interesting year…
As for how events and trends will pan out next year, we’ve given up making predictions. That’s simply because making predictions as we enter a massive and complex clusterf**k is a mug’s game.
Attachment, connection and a search for meaning
Among the various currents of protest against the way the Covid situation was leveraged to accelerate the 4IR, there are those of us doing what we can to join the dots and understand what’s being done to us and why. In the process of doing that, a fair few of us have moved beyond the political labels we once had and we once, sometimes proudly, wore.
Trying to understand the situation we’re in…
It’s only when you start to pull all of the disparate threads of the ongoing clusterf**k together that it becomes frighteningly obvious we’re heading towards some kind of system failure, possibly even a collapse. What this piece is attempting to do (quite possibly in vain) is to try and analyse why we are where we are and then establish what, if anything, we can do to save ourselves.
Where the f**k do we go from here?
That’s it, we’re done with what passes for an anarchist ‘movement’ in this country. While we still adhere to what we regard as anarchist principles, it needs to be known that we want nothing to do with this ‘movement’.
Thoughts on not falling for blatant wind ups
This is where the real resistance is going to happen. Not outside of a party conference but in thousands of neighbourhoods across the country. It will happen with actions that will frustrate the authorities, make us more ungovernable and ultimately, start to bring power down to the level of the neighbourhood.
Double standards?
When we see double standards and blatant hypocrisy in play in what passes for an anarchist movement here in the UK, we really have no option but to call it out.
What next?
The illusion of stability that Queen Elizabeth II somehow managed to convey during her reign will be seen as just that – an illusion. One that will disappear as the harsh reality of a society in the first stages of collapse impacts upon everyone’s lives. When people’s illusions get shattered, there’s no way of telling how they’re going to react.
Is identity politics on its way out?
There’s nothing more to be gained by attempting to engage with identity politics zealots. Quite simply, they have to be bypassed.
A winter of discontent?
The only prediction we will make is that when the anger does explode, it’s going to be contradictory and messy. It’s going to be a bumpy ride and if we’re going to make any headway, we need to have our wits about us and be flexible and creative in how we react in what will be a turbulent and complex situation.
Reacting to change…
We talk a lot about radical change and why it’s needed. Sometimes, it’s useful to pause and consider what we really mean by radical change.
Change comes from the base
Action for change in our communities happens because residents see a need and have lost faith in the ability or willingness of the authorities to act. There are plenty of examples where residents are doing this without any prompt from a movement or an organisation.
The calm before the storm?
Trying to keep on top of the multiple crises that are the component parts of the shitshow we’re having to endure at the moment is getting harder and harder. The temptation to zone out and try to live the best life we can under the circumstances can be pretty overwhelming at times.
Using your fingerprint/face to pay for your shopping
Over the last couple of years, a number of people, including now former comrades, have told us we’re conspiracy theorists. Conspiracy theorists? Really? Accurate forecasters would be more like it!