Diatribes 4-6

Diatribe 4

Politics is a short term game, we need to change the rules. Some things cannot be changed in 4 or 5 years. Take climate change for instance; the reason nothing was done when it was first theorised was because the governments of the time knew that by the time it got to the point where something had to be done they wouldn’t be in power any more, it would be somebody else’s problem. The reason George Bush is ignoring the fact, and it is now a fact, is because he knows that if he continues to ignore it for another couple of years he won’t have to think about it any more, again it will be somebody elses problem.
The much vaunted “western democracy” is flawed. It is simply not designed to deal with long term problems for which there are no instant fixes or easy answers. One government may do sterling work to solve these long term problems but the next could tear down the work that has been done. Our current political system has served its time and is long overdue for retirement. We need something new, a higher form of democracy where government is just, equal and accessible to all. Everyone has a vote on every issue. Every bill a referendum and every vote counted. I’m not saying it will be perfect, the world never is, but it will be new. We need a new political, economic and social order if we don’t want to end up as slaves to the greed of the rich and the might of the powerful.

Diatribe 5

Respect. What is it? Where does it come from. Respect is a slippery beast and it means different things to different people. Tony Blair thinks that it means having respect for authority. This is wrong. Respect of authority is not really respect it is fear. We abide by the laws of the land not out of respect for those who enforce them but out of fear of the consequences of not abiding by them. If there is no fear of authority then that authority breaks down. What Mr. Blair is trying to do is re-instill this fear in a populace who knows that they really have nothing to fear. If there are no consequences to be feard then authority loses its grip. What Mr. Blair is proposing is yet another small step towards a police state.
Respect is earned and cuts both ways. If people are not respected by the government that serves them then they will have no respect for that governments authority. If the authority is shown to be incompetent and wrong, then it will lose even more respect. If you respect me and my views then I will in return, and without even thinking about it, respect you and your views. The governments lack of respect for the eletorate has been demonstrated time and time again. Half a million people marched against the war in Iraq, they were representative of a large segment of our society and they were not listened to. They were basically told “Don’t be silly, we know what were doing and you are only a bunch of tree hugging hippies, why should we listen to you?” If an employee in any business showed such disrespect to theire employers then they would be fired. Why do we put up with it? Why don’t we fire our government and get one that respects us and our opinions?

Diatribe 6

I am an enemy of the state. I define myself as such because of my opposition to almost everything our current government is doing in the name of “security”. How dare they presume to limit my freedoms by force, coercion and their proxies. Who are they to tell me what to think, and how to live my life? I resent their intrusion into affairs which are none of their concern. For instance: What is ‘antisocial behaviour’? Who decides? I can now have my freedoms curtailed even if I have broken no law. All punishment, no crimes. What has happened to justice?
They seek to control that which is not theirs to control. They have no right to it. They are slowly eating away at our freedoms when the fact is that our freedom is our security. Laws which criminalise those innocent of any crime, which make voicing an opinion punishable by at best petty intimidation and at worst detention by robotic, brainwashed enforcers. The innocent have nothing to hide, but everything to fear.
Our government sanctions the assassination of dissenters in Iraq. Not explicitly, but through the acceptance of the fact that it happens and their refusal to do anything about it. If they can do it in Iraq, then they can do it here. You will be watched if you voice opposition to the state. If you are too vocal or become too much of a threat then you will be silenced, not neccesarily by murder. There are far worse ways to lose your voice.
The british government is edging ever closer to authoritarian dictatorship under the guise of democracy. The government no longer serves the people who elect it, it serves the state. It is slowly enhancing its ability to control and monitor us. A population under control lets the state direct its attentions and emotions in whichever direction it chooses.
The angry young men of yesterday have become the establishment lackeys and yes-men of today. They’ll follow an open chequebook like children follow ice-cream vans. Giving the state greater powers to monitor and control a population gives those who control the state (those holding the chequebook) greater control of their workforce. There is no such thing as a consumer any more, it is a myth told by industry to give the semblance of freedom to a segment of its workforce. No-one is free of capitalism’s grip, everyone buys and everyone sells. All to fill the coffers of the meganational corporations. The people who work spend what they earn to feed the machine and the cycle repeats endlessly, they are as much a part of the workforce as those working in the shops and factories. Without consumers, capitalism dies. If you can monitor and control your consumers effectively then your economic future is far less uncertain and unstable. State controlled populations, whether by force or other methods, are far more predictable, directable and easy to manipulate.
I say again, I am an enemy of the state. I say this openly while I still can, before the politics of fear allows the state to silence me and others like me. Propaganda, terrorism, fear of imagined shadows, these are the weapons of power. Weapons which are used against us, the people that the state supposedly exists to serve.