Richard Adams-Blackburn – Anarcho-communist

I’m very glad I stumbled across your site, and pleased to be on board.

My name’s Richard, 21 from Auckland, New Zealand.  I’ve been interested in politics and have been concerned with exploitation and injustice for a rather long time, but became convinced that anarchism was the solution only a couple of years ago. A political studies paper I did at stage one at university introduced me to the famous Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin, and his thinking really struck a chord with me. I did not immediately become an anarchist, but slowly came to it after considering all other options carefully.

Now I am writing this blog  to spread the message of anti-capitalism and anti-statism, and try to convince people that an anarchic society is the answer, and not merely a pipe dream. I hope to be able to bring a positive anarchist angle to this group.

More information about me is available on the ‘about’ page of my site.

“Barbarism”

Oliver Kamm writes about Kurt Vonnegut in The Times today.

“These [the firebombing of Dresden and nuclear attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima] were catastrophic acts committed under the necessity of defeating barbarism. But man is not equally culpable, and history not a record of symmetry in brutality. It merely seemed that way to a particular generation at a historical moment: the Vietnam War.”

We have a particular picture of “barbarism” which we aim at our enemies:

“Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic…” – President Truman.

“The Sandinista dictatorship of Nicaragua, with full Cuban-Soviet bloc support, not only persecutes its people, the church, and denies a free press, but arms and provides bases for Communist terrorists attacking neighboring states. Support for freedom fighters is self-defense and totally consistent with the OAS and U.N. Charters.” – President Reagan

“This is not, however, just America’s fight. And what is at stake is not just America’s freedom. This is the world’s fight. This is civilization’s fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.” – President Bush

Although, it might not be that black-and-white:

“If terrorism is the massacre of innocents to break the will of rulers, were not Hiroshima and Nagasaki terrorism on a colossal scale?” – American Conservative Pat Buchanan

“Instead, the enemy is characterised as “jealous of our way of life”, “hateful of freedom”, and so on. Hence President Bush, no less than the Islamic terrorists, uses the language of religious war: we are on a “crusade”; the military operation was initially called “Infinite Justice”; and the enemy is “evil itself”.

“Along with this is the belief that the pax Romana/Americana is the only “reasonable” way to live. In the American case, we have a military and economic empire that views the world as one big happy market, and believes that everybody needs to come on board. We – that is, global corporate consumerism – are the future, “progress”.

“If the “barbarians” fail to share this vision, they are “medieval”; if they resist, “evil”. Most historians see a relationship, in the case of Rome, between its internal decay and its susceptibility to invasion. By the fourth century, if not much before, Rome had lost its central value, the legacy of Greek culture, and was effectively existing for the sake of military and administrative purposes.” – Morris Berman in The Guardian.

So was the Iraq War another exercise in “the necessity of defeating barbarism” or was it barbarism in itself?

On North Korean Famine

Capitalist Famines Also Kill.

“In 1981, Sen published Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, a book in which he demonstrated that famine occurs not only from a lack of food, but from inequalities built into mechanisms for distributing food. Sen’s interest in famine stemmed from personal experience. As a nine-year-old boy, he witnessed the Bengal famine of 1943, in which three million people perished. This staggering loss of life was unnecessary, Sen later concluded. He believed that there was an adequate food supply in India at the time, but that its distribution was hindered because particular groups of people—in this case rural labourers—lost their jobs and therefore their ability to purchase the food. In his book Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (1981), Sen revealed that in many cases of famine, food supplies were not significantly reduced. In Bengal, for example, food production whilst down on the previous year was higher than in previous non-famine years. Thus, Sen points to a number of social and economic factors, such as declining wages, unemployment, rising food prices, and poor food-distribution systems. These issues led to starvation among certain groups in society. His capabilities approach focuses on positive freedom, a person’s actual ability to be or do something, rather than on negative freedom approaches, which are common in economics and simply focuses on non-interference. In the Bengal famine, rural laborers’ negative freedom to buy food was not affected. However, they still starved because they were not positively free to do anything, they did not have the functioning of nourishment, nor the capability to escape morbidity.” – Wikipedia

More Die In India.

“The famine only began to approach India’s year-in, year-out toll (in proportionate terms) of infant mortality and deaths from malnutrition or starvation which I only mention because the media’s recent habit of depicting Kim Jung Il’s frolicking among a heap of starved cadavers.” – Bruce Cumings, North Korea: Another Country.

Conclusion: it does not help your cause using this as a lever in a smear campaign.

“I have no respect for a man who starves his own people” – George Bush, on Kim Jong-Il

“We banqueted with Kim and a group of grumpy old men… Outside, the people starved.” – Chris Patten

(These sources have nothing but praise for India’s leaders, who allow a system which starves far more, by the same logic.)

“Flood and drought have hit South Korea too. Some people drowned, and more lost property – yet nobody starved. That is the difference between sensible socio-economic systems, efficient and flexible, and stupid ones.” – Asia Times

“North Korea has relied on foreign aid to feed its people since 1995, when its agricultural system collapsed after decades of mismanagement.” – CBS News

(North Korea is still the most industrialised country in Asia, with a minimal “agricultural system” which collapsed temporarily thanks to many years of natural disasters. It cannot buy food thanks to US-led sanctions.)

Conclusion

No one is stopping India pissing its money away on nuclear weapons whilst its people starve. But its people are free to be millionaires, if they happen to be born in the right place at the right time, so it avoids the “axis of evil” treatment.

North Korea’s economic system is still stupid. Its foreign relations are based upon blackmail. It still has Stalinist surveillance systems, secret police and GULAGs. Its leaders are still corrupt. Its country is still full of human rights abuses. Its leader is so unmarketable that he was made a Bond villain (see also Rupert Murdoch).

So why the hell does the media/do politicians need to pick the North Korean famine as the damning evidence? It’s as close to spin as death gets.

Capitalism is a Disease

This was the main story on CNN.com the other day:

Struggling Ford Motor Company, which posted a record $12.7 billion net loss in 2006, gave its new CEO Alan Mulally $28 million for four months on the job, according to a statement filed Thursday. The details were made public as Ford moves ahead with plans to close plants and cut more than 30,000 hourly positions in an effort to stem losses.* CNN.com

What sort of justification can be used to make this right? Thirty thousand Americans are going to be out of a job while a CEO makes $7 million a month? That strikes me as terribly immoral and obscene.

Follow that up with a case of the U.S. government doing the exact same thing:

The Department of State will not rule out paying a salary to Sam Fox, the major Swift Boat Veterans For Truth donor who was recess appointed as US Ambassador to Belgium by President George W. Bush yesterday.”That’s not something we’re allowed to get into,” Lesley Phillips, a State Department spokeswoman, told RAW STORY when asked whether or not the millionaire businessman would be paid for his services.

* RAW STORY

So, here’s what happened if you missed out. Bush knew this guy wouldn’t get approved by the Senate, so he withdrew his nomination. The Senate goes on break and what happens? Bush makes a recess appointment and gives his Swift Boat financier an ambassadorship. I find it funny which taxer-payer funded expenditures taxpayers complain about. This one, in particular, bothers me as a taxpayer.

And this fella – he’s a millionaire. But do you doubt for one second that the Bush regime is not going to pay their friend?

Blog Against War and Racism

It’s clear that the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the racism that surrounds it, are key issues at the moment. The majority of people in most countries, including Australia, the United States and Britain oppose the war in Iraq. The FLBU is calling on all bloggers to express this opposition by posting a picture of you holding a placard/sign expressing your opposition on your blog. Trackbacks should picked up your post but just to be sure, email me – benjamin [at] benjaminsolah [dot] com – your link and I’ll add it to a list at the bottom of this post. Include the details of your local anti-war or anti-racism rally and encourage others to take a stand against the war.

Rally details can be found at the following websites:
United States: A.N.S.W.E.R.
United Kingdom: Stop the War Coalition
Australia: Stop the War Coalition – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane

Join the bloggers who have already taken a stand against war and racism!
Benjamin Solah – Sydney, Australia

Stop the war