And so it is winter again. A bit unexpectedly early, but then our climate is in meltdown so who knows what it will be like over the coming months.
As the world turns colder (or at least the northern hemisphere), it seems also to turn darker. Fascism, call it what it is, is on the ascent. One of the largest countries in the world, and a developing economic powerhouse, has just elected a human nightmare to lead it. All under the aegis of the Trump 'revolution'. Bolsonara in Brazil will set back the rights of those he rules a generation. Already there has been violence, the wiping out of an indigenous village. He won't care, and nor will the fascist's friend up north, Trump. I still cannot believe that man has power. He is a vicious self entitled spoilt child, surrounded by like minded people who care nothing for the common man except to deny them further access to the basics of a decent society.
What must it take for us to get a decent world? Liberals and centrists appeal to the democratic process, but what good is that? Do we tell LGBTQ+ people in Brazil - whom Bolsonara has directly targeted - that they should be good citizens and wait another term because that's the done thing? Hell no. Power is never given, it must be taken from those who seek to rule over us. Stolen from them and then smashed. No one must be in charge so that everyone can be in charge. In that way proper democratic processes can develop.
Meanwhile the Tories continue their assault against the lower orders. Universal Credit, like a raging beast, seems unstoppable, urged on by its maniac masters. It blows my mind to think that Esther McVey has power over the poorest in society. A vacuous airhead who thinks the worst kind of glib Californian business guru self help rubbish is the blueprint for a successful society. She loves the 'strivers and skivers' rhetoric, despite it being utterly meaningless. You can strive all you want, hard work guarantees nothing but tired hands and broken backs. If you capitulate to that idea you are giving your power to people like her and she will use it to break you. Universal Credit is pernicious poorly designed and thoroughly unworkable. As the death count rises the Tories will just ramp up the rhetoric even more.
All this against a backdrop of gammon-infused isolationism. Ridiculous old men and women who refuse to consider their time is all but spent. Having climbed the ladder all they wish to do is kick it away from those beneath them. There is no doubt the EU is a problematic neoliberal pro-capitalist institution looking after its own interests, but it is also the gatekeeper. It does afford the working class many benefits. Throwing those away resembles throwing the baby out with the bathwater. But worse of all is that there is no good option: if we leave all we do is cede power to the Tories. Their true blue rhetoric will count for nothing once they go full steam ahead and finish off the job austerity started. Then we can all look forward to chlorinated chicken and the complete prostitution of what remains of our public services once they are fully laid bare to the rest of the world. We will become a carcass for the vultures of the world to feed on. In the absence of a proper working class revolt against the EU - and all capitalist institutions (including especially the Tories) we must choose at this time to remain. I'm not prepared to throw the working class under the bus.
The weather is getting colder. The streets are full of souls cast off by the Tories; people whose lives have been violently rendered invisible to their concern. Life gets all the more frosty when few care. That's the world we seem to be building for ourselves. When I was a kid, I looked up at the moon and dreamed of the stars. My head full of sci fi speculation and Tomorrows World (remember that?). By 2020 we'd be living in bubble cities on the moon and jetpacking into work. How naive. Now it's all but impossible to do something as simple as see your doctor. I notice my local surgery has had to shut for two months (at least - I've no doubt it will extend, this is the beginning of the end). Already it's only open part time. They claim that with a number of doctors on maternity leave they can't adequately and safely staff the surgery. But they can't find locums? They can't hire more doctors in general (which is why they are only part time)? Something isn't right here, but then, in the post NHS climate the Tories are building it's open season for these people who run our local service to expand. This they seem to be doing while also struggling to find staff. Something isn't right. Only under the Tories coudl this happen, and it will only get worse.
