by : Gavin Sealey Politics

A Necessary Contagion

It should be clear to everyone by now that the Labour Party is, as an institution, much more concerned about position and power than with principle and people. This is not true of ordinary members or of all those who hold positions but there is an institutional logic that determines how people within the party behave, especially if they are seeking positions. There will be external and internal forces and various sectional interests pushing for particular policies and actions. The process is not at all guided by reason or morality. I am no longer a member of the Labour Party because I was expelled for sharing posts on Facebook that the bureaucracy considered to be antisemitic. For a little while under Corbyn the Labour Party looked like it might become a party of principle but it hasn’t. If there’s any hope left it will not be found in the leaders and structures of the party but in people in various groups, online and offline, who put principle above party and above any sectional interest. Someone wisely said that ‘the moment you start following anyone, you stop following truth’. The fact is, we have the power to act out of reason and compassion. As ordinary people, as the ‘proles’ that Orwell spoke of as the only hope, we can form our own associations and act on our own individual and associative intelligence. The leaders and structures are not helping us because they are not honest. Even those promising to empower the membership are not honest because they are not fighting for the most important thing which is our fundamental right to freedom of thought and discourse. But no one can give us this we have to assert and assume it ourselves. So let’s keep talking, building our associations, online and offline. We have the power, let’s recognise it and use it.

I have heard that people within the Labour Party have been warned off associating with me. I cannot confirm anything about this and will not name anyone. But I do understand that in truthful discourse may be contagious but I have no intention to self isolate. I hope that it is contagious; it is a necessary contagion.

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by : Gavin Sealey Climate Change, Environment

We Need it Now

Without wishing to comment on RLB’s leadership aspirations, this is a good video highlighting the urgency of the issue of climate change. Credit to her and the lP for putting it squarely on the UK political agenda. The Labour Green New Deal is certainly significant at least as a contribution to thinking about the way that we need to transform politics, the economy and society.

See: https://www.labourgnd.uk/

At the end of the video RLB says “incremental change is not enough, we need a radical Green Agenda and we need it now”.

“Now” is the point; but Labour is not in power and is unlikely to be in power during the next five years. When the danger is as profound as that posed by climate change and, more widely, environmental degradation, the timetables of our current political structures are inadequate.

At a talk by Anatol Lieven that I attended yesterday evening (2nd March) Lieven, publicising his new book, spoke of the need for what he called ‘progressive nationalism’ to meet the challenge; he argued that both the people activism of Greta Thunberg and international agreements such as the Paris Accord, while important, would be futile without action by nation states. Lieven called on the spirit of national purpose that kept Britain together through the Blitz. I didn’t buy his book and have some concerns about concomitants of nationalism, ‘progressive’ or not, but he is correct in asserting that there has to be an awakening of a national will to change and he is correct in saying that ultimately only nation states can transform economies.

Challenged by a questioner Lieven was not optimistic that our political systems would be cmotivated to initiate the changes we need without some catastropic events to catalyse this.

Lieven is correct that the transformative changes we need can only be carried out by the nation state through existing political structures but we cannot wait for, nor afford, a catalysing catastrophy to motivate the state to change and we cannot trust the state or any political structure with the moral direction of such change.

We as citizens, as individuals, and as members of communities must become the catalysing change that forces governments to act.
We must work within our political parties, within pressure groups like XR and also within our other communities including our faith groups. We must build and keep building communities of conscience and consciousness, communicating in the digitial and the actual so that it is conscience and consciousness themselves that become the catalyst.

This is not a party political project. Political structures and governmental responses are essential but what we can and must do now must be to a larger degree politically agnostic, separate from party politics, and focused on raising consciousness, invoking conscience and building community.

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by : Gavin Sealey People

Veronia

I’m sharing this post by a friend, Veronia, because it says so much that is important in a few words. A compliment is not flattery but truth and because genuine compliments are spontaneous they come from the universe; the person delivering the compliment has been afforded a moment of recognition and, in return, speaks on behalf of the universe.

I was out on a birthday dinner with Jacob and one of the waitresses came up to me and complimented me about how much she loved my skin complexion.

I think this was probably the second time (the first time was at Nordland) in my entire life a stranger has ever complimented my dark skin. All my life I have been bombarded with ‘tips’ from relatives on how to make my skin lighter. Two teaspoons of turmeric, a tablespoon of yoghurt and two tablespoons of powdered chickpeas was the suggestion – a recipe apparently passed down for generations. The turmeric burnt my skin, the chickpeas dried my skin and putting yoghurt on my face was just gross.

While it came across like they were being helpful, it lowered my confidence because ultimately it was them telling me the skin colour I inherited, a big part of who I am, wasn’t good enough and that I wasn’t beautiful enough. Then there’s social media…with every celebrity out there having their pictures photoshopped to look slimmer and lighter and we’re just constantly bombarded with them. I can’t compare, I’m not even on the same league. Heck, I’ve even gone to ‘make up artists’ who’d try and make me look like a frikkin Cheeto when I asked for a foundation to match my existing skin tone.

I’ve spent years hating everything about me, especially my skin tone because that pink lip gloss that every teenage girl wore didn’t suit me and my skin tone.

It was only a few years ago that I discovered that deep red lipsticks look damn good on me. I could totally rock a black lipstick too. Since then, it was only a matter of time until I felt more comfortable in my skin and stopped caring about what people had to say about me. I don’t need compliments from strangers to make myself feel better, but it sure does feel good to hear it.
Like the waitress said, us girls got to stick together, it’s a tough world and the 20s are the worst.

I’m not going to post a selfie with this post because I was too busy enjoying birthday dinner with my husband and friends to take one. Instead I’ve added the picture I took of a mural I saw in Milan (Minnesota) a few weeks ago. I finally have something to say about it: not only is this mural beautiful, the girl in the painting is absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you to the waitress at The Oaks at Eagle Creek for taking the time to do what you did. It took you less than 15 seconds but I’m still thinking about it an hour later.

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by : Gavin Sealey General

Poor Baba?

I don’t know the ins and outs of this case but my instinct is to prefer this ‘Waterman’ Rajendra Singh.

He says:

“Rivers cannot be saved by people who have hunger for power and posts. They can only be saved by connecting people with the mission.”

He may as well say (and this is what I believe):

“Our planet cannot be saved by people who have hunger for power and posts. It can only be saved by connecting people with the mission.”

The reaction of the ‘Baba’s’ followers to Singh’s accusations of fraud is interesting:

“shocked and dismayed that someone who had, at one time, set out to do good work should have been reduced to this sort of low personal attack on a most revered being”

I have a certain prejudice against ‘revered beings’ I suppose. I generally assume that those setting themselves above and apart from other humans are likely to be bad sorts.

This is of course a general observation. Nothing in the article give me anything factual to go on with regard to the rights and wrongs in this case. It just reports opposing assertions.

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by : Gavin Sealey Discourse, Freedom, Politics

Revive Discourse

The pictures are from the first time I spoke with Dean Armond on his Revive FM local radio show. This was at the end of October and I was invited back to speak again this morning on the early morning 7 am to 9.00 am slot. I said some things that some might think are controversial but that are really exceedingly obvious. I am not Socrates but just the little boy who points out that the Emperor has no clothes when it seems that no one else is willing to do so.

More

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by : Gavin Sealey General, Liberty, Politics

Measure for Measure

A tweet from Alastair Stewart’s Twitter account, which appears to compare a black man to an ‘ape’, has resurfaced. Alastair, 67, announced he has quit as presenter of ITV News after more than 40 years as a newsreader. ITN confirmed it was due to ‘errors of judgement in Alastair’s use of social media’ and ‘breached’ their editorial guidelines. They did not specify what exactly prompted him to step down.

In light of the news, Twitter users are now circulating a tweet which Alastair reportedly sent on 13 January 2020. It quotes Shakespeare and was sent to a Twitter user, who happens to be black. ‘“But man, proud man, Dress’d in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d – His glassy essence – like an angry ape”,’ the tweet read.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/29/alastair-stewart-resurfaced-tweet-compares-black-man-ape-itv-news-presenter-quits-12148494/

For those who still don’t understand what I mean when I say that we face a crisis of antirationalism, please read the article and consider the following points:

A. Stewart does not compare this black guy to an ape. He quotes Shakespeare who compares man in general to an angry ape.

B. Even if Stewart had used the phrase ‘angry ape’ of a black person, in the context of criticising their behaviour, that is not by its very fact necessarily racist. Context is required. Nuance is required. If someone were to say to me, a black man, even without the Shakespeare quote, that I was behaving like an angry ape I would take no particular offence. If they were to call me an ugly ape I would consider that an offensive racist trope as I am neither ugly nor and ape and as insults to the person are different to insults with regard to behaviour. If a person, on the other hand, were to come up to me at a party with a banana and make monkey noises as a black woman has accused Boris Johnson of doing, I would punch them in the face.

C. To assert that a black man’s behaviour should never be even vaguely compared to that of an ape while a white man’s behaviour might, may itself be considered racist. It being, for example quite reasonable to say that the behaviour of the Brexit MEPs as they left the European Parliament was that of uncouth apes, it is not unreasonable to infer that those who consider the same thing offensive when said of black people in comparable situations are giving credence to a racist association of black people with apes.

D. The man who accused Stewart of this is a moral and intellectual pygmy erm dwarf erm person of restricted intellectual and moral development and so is every other person who believes that there is anything even remotely racist in what Stewart tweeted.

E. The only point over which I would remonstrate with Stewart is with regard his apology. He should never have apologised and should be ashamed of having done so.

F. Stewart’s feeling that he had to apologise and other people’s feeling that he had to apologise seems to be a perfect working out of the principle ennunciated by Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey:

“The only acceptable response to any accusation of racist prejudice is self-scrutiny, self-criticism and self-improvement.”

Rebecca Long Bailey 12 Jan 2020

G. ‘But man, proud man, Dress’d in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d— His glassy essence—like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal.’

To misunderstand this .. To misunderstand this show how far from reason and culture and civility our discourse has fallen. I don’t know about angels but I read this nonsense and weep. I weep for us all especially those who still don’t know why I weep.

Interesting according to the Metro article:

Other tweets from Alastair’s now-deleted Twitter account, includes his opinion on Labour NEC’s Pete Willsman being suspended after allegedly branding antisemitism ‘total lies’.

Alastair tweeted: ‘At best it is anti-israeli and arguable anti-Zionist. Antisemitism is “hostility to, or prejudice against, jews. I’m not saying #PeteWillsman is or isn’t antisemitic, I am merely suggesting this doesn’t seem the strongest evidential case [sic].’<

Bt the measure that ye measure, by that measure shall ye be judged also.

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by : Gavin Sealey General, Spirit

When Another Makes You Suffer

This is true to a point, and that’s the point at which the other person has more power than you and is abusing that power and you. At that point your first job is to protect yourself and take away their power to hurt you. You can only punish from a place of power and heal from a place of safety. If you have power you should always choose healing over punishment but get to safety first.

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by : Gavin Sealey General

Abby Martin and BDS

Since 2014, 28 states, among those Georgia, have adopted anti-boycott laws, including five executive orders issued by governors.

Former teleSUR presenter and creator of The Empire Files Abby Martin was blocked from delivering a keynote speech at Georgia Southern University for refusing to “sign a contractual pledge to not boycott Israel” to comply with the anti-Boycott, Divest and Sanctions state law.

Telesur 17 Jan 2020

Interesting article. If BDS were adopted by the Labour Party there could be no Labour Friends of Israel and relations with pro-Israel organisations such as the Board of Deputies would be problematic but certainly oppositional on the issue of Israel. The same would apply to equivalent institutions in the US.

If support for the state of Israel itself or support for Jewish institutions supporting the state of Israel are seen as intrinsic to Jewish identity then BDS is intrinsically antisemitic.

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by : Gavin Sealey General

New Beginnings

I’ve deleted my previous posts to this site. This is because I want to focus my writing around the fifty-two essays that I’ve undertaken to write.

So far there are three essays. The first I and I is more personal, the second, Shadow Commander and the third, A Crisis of Antirationalism are political. The intention is to present more philosophical perspectives on politics and, at the same time, make the effort to sharpen my own writing skills.

In addition to the fifty-two essays I will write one short blog post each day.

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