Tag: antifa

Split Peas & Split People

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

This might end up being one of those pieces which becomes a few random thoughts that aren’t related but I feel are worth mentioning. To begin with I’m having a nightmare trying to cook split peas. I was hoping to make a nice soup with sweet potato and carrot but these bloody peas just won’t cook. I soaked them for over twenty-four hours and have now had them boiling away for at least an hour to no avail. I enjoy cooking. I also enjoy eating and this enjoyment of eating and of having no money over the years means I’m not a bad cook. I don’t make enough soups though. A split pea soup sounds just lovely.

I’m a total romantic. I’m listening to Spanish Civil War music and dreaming of what could have been. It was such a glorious and horrific time. We like to imagine antifa and the antifascist as some new phenomenon but it’s been going as long as the fascist gave themselves such a name. I have mentioned this particular war a few times but it really is another example of the people being screwed over by power. Not just power in Spain but through the neutrality of countries like the UK. Franco had Hitler’s Germans and Mussolini’s Italians, the Republic ended up having no choice but relying on the Soviets who took over as best they could and did more damage than help. France may have been a Republic but it was never built on the ideals of decentralisation and the anarcho-collectives. The European powers as ever showed their true colours, for old powers like the British, Fascism was infinitely more palatable than people having true power. These things are contagious, they must be quashed.

The Twentieth Century was just a long list of outside interference with vested interests. Allende, Chile and Pinochet is always an easy one to bring up but let’s not forget Cambodia and Margaret Thatcher’s refusal to recognise the new communist government that replaced the genocidal maniac Pol Pot. She was also a bit of a fan of apartheid South Africa. Let’s not forget the British influence upon the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Iran that wanted to nationalise oil production, the dictatorship of the new Shah, a western puppet, more agreeable. General Suharto in Indonesia who killed a quarter of the population but who provided the Australians, as well as the US and Brits, with cheap access to natural minerals. Yugoslavia, the last Socialist country in Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union was never allowed to exist. It is always easier to control smaller broken up and angry states than one larger one.

Talking of apartheid, Palestine is another obvious one. Obvious because it is still going on not because it is ever really talked about. You wouldn’t know it if you just watched western media but Israel have been bombing the shit out of the Gaza Strip for eight straight days now. Apparently Hamas fired two homemade rockets out and the Israeli’s felt the need to obliterate them in return. Eight days and not a peep.

Anyway my split peas have burnt. I got carried away and forgot to check on them. I give up.

Left, Right Or Corkscrew

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

In sperm related news it turns out that the seventeenth century microscopes that first determined the movement of our little fellas were not entirely accurate. It was believed they wriggle their tales back and forth twenty times a second giving off the impression of a very fast and very small eel. Interestingly enough sperm are also lopsided and wriggle predominantly on their stronger side. Thankfully they don’t move in a circle as would be expected with lop sided force, think of a canoe if you paddle on only one side. Instead modern microscopes have managed to capture their movement in 3D and it turns out they seem to use a strangely corkscrew like movement instead. From above this looks like a wiggle hence the original confusion. There is a video below to clear up this confusion. Thank god for that.

I got that story from the news channel Russia Today (RT). I had hoped to fine some other stories worth going into but that was about as good as it got. RT is an insight into the world as seen through Russian eyes but more often as you delve deeper through the articles, it is clear that many of these stories are following the same line as those parroted by the right-wing media and the alt-right. They are generally pro-Trump which is clear without even having to read between the lines, they attack ‘left-wing Marxist cancel culture’ as well as Black Lives Matter, LGTBQ and Antifa. While I am not saying these different groups, movements or approaches are always in agreement they do arguably represent one particular side of the fight.

On a geopolitical scale these groupings as such can be seen coming together in the form of Trump, Brexit, Marie Le Pen of France, Viktor Orban of Hungary and Matteo Salvini of Italy. When you take a step back and observe everything from a distance it becomes very clear that what we believe to be a localised issue such as Brexit, is in fact a smaller part of a larger battle being played out on the international stage. Taken by it’s individual parts these are merely a series of unfortunate political incidents, mistakes or leaders but observed together we can really see the threats the world currently faces. The Covid-19 Front is the current battle ground as both sides put forward arguments of varying levels of credibility and persuasion. Although tempting, this may be a moment not to jump into one corner or another and observe this for what it is. It is hard to accept being played as all affects us but perhaps we need to see we are just being used as pawns, play our own game and do as the sperm and corkscrew.

Podcasts

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

My podcast addiction began about a year ago when in a quest to know more stuff I got a little hooked on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time. It at first felt a little intellectual but now just feels like our levels have morphed. Yes our brains can evolve given the chance. However about six months ago I decided it was time to branch out. I threw myself right into the bear pit and grabbed ahold of what I thought was going to be an ideological nemesis in Joe Rogan, and yes depending on his guest he can come out with all that America is Great guff that nobody outside of America takes seriously, and has a total misunderstanding of what Antifa is which explains why he is placed in the bad man box by some. Saying that, having explored a few anarcho-podcasts, all of which were American, they are not only annoying in the way they express themselves but seem to come from a completely different dimension to what I have experienced or witnessed in Greek, Italian or Spanish versions of the antifascist movement. It pained me but left me sympathetic to Rogans ignorance and also aware that I too am probably ignorant in this debate in my own way.

Generally, it appears podcast guests are trying to push something, and tend to be inspirational or at least give off the stench of such things through their success in something. The Great Henry Rollins who would surely hate that title and who deserves it all the more as a result is worth a mention, as is Dr Christopher Ryan who wrote a book called Sex At Dawn which I won’t read because from research I discovered many accusations of cherry picking findings that discredit its academic legitimacy. However, his approach to life and the message he is trying to get across in his podcast Tangentially Speaking are excellent and absorbing, and although I have met quite a few versions of him over the years and probably have been one myself, now is not the time to hold anything against anyone especially someone who I enjoy listening to so much. Henry Rollins will get a whole blog piece to himself in the future. Current events in British politics have had my ear recently and it has been interesting listening to shows from all sides of the spectrum, from left wing to mentally challenged. Either that is a great example of how much access we have to differing views or simply highlights how polarised we have and can become, but this too is perhaps for another time.

Like easily digestible books for the modern age we want everything to be simple and immediate. Coupled with the fact we’re all too busy and scared to have an actual conversation with anyone, it allows the feeling of being part of someone else’s. Like every narcissistic egomaniac I now want and believe an audio version of my many misunderstandings is exactly what people need. It may require some guests though and may have to be over four hundred words, but then this already is…oops.