Someone lit a fire up those kids ass!

Mindless slogans, repeated over and over, a police escort and a caged tour of London’s political landscape. The floor is now open to interpretations as to what I’m describing.

Just about every protest I’ve attended has followed this same pattern and slowly I’ve grown incredibly disenfranchised with the whole concept of protest, especially in Britain where to protest against your government you need their permission, now that’s Monty Python doing George Orwell if ever there was such a sketch? Let’s take Stop The War for example. A pressure group with commendable causes; opposed to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, quite high profile and quite well known. In 2003 prior to the Iraq invasion 1,000,000 people took to the streets in protest and then they went home, safe in the knowledge they’d done all they can. 7 years later and we’re still struggling to contain and control a nation we blew the fuck out of for no legitimate reason.

By protests placating to the authorities they simultaneously destroy any chance they have of meaningful resistance.

The recent wave of student protests has given a new lease of life into this sea of apathy within which we once comfortably drowned. The youth of the nation have lit a fire that hasn’t been quelled by the media and that hasn’t burnt itself out within a day. All across the nation students are standing up taking direct action. They are organising, they are occupying and they are resisting. Now I’m not gonna go throwing around loads of student movement allegories, but this is something that shouldn’t be ignored. People are standing up and fighting for themselves because they are realizing that government no longer serves the people, it serves themselves and it’s masters.

Protest once again has meaning and force behind it. When the chants of the university students regal through towns, through London, through occupied lecture halls and through the heads of our oppressors they have fire behind them, a fire that can be seen in the eyes of our brothers and sisters.

The state is responding exactly how one would predict, trying to crush the resistance with power, trying to destroy the protests with brute force and aggression. Their own special brand of storm trooper complete with drone like expression and neon rave jacket kettle in every protest they can. Yet the protestors have come back again and again and again. For the most part these protests have been peaceful and I’m speaking from my first hand experience of being part of them.

Sure they’ve sometimes been destructive but that to me, isn’t a bad thing, so long as that destruction is symbolic. The destruction of Milbank; symbolic and the defacing of Nelson’s Column; symbolic. It seems to me that violence in many cases is self defence against the forces of the state, who let’s face it, come ready to fight; shields, armour, vests, batons and helmets. The riot police in appearance, in manner and oh yes in name! Are a self fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one.

The police themselves I have an immense amount of love for because I think it is they who need it the most. Brainwashed by their superiors, conditioned by their uniforms they are forced into situations where their head must be spinning around the choices of employment and morality. On the 30^th of November I can happily say I got four of the riot police to smile, one of which was forcing out of Trafalgar Square at the time. It is the uniform we hate on, the robot we wish to see destroyed, and the human being inside freed and left to make their own choice about this resistance.

I go out with peace in my mind, love in my heart and fire in my eyes. Peaceful resistance is the key to any resistance, not to say we don’t defend ourselves against violence, we can push just as hard as they can when need be. But for the most part fighting fire with fire is a fool’s game, use logic “Water can flow or it can crash, be water my friend.” In light of this we must remember to remain positive, be angry and let it out but make sure you stay positive crack a joke, make someone smile, give away a goddamn hug.

Positivity is of such vital importance to these kinds of actions where it is so easy for one to get lost in their anger. Embrace your anger, don’t let it embrace you. So after you call that police man a cock sucking fascist scum bag tell him it’s nothing personal, tell her it’s just the uniform because we’re all humans underneath. Anything to the contrary, anything that says we are separate; is a facade designed to maintain order and keep you from experiencing the rest of this divine consciousness.

Earlier today I was asked: "Isn't it pointless protesting against university cuts because they're voting for it tomorrow

I would like to respond as follows: "Sway them at the last minute? Maybe. Show them that if they wanna install a brutally elite system we will not stand for it? Constantly. Lay back on your comfortable bed of apathy and let them fuck us yet again? No more.

This goes further than student cuts. This goes further than your right to protest. This is about our generation standing up for the first time and saying fuck you we won’t take your corrupt elitist agenda - we will oppose it.

I’ll leave you with the words of Mr Hicks:

“You’re right not those fuckers who wanna tell you how to think you’re fucking right!”

Love to you all and I hope to see you on Thursday for another scene of this play within a life within a mind within a god within a universe within a play.

The Little Things.

Today I got to dance on the street outside Whitehall, opposite Downing street. I got to speak with and meet some wonderful people. Truly committed to creating change through direct action; The White Flag Revolution, a group of people camping and occupying the street outside Whitehall. Their goal is to create forceful change on policies regarding Afghanistan, we know all protest is pointless, this is the next stage of direct action. I think it’s fair to say I do a lot of political activism, whether it’s some satirical megaphoning or something else but today I found something that I so often don’t see.

When given the right space and the right group, people will truly project their soul through themselves and it is an utterly raw and wonderful thing. Whether it comes from talking to a group or another small action it doesn’t matter, you can see it in people. When this happens it feels like a perfect demonstration of what so many peace movements try to achieve. So here’s to the girl today who was laughing along with my shit on the megaphone and later in the day came up to me out of nowhere and asked for a hug. Strange that that’s the one thing that sticks out from my day, I think her name was Maddie. So yeah, thanks for the wonderful little projection I got to share with you.

Projecting to you; Tom :)

Dance Dance Revolution

So I’m thinking about this whole political change issue. Some people were looking at the riots that took place on Wednesday as something of a resistance, people standing up and fighting back against their evil oppressors. Now I’m all for standing up again scumbag oppressors, but I saw a bunch of pissed of young people letting out their anger, no greater agenda then that, just a small space in time that happened to be perfect for them to let it all out.

In many ways it did feel revolutionary but in many others it felt fucking stupid. The moron who threw the fire extinguisher off the roof, people going just for a fight with the police and those determined to throw rocks and light fires whether or not it hurt their fellow human beings. What the whole event showed was potential; that when pushed, people can push back.

So the whole thing was pretty destructive and yeah it was cool to see “fuck you tory scum” and “Anarchy” spray painted across the walls of Tory Party HQ. But on the whole I don’t think this type of action is the way forward and I speak now from a “conspiracy theorist, we’re in desperate need of revolutionary change” point of view.

Back to this thought I had. Instead of this conventional notion of revolution and change being mass riots and take over perhaps we need something else. Perhaps that method is outdated and, to quote Bill Hicks, “we need to evolve the idea”. Here’s the thought and yes it may sound bizarre. Instead of complete violence and destruction to create revolution and overthrow the system we need a party and not the political kind.

We need the peaceful take over and occupation of buildings like Millbank tower, but instead of destroying them completely we turn them into party central. We dance, we sing, we shout, we fill the place with good vibes. We show how fearless we are by skanking it out to some righteous ska in the face of the police and if they bring it down with force then they look even worse because there is no violent opposition to blame. Besides as it’s been said many a time, if there’s a lot more of us then there are of them we will succeed.

It’s strange because I don’t even know if I support the idea of revolution. I know I support the true philosophical and political view of Anarchism. In truth though I don’t know where a revolution would leave us. Whether we would graciously fall into an anarchistic type of society (or lack thereof); or whether we’d be left with nothing but chaos and for those who don’t know, there is a massive difference between Anarchism and chaos. If there was a revolution would I support it? I have no idea.

I guess with this I just wanted to say that there might be other forms of revolt other then the classical perception of revolution. Imagine just on the off chance we tried this, we revolted with a party we occupied a building and just filled it with love and positive energy, a combination of direct action and spiritual projection, it could be magnificent. It could fall flat on it’s arse and fail completely. You know what though? If it failed, well shit at least we would of had one hell of a good time.

Finishing with a quote as I so often do.

“A revolution without dancing, is a revolution not worth having” – V (V for Vendetta)

Debt anyone?

Those sell-outs! Those Liberal Democrat sell-outs! How dare they allow The Conservatives to cut university funding how dare they!

Let me put a different spin on this for you. First of all, you really think this is a simple matter of budget cuts? It goes far deeper than that. This isn’t a classic case of Tories being Tories, no no no. This issue relates to a very important part of the matrix of society.

This society is the way it is because of mass brainwashing, conditioning, indoctrination, propaganda ...whatever you wanna call it. The reason this society is so docile and placid is because it’s been taught to be that way. Through the media, through the politicians through the glorification of mediocrity, those in control and I don’t mean your government, are getting away with mass murder. They invade nations who pose no threat, they commit acts of terrorism at home and abroad, they covertly enslave their own people through a monetary system based on debt and fiat currency. They have successfully trapped us in an intricate web of deception and forced perception.

It starts when you’re just a kid and you get thrown into the education system. As you grow up you have instilled in you all these values and morals by your teachers. When you’re younger your taught the basic ethical and moral principles upon which our society functions. When you reach 15 and encounter GCSE’s it’s truly the first time you are forced to consider where you’re life is going after school and by that I mean what you’re gonna do for a living. You take courses relating to these sort after occupations, you repeat the process with A levels until you’re ready to go out into the wild to find a job. It’s what society expects, it’s what your family expects and it’s what you’ve been taught for the past 14 years of compulsory education.

So what next? One of two options, you go get a job or you head off to university. Getting a job and working inevitably helps maintain the system as you are less left time to think for yourself and are warn down so you’re more vulnerable to propaganda (see my post “Jobs we hate, shit we don’t need). But if you choose to go to university then your mind is left open and there’s a high chance you might start to think slightly differently from the way in which you are taught. Think about how many people become politicised at university, the student movement of the sixties, the numerous anti – war groups that are active today; it is a time where people leave home and start to consider their own opinions on what’s really going on.

So what do you do to people who are starting to think for themselves, who are breaking their programming and who are swerving off the road that was laid out before them? You can’t put a curriculum on universities that’s ridiculous. So you make sure these students get into fuck loads of debt. Once completing University nearly every student has a huge debt looming over them and as such seek out work to pay it off. So regardless of what you thought at uni, regardless of the conclusions you came to you owe, and you owe big. Meaning you’re forced to become part of the system, you’re enslaved by debt.

So what do I see when I see university budget cuts? I see an excuse to take the caps of university fees and making the debt even bigger and enslaving more people. Once you’re in the system it’s very hard to get out. Now I’m not saying that there’s a group of people in a smoky room discussing this master plan, but what I am saying is regardless of why this is supposedly being implemented. It will help maintain the current system; it will benefit the elites in charge and it will force graduates to be part of the system, whether they like it or not.

“You think you’re free? Try going anywhere, doing anything, without money.” – Bill Hicks

Where you going?

Experimentation with diaologue. Brief scene setting precedes it. Essentially a monoluge which is hopefully interesting and gives a sense of character.

Andy’s cafe. A green fronted place with reasonably priced grub. Mick Wolowitz sits at a table in the corner of the room across from his friend Paul. Paul seems disengaged, Mick doesn’t care they’ve hardly made eye contact since they sat down. Eyes dart; food to paper to window to tea to food to paper to window to tea. Mick talks as if no one’s listening.

“It’s like everyone’s got somewhere to be. All these people gotta place to go and they ain’t gonna let shit get in their way. I doubt they’ve ever left the house without a destination. And it may sound foolish, walking round with nowhere to go, but how will you ever get to know this town, ever get to know the people if you don’t lift your head amongst them. I mean when was the last time you took a walk and made eye contact with someone, intentionally, and smiled or nodded or, god forbid, said hello. We’re so fucking afraid of each other; it just doesn’t happen. Everyone needs purpose in their life to feel safe ergo everyone has a destination. I bet the closest you come to a brief human connection in your daily movement is when you pretend to be looking at the road behind you so you can stare at that girl’s ass. It’s fucking pathetic and I’m no better, I’m just as much a zombie as the rest of us; I only ever smile back never to y’know? Unless I really think about it, unless I’m in “just got laid” kinda mood, it don’t happen. You know why it don’t happen? Cause I know people won’t understand, I know they’ll look away, kick at their heels, spit venom at me through their pupils and get the hell away. Ironic that I walk around pissed off most the time refusing to make contact with people because they walk around doing the same.

There are only two instances in which you open up to a stranger, that’s when a situation requires it...

You’re at work, you need to get the new Ralph Lauren sweaters in the window for winter, but Janine has already filled the men’s wear window with the new Hugo Boss selection. So you gotta go talk to this girl Janine and find out what you’re gonna do about the window before your bitter, fifty year old, I’m still young “Just call me Al” boss; Alan, gets wind of the problem and sticks it up both of ya. So you talk to Janine, you try to connect with her and you solve the problem for your mutual benefit. But even then it’s not a real connection. It’s just an awkward social contract; where every word you speak might as well be a turd coming out of your mouth. And although you’re smiling and pretending to listen you’re thinking only two things “why the fuck do all lines of men’s clothing have some douche bags name on them?” and “this bitch’s face really isn’t all that, but if she pulled me aside and tried it on I wouldn’t say no.” One thought of bored curiosity and one of base sexual desire. The tragedy of this little altercation is that this is the closest thing you’ve had to a human connection all day long.

...or when the social conditions expect it.

You’re at this club that sits between the burned down amusement arcade and the alley where that girl got raped. Every five minutes you’re dashing outside for a fag cause this place is a real shit hole. You look at your watch and back inside at your buddy Paul. The sad lonely expression on his face draws you back inside hook, line and sinker. The cigarette breaks become less and less, the pints consumed become more and more. Before you know it you’re talking to this girl who you met when you accidently went into the wrong bathroom. You’re trying to pick your words carefully cause this chick’s getting hotter by the drink. But really there’s only two thoughts in your head; “What do I say to get this girl to fuck me?” and “what douche bags name do I have on my underwear?”. This closest you come to a human connection aside from Janine is Chelsea. The girl who let you stick it in it on the lime scale tiled floor of the club bathroom. Where you pulled so hard against the floor to get yourself off you had tile grout stuck under your finger nails for a week. Dirty finger nails and a lump on your head from where you head butted the toilet seat; the closest you’ve come to a human encounter in months.

Yeah ... no one just stops anymore, tries to take it in, tries to strike up a conversation on the bus, it just doesn’t happen. You wanna here the most hilarious part? I don’t even know if that human connection bullshit I’ve been banging on about is even real. I’ve never felt it and I can blame society, I can blame people all I want. But truly I have no clue what it is, if it even is at all. Just an idea I liked I guess. Came up with it one morning a year ago after I got fired at work, I walked out, nowhere to go and jack all tod o. So I just sat down and looked around for a while.

But don’t get me wrong, I ain’t complaining, I’m just telling it how I see it. I’m sixty two. I have the same conversation with my wife Janine every day. “Good Morning...No thanks I’m trying to quit...coffee for me please...probably seeing Paul later...no don’t change the fucking channel I’m watching this...” Same conversation every morning, same lazy wank mid –afternoon, in between just scratching the lump on my head and watching TV. Most days are the same. Well what do you expect? I ain’t got anywhere to be have I?”

There's no point in reading this.

I don’t know if it’s just me or if this is a general thing. But there seems to be a growing air of anticipation that something is going to happen. My thinking about this issue has certainly been kicked off by these “UFO” sightings in a few cities across the globe as well as the story of a disappearing village in China. But I won’t go into that here don’t worry, firstly it’s an issue I’m near clueless on and secondly my mind has become pre – occupied with a much older thought, idea, belief whatever you wanna call it. Which has stayed with me for a long time and I sometimes forget. Let me try and articulate this idea for you so you can see what you think.

Certain ideas, words and general concepts I find to be very narrowing and stunting. By this I don’t mean that a word’s definition is narrowing. I mean the very fact that these concepts exist is harrowing to what I would deem as a wider and more open minded perception of life. Concepts such as meaning and purpose detract from the very essence of being and the experiences we have by creating an automatic emotional detachment from them, in favour of an intelligent consideration of their effects and possible meaning.

If we look at the idea of purpose as impossible and reject the notion of it completely we are left with being on its own. The way we act and behave is usually determined by a goal, by a purpose. We work, to obtain money, to buy shit, to make us happy. In the small realm of the self and the ego purpose certainly has a place, as we can see above. Yet in the grand scheme of things we live for what is ultimately a ludicrously short period of time and then we die. If we die at the end of it all, which we do, then in the end our life is reduced to nothing but a series of experiences.

By chasing purpose we kill the potential for experience, for being, for living in all forms, ways and manners. We kill the potential for experimentation and stupid juvenile shit that makes you laugh and trying to feel the world at your feet and the universe around you. The reason we find it hard to be at one with the universe and content with our place within it is because we’re too busy chasing a grander, higher perception of things that we will ultimately never find in this life.

I suppose true oneness, true peace, the true and free experience of just being, just existing; whatever that is, comes from the realisation that there is no point. There is no purpose to whatever you call this mess of consciousness we try to navigate. We’re simply a tiny cosmic reaction in an infinite space of other different reactions.

So what does this mean for me? It means you shouldn’t worry. It means that nothing really matters and that anything is possible. It means we should love fearlessly and often. It means we should keep our minds open to any and every possibility and perception as no purpose means no right or wrong answer. It means we should talk to the crazy people on the side of the street who shout “THE END IS NIGH”. But really it means nothing just like this post, just like everything else.

“It’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world, sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once and it’s too much; my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst. And then I remember to relax and stop trying to hold onto it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.”

The apology we aren't owed.

Everything is ok

The life choked out of him
And the glum smile scratched his face
“sorry we fucked it up so bad”
A legacy left without a trace
Apologies were all he had left in him
This man, this soul, the embodiment of his generation

I’m sorry the art of conversation died
I’m sorry it got replaced with TV’s prime time
I’m sorry for the Disney channel
I’m sorry for the unfunny comedy
I’m sorry entertainment becoming stupification
And I’m sorry for the fake economy

I’m sorry music fell to the money launders
I’m sorry the kids stopped listening started buying
I’m sorry Kurt Cobain died
I’m sorry the angry counter culture went with him
I’m sorry the pissed off youth went underground
And I’m sorry they’re lost never to be found

I’m sorry the teachers forgot all the good they could do
I’m sorry they did what they were told, didn’t listen to you
I’m sorry the schools babysit instead of teach
I’m sorry it’s a gospel of hate that they preach
I’m sorry they teach you all to be so afraid
And I’m sorry they doused the fire, put out the flame

I’m sorry we believed every word they said
I’m sorry we believed the lies we read
I’m sorry we left our brains to rot
I’m sorry alcohol’s legal and weed’s not
I’m sorry we killed our anger with Prozac
And I’m sorry that its gone but it’s not coming back

I’m sorry for the nuclear weapons
I’m sorry for the murder
I’m sorry to all those that died
I’m sorry we didn’t care further
I’m sorry we forget what the past taught
And I’m sorry we remembered how to wage war

I’m sorry for the plague of mediocrity
I’m sorry for the acceptance of inequality
I’m sorry we abandoned peace and love
I’m sorry we took god from our hearts and put it above
I’m sorry for this world I’m leaving you in
And I’m so so sorry I can’t go back and start again
And I spoke to the dying generation
And I spoke to the dying man
And I spoke to my Father
And I took his hand
And I said:

We forgive you
I forgive you
I will change it
We will change it

Everything is really ... okay

A controlled demolition of society.

So in truly predictable style, I write about 9/11.

I don’t want this to become a lecture so I’m merely gonna state the key facts I feel are important when considering this moment as a turning point in history and a moment that defines almost a decade of western history that falls after it.

Since 9/11 we have been fighting terrorism. There was announced a “war on terror” where two of the most militarily and politically powerful nations on earth sought to rid the world of a threat of small militant groups attacking western countries. The dictionary definition of the term “terrorism” is as follows “the systematic and calculated use of terror to achieve political goals”. Bare this definition in mind.

The facts I will detail below are all very basic and are the more apparent ones when investigating this topic, for a far more in depth and intelligent analysis please search for Chomsky’s essay: “The Journalist From Mars: How the war on terror should have been reported”.

Al Qaeda, the terrorist group allegedly responsible for the attacks of 9/11. Was a group that came about from the Mujahedeen, a militant group of Muslims who came together during the Soviet – Afghan war of 1979 – 1989. At this time the Mujahedeen received a significant amount of funding from CIA. It was during this time the Osama Bin Laden rose to prominence and afterwards formed Al Qaeda from the remains of the Mujahedeen. To quote George W Bush “If you feed a terrorist of fund a terrorist; you’re a terrorist”. The relationship between the Bush family and Bin Laden’s is very well documented, don’t take my word for it look it up for yourself. You can also look up reports of the CIA meeting with Bin Laden in July of 2001.

Lets jump forward to 1998. In 1998 many of the major oil and gas companies in America came together under the consortium banner of cent gas and discussed lucrative plans to create a pipe line that transported natural gas from the Caspian sea to Pakistan, via Afghanistan. However when this idea was put forward to the then Taliban government of Afghanistan it was refused. This lead to a consensus in US congress that a Pro US government was needed in Afghanistan.

In 2001 two of the World Trade Centers in New York were hit by jet liners and within an two hours collapsed completely inwards on themselves into a pile at near free fall speed. World Trade Center 7 also collapsed in a very similar fashion despite ever being struck by a plane.

In October the US invades Afghanistan. In 2002 construction on the pipe line begins. Once the invasion has begun Hamid Karzai is appointed Afghanistan’s president. In 2004 he is officially elected. Interesting to note he was appointed by the US and was working on the original Centgas pipeline negotiations in 1998.

In march of 2003 the US and allies invaded Iraq. Firstly with the statement that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction; which was found to be false. Then the reason for war was said to be Hussein’s links with Al Qaeda; which was debunked by the CIA itself. The reason for war then changed to bringing down the evil dictator who ran the country; a man who had been funded and supported by the US during the 90’s and who had bought near all his weaponry from them. How can a war be just if the reason changes?

Iraq’s oil was worth potentially trillions of dollars which continues to be sold off to US companies and Bush family associates. Iraq is now left worse off then under Saddam and is riddled with private security firms who act militarily and are destroying the country.

The US Partriot Act was passed in October 2001. The law enabled a massive increase in security and the governments right to breach personal freedoms.

In 2004 The British Contingencies Bill was passed, giving the government absolute power when a “state of emergency” is called.

In 2005/6 The UK’s terrorism act was brought into effect allowing for arrest and detention without evidence or trial for up to 28 days. As well as the ability to breach numerous civil rights.

About 251 times as many people have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq then in the attacks of 9/11.

More then 108 times as many people have been killed in these wars then in all terrorist attacks in the world from 1993 - 2004

I urge you to do your own research into the topic. With this blog I’m simply trying to put out ideas to make you think and consider. 9/11 was one of the most important events in the world for everyone alive today and it is important we consider it as such, without just taking someone or somebody’s word for what happened.

I’ll be in London on September the Eleventh trying to raise awareness of the true significance of the day. If you’re interesting in learning more or coming out, contact me.

Terrorism: the systematic use of fear to achieve political objectives.
The media: War, rape, paedophilia, death, famine, recession, depression, disease.