Lawrence's Survival Guide for all in despair at the rise of English and Welsh fascism and the politics of hate and division.
1) Join the Labour Party.
But don't just join and pay your money. Get involved. Go to meetings. Campaign. Stand for election. Work for the greater good politically. Win people gradually to a positive set of ideas.
You don't have to 100% agree with Corbyn or Kendall or Blair or Brown or any particular Labour politician. Just that you support democratic socialist ideas for the greater good of all rather than the few. It's a good place to start. And Labour is the best hope we now have in England, at least.
2) Join a trade union
Do you have a job working for somebody else? Then join a trade union to protect your own interests and campaign for those of everyone else.
There's a wide selection and some workplaces have specific craft unions recognised to bargain collectively, but if you're bit unsure, there are a number of general unions including Unite and the GMB.
Even if you are not in employment, Unite offers community union membership.
3) Switch off the TV news
It's sensationalist, constantly trying to maintain your attention with more and more increasingly bad scare stories and the enemy want you to be scared. The reality is nothing much is going to happen that watching the telly is going to help you with.
4) Go out, see family, see friends, talk to people.
Take time to spend time with people you love and respect. Don't hide away. The enemy want us isolated and afraid. We beat them by being more together and more united. If you're going out to the pub, go out together in numbers to show them we are legion. It's how people historically have got through far worse times than now.
5) Use the Internet to connect and organise good things, not to whinge or get into pointless fights.
I am as guilty of keyboard wars as anyone else, but they are corrosive and pointless. I know I need to follow my own advice here. Those who know me are amused by my rants, but believe me when I say that in person I am nicer. Most people really are. Don't spend all day online - it's not real.
6) Take up a new hobby and become enthused.
Music, cinema, amateur radio, walking, whatever floats your boat. Don't just take it up, but get involved. Meet new people. Share love with new people for your interests.
Above all, remember that the world is still spinning on its axis, the flowers are out in bloom and the world will get over this like it's got over everything else before. The only thing that you can realistically control is your own attitude and your own mind.
I think there is also an onus also on the left (particularly the far left) to become a more pleasant place to be…if we are to challenge this nasty shift to the right…
ReplyDeleteThat would mean:
1)Stop banging on about dead Russians – no one apart from a tiny, tiny percentage of the population cares about them and none of them were very nice…
2)Stop talking like you are addressing the comitern and issuing diktats – try listening and engaging instead.
3)Get your head round the fact that people see the world in very different ways (note: The Theses on Feuerbach do not explain human consciousness – you also need to understand evolutionary biology, neuroscience and psychology). Explore ways of finding agreement on important issues whilst acknowledging that different people might arrive at the same consensus for different reasons.
4)When someone expresses an opinion, treat it with sincerity, even if you disagree with it. Chances are that is what they actually think and they are not secretly working for Zionists or the CIA or the Illuminati. Stop attributing motives to people which can’t be evidenced and engage with what they are saying instead.
5)Embrace universal human rights – challenge our own government and its associations by all means – but don’t stop there. Criticism only gains credibility by universality.
6)Left-wing politics isn’t about you or your “identity” – it’s about finding practical solutions that embolden the worst off and most marginalised sections of society. It needs positive and innovative suggestions for change – not just virtuous opposition.
Sheesh, this is like the worst getting dumped feeling ever.
ReplyDeleteEven worse than in that cafe in Bristol when Lisa said she didn't want to see me again. So yeah, avoiding anything that reminds me of the whole affair is going to be essential, plus reconnecting with real friends and going for long walks in the countryside is going to be essential.
Maybe I will give us ONE LAST CHANCE. But if SOMETHING MAJOR doesn't change in the next couple of years, I'm going out with that nice girl from the Plaid. And THEN you'll be sorry.
It's the lowest day I can remember with regard to my feelings for the UK. I feel like after 9/11, only, in a sense, more helpless. I have always known the people of my country were like this - i have warned against it in these comments often enough - but now our dirty family secret has been exposed for the whole world to see. Apart from obvious concerns about the economic impact, I feel a deep sense of humiliation. The ugly truth is out - a brutish, xenophobic and stupid tribe who thoroughly deserve the full contempt we shall receive.
ReplyDeleteThinking, those who were ignored by Labour in Scotland taught them a hard and maybe fatal lesson. The English working class and a large section of the Scottish Working Class (Most under 30's in my family) chose Brexit. Not racist, quite simple they were getting nothing out of EU membership. Good chance the UK, and if Scotland exits, England will regain a strong manufacturing base with inward Chinese and Indian investment, both countries have made it clear they want a free trade agreement and European base.
ReplyDelete