We are living in the perfect time to rid ourselves of nuclear weapons and nuclear power in general.
I am not an expert on such things and there is little point in me trying to present an argument, but I thought it was worth mentioning that a party political response already exists, which is all the more pertinent, considering that we are expected to swallow a bitter shock doctrine of austerity cuts and also because a new film has come out.
This is an incredibly important issue, which needs to be debated in public. There is too much implicit 'consensus' at the moment. So, whatever your opinion, please think about this incredibly important issue, an issue which could one day determine the very existence of life on earth.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Animal Rights
You may know that I am a vegetarian, but might not know why. Well, here's a summary of how I became one:
My parents at one point were vegetarian in the sense that they didn't eat any dead animal. After my mum gave birth to me, she craved fish, so I grew up in a 'pesco-vegetarian' family. I had never liked the idea of killing things, but it was only when I reached the age of about sixteen or seventeen, that I really thought about these things deeply. It was the same idea when I got interested in certain ideas, such as yoga and buddhism (I don't claim to be a Buddhist or to know anything about Yoga) and also when I joined the Green Party. After going to Climate Camp in Kingsnorth (admittedly only for one day), I saw a vision of peace and vegetarianism, which has attracted me ever since.
In the November after my seventeenth birthday, I became 'fully' (at least according to Western standards) vegetarian.
It was only very recently that I first took part in an animal rights' protest:
That was a very powerful and interesting experience and I hope to go to one again soon.
Incidentally there was one which happened very recently,
and there will be some more soon.
You might be asking me why I care about animal cruelty when so many terrible things happen to humans.
Well, in my opinion, caring about animals doesn't mean that I won't care about people too. Quite the opposite.
My ethics are based on the idea that all living things have the capacity to suffer, since we all come into being (perhaps by birth), live,and eventually die. In that sense, I am equal to a chicken. Just as I don't want to suffer myself, nor do I want any animal to suffer, and obviously not any human.
I also believe that humans have a flawed relationship with the planet, an essentially exploitative relationship and that to remedy many of the problems on earth, this relationship must be changed.
Whether or not you believe in animal rights, the fact that, for example,
must be a cause for concern. When perhaps before, although cruel, animal exploitation was chiefly for survival, this appears to be an addiction, a disorder, an illness.
As is the utter disgrace that one million chickens, members of an exploited species, which lose their dignity and integrity for the sake of human desire, were left to die in a heat wave
Now some party politics. The U.K. has a Prime minister, who, according to this article, written before he came to power, is totally in favour of hunting,
His argument is,
Surely it is harder to enforce, for instance, the 'war on drugs'in Afghanistan.
If you support animal rights, or simply want this craziness to end, I recommend that you at least support, if not get involved in 'Animal Rights in Kent' and at least consider the Green Party in future elections.
For more information written by much more experienced people, visit:
Animal Rights in Kent
and blogs such as:
http://stevencampkin.blogspot.com/
and
http://stuartjeffery.blogspot.com
All views expressed in this blogpost are simply my own views. If I make a mistake, whether factual, grammatical or stylistic, I am the one to blame
My parents at one point were vegetarian in the sense that they didn't eat any dead animal. After my mum gave birth to me, she craved fish, so I grew up in a 'pesco-vegetarian' family. I had never liked the idea of killing things, but it was only when I reached the age of about sixteen or seventeen, that I really thought about these things deeply. It was the same idea when I got interested in certain ideas, such as yoga and buddhism (I don't claim to be a Buddhist or to know anything about Yoga) and also when I joined the Green Party. After going to Climate Camp in Kingsnorth (admittedly only for one day), I saw a vision of peace and vegetarianism, which has attracted me ever since.
In the November after my seventeenth birthday, I became 'fully' (at least according to Western standards) vegetarian.
It was only very recently that I first took part in an animal rights' protest:
That was a very powerful and interesting experience and I hope to go to one again soon.
Incidentally there was one which happened very recently,
and there will be some more soon.
You might be asking me why I care about animal cruelty when so many terrible things happen to humans.
Well, in my opinion, caring about animals doesn't mean that I won't care about people too. Quite the opposite.
My ethics are based on the idea that all living things have the capacity to suffer, since we all come into being (perhaps by birth), live,and eventually die. In that sense, I am equal to a chicken. Just as I don't want to suffer myself, nor do I want any animal to suffer, and obviously not any human.
I also believe that humans have a flawed relationship with the planet, an essentially exploitative relationship and that to remedy many of the problems on earth, this relationship must be changed.
Whether or not you believe in animal rights, the fact that, for example,
"in December, Bell & Evans will open a $25 million plant to replace its current plant, which processes 800,000 chickens a week. The new plant is a third larger and will boost production to 1 million chickens a week, according to the company."
must be a cause for concern. When perhaps before, although cruel, animal exploitation was chiefly for survival, this appears to be an addiction, a disorder, an illness.
As is the utter disgrace that one million chickens, members of an exploited species, which lose their dignity and integrity for the sake of human desire, were left to die in a heat wave
Now some party politics. The U.K. has a Prime minister, who, according to this article, written before he came to power, is totally in favour of hunting,
His argument is,
"I always thought that the ban was a mistake because I think it is very difficult to enforce."
Surely it is harder to enforce, for instance, the 'war on drugs'in Afghanistan.
If you support animal rights, or simply want this craziness to end, I recommend that you at least support, if not get involved in 'Animal Rights in Kent' and at least consider the Green Party in future elections.
For more information written by much more experienced people, visit:
Animal Rights in Kent
and blogs such as:
http://stevencampkin.blogspot.com/
and
http://stuartjeffery.blogspot.com
All views expressed in this blogpost are simply my own views. If I make a mistake, whether factual, grammatical or stylistic, I am the one to blame
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Oppose the cuts
I haven't written here for a while, but since I believe that we are living in a crucial moment in human and natural history, and that the actions of the current goverment in the UK could be very signficant in determining whether we will take the path of social justice and environmental sustainability, or whether we will crusade into the chasm of climate chaos whilst losing our jobs, our welfare state, our education and our democracy.
I don't claim to be an economist at all, but it is clear that the government is launching a vicious onslaught of cuts and privatisation http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10390823.stm
As a member of the Green Party (of England and Wales) I agree with Caroline Lucas, when she says,
'"Cuts are not an economic inevitability. They are an ideological choice. Politicians of all parties are now sharpening their axes to slash public spending, forcing those on lower incomes, who depend on public services the most, to pay the highest price for the recent excesses of the bankers"
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2010-06-19-callous-cuts-report.html
In my humble opinion, if these cuts go through, it will be an absolute disaster, with the class system becoming even more entrenched, the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most and the most well off, the 'capitalists' profiting from everyone else's loss.
If this goes through, I think that there will be disastrous environmental and social effects. For example, if more people are competing for fewer jobs, this can cause negative emotions, such as racism, sexism, homophobia etc. I remember that in Durham, at a particularly harsh time when there were perhaps five or six big issue sellers, one seller who was in a very bad situation was 'explaining' to me that the reason why he couldn't sell anything was because of the Romanians, who came in, took the jobs and took over the big issue (despite the fact that the Romanian seller was in a similarly vulnerable situation). My point is, that these measures have the effect of crushing peoples' spirit, and creating false divides, which can cause negative emotions, since it is much easier to scapegoat someone you know than to blame something more abstract or hidden. in this sort of situation, we are pitted against one another and lose all collective democratic power and also lose the ability to criticise authorities and think beyond the media-produced stereotypes.
My point here is not to explain what has happened, or what will happen, but to appeal for people to take action.
Whatever reasons you have, whatever political position you come from, I am sure that there are many of you who oppose the cuts. However, there is a world of a difference between disliking something and challenging something.
As illustrated in the quotation by Caroline Lucas earlier on, I hope that you agree that they aren't inevitable. Unfortunately, we are often asked to moan a bit, but basically accept them http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3042326/Britains-smiles-better.html I totally oppose this point of view.
To some extent we live in a democracy and the government is supposed to represent us.
As Henry David Thoreau said, 'The authority of government, even such as I am willing to submit to ... is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed.'
Equally, (considering that the 'shock doctrine' of cuts, privatisation and increased VAT will affect the poorest, the most vulnerable, the 'working class') I think it is worth considering what Marx said, 'the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves'.
I am not interested in arguing for any of these philosophies here, but my point is that on one hand, the government needs some form of consent to implement the neoliberal onslaught of cuts and privatisation, and that, on the other hand, opposition to this cannot simply rest in the mind. Simply moaning to a couple of people won't do anything. We need to make clear our opposition.
There are many forms of opposition: protest marches; writing letters; withholding labour; civil disobedience etc, but for me, the point is that something is done and that a lot of people do it. I don't know what the best thing to do is, but there are many options.
Whether or not the opposition is coordinated to literally bring down the goverment, whether it will be a more decentralised mixture of strikes, protests, letter writing, etc, if enough people are opposed to the governments' plans, the effect would at least be that the government would lose the moral authority to impose the budget on a non-consenting population.
If we fail at this, many jobs will be lost, the market will control our health and education even more strongly through the cruel weapon of privatisation, we will have missed another chance to solve climate chaos and we will essentially sell our right to oppose an unjust government and to determine ourselves democratically.
I don't care who you voted for, what your religion, philosophy or politics are, but, if you oppose the cuts, if they will lose you a job, crush your soul, I call on you to
rebel
rebel
rebel
I don't claim to be an economist at all, but it is clear that the government is launching a vicious onslaught of cuts and privatisation http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10390823.stm
As a member of the Green Party (of England and Wales) I agree with Caroline Lucas, when she says,
'"Cuts are not an economic inevitability. They are an ideological choice. Politicians of all parties are now sharpening their axes to slash public spending, forcing those on lower incomes, who depend on public services the most, to pay the highest price for the recent excesses of the bankers"
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2010-06-19-callous-cuts-report.html
In my humble opinion, if these cuts go through, it will be an absolute disaster, with the class system becoming even more entrenched, the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most and the most well off, the 'capitalists' profiting from everyone else's loss.
If this goes through, I think that there will be disastrous environmental and social effects. For example, if more people are competing for fewer jobs, this can cause negative emotions, such as racism, sexism, homophobia etc. I remember that in Durham, at a particularly harsh time when there were perhaps five or six big issue sellers, one seller who was in a very bad situation was 'explaining' to me that the reason why he couldn't sell anything was because of the Romanians, who came in, took the jobs and took over the big issue (despite the fact that the Romanian seller was in a similarly vulnerable situation). My point is, that these measures have the effect of crushing peoples' spirit, and creating false divides, which can cause negative emotions, since it is much easier to scapegoat someone you know than to blame something more abstract or hidden. in this sort of situation, we are pitted against one another and lose all collective democratic power and also lose the ability to criticise authorities and think beyond the media-produced stereotypes.
My point here is not to explain what has happened, or what will happen, but to appeal for people to take action.
Whatever reasons you have, whatever political position you come from, I am sure that there are many of you who oppose the cuts. However, there is a world of a difference between disliking something and challenging something.
As illustrated in the quotation by Caroline Lucas earlier on, I hope that you agree that they aren't inevitable. Unfortunately, we are often asked to moan a bit, but basically accept them http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3042326/Britains-smiles-better.html I totally oppose this point of view.
To some extent we live in a democracy and the government is supposed to represent us.
As Henry David Thoreau said, 'The authority of government, even such as I am willing to submit to ... is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed.'
Equally, (considering that the 'shock doctrine' of cuts, privatisation and increased VAT will affect the poorest, the most vulnerable, the 'working class') I think it is worth considering what Marx said, 'the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves'.
I am not interested in arguing for any of these philosophies here, but my point is that on one hand, the government needs some form of consent to implement the neoliberal onslaught of cuts and privatisation, and that, on the other hand, opposition to this cannot simply rest in the mind. Simply moaning to a couple of people won't do anything. We need to make clear our opposition.
There are many forms of opposition: protest marches; writing letters; withholding labour; civil disobedience etc, but for me, the point is that something is done and that a lot of people do it. I don't know what the best thing to do is, but there are many options.
Whether or not the opposition is coordinated to literally bring down the goverment, whether it will be a more decentralised mixture of strikes, protests, letter writing, etc, if enough people are opposed to the governments' plans, the effect would at least be that the government would lose the moral authority to impose the budget on a non-consenting population.
If we fail at this, many jobs will be lost, the market will control our health and education even more strongly through the cruel weapon of privatisation, we will have missed another chance to solve climate chaos and we will essentially sell our right to oppose an unjust government and to determine ourselves democratically.
I don't care who you voted for, what your religion, philosophy or politics are, but, if you oppose the cuts, if they will lose you a job, crush your soul, I call on you to
rebel
rebel
rebel
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Kaj Tommjames! Ĉu vi pensas ke vi estas sendanĝera? Vin kaj na Josomebody sekvas la maldikulo. Li ŝatas la nekokalon 'G' en lia nomo kaj anstataŭ la anglan 'J' kiu aperas en sia nomo, uzas 'ĝ'. Li scias en kiuj landoj vi ambaŭ loĝas.
La maldikulo ne bezonas logikon. Li scias kie estas esperantistoj.
Li perdis sian koron, skribante sensencajn blogojn, kun senkora emocio. Ĉu vi sciis ke 'ĉiuj aĉaj poemoj venis el vera sento'? Nu, ĉiuj maldikuloj venis el sensencaj blogoj.
Sur via kapo nun sidas la maldikulo, provante fiki. Ĉar li estas maldikega, estas tre malfacila por li, tiu agado :(. Li ne sukcesos kaj eble, pro lia malkapablo diversigi la vokalojn 'e' kaj 'i', sencele ion alian faros sur via kapo, ĉar lian vivon regas esperanto. Do kulpigu la Z-egon pro via sorto, Sorto pli aĉa ol la morto, sidi en la inferno kun la maldikulo vidi lin f*ki sur via kapo.
La maldikulo ne bezonas logikon. Li scias kie estas esperantistoj.
Li perdis sian koron, skribante sensencajn blogojn, kun senkora emocio. Ĉu vi sciis ke 'ĉiuj aĉaj poemoj venis el vera sento'? Nu, ĉiuj maldikuloj venis el sensencaj blogoj.
Sur via kapo nun sidas la maldikulo, provante fiki. Ĉar li estas maldikega, estas tre malfacila por li, tiu agado :(. Li ne sukcesos kaj eble, pro lia malkapablo diversigi la vokalojn 'e' kaj 'i', sencele ion alian faros sur via kapo, ĉar lian vivon regas esperanto. Do kulpigu la Z-egon pro via sorto, Sorto pli aĉa ol la morto, sidi en la inferno kun la maldikulo vidi lin f*ki sur via kapo.
Blaaagh
Unu tagon Riĉardo Dokinzo promenadis sur plaĝo kaj notis la lunon. Fakte, ne estis luno, sed la lunino. Tre bela la luno ŝajnis al li; tiom bela fakte, ke li subite lupiĝis kaj decidis kori senvesti laŭ la apudplaĝa strato kaj diris oh ve! Mi nun fariĝis DJ! Repu repu repu! Kiu mi estas? DJ? Kia DJ? DJ BUmerang! Bo Bo diru bo! U U Diru U ero ero diru ero ang ang diru ang.
Tiam li vidis homon de la nomo 'Gejko', kiu estas laŭ ĉiuj geja. Tamen Ĝejko ne estas geja; li estas ĉiaema. ne nur ĉiuseksema, li 'amuziĝis' kun nevivantaĵoj, kun vivantaĵoj kaj kun viroj kaj inoj.
Kion vi pensas fiulo? Gejko estas tre mora homo. Li nenion faras aĉan krom la argumentojn kaj eble foje alian aferon, kiu laŭ li ne estas aĉa.
Ĉiukaze, Riĉardo vidis Gejkon, kaj subite enamiĝis al la mondo.
Li diris 'ne estu milito' kaj ne estis. George Buŝ fariĝis revaĉo. Ĉio bonis. La fino
Tiam li vidis homon de la nomo 'Gejko', kiu estas laŭ ĉiuj geja. Tamen Ĝejko ne estas geja; li estas ĉiaema. ne nur ĉiuseksema, li 'amuziĝis' kun nevivantaĵoj, kun vivantaĵoj kaj kun viroj kaj inoj.
Kion vi pensas fiulo? Gejko estas tre mora homo. Li nenion faras aĉan krom la argumentojn kaj eble foje alian aferon, kiu laŭ li ne estas aĉa.
Ĉiukaze, Riĉardo vidis Gejkon, kaj subite enamiĝis al la mondo.
Li diris 'ne estu milito' kaj ne estis. George Buŝ fariĝis revaĉo. Ĉio bonis. La fino
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
dangxero
se vi nomigxas 'jo' kaj ankaux estas 'somebody' mi al vi konsilon donas ke vi ne 19 vortojn legu.
Se jes, vi mortigxos pro la 'illuminati' el kiuj la estro malantaux vi cxisekunde staras. Li estas malvidebla. eble vi sentas malvarmecon en via koro. Tio estas lia mortiga mano, kiu vian koron elpreni volas por gxin mangxi.
Kiu estas la illuminatus? mi auxdis ke li estas maldika ...
Se jes, vi mortigxos pro la 'illuminati' el kiuj la estro malantaux vi cxisekunde staras. Li estas malvidebla. eble vi sentas malvarmecon en via koro. Tio estas lia mortiga mano, kiu vian koron elpreni volas por gxin mangxi.
Kiu estas la illuminatus? mi auxdis ke li estas maldika ...
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Life and pacifism
If humanity is to rebuild a new society, I think that it must follow certain precepts without hypocrisy in order for it to flourish. This is where it must differ from the communist revolutions, for example the Russian revolution where Lenin gave the workers human rights but eventually retracted them as he found that the economic progress was not sufficiently big for him. ( I know that this is a massive oversimplification, but I still think that it is significant).
If we base society on certain principles, I think that these principles must not be absolute, but relative in terms of pacifism, for pacifism is the decision to not harm life and in any community, the lives of the citizens must be more important than any rules manifested by the principles by which that community was made.
Therefore, I think that a society must be based on pacifism to protect its citizens for the future.
If we base society on certain principles, I think that these principles must not be absolute, but relative in terms of pacifism, for pacifism is the decision to not harm life and in any community, the lives of the citizens must be more important than any rules manifested by the principles by which that community was made.
Therefore, I think that a society must be based on pacifism to protect its citizens for the future.
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