Apologies for the sudden burst of negativity… well, mainly because it doesn’t reflect the mood I’m in. It can be hard not to post on subjects that tear you down, and instead focus on alternatives and solutions and other possible worlds.

I was reading a fairly non-sectarian activist magazine from the 90s here, and was struck by the change in tone between then and now, in just a short decade. The magazine’s cries and campaigns were much more centred around the failure of the state’s responses to capitalism, and reformist goals that were designed to stop the destruction of the social contract that mediates conflict between the people and capital. Perhaps I’ve just been raised in a society where none of that seems accessible any more, and neoliberal global capitalism (or at least it’s ideology) has won,  but the activist material now seems more focussed on the creation of alternatives outside the state. I don’t know if I’ve seen something happen in that time, or whether the things I choose to see are less state-friendly (typically socialist style organising, for want of better concepts)

But there are things that I’m inspired by politically, and they deserve mention. At the moment they don’t fit into a coherent political framework, but I’m cool with that. Hopefully I’ll make light of some of these people and groups over time.