Am I a leftie? I'm not sure. I suppose when you weigh up all my political views I probably am, although I personally prefer not to identify myself politically or any other way. I prefer to agree with the principles of political or social philosophies, such as socialism for example, rather than to say 'I am a socialist', because I think at the end of the day it all comes down to what you believe and how you act on that, rather than what you consider yourself to be. However, when it comes down to it, the vast majority of my political views tend to be very left-wing.
The thing that has really interested me the more invested in political debate I get is how much the word 'leftie' is accepted to be an insult. There have been times that I have heard some quite disparaging remarks made against 'pseudo-intellectual jumped up lefties', and in that context being a so-called leftie is apparently something to be ashamed of. I don't think I have ever heard the same kind of terminology used against right-wingers. Don't get me wrong, there is enough insult on that side as well, but that tends to be more on the side of 'selfish, capitalist, greedy' etc. I have rarely heard anyone insulted just for being right-wing. It may be that people whose views are more left-wing are just more open to others' opinions, and there probably is an element of truth in that, but I don't think that this is the only reason. In my experience, there is just as much lack of tolerance of the other side between people that I generally agree with as there is with those that I don't, and I try to neutralise this as much as I can, because I believe that it is only with reasoned debate that people will take on board the viewpoints of others.
It would seem that being left-wing is something to be ashamed of. Why is this? From what I can make out, the basis of left-wing politics is that it supports social equality and egalitarianism, whereas right-wing politics sees some forms of social inequality as, if not desirable, as least inevitable. I actually agree that some forms of inequality are pretty inevitable, as I don't think that our species has progressed enough to get beyond that, but I also think that it is really important to take a step back, examine the way that our society is run and at least attempt to iron out those inequalities where possible. With regards to the country and the society in which I live in the moment, these inequalities mean the rising levels of homelessness, the harsh economic situations that many are in and the suggestion that we are 'all in this together', when all evidence points to the fact that those in privileged positions really have not been hit very hard at all - quite the contrary, in fact.
I feel that a reason that 'leftie' is commonly used as an insult is due to a lack of understanding of what left-wing politics is actually about. This is hardly surprising, given that we have not had a truly left-wing Government since long before this blogger was even born and people are naturally afraid of what they haven't personally experienced. It's very easy to say that left-wingers are too idealist and that their principles sound cushy but wouldn't work in practice. This is a fair criticism, but I don't see what the evidence is for that. I have never really experienced left-wing politics in action, but from what I have seen from history going in with the intention to improve the quality of life for people has generally worked. In the aftermath of the Second World War, for example, this country was in a huge amount of debt to various others, but efforts were made to secure our position and to improve the quality of life for our citizens. It was at this time that the NHS was set up. We admittedly have more citizens to improve the quality of life for today, but in this day and age is it really so impossible to make things better? To be honest, I'm not in a position to call it. I haven't studied the philosophies in depth, and I think that even those who have probably can't say with any degree of accuracy whether this would work. The fact is that no one knows because no one has even tried. I think that social inequality is something that needs to be worked towards, and even if all of our dreams are not fulfilled (and I doubt they will be, as I think things tend to work a lot better in theory) there would still be more people in an advantageous situation, and therefore our society would still be more fair and desirable than it is today.
In my last blog, I talked about the Radical Left General Assembly in London, which took place last Thursday. I really wanted to go, but in the end it was just too much hassle with everything else that I have to do. However, there is a video of it, which I strongly encourage anyone reading this blog to take a look at. (It's an hour long, so if you're in a hurry don't do it right now, but at least bookmark it for later.) The first five minutes are a little chaotic, but I think that there are so many fantastically valid points raised. I wish that I could have attended, but c'est la vie:
General Assembly video
After viewing this, I really want to go to the next one, which is on Saturday. I'm not sure if I shall be able to, as I'm producing a play for Uni which is taking up a lot of my time, and I need to have enough space in my life for these things. I shall look into it though. I think it's really important to have an action plan right now, as the social change movement must not fizzle out. Please attend if you can, it's super-important!
Radical Left General Assembly (II)
That will be it from me for now - hopefully there will be another update at the weekend.
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
Sunday, 10 May 2015
The revolution is here - Part 2
I attended an awesome demonstration in London yesterday, which will hopefully be the first of many. As I expected, much has been suggested from various media sources, and there are a lot of rumours flying around about what went on. I'm going to start off by responding to some of these, and clarifying whether they are true or false.
Rumour 1: The demonstration was very violent.
False. The demonstration started outside Westminster Abbey at 3pm, and moved through London. For the next three and a half hours, it was entirely peaceful. At around half-past six in the evening when the protest wasn't far from wrapping up anyway, there was a small amount of confrontation between the demonstrators and the police. I left when this started and stood outside the police cordon for a while with some friends, still demonstrating but in a group of three that was clearly peaceful and educating the masses. There were seventeen arrests - when you put that into perspective against the thousands of people who were there, this really is not a lot, and besides we don't know what happened after the arrests. Some of the people may never have been charged, or even if they were guilty of something may have been entirely provoked. As a participant, I can safely say that the vast majority of the demonstration was extremely peaceful, and for the most part everyone behaved amicably.
Rumour 2: A war memorial was defaced.
True. Someone spray-painted the words 'Tory scum' on a memorial dedicated to the women of the Second World War. I'll most likely never learn the identity of the person who did this, but whoever it was seriously harmed our cause and our reputation. Today when I've been debating this, this is the first thing that people bring up against me and what I stand for. It means nothing in the grand scheme of things. The actions of one person on the spur of the moment have no reflection whatsoever on the mindset or attitude of everyone else. I have actually heard it said that this was a plain-clothed police officer attempting to harm the cause on purpose - I don't know if there is anything in that, but it's what they do say. Personally I don't find the suggestion that implausible because it's the sort of thing they can do, but it's all irrelevant anyway. Someone was stupid, let's forget about it and focus on the issues that we're actually fighting for. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even aware that it had happened until after I got home and saw it reported.
Rumour 3: The protesters were complaining about a Government that has been democratically elected.
False. This Government was not democratically elected, not properly. The majority of people did not vote for the Conservative Party. One of the key reasons for this protest was electoral reform - we demand a system that allows the opinions of those whose first choice is outvoted to still count, and is not outrageously biased in favour of bigger parties. The other reason I'm protesting is the numerous unfair policies which the Conservative Party have introduced, and continue to introduce - I'm worried about the next five years, and I want to do what I can to minimise the amount of suffering they entail. That means getting involved right now as soon as they have been elected. Besides these things, I don't have an issue with the Conservative Party on principle; if David Cameron woke up tomorrow and decided to listen to what I'm asking of him, I shall happily take back everything bad I've ever said about him - after I've come round after my dead faint, of course.
Rumour 4: There were around 100 - 150 people there.
False. There were thousands - I initially thought around 3,000, though a friend of mine said it was more like 1,500. What can I say, I don't have an actual statistic and I may have exaggerated things myself! Far more than the mainstream media suggested anyway.
Rumour 5: There was some very aggressive chanting.
True and false. The chants at demonstrations can be quite unpleasant at times. There are some that I refrain from joining in, such as the one involving burning the Tories and Liberal Democrats on a bonfire, which I really do not believe is called for. I also tend to avoid being actively provocative towards the police - if I disagree with how the police are conducting themselves I will call them out on it, but there are some who say some quite nasty things before that has happened. I do realise that anger manifests itself in many different ways and I'm understanding of people who initiate this sort of thing, but I don't think it's the most effective tool. Although I occasionally engage in fun songs like 'You can shove the Tories up your arse' (sung to the tune of 'She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes') I try to focus more on chants that are relevant to the issues at hand, such as 'Unemployment and inflation were not caused by immigration! Bullshit! Come off it! The enemy is profit!' (Which actually doesn't sound like much of a chant written on the page, but if you say it out loud it's poetic.) When confronted by the police, there was a point that we chanted, 'You're sexy! You're cute! Take off your riot suit!' I love that - it's not too confrontational, it's a bit more playful and humorous. It's on a case-by-case basis - the chanting can get confrontational, but the best way to respond to it is just to lead by example.
These are all the rumours that I can think of to clarify just now. Generally, I was really happy with how yesterday went. We did a lot of marching, a lot of chanting, some decent levels of debate and I felt that everyone I spoke to was pleasant and really motivated to make a change. I left with a couple of friends at around 6.30 when things started kicking off between the police and the protesters, and managed to escape before the kettling began. We stopped outside the police cordon, near enough to still be involved but far enough away that we were a separate group. Call us a mini-demonstration of three. In this time, we talked to passers-by, educating them about what we were doing and listening to their opinions. There was even a time when a group of Spanish schoolchildren passed, and their teacher asked us to talk about what we were doing, so we taught a class! It was a genuinely really rewarding experience - it was one of the most enjoyable pieces of activism I have ever done, I feel like we made a lot more progress than we would have had we stayed inside the kettle.
I stand by what I said in the last blog about 'The revolution is here' - if things continue like they were yesterday, I think we will be a very strong movement indeed (not that we aren't already). We must be careful though - I feel that many campaigns seem strong for a while, and then people lose interest. This is what happened with tuition fees and I was so disappointed when people stopped protesting about that, because it seemed to be going really well and I thought we were making progress. I stand by the thought that we would have won that one if we'd been a little more persistent.
Here is the next event:
Radical Left General Assembly
I most likely won't be able to attend this one as it's in the middle of the week and I have University commitments, but I will be there if I possibly can, and if I can't I shall help virtually via online media. Anyone who is able to attend, I strongly advise to get there.
Thank you to all of the people at the demo yesterday, with particular mention to Maia, who I hung around with most of the day, and to Aaron and Laura, who joined me on our protest of three at the end. I think we did really well, and I look forward to the next one.
The revolution is most definitely here... more from George soon!
Rumour 1: The demonstration was very violent.
False. The demonstration started outside Westminster Abbey at 3pm, and moved through London. For the next three and a half hours, it was entirely peaceful. At around half-past six in the evening when the protest wasn't far from wrapping up anyway, there was a small amount of confrontation between the demonstrators and the police. I left when this started and stood outside the police cordon for a while with some friends, still demonstrating but in a group of three that was clearly peaceful and educating the masses. There were seventeen arrests - when you put that into perspective against the thousands of people who were there, this really is not a lot, and besides we don't know what happened after the arrests. Some of the people may never have been charged, or even if they were guilty of something may have been entirely provoked. As a participant, I can safely say that the vast majority of the demonstration was extremely peaceful, and for the most part everyone behaved amicably.
Rumour 2: A war memorial was defaced.
True. Someone spray-painted the words 'Tory scum' on a memorial dedicated to the women of the Second World War. I'll most likely never learn the identity of the person who did this, but whoever it was seriously harmed our cause and our reputation. Today when I've been debating this, this is the first thing that people bring up against me and what I stand for. It means nothing in the grand scheme of things. The actions of one person on the spur of the moment have no reflection whatsoever on the mindset or attitude of everyone else. I have actually heard it said that this was a plain-clothed police officer attempting to harm the cause on purpose - I don't know if there is anything in that, but it's what they do say. Personally I don't find the suggestion that implausible because it's the sort of thing they can do, but it's all irrelevant anyway. Someone was stupid, let's forget about it and focus on the issues that we're actually fighting for. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even aware that it had happened until after I got home and saw it reported.
Rumour 3: The protesters were complaining about a Government that has been democratically elected.
False. This Government was not democratically elected, not properly. The majority of people did not vote for the Conservative Party. One of the key reasons for this protest was electoral reform - we demand a system that allows the opinions of those whose first choice is outvoted to still count, and is not outrageously biased in favour of bigger parties. The other reason I'm protesting is the numerous unfair policies which the Conservative Party have introduced, and continue to introduce - I'm worried about the next five years, and I want to do what I can to minimise the amount of suffering they entail. That means getting involved right now as soon as they have been elected. Besides these things, I don't have an issue with the Conservative Party on principle; if David Cameron woke up tomorrow and decided to listen to what I'm asking of him, I shall happily take back everything bad I've ever said about him - after I've come round after my dead faint, of course.
Rumour 4: There were around 100 - 150 people there.
False. There were thousands - I initially thought around 3,000, though a friend of mine said it was more like 1,500. What can I say, I don't have an actual statistic and I may have exaggerated things myself! Far more than the mainstream media suggested anyway.
Rumour 5: There was some very aggressive chanting.
True and false. The chants at demonstrations can be quite unpleasant at times. There are some that I refrain from joining in, such as the one involving burning the Tories and Liberal Democrats on a bonfire, which I really do not believe is called for. I also tend to avoid being actively provocative towards the police - if I disagree with how the police are conducting themselves I will call them out on it, but there are some who say some quite nasty things before that has happened. I do realise that anger manifests itself in many different ways and I'm understanding of people who initiate this sort of thing, but I don't think it's the most effective tool. Although I occasionally engage in fun songs like 'You can shove the Tories up your arse' (sung to the tune of 'She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes') I try to focus more on chants that are relevant to the issues at hand, such as 'Unemployment and inflation were not caused by immigration! Bullshit! Come off it! The enemy is profit!' (Which actually doesn't sound like much of a chant written on the page, but if you say it out loud it's poetic.) When confronted by the police, there was a point that we chanted, 'You're sexy! You're cute! Take off your riot suit!' I love that - it's not too confrontational, it's a bit more playful and humorous. It's on a case-by-case basis - the chanting can get confrontational, but the best way to respond to it is just to lead by example.
These are all the rumours that I can think of to clarify just now. Generally, I was really happy with how yesterday went. We did a lot of marching, a lot of chanting, some decent levels of debate and I felt that everyone I spoke to was pleasant and really motivated to make a change. I left with a couple of friends at around 6.30 when things started kicking off between the police and the protesters, and managed to escape before the kettling began. We stopped outside the police cordon, near enough to still be involved but far enough away that we were a separate group. Call us a mini-demonstration of three. In this time, we talked to passers-by, educating them about what we were doing and listening to their opinions. There was even a time when a group of Spanish schoolchildren passed, and their teacher asked us to talk about what we were doing, so we taught a class! It was a genuinely really rewarding experience - it was one of the most enjoyable pieces of activism I have ever done, I feel like we made a lot more progress than we would have had we stayed inside the kettle.
I stand by what I said in the last blog about 'The revolution is here' - if things continue like they were yesterday, I think we will be a very strong movement indeed (not that we aren't already). We must be careful though - I feel that many campaigns seem strong for a while, and then people lose interest. This is what happened with tuition fees and I was so disappointed when people stopped protesting about that, because it seemed to be going really well and I thought we were making progress. I stand by the thought that we would have won that one if we'd been a little more persistent.
Here is the next event:
Radical Left General Assembly
I most likely won't be able to attend this one as it's in the middle of the week and I have University commitments, but I will be there if I possibly can, and if I can't I shall help virtually via online media. Anyone who is able to attend, I strongly advise to get there.
Thank you to all of the people at the demo yesterday, with particular mention to Maia, who I hung around with most of the day, and to Aaron and Laura, who joined me on our protest of three at the end. I think we did really well, and I look forward to the next one.
The revolution is most definitely here... more from George soon!
Friday, 8 May 2015
The revolution is here - Part 1
'You live in the future, and the future is here. It's bright. It's now.' Regina Spektor
Today was Day 1 of the next five years under the Conservative Government - not something I or anyone who will take anything from this blog is looking forward to. I honestly am greatly surprised by the results of the election. I've heard it suggested that this was a rigged vote, and that is something that I've considered, but I feel as though right now there are more important things to worry about than potential falsifications in a thoroughly inefficient electoral system in the first place.
It probably isn't necessary to make any comments about why I have concerns about the Conservatives remaining in power, but for the sake of form I will anyway - I have fundamental concerns about the state that our public services will be in by 2020 (the NHS is the one that everyone talks about and I am extremely scared about what will happen to that as well, but we must make sure that the other public services, such as education and welfare, do not fall by the wayside on our agendas); I am concerned about TTIP going through; I want to remain a part of the EU; the social inequality, including homelessness is something that I have become increasingly aware of over the last few years; and perhaps most importantly, I am concerned about our impact on this planet. I have to say that environmental issues are the thing that concerns me the most out of all of them, because I think that if we cannot keep this planet sustainable for our species, all of the rest of the issues become slightly irrelevant. Having said that, this does not take anything from my passion about sorting out all the rest of these things. What I have mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg, and I will debate my reasons behind all of these things at a later time, but that is not what this blog is for.
The way I see it, at this point each of us needs to make a choice. We can complain, sit around, watch the news over our cups of tea and wait until 2020 (at which point all of the unhelpful rhetoric that surrounded this election will be back) or we can get off our backsides, leave our homes and make the next five years as bearable as they possibly can be. I choose the second option. The coalition was elected when I was 16, and shortly afterwards at the age of 17 I started joining in with demonstrations, set up this blog and declared myself a political activist. Five years on, and I feel that I have been quite successful in this role. There are of course campaigns where my side didn't win, or that I have gone about things in a way that I wouldn't today, but at the same time I have learned a lot myself, become a better debater, met some fantastic political contacts and gained skills which can only be put to better use. In short, whilst I'm very proud of everything I've done so far, I have the potential to achieve far more in the next five years than I have in the five years that I have already been a part of this game. And this is important, because if we're going to get any further with this we need a revolution.
I have felt for a while now, almost as with the foreshadowing in a book, that the revolution is not far off. Friends have said to me, 'The revolution is coming, isn't it?' and I've thought about it and said, 'Yes, I think so.' Of course, there are other friends who don't believe that at all, and I've had to think a lot about whether I actually believe in the revolution, or if I am merely trying to convince myself of that. In honestly it fluctuates between the two a lot, but this week with the election I've been thinking about this a lot, and have come to the conclusion that whilst I believe in the revolution, none of us have any right to want one if we do not each intend individually to be the one who makes it happen. Whilst I'm disheartened, angry and above all concerned about my future and the futures of everyone around me, there is also an optimism and positivity there. From now on, I am going to turn my efforts to create social change up to a new level, and when I have reached that, I'll take it to a new level after that. I encourage everyone to join me on this - it's all very well to say that one person can't make a difference, but it is my belief that in a community, each person is as important as the community at large, and together we are responsible for this.
I was going to title this 'The revolution is coming', but as I was writing this I realise that that is inaccurate. The revolution isn't coming, it's already here. Every time I log onto social media, I can see my friends full of passion and anger, furious about the results of the election and ready to do something to sort this out. I don't think that passion ever left, it just lay dormant for a while. It is now the responsibility of each of us to keep those that we know ready and enthused to continue this revolution. Note the quote that I put at the top of this: it's from a song called Machine, and it always reminds me that there is no point waiting for the future. This is the future.
But I'm not just here to write encouraging words that ultimately have little meaning. I've been annoyed with myself over the last few years for being so sporadic with this blog. It really is not helpful to anyone, and for the foreseeable future I do very much intend to write about as many things that I have been doing and things that are upcoming that I physically can. Here is the first instalment:
F*CK THE TORY GOVERNMENT - NO TO ALL CUTS - YES TO REAL DEMOCRACY
All of the information is on the Facebook event, but in short, it's in London at Tory HQ tomorrow afternoon, and involves placards, protest and demands - just what we love. I intend to go myself; I only learned of it today, but if I don't go, I'm not going to do anything but sit around and feel sorry for myself all weekend, and there's no upside to that at all. Unless you have a hugely important prior commitment or another very good reason, I expect to see you there!
This is Part 1 - there will be a second part over the weekend, talking about my more general thoughts about this election, and also how the demonstration went.
Who knows, maybe we can create the next Golden Age...
Today was Day 1 of the next five years under the Conservative Government - not something I or anyone who will take anything from this blog is looking forward to. I honestly am greatly surprised by the results of the election. I've heard it suggested that this was a rigged vote, and that is something that I've considered, but I feel as though right now there are more important things to worry about than potential falsifications in a thoroughly inefficient electoral system in the first place.
It probably isn't necessary to make any comments about why I have concerns about the Conservatives remaining in power, but for the sake of form I will anyway - I have fundamental concerns about the state that our public services will be in by 2020 (the NHS is the one that everyone talks about and I am extremely scared about what will happen to that as well, but we must make sure that the other public services, such as education and welfare, do not fall by the wayside on our agendas); I am concerned about TTIP going through; I want to remain a part of the EU; the social inequality, including homelessness is something that I have become increasingly aware of over the last few years; and perhaps most importantly, I am concerned about our impact on this planet. I have to say that environmental issues are the thing that concerns me the most out of all of them, because I think that if we cannot keep this planet sustainable for our species, all of the rest of the issues become slightly irrelevant. Having said that, this does not take anything from my passion about sorting out all the rest of these things. What I have mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg, and I will debate my reasons behind all of these things at a later time, but that is not what this blog is for.
The way I see it, at this point each of us needs to make a choice. We can complain, sit around, watch the news over our cups of tea and wait until 2020 (at which point all of the unhelpful rhetoric that surrounded this election will be back) or we can get off our backsides, leave our homes and make the next five years as bearable as they possibly can be. I choose the second option. The coalition was elected when I was 16, and shortly afterwards at the age of 17 I started joining in with demonstrations, set up this blog and declared myself a political activist. Five years on, and I feel that I have been quite successful in this role. There are of course campaigns where my side didn't win, or that I have gone about things in a way that I wouldn't today, but at the same time I have learned a lot myself, become a better debater, met some fantastic political contacts and gained skills which can only be put to better use. In short, whilst I'm very proud of everything I've done so far, I have the potential to achieve far more in the next five years than I have in the five years that I have already been a part of this game. And this is important, because if we're going to get any further with this we need a revolution.
I have felt for a while now, almost as with the foreshadowing in a book, that the revolution is not far off. Friends have said to me, 'The revolution is coming, isn't it?' and I've thought about it and said, 'Yes, I think so.' Of course, there are other friends who don't believe that at all, and I've had to think a lot about whether I actually believe in the revolution, or if I am merely trying to convince myself of that. In honestly it fluctuates between the two a lot, but this week with the election I've been thinking about this a lot, and have come to the conclusion that whilst I believe in the revolution, none of us have any right to want one if we do not each intend individually to be the one who makes it happen. Whilst I'm disheartened, angry and above all concerned about my future and the futures of everyone around me, there is also an optimism and positivity there. From now on, I am going to turn my efforts to create social change up to a new level, and when I have reached that, I'll take it to a new level after that. I encourage everyone to join me on this - it's all very well to say that one person can't make a difference, but it is my belief that in a community, each person is as important as the community at large, and together we are responsible for this.
I was going to title this 'The revolution is coming', but as I was writing this I realise that that is inaccurate. The revolution isn't coming, it's already here. Every time I log onto social media, I can see my friends full of passion and anger, furious about the results of the election and ready to do something to sort this out. I don't think that passion ever left, it just lay dormant for a while. It is now the responsibility of each of us to keep those that we know ready and enthused to continue this revolution. Note the quote that I put at the top of this: it's from a song called Machine, and it always reminds me that there is no point waiting for the future. This is the future.
But I'm not just here to write encouraging words that ultimately have little meaning. I've been annoyed with myself over the last few years for being so sporadic with this blog. It really is not helpful to anyone, and for the foreseeable future I do very much intend to write about as many things that I have been doing and things that are upcoming that I physically can. Here is the first instalment:
F*CK THE TORY GOVERNMENT - NO TO ALL CUTS - YES TO REAL DEMOCRACY
All of the information is on the Facebook event, but in short, it's in London at Tory HQ tomorrow afternoon, and involves placards, protest and demands - just what we love. I intend to go myself; I only learned of it today, but if I don't go, I'm not going to do anything but sit around and feel sorry for myself all weekend, and there's no upside to that at all. Unless you have a hugely important prior commitment or another very good reason, I expect to see you there!
This is Part 1 - there will be a second part over the weekend, talking about my more general thoughts about this election, and also how the demonstration went.
Who knows, maybe we can create the next Golden Age...
Sunday, 3 May 2015
Why I'm voting Green
Hello to all my readers!
We have a general election coming up this week, and I have not written about it as much as I was going to. I feel slightly guilty about this, but on the whole perhaps this is a good thing. I have of course seen a lot of rhetoric about most of the parties over the last few months, bordering from the highly interesting to the 'I can't believe they're writing about that' (Nicola Sturgeon and doll's hair, anyone?) Generally though, whilst I have been keen to inform myself about people's views and opinions and a lot of them have been interesting, many of these debates have neither influenced who I am likely to vote for, nor stood out as being worthy of discussion amidst what I consider to be the most pressing matters. So in the run-up to the first UK general election since I started writing this blog, I am going to explain why I intend to vote for the Green Party.
There are many policies that the Green Party have that the whole of my approach to social change actively supports - aside from the obvious environmental reasons (which would be good reason to vote for them in and of itself) there are numerous other things that they stand for which I am very passionate about, such as their approaches to forward-thinking education, protecting the National Health Service, raising the Living Wage, decommissioning Trident, working to help Palestine get recognition as an independent state and numerous other things. To be honest, I could write an essay on each of these things and more besides (and have to certain friends) but I really think that doing the same here would do more harm than good. I shall leave a link to the Green manifesto if anyone would like to take a look, but I am going to stick to my previous resolution to make these blogs a little shorter, and stick to why I myself am voting for them, rather than preaching things that people can read in numerous locations other than on my blog.
The bottom line is that I intend to vote Green because I am tired of the rate of social change in this country. In the last five years, I have worked hard on numerous campaigns intended to benefit people in the long-term, and whilst I like to think that I have been reasonably successful, it seems that our present Government has been so blinkered about the decisions that they have made that they are unwilling to take on board pressure from any sides that don't involve a large cash settlement. As an activist, this is frustrating and demotivating - not that I'm hardening to this game, because I still think that if I don't do it, I have no right to complain about others not doing it either. I want a Government which I believe will represent the interests that I stand for, which the Green Party would seem to do. I have been impressed by the likes of Caroline Lucas and indeed Natalie Bennett (I realise that the latter has received quite a bit of criticism which I may respond to another time, but I personally believe that although she has become uncomfortably flustered on occasion, she talks a lot of common sense.) I do not believe that Labour, the Conservatives' biggest rival, are entirely likely to sort out the problems that we have in a particularly efficient way - although the Conservatives are largely responsible for the issues with welfare and inequality, the Labour Party were paramount to us getting into that situation in the first place, and although I will admit that a Labour Government would be better than the alternative, I feel that they would be too slow in sorting things out. I feel that we are swiftly reaching a stalemate with all of the leading parties as a matter of fact, and right now it is time to think radical.
One thing that the Greens are largely criticised for is the fact that they are apparently 'too ambitious', i.e. promising things that are far too much both economically and socially for them to deliver. I will concede that there is likely to be an element of truth in that, but no more than there is with each of the other parties. I don't believe that there is a political party in any country in the world that can totally live up to its reputation after coming to power, not least because there is always more red tape to work around in practice than there is in theory. There has also been criticism of their economic understanding. Economics is my weakest point when it comes to political debate, so it is not something that I can comment on too technically, but it strikes me that their economic plan cannot possibly be worse than the plan that the Conservatives are working with. We are living in a country run by a Government that cuts vital funding to public services, leaves working people relying on charity to survive, whilst spending inordinate amounts of money on its own interests, including bonuses and bailouts received by wealthy individuals who really do not need them and ceremonial events which help no one and we could easily do without. Bearing this in mind, I think that if taxes were firstly raised (and yes, I do agree with raised taxes) and, more importantly, enforced fairly and proportionally to individual wealth, it would be a very good idea to spend money on the sort of things that the Green Party proposes.
Another thing that I would like to bring up is the subject of tactical voting. Many of my friends and colleagues have said to me that they support Green policies, but intend to vote somewhere a bit safer such as Labour due to the Greens' smaller chances of coming to power. Now, I will be the first to admit that our democratic process is appalling, and does not reflect the changing times and smaller parties whatsoever. It is extremely unfortunate that the Alternative Vote referendum of 2011 was lost, and I sincerely hope that we will have another chance for Electoral Reform in the near future. Having said that, I think it is extremely important to vote from one's heart. I recently heard Caroline Lucas say, 'The only wasted vote is a vote for someone who you do not believe in,' and I agree with her absolutely. Our democratic process may be biased against up and coming parties, but every tactical vote makes this problem more profound. I seriously doubt that the Green Party will come into power at this election, but I hope that they will get enough seats in Parliament to make the next five years a lot more bearable than the last. As a matter of fact, the Green Party have been fantastic in Parliament even with just one seat. I have been genuinely very impressed with Lucas, and I hope that we have many more like her to come. And for those people who have (possibly justified) concerns that the Greens may be slightly out of their depth economically, perhaps the knowledge that they are highly unlikely to reach a Parliamentary majority in this election can be a source of comfort. Perhaps if they get a few more seats, by 2020 they will be more equipped to take the helm than they are today.
Here is the Green Party manifesto, it's well worth a read:
https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/manifesto/Green_Party_2015_General_Election_Manifesto_Searchable.pdf
I must also clarify that I do not work for the Green Party, nor am I a paid-up member. I am supporting them at this election, because at this point in time they seem to represent what I stand for. I am not loyal to them, and it is entirely possible that my allegiance will turn somewhere else in the future. And for the record, were I not voting Green I would be voting Liberal Democrat, because I think that although their position on tuition fees was a massive mistake on their part, generally they have not been too bad in this coalition, and I have heard that there have been some quite dangerous Conservative Party bills that the Liberal Democrats have blocked.
This will likely be my last blog before the election; it will be interesting to write after it is over! I have a new regime for this blog - I won't go into it here, but suffice it to say that over the next few months it will be updated on a more regular basis than it has been in the past. Also, over the summer when I have more time, I am seriously considering a rebrand, because I think that I look a little outdated and I could do with promoting myself a bit more. I shall say no more here, but watch this space!
We have a general election coming up this week, and I have not written about it as much as I was going to. I feel slightly guilty about this, but on the whole perhaps this is a good thing. I have of course seen a lot of rhetoric about most of the parties over the last few months, bordering from the highly interesting to the 'I can't believe they're writing about that' (Nicola Sturgeon and doll's hair, anyone?) Generally though, whilst I have been keen to inform myself about people's views and opinions and a lot of them have been interesting, many of these debates have neither influenced who I am likely to vote for, nor stood out as being worthy of discussion amidst what I consider to be the most pressing matters. So in the run-up to the first UK general election since I started writing this blog, I am going to explain why I intend to vote for the Green Party.
There are many policies that the Green Party have that the whole of my approach to social change actively supports - aside from the obvious environmental reasons (which would be good reason to vote for them in and of itself) there are numerous other things that they stand for which I am very passionate about, such as their approaches to forward-thinking education, protecting the National Health Service, raising the Living Wage, decommissioning Trident, working to help Palestine get recognition as an independent state and numerous other things. To be honest, I could write an essay on each of these things and more besides (and have to certain friends) but I really think that doing the same here would do more harm than good. I shall leave a link to the Green manifesto if anyone would like to take a look, but I am going to stick to my previous resolution to make these blogs a little shorter, and stick to why I myself am voting for them, rather than preaching things that people can read in numerous locations other than on my blog.
The bottom line is that I intend to vote Green because I am tired of the rate of social change in this country. In the last five years, I have worked hard on numerous campaigns intended to benefit people in the long-term, and whilst I like to think that I have been reasonably successful, it seems that our present Government has been so blinkered about the decisions that they have made that they are unwilling to take on board pressure from any sides that don't involve a large cash settlement. As an activist, this is frustrating and demotivating - not that I'm hardening to this game, because I still think that if I don't do it, I have no right to complain about others not doing it either. I want a Government which I believe will represent the interests that I stand for, which the Green Party would seem to do. I have been impressed by the likes of Caroline Lucas and indeed Natalie Bennett (I realise that the latter has received quite a bit of criticism which I may respond to another time, but I personally believe that although she has become uncomfortably flustered on occasion, she talks a lot of common sense.) I do not believe that Labour, the Conservatives' biggest rival, are entirely likely to sort out the problems that we have in a particularly efficient way - although the Conservatives are largely responsible for the issues with welfare and inequality, the Labour Party were paramount to us getting into that situation in the first place, and although I will admit that a Labour Government would be better than the alternative, I feel that they would be too slow in sorting things out. I feel that we are swiftly reaching a stalemate with all of the leading parties as a matter of fact, and right now it is time to think radical.
One thing that the Greens are largely criticised for is the fact that they are apparently 'too ambitious', i.e. promising things that are far too much both economically and socially for them to deliver. I will concede that there is likely to be an element of truth in that, but no more than there is with each of the other parties. I don't believe that there is a political party in any country in the world that can totally live up to its reputation after coming to power, not least because there is always more red tape to work around in practice than there is in theory. There has also been criticism of their economic understanding. Economics is my weakest point when it comes to political debate, so it is not something that I can comment on too technically, but it strikes me that their economic plan cannot possibly be worse than the plan that the Conservatives are working with. We are living in a country run by a Government that cuts vital funding to public services, leaves working people relying on charity to survive, whilst spending inordinate amounts of money on its own interests, including bonuses and bailouts received by wealthy individuals who really do not need them and ceremonial events which help no one and we could easily do without. Bearing this in mind, I think that if taxes were firstly raised (and yes, I do agree with raised taxes) and, more importantly, enforced fairly and proportionally to individual wealth, it would be a very good idea to spend money on the sort of things that the Green Party proposes.
Another thing that I would like to bring up is the subject of tactical voting. Many of my friends and colleagues have said to me that they support Green policies, but intend to vote somewhere a bit safer such as Labour due to the Greens' smaller chances of coming to power. Now, I will be the first to admit that our democratic process is appalling, and does not reflect the changing times and smaller parties whatsoever. It is extremely unfortunate that the Alternative Vote referendum of 2011 was lost, and I sincerely hope that we will have another chance for Electoral Reform in the near future. Having said that, I think it is extremely important to vote from one's heart. I recently heard Caroline Lucas say, 'The only wasted vote is a vote for someone who you do not believe in,' and I agree with her absolutely. Our democratic process may be biased against up and coming parties, but every tactical vote makes this problem more profound. I seriously doubt that the Green Party will come into power at this election, but I hope that they will get enough seats in Parliament to make the next five years a lot more bearable than the last. As a matter of fact, the Green Party have been fantastic in Parliament even with just one seat. I have been genuinely very impressed with Lucas, and I hope that we have many more like her to come. And for those people who have (possibly justified) concerns that the Greens may be slightly out of their depth economically, perhaps the knowledge that they are highly unlikely to reach a Parliamentary majority in this election can be a source of comfort. Perhaps if they get a few more seats, by 2020 they will be more equipped to take the helm than they are today.
Here is the Green Party manifesto, it's well worth a read:
https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/manifesto/Green_Party_2015_General_Election_Manifesto_Searchable.pdf
I must also clarify that I do not work for the Green Party, nor am I a paid-up member. I am supporting them at this election, because at this point in time they seem to represent what I stand for. I am not loyal to them, and it is entirely possible that my allegiance will turn somewhere else in the future. And for the record, were I not voting Green I would be voting Liberal Democrat, because I think that although their position on tuition fees was a massive mistake on their part, generally they have not been too bad in this coalition, and I have heard that there have been some quite dangerous Conservative Party bills that the Liberal Democrats have blocked.
This will likely be my last blog before the election; it will be interesting to write after it is over! I have a new regime for this blog - I won't go into it here, but suffice it to say that over the next few months it will be updated on a more regular basis than it has been in the past. Also, over the summer when I have more time, I am seriously considering a rebrand, because I think that I look a little outdated and I could do with promoting myself a bit more. I shall say no more here, but watch this space!
Sunday, 29 March 2015
Being young and successful
Hello, rabid readers!
A couple of days ago, I was engaged in a conversation with a friend concerning one of my previous blogs. This friend is someone who I disagree with on many things, but nevertheless is an intelligent person who has interesting opinions, whom I enjoy spending time with and whose opinions I respect even if I may not share. The conversation started when I wanted to gauge his opinion on one of my previous posts. We actually didn't talk much about the subject matter in the end, as the conversation quickly shifted into the quality of this blog generally, and continued to progress into other topics, but it was an interesting conversation and I'd like to share a bit of it. He gave me quite a few tips, some of which I agree with and some of which I do not, but all of which I will take into consideration when writing future blogs. One that sticks in my mind was the suggestion that I should condense this into something a bit shorter, which I think I should definitely consider doing! Not least because then I would probably be motivated to update this more, which can only be a good thing.
Anyway, one thing that we got onto quite quickly was my friend advising me to recognise the limitations of my own position when putting across my opinion on things. Now this is something that I generally attempt to do - everything I write on here is my own personal opinion. I am not working for anyone, often I have no formal qualifications to say what I do and I don't think I have ever claimed anything different. My friend did say one thing with regards to how I put myself across that really intrigued me: 'Saying you're an actor, political activist, blogger and former radio station presenter is ridiculous coming from a 20 something student.' There was an indication there that given the fact that I am a 21-year-old Creative Performance student, I am not as credible in being these things than someone who is perhaps in a different professional, financial or social position.
Whilst I disagree, I did find this an interesting sentiment to brood on, because I feel that it is a perception that a lot of the public quite likely have. There does seem to be a school of thought that if one is young, especially if they are a student, they are not yet in a position to be taken very seriously in certain fields, and if they wish to be they must be humble about it. Why is this? I actually think that it is a very good thing to be young and to take yourself quite seriously in a professional context. There are probably other people who may look on their achievements differently to how I do, and that's fine, but I'm proud of them and I think that I have the right to have them recognised. All of the things above about me are true. I am an actor - in all fairness, it would probably be more accurate to describe me as semi-professional rather than professional at this stage simply because it is not currently my main source of income, but in terms of the work I do outside of my University course I'm very comfortable calling myself an actor. The dictionary definition of the word 'activism' is: 'The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.' I have engaged in this form of activity on numerous occasions, and continue to do so. And in the past, I have had a regular presenting role at a local radio station - not a national radio station, but I don't think that this limits the credibility of the work that I have done (in honesty, I think that bearing that in mind this is more impressive, because more recognised stations normally involve a lot more staff working on the technical details behind programmes, and the presenter may not actually do much besides the actual presenting. I wrote, organised and ran my programme entirely on my own, including driving the desk, and considering I was only 14 at the time, I have no qualms about being exceptionally proud of this accomplishment.) Therefore, I think I am entirely justified in calling myself an actor, political activist and former radio presenter, and I don't think the fact that I am 21 years old and a student should make any difference to that. I consider those to be additional facts about me.
Does this gain or lose me respect? It's a tricky one. I think that respect should be earned not by what a person says about themselves, but by what they prove to people. I make no bones about being quite straightforward about my accomplishments when I meet people, and some people may consider that slightly pretentious. I try not to bring it up for the sake of it in an arrogant way, because I think that this can be quite easily misconstrued. However, when it becomes relevant I will mention it, and I would hope that the skills and knowledge that I have gained from these things will be strong enough to present me in a positive light to whomever I am dealing with. Generally, they have done. Of course there is the odd person who I don't get on with, but I think that we all will occasionally meet people who one's approach will grate on, and that shouldn't mean that you have to change your style unless there is a really good reason. Overall, I think I've made some fantastic contacts just by being honest and being myself. I also try to respect people for their accomplishments regardless of their age and background, because that is how I want to be treated myself. Over the last year, I have worked quite closely with Tom Bennett, a Bristol film director who is quite respected in the world of film, and has some very high reviews and many exciting productions to his name. He also happens to be 19 years old and a student. It seems that this has not hindered him a great deal in becoming a very successful director in his own right, and from what I have seen he seems to be just as respected as someone older. Barnaby Raine, another 19-year-old and political activist who I haven't exactly worked with, but I've spoken to a bit, seen at public events and talked to a little online (I've mentioned him on here before) is also very capable and respected within the field that he works.
There are many others that I know of as well, and I think this is great. Obviously as a student I meet a lot of young people, and many seem not to believe that they can be respected in their own right for their accomplishments at least until they are a bit older. Personally, I believe that anyone can be whatever they want to be at any age, so long as they have the maturity, intellectual capacity and confidence with which to do it. I suppose it comes down to whether one sees oneself as a child or an adult at the end of the day. When one is in one's late teens or early twenties, this is something that varies from person to person. I am an adult. I have no doubt about this. I didn't become an adult when I became legally of age in the eyes of the law, it was around a year ago that I realised that emotionally I have matured to that level. I feel like an adult, I think I have the capabilities of an adult and I would like to be treated as one. Happily, the majority of the people in my life these days do.
Well, bearing in mind my friend's advice I tried to keep this blog shorter, and it is less than half the length of my most recent one, so I suppose that is something good. I have had a couple of comments from other people who have found my blogs a little inaccessible because I am naturally quite a wordy person, so keeping them shorter would probably be a good idea. Having said that, whilst I would like more hits on here it isn't so important to me that I would compromise the general way that I write for that - not least because most of the comments I get are positive, and I think that I am quite a good writer. I'll write what needs to be written, and if that takes up a lot of words then so be it. But I will try not to use more words than I need to to sum something up. Being concise is important as well, I understand that.
I'm on a break from University currently, so hopefully I shall have some more time to blog over Easter. Take care x
A couple of days ago, I was engaged in a conversation with a friend concerning one of my previous blogs. This friend is someone who I disagree with on many things, but nevertheless is an intelligent person who has interesting opinions, whom I enjoy spending time with and whose opinions I respect even if I may not share. The conversation started when I wanted to gauge his opinion on one of my previous posts. We actually didn't talk much about the subject matter in the end, as the conversation quickly shifted into the quality of this blog generally, and continued to progress into other topics, but it was an interesting conversation and I'd like to share a bit of it. He gave me quite a few tips, some of which I agree with and some of which I do not, but all of which I will take into consideration when writing future blogs. One that sticks in my mind was the suggestion that I should condense this into something a bit shorter, which I think I should definitely consider doing! Not least because then I would probably be motivated to update this more, which can only be a good thing.
Anyway, one thing that we got onto quite quickly was my friend advising me to recognise the limitations of my own position when putting across my opinion on things. Now this is something that I generally attempt to do - everything I write on here is my own personal opinion. I am not working for anyone, often I have no formal qualifications to say what I do and I don't think I have ever claimed anything different. My friend did say one thing with regards to how I put myself across that really intrigued me: 'Saying you're an actor, political activist, blogger and former radio station presenter is ridiculous coming from a 20 something student.' There was an indication there that given the fact that I am a 21-year-old Creative Performance student, I am not as credible in being these things than someone who is perhaps in a different professional, financial or social position.
Whilst I disagree, I did find this an interesting sentiment to brood on, because I feel that it is a perception that a lot of the public quite likely have. There does seem to be a school of thought that if one is young, especially if they are a student, they are not yet in a position to be taken very seriously in certain fields, and if they wish to be they must be humble about it. Why is this? I actually think that it is a very good thing to be young and to take yourself quite seriously in a professional context. There are probably other people who may look on their achievements differently to how I do, and that's fine, but I'm proud of them and I think that I have the right to have them recognised. All of the things above about me are true. I am an actor - in all fairness, it would probably be more accurate to describe me as semi-professional rather than professional at this stage simply because it is not currently my main source of income, but in terms of the work I do outside of my University course I'm very comfortable calling myself an actor. The dictionary definition of the word 'activism' is: 'The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.' I have engaged in this form of activity on numerous occasions, and continue to do so. And in the past, I have had a regular presenting role at a local radio station - not a national radio station, but I don't think that this limits the credibility of the work that I have done (in honesty, I think that bearing that in mind this is more impressive, because more recognised stations normally involve a lot more staff working on the technical details behind programmes, and the presenter may not actually do much besides the actual presenting. I wrote, organised and ran my programme entirely on my own, including driving the desk, and considering I was only 14 at the time, I have no qualms about being exceptionally proud of this accomplishment.) Therefore, I think I am entirely justified in calling myself an actor, political activist and former radio presenter, and I don't think the fact that I am 21 years old and a student should make any difference to that. I consider those to be additional facts about me.
Does this gain or lose me respect? It's a tricky one. I think that respect should be earned not by what a person says about themselves, but by what they prove to people. I make no bones about being quite straightforward about my accomplishments when I meet people, and some people may consider that slightly pretentious. I try not to bring it up for the sake of it in an arrogant way, because I think that this can be quite easily misconstrued. However, when it becomes relevant I will mention it, and I would hope that the skills and knowledge that I have gained from these things will be strong enough to present me in a positive light to whomever I am dealing with. Generally, they have done. Of course there is the odd person who I don't get on with, but I think that we all will occasionally meet people who one's approach will grate on, and that shouldn't mean that you have to change your style unless there is a really good reason. Overall, I think I've made some fantastic contacts just by being honest and being myself. I also try to respect people for their accomplishments regardless of their age and background, because that is how I want to be treated myself. Over the last year, I have worked quite closely with Tom Bennett, a Bristol film director who is quite respected in the world of film, and has some very high reviews and many exciting productions to his name. He also happens to be 19 years old and a student. It seems that this has not hindered him a great deal in becoming a very successful director in his own right, and from what I have seen he seems to be just as respected as someone older. Barnaby Raine, another 19-year-old and political activist who I haven't exactly worked with, but I've spoken to a bit, seen at public events and talked to a little online (I've mentioned him on here before) is also very capable and respected within the field that he works.
There are many others that I know of as well, and I think this is great. Obviously as a student I meet a lot of young people, and many seem not to believe that they can be respected in their own right for their accomplishments at least until they are a bit older. Personally, I believe that anyone can be whatever they want to be at any age, so long as they have the maturity, intellectual capacity and confidence with which to do it. I suppose it comes down to whether one sees oneself as a child or an adult at the end of the day. When one is in one's late teens or early twenties, this is something that varies from person to person. I am an adult. I have no doubt about this. I didn't become an adult when I became legally of age in the eyes of the law, it was around a year ago that I realised that emotionally I have matured to that level. I feel like an adult, I think I have the capabilities of an adult and I would like to be treated as one. Happily, the majority of the people in my life these days do.
Well, bearing in mind my friend's advice I tried to keep this blog shorter, and it is less than half the length of my most recent one, so I suppose that is something good. I have had a couple of comments from other people who have found my blogs a little inaccessible because I am naturally quite a wordy person, so keeping them shorter would probably be a good idea. Having said that, whilst I would like more hits on here it isn't so important to me that I would compromise the general way that I write for that - not least because most of the comments I get are positive, and I think that I am quite a good writer. I'll write what needs to be written, and if that takes up a lot of words then so be it. But I will try not to use more words than I need to to sum something up. Being concise is important as well, I understand that.
I'm on a break from University currently, so hopefully I shall have some more time to blog over Easter. Take care x
Monday, 16 February 2015
My opinions on smoking
Hello everyone!
This is my first blog of this year. Yet again, there have been numerous things that have come up, such as the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the aftermath, that I have intended to write about and somehow not got around to. I'm sorry. I want to keep this updated as frequently as I can, as it keeps me motivated to continue trying to achieve social change, and I actually think that I am a pretty good writer. I get good feedback from people, and when I re-read what I have done I am generally quite proud of it. I'd like to become a more frequent political writer and commentator, and I'd certainly like my blog to get more hits, which I know I can only do if I actually bother to keep it updated. Unfortunately, there are many other things that have been consuming my time and energy lately, and sometimes this blog gets left by the wayside.
However, there are certain moments when I know that I have to write, if anything as therapy for me as much as for others to read. There is a particular subject that I have intended to discuss on here for a few months. A while back, I re-read my first ever blog, back in 2010. I sound very young and amateurish there, but whilst introducing myself one paragraph caught my eye:
'I'm not scared of anyone. I'm not intimidated by anyone. I'm very fiery, volatile and outspoken - for better or for worse. I have some very controversial views on freedom, science and particularly smoking.'
Whilst much of that is still true, I wrote it at 17 and now I am 21, so naturally I have grown and matured quite a lot. The passage on smoking was particularly noteworthy to me. I have rarely mentioned it on here since, mainly because it is a very personal issue for me, and I find it hard to take an objective and balanced viewpoint on it. Nevertheless, it does occur to me that it may be very beneficial, both for myself and for my readers, for me to write about my viewpoint on it. Before I start, I must clarify that the next several paragraphs will focus almost entirely on my own experiences - later I will try to talk a bit more objectively as I realise that I can't write a political blog based entirely on something personal, but I have to start out with that, I think. So here goes:
I suffer from severe capnophobia, which is defined as 'An intense hatred, or fear, of smoking or having anyone around who is polluting the air in the immediate vicinity with tobacco smoke; whether from cigarettes, cigars, pipe, or from any similar process of smoke distribution'. I have lived with this since around the age of nine, and over time it has grown worse than it was when it started. I used to be able to deal with smoke a lot better - I was adamantly against people doing it and would cough a lot if exposed to it, but I didn't suffer from extreme lasting reactions beyond being exposed to it and I didn't avoid being in a room with people who had been doing it recently. These things are both the case now. If I am walking along a crowded street, I subconsciously look at people's hands instead of their faces. If I'm exposed to it for any length of time, I suffer nausea-like symptoms, my eyes run a bit, I find it hard to speak and to breathe normally and this can last for a long time after the smoke has passed. I think it has lasted around two hours.
This is my first blog of this year. Yet again, there have been numerous things that have come up, such as the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the aftermath, that I have intended to write about and somehow not got around to. I'm sorry. I want to keep this updated as frequently as I can, as it keeps me motivated to continue trying to achieve social change, and I actually think that I am a pretty good writer. I get good feedback from people, and when I re-read what I have done I am generally quite proud of it. I'd like to become a more frequent political writer and commentator, and I'd certainly like my blog to get more hits, which I know I can only do if I actually bother to keep it updated. Unfortunately, there are many other things that have been consuming my time and energy lately, and sometimes this blog gets left by the wayside.
However, there are certain moments when I know that I have to write, if anything as therapy for me as much as for others to read. There is a particular subject that I have intended to discuss on here for a few months. A while back, I re-read my first ever blog, back in 2010. I sound very young and amateurish there, but whilst introducing myself one paragraph caught my eye:
'I'm not scared of anyone. I'm not intimidated by anyone. I'm very fiery, volatile and outspoken - for better or for worse. I have some very controversial views on freedom, science and particularly smoking.'
Whilst much of that is still true, I wrote it at 17 and now I am 21, so naturally I have grown and matured quite a lot. The passage on smoking was particularly noteworthy to me. I have rarely mentioned it on here since, mainly because it is a very personal issue for me, and I find it hard to take an objective and balanced viewpoint on it. Nevertheless, it does occur to me that it may be very beneficial, both for myself and for my readers, for me to write about my viewpoint on it. Before I start, I must clarify that the next several paragraphs will focus almost entirely on my own experiences - later I will try to talk a bit more objectively as I realise that I can't write a political blog based entirely on something personal, but I have to start out with that, I think. So here goes:
Smoking is the worst thing in the world.
Right, well obviously my opinion is more complex than that, but that is the bare bones of it. I can already anticipate the questions that will be thrown in my direction in response to that statement: Why, George? Out of all the corruption and suffering in the world, why denounce smoking as being worse than everything else? I must just clarify that that statement is entirely subjective; of course I don't seriously think that it is worse to smoke than to do literally anything else in the world, when you actually get down to reasonable and objective opinion. But if you go past the logical part of my brain to what is deeply ingrained within me, on a really personal level there is absolutely nothing I loathe more.
I suffer from severe capnophobia, which is defined as 'An intense hatred, or fear, of smoking or having anyone around who is polluting the air in the immediate vicinity with tobacco smoke; whether from cigarettes, cigars, pipe, or from any similar process of smoke distribution'. I have lived with this since around the age of nine, and over time it has grown worse than it was when it started. I used to be able to deal with smoke a lot better - I was adamantly against people doing it and would cough a lot if exposed to it, but I didn't suffer from extreme lasting reactions beyond being exposed to it and I didn't avoid being in a room with people who had been doing it recently. These things are both the case now. If I am walking along a crowded street, I subconsciously look at people's hands instead of their faces. If I'm exposed to it for any length of time, I suffer nausea-like symptoms, my eyes run a bit, I find it hard to speak and to breathe normally and this can last for a long time after the smoke has passed. I think it has lasted around two hours.
I feel that as far as I am concerned, this is a bit of a double issue. My psychological fear is real and present, but that is not the only thing to it. I believe that I have done so much to avoid being exposed to tobacco smoke in any way at all that I do not have the physical resistance that most people do. I may be wrong about this, but I think that if someone from a country where there was no smoke came over here, they may not be as afraid of it as I am, but physiologically their reactions would be very similar. It's a catch-22 situation really: the fear of it I gained as a child has caused me to avoid it, and as I have avoided it I have naturally not had the exposure that most people have. Not having had that exposure has meant that I have little resistance to it, so it affects me more physically, thus fuelling my phobia and making it more severe than it was before. I think it is entirely likely that my sensitivity to smoke will continue to become more intense in the future.
The majority of my friends and acquaintances are aware that I have this problem and their reactions vary, from empathy and understanding to being positively aggressive about it. Everyone who tries to understand means a lot to me, and I really, really appreciate every one of them. However, I don't think that anyone who has not experienced it can fully understand how much of an impact this has on my life. It is more than just the feeling I have when I am around smoke, which is bad enough in itself. I can say, quite truthfully, that every single aspect of my life is completely affected by my capnophobia. It hinders my social life greatly - not just because not everyone is especially pleasant about it (which causes enough problems as it is) but because smoking is such a social rite. If I'm ever with a group of friends in an outdoor location, it is likely that at least one of them will be smoking at any one time, and I have to distance myself from the group as a result. This makes it harder for me to bond with people, and this is most likely a key reason why I am an outsider in the majority of the social groups that I am in - people get on with me and I may even have close friends there, but I generally have a better dynamic with most people when it is just them and I. In a group of many, the smoking culture is too rampant for me to socialise much at all. I can vividly recall a time a few years ago when I was with some friends, and this happened as normal. On this occasion, one of my friends also left the group and came to keep me company. It was such a small thing and my friend probably doesn't even remember it, but I will never forget it because this is an extremely rare thing to happen and the gesture meant so much to me.
Gestures like the one that I have described above are unfortunately very much the exception. The most common reaction is for someone to say something like, 'Yeah, I know people who don't like it' but not actually take in that it is an actual serious issue. This is the sort of person who will offer me a lift somewhere, and if I ask if they'll be smoking, volunteer to open the window. I realise that they aren't being inconsiderate on purpose, but I don't think it really occurs to them how serious an issue this can be. Some friends have given me open hostility - I find it interesting that if someone has a more commonly recognised fear, such as spiders for instance, they seem to be met with sympathy, but if it's tobacco smoke people take this as a personal attack. This is happily rare as well - most people are not actively hostile, but I do meet a lack of consideration a lot. For example, there is a group of people that sometimes I have reason to work with (for obvious reasons, I have to be extremely vague about who these people are and what I do with them), and there is one individual in the group who I actually get on quite well with, but I find it hard to really have respect for them given that they have pretty much prevented me from forming bonds, either personally or professionally, with anyone else there. The reason for this is that every time we are on a break from work, this person will light up, and continue to smoke until we are back to work. This person typically does this whilst chatting to the rest of the group, and I have to remove myself. Don't get me wrong, I am willing to move away from a smoker and I seem to spend quite a lot of my life doing it. But I do not see why it has to be me who always does this. If someone wishes to smoke, why can't they go off somewhere to do it? They are the one who has caused the situation by making the decision to smoke, I have made no such decision. If my relationships with people are hindered as a result, I find this quite unfair, especially if the person knows my position full well (and they do, generally). In this example, I have not confronted the person, just because I find that in my position you really have to pick your battles. I have lost friendships as a result of this, and if I confronted people every single time, I'd do nothing else but talk about it.
So these are my experiences, and I realise that the majority of this blog has been subjective, but I cannot get on to what I am about to say without that. I would not outlaw tobacco smoking entirely (although if a Government was about to do that, I would certainly not try to prevent this) but I think that the laws we have at the moment need to be far more stringent. I am happy about the fact that it would appear as though the laws are gradually changing where that is concerned, not as much as I would like but that's a moot point. In 2007, we had the law preventing smoking in enclosed public spaces, which was a long time coming and was an immense relief. Soon it will be illegal to smoke in cars containing children (legislature which I actually cannot believe anyone is arguing against) and my hometown of Bristol has recently become to first UK city to ban smoking in a few outdoor spaces. I think that on the whole, it is a good thing that the world is waking up to the idea of making things easier for people like myself, because the thing that I always remember is that despite what anyone else might say, I am not the only one. I will admit that I am probably in the minority of people to have reactions as extreme as what I go through, but I am not the only person in the world who is affected by this, far from it. I have read accounts of many people who for one reason or other, really have issues with smoke being around them constantly- sometimes their experiences are similar to mine and sometimes they have been very different, but I am entirely able to empathise. I feel that being able to empathise should be something that everyone has, regardless of whether or not it is something that they go through themselves.
Regarding the law, I would push for it to be outlawed in public outdoor spaces. I think that people have a right to be able to leave their own homes without having to feel uncomfortable on the streets. A lot of people say to me, 'But what about cars?' which I do accept is actually a fair point. The two points I would raise in response to that are as follows:
a) Cars have a purpose which tobacco products do not. The benefit that they have to our society is considerably more than anything tobacco does, any benefits of which I would consider to be pretty debatable anyway, and
b) I have not heard of anyone having issues with exhaust fumes in the same way that I know people do with tobacco. This is not to say that people don't have them - it's not something that personally I take such a vested interest in, but if anyone did I would absolutely take steps to try to accommodate for them. I'm not affected personally by exhaust fumes (at least, not much) but having had the experience of people continually turn a blind eye to the position that I find myself in, I will always try to avoid doing that to other people. I'm all for pedestrianism, and if there was a demand for it I would support having more ways that people can walk without coming into contact with many vehicles - I'm not sure how practical that would be with how dependent we are on our vehicles, but we surely can do better than what we are doing at the moment.
I am actually willing to meet people who would like to smoke halfway here, believe it or not. I would entirely discourage it, support plain packaging on cigarettes and socially try to get it out of fashion. However, I will accept that currently there are still people who wish to smoke, and if they'd be willing to meet my view halfway, I will be willing to meet theirs. Privately owned spaces I would consider to be a different matter, within certain conditions. I would have no issue with people smoking inside their own homes, provided that the consent of everyone who lived there was given, and this includes from those who are underage. If someone is not in the position to be able to give consent, as with babies and young children, it must be assumed to be not given. I don't think I'd even mind people smoking in their own gardens - I wouldn't outlaw it straight away anyway, I'd leave it for a bit and see if there was still an issue with it once all the other things came into effect. Since the 2007 law came in, pub gardens are no longer pleasant places to be, which is a bit annoying but I'm willing to put up with that. If a pub owner wishes to allow that, I'm all for it, as those who have issues can remain inside. I do actually want a solution that suits everyone - because of my experiences, I'm so passionately against it in public that perhaps this is not always clear, but I think a fair medium should not be that difficult. And I am aware that my solutions are still not as accommodating towards smokers as they are towards people who wish to avoid it. That is just how things happen; I feel that if someone has made the decision to start smoking, they need to take all of the inconveniences that may come with it, rather than inflict those inconveniences on other people.
Another thing that often comes up is my viewpoint on smoking cannabis. This isn't exactly what this blog is about, but I feel that I ought to touch on it. I do think that it is a major inconsistency that tobacco is legal and cannabis is not, given that tobacco has been proven time and again to be much worse. I will confess that I myself am not fully informed as to the benefits and downsides of using cannabis, so I am probably not the best person to judge this. However, I consider that given the comparisons it would be only fair of me to at least consider it in the same camp as tobacco if that remained legal, if not above it. So I would most likely begin by allowing it on the same terms as tobacco, and in time potentially consider it to be more socially acceptable. But I would have to take advice on that one, as I really am not informed enough to call it fairly.
So there you have it. My opinions on smoking, and how I think it ought to be considered legally. This has been one of the hardest blogs I have ever written, because it is something that affects me personally. I have tried, during the paragraphs where I discuss policy at least, tried to keep my own experience out of it. I do realise absolutely that my phobia should not dictate legislation, and that there are certainly some irrational parts of what I go through that I need to sort out myself. For example, I don't especially enjoy it when people smoke E-cigarettes. I even find it hard to look at people's breath on cold days. This is my personal stuff, and that's something that I need to deal with myself. I can understand that. I am willing to work with other people on this progressively if they are willing to work with me. All too often, people are not willing to work with me on this one, they just seem to think that their opinion is right and I need to put up with it, and I don't think that that helps anyone. And whilst we're on that, I'd like to close this with an important point. Something I quite often hear is, 'George, walking through a cloud of smoke won't kill you.' In response to that, I would say that what I experience when I am around smoke cannot really be put into words - there have been times (thankfully brief) when being alive does not feel especially worth it - but more than that is the lack of empathy I get from people when they find out that I threaten their habit. There seems to be a culture of 'the smoker is in the right, and everyone else must live with it.' Therefore, rather than argue with the science behind passive smoking, in reply to the statement that it will not kill me, I will question whether that person's opinion would change in the slightest if it would.
I shall hopefully do some more blogging soon, if I find the time alongside the play that I am writing and my University course. This being an election year, I hope to talk a lot when that comes up. This will be the first General Election since I started blogging, I began this a couple of months after the last one.
Watch this space x
I shall hopefully do some more blogging soon, if I find the time alongside the play that I am writing and my University course. This being an election year, I hope to talk a lot when that comes up. This will be the first General Election since I started blogging, I began this a couple of months after the last one.
Watch this space x
Monday, 8 December 2014
The downsides (and upsides) to being an activist
Okay, so this is one of the longest breaks from my blog that I have ever taken. I have been planning to post an update on things that have been happening for weeks, but somehow life has just kept getting in the way. I find that the longer I take to update this, the more important it is for there to be a good reason to write a new post. For example, I have been planning to write about my opinions on smoking for a while now, and maybe I still will, but I can't really do it in this post because there has been so much going on that it would feel a bit odd to start writing about that when there have been so many more important things to discuss.
Two weeks ago was my four-year anniversary of being a political activist (and yes, I have been working on this blog for all of the last two weeks). On 24 November 2010, at the age of 17, I participated in my first political demonstration, against tuition fees for students, and the adrenaline rush I got from this, coupled with the feeling that I was making a difference in this world, made me think that I wanted to do this in addition to my acting work for the rest of my life. In the last four years, I have done a lot of activism work in all forms, from marching to signing petitions to creating political theatre, and have campaigned on all kinds of issues. My interest in tuition fees went on to other cuts to public services that were being made by the Government (to the NHS for example); from there I went into being interested in political prisoners (specifically, the case of Chelsea Manning), I spent a lot of time opposing the Bedroom Tax and this summer I was heavily involved in the Palestine movement. (I have also done other things, but these have been the campaigns that I have most heavily been involved with.) On my anniversary, I posted on Facebook that I have not regretted a single second of my activism. I still stand by this statement, as everything that I have achieved, and hopefully will continue to achieve, is worth any negative consequences that this kind of work brings. However, there are some days where it crosses my mind that sometimes this is more bother than it is worth. A few days after my anniversary, these thoughts struck me. I thought, 'Is all of this really worth it?' That feeling quickly faded, so obviously it is worth it, but as with most ventures, there are good points and bad points to it. I had the idea for this blog when I was in the bad phase, and it was initially just going to be about the negatives. However, it quickly became clear that this wasn't a good idea, for two reasons: a) Because that would seem like I was advising people against it, and I would never do that and b) I don't want to suggest that it's an unpleasant thing to do. It is generally very rewarding.
So I'm going to post the top five downsides to being an activist, and then neutralise them with five things that really make it worthwhile. Those people who read this who are involved in political activism may be able to identify completely with what I am saying, and those who are not may gain an insight into how life is for me on a day-to-day basis. So, here goes:
The Downsides
1. Being contacted at all times to provide assistance with an impossible number of things
Out of all the downsides to being an activist, this is perhaps the most troublesome, and I really can blame no one but myself for it. What happens is this. I sign a great deal of petitions - more than twenty in a week probably - and they are generally for things that I care about, but naturally some more than others. The organisers of these petitions frequently get back in touch with me about other campaigns that they are working on and could use my help with. Now, I don't really mind them doing that - were I in their shoes, I would do exactly the same thing - but this year it has got to a stage where it is a little bit out of hand. I have decided that between now and the new year I will unsubscribe from a number of sites whose campaigns really do not motivate me quite as much as some of the others. I feel quite bad doing this, because I generally do support them 100%, but I find that I do not physically have the time or energy to be that enthusiastic about every single cause that I am contacted about. I find that a lot of the time I just skim emails, taking in very little. That's not how I want to do things. I want to read and feel passionate about what I'm signing - and a lot of the time I do, but it gets a little too much. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these causes ask for financial donations. I'm a student, and I do not have an income. I have enough money to make donations, but that money is being saved for my future. As an actor, I'm in an incredibly unstable profession, especially in the current financial climate, and when I leave University in 2016, I need to be able to support myself. And if I'm honest, that makes me feel guilty, because I would like to be able to financially contribute more, but there comes a point where I need to think about myself as well. And I think that recently I have been coming to terms with the fact that as an activist, you need to pick and choose which causes really interest you and motivate you to do something about them. It is possible for one person to change the world, but there is only a certain amount that a person can do, so quite frequently I need to think, 'No, that's something for someone else to take on.' It is hard to know when to do that, but I think I'm getting better at it.
2. People's frustrations, and harm to personal friendships
I am naturally very opinionated, and I tend to bring those opinions into social discussion quite a lot, both in person and via online formats such as social media. I think this has always been a part of my character, but in the time that I have been a political activist my convictions have naturally grown stronger, and as a result there have been times that people have been quite taken aback by my blunt approach. I'm really not the type to beat around the bush, or to water down my opinions because someone else disagrees. As someone who is quite frequently involved in quite heated debate, I have rather hardened to it, and I have a resolve to not take anything personally by someone else's opinion. As a matter of fact, I will request that no one ever raises their voice: I think it's a fair bargain to allow someone to say whatever they like to me, in as blunt, sarcastic or rude terminology as they like, provided that they express that in a calm, relaxed and professional manner, and I will make an effort to stick to that myself as well. It's a method of protection that one becomes accustomed to if they are involved in as many political debates as myself. Other people often don't have any method of handling such situations at all. Generally I think that that is their problem and not mine, as I believe that in this sort of conversation it is important to be able to handle oneself well however the other person is taking it, but the reaction to me does get depressing from time to time. There have been times that I have lost friendships for being too outspoken about certain things - for example, an old acquaintance of mine blocked me on Facebook, after she had recently uploaded pictures of her newborn and I left a comment expressing my distaste for people who upload baby pictures. In that instance, I wasn't too bothered as she hadn't been someone I have known especially well, but since then I have actually made an effort to rein that back a little, as it isn't something that is worth losing friends over. But there are times when people object to my political stances so much that they withdraw from me as an individual. I try not to be too upset by it; those people clearly are not worth being friends with, and I have just as many better friends who tell me that they really respect the fact that I tell people straight; but nevertheless it can get quite depressing.
3. Ignorance is bliss, and awareness can be torture
This is an interesting one. Being an activist, I am naturally made more aware of what is going on in this world than I would be otherwise. Generally, I would say that this is a good thing, but there are massive downsides. There are points when my desire to remain informed clashes head-on with my desire to remain sane. There have been times that I have literally had to disconnect from all forms of electronic media just to give myself a break from learning anything more about the terrible things that are going on, because there is so much that is wrong with the world that it sometimes feels like there is nothing that anyone can do to help. Fortunately this feeling is usually pretty brief, and after a decent sleep I normally wake up with the knowledge that whilst one person cannot do everything, one person can do enough, and the rest can be done by others. I think it has been at these points that I have become most aware of my spiritual side. I am actually a very spiritual person - some people are surprised at this fact, because I'm not sure it's the stereotype of an intelligent and earnest actor and political activist, but I think it is this that has made me so spiritual. There are times when I am so freaked out that all I can do is close my eyes and meditate, and I always come to the same realisation when I do this. The realisation is that I am able to work my damned hardest to make a difference in this world, but in order to be effective in that I also have to focus on making life worthwhile for myself. I said once before on this blog that when fighting so that others can have an enjoyable life, you also need an enjoyable life yourself, because if activism is making you depressed and frightened it isn't worth it. Now this would never cause me to give up on activism, but it does sometimes mean that I have to go about things a different way.
4. Not remembering what you've already done
This is another thing that is similar to the first point. When you're involved in as many campaigns as I am, it is quite hard to remember them all. I quite often receive phone calls from organisations who say, 'Hi, you signed our petition about such-and-such recently', and I'll think, 'Did I?' It sounds like something I would have signed, but I can't honestly recall it, as it doesn't stand out from all the others. Also, sometimes I get prompted to do things which I am not sure whether or not I have already done. I am prompted to write to my local MP about a certain issue, and I'll think, 'Now I know I've contacted him about five other things this week, but did I send him anything about this?' I think when I say it like that it sounds a bit like I don't really care about a lot of the campaigns that I'm involved with. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can honestly say that I do completely agree with every petition that I sign, or cause that I get involved with. But aside from the ones that I am the most passionate about, a lot of them seem to get filed in a similar place in my brain, and it is hard to keep up. Maybe I should think about making a written list.
5. The discussions about political and social philosophies
Now don't get me wrong, the people I meet in this world are great. I have met some amazing friends whilst doing this, and I will probably talk about that quite a lot in the 'upsides' section. However, there is one thing that is quite tiresome about the approach of some of the people involved, which is that a serious debate can quite frequently turn to discussions about specific philosophies and ways of thought. Now I realise that that sounds quite crude when I say it like that. I must clarify that it is not that I lack interest in those things; on the contrary, I have had some really fascinating discussions about them. However, I think that when one is discussing a serious political or social issue, that sort of line in conversation is not always especially relevant. It seems that certain people decide what to think about the issues in our society on the basis of whether this is an accepted viewpoint in their chosen philosophical view on life, and I think that that is not the way. It's the same as with agreeing or disagreeing with something because your religion tells you to - I think that if that is the case, you may have chosen that religion in line with your own opinions, but they should not be your opinions because your school of thought tells you that they should. I believe that plain old-fashioned common sense overrides all of this. I would rather people did not box themselves into a certain category that appears to coincide with their views, because it may not coincide with their views on everything and I think it's important to be independent-minded enough to make up one's own mind on a subject when one is presented with all the evidence. There is always a bit of pressure to label oneself as well, and I try to avoid it as much as possible. A lot of people ask whether I am left- or right-wing. If I had to answer that I would say left-wing because that is where most of my views tend to swing, but not all of them. A few of my views are a lot more conservative - I just agree with whatever I happen to think is right. There are people who will tell you that that is all really subjective, but in fairness personal opinion is all subjective. It doesn't make it any less legitimate, and it doesn't mean that you cannot still put forward a convincing argument to sway someone else.
Okay, those are all the most irritating things about this line of work. Now for a much more enjoyable series of paragraphs!
The Upsides (making a difference to the world is of course the main one, and that doesn't get a paragraph here because that should be obvious, so these are additional benefits):
1. Becoming a better and more informed debater
Political debate is everywhere. I sincerely doubt there will be a single person reading this for whom political debate is not a massive part of their lives, although many will probably deny that. I have been debating issues for many years - since I was quite a young child really, and certainly long before I considered myself to be an activist. Everyone likes to express their opinions on things. When I first came to live in Colchester, a lot of my fellow students claimed 'not to care about politics'. I find that an extremely irksome claim, because everyone does - you just need to get someone worked up enough to be able to put across their views. Whilst working on the political cabaret module of my course, there were a lot of political and social issues that came up that people felt very strongly about, which of course led to some pretty heated debates. As a matter of fact, I found this quite exciting as I felt that they had all had a glimpse of my world whilst this was happening, and in any case this was proof that the assertion that one does not care about politics is pretty false. But anyway, I digress slightly. The point that I am trying to make is that I have always been very forthright in terms of expressing my viewpoints, just as everyone is, but in the years that I have done this sort of work I have found myself to be increasingly capable at doing this. Because of the amount that I have read, heard and become informed about, I am now someone who is able to put a point across in a manner which is neither too timid nor too confrontational, back this up with evidence and also listen to another person's point. The more you do this, the better you get. I don't think it is exactly possible to handle a debate perfectly - I am actually quite self-critical, though privately so. After every debate that I take part in, I question whether I had done anything wrong and if so, how I could improve on that next time, and I bear all of this in mind for the next time that such a situation arises. If I have finished a debate and I feel that I have generally handled myself well, even if the other person has not conceded to my overall point, I feel quite elated and satisfied with how I have gone about things. When I was younger, I didn't get that; I would leave thinking of several more valid points that I could have raised and forgot about in the emotion of it all. Of course, that still happens from time to time, but not as frequently as it once did. This is something that I am really proud of actually. I want to be eloquent and articulate. On a personal level, this is the thing that I find the most appealing in another person, and of course the things that one finds appealing in others are generally also the traits that one wishes to incorporate themselves. Every experience that I have makes it easier to be able to handle myself with the proper levels of decorum in high-emotion situations such as this.
2. Immediate respect from people
In the downsides, I talked about the loss of personal friendships due to being outspoken. There is a flip side to this, which is that in certain instances, the term 'political activist' prompts other people to subconsciously view you as being someone important, which is quite a personal confidence boost as well. For example, whilst at WOMAD music festival I heard a pretty fantastic speech from a woman representing Greenpeace, and afterwards I approached her with a smile and said, 'Hi, I'm George, I'm an independent blogger and political activist.' She was immediately very warm and friendly, I found her an easy person to talk to and I felt that I learned something from that. Using those terms was also beneficial for me to subconsciously feel like someone who was entitled to express an opinion. This sounds slightly pretentious when I say it like that, but I don't think it necessarily needs to be. Everyone wants to be respected and to naturally respect themselves, and if you have something that naturally speeds that up a little, it is quite useful. Of course, when it comes down to it it doesn't make me stand out at all, because I'm not any more special than anyone else. Whilst I view it as one of my two main vocations (the other being theatre), 'political activist' just means that I actively and willingly take part in campaigns for various forms of social change. Anyone can do that, I'm just an ordinary person at the end of the day. But those words are an instant way to ingratiate oneself with other like-minded people, who otherwise may not have considered you very worth talking to (and for the record, I'm sure that the lady from Greenpeace who I refer to would have been delighted to chat with me in any case because she was very approachable, but it's a shortcut to getting to have these conversations in the first place that is key.) I like the term 'political activist'; it makes me feel like I'm making an effort to do something decent.
3. The friends I meet
I can honestly say that I have met some of the most amazing, awesome people that I have or will ever come across whilst doing this kind of work! People who are like-minded, people who see the world in a similar world to the way that I do. Being an activist is very social; you meet a whole lot of people through what you do, and if you want to continue being involved, it is important to network with them. A lot of people say to me, 'George, you do so much and I'd like to as well, but how do I get started? How do I find out about all these things?' And the advice that I always give in response is to say, 'Talk to people. Find out what people think about things, what is going on and what you can do to make a difference to something you care about.' I was given a bit of a boost when I started out; many of my friends happened to be involved in the tuition fee campaigns, and I joined them. I met people there who introduced me to other things, I started this blog to keep a record of it all and it all went from there really. You can't really be an activist on your own; we all contact one another, give each other ideas and organise things like that. After four years, I am really quite a well-known political activist in the Bristol area. I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a public figure, but many people who are involved in any sort of social change know me either personally or through reputation, from things that I may have posted on social media, and if they don't know me they will know some of my activist colleagues. It's a different sort of friendship to most others; you can sit in a bar with them and discuss social issues anecdotally, and you are all aware that you are welcome to disagree with one another and no one will take it personally - it will just spark a debate. Well in any case, you may get different experiences from other people, but this has been mine.
4. The personal satisfaction
That feeling. It's impossible to describe in words, but that feeling that I got at my first demonstration I continue to feel every time I'm in the middle of fighting for something I care about, expressing a point succinctly in a debate or when I get the news that something I have been campaigning about has taken off. It is not unlike that tingly feeling in one's stomach when one is in an aircraft about to take off, although I realise that for people who aren't too keen on travel that may sound like a less pleasant comparison. There are only three things in life that give me that level of excitement: the aircraft example that I just gave, being onstage in front of an audience and being engrossed in a campaign. I don't just do activism for personal satisfaction, of course I do it to make a difference to the world, but the enjoyment that I get from it is undoubtedly a big part, I'm not ashamed to admit it.
5. A greater understanding of the world
As I said in the 'downsides' column, this can also be a negative as it can really get on top of me sometimes. However, the majority of the time being an activist means that without trying, I learn a great deal about how this world works. I am a lot more knowledgable than I was a couple of years ago, and this is not just the fact that I am a few years older than I was that. I read a great many articles about things that are occurring in various countries. I gain a greater understanding of what is ethical and what is not, and I have a considerably more mature viewpoint on most issues than probably many others of my age. I also think that I have learned quite a lot of practical skills as well. I know how to talk a lot and say very little (a tactic I occasionally use with police officers trying to gain information). I know how to be the most influential person in a large group without being the leader. I have a realistic idea about what I can get away with and what I can't, and I am able to remain a prominent figure or to keep my head down accordingly. Perhaps surprisingly, in the years that I have been an activist I have never been arrested - I have rarely done anything illegal, if ever (I cannot be entirely sure, because I don't know the law well enough to be able to judge on technicalities - however, for the most part I take care to remain within the parameters of what is legal, provided I am able). The closest I came to being arrested was during the Palestine conflict, when I was pulled out of a supermarket and kicked to the ground by a police officer, who claimed that I had assaulted him (I had not). Fortunately I managed to avoid being arrested, although there was a very scary moment when I thought I would be. I managed to keep my head down enough to avoid being noticed much for quite a few days afterwards, and I think that this experience taught me a lot. Every experience teaches me so much, and I think if this is how much this kind of work has shaped me within four years, the years to come potentially could contain so much more.
So in summary, despite a few tiresome episodes, being a political activist is pretty sweeting awesome! I'm not lying when I say that I rarely regret the number of things that I'm involved in, and I would honestly recommend it to anyone. It has been a good four years, and I hope I have many more to come!
I will try to update this blog more soon. I was honestly working on this one for the longest I have ever taken to write a blog. It is difficult to write so much in a short space of time - but I'm doing my best! Hope you enjoyed reading it x
Two weeks ago was my four-year anniversary of being a political activist (and yes, I have been working on this blog for all of the last two weeks). On 24 November 2010, at the age of 17, I participated in my first political demonstration, against tuition fees for students, and the adrenaline rush I got from this, coupled with the feeling that I was making a difference in this world, made me think that I wanted to do this in addition to my acting work for the rest of my life. In the last four years, I have done a lot of activism work in all forms, from marching to signing petitions to creating political theatre, and have campaigned on all kinds of issues. My interest in tuition fees went on to other cuts to public services that were being made by the Government (to the NHS for example); from there I went into being interested in political prisoners (specifically, the case of Chelsea Manning), I spent a lot of time opposing the Bedroom Tax and this summer I was heavily involved in the Palestine movement. (I have also done other things, but these have been the campaigns that I have most heavily been involved with.) On my anniversary, I posted on Facebook that I have not regretted a single second of my activism. I still stand by this statement, as everything that I have achieved, and hopefully will continue to achieve, is worth any negative consequences that this kind of work brings. However, there are some days where it crosses my mind that sometimes this is more bother than it is worth. A few days after my anniversary, these thoughts struck me. I thought, 'Is all of this really worth it?' That feeling quickly faded, so obviously it is worth it, but as with most ventures, there are good points and bad points to it. I had the idea for this blog when I was in the bad phase, and it was initially just going to be about the negatives. However, it quickly became clear that this wasn't a good idea, for two reasons: a) Because that would seem like I was advising people against it, and I would never do that and b) I don't want to suggest that it's an unpleasant thing to do. It is generally very rewarding.
So I'm going to post the top five downsides to being an activist, and then neutralise them with five things that really make it worthwhile. Those people who read this who are involved in political activism may be able to identify completely with what I am saying, and those who are not may gain an insight into how life is for me on a day-to-day basis. So, here goes:
The Downsides
1. Being contacted at all times to provide assistance with an impossible number of things
Out of all the downsides to being an activist, this is perhaps the most troublesome, and I really can blame no one but myself for it. What happens is this. I sign a great deal of petitions - more than twenty in a week probably - and they are generally for things that I care about, but naturally some more than others. The organisers of these petitions frequently get back in touch with me about other campaigns that they are working on and could use my help with. Now, I don't really mind them doing that - were I in their shoes, I would do exactly the same thing - but this year it has got to a stage where it is a little bit out of hand. I have decided that between now and the new year I will unsubscribe from a number of sites whose campaigns really do not motivate me quite as much as some of the others. I feel quite bad doing this, because I generally do support them 100%, but I find that I do not physically have the time or energy to be that enthusiastic about every single cause that I am contacted about. I find that a lot of the time I just skim emails, taking in very little. That's not how I want to do things. I want to read and feel passionate about what I'm signing - and a lot of the time I do, but it gets a little too much. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these causes ask for financial donations. I'm a student, and I do not have an income. I have enough money to make donations, but that money is being saved for my future. As an actor, I'm in an incredibly unstable profession, especially in the current financial climate, and when I leave University in 2016, I need to be able to support myself. And if I'm honest, that makes me feel guilty, because I would like to be able to financially contribute more, but there comes a point where I need to think about myself as well. And I think that recently I have been coming to terms with the fact that as an activist, you need to pick and choose which causes really interest you and motivate you to do something about them. It is possible for one person to change the world, but there is only a certain amount that a person can do, so quite frequently I need to think, 'No, that's something for someone else to take on.' It is hard to know when to do that, but I think I'm getting better at it.
2. People's frustrations, and harm to personal friendships
I am naturally very opinionated, and I tend to bring those opinions into social discussion quite a lot, both in person and via online formats such as social media. I think this has always been a part of my character, but in the time that I have been a political activist my convictions have naturally grown stronger, and as a result there have been times that people have been quite taken aback by my blunt approach. I'm really not the type to beat around the bush, or to water down my opinions because someone else disagrees. As someone who is quite frequently involved in quite heated debate, I have rather hardened to it, and I have a resolve to not take anything personally by someone else's opinion. As a matter of fact, I will request that no one ever raises their voice: I think it's a fair bargain to allow someone to say whatever they like to me, in as blunt, sarcastic or rude terminology as they like, provided that they express that in a calm, relaxed and professional manner, and I will make an effort to stick to that myself as well. It's a method of protection that one becomes accustomed to if they are involved in as many political debates as myself. Other people often don't have any method of handling such situations at all. Generally I think that that is their problem and not mine, as I believe that in this sort of conversation it is important to be able to handle oneself well however the other person is taking it, but the reaction to me does get depressing from time to time. There have been times that I have lost friendships for being too outspoken about certain things - for example, an old acquaintance of mine blocked me on Facebook, after she had recently uploaded pictures of her newborn and I left a comment expressing my distaste for people who upload baby pictures. In that instance, I wasn't too bothered as she hadn't been someone I have known especially well, but since then I have actually made an effort to rein that back a little, as it isn't something that is worth losing friends over. But there are times when people object to my political stances so much that they withdraw from me as an individual. I try not to be too upset by it; those people clearly are not worth being friends with, and I have just as many better friends who tell me that they really respect the fact that I tell people straight; but nevertheless it can get quite depressing.
3. Ignorance is bliss, and awareness can be torture
This is an interesting one. Being an activist, I am naturally made more aware of what is going on in this world than I would be otherwise. Generally, I would say that this is a good thing, but there are massive downsides. There are points when my desire to remain informed clashes head-on with my desire to remain sane. There have been times that I have literally had to disconnect from all forms of electronic media just to give myself a break from learning anything more about the terrible things that are going on, because there is so much that is wrong with the world that it sometimes feels like there is nothing that anyone can do to help. Fortunately this feeling is usually pretty brief, and after a decent sleep I normally wake up with the knowledge that whilst one person cannot do everything, one person can do enough, and the rest can be done by others. I think it has been at these points that I have become most aware of my spiritual side. I am actually a very spiritual person - some people are surprised at this fact, because I'm not sure it's the stereotype of an intelligent and earnest actor and political activist, but I think it is this that has made me so spiritual. There are times when I am so freaked out that all I can do is close my eyes and meditate, and I always come to the same realisation when I do this. The realisation is that I am able to work my damned hardest to make a difference in this world, but in order to be effective in that I also have to focus on making life worthwhile for myself. I said once before on this blog that when fighting so that others can have an enjoyable life, you also need an enjoyable life yourself, because if activism is making you depressed and frightened it isn't worth it. Now this would never cause me to give up on activism, but it does sometimes mean that I have to go about things a different way.
4. Not remembering what you've already done
This is another thing that is similar to the first point. When you're involved in as many campaigns as I am, it is quite hard to remember them all. I quite often receive phone calls from organisations who say, 'Hi, you signed our petition about such-and-such recently', and I'll think, 'Did I?' It sounds like something I would have signed, but I can't honestly recall it, as it doesn't stand out from all the others. Also, sometimes I get prompted to do things which I am not sure whether or not I have already done. I am prompted to write to my local MP about a certain issue, and I'll think, 'Now I know I've contacted him about five other things this week, but did I send him anything about this?' I think when I say it like that it sounds a bit like I don't really care about a lot of the campaigns that I'm involved with. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can honestly say that I do completely agree with every petition that I sign, or cause that I get involved with. But aside from the ones that I am the most passionate about, a lot of them seem to get filed in a similar place in my brain, and it is hard to keep up. Maybe I should think about making a written list.
5. The discussions about political and social philosophies
Now don't get me wrong, the people I meet in this world are great. I have met some amazing friends whilst doing this, and I will probably talk about that quite a lot in the 'upsides' section. However, there is one thing that is quite tiresome about the approach of some of the people involved, which is that a serious debate can quite frequently turn to discussions about specific philosophies and ways of thought. Now I realise that that sounds quite crude when I say it like that. I must clarify that it is not that I lack interest in those things; on the contrary, I have had some really fascinating discussions about them. However, I think that when one is discussing a serious political or social issue, that sort of line in conversation is not always especially relevant. It seems that certain people decide what to think about the issues in our society on the basis of whether this is an accepted viewpoint in their chosen philosophical view on life, and I think that that is not the way. It's the same as with agreeing or disagreeing with something because your religion tells you to - I think that if that is the case, you may have chosen that religion in line with your own opinions, but they should not be your opinions because your school of thought tells you that they should. I believe that plain old-fashioned common sense overrides all of this. I would rather people did not box themselves into a certain category that appears to coincide with their views, because it may not coincide with their views on everything and I think it's important to be independent-minded enough to make up one's own mind on a subject when one is presented with all the evidence. There is always a bit of pressure to label oneself as well, and I try to avoid it as much as possible. A lot of people ask whether I am left- or right-wing. If I had to answer that I would say left-wing because that is where most of my views tend to swing, but not all of them. A few of my views are a lot more conservative - I just agree with whatever I happen to think is right. There are people who will tell you that that is all really subjective, but in fairness personal opinion is all subjective. It doesn't make it any less legitimate, and it doesn't mean that you cannot still put forward a convincing argument to sway someone else.
Okay, those are all the most irritating things about this line of work. Now for a much more enjoyable series of paragraphs!
The Upsides (making a difference to the world is of course the main one, and that doesn't get a paragraph here because that should be obvious, so these are additional benefits):
1. Becoming a better and more informed debater
Political debate is everywhere. I sincerely doubt there will be a single person reading this for whom political debate is not a massive part of their lives, although many will probably deny that. I have been debating issues for many years - since I was quite a young child really, and certainly long before I considered myself to be an activist. Everyone likes to express their opinions on things. When I first came to live in Colchester, a lot of my fellow students claimed 'not to care about politics'. I find that an extremely irksome claim, because everyone does - you just need to get someone worked up enough to be able to put across their views. Whilst working on the political cabaret module of my course, there were a lot of political and social issues that came up that people felt very strongly about, which of course led to some pretty heated debates. As a matter of fact, I found this quite exciting as I felt that they had all had a glimpse of my world whilst this was happening, and in any case this was proof that the assertion that one does not care about politics is pretty false. But anyway, I digress slightly. The point that I am trying to make is that I have always been very forthright in terms of expressing my viewpoints, just as everyone is, but in the years that I have done this sort of work I have found myself to be increasingly capable at doing this. Because of the amount that I have read, heard and become informed about, I am now someone who is able to put a point across in a manner which is neither too timid nor too confrontational, back this up with evidence and also listen to another person's point. The more you do this, the better you get. I don't think it is exactly possible to handle a debate perfectly - I am actually quite self-critical, though privately so. After every debate that I take part in, I question whether I had done anything wrong and if so, how I could improve on that next time, and I bear all of this in mind for the next time that such a situation arises. If I have finished a debate and I feel that I have generally handled myself well, even if the other person has not conceded to my overall point, I feel quite elated and satisfied with how I have gone about things. When I was younger, I didn't get that; I would leave thinking of several more valid points that I could have raised and forgot about in the emotion of it all. Of course, that still happens from time to time, but not as frequently as it once did. This is something that I am really proud of actually. I want to be eloquent and articulate. On a personal level, this is the thing that I find the most appealing in another person, and of course the things that one finds appealing in others are generally also the traits that one wishes to incorporate themselves. Every experience that I have makes it easier to be able to handle myself with the proper levels of decorum in high-emotion situations such as this.
2. Immediate respect from people
In the downsides, I talked about the loss of personal friendships due to being outspoken. There is a flip side to this, which is that in certain instances, the term 'political activist' prompts other people to subconsciously view you as being someone important, which is quite a personal confidence boost as well. For example, whilst at WOMAD music festival I heard a pretty fantastic speech from a woman representing Greenpeace, and afterwards I approached her with a smile and said, 'Hi, I'm George, I'm an independent blogger and political activist.' She was immediately very warm and friendly, I found her an easy person to talk to and I felt that I learned something from that. Using those terms was also beneficial for me to subconsciously feel like someone who was entitled to express an opinion. This sounds slightly pretentious when I say it like that, but I don't think it necessarily needs to be. Everyone wants to be respected and to naturally respect themselves, and if you have something that naturally speeds that up a little, it is quite useful. Of course, when it comes down to it it doesn't make me stand out at all, because I'm not any more special than anyone else. Whilst I view it as one of my two main vocations (the other being theatre), 'political activist' just means that I actively and willingly take part in campaigns for various forms of social change. Anyone can do that, I'm just an ordinary person at the end of the day. But those words are an instant way to ingratiate oneself with other like-minded people, who otherwise may not have considered you very worth talking to (and for the record, I'm sure that the lady from Greenpeace who I refer to would have been delighted to chat with me in any case because she was very approachable, but it's a shortcut to getting to have these conversations in the first place that is key.) I like the term 'political activist'; it makes me feel like I'm making an effort to do something decent.
3. The friends I meet
I can honestly say that I have met some of the most amazing, awesome people that I have or will ever come across whilst doing this kind of work! People who are like-minded, people who see the world in a similar world to the way that I do. Being an activist is very social; you meet a whole lot of people through what you do, and if you want to continue being involved, it is important to network with them. A lot of people say to me, 'George, you do so much and I'd like to as well, but how do I get started? How do I find out about all these things?' And the advice that I always give in response is to say, 'Talk to people. Find out what people think about things, what is going on and what you can do to make a difference to something you care about.' I was given a bit of a boost when I started out; many of my friends happened to be involved in the tuition fee campaigns, and I joined them. I met people there who introduced me to other things, I started this blog to keep a record of it all and it all went from there really. You can't really be an activist on your own; we all contact one another, give each other ideas and organise things like that. After four years, I am really quite a well-known political activist in the Bristol area. I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a public figure, but many people who are involved in any sort of social change know me either personally or through reputation, from things that I may have posted on social media, and if they don't know me they will know some of my activist colleagues. It's a different sort of friendship to most others; you can sit in a bar with them and discuss social issues anecdotally, and you are all aware that you are welcome to disagree with one another and no one will take it personally - it will just spark a debate. Well in any case, you may get different experiences from other people, but this has been mine.
4. The personal satisfaction
That feeling. It's impossible to describe in words, but that feeling that I got at my first demonstration I continue to feel every time I'm in the middle of fighting for something I care about, expressing a point succinctly in a debate or when I get the news that something I have been campaigning about has taken off. It is not unlike that tingly feeling in one's stomach when one is in an aircraft about to take off, although I realise that for people who aren't too keen on travel that may sound like a less pleasant comparison. There are only three things in life that give me that level of excitement: the aircraft example that I just gave, being onstage in front of an audience and being engrossed in a campaign. I don't just do activism for personal satisfaction, of course I do it to make a difference to the world, but the enjoyment that I get from it is undoubtedly a big part, I'm not ashamed to admit it.
5. A greater understanding of the world
As I said in the 'downsides' column, this can also be a negative as it can really get on top of me sometimes. However, the majority of the time being an activist means that without trying, I learn a great deal about how this world works. I am a lot more knowledgable than I was a couple of years ago, and this is not just the fact that I am a few years older than I was that. I read a great many articles about things that are occurring in various countries. I gain a greater understanding of what is ethical and what is not, and I have a considerably more mature viewpoint on most issues than probably many others of my age. I also think that I have learned quite a lot of practical skills as well. I know how to talk a lot and say very little (a tactic I occasionally use with police officers trying to gain information). I know how to be the most influential person in a large group without being the leader. I have a realistic idea about what I can get away with and what I can't, and I am able to remain a prominent figure or to keep my head down accordingly. Perhaps surprisingly, in the years that I have been an activist I have never been arrested - I have rarely done anything illegal, if ever (I cannot be entirely sure, because I don't know the law well enough to be able to judge on technicalities - however, for the most part I take care to remain within the parameters of what is legal, provided I am able). The closest I came to being arrested was during the Palestine conflict, when I was pulled out of a supermarket and kicked to the ground by a police officer, who claimed that I had assaulted him (I had not). Fortunately I managed to avoid being arrested, although there was a very scary moment when I thought I would be. I managed to keep my head down enough to avoid being noticed much for quite a few days afterwards, and I think that this experience taught me a lot. Every experience teaches me so much, and I think if this is how much this kind of work has shaped me within four years, the years to come potentially could contain so much more.
So in summary, despite a few tiresome episodes, being a political activist is pretty sweeting awesome! I'm not lying when I say that I rarely regret the number of things that I'm involved in, and I would honestly recommend it to anyone. It has been a good four years, and I hope I have many more to come!
I will try to update this blog more soon. I was honestly working on this one for the longest I have ever taken to write a blog. It is difficult to write so much in a short space of time - but I'm doing my best! Hope you enjoyed reading it x
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