There is a lot to talk about, and it is sometimes hard to know exactly where to start. So yesterday, I decided to ask my friend and occasional colleague Joe Young (of the Joeverwhelming blog, which I highly recommend) to suggest to me what my next blog should be about. He suggested the Human Rights Act, and I have decided to take up that suggestion, as I respect Joe's judgement and this was one of the things I was intending to write about anyway.
The Human Rights Act is actually fairly recent; it was created in 1998 and came into effect in 2000, so it is one of the younger pieces of legislation in the UK, but it is one of the most essential, and also one of the most relied upon. It protects numerous things which are fundamental to a democratic society, such as the right to a fair trial, protection from torture, the right to liberty and security, freedom of speech and numerous other things (the full legislation can be found here). As a political activist, I naturally hold many of these things dear, as the consequences for myself and those I work with could be very severe if we started to dismantle this legislation. However, it is a piece of legislation that everyone could rely upon at some time, regardless of how involved one is in social change.
The occasions on which this Act has been used in court are too numerous to mention in one blog, but many can be found if anyone cares to use a search engine. However, whilst researching for this blog I did find one prime example:
The Government proposes replacing the Human Rights Act with a 'British Bill of Rights'. The proposed reasons for this centre around the suggestion that our Human Rights Act is vulnerable to the European Courts overriding British law (in actuality, there is a clause in the Human Rights Act concerning foreign powers interfering with our laws). It is my opinion that this is a smokescreen for abolishing the rights that have been fought for for centuries, and I will state firmly that this is not on. I'm not aware of precisely what the contents of this British Bill of Rights will be, but I have no doubt that it will not be as effective a protection for individuals as what we currently have.
There are some more positive ways of looking at this. Contrary to popular belief, the abolition of the Human Rights Act was not mentioned in the Queen's Speech when she opened Parliament (the British Bill of Rights was mentioned, but nothing about the Human Rights Act). Labour have been very vocal against this happening, and there is a very active 38 Degrees petition for the Human Rights Act to be saved, or at the very least for a referendum to be held on the matter. In recent weeks, the Government seems to have stopped advocating for its abolition quite as vocally - I have no doubt that it is still on the cards, but it seems to be on more of a slow lane now, which is encouraging. The pressure must not be taken off, however.
The subject of a referendum is a tricky one. I would rather have a referendum than it being abolished without one; however, I would not welcome a referendum because I simply do not believe that we need one. I feel that if we had one, the political rhetoric that would be spun may be enough to convince enough people to vote in favour of abolishing the Human Rights Act. I realise that there are some clauses in it which some people object to (I recall a video by John Bird, of Big Issue fame, a few years ago complaining about it being used in the favour of murderers, for example). Personally I am in favour of all of these sections being applied to everyone non-exclusively, but that is a moot point. To anyone who has any concerns such as these, I will ask only this: In what world does concern about criminals being treated better than they deserve outweigh the need for people who have done nothing wrong to be treated fairly? How is it reasonable that we place our rights in the hands of a Government that has proven on numerous occasions that it does not care about ordinary people, simply because there are some issues that a few people have with certain sections? I actually believe in ethical treatment being applied across the board to everyone, including to those who have committed horrific crimes, but even if I did not believe that, I would not be able to shake off the idea of how foolish this course of action would be in dealing with it.
Thanks for reading. Please sign the petition if you have not already done so, and hopefully together we can beat this attack on our freedoms.
I shall close by once again shamelessly plugging the National Austerity Demonstration this weekend. The link I shared is to the one that I am going to in London, but there are others happening around the country for anyone unable to get there. If you are able, please attend and do your bit!
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Monday, 15 June 2015
The most poorly-organised protest I have ever been to
I'm going to talk about the most poorly-organised protest I have ever been to. It was so poorly-organised that I feel that this has rubbed off on me, as the demonstration itself was around two weeks ago and I am only just getting to writing about it now. (No, that's a joke - there are two reasons that I've been slightly lacking in this blog over the last few weeks. One is that I have been extraordinarily busy with Uni, and the other is that I knew that my next blog would be about this protest, and it was so depressing that I kept putting off writing about it. Stupid, I know. But I've now finished Uni, so I shall probably be able to make up for the last few weeks by updating quite a lot this week. Keep your eyes peeled!)
Perhaps in the title of this I should have referred to 'protests' (in the plural) because it actually took the form of three, and this was the biggest mistake of all which created a domino effect on everything else that went on that day. There were three protests in London, all at the same time, all within a mile of one another, focussing on slightly different things but generally based around the same principles - i.e. anti-austerity, anti-privitisation, pro-human rights, pro-socialism, pro-electoral reform etc. When I arrived in London, I met up with some colleagues that I had met on the previous demonstration, plus a couple of new people. We had agreed to attend the demonstration focussing on securing the Human Rights Act, but when we arrived, it became evident for several reasons that it wasn't for us.
The first thing that immediately turned my group off was that it seemed to be largely Liberal Democrat focussed. Now this actually didn't bother me that much, as I give the Lib Dems a little bit more credit than most left-wingers do, but the people I was with really did not want to be associated in this way. Also, the speeches being made were not very good, in all honesty - they weren't engaging people at all and the information given wasn't especially accurate. But the main reason that I was turned off from it was just that it didn't seem like we were achieving anything - the demonstration was very small, we were standing in a corner of the road with no one paying any attention to us. So we stayed for about half an hour, gave a couple of media interviews and then left for Westminster Bridge.
By the time we got there, however, the people there had already given up, as there was absolutely nothing going on. So with heavy hearts, we trudged over to the National Gallery. This was the only demonstration that seemed to be going anywhere, as we picketed the gallery protesting against privatisation for a while - it had clearly been successful, but was coming to a natural conclusion when we got there (I did get to see part of a speech by Kate Smurthwaite though, and I think she speaks very well, so that was a highlight!) Overall though, politically speaking it was a waste of a day, as by around 3pm all of the demonstrations were over. I stayed in London for a bit longer and it became a bit more of a social occasion getting to know my fellow protesters, which I enjoyed but it was not what I was there for.
I don't know how it was that three similar protests were organised in the same city, on the same day, so close to one another without combining all three. If all three had been combined, I think that there would have been a high chance of having a really successful day, but as it was, the people were spread so thin that I felt that little was achieved - with the possible exception of the National Gallery, but I arrived too late to really comment on that one. I'm annoyed about this, as I felt that this movement has lost a little bit of momentum. However, it is not over yet. This Saturday (20 June) is the big anti-austerity protest in London, which is expected to be big. As for what will happen after that, I'm not sure yet - I intend there to be more of these, and if no one seems to be doing anything, perhaps I shall organise it myself. I certainly have enough political contacts to be able to do that. In the meantime, let's focus on what is happening this Saturday.
Here is the Facebook event page. Please come everyone!
National Demo ANTI AUSTERITY NOW!
Thank you to everyone who was at the demonstration two weeks ago, and apologies that it has taken me this long to write about it. As I mentioned earlier, I now have a lot more free time, so I intend to write quite a bit between now and Saturday's demonstration, which I will be attending. Watch this space!
Perhaps in the title of this I should have referred to 'protests' (in the plural) because it actually took the form of three, and this was the biggest mistake of all which created a domino effect on everything else that went on that day. There were three protests in London, all at the same time, all within a mile of one another, focussing on slightly different things but generally based around the same principles - i.e. anti-austerity, anti-privitisation, pro-human rights, pro-socialism, pro-electoral reform etc. When I arrived in London, I met up with some colleagues that I had met on the previous demonstration, plus a couple of new people. We had agreed to attend the demonstration focussing on securing the Human Rights Act, but when we arrived, it became evident for several reasons that it wasn't for us.
The first thing that immediately turned my group off was that it seemed to be largely Liberal Democrat focussed. Now this actually didn't bother me that much, as I give the Lib Dems a little bit more credit than most left-wingers do, but the people I was with really did not want to be associated in this way. Also, the speeches being made were not very good, in all honesty - they weren't engaging people at all and the information given wasn't especially accurate. But the main reason that I was turned off from it was just that it didn't seem like we were achieving anything - the demonstration was very small, we were standing in a corner of the road with no one paying any attention to us. So we stayed for about half an hour, gave a couple of media interviews and then left for Westminster Bridge.
By the time we got there, however, the people there had already given up, as there was absolutely nothing going on. So with heavy hearts, we trudged over to the National Gallery. This was the only demonstration that seemed to be going anywhere, as we picketed the gallery protesting against privatisation for a while - it had clearly been successful, but was coming to a natural conclusion when we got there (I did get to see part of a speech by Kate Smurthwaite though, and I think she speaks very well, so that was a highlight!) Overall though, politically speaking it was a waste of a day, as by around 3pm all of the demonstrations were over. I stayed in London for a bit longer and it became a bit more of a social occasion getting to know my fellow protesters, which I enjoyed but it was not what I was there for.
I don't know how it was that three similar protests were organised in the same city, on the same day, so close to one another without combining all three. If all three had been combined, I think that there would have been a high chance of having a really successful day, but as it was, the people were spread so thin that I felt that little was achieved - with the possible exception of the National Gallery, but I arrived too late to really comment on that one. I'm annoyed about this, as I felt that this movement has lost a little bit of momentum. However, it is not over yet. This Saturday (20 June) is the big anti-austerity protest in London, which is expected to be big. As for what will happen after that, I'm not sure yet - I intend there to be more of these, and if no one seems to be doing anything, perhaps I shall organise it myself. I certainly have enough political contacts to be able to do that. In the meantime, let's focus on what is happening this Saturday.
Here is the Facebook event page. Please come everyone!
National Demo ANTI AUSTERITY NOW!
Thank you to everyone who was at the demonstration two weeks ago, and apologies that it has taken me this long to write about it. As I mentioned earlier, I now have a lot more free time, so I intend to write quite a bit between now and Saturday's demonstration, which I will be attending. Watch this space!
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
Being a leftie
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.
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.
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
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