Escolar Documentos
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contents
FEATURES REGULARS
9 Biology as ideology 3 Editorial
For over 40 years there has been an increasing momentum to the wholesale Know your enemy
medicalisation of human and social problems.
4 Pathfinders
Love is the drug
11 The happy slave syndrome
Why do we so doggedly embrace the wages and money system when it
openly makes use of us? 5 Letters
22 50 Years Ago
The Liberal Revival
23 Greasy Pole
Timer for a change
I
2002 novel Happiness. Would the social
n a lighter moment the other day, the present writer
institutions of capitalist coercion and wage-slavery
penned a short tale about a society at war which
begin to crumble and break under the weight of joyful
agreed for humane reasons to exempt all couples
anti-capitalist non-cooperation, as Ferguson gleefully
in love from military service, an infallible test for love
suggests? Presumably not, or not right away. If self-help
being available in the form of an MRI scan of the
books could cause revolutions, Marx’s Capital would have
hypothalamus. What followed was the black-market
been the last self-help book in history.
proliferation of Cupidol, a drug to make people fall in
But it is tempting to speculate just how close the
love with anyone. This story, as may be surmised, was
artificial bond of identification between system and
intended as futuristic comedy.
psyche, referred to by Peter Rigg (page 11), would
As if to prove that fiction can always be trumped by
continue to be if people, either through drugs or DIY
fact, what came through the door a week later, in the
therapy, weren’t quite so devastatingly messed up by the
May 17 issue of New Scientist, was the story of how MRI
social order they help maintain.
scans of the hypothalamus, part of the limbic system
In reality, the biggest problems with any
of the brain which governs emotions, are being used to
pharmaceutical road to earthly paradise are first, that the
track the neurotransmitter oxytocin, known as the ‘love
effects would wear off and you’d have to keep re-dosing
hormone’. This hormone is now the subject of intense
and second, and more to the point, that even if citizen
research as a possible new wonder therapy for so-called
worker got herself loved up and liberated, the bosses still
people-problem mental disorders, as well as its offshoot
have the loot and the law. That, and a cold and distinctly
commercial potential as a recreational love drug that
unloving gleam in their eye. Like it or not, conscious
would beat Ecstasy - pants down, presumably.
political action will not come out of a 30 milligram dose of
Oxytocin seems to be released in varying degrees and
delight to the limbic system. For that you have to rely on
pulses during social interactions, and in strong doses
the more prosaic technologies of reason, democracy and
during romantic and sexual encounters, it reduces stress,
organisation.
aids relaxation and assists in bonding. Studies suggest
Research into such frontier territory as neurobiology,
that blocking receptors of this neurotransmitter results
while not offering any magic bullet for social or
in the turning-off of bonding patterns in prairie voles,
psychological disorders under capitalism, certainly
and rats and mice stop nurturing their young or even
should be explored and would be pursued in socialism
recognising their own familiars. Its function appears to be
too, because of its potential for insight into how our
to associate social interaction with pleasure, and it works
minds work, what happens chemically when we relate to
in tandem with the ‘reward’ transmitters dopamine and
other people, and when we don’t. And this in turn may
opioids to create a feel-good effect.
offer us further insights into how best to organise our
The implications, according to the article, could be
social and democratic structures, given that in socialism
enormous for human psychological disorders that arise
we will be at liberty, for the first time, to debate such
from relationships with other humans, among them
things as a matter of conscious collective design.
depression, personality disorders, psychosis, social
Hurd ‘warned’ Rumania and the GDR, respective- From Capitalism to Socialism: how we live and how we could live....£1.00 x____
ly, in their elections, that unless opposition par-
ties enjoyed “reasonable access” to (state-control- Africa: A Marxian Analysis...................................................................£1.50 x____
led) media, the resulting administration would not
enjoy access to low-interest loans from Western Socialism as a Practical Alternative....................................................£1.00 x____
ian newspaper, if I recollect. How we Live and How we Might Live by William Morris.....................£1.50 x____
And, in the 1996 Bosnian election, a fascist
candidate was able to access the OSCE fund, for The Right to be Lazy and other articles by Paul Lafargue..................£2.00 x____
politicking/propagandising purposes. The Foreign
Office denied it had contributed to the support Marxism Revisited..............................................................................£2.00 x____
fund, but claimed Italy had provided the funds. Socialist Principles Explained.............................................................£2.00 x____
I thought all funds were usually contributed to
pro-rata (Guardian article and Foreign Office cor- The Market System must Go! Why Reformism doesn’t work.............£2.75 x____
respondence to me.)
D. SHEPHERD, London NW4 All the above pamphlets (25% discount).....................................£15.00 x____
TOTAL ...........................................................................................£___________
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solutions to our personal and societal are opposed to this Western imperial-
problems—Dr. Mark or Dr. Joan! The ist encroachment. Not only are there
politics is taken out of problems. It differences across contemporary
is not social conditions that require culture but even in the West differ-
changing—it is our biology. And for ences are found across time. To show
‘mental illness’, this means the resort the difference in how misery shows
to pills—the chemical balance of your itself across cultures consider these
brain needs to be adjusted. examples of what are called culture-
Today, the bible of psychiatric bound syndromes.
approach to human misery is the Koko: usually Malaysian males
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of who believe their sexual organs are
the American Psychiatric Associa- shrinking, and is accompanied by
tion (DSM-IV). When it appeared in panic as this is an indication of im-
1994 (only 7 years after DSM-II), it minent death.
was some 900 pages long (a revision Latah: experienced by Indonesians
is due in 2010 and is expected to be who develop an exaggerated startle
1250 pages). Within DSM are over response, which includes shouting
300 diagnoses. If you feel in need of a rude words and mimicking the be-
diagnostic label you are sure to find haviour of those nearby.
one here. Western psychiatry tries to put
Over the years of revision from these cultural forms into its catego-
DSM in 1952 the shift has been away ries.
from a psycho-analytic perspective To show how even in the West
to a biological one. Now, the biologi- psychiatrists have changed their
cal perspective is the dominant one, mind, consider what Samuel Cart-
and refusal to toe the line can lead wright classified as “drapetomania”
to a psychiatric career coming to an in 1851. This disease was previ-
end—not only in terms of posts but ously unknown to medical author-
also any research grants. No longer is ity, although its diagnostic symptom
the personal political – the personal was well known to “our planters and
has become biological. overseers”. This symptom was found
The biological approach, how- only in black slaves and involved
ever, has come under attack from a “absconding from service”.
number of perspectives. The whole of He concluded that what “induces
I
t was in the late 19th/20th centu- the conceptual apparatus has been the Negro to run away is as much a
ries that the notion of conceiving undermined by psychiatric service disease of the mind as any other spe-
of distress/madness as a ‘mental users, psychologists and sociologists. cies of mental alienation and much
illness’ came to predominate. In par- Yet the edifice still stands and may more curable”. The cause was not
ticular, the work of Emil Kraepelin, be gaining in strength. The general pills but “whipping the devil out of
and the notion of trying to classify public seems to be keen on it, let them”. The patient should be treated
distress into a number of discrete alone other professional and politi- like a child. But he warned against
psychiatric disorders, and that these cal interests. It will be a tough nut to being too lenient or overly severe
disorders were diseases of the brain, crack. whipping—both of which would
and that these diseases of the brain As more mental illness catego- induce “drapetomania”. The term is
were categorically distinct from the ries are added because more people derived from the Greek “drapetes”— a
normal brain and normal behaviour. are showing their misery in different runaway slave.
For the last hundred years biolog- ways, this provides an ideal oppor- Even schizophrenia has been seen
ical psychiatrists have been looking tunity for the commodification of as a disorder that is of recent origin,
for pathologies in the brain to explain happiness—with the solution to un- being rarely noted before the rise of
the different symptoms that ‘patients’ happiness being offered by the phar- modernity, in traditional or pre-liter-
present. What with the 1990s being macology industry, often referred to ate societies.
declared the Decade of the Brain, as BigPharma. The biological approach is not
and with the Human Genome Project, only wrong, but it is also ideological.
they have had a good twenty years to No place for culture This is not to deny that biological
propagate their view. Indeed, for over The biological approach claims factors are not prominent in certain
40 years there has been an increas- that its diagnostic categories are disorders. But whatever role bio-
ing movement towards the wholesale objective and universal because they logical factors play, psychological
medicalisation of human and social are based on the pathologies of the interactions cannot be reduced to the
problems. Virtually every problem brain. Schizophrenia is schizophrenia biological. As biological entities, all
is conceived as something that can in AD 2007 or 2007 BC, in Britain or our activities have a biological com-
come under the scrutiny not only of Borneo. The particularities of culture ponent. But psychological activities
medicine in general but psychiatry in have no place here. are constituted in the interaction or
particular. Who are the gurus on TV But this is not the whole story. transaction of a biological organism
and the press to whom we turn to for There are cultural psychiatrists who and a physical social environment.
F
or some of us our wage slav- of banding together and ending our tribute those qualities to money and
ery can buy us a comfortable, exploitation. We try to win in the deny them in ourselves. Money is
prosperous lifestyle and per- rat race instead of trying to abolish endowed with the same sort of status
sonally rewarding work; for others it, thereby ensuring that the capital- as a god, it seems to be the source of
it means being discarded; for most ist class goes on mining our lives everything; but of course we are, as
of us perhaps it’s something in be- for profit. We are like the credu- the people of the world, self-evidently,
tween. But in any event, the sole lous ‘natives’ of imperial mythology, the source of everything. Nothing
purpose of the capitalist system is marvelling at our handful of pretty comes from money; money is an
to make a profit out of us and to ac- beads while the white man robs us of agreed convention; it’s a fiction that
cumulate capital, and no amount everything. holds and wields all the power we
of TV property programmes, cars, Our hope has been dashed in can’t bear to own. We are like our
foreign holidays, latte coffee, or shop- so many ways. Hitler, Stalin, Mao fictitious piano woman – she could
ping makes any difference to that. and Pol Pot have poisoned our play the piano but she sees all of that
A certain proportion of us are able understanding by pasting the word in her daughter. The analogy is that
to believe that ‘we’re all middle class ‘socialism’ onto the very opposite, we could run the world, but we let
now’, because some of us at least their barbarous tyrannies. Labour money run it instead.
can afford to accumulate a certain movements have been disabled by We also project into money our
amount of stuff. But this is an illu- the capitalists’ increased ability to adult capacities and onto money
sion; there is no middle class. We’re move capital and workers round the the status of a parent on whom we
all working class in the economic world. Reformist parties have caved depend. In relation to money it is as
sense that we have to sell our labour in to the needs of capital to the point if adults are babies or small children,
in order to live, with the exception, of embarrassment. We find dumb se- unable to judge whether we need
of course, of the small number of renity staring at a screen or through something or not. It is money, the
capitalists who can live entirely on a windscreen. stern parent, that tells us we can’t
the labour of others. The rest of us Nevertheless, beyond this, I think have things. This parent can be so
are all, economically speaking, work- that we ourselves have been struc- stern that for many of us money
ing class by virtue of the fact that we tured to accept this system. One way refuses us enough to eat, refuses
have to let ourselves be used, to sell of looking at the way capitalism has us medical care. It can deny us the
our labour power, to live. formed us and we form it in turn, is barest dignity in old age, or even life
And yet, how readily we embrace through a consideration of our psy- itself. When we can’t have something
the illusion! From the ‘minnows’ of chological defences, a psychological we need, we say ‘Where’s the money
the Wall Street stock boom in the term for the means we use to manage going to come from?’ And this can
20’s to Margaret Thatcher’s new our lives in the face of threats to our apply equally to goods which are, in
homeowners and the ‘Sids’ of work- stability. reality, either plentiful or scarce.
ing class share ownership, and now, We all try to find ways of defend- It works the other way too. We
in Russia, China and India, we reach ing ourselves psychologically. It’s assume that our wants are limitless
out again and again in individual natural and necessary. We couldn’t and that, if money weren’t an ob-
aspiration, setting aside the hope get through the day if we were con- stacle, we’d just accumulate things
The way the world can could be increased and, indeed, will be increased in response to
high prices.
feed itself David Smith made the same point we made here in February:
“Set-aside subsidies have been an important part of the com-
That was the headline of an article mon agricultural policy. Farmers have been paid not to produce.
in the Sunday Times (27 April) by their Last September, however, EU ministers agreed on a zero set-
Cooking Economics Editor David Smith. The way aside rate for 2007-8, to boost grain production by 10m tons”.
the he endorsed was allowing “large, techno-
logically sophisticated agro companies” to
Meanwhile in rice-growing Thailand:
“Fields that have lain fallow are being ploughed and planted;
Books 1 take over food production from peasant in wet and fertile central Thailand . . . farmers are contemplating
farmers in Africa and elsewhere. Yes, but three or even four harvests a year, beyond the usual one or two”
what will happen to the millions of dispossessed peasants this (Times, 28 April).
would create? How will they be able to get money to buy food? This raises the question of why in a world where there is
But at least he conceded that it is technically feasible to produce mass hunger in some parts – 1 billion in “absolute poverty” and a
enough food to feed the world’s population. further 854 million who are “food insecure” (Times 8 April) – this
It might have been expected that the recent increase in the land wasn’t used before to produce more wheat or rice. The an-
world market price of wheat and rice and the resulting food riots swer is obvious: it wasn’t profitable, the price wasn’t high enough.
in Haiti and other countries would lead to a revival of the views The ironic thing is that this extra food production will not ben-
of the Reverend Thomas Malthus, the 18th English parson turned efit those in “absolute poverty” since they still won’t be able to af-
economist, who argued that world poverty and starvation are due ford to buy it. And if prices fall again, as they might well do since
to overpopulation, to not being able to produce enough food for the rise is partly due to a speculative boom amongst commodity
everyone. But no. All the pundits and all the spokespersons of traders, then the land will be taken out of production again. That’s
international capitalist institutions such as the World Bank and the way the market works. But what a way to run the world.
the UN World Food Programme (WFP) seem agreed that the There is an obvious solution: produce food directly for people
problem is not that enough food cannot be produced to feed the to eat. But, first, the land and all the rest of the world’s resources,
hungry, but that the hungry cannot afford to pay for the food that industrial as well as natural, will have to stop being the private
has already been produced. As Peter Smerdon, Africa spokes- property of rich individuals, multinational corporations and states
man for the WFP put it in an interview with the Times (8 April): and become the common heritage of all humanity. On this basis
“it is not a question of availability as one saw in previous enough food could rapidly be produced to eliminate starvation im-
drought-induced famines. ‘People can suddenly no longer afford mediately and, within a few years, to provide every man, woman
the food they see on store shelves because prices are beyond and child on the planet with an adequate diet.
their reach. It is about accessibility . . .’”
In fact, it seems to be generally admitted that food production
F
ootball fans were given something meaty to chew in the late nineteenth century, players moved around
on recently when the English Football Association from club to club if their services were required. Thus we
appointed an Italian, Fabio Capello, as manager of had, firstly, northerners playing for southern clubs and
the national team. Capello, in turn, brought with him vice versa, then Scots playing for and managing English
a bevy of besuited Italian colleagues to help him to en- clubs, then English players and managers moving abroad
sure that England qualify for, and preferably do well to foreign clubs as their overseas counterparts came in
in, the next major tournament, the 2010 World Cup. the opposite direction, only more recently in far greater
Most football fans, including large sections of the numbers. At every stage of increasing “foreignness”, there
press, have been tearing their hair out in frustration were many objectors.
because the England team hasn’t been doing too well But after the inevitable cries of horror, each encroach-
recently in comparison with the top national sides. (Let’s ment of ‘foreigners’ into the game is accepted as long as
leave aside the fact that England isn’t strictly speaking it helps ‘your’ team to win. For the fans, winning is an
a nation and that the United Kingdom actually has four end in itself, a kind of vicarious success and reflected
‘national’ teams). The crunch came when the previous glory. For the players, it means a better living (sometimes,
manager, Steve McClaren, failed to ‘lead’ England to the in the case of the top players, dramatically so). For the
2008 European Championship finals this coming sum- clubs, it is a means of making profits, or at least avoiding
mer. He was considered not to have enough charisma or losses and staying in business. So if foreign players and
technical know-how for the job. Capello was seen as the managers can help in the process of winning, most people
best qualified manager to take over. The only fly in the involved in the game are satisfied, albeit grudgingly in
ointment was his nationality, but for the sake of getting some cases.
the right man, this was overlooked and those who would The other side of the coin is that employing foreign
have preferred an Englishman breathed a collective sigh players and managers is regarded as a failure for the na-
of resignation. At least this foreigner, with his no-non- tional game. The general view is that the England team is
sense approach and impressive managerial CV, might not good enough because, as a result of the foreign influx,
knock a bunch of spoiled, overpaid players into shape there aren’t thought to be enough good English players or
and win something. managers bubbling up through the system.
This is not the first time a foreigner has been involved Shame, we are told, and we hear players saying that
in English football, although based on the press coverage to play for their country is the greatest honour. But in-
and fan reaction, we’d have been forgiven for thinking so. terestingly, club managers aren’t so patriotic – they don’t
Only a few years ago, the England team was managed by like ‘call-ups’ for fear their players get injured and reduce
a Swede, Sven-Goran Eriksson, but, perhaps because he the chances of winning for their club.
spoke good English and was temperamentally more like The issue of club versus country or national versus
an Englishman than Capello, he was more readily ac- foreigner in football is a reflection of the confused attitude
cepted. More significantly, there is now a proliferation of to nationalism in capitalist society in general. After all,
non-English players in professional English club foot- organised football is entirely a product of capitalism. The
ball, to the extent that some sides rarely field an English same is true of all modern professional sport. Its increas-
player at all. In this sense, the game in some quarters is ingly ruthless and competitive nature is a direct result
truly cosmopolitan. of the increasingly ruthless and competitive society it is
Looking farther back, the reality is that there has a part of. Here are some more examples which show the
always been a foreign or non-local element in English increasing pervasiveness of capitalism into sport as in
football. Almost from its inception as an organised sport, everyday life.
The nature of “In this case, the decisions to sail: without an operational
governor; sail in excess of the maximum permissible seago-
business ing bending moments in order to allow greater flexibility for the
time of departure; to operate at near maximum bending mo-
Remember the scenes in Janu- ments when underway; and to keep the ship’s speed as fast as
ary last year when hundreds flocked to possible when pounding into heavy seas, were symptomatic of
Cooking Branscombe beach in Devon to scavenge
for the cargo of a beached container
the industry’s ethos to carry as much as possible as quickly as
possible”.
the ship? Some saw this as confirmation of This wasn’t the first time the MAIB had pointed this out. The
Books 2 the popular prejudice that it is “human
nature” to grab, grab, grab. Actually, it
report quotes from a previous report put out in September 2007
on another accident:
was a manifestation of human behaviour “Working practices relating to the planning, loading, transpor-
in a society where normally everything has to be paid for when tation and discharge of containers are largely unregulated and
something becomes unexpectedly and temporarily available for have been understandably focussed on the need to maximise
free. efficiency and speed of operation. While key industry players will
But that’s not the main lesson of the incident. This April the attest that safety is of paramount concern, evidence obtained
Marine Accident Investment Branch (MAIB) of the Department during this and other MAIB investigations into container shipping
for Transport published its report on what happened (www.maib. accidents suggests that in reality, the safety of ships, crews and
dft.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/2008/msc_napoli. the environment is being compromised by the overriding desire
cfm). The report didn’t just deal with the technical aspects of why to maintain established schedules or optimise port turn round
the hull cracked and why the ship had to be beached to avoid a times”.
serious oil spillage but looked at the wider context too. Something will no doubt be done to tighten up the regula-
In section 2.10 on the “Container Ship Industry”, the MIAB tions – or rather the unenforceable “code of best practice” – if
observed: only because accidents cost the shipping companies money. But
“Without the ability to quickly ship large quantities of contain- the real question is why weren’t proper safety measures already
ers across the oceans, containerisation would be generally in place? The answer is the commercial pressures that all firms
constrained within the continents. However, the commercial ad- are subject to under capitalism. The shipping companies are all
vantages of containerisation and intermodalism such as speed in competition with each other for business, and those who can
and quick turnarounds appear to have become the focus of the deliver quicker get the contracts.
industry at the expense of the safe operation of its vessels. The It is not human nature to grab, grab, grab, but it is the nature
industry is very schedule driven, and operators inevitably have of capitalist businesses to take risks and cut corners with safety
an eye on the timetable when making key decisions”. to win the battle of competition and make more profits.
On the particular accident last January, the report went on:
Boris who?
I
came back from attending the affordable) on all new building proj- are profits to be made, and entre-
London elections count on the 2nd ects. Instead he promised to “work preneurs ready to enter the crime
of May, to find the following letter with the boroughs” in order to build market, there will be blood.” How
on my welcome mat, from a Labour the same 55,000 such new homes. can you say such things when, under
Party member of my acquaintance. In other words, he was going to al- Labour, free enterprise has brought
Dear Pik, low Tory boroughs to refuse to allow us such prosperity?
As I write, Tories overhead are low cost housing in their halcyon I know Ken Livingstone almost
taking over my city. Otherwise areas that might attract the likes said as much, blaming the rise of
civilised people, with a knowledge who might vote Labour. Likewise teenage violent crime on his success
of Beethoven and Shakespeare, are his promise to promote building that in smashing the drugs networks (ap-
trying to enact Tory policies. I am won’t spoil existing views – protect parently, he reckons, with their foot
currently cowering in my cellar, with the rich and drive the poor into al- soldiers in prison, the drugs barons
my Grandad’s old steel helmet on my ready ugly ghettoes. just started recruiting a new genera-
head, and a phrase book of how to I know I’ve spent the last few tion). But, really, how could you pos-
speak Tory. I have stockpiled on bul- years talking up Labour’s increase in sibly equate the likes of Shell or BAE
ly beef and powdered egg, and with policing, and how that has cut crime. with a bunch of violent hoodlums
my knife tied to a broomstick I am You said that crime always falls while using violence to make money?
prepared to last out the rule of Boris the economy grows, and showed me So what that Karloff will surround
Karloff – or whatever his name is. graphs and stuff to prove it (do you himself with are advisers he can
I remember our conversations, in always carry those round in your delegate to – just like the way he ran
those now far-off days of Labour rule, pocket?); but Boris wants to cut the the right-wing rag The Spectator. So,
in which the sun always seemed to cost of policing, while at the same you reckon, that means that they’ll
shine. You said, if I recall, that Boris time putting more police on the tubes ensure that he stays within the law,
is just a saloon bar bore – heartland and buses. He wants to cut and cut and doesn’t do anything so disas-
Tory who believes in small govern- taxes, and the expensive part of the trous that the profit of the people
ment and just letting the rich get on mayoral budget is the police part. I who own London will be threatened.
with running their lives. Just look, know you said “how can Boris be Most of what will change will be the
you said, at his housing policy, he tough on crime if there isn’t plenty mood music from city hall – even if it
wants to end the requirement to have of crime to be tough on”, and I agree will be the harsh sounds of the right-
50 percent affordable housing (and that the Tories do try to have it both wing dog whistle.
no, I still don’t know what “afford- ways, but I was shocked when you You’ll miss Ken now he’s gone. He
able” actually means in practice, nor said “look, the root cause of crime fought for a living wage in London
for whom they are supposed to be is free enterprise – so long as there £7.20 an hour, the European decency
Biafra
promote Black and Minority Ethnic- What was that you were telling me
ity businesses. OK, a lot of that was about the BNPer you overheard talk-
compliance with national law, so ing about why he believed his “mixed
Boris will hardly be unable to undo it race” grandson that he was rais-
and Oil
all, but he will say mean things, and ing should be allowed into the BNP
upset a lot of people – you just watch. (despite understanding the need to
I mean, you said, “Livingstone “protect the species”)? I know “its
hasn’t got rid of poverty, and can’t irrational” and that they’re clinging to
– he’s consciously working within the this sense of identity. Of course, the
capitalist system. Look at his argu- Tory party has long contained such
ments over the Public Private Part- people, and if the workers come to Oil was a major issue in the
nership – he wasn’t against capitalist believe such nonsense there’s noth- Nigerian civil war forty years
finance, he just thought the state ing we could do to stop them.
should borrow on the open market, Except, you were there when we
ago.
and pay profits in the form of interest both heard Frank Dobson MP sug-
N
on that debt.” gesting we should just change the igeria is a country that was
And you said “he didn’t use his electoral rules to keep the BNP out. created artificially by British
position to call for radical change, That seems fair to me – these people colonialism. It has a complex
instead he used machiavellian tactics are opposed to democracy anyway, so ethnic mixture of groups, with a divi-
to hold on to power while working we need to take away their votes in sion between the North, inhabited
behind the scenes to secure his basis order to save voting. After all, if we by Muslim Fulani-Hausas with a
of support That’s why he lost, he can point to the BNP we can per- rigid feudal system, and the South
where a number of different ethnic
just strung workers along with a few suade people to vote for us to keep
groups co-existed loosely, the largest
paltry promises – and when a better them out. I know you keep saying of these groups being the Christian
snake oil salesman came along, they that unless we give people something Igbos and Yorubas. The trick of Brit-
buggered off and voted for him in- to be for, and actively try to change ish colonialism was the divide and
stead. Selling promises isn’t democ- their minds, then the BNP is what rule system. They knew the nature
racy, it’s the politics of the market you get. I know that Brown shame- of Nigeria; that it is a country that
place, and Ken was just out-entre- lessly pandered to their prejudices doesn’t have the same climate, not
preneured by Karloff.” with the slogan “British jobs for the same religion, not the same men-
So, you reckon Ken lost because British workers” that the BNP then tality, not the same food, not the
the workers preferred what the Tories prominently displayed on their elec- same dress, not the same dialect,
and not the same culture. They used
had on offer and wanted that. I don’t tion material. But trying to change
their military might to force Nigeria
believe it, I think their minds were people’s minds is a way to lose to be one by the amalgamation of the
warped by the Evening Standard elections, unless we tell them what southern and northern protectorates
using mind rays or something. How they want to hear, we’ll never get to of Nigeria. They gave the Fulani emirs
could they possibly want to vote for get into government and enact our political prominence at the expense
someone who will allow them to drive programme. of the Southern population and left
gas guzzling cars, opposes a 24 hour So, the “socialism” you talk about a time bomb with the fuse burning.
freedom pass for pensioners and who sounds lovely. It’s a great idea, but Prior to independence, and after-
will doubtless cut back on free bus no-one will ever go for it. In the wards, many threats of a Northern
travel for school kids? meanwhile we’ve got to try and run secession were made by the Northern
Next you’ll be telling me that the capitalism as it exists. We don’t have politicians because they did not want
fact that the BNP won a seat isn’t time for changing minds, for educa- to be part of Nigeria. But in realty
a cause for concern. I know what tion, for the hard slog of building up these Northern political kangaroos
you’ll say, that they just got one of a clear line of advance, we just need called leaders did not want to lose the
the seats that went to UKIP at the to adjust how we sell our product benefit of Southern oil and indus-
last election (the Tories got the other), better. Brown will try and make out tries. Nigeria was supposed to get its
and so that just means that the that he has gifts to give the electors independence before the Gold Coast
anti-immigration rightwing majority in return for their votes, and if we (now Ghana) did in 1957 but, be-
on the GLA will be maintained (yes, I overcome this mid-term blip, then, at cause Northerners were not prepared
know the fact that under PR the right least, we might hang on, or at least to be part of the new country, Nige-
predominated previously shows that deny the Tories a majority. ria lost many years in debate and
there is mass support for such views Anyway, I must go now, I think I compromise until the North agreed to
in London, and that Karloff’s victory heard Tories trying to sniff me out. be part of it. It was only in 1960 that
is just a reflection of this). I’ll come out of my bunker when its independence came.
Of course, the three seats for the safe, until then, here’s a record of me But the new Nigerian constitution-
Liberals make them decisive, but giv- chanting “Boris, Boris, Boris, out, al framework did not resolve every-
en that they’ve tacked onto the cost out, out.” Hey, back to the good old thing, it being clear that Nigeria was
cutting message of the Tories, and days under the Tories, stormy meet- sitting on a time bomb that would
ran on a platform of tax cuts they’ll ings, out on the streets. We can do it explode and cause real dangerous
back the Tories on crucial votes to try all again! harm to all Nigerians.
and woo the latter’s supporters. At Yours, The constitution did not change
least you and I agree on this, that the L. P. Hack. the relative cultural backwardness
Lib-Dems are yellow Tories, people Sigh. of the North compared to the South.
who just can’t admit to themselves What the Northern leaders wanted
I
neighbouring Cameroon, three tenths and gave aid through France’s colo-
in Nigeria. The remaining six tenths nized states like Ivory Coast, Camer- n the US the so-called “richest
lies under Biafra. oon and Gabon. Biafra also got sup- country in the world”, millions
Gowon and his ruling bandits and port from South Africa, and Israel. are so desperate for more money
Ojukwu’s Eastern interest group had In 1970, after the genocide, a (and/or are bored to tears with their
attempted to make an agreement over series of peace talks were held and a lives) that gambling is a major in-
the terms of their relationship with settlement was reached and Gowon dustry. Las Vegas in Nevada grew
the British and US oil companies made his famous speech that there up to supply this demand. Now
in New York in June 1967. Ojukwu were no victors, no vanquished in no one in their senses - if human
claimed the right to the royalties this war. Of course, this was true. considerations were the only is-
paid in Lagos by Shell/BP. Up until Both sides had suffered severe losses sue - would think of siting a city in
June 1967, £7 million due to Nige- and part of the country had been the Mojave Desert, 22,000 square
ria in oil royalties had not yet been devastated. But there was one victor miles of desolation in the south of
paid. It was discussed that Biafra not only in Biafraland but, also in the California and Nevada, and the west
should receive 57.7 percent of the whole world. Imperialism had estab- of Arizona and Utah. Much of it is
royalties and the rest be put aside lished a number of new oil terminals elevated: its highest peak is 11,918
until there was a political settlement. and ensured the stability of its oil feet, but it also descends to 282
Gowon vehemently refused to pay profits thanks to Gowon. feet below sea level, in Death Valley,
and threatened to extend the anti- The “unity” of Nigeria in reality where temperatures range from be-
Biafra blockade to the Bonny Island disappeared because of the mistrust low freezing on winter nights, to 130
oil terminal. Without respecting the built up during the war and the degrees Fahrenheit (54 centigrade)
agreement, Gowon’s troops launched atrocities perpetrated against Bi- on summer days. The Mojave Desert
their attack and captured the termi- afrans by Gowon and his imperialist has less than ten inches of rain per
nal at Port Bonny. backers. year. But this is where get-rich-quick
As soon as the Nigerian army took Every war fought in the world is entrepreneurs - and they did get
the oil terminal, the British and US at the advantage of capitalism. The rich quick - built Las Vegas. (And ac-
oil companies arrived behind them Nigerian-Biafran war, Rwandan geno- cording to some accounts, much of
building new oil installations as fast cide, Liberia war, Sierra Leone war, the money came from the Mafia.)
as they could while war was still rag- Democratic Republic of Congo war, With monumental disregard for
ing a few kilometres away. Ivory Coast war, Uganda war, Eritrea- the environment, they built enormous
The Gowon regime represented Ethiopia war, Darfur conflict, Angola casinos and hotels and entertain-
by proxy the interests of Britain, the war, Iraqi war, Palestinian-Israeli ment palaces all dedicated to a single
US and Muslim countries including war, Afghanistan war, India-Pakistan end - sucking in many thousands of
Egypt whose pilots flew the Ilyushin war, Somali war, Zimbabwe conflict, hopefuls from all over the US (and
jets provided by the USSR. The Senegal-Cassamace war, Guinea Bis- abroad), and encouraging them to
important imperialist interests at sau war, Chechnya-Russia war. All lose their money twenty-four hours
work were those of the oil companies wars to the advantage of capitalism. a day. The whole place is ablaze with
owned by the British, Americans and Beware and be warned. lights; great fountains shoot into the
French and backed by their respec- Do not say that you did not know sky; in the “Venice” complex, gondo-
tive governments in the way they or hear about socialism and what we las travel down wide canals; lawns
lined up for and against Biafra. do. The choice is yours. Enough is are supplied by endless irrigation. It
Shell/BP was the biggest exploiter enough - we must work together and now houses 1,900,000 people, and of
of Nigerian oil. This Anglo-Dutch join hands and cast capitalism and course water has to be pumped in, 90
consortium held the major conces- imperialism to burn in the abyss of percent of it from Lake Mead, a man-
sions for oil in both the Biafran and everlasting fire. made reservoir on the Colorado River
Niger delta region where oil had more CEBILOAN HYACINT thirty miles away. (Several small com-
recently begun to be pumped. When munities were drowned when the lake
F
of prestige projects - hotels, casinos,
or those caught in their long- The following are a sample from
plazas, apartment blocks - are going
held conviction of the benevo- investigative journalists and his-
ahead so fast that a Times reporter (8
lence of British history, of the torians known as tenacious and
April) said there were fears that “all
goodwill and generosity extended imperturbable individuals resolutely
this financial pressure is resulting
by successive governments to sub- determined to get the truth out into
in sloppy construction practice. Over
jects of colonial conquest around the public domain.
recent months nine workers have
the world; for those whose history
died in eight accidents at various
books told stories of great white Birth of the corporation
sites: one man was cut in half when
men’s great adventures into dark- The history of the East India Com-
a counterweight” for a lift fell on him.
est Africa, of fantastic voyages to pany, a forerunner of the modern
(There would no doubt have been an
unknown shores lasting years and shareholder/corporate set-up is a
outcry if this had happened to an
necessitating the loss of many lives, story of ‘executive malpractice, stock
owner instead of to a worker.) But be-
of returning heroes laden with treas- market excess and human oppres-
side all that, another gigantic project
ure and tales of faraway cornuco- sion.’ Nick Robins says in The Cor-
is going forward called “the City Cen-
pias; for those who retain romantic poration that Changed the World that
tre”. The journalist said a local told
visions of countries conquered and he set out to address the issue of the
him it was “a city-within-a-city. They
occupied for reasons of honest trade company’s social record as a corpora-
say it’s gonna cost more than $8 bil-
and incidentally to improve the lot tion, something which he believes no
lion: the most expensive private land
of indigenous populations, to bring other history of The Company does.
development in American history.
them civilisation and democracy; for Compared with today’s “corporate
Only in Las Vegas, huh?”
those who considered the invasion leviathans” the East India Company
Well, just before you put all this
of Iraq an aberration, an atypical “outstripped Walmart in terms of
down to the boneheaded Americans,
intervention, something outside the market power, Enron for corrup-
rather than to boneheaded capital-
realms of normal government pro- tion and Union Carbide for human
ism, here’s another item in the very
cedure, blatant lies deliberately told devastation.” From its origin in 1600
same paper - this time from Spain.
to the populace as a cover-up for an as an aggressive spice trader, using
Catalonia (the north-east part, round
illegal act; for those who cling to the guile, bribery, mercenary armies, pi-
Barcelona) and Valencia, just south
fallacy of their leaders being beyond racy and plunder it moved on to take
of it, including the Mediterranean
reproach because it’s not “British” to control of Bengal and Bengal’s cotton
coast down to Alicante, have had less
collude behind the scenes or to ma- fabric industry. Robert Clive (of India)
rain than at any time since 1912.
nipulate events. They always play the decimated the weaving industry and,
Farmers fear for their crops; “water
game by the rules and British jus- as an eerie precursor to current day
reserves there are at 19 percent of
tice is known to be above reproach. India’s farmers’ suicides as a result
capacity - they must be shut down
After all, didn’t we invent cricket? of impoverishment by transnation-
when they reach 15 percent because
For all those – it’s time to re-learn als, weavers amputated their own
there is too much sediment near the
history, this time the real history, thumbs rather than be forced to spin
bottom”; and Catalonia is consider-
to have the scales removed from the thread for less than starvation wages.
ing bringing in water from elsewhere
eyes, to be confronted with the hard Later came Warren Hastings,
by boat or train. It is also think-
evidence, undeniable facts revealed responsible for pushing opium into
ing of a new desalination plant (to
from previously secret documents China (illegally), causing the later
take the salt out of seawater), but it
painstakingly investigated and com- “Opium Wars” and eventually forcing
seems that such plants produce a
piled by those who seek the truth for Chinese ports to open to trade. De-
lot of carbon dioxide, held respon-
humanity’s sake. This time to have spite the British government’s initial
sible for feeding global warming, so
the courage to question one’s endur- protests at the opium trade they were
that would make things worse in the
ing beliefs in the light of authentic soon persuaded by the company’s
long run. Catalonia wanted to take
revelations. This time to see through Governor General in India that the
more water from the River Segre; but
the obfuscation and downright lies revenue was growing too quickly to
Aragon, on the other side of the river,
that have been the staple diet fed to be abandoned. Nick Robins shows
refuses to let it. “Catalonia accuses
us by our elected representatives, only too well that “a peculiar amnesia
its neighbour of hoarding water for
generation after generation, with the continues to hang over the role that
unsustainable developments, such as
purpose of pursuing their own secret corporations such as the East India
a ‘European Las Vegas’ with seventy
agenda, extending personal inter- Company had in the creation of the
hotels, five theme parks and several
ests and cementing alliances with modern world.”
golf courses planned for a desert re-
powerful allies often with complete
gion.” Only in capitalism, huh?
disregard for international law, Public statements; Private
ALWYN EDGAR
agreements and that detail of small record
importance, public opinion. Covert military action, support of
Declaration of Principles
This declaration is the basis of by the capitalist or master class, the emancipation of the working 7.That as all political parties
our organisation and, because and the consequent enslavement class wil involve the emancipation are but the expression of class
it is also an important historical of the working class, by whose of all mankind, without distinction interests, and as the interest of
document dating from the labour alone wealth is produced. of race or sex. the working class is diametrically
formation of the party in 1904, opposed to the interests of all
its original language has been 2.That in society, therefore, there 5. That this emancipation must sections of the master class,
retained. is an antagonism of interests, be the work of the working class the party seeking working class
manifesting itself as a class itself. emancipation must be hostile to
Object struggle between those who every other party.
The establishment of a system possess but do not produce and 6.That as the machinery of
of society based upon the those who produce but do not government, including the armed 8.The Socialist Party of Great
common ownership and possess. forces of the nation, exists only Britain, therefore, enters the field
democratic control of the to conserve the monopoly by the of political action determined
means and instruments for 3.That this antagonism can capitalist class of the wealth taken to wage war against all other
producing and distributing be abolished only by the from the workers, the working political parties, whether alleged
wealth by and in the interest of emancipation of the working class class must organize consciously labour or avowedly capitalist,
the whole community. from the domination of the master and politically for the conquest and calls upon the members of
class, by the conversion into the of the powers of government, the working class of this country
Declaration of Principles common property of society of national and local, in order that to muster under its banner to the
The Socialist Party of Great the means of production and this machinery, including these end that a speedy termination
Britain holds distribution, and their democratic forces, may be converted from an may be wrought to the system
control by the whole people. instrument of oppression into the which deprives them of the fruits
1.That society as at present agent of emancipation and the of their labour, and that poverty
constituted is based upon the 4.That as in the order of social overthrow of privilege, aristocratic may give place to comfort,
ownership of the means of living evolution the working class is the and plutocratic. privilege to equality, and slavery
(i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) last class to achieve its freedom, to freedom.
W
hen they woke up on 2 May, did the electorate re- the campaign to take the greater prize whenever the govern-
alise what they had done with their votes on the ment dares to take their chance in another general election.
day before? Were they alert to the fact that they had
encouraged David Cameron’s party to an excited optimism London
that, after all those agonised years of Blair’s Britain, they had In this it could not have turned out better for the Tories
been brought to the threshold of again being accepted as The than for Boris Johnson to be elected Mayor of London, even if
Natural Party Of Government? (The capital letters are used they had to bring in some expensive manipulators to persuade
in acknowledgement of how vital such concepts are to the this irritatingly professional buffoon to look a little more cred-
well-being of the Conservative mind). The experience of La- ible as someone to be trusted to manage a city with a budget
bour government, particularly since their last election victory of £12 billion and to throttle off his more oafishly empty at-
in 2005, went a long way to persuade many of their previ- tempts at humour. There will now be a period during which
ous supporters that, apart from anything else, it was time Johnson’s mayoralty is taken as a measure of the likely suc-
for a change even if the only other choice was a Conservative cess or failure of a Cameron government. It is not only on his
government. Gordon Brown has not helped his party by be- avowed intention to replace the lumbering bendy buses with
ing such a tormented gift to the slick operators of the Tory Routemasters with conductors and to ban alcohol on public
propaganda machine. So it came to pass that people whose transport that Johnson will be judged. He has also promised
daily life is continually threatened with being little short of a that all Londoners will actually be able to live in homes which
wretched struggle to balance their income against what they they can afford (while accepting that what he can afford is
need to get by were narcotised into opting to be ruled by a rather better than anything available to most Londoners).
government led by an Old Etonian whose great achievement There will be special attention given to the problem of youth
has been to re-fashion his party’s image by blanketing its crime and particularly to the fearful procession of youngsters
disreputable past. being murdered in the capital. To this end Johnson has ap-
pointed as his Deputy Mayor an admirer of his – Ray Lewis,
History who was once governor of a Young Offenders Institution and
Panic-stricken Labour MPs, as they contemplate an ap- who now runs something gloriously called a Young Leaders
proaching electoral massacre, may take some misguided Academy in London. Lewis advises the parents of the boys
comfort from their history. In the 1968 local elections, when attending his Academy that they should remove the TV from
the standing of the Wilson government was at rock-bottom their bedroom and stop any listening to “dirty music”. His
after the devaluation climb-down and the imposition of “nec- boys are taught to march and to salute: “When we go out,
essary austerity measures” (for which read “wage cutting” they walk in line, they walk in time, they catch the eye”.
and “reduction in working class living standards”) they man- Johnson’s approval of the “boot camp” style of dealing
aged only a 30 per cent share of the vote – a little more than with young delinquents conveniently overlooks his history
their 26 per cent this year. However they staged something of of (suspiciously unrecorded) offences. He did not report to
a recovery so that when Wilson called the 1970 general elec- the police an approach from his Old Etonian friend Darius
tion they were the pollsters’ favourite. The snag, however, was Guppy, asking him to arrange to have a journalist beaten
that they still could not avoid defeat by Ted Heath’s Conserv- up who was investigating Guppy’s record as a fraudster too
atives. This might have taught their successors something closely. During his time at Oxford Johnson (with Cameron
about the volatility of voting intentions which are not based and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne) was a member of
on an understanding of capitalism and its destructive machi- the Bullingdon Club which, although it claimed to be a sport-
nations. But in the 2005 general election, when Labour’s ma- ing and dining club, devoted itself to serious vandalism. One
jority was slashed from 161 to 67, the response of MPs was of their achievements was to hire a string band to play at a
predictably chaotic, as they queued up to lay the blame at garden party and then to destroy all the instruments, includ-
the door of their then leader. “You can’t beat about the bush” ing a Stradivarius. In a recent outing involving Johnson they
said one of them “Blair was a negative factor on the doorstep, wasted a beautiful cellar in a 15th Century Oxfordshire pub.
time and time again”. Another plunged hastily (too much so, The pub owner called the police – which the club members
in view of recent events but in any case he has announced dismissed as due to his lacking “a sense of humour” – and
that he will not be standing again and the local Labour Party Johnson remembered their arrest:
have selected his successor) into: “It would be nice to see “The party ended with a number of us crawling on all
Brown crowned as early as the next party conference”. In a fours through the hedges of the botanical gardens and trying
moving display of grief at losing her seat, a former Blair Babe to escape police dogs. And once we were in the police cells we
speedily adapted her alleged principles and applied to join became pathetic namby-pambies.”
the Conservative Party. We are witnessing a similar reaction, To the fury of the pub owner, the police did nothing more
as the promised post-Blair revival fails to materialise and the than impose a few on the spot penalties – rather different to
Tory threat gets ever more menacing. Brown’s response was how they would have reacted if the damage had been caused
as exhausted and as unhelpful as ever: by youngsters from Oxford’s Blackbird Leys estate. But the
“Of course we can recover from this position…by sorting Bullingdon is rather more exclusive – to begin with the tra-
out the immediate problem of the economy and showing peo- ditional dining suit costs three thousand pounds and there
ple we can come through, as we have in the past..,.by show- is a need for a rich relative to smooth things over and avoid
ing people that we have the vision of the future that will carry calling the police by paying generously for the damage. This
this country…into its next phase.” is the background of the man elected by the people to rule the
Once again, Labour have no more to offer by way of ex- heaving, tempestuous city of London.
plaining their defeat than to blame the shortcomings of their So is it time for a change? Ten years of Labour rule have
leader. Only hours after the results had been declared on May shown that party quite unable to prevent, or even interfere
2, the calls for Brown to go began, with a desperate search with, the crises and malfunctions of capitalism. There is
for an acceptable alternative. Should it be ex-postman Alan nothing more to hope for from a clutch of privileged Tories.
Johnson? Cadaverous John Hutton? Already discredited Jack But rather than dither in a futile panic between one bunch of
Straw? Head Prefect David Miliband? Risibly callow James hopeless careerists and another, why not use the vote prop-
Purnell? There is no cause to believe that any of these would, erly and effectively and opt for a real alternative?
in the face of capitalism’s anarchy, succeed where Blair and IVAN
Brown failed. And while Labour commences yet another civil
war the Tories have time to wallow in their victory and plan