The Most Dangerous Organisation in Britain?

Forget the BNP, the sub-human fossils at UKIP or the Unreconstructed Stalinists at New Labour, surely the "campaign group" 'Middle England in Revolt' represents the most frightening, if slightly hilarious, force on the poilticial landscape.

In the interests of fairness, I'll let them put their cause to the readers:

"Cottenham is where Middle England has drawn a line in the sand - and we are inviting other communities to join us in a mass revolt against the blind, deaf and dumb bureaucracy of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. We had a rude awakening back in February 2003 when more than 800 wealthy and aggressive travellers rode into town, set up a massive camp on Smithy Fen on the edge of the village and usurped Human Rights legislation to claim their right to stay.After a year battling with local and national bureaucracy, we took the law into our own hands and withheld our Council Tax in support of our Human Rights. "

"Wealthy" AND "agressive", eh? Imagine that. Is that to say they wouldn't have been bothered by this most discourteous of "invasions" if the invaders were poor and docile?

It's always funny to see the middle class get into a lather about "property rights" and "the rule of law". It seems to me that they remain the last people to take the system at its word. The ruling class, for the most part, know it's all a scam. The working class definetly know it's a scam - the problem is they don't know who's scamming them, or what to do about it. But the middle class are permanently angered because, well, they actually believe the hype.

On a more serious note, historians amongst you will recognise the spectre of an embittered, radicalised petty bourgeoisie dismayed by an overly bureaucratic government and dangerous "wealthy" minorities.

Anyone for a reconstitution of the Reich in Cheltenham?

Nazi in Jail

So, British "historian" and all round not-nice guy David Irving is in jail.

The detestable, pug faced wretch has been put in the slammer in Austria, for a speech he made "denying the Holocaust" (a criminal offence in Austria) in 1988.

Iriving now says he think the Holocaust did happen, and that statements he made denying it back then were wrong.

Still, Nazis in Jail - is that ever wrong?

Maybe, maybe not.

Commas and the Labour Party

Because I have nothing better to do, I was looking at the website of the Scottish Labour Party today. In the "About Us" section of their site, they set out the following:

"As a democratic, socialist party we welcome people to join the party from all walks of life, have their say and influence policy."

Notice, if you will, the comma here between socialist and democratic. What this suggests is that the SLP is both democratic and socialist.

Now, look at the same section at the UK Labour Party's website:

"The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party."

Where's the comma gone? The SLP is explicitly socialist, whereas 'London' Labour is democratic socialist. Interesting, don't you think?

By the way, in formal terms, the word "democratic" is redundant if it appears before socialist or socialism. Socialism is, by definition, the most democratic way of organizing human social life.

When groups put "democratic" before socialist, they're sending a signal to the people to whom real socialism would be dangerous i.e. you can trust us, we're not going to threaten your power, privilege etc.

That is, "democratic" socialist means capitalist socialist, or "status quo" socialist (not the band, though that would be interesting). Of course, the New Labour project is based on openly announcing this fact, whereas the "old" Labour Party would pretend (to itself as well as the class) to be a "real" socialist party, but was always ready to prop up the stinking system if they were required.

Private Luis A. Moreno

I don't know how many people are aware of this site. It's called the 'Iraqi Coalition Casualty Count', and, well, it does exactly what it says on the homepage. It gives detailed analysis of the numbers of "Allied" soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq.

It's a useful tool for those trying to gain an insight into the ups and down of the resistance's activities.

As it stands, there have been 2269 American soldiers killed (a further 16653 have been wounded) and 101 British soldiers. The site, amongst other things, gives details of where in America the Dead Soldiers came from. Unsurprisingly, California has seen the heaviest losses, with some 236 Californians being killed.

Looking at the long list of names, I began to wonder.

Private 1st Class Luis A. Moreno, aged 19, hailing from the Bronx, NY, died on 24th January 2004. I wondered why he signed up. How many Iraqis had he killed. But most importantly, I wondered what he had to gain from the expansion of Empire. What had the people of the Bronx, many of them poor or unemployed, to gain from an increase in the profits of Halliburton?

What did Private Moreno mean to the people who sent him there? A young latino from the Bronx? Expendable.

He died "defending" a gas station in Bagdhad, a cruel irony.

Private Moreno was a victim of Forces he didn't understand. His body, his whole being, had been merely a vessel for powerul interests.

As he lay there, dying of his injuries in a British hospital , I wonder what thoughts and images passed through his mind. Regret? Probably. Pain? Yes. Fear? Definetly. The best moments and happiest moments of his 19 yeard old life? Hopefully.

He died for blood soaked bastards for whom his death, and thousands of others, was merely a means to their ends.