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Saturday, December 31st, 2005
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6:25 pm - I ask each year, why am I here?
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After I've written this I'm going over to Hazees house, and the 4 of us are going to start getting drunk, then go to a pub in Altrincham, then go to 42nd Street until 3am. Seems like a fitting round up to me. I've not been there in over a year, and the company is pretty core. It's been a good year. I'm happy to see that most of you think so too. It has been a good year all around. Enjoyed reading your journals this year, there's been a really interesting mix of things on my friends page.
Speaking of journals, lets see these stats:
Journal entries: 71
Comments: Posted: 2,715 - Received: 1,155
Bloody hell. Every year, I write less entries. It doesn't feel like it.
I've gotten into a habit of dedicating my dead journals to people, who have, so far, all been dead themselves. Well this year, having not had someone spring to mind, it doesn't seem like a crime to leave this one to someone who's still alive. Someone who I discovered last year (a hilarious article entitled War x 4), and this year, began to identify with more and more, perhaps too much. Maybe I can take comfort in the fact that, when he was 20, he had no political views, and was roaring around the streets crashing and rolling cars. Next year I look forward to more of the same from him, but I hope to diversify things more.
Happy New Year all. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) powershutdown from now on!
All those with agency are confronted by a choice. We can use that agency to secure ourselves a safe and comfortable existance. We can use our life, that one unrepeatable product of four billion years of serendipity and evolution, to earn a little more, to save a little a more, to win the approval of our bosses and the envy of our neighbours. We can place upon our walls those tombstones which the living erect to themselves: the framed certificates of their acceptance into what Erich Fromm has called the 'necrophiliac' world of wealth and power. We can, quite rationally, subordinate our desire for liberty to our desire for security. Or we can use our agency to change the world, and in changing it, to change ourselves. We will die and be forgotten with no less certainty than those who sought to fend off death by enhancing their material prescence on the Earth, but we will live before we die through the extremes of feeling which comfort would deny us.
- George Monbiot - The Age of Consent, p. 252
current mood: a'right
current music: FACT - Start From Here (http://www.purevolume.com/fact)
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| Thursday, December 29th, 2005
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9:29 pm - Learn the rules, so you know how to break them.
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One of the high points within a high point of my year was going to Gleneagles, Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. So I'm going to post just some of notes that Lauren and I made, but that I never posted here. I must thank my lovely lady for the words of hers which I am about to copy and steal, and moreover, thank her for coming with me, because I never would have gone and experienced that exhilarating week on my own.
Lauren's words are in blue.
Protesting the G8 summit
current mood: knackered
current music: Ingram Hill - Will I Ever Make It Home?
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| Wednesday, December 28th, 2005
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3:25 am - Pity the United Nations, for it is not powerful enough even to be hated.
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It's that time of year again. I have a new journal, so please add it - powershutdown. For those of you who've been reading my crap since 2003, you might be finding all this adding a bit tiresome. Well if you've been reading for so long, don't lose me now! The name is obviously multi-pronged: we need to cut energy use, oil production is peaking and declining, the present holders of power need to be shut down - hell, you're all smart people.
I love how people who claim to be poor go on to post massive lists of Giftmas shit on their livejournals. Well woe is me, I got sod all this Christmas, and my family reached new lows in the quest for family love. My brother offended everybody and almost got in a fist fight with my dad. Show me pity. Etc. I dont know what my point is. Everyone is full of shit.
How Britain Denies its Holocausts
Why do so few people know about the atrocities of empire?
England, the country that one way or another absorbed Scotland and Wales, then had the nerve to fuck the world up in the name of the island of Britain.
powershutdown
current mood:  tired
current music: Pennywise - Land of the Free?
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| Saturday, December 24th, 2005
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8:53 pm - I guess I just miss so much.
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"Like our multiple hours of msn chats, going right through til the morning and random text messages. Stupid things we'd say. It'll be right again some day."
Maybe.
I texted you, saying I was so close to making a pathetic journal post. I didn't get a report. I know that in the scheme of things, we've not been out of touch that long, but let's face it, for about 2 years, it's not been as good as it used to be. But that's how it goes I suppose. You can't force things. You don't stop being friends, and will always say hello. For some reason that's never enough, as everyone who left school years ago will know. I have an unshakeable addiction to nostalgia, the kind that's kind of sad but kind of comforting. On the internet I feel almost sad that I don’t get to know everyone whose name crosses my eyes, even if I don't even communicate with them. I spend more time than I should clicking on random user profiles, and reading journal entries that are years old. Feeling like I will never know any of these people well enough.
Sure, I could list here all the ways you helped me become who I am, why I miss you, but it would sound like self-indulgent sycophancy - and I'd already be embarrassed enough to know you'd read the contents of this entry. Of course, I want you to see it, and the urge to send you directly to this page is frighteningly large, but I know how pathetic that would be. Of course, what I would love is to sit down with you in person and feel like there was some kind of connection, and stroke each others ego's talking about a past that, at least in my mind, did exist. It sounds really shallow, but it's not how I mean it. I do want to know that it wasn't all one way, and that you didn't view me to be as uncool as I imagined I must have seemed to you. Of course, the irony is, you don't seem to use journals anymore, and you certainly don't read this.
Nobody worry. I'm fine. And it's nothing to do with Christmas.
In other news, what do you all think of this: for honestly I don't know how long, I've been imagining my own death. Not my death, but what it would be like if I died. And it's not like what you might expect, thinking nobody will care: I imagine being remembered fondly, there being benefit nights and teary friends playing songs I like, and my photo on websites and on record sleeves. It seems to happen when I AM listening to a song I like. Do I just have the biggest fucking ego in the world or what?
"I'm not being emo."
current mood: emo. it's not so bad.
current music: The Get Up Kids - Campfire Kansas
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| Thursday, December 22nd, 2005
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5:13 pm - There's a shroud of stupidity that makes us proud and kind of old.
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I've entertained a small fantasy about upsetting Republican, God-fearing racists during my visit to Louisiana, but yesterday I got a taster from closer to home. My Uncle Brian (not the shit punk band) is a loudmouthed, lecturing arsehole. I'll admit not being close enough with that side of my family to have known this until now. His problems don't appear to be that he's particularly got views at odds with those who believe in justice, but simply that he always knows better, must always be right, and never shuts the fuck up. When he makes a point against environmentalism and MY DAD says he's talking "absolute bollocks", you know somebody is full of it.
This is a leftover rant (I was more angry last night when I came home from my nana's, the unwilling host of her sons' mind-rotting arguing about phoneline rates and the like), but it might provide me a chance to make some points. Ludicrous argument number 1: he said that he saw no proof for climate change, and I said "aside from the opinion of every serious scientist and scientific institution in the world?" The path his argument took was denouncing science, because it was science that sent rockets into space - and that rockets are the only thing that have gone through the ozone, thus the only thing to blame (amazingly, he's not the first person I've come across that has viewed the ozone as a glass ceiling). That science has made mistakes in its conclusions (saying diesel was cleaner than petrol) is the route of science - it's a constant development towards truth and understanding of the world around us, based on analysis.
Then he said that my people (another constant theme of his, was implying that environmentalism is a religion, devoid of individuals with their own opinions, as if what other greens are doing has anything to do with me) always say "you can't, you can't, you can't", without offering any solutions. This is a belief that is held too widely, and is utter cobblers. I offered him having people work closer to where they live. He argued that we will never be able to do that, or anything else my people propose, because people don't want it. Well I suspect people also don't want a climate like that of Venus. Much as because we don't know exactly what's going to happen to the weather, we shouldn't do anything about it, we shouldn't offer any solutions whatsoever if we don't have a comprehensive manifesto of how everything in the world should be changed and implemented. People don't want to live closer to where they work, he said, because they earn money so that they don't have to live in poorer neighbourhoods, and I'd be taking away his right to do that. Just because you have the ability to do something does not make it a right. What about the right of people in poor countries not to have their land flooded by rising sea levels? He then changed the direction of this amazing debate.
I eventually gave up, after tremendous attempts, because Brian made it difficult to argue against what he said, his lips constantly flapping, changing subject always. It gave me a terrifying insight into the sort of opinions we're up against though. His arguments are flawed, but they're also a cover-up for what he really wants - to go on as we are doing now. All people have a tendency to be selfish, but how much you give in to that tendency is the important thing. As long as he can spout a list of reasons why we shouldn't listen to environmentalists, he can go on holiday to Spain and drive from John O Groats to Lands End. It doesn't matter to him if I'm right or wrong, he just wants to be able to eat New Zealand lamb. To people like my uncle, market forces are fine, as long as it's somebody else who has to live with the consequences.
PS. I still have to buy Christmas presents. Cannot be arsed.
current music: J Church - Keep Smiling America
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| Monday, December 19th, 2005
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6:59 pm - It's not just in my head it's in my heart, if I can give a fuck you better start!
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I feel rather sheepish. Appreciate all your comments on my last entry, and I replied to them all, incase anyone's been having trouble with email notification. I do feel better, but no sudden change of heart has taken place. Oh well, thats real life. I liked what was on the full front of the Independent today:
The women walk quickly in single file across the pale sand, their stark orange and purple shawls flapping in the hot wind. Frequently, they look over their shoulders and then towards a distant tree line. It is mid-morning and the daily wood- gathering run in Abu Shouk refugee camp, a rolling mass of straw shacks and polythene-sheet shelters that is home to 50,000 people, has started for its women.
If they are lucky, these graceful figures disappearing into the shimmering horizon of the sub-Saharan Sahel will return from their three-hour trip bearing on their heads a meagre crop of twigs and tree roots to provide a day's cooking fuel.
If fortune does not favour them today, these women, refugees from the murderous campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur that has claimed 30,000 lives and caused 1.8 million to flee their homes, will fall foul of the soldiers and fighters camped around them.
At best, the troops will steal the women's tools. More likely, they will catch the slowest, beat her and rape her. The rapists are from the same armed factions, including the feared Janjaweed militia, responsible for driving the women from their homes to Abu Shouk. Even here, there is no escape from persecution.
It is a fate that should be avoided at any cost. But when that cost is just 60p, the price of some mud, animal dung and a few hours' coaching, the need to help Abu Shouk women - and millions of others trapped in Darfur's refugee camps - becomes an obligation. With that 60p, as part of The Independent's Christmas Appeal, each woman can be taught to use an ingenious stove that cuts the fuel used by two-thirds, and with it the need to make the perilous journey into the scrubland.
This afternoon I watched the original King Kong on the idiot box. The new one is over twice as long. The original has comedy special effects, but they're better than I was expecting. Even though the new one is set in the 1930's, it's interesting to note that some modernisation has had to take place. The mere fact that Ann tries to escape Kong in the new film says something, to me. It would have been too damsel for her to act as she did in 1933? I was also surprised to find that no emotional attachment took place in the original. Why did Peter Jackson feel the need to do that?
current mood: late
current music: Goldfrapp - Human
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| Tuesday, December 13th, 2005
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12:07 am
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Truthfully, the negativity that follows might be something to do with the fact that I've been sick as a dog for the past 3 days in ways I wouldn't want to disgust you with by describing. The latest in a long line of ailments is the feeling that I have a lead plate welded to my jaw, neck and skull. But I still think it has some basis.
My sickness began after going out on Friday night, so its fitting that during that day my mood took a beating. I went somewhere with political significance. People talk about a justice movement. Well to reduce it to a school problem about not fitting in anywhere, I dont feel like a part of any fucking movement. I know plenty of intelligent people who live nearby who share some of my views, I know lots of incredibly determined people online, but it doesn't add up. I don't know why I never felt this sooner. I sit here and write and live everyday to try and make the world better, but have I ever actually changed much of anything? Even when going to something significant like a summit protest, you feel a part of something special, until you leave, and never see most of them again. I never really get to do any of the radical things I would like to try, because I simply don't know anyone to do them with. And lets not forget there are plenty of elitist wankers in radical-left communities who will sneer at you for not looking strange enough.
The feeling is also compounded. A few weeks ago I felt something like this because of one website I came across that made me wonder if I was just totally wrong on everything I think. I even wrote something of an entry about it, but scrapped it. A week or so later I felt much better and was revitalised by the climate change protests. Now, another mere week later I'm in a rut again. If your mood can swing back and forth that rapidly, wouldn't it suggest that the 'ups' are an illusion? It's like a couple of years ago when I decided music was a drug, and thus a lie. It plays on emotions, gets you back in the mood for things when there is no basis for your mood to have changed. Anything that pumps you up for a fight of any kind seems to be something of a lie. Journalists talk about movements because it makes everyone feel good about what they're doing.
The reason the climate protests seemed to so inspire me was because they terrified me. For some reason, it finally truly struck me how much of a change in the way the WORLD is run is going to be needed to win the climate change battle. I felt like I wanted to be part of that battle. When I say it terrified me, it wasnt just because making the 90% cut will mean a large drop in our comforts, and because missing the 90% cut might mean the end of life on Earth. It terrified me because truly, in a goal of that scale, how possibly important can I be? If I forget everything I've learned over the past 5 years and go and work in a fucking Wetherspoons until 2030, we will either make the cut in time, or we will not, and I won't make one jot of difference.
I want to be apathetic. But I can't be. When I eventually go back to work, I will get pissed off with people taking plastic bags for chocolate bars, regardless of how low my desire for political action is. There's no escape from this way of thinking.
My old journal name, endmyliberation, was a point about the "liberation" of Iraq, but it also referred to the fact that being liberated from the selfish fumbling masses has its obvious downsides. End it. It is largely depressing.
A week from now, I might feel healthy and I might feel for some reason once again determined to fight the present world order. But there will be a nagging part of my brain telling me that my optimism is unfounded, and that drugs are the only reason for it as well as my only escape.
current mood: low (and there are plenty of other reasons)
current music: Sonic Boom Six - Let The Children Play
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| Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
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2:05 am - Bomb Ibiza, bomb Aiya Napa, bomb George Bush while he's sitting on the crapper.
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I would like to share a lovely tip. When you're sat next to a radiator and feeling fuck all heat from it (as I do when sat here, because the walls are only single bricked) and its not because the radiator has clothes drying on it (sure, thousands might be dying of cold because our usage is driving the price up, but who gives a shit if you can dry your socks in 3 hours rather than 10? Speed over sense rules, once again), stick your jacket on the radiator for a few minutes then put it back on. It's miles better than sitting there hugging yourself. If you sense a contradiction, then ye are wrong, because in this scenario the heat from the radiator is being wasted against my will anyway, so you might as well use it.- Justgiving finally got their arses in gear and put the donation page back online until the end of the month, so hopefully I'll be able to get some more moolah.
- George
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) monbiot's speech from Saturday has been posted on his website. It's not nearly the same as hearing him speak, nor is it word for word, but it's wise: The Struggle Against Ourselves
I don’t have to remind you of the two forces which are converging on our lives. We are faced with an impending shortage of the source of energy which is hardest to replace – liquid fossil fuels. And we are faced with the environmental consequences of the fossil fuel burning which has permitted us to be standing here now. The structure, the complexity, the diversity of our lives, everything we know, everything that we have taken for granted, that looked solid and non-negotiable, suddenly looks contingent. All this is a great tottering pile balanced on a ball, a ball that is about to start rolling downhill.
I hear people talking about the carbon cuts they would like to see. I am not interested in what people would like to see. I am interesed in what the science says. And the science is clear. We need not a 20% cut by 2020; not a 60% cut by 2050, but a 90% cut by 2030. Only then do we stand a good chance of keeping carbon concentrations in the atmosphere below 430 parts per million, which means that only then do we stand a good chance of preventing some of the threatened positive feedbacks. If we let it get beyond that point there is nothing we can do. The biosphere takes over as the primary source of carbon. It is out of our hands.
The notion that we can achieve this by replacing fossil fuels with ambient energy is a fantasy. It is true that we have untapped sources of energy in wind, waves, tides and sunlight, but it is neither so concentrated nor so consistent that we can plug it in and carry on as before. Today was my brother's 18th birthday. I made a proposal that we usher in a new era; one of not being cunts to one another. This will last for a day, if we're lucky. Yesterday I hurriedly bought some cool presents for him.
- Alkaline Trio live DVD
- Litre bottle of organic vodka
- Black and grey wool pullover from Oxfam
On my trip to the "organic shop next to The Basement" (I still can't remember it's name) I also got organic cornflakes, organic popcorn, organic crisps, organic chocolate spread, organic soya and organic peanut butter (in the boy's name). As far as I can tell, its all "locally" (well, UK) sourced. Bonus. The end.
P.S. Who else misses Lightyear?
current mood: Okay.. mostly
current music: ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - The Rest Will Follow
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| Sunday, December 4th, 2005
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6:48 pm - All we need is more factories pumping filth into the sky.
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3rd December 2005, 8am. En Route to London
It turns out getting up for something I care about is no easier than getting up for work. At 5:25 I was dead. Simon showed up at 5:45 which was surreal, and we eventually set off. By the time we were on the tram into town my physical tiredness gave way to that feeling of almost party-like happiness that I've only felt a handful of times before. That we're going somewhere big, to do something that might actually make a small difference. And it's going to be fun.
We astonishingly arrived on time. The single coach is neither as big or full as I'd expected, but that, ironically, is what I'd expected. Predictably there's a large student contingent. Since I'm rarely given the chance to be around activists in large numbers, I find myself analysing them, somehow disliking their liberal protester vibe and scruffiness, but knowing deep down that it's only because they remind me of myself. At least they give a shit.
A stop at a horrendously expensive service station and we're away. I'm thinking of Orwells advice that you shouldn't write more than you need to to explain something, so I'll shut up for now. I've lost track of the number of petrol stations we've gone past and we're only a third of the way there.
( Thoughts, photos and audio )
The Campaign against Climate Change collective that organised the demo in the UK is not a large NGO like Oxfam or Greenpeace. It's funded by individual volunteers who currently operate out of the wardrobe of another office. In order to grow indefinitely - as it must - it needs regular donations. You can go here to make a standing payment, a single donation or to simply add your name to the campaign and its emailing list. They accept non-credit cards like Visa Electron.
Speaking of me asking you all to give money, the donation site I set up has now closed, having beat the continually rising target to raise £361.90, though the overall total will most likely be higher (still chasing some people). Thank you everyone! That's worth about 72 trees. If you still want to make a donation to Trees For Cities you can go here (if you're in the US you can make a tax-deductible donation at that link too, damn, wish I'd noticed that before). Then let me know. Alternatively, you could make a donation to Future Forests/The CarbonNeutral Company who plant trees all over the place.
Some more pictures from protests worldwide yesterday are being continually added here - http://forum.campaigncc.org/?q=image/tid/27
current mood:  determined
current music: Against Me! - Impact
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| Friday, December 2nd, 2005
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11:57 pm - We will rise up from the ashes and open a can of wh00pass.
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As ever, I've massively overshot my sleeping target. 11pm I said. Well I've been too busy being busy and procastinating.
I dont think I've ever whored something so much in my entire life as I have this fundraiser in the past week. I emailed masses of people, sent dozens of text messages, posted on every website I use and asked everyone I could think of that might care. I even put sodding leaflets through the letterboxes of the people on my street. Not a ONE of them has donated, or even come to the front door (I put the house number on there) to inquire. As is to be expected, lots of supposedly close friends chose not to bother, but that's overcome by the very generous donations some others have made. I'm feeling pretty good about it, albeit wishing I had raised more.
Friends I just bashed are not to be mistaken with any of you, I'm not trying to guilt trip anybody. But I will make one last plea that you donate - www.justgiving.com/gutterstar - and another final plea that you do something tomorrow to cause a noise.
If you've been planning to donate and havent yet, can I ask you to do it as soon as possible. When I set the site up, I set it to close the day after the march. Obviously, this is no good to some people. I've emailed the help desk numerous times to ask if they can change it and have recieved no reply. So we'll just have to see.
As far as the day itself is concerned, its going to be just as stressful as this past month has been, but I also think its going to be exciting. I fear however that it will be brushed aside with answers of "nuclear power" and "George Best". See you at 5:30am.
current mood: knackered
current music: The Arrogant Worms - The War of 1812
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| Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
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11:19 pm - Please help me disrupt armchair activism.
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Hello all. I need your help.
I think we can all agree that politicised people talk too much and do too little to back it up. Particularly amongst radicals, a lot of things are passed over for not dealing with the real problems or "being radical enough". Charity will not fix everything. In a just world, there would be no charities. But this attitude leads to lack of action, and postive charitable action is surely better than none at all.
So to get to the point: I'm trying to raise some money for a tree planting charity. On Saturday I'm getting my skinny arse down to London for the climate change demonstration. I've set up a website where people can donate online. It is here. Here's the blurb:"Don't believe that there's nothing we can do, because things can always quite easily get worse. You can guarantee that people won't be saying that when there's water coming through their walls or whatever, they'll be saying, "for God's sake do something!" - Phil Thornhill, UK Co-ordinator of campaign against climate change
Between November 28th and December 9th, there will be a Climate Conference in Montreal between the parties of the Kyoto Protocol. To coincide with this, there will be a massive international day of action against current environmental policies, as the people of the world unite to say that we need urgent action immediately. For more information, go here - www.globalclimatecampaign.org
Fossil fuels make our lives easier in ways we can't even imagine. They power our homes, our businesses, and our vehicles. They grow, package, cook and deliver our mass-produced food. The hidden price, however, is climate change. Our dependence on oil may prove to cause more problems. Oil production is peaking, and as a result, such measures as a return to coal or nuclear power have been suggested to make up the shortfall in our energy needs. Either of these is a guaranteed environmental disaster.
In an attempt to help tackle just some of these problems, on December 3rd my comrades and I will be travelling from Manchester to London and taking part in the London protest. We are asking for donations for Trees For Cities, so that our political message is put alongside solid, small-scale action. Both the political battle and the small-scale methods are essential if we are serious about dealing with climate change. Trees For Cities plant trees in 6 cities around the world, with the aim of offsetting carbon emissions, creating habitats for wildlife and beautifying the increasingly sterile appearance of city living.
Each tree costs about £5 to plant and maintain, if you want to use that as guidance. If you want to know more about how they operate, go to their website, which is to the left. We are hoping to get as many donations as possible for them, and we'll be travelling ridiculously early on a cold day off to take part in the demonstration, so if you could make it worth our while we'd appreciate it!
I realise many people see sponsorship and charity as more of a humanitarian issue, such as cancer research or children's charities. I was going to provide a lot of facts, but for now I'll just say that battling climate change is in every sense a humanitarian issue, and direct you to this link - http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/facts.asp
Please dig deep and many thanks for your support!
"Well I can't think of a better symbol of regeneration and growth than a tree. I can't think of a better way of bringing people together than encouraging them to actively care for their own patch. Most people live in cities. City parks and planted squares are small pauses in the breathless narrative of traffic and work. We need those pauses. Our bodies benefit from the filtered air the trees provide and from the natural sound barrier any planting creates. Trees are not a luxury. The poorer the area, the more it needs trees." - Jeanette Winterson, writer
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Trees for Cities will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.
A few points:- The target presently says £300, but I want to get as much as possible, since this isn't just some PR thing my secondary school forced me to do that I didnt really care about. So please ignore that.
- I'm avoiding the term "sponsorship" now. The idea for this came together as a product of two seperate projects, and costumes were contemplated, but it was ultimately decided after a few meetings (a few drinking sessions) that they would be crap. Though I may pull out a plastic windmill and tape it to my head yet.
- It is at our own expense, as amongst the cold, free time being given up and earlyness of it (we have to get up at 5:30am), I had to take the day off work and pay for a coach down there. Oh, and I've donated to myself.
- The site only seems to let you donate in pounds. If you aren't in Britain then you probably have a rough idea of the conversion rate to your currency, so just give it a guess.
- Money is being raised offline too.
- Due to my usual habit of leaving everything to the last minute (that's why I was shit with education) I really really really need your help. This has given me so much arseache and I didnt want to mention it here until it was sorted.
Ten thousand thank you's to those who have donated already!
www.justgiving.com/gutterstar
Thanks! :)
current mood:  hopeful
current music: Zero 7 - Red Dust
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| Friday, November 25th, 2005
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10:14 pm - I don't understand how a heart is a spade, but somehow the vital connection is made - Elastica
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Today is both the International Day Against Violence Against Women and the start of Amnesty International's 16 Days Against Gender Violence campaign. It's also Buy Nothing Day in North America, and BND in the rest of the world tomorrow.
Of course, both of these will be horrendously overlooked in part thanks to "Thank God my ancestors were racists with no qualms about genocide" day (okay, so Thanksgiving is the reason BND is at this time of year), and on this side of the Atlantic, the death of George Best.
Ten REAL reasons to be thankful.
The campaigns may fall on the same day by pure coincidence, but there's a connection. Oh yes, I believe there is. Overconsumption by the dozen or so preposterously rich nations of the world are directly responsible for the lack of wealth in the other countries, and you'd be a fool to think otherwise. Violence against females can be a sympton of wealth or poverty. In the poor world, females are more vulnerable to sexual violence and STDs, because of trafficking, prostitution brought about by desperation, the use of rape in warzones to demoralise the enemy (and again, brought about by the desperation of young males who think they might die without passing on their genes) and lack of education and resources. In Africa, women are 58% of those with AIDs. In the rich world, marital violence is no less common. It seems our money does not make us happier, and it does not make us safer. At every moment of every day we are subject to advertising that is determined to stop us overcoming stereotypes about gender, that reduces both sexes to different brands of total idiot. It's hard to believe that if women were thought of less as objects that the number of rapes wouldn't fall. Our overcrowded industrial cities, the result of our supposed progress, are havens for those who would commit crimes against the weak.
Also on AI at the moment: Counter-terrorism and human rights: Spotlight on the UK - The blurring of lines between protesters and criminals must stop. In Hull a protester was arrested under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 for “staring at a building”.
A feminist in the military? Woman GI Takes Stand Against War
“If equality is nothing more than becoming the same as men, then what we are doing is stripping away our own identity as women. It all leads to Abu Ghraib,” Aimee suggested. “Is that what feminism is about? There must be somewhere else we can turn."
( NB. )
current mood: Too Fucking Busy
current music: Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In L.A. (in honour of dance_insane)
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| Sunday, November 20th, 2005
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3:17 pm - Accidental entry that I did not mean to post / Newsletter November 18th 2005.
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Since we last spoke...
Pressure from the 'Peak Oil' movement seems to have worked to a some extent with the DTI announcing an investigation into oil depletion. At the same time the UKERC suggests Britain is facing a shortfall in energy supply in the near future. ASPO-USA held a great conference in Denver, with a retired BP Chief Engineer joining the Peak Oil crowd. Worryingly, there were claims that the depletion rate may be much higher than expected. Kuwait's Burgan oil field, the second biggest in the world, has passed its peak output sooner than expected. There is plenty more news, and look towards the bottom for news of big and free Peak Oil event at the London School of Economics in December, and the Green Party holding Peak Oil meetings in Brixton.
GOVERNMENT TO LAUNCH NEW STUDY INTO OIL DEPLETION
The UK government is planning an inquiry into the longevity of global oil supplies as campaigners warn of an approaching crisis, the head of the Department of Trade and Industry's energy markets unit said yesterday. "We can expect that an investigation will be announced within the next few weeks" aimed at allowing a more open discussion on the arrival of "peak oil," the point at which worldwide oil production begins to decline, suggested the DTI's Claire Durkin.
http://www.fourfolddesign.co.uk/energy365new/guestnewsdetail.asp?news_ID=9818
OIL SUPPLY SUMMIT - NOVEMBER 23rd 2005
An 'Oil Supply Summit' is being hosted by John Hemming MP in the House of Commons on 23rd November. Chris Skrebowski will speak to a specially selected audience of think tanks and industry figures about Peak Oil.
PEAK OIL - GLOBAL IMPACT
The London School of Economics will be hosting a debate entitled 'Peak Oil - A Global Impact' in Wednesday 14th December at 6.30pm at the Old Theatre. Chris Skrebowski will give a talk on Peak Oil followed by a panel discussion including John Hemming MP and Paul Mobbs, author of Energy Beyond Oil. Entry is free.
http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1365&Itemid=2
current mood: whoops.
current music: Catatonia - Road Rage
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| Saturday, November 19th, 2005
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8:42 pm - "I'm a new waver, my girlfriends a surfer"/ I hate everything and that means you.
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The first person to tell me what song the subject title comes from gets a high five and a slap on the arse.
Tuesday night, the climate change meeting.
Bomb Ibiza on Thursday was fun, as per. I didn't have much room to manouvre on what I was playing, but playing the last hour is an absolute buzz - everyone on the dancefloor, nobody in the rest of the club. Mint. This month's 2am novelty song was a 45 second sample of the Soggy Bottom Boys, I have no idea why the CD doesn't have the entire thing on though. I only had 3 pints and didnt make a total tit of myself like last month. Stayed at Lizzie's, woke up at 12:45 and went to meet James (hi James). We played some pool in the union and he beat me 2-1, before which we had a Pulp Fiction breakfast (at 2pm) in Geminis. I tell you, it doesn't get cooler than that.
Since then, I've been doing what I feel to be productive things online. I have truly caught the "pen is mightier than the sword" bug off Thes/Keith. Last night I emailed PJ Smoothies to tell them I was very unhappy to hear they'd been bought out by PepsiCo and made no effort to advertise it. Info I picked up in a BBC documentary yesterday evening, which said that Coke are basically fucked due to various charges against them - their market share has halved in the last decade.
Today, amongst other things, I have:
- Woken up at the "early" hour of 10:30am, after watching an awful Brit horror film from the 70's called "Terror" last night and falling asleep. And had a cleanse.
- Written what I deem to be a funny review of the Voodoo Glow Skulls gig which you can find here.
- Emailed Microcosm Publishing to thank them for the speedy delivery of Lauren's birthday presents. They replied, all very personal and cool. I take this opportunity to plug them to any of you radicals who like amazingly cool things, look NOW.
- Tried, unsucessfully, to sign up with Smile Co-op banking. Apparently there's something wrong with my application. There must be a technical error, for I've never been in debt in my life. Maybe I'm not ethical enough for their bastard ethical policy.
- I'm about to phone enygmaeve now to make sure she hasn't blown her house up.
Edit: She didn't blow her house up.
current mood:  accomplished
current music: IFarm - Milkbomb
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| Tuesday, November 15th, 2005
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12:47 am - You know we're gonna die before our time unless we stop succumbing to mankind.
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Attitudes we are fighting against: "You have to consume more energy"
International Demonstrations
on Climate Change
Saturday, December 3rd 2005
To coincide with the 'Meeting of Parties' Climate talks in Montreal, November 28th-December 9th
Crisis Meeting
By James Lamont, November 14th 2005
December 3rd might be a tipping point for the future of life on Earth, but only if we are willing to give it our all
Very occasionally, an event happens within the justice movement that makes you feel almost euphoric. I sense that one is coming in a few weeks. Such an example, which is unarguable, is what happened on February 15th, 2003. Whilst often varied in subject, there are some almost definite outcomes: the event will not live up to revolutionary expectations, and it will leave the human species much better off because of its taking place. Though it may sometimes not seem like it, we are still in the midst of the largest anti-war movement that has ever been known.
Between November 28th and December 9th, all those countries involved with the Kyoto Protocol (those who have signed it and those who have declined - so basically everyone) will be meeting in Montreal to talk about the climate. Quite what they'll be talking about for 12 days is difficult to completely predict, but it would not be surprising to hear about the onset of deadlock. In an attempt to loosen up the increasingly stiff joints of modern, one party system politics, a global call for mass demonstrations against current insufficient policies has been sounded for the Saturday in the middle of the talks, December 3rd. There is a buzz in the air.
What effects will this day have? It will not fix climate change. No one thing, no matter how huge, will halt climate change. Don't rely on this day. Don't rely on anybody else to fix this. December 3rd will not make the world leaders and corporate bosses have a radical change of strategy even if they're the biggest protests in world history. The Make Poverty History campaign - as misjudged as it's handling was - showed this. Immediately after the G8 summit, the world seemed to forget about it.
But it will send a message to those world leaders, that there is a hunger growing for action. This has the ability to threaten those in power. As history has shown, when those in power are threatened relentlessly, they either succumb to demands or crumble by not succumbing to them. It must though be relentless. It must be unforgiving towards those who have a vested interest in forcing us along this chaotic path. The measure of December 3rd's success will be shown by what happens afterwards. If the outcry is loud enough, it will inspire us to keep going, and the effect on our unelected and underelected masters will be self-re-enforcing. The more we keep pushing, the weaker they'll become. The weaker they become, the more determined we will be to demand what they claim to be impossible.
The focus will be on the marches, but they can only do so much. In terms of a day of protest, we can imagine what kind of novelty stunts some people are planning in order to draw attention to the issue. What can you do if you're unable to attend a march, or even, if you are? Groups are organising events to raise money for coaches, and the day has the support of a wide range of organisations (such is the overarching nature of the climate change problem) who will all bring their own viewpoints and tactics to the front lines. Make a donation to an environmental charity, let the politicians know you support the goals of the protests, and sign the petitions. Whatever it is, you'll be doing more than those who decide to use the time-honoured excuse of letting someone else deal with it.
There is one, seldom talked about, reason that people may be discouraged from voicing their disapproval - they feel ridiculous. Although every effort will be made to get people to use public transport to get to the demos, these still rely on fossil fuels. Who are we to demand a massive change of policy if we can't even make our protests pollution free? Well for one, even if we mobilised billions of people, there would be no noticeable change in the number of vehicles moving around. There may even be a decrease, if people forgo their usual Saturday routines of shopping, visiting relatives and socialising. Perhaps they would find saving the world proved to be a more rewarding end to the working week than ending up on a toilet floor.
Secondly, fossil fuels in and of themselves are not our problem. Our problem is massive, widespread use and dependence. If only a dozen people in the world owned cars and electrical homes, we'd be absolutely fine. Hardly anybody is suggesting we stop using fossil fuels entirely - there are some benefits to burning them that are worth keeping - but rather that public and political perspectives change dramatically, and ergo lead to a fast, monumental cut in their use. The important thing is that we carry our ecological baggage to somewhere worthwhile, somewhere that will lower the global footprint. It is better to get on a bus to go and protest climate change policy, than to get on a bus to not go and protest climate change policy. Every one of you reading this has not only benefited from the burning of fossil fuels, but almost certainly still relies on them every single day. We're all hypocrites. It's not the worst crime you can commit. The stakes are too high to worry about such a label.
So what constitutes as suitable action? How can we let our comrades know that we are large in numbers in order to build momentum? The key, obviously, is communication. Writing a piece for independent media, or sending your opinions and concerns to a small-time newspaper editor can reach more people than you might think. Local newspapers everywhere have the advantage that their narrower scope makes them more accessible to the people in that area. They also tend to be more open to contributions and less inclined to bow to the whips of wealthy bullies. If the mainstream media chooses to ignore us, we can drown them out, and re-define what is meant by mainstream.
Write to your representative, and write to your countries leader, then send those and the replies to our media outlets as well. We also need to do those things we have been meaning to do. This Christmas might be the time to ask for that new bike or book on organic farming. Perhaps you'll finally produce a fact-filled leaflet and distribute it to SUV drivers. It might be time to take a hit on your wallet and invest in that solar company you've always liked the look of. It's time to do everything we're already doing, but do it ten times as much. We must raise the social temperature if we are to have any hope of lowering the planet's.
Details of actions already planned worldwide can be found at www.globalclimatecampaign.org
current mood: tired
current music: Minor Threat - Steppin' Stone
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| Sunday, November 13th, 2005
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3:14 am - If you need any furthur incentive, John Peel loved them.
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Melt Banana, Beecher, Narcosis
11th November 2005
Academy 3/Hop & Grape, Manchester
Playing not very far away are the largely famous Western bands The Damned and The Bloodhound Gang. Neither of their gigs is sold out. Melt Banana is.
First band Narcosis almost make me worry that I’m in for an evening of music like theirs. They treat us to 20 minutes of morse code screaming, an experiment in binary robot vocals that doesn’t even pretend to have actual lyrics or a microbe of originality. Their animated guitarist is pretty funny, but sadly it’s as a welcome distraction from the music. It’s worth watching live, but I would never buy any recording like that.
Thankfully, Beecher up the mood considerably. Theirs is a haunting set of melody and interesting ideas, intercutting vicious growls with proof that you’re actually listening to a human and not a hippo being eaten by a rhino. Lovely vocalist Ed Godby launches himself around the mic-stand, trying desperately it seems to negotiate his way through the pace changing noise splashing around him. The last 10 minutes comprises of a couple of songs from the highly acclaimed new album 'This Elegy, His Autopsy', and a crackling distorted breakdown in sight and sound, all of which convinces me I need that new album. www.beecher-online.com / http://www.myspace.com/beecherband
Melt Banana finally began their stage performance after too much messing about, but it seems they were just teasing us. They are an absolute joy to witness. Melt Banana emit a structured mental racket, twisting guitar plucks, scratches and bleeps as colourful as their light show. Yasuko Onuki’s rapid vocals shriek and draw you, helped along by her smiling and dancing and the overall vibe of glittery fun headbash that surrounds the band on stage. To be honest, between all the effects and guitar work, this more closely resembles something I’d call electroclash - a mixture of punk and electronic spasms - than the bands normally given the title. The only thing that could possibly fault their set was the fat shit of a security guard that was angrily throwing people off the side of the stage. This music does more than melt fruit; this stuff could fizz through a fucking lead block. Absolutely bark raving mad, but brilliant. http://www.parkcity.ne.jp/~mltbanan/
4/5
James Lamont.
( Photo + MP3's )That was Friday. Tonight I went to Meng's ( selfhealer) and watched some performances in his living room. Including solo Meng! F'kin ace!
current mood: ey (bit drunk)
current music: Melt Banana - Giggle on the Stretcher
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| Wednesday, November 9th, 2005
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10:44 pm - Socially Unacceptable Vehicle.
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It was an irony I could have done without. A few hours ago, I, an environmental campaigner, helped a customer, pushing her massive 4 x 4 down an incredibly busy main road, since it had broken down and was blocking two lanes of traffic. She was alone. She left the car in a Co-op side road overnight. I left a note under the windscreen wiper with the powerswitch website on it. Who knows, it might do some good. No it won't, since I just realised I wrote .co.uk and not org.uk. BOLLOCKS.
Conincidentally, today Co-op radio's ear-splicing adverts made a return, and amongst them was an advert for Co-op gas and electricity. Offer them a bundle deal, that's a great way to discourage people from converting to clean electricity, you fucking ethical muppets.
Important interruption to this entry: luketherunner is a legend!
You might have noticed I've started using tags. If you didn't, congratulations on that. I went through all my entries in this journal and added tags. For the information of fat, bearded turds like comeasur337, the most used tags were music, work, Lauren, writing and school. Nothing too Frappuchino-like.
In a rather large "fuck you" to Rupert Murdoch and the campaign led by The Sun newspaper, Blair lost the terrorism detention vote. Three cheers for my MP, he voted against it, bless him. I should fax him and say thanks. Quite clearly if you lock someone up for 3 months without trial and they turn out to be innocent, you're going to piss them (and the ethnic minority group they happen to probably belong to) off. You're going to encourage segregation. Minorities will have the changes used against them unfairly - it's just the law of odds and the taste of power. Violence then increases. It happened when tougher powers were given in Ulster in the 60s, it happened in black communities in the 70s, and it would have happened with Muslim communities now - not that it isn't already, albeit to a slightly lesser extent. The modern face of evil wears a turban.
It's good to know that representatives don't have to pass everything the party in power proposes. It's good to know they aren't all afraid of the gutless, bastard tabloid media. It's far from perfect, but it's good to know there's some OPPOSITION and fucking SEMBLENCE OF DEMOCRACY in our government.
I don't think Blair should rush to stand down though. Although their motives utterly escape me, more people voted for Labour in the May election than any other party, and it would be a bit of a slap for him to stand down so soon after that. And if he did, what would happen? The anti-war movement and other such groups might feel some fleeting, illusionary, counter-productive victory, even though our protests had nothing to do with him standing down. And we'd have Gordon Brown - here's the new guy, same as the old guy. Blair needs to go, but if he does not go because of a public boot, then it is almost worthless.
current mood: zambah
current music: Fingathing - Big Monsters Crush Cities
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