Django's blog
Report back from the Right to Work conference
Last Saturday saw the second Right to Work conference take place in Manchester City Centre. Held across two venues; the Methodist Central Hall on Oldham street and the historic Mechanics Institute, it was billed by its organisers as “a conference of resistance and solidarity” in the face of the economic crisis.
The Right to Work campaign has its origins in the SWP, and is a revamp of a similar front it ran in the early 80s. It appears that in the wettest dreams of the SWP central committee, the campaign will be the recession-themed answer to the Stop the War coalition, and provide a similar profile boost.
Music of 2009
For those of you with Spotify installed on your computers (pretty nifty if you can cope with the targetted ads), here's a playlist of some of the best music of 2009:
http://open.spotify.com/user/skumbot/playlist/6AiYIt4Kw7T4MAfl4e8aOU
Alternatively, if you'd rather look for the albums online, here's my picks of the year:
Subway - Subway
Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Ben Goldacre debunks media claims about the Public Sector "gravy train"
Some of you may have noticed a pair of stories in the Sunday Times and the Telegraph respectively claiming that "public sector pay is racing ahead in the recession".
The stories claim that public sector workers earn on average 7% more than their counterparts in the private sector, despite declining productivity. The message is straightforward enough. In the words of Graeme Leach, chief economist and director of policy at the Institute of Directors, “It is ridiculous that pay and perks have risen when public sector productivity has fallen.
Best music of 2008
A selection of some of my favourite music from 2008, and where to find it if you are so inclined.
Some of the best stuff thats been released this year. And no, theres none of that shit that gets produced by politicos who form punk, folk, or, (god forbid) reggae bands to 'spread the message'. Links are to external sites, nothing is hosted here.
The Stonewall/Bindel affair, and the politics of transsexuality
What would a revolutionary gender politics be? I don't have a clear answer, but certainly the area is one where there aren't many clear arguments of much use. The recent debacle involving Stonewall and Julie Bindel does allow us though to think about where to start.
Julie Bindel’s nomination for the Journalist of the Year prize (which she didn’t win) at the Stonewall awards this month ignited a storm of controversy, with many within the broad 'LGBTQ community’ outraged at the organisation’s recognition of a commentator with a long record of writing which they see as ridden with ‘transphobia’.
Anarchist Federation on Obama
Below is a collectively produced statement on the election of Barack Obama by Manchester AF.
Make no mistake, Barrack Obama's victory in the United States does not mean liberation for black people any more than Margaret Thatcher's government was a victory for the women's movement. Neither does it herald a new dawn for the world, as mainstream commentary would have us believe.
A more equal society?
According to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, there has been a “remarkable” drop in inequality in the UK since 2000.
Sex, Work, and Gilles Dauvé
Though I can’t help feeling somewhat decadent in writing a blog post about a theoretical article written a quarter of a century ago at a time when severe economic crisis is presenting the opportunity to drive home the anti-capitalist perspective as never before, I find myself with free time in which to write some thoughts on a re-reading of Gilles Dauvé’s [url=http://www.libcom.org/library/fo
The death of the "Israel Lobby?"
Will the news that the US vetoed Israeli plans to strike Iran's nuclear infrastructure put to bed the myth of the "Israel lobby"? I'd like to think so, but I doubt the comfort provided to some by such a view of the world will cease its appeal.
The news that president Bush vetoed Israeli plans to attack Iranian nuclear facilities whilst visiting the country in May should, with some luck, permanently put to bed the belief shared by conservatives, liberals and leftists alike in the “Israel Lobby”, and its grip on US interests.
