The Manifesto

Phil Harrison — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:51:13 +0000

In the week I laughed out loud at the advert for Ford’s newest and best American 4×4, promising a green future with ‘up to 22 mpg’ (not a misprint), I was humoured to find the CEO of Ford on the Observer’s ‘Eco-Power List’. So was Geroge Monbiot. Read his critique here. Read the ‘eco-power list’ here.

Nowhere to go

Phil Harrison — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:20:23 +0000

I’ve been off the radar for a few weeks – I’m back in the States on holiday. So to all of you who check in, happy new year and may all your dreams not kill you. I’m hoping to get a bit of momentum on the site again, and even do some proper, and long overdue, personal writing. In the meantime, I’m going to get posting some food for thought. And to kick off, the ever-excellent Chris Hedges in discussion with Ralph Nader: http://tinyurl.com/4zyuugt

Eating the Irish

Phil Harrison — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 17:51:48 +0000

One of the best summaries of the so-called ‘economic wisdom’ being forced upon the Irish people at the moment. Oh for a Jonathan Swift today. http://tinyurl.com/35vd6w9

More Americana

Phil Harrison — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 23:35:02 +0000

The two, maybe three, occasional readers of this blog will have to forgive my current Amercian slant – I am, as mentioned previously, spending a month in Austin, Texas – an intriguing, and enjoyable place to be. Nonetheless, I am surprised, as again I have mentioned previously, on the paucity of public political debate here – and I’ve been here during the midterms, the first elections since Obama’s inauguration. What strikes me as most interesting is not the craziness of the right – and they are, seriously, crazy – but the toothlessness of the alternatives, the Democrats, the liberals. One commentator I have come across in my time here who I feel makes real sense of this is Chris Hedges. Hedges spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, and was foreign correspondent for the New York Times for 15 years – so his writing comes with at least a certain weight of experience. He has recently published a book entitled ‘Death of the Liberal Class‘ – and it is in this area I think he is hitting an otherwise ignored nail on the head. I have previously linked to a piece by him (he’s a regular contributor to the excellent Truthdig website) but I have no hesitation in posting another. Really worth a read, on ‘the phantom left’: http://tinyurl.com/24suujk

Drugs & hookers!

Phil Harrison — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:28:07 +0000

Interestingly concise, and hard to fault, description of what our politicians’ continual kowtowing to ‘market demands’ actually is: http://tinyurl.com/2eqsmhx Which reminded me of this.

Satire ain’t all it’s cracked up to be

Phil Harrison — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:22:53 +0000

I recently attended the Austin version of The Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear (the main one, hosted by America’s most popular political comedian, Jon Stewart, was in DC at the same time) and came away with a fairly sour taste in my mouth. Political comedy is an interesting animal – it can be hugely important in undermining the power of elected representatives, but I have wondered for quite some time just what it leaves in its aftermath. The British sitcom ‘The Thick Of It’ is a good example – biting satire, unquestionably, but the mocking of politicians seems so cheap and easy and, perhaps more importantly, completely unlikely to effect change, that I am left wondering who the joke is actually on. I came across this article exploring exactly this on Truthdig today – the writing isn’t great, but some interesting points are made: http://tinyurl.com/2fuok8a

The Values of Everything

Phil Harrison — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:42:12 +0000

V interesting article by Monbiot exploring the failure of the left as a misunderstanding of psychology – a mistake which advertisers, and the Tea Party, rarely make. http://tinyurl.com/26zxdu4

The failure of liberals

Phil Harrison — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 19:45:51 +0000

I’m currently in the US, Austin Texas to be precise. And just time time for election season. It is sobering, and saddening, to see what passes for political debate in the current US climate. For some time I’ve been interested in the evident failure of liberalism in America, and in Western society in general (think of the recent Liberal Democratic sellout in the UK) to effectively protect against the depradations of capital, especially on those most vulnerable – Chris Hedges’ recent column for Truthdig is a brilliant and though-provoking assessment of just this failure. Essential reading. http://tinyurl.com/36bbl6v

The rest of the Chilean miners’ story…

Phil Harrison — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 01:31:05 +0000

Superb write-up on the untold aspects of the Chilean miners’ story: http://tinyurl.com/25ddtk7

Links

Phil Harrison — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:15:42 +0000

I just added a new site to the ‘Links’ section – the site is also called ‘Links’, and in its own words ‘seeks to promote the exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies, and reject the bureaucratic model of “socialism” that arose in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China.’ Great and varied content, check it out: http://links.org.au/