Projects
These are projects I am either working on or looking for others to collaborate with. Where I have added more information, you can click on the project titles or the links to find out more. If you find yourself interested then do get in touch.
Ckick here or on the title for an outline of my own vision for social change.
The Class Struggle & the Strike Wave
The only force in society capable of opposing the fossil fuel industry is an organised, conscientious working class. Groups like Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, Earth First! or Reclaim the Power are not going to cut it. Yet none of the climate groups in the UK seem to have taken this salient fact on board. Perhaps it is an inconvenient truth? Whatever the case, it is absolutely essential for the benefit of the planet, society, and for strong grassroots movements that class consciousness and a fighting fit working class struggle is reignited. To read more click here or on the title.
Click here or on the title to find out more, but basically I'm interested in revitalising the old UK indymedia site (www.indymedia.org.uk) or something like it as I think it was finished off before it's time and there is still a space for it despite all the social media that exists today. That is especially so now with all the strike activity occuring, and which is hard to find out about. The SWP are currently fundraising £150,000 to launch an independent media that can cover all the strike action in recognition of this gap, but what are the grassroots movements doing? We need a functioning indymedia site or something like it.
The Cobalt Problem
Lithium batteries and other renewables technology require cobalt, most of which is currently mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These mines are largely unregulated, and poison the surrounding environment and communities. Children grow up with awful birth defects, and the dust from the mine covers whole towns, including vegetation. I recall in the early 2000s all the campaigns around sweatshops and the need for better regulation and that have had mixed success, and I would like to start something similar around Cobalt, in order to ensure much better regulation of this extractive industry. If you're interested get in touch.
The SUV Problem
I'm interested in seeing a national campaign to phase out SUVs. SUVs represented 20% of the car market 10 years ago, and now they represent 40%. Despite the reality of climate change sales are increasing, and as a result SUVs are now the second biggest contributor to the growth of CO2 emissions since 2010. Emissions from cars would be reducing if the sales of SUVs were banned, and that would send out a signal of hope to people everywhere, that at last we are heading in the right direction in an area of the market that represents the very essence of fossil fuelled lifestyles. And who would complain if urban SUVs were banned? It strikes me as a campaign that represents a potentially easy win, as few people are going to fight for their right to drive SUVs if legislation is brought in to phase them out, given the reality of climate change, air pollution, and the fact they can just choose a different car. They just wouldn’t have a leg to stand on, and nobody is going to shed any tears for them, and it’s going to win massive public backing, because there are a lot of people against urban SUVs. If this interests you and you want to take it further, then please get in touch.
The aim in creating this site is not only to promote car-free culture but also to encourage individuals and groups to develop projects in their community to promote the car-free ethos. One of the key aims of the project is also to develop a network of crowd funded car-free-city organisers around the country, to try and break the stranglehold that NGOs have on political dissent. For that reason there is a lot of information on the site about potential projects and campaigns that groups and individuals can run, and information on the model of organising that is being proposed. There are also the old Carbusters zines available to download, as well as an interesting blog to read.
Although it has been transplanted in the west now for over a century and is widely practiced (and abused), Yoga is in fact an indigenous tradition stretching back at least 5 thousand years and belongs properly to those whose ethnicity and culture pertains to the Himalayas, from whence yoga comes. Nonetheless it is a discipline that can be practised by anyone, and it is probably the oldest discipline in the world that guides the individual to overcome hate, addiction, oppression, violence, leading mind, body and consciousness into a state that is genuinely free. As such, yoga has a vital part to play in grassroots movements and in the emergence of genuinely liberatory humanity, a part that is still as yet largely unrecognised. On this, my own personal website, I share amongst other things the philosophy and practices of my ancestral yoga with those who are interested.