Red or Dead

So a friend and I had an awesome idea on a blog. I signed up for an account and made the layout, but this great blog never materialized. I decided with the recent world events such as Revolutions, strikes, and the Economic crisis I would go it alone and focus on Politics.

I have considered myself a Left-wing Revolutionary Socialist since about 2001. At first I was not alligned with any grouping or organization but my need to “get involved” led me on a search. I sought out the Workers International Legaue a small group affilliated to the IMT (International Marxist Tendency) one of the split off groups of the large Militant Tendency in England that was very active and involved during the 70’s and 80’s. They seemed like a solid group with a genuine Marxist program and and a sizable International. We did the usual, protests, solidarity and union pickets, flyer passout, paper sales, etc etc. I enjoyed working in the WIL and I enjoyed all the people I met through them. My personal responsibilities always kept me from attending many of the longer distance activities which made me fall in and out of activity for many months at a time. As the years past my time working with, or even thinking about Socialism and politics in general diminished. I always held true to the idea that Socialism can work and will someday come to pass but I didn’t feel the need to participate. When the time came I would come back to full time activity.

The Economic turmoil that started in 2007 and continues to this day had me always look back at Marxism and Das Kapital. I was amazed by all the predictions by Marx on the future of Capitalism over 100 years before our time. Reading that book, as dense and gigantic it is, started to really make sense for me and kind of put things all back together in my head. I remember friends saying that Capital was an advanced work for experienced Marxists. They would say that so many other books should be read first. I say it should be the first fucking thing you should read if your interested in Marxism, shit, you should read it if your an anti-marxist! It almost verbatum predicts the currents state of the world economy and capitalism on a whole.  It’s an amazing book to say the least.

   The Revolutions around the Arab world and beyond taking place have also gotten me all fired up. I like nothig better than a good old Revolution. Social upheaval, throwing off the yolk of decades of torture and oppression. I decided to become a little more active and at least make a blog where I can rant about how everything I hate sucks and everything I like is amazing. I was motivated by a few blogs done by revolutionaries in Egypt about unfolding events in the Arab world. I was blown away by mass media’s reporting compared to what these Revolutionaries were writing about, it was the complete opposite. One example, the Media is reporting that Christians and Muslim sectarian fighting is causing havoc in Cairo. One blogger in Cairo, who has been blogging and tweeting since before Jan 25th, said that the Christians and Muslims are holding Unity protests with each other and the military and plain-clothes thugs are attacking these crowds killing 13 people.

P.S. That copy of Kapital is actually a piggy bank……..