Dear Political Parties. I Have A Request...

Today's media frenzy over the rise of the media's favourite political party with no MP's is that a prominent member of their youth wing has decided to leave the organisation and branded it racist. The response, from a UKIP party source (who thus, should probably represent the broad views of the organisation as a whole) was that "She's a young person and she speaks her opinions. I'm free not to consider them very important. I don't regard her as a person I should spend a huge amount of my time bothering about." (Source here). Perhaps the opinion of a single headline article in the Guardian are not important in the grand scheme of things. But the message this sends is far more alarming.

The European parliamentary elections (the ones where UKIP has actually won seats in the past) are happening a week from now and I, the same age as the aforementioned blogger, Sanya Jeet Thandi am also left with a quandry of where to place my vote. We've had plenty of election leaflets through the door in our student house, each promising to deliver a strong economy, or criticise the approach of the other parties, and all of them hoping to appeal to the average, middle class nuclear family concerned with their 2.2 children. Whether it's the cost of the living, the strength of the economy or immigration, we are told exactly why we should vote for the various groups.

Something is missing however. We are told via brightly coloured leaflet that the big world of politics can be miraculously solved by your leaders, so long as you remember to pop along to your election booth to vote. Big slogans, cheesy grinning stock photos and lines of ticks are there to remind you, the educated adult citizen that your interests are well taken care of. But the crucial thing missing, is the political party willing to presume that voters are not completely ignorant, capable of a little critical thought and rational reflection.

I understand that anyone above the age of about 30 will look down on my generation and our opinions, feel free not to consider them very important and not regard us as people they should spend a huge amount of time bothering about. We lack the hard bitten cynicism that comes from working, owning property and enjoying the fruits of our labour. Our fresh faced optimism and occasional bright ideas clearly bear little resemeblance to the cruel world we are about to chuck ourselves into, once we've worked for unpaid internships and been reminded how grateful we are.

The youth of today, the hard bitten adults of tomorrow are considered by the political establishment to have very little influence, we are seen as disenfranchised and aside from those members of the 'Young *****' party completely clueless about politics. If it can't be explained by Nick Grimshaw with a little innuendo and immaturity then we apparently won't understand what's going on. Indeed the cartoons encouraging us youthful individuals to vote, as issued by the European parliament presume that our intelligence is little greater than that of the common water vole.

But I'm issuing a challenge to any political party that wants my vote in the European Parliamentary elections. I'd like you to explain to me, as a fellow citizen of this country, what you offer and what I can expect, not in soundbites but a clear and reasoned argument. I'd like you to respect that while I may not have the same realistic experience of the world as your 'party sources', I am still a rational human being capable of critical thought and an ability to question and form judgements about your claims. If any political party is capable of treating its young voters as more than easy demonisation and respect their basic opinions, then I pledge my vote to you. If you can't do that, I'll do what us young people supposedly do and vote for the candidate with the funniest sounding name.

Call Of Duty Predicted The Ukraine Crisis

It seems that back in 2007, Activision predicted the world's next geopolitical flashpoint. The opening lines of the landmark video game Call Of Duty Modern Warfare go "Good news first, the world's in great shape. We've got a civil war in Russia, government loyalists against ultranationalists rebels." While the plot of that game might not focus on Ukraine, the quasi-conflict currently under way bears striking similarities, with a Western backed government dealing with protestors, both homegrown and imported from the nearby Russian border who are supported by a far more radical nationalist force in the form of Vladmir Putin.

You should bear no doubts that the protestors of Donetsk and Kharkiv are not merely elements of Ukraine who have suddenly found the courage, military uniforms and automatic weapons to defy the interim government of Kiev. There is a wealth of evidence that hints that Russia is behind this destabilising process, from 'local people' storming what they thought was a local government building only to find they'd taken control of the opera and ballet house, to two Russian state channels interviewing one man who claimed to be firstly a pro-Russian protestor, and then an anti-Russian extremist from Germany. Even Vladmir Putin now admits the 'volunteers' who siezed Crimea six weeks ago were Russian troops, not merely local concerned militia with Armoured Personnel Carriers at their disposal.

Just as in the game, the conflict has wrought havoc in Eastern Ukraine, with scuffles, seizure of arms and protestors from both camps frequently clashing. Yet equally in the game, the government of Kiev may possess more troops (excusing for a momemnt the 50,000 Russians poised on Ukraine's borders) but face a well organised and determined resistance movement that is led by unidentified, well equipped soldiers. While these have not been proven as Russian, it is worth considering that according to the Economist, the Russian Defence ministry boasted of creating such a unit last year.

Perhaps more poignantly in this parallel between the virtual and reality is that despite the best efforts of the West, in the aftermath of the events of Modern Warfare, the ultranationalists actually took control of Russia (analogous to Eastern Ukraine) in this example, which eventually leads to a far more globally reaching conflict in the sequel, Modern Warfare 2. While predicting a 3rd world war as a result of the Ukraine crisis is at this stage rather far fetched, it is worth noting that this proxy conflict by sides backed by NATO / Western and Russian interests respectively bears many of the hallmarks of the conflicts of the Cold War Era.

Vladmir Putin has refused to back down, the Russian state is collaborating in and to a large extent probably organising the destabilising events of Ukraine and Western action is a mere shadow of the bombastic rhetoric. I do not deny that Russian money is important in many Western financial centres, not least in London and that Russia's control of gas pipelines is a noose they can voluntarily squeeze on many Eastern European countries (thanks to Russian state ownership of Gazprom). But Russia is willing to act subversively, spinning one fable while enacting another and manipulating international law, citizenship and sovereignty to suit its own ends, and prevent the West from damaging its bullying sphere of influence on its borders. The West, particularly the EU and Britain must be prepared to be much stronger in their actions to prevent the violations of Ukrainian sovereignty at work.

Until then, the Russian juggernaut will infect and siphon off Ukrainian territory piece by piece. Though if the crisis does truly reflect the game, give Ukraine a year or two and it will be filled with young squeeky insurgents attempting to use big rifles for style points and shouting foul, poorly spelled abuse at each other through large microphones.

A Pessimistic Cosmopolitan Manifesto

It is clear that the dream of the enlightenment has died. The idea of human freedom, invigorated by the rational choices of individuals as they see fit has led to a system no longer requiring its illusory gloss coating. This system is unwritten explicitly and controlled by no one, instead sitting documented in the progression of human history, a monstrous tale of a struggle for the accumulation of wealth, power and the means to acquire both of these. This seeking of wealth (in terms of money, assets, resources and land), sits hand in hand with the influence and control determined by power, and so these attempts to grasp ever more is the basis of most human relations.

Our desire for wealth and power still utterly defines our world, regardless of any false ideological claims of increased quality of life or improved freedoms being at the heart of the desires of any authority, or the carefully formulated blustering of our political class. Between states, in the highly acclaimed global market, life is little better, with the competing interests of the governments and transnational corporations deciding on their compromises to today’s issues and creating a whole new set of crises to solve in the process.

Do not idly presume that in a world of fierce political, economic and military competition that there are outcomes fair and favourable to all those involved. Every generalisation of economic prosperity and growth, each treaty, every war, every government debt reduction and political decision sees losers as well as winners. When quantified and graphed by the statisticians, from a carefully formulated range of data, the losses of jobs, the brutal and bloody aftermath of war and the loss of political campaigning are presented to you as necessary in the face of so called successes elsewhere. You can thus sleep safer in your bed, fuelled by addictions to all the pills and substances the kindly corporations offer you at a competitive rate, knowing that poverty, restriction of freedom, torture, murder, disease and a lack of all your home comforts are something that happen elsewhere.

Ironically, if you take our world for what it truly is, an endless competition in which you expend your life’s energies seeking the wealth and power we so desire, this lack of care for others is not surprising. From birth to death, in a world built on the compromises of committees and meetings, you are fed, clothed, taught and entertained from the goodness of our great and kind corporations, organisations and governmental departments. This is a great gift they offer, just so long as you work for them, pay them your dues and spend your life encouraged to consume all that they package just for each and every one of you.

Never fear though, we have all the freedom possibly available to us after we have earnt enough money to pay for our children’s education from their birth until they can take over from us and pay for our healthcare (either to a state with tax or a private company with wages) prior to our deaths. In the middle of our lives we have jobs that line the pockets of the richer and more powerful than us in order to receive enough money to exist and enjoy our life’s pleasures.

Luckily these pleasures are acquired from primarily from the same producers who we are so indebted to for their provisions during our formative and final years. We are all then told that if we work hard, we can all beat each other and aspire to reach those lofty peaks of wealth and power, upon which all our cares and pain and fears will simply be washed away, at least until we die.

There is little that is untarnished by this system, one that you could call ruthlessly capitalist if it did not also feature so heavily the machinations of government, a partnership that could aptly be called partners in crime if they did not conveniently have control over the system of laws. These are there to protect their interests, and of course your individual rights and liberties (so long as your rights don’t get in the way of their interests.) By merit of your birth you give your tacit consent to enter and abide by this system, free of course, should you object, to go to a state better suited to your needs, since the ruthless acceleration of the global market to every corner of the globe has left a raft of places available where such similar ‘freedoms’ are offered. If a democratic reality does not suit you, why not try one of those convenient authoritarian or dictatorial regimes that enter the capitalist market but choose to deny their people the advantages (cynicism placed aside for a second) that come with it.

Obviously though, any decisions too big or uninteresting for the global reach of corporations are left to only those free and democratic nations in which a large military and nuclear power is maintained, their ability to utterly destroy all human life ten times over makes them ideal advocates for best practices. After all if the history of the 20^th century proved anything, it was that after going to war to defend our freedoms, the best course the world leaders could take was a huge stockpile of lethal arms possessed by two competing political and economic entities. They ensured that their warheads could leave a blight across hundreds of miles for many years to come, just in case their initial awesome blast wasn’t quite effective enough as a lethal weapon of mass slaughter.

However, this threat had the potential to be harmful for business so all the while, threat constantly looming, the large governments and corporations made sure to get every last inch of the world hooked on their products. They supplied smaller countries and factions with enough weapons and machinery to cause an acceptable level of destruction in defence of their beliefs and ideological promises, without threatening the dominant interests. Ultimately, the Cold War was simply an attempt by the two competing systems to justify their continual existence and dominance over individual lives, one via public power serving private interests and one via private power serving public interests. Despite our slight historical deviation, it’s clear to see that today’s world is definitely far better. Capitalism and the oligarchic governments who benefit from its continued existence and have replaced the backwards systems of the Cold War with a new world in which he have several large, nuclear armed superpowers.

These democratic nations, guaranteeing the freedom to earn enough to ease the pain of death and usher in the future generations so long as we both work for and purchase from the global financial market. In a world without a wall through Berlin, we have learnt from all our mistakes and no longer engage in ideological warfare, instead fighting in defence of basic human rights and freedoms unscrupulously, except when it’s not in our nation’s economic or political interest to do so.

This system, abhorrent as it appears, is made far worse by the fact we are told that it’s all in our best interests. Apparently we are far better off as long as we consume all the necessary products on offer to us, since in our finitely resourced world, growth is an exponential occurrence that will lead to all people prospering. By working for an unliveable wage paid by the global companies in a political system that represses freedoms and rights, even those in far off lands can prosper so long as they fuel our demand to be sold products by the benevolent, corporate social responsibility practicing global conglomerates.

One day, the democratic governments will even organise a dialogue process to remove some of these repressions for third world countries, just so long as they buy our nations goods, and keep supplying the cheap labour and resources necessary for the first world’s continued prosperity. And when you come to the end of your life, you’ll be cared for just fine, your pain minimised so long as your cheque book is ready; or (especially if the state is providing for you) your children’s cheque books.

The obvious negative response is that my cynicism in unhelpful in its lack of a solution at best, or downright wrong at worst. So, as you recline in your accommodation you pay the bank for each month until it’s finally yours (at least until you die, when in order to pass it on to your children who pay handsomely to keep living in it,) surrounded by a wealth of objects paid for via the money you earn for improving the lot of your company or department or organisation, here is my nihilistic riposte for you. Human life is dominated by economic exchange for survival and leisure, your apparent freedom and fulfilment sold to you once you’ve given up enough of your time and freedom to the increased wealth and power of those above while exploiting those below.

With all our reason, potential rights and freedoms we have ascended above all other creatures, away from a state of nature to a life that’s nasty, brutish and not quite so short (depending on how much you’re willing to spend). If you treasure what true freedom you have, things must change. You the people could again have the power, if you sought hard enough to reclaim it. Look at the world and seek to make it something beautiful, sustainable and capable of allowing all people freedom to exist in a better world. If not, the death of the dream is the culmination of a tragic path. The solutions to our problems as a global society is one that is hard to define, precisely because it requires the affirmation and will of a totality of individual choices to achieve any significant change. Yet the first step that must be taken before any attention to the structures and systems of our global system can truly be affected, is to call on a long forgotten and seldom used option, that of accountability. If our governments and corporations are, as they claim to be, part of a democracy, then they must adhere to the wishes of the people

Thus, I urge you, with all your power, if you are passionate for any change, be it great or small, to research, question, argue and search for answers to your issues. Roll back the corporate visage and jargon, ask for the facts and realities of the actions and compromises made. Protest, not through violence but your voices and actions, since for all their exploitation, the corporate world depends on your continued support. Therefore you can use your power of choice to boycott those complicit in the denial of human liberties and rights, of exploitation and false reports. You are free to exist in a system that defines your life in terms of the previously discusses relations, if you so choose, but you can only make that choice once you are aware of the hypocrisy’s and flaws present in such a system.

It is a system that we all exist in, and to truly live as free individuals it must be changed, reformed, amended or even replaced; but such choices are for all democratic people to make together. In the meantime, do not be disenfranchised but instead embrace what rights and liberties you still possess to expose the fierce and competitive world for what it truly is, a political and economic bloodbath, seeking to disguise this true nature under a carefully projected image of tranquil, everlasting perpetual peace and prosperity. And if human kind is unable, once the vicious realities of a system governed by selfish interests and competition, to forge a better future, then we must resign ourselves to our miserable fate.