Golden age pirates and the lies we continue to swallow

A couple of weeks ago I found myself chatting with two highly educated adult men about pirates, as is the tendency of grown men when their partners aren’t watching. The conversation started when one of the men claimed to be confused as to why his two young children were so obsessed with pirates when the objects of their awe were little more than rapists and mass-murderers. The other agreed, referencing a celebrity chef’s programme on…

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Undercover agents of the state are infiltrating the left

In 1947 in Marseilles the dockers went out on strike and were quickly followed by other workers around the country coming out in solidarity. The newly formed CIA, eager to take advantage of the vacuums of authority that had been left around the world in the aftermath of WWII, sent a Psychological Operations team out to France to crush any and all socialist dissent. Undercover agents of the state began arming, training, funding and guiding…

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The War on Drugs and the illusion of democracy

It’s been just over a year since Znet published my five part series of extended essays on the role of the illegal drugs trade in the history of modern imperialism, called the War on Drugs. Reading them again to check the references before putting them up on my own site has been an interesting process for me. Before setting up this site I have not previously tended to go back and re-read my own work…

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The global drugs trade as counter-revolutionary, and club-culture as useful distraction and funding source

The fourth of the five essays on the War On Drugs covers the years from 1984 to 1998, the same years that I lost sight of what was important, due in part to, but mostly facilitated by the global drugs trade. To be entirely accurate it was probably more like 1985 to 1998, and rather than a block of lost years, it was more like a process of decreasing humility, compassion, honesty and respect, and…

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Corbyn’s Labour Party induces hysteria amongst the establishment elite

George Orwell famously said, 'in times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. That quote has been echoing around my mind for several weeks now. Of course It didn't help that during the last couple of weeks I've also read two articles by Jonathan Cook on Znet which amplified the reverberations around my mind. The first was a refreshing analysis of the recent hysteria from the mainstream media branding Corbyn's Labour Party…

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A political caste system ensures the entitlement of the absurd

One of the benefits of actual socialism being represented at the top of the UK Labour party is that, much like a lightning rod, it apparently draws fire from all directions. Helpfully, although not for the peace of mind of the socialists within the Labour Party, by putting actual socialists at the top of the party all the various people in positions of power that are anti-socialist, even if they had previously been pretending otherwise…

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The war on drugs was nothing more than a war on democracy and equality

The third essay in the War on Drugs series is the one that I found most upsetting to write and still find difficult to read. Even though, in terms of the Pax Americana, the 1960s was the decade that many of the calls for equality came together, I would argue that it was during the 1970's when the establishment strategy of presenting authoritarianism as democracy really began to unravel at pace, in the public arena…

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When the shadows masking the deep state retreat, what is left?

This week the US President will be visiting the UK at the behest of the administration department of our own ruling class. And of course, the usual chorus of sycophants have started singing their usual song across the internet, television, radio and newspapers; “don't protest, don't complain, do as you are told, show deference to the masters, respect your leaders”. There is something inherently nasty when the rich tell everyone else to passively respect their…

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Me, the state and the drugs trade; the mathematical perfection of a power-inequality triangle

At a time when questions about the legalisation of cannabis are once again high on the news agenda, I think it is worth remembering the historical relationship between the state and the drugs trade. Although, it is only right that I first explain my personal history with the drugs trade. The British summer has in recent years become synonymous with large scale for-profit festivals. When I was younger, festivals where the time and place to…

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Cultural Imperialism and the mass-production of racism, sexism and violence

When I sat down to write the post that would accompany archiving my 2005 review of Ben Dickenson's Hollywood's New Radicalism, I got caught up in a couple of issues. Primarily steel tariffs, Weinstein, the new Avengers movie and cultural imperialism. After rereading the review a couple of times a lot of the feelings that had accompanied writing it clearly came flooding back. When you have been standing in the middle of the woods for…

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