Essays

Is free-market democracy capable of delivering socialism? was first published In the Morning Star on 25th October 2018. It is just under 2,700 words long. With the growth of democratic socialism within the mainstream politics of the UK, USA, Greece and Spain, I thought it was worth revisiting the question “is what we understand as democracy in the modern world capable of delivering socialism”.

When did rape become entertainment? was first published on Znet on the 23rd April 2018. It is a 4,000 word extended essay prompted by the mainstream media’s response to the #metoo campaign, specifically the media’s ignoring of the wider matrix of domination, and gender oppression, inequality and exploitation in modern society. An abridged version was later published in the Morning Star.

Consumed by mistrust and resentment, we stand alone was first published by Znet on 18th January 2018. It is a 4,100 word extended essay prompted by the narrowing of focus by the larger radical activist groups. It argues that free market democracies are anti-social, anti-democratic, and environmentally catastrophic. And how by allowing our activism to be led, we are losing our power to do anything about it.

War on Drugs, part 5: 1998 -2010, From Citigroup to Lehman Brothers was first published by Znet on 21st September 2017. It is the fifth and final part of the 5 essay series. At 5,410 words it concludes the analysis, while covering  the development of the opium trade in Afghanistan under the cover of 9/11, cocaine in Colombia  under Plan Colombia, and the legitimisation of the global drugs trade into the international financial system under the guidance of Wall Street.

War on Drugs, part 4: 1984 -1998, From Freeway Ricky Ross to Osama bin Laden was first published by Znet on 18th September 2017. It is the fourth part of 5 essay series. Part 4 is a 5,135 word extended essay examining the the role crack cocaine played in the poorest communities in mainland USA, cocaine played in the American proxy-wars in central and south America, and  opium and heroin played in the continuation of the wars in Asia, south-east Asia and the Middle-East.

War on Drugs, part 3: 1973-1983, From Watergate to South Central was first published by Znet on 14th September 2017. It is the third part of 5 essay series. Part 3 is a 5,000 word extended essay covering the war on drugs and the ‘deep state’ players involved in it, over the course of the 1970s and early 1980s. It follows the transformation of the relationships and geography as a direct response to the increased scrutiny from a government under pressure to appear democratic.

War on Drugs, part 2: 1961-1973, From Kennedy to Kent State was first published by Znet on 11th September 2017. It is the second part of 5 essay series. Part 2 is a 5,000 word extended essay outlining the relationship between the state and the trade in illegal drugs over the course of the 1960s. From the Bay of Pigs, through the Summer of Love, via Vietnam and culminating in Watergate.

War on Drugs, part 1: 1773 -1961, From Britain’s India to Castro’s Cuba was first published by Znet on 8th September 2017. It is the first part of 5 essay series. Part 1 is a 5,000 word extended essay outlining the role of the narcotics in European imperialism and the constructing of the Pax Americana. Part 1 follows the relationship from the British East India Company to MKULTRA.

I say evade, you  say avoid; lets call the whole thing off was first published by Znet on 15th October 2016. It is a 2,500 word essay prompted by a discussion about tax at a family meal. This occurred at a time when the role of tax evasion was being discussed by the mass media, allbeit under pressure from their audiences. I say evade asks the wider questions of what and why does tax exist, who does it apply it to, and to what end.

Homage to Asturias, Aragon and Catalonia was first published by New Left Project on 3rd February 2014. It is a 2,700 word essay examining, what has been described as, the best historical example we have of a large-scale anarchist revolution. The essay was prompted by the 80th anniversary of the workers’ uprising in Asturias, which in no small part prepared the way for the Spanish revolution two years later.

The Right to Vote in a Rigged Game was first published by New Left Project on 20th November 2013. It is a 3,000 word essay examining the historical development of the modern political processes in the UK, and measures it against a normative definition of democracy. It was originally prompted by the celebrity Russell Brand, who was arguing that the UK was not a democracy in the truest sense of the word.

Gold or Freedom was first published by New Left Project on 4th October 2012. It is a 2,400 word essay discussing the role and impact of the Olympic games on totalitarianism and the war between the classes, in the context of the Anarchist revolution in Spain. It tells the story of the People’s Olympics in Barcelona in 1936 in counterpoint to the Nazi Olympics that same year.