In the 1960s when the Labour government was in power the country had an air of modernizing newness going on, there was hope and excitement for the future…
It was the same in the late 90s/early 2000s after eighteen dark, depressing Tory years.
But this time round, after 14 even darker Tory years, there has been no bounce back to joy. The damage is so very deep.
Labour played it safe to get elected. But safe is not working. Britain needs radical renewal.
In my opinion,
Labour needs to commit to being a party of progressive politics –
it started as the party of the working people
with principles influenced by christian/spiritual values,
basically –
cooperation over competition
creating community of equals, not class divisions –
but the modern Labour party is not following these goals.
The socialists sold out, they had little choice to be fair, in our corrupt money-led society,
but surely the dream didn’t die…
Labour should live up to its aim to be the party of the people
and cooperate with the people, not boss them around:
For example, don’t make tobacco illegal, that just creates another black market,
let people decide for themselves what they do with their bodies!
It would make sense, socially and economically, to
legalise cannabis, psychedelics and other low risk drugs –
the UK is so far behind other countries on this.
Recreational use of drugs is ok, enough generations have realised this now
and it goes on any way – so make it safer, and get taxes,
by decriminalising what people do for pleasure anyway.
I think the gay community should be campaigning for drug decriminalisation,
many of us get to see up close what abusive use of drugs can do:
criminalisation achieves nothing but casualties of the drugs and the law’s judgments –
the lawmakers should liberate nature’s shamans to teach the world how to fly safely,
and how to liberate our creativity…
Creativity – Culture has long been Britain’s greatest export
we could put resources into promoting creative skills and expression. Cannabis decriminalisation would help boost this immensely!
Community – is Britain’s natural way of being
community with the land, with the sea, with the animals as well as the people –
promote awareness of our Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Viking pagan heritage as well as our Christian,
and celebrate how Britain has thrived as a multi-cultural hub of the world for past 2000 years.
Care – Carework is king! We all have parents or relations who need care. Most of us will need it too. We should elevate caring for others to the top of the tree. Everyone should try it – schemes for young people to get care experience. So much to learn, gain as well as to give. We should be proud of all the care going on in this country for elderly and disabled people. We need to embrace our capacity for compassion, celebrate the caregivers, and make looking after each other life’s highest goal
Co-operation – a new economic model is required! English polymath John Ruskin, 1819-1900, who was a pioneer of intentional community, setting up “a communitarian protest against nineteenth-century industrial capitalism” (wiki) called, incidentally, The Guild of St George. He wrote, “Government and cooperation are in all things and eternally the laws of life. Anarchy and competition, eternally, and in all things, the laws of death.”
‘Ruskin hoped to establish communities to challenge the profit-motive driving modern industry, and to provide alternatives to mass production…. His utopian ideal was to stimulate greater happiness and improved health by promoting sound and responsible personal conduct, and by reconnecting society with the ennobling beauty of nature.’ Someone should tell the St George flagwavers…
But instead of ‘government and cooperation’ the 20th century brought us government and competition. Quite simply we are breaking the laws of nature and that is why our ecology and society are in danger of collapse. it is Capitalism that must fall. Cooperation is the only way to restore the eco-system and for society to thrive.
Consciousness – there is more to the history of Britain than empire, industrialisation, magna carta and capitalism. Home once to the powerful Druids, then to Roman, Norse and Saxon gods, Britain embraced Christianity and became a sacred land of pilgrimage, it has produced great mystics, poets, playwrights, authors, artists , musicians and given birth to the neo-pagan revival of the 20th century , through the formulations of Wicca, now a global faith. If our structures and institutions are falling apart, astrologers have been telling us that would happen with the passage of Pluto through Capricorn since 2008, mystics can explain that things have to fall apart in order to be reborn. That applies to countries as much as to people. Something perhaps in the physical nature of Britain, an island surrounded by restless seas, that experiences the four season distinctly, hastens the evolution of the people here, makes the people of this land pioneers – or pricks. Take your choice.
But it seem that what we need to become now is pioneers in reclaiming common sense consciousness as much as anything enlightened or elevated. We need to stop fighting. Stop blaming. Start respecting again. Get conscious. Get creative. It’s our greatest asset.
A key result of our island nature was the British conquest of the seas – Britannia ruled the waves, spreading her culture and language around the world. For all the problems with this, the British played a key role in creating the globally connected world we have today. As a result of our imperial ambitions on this island today we have people from all over the world, we could be celebrating what we can learn from each other as we create the new humanity of the 21st century, inheritors of all that has gone before, and get conscious enough to not recreate the violence and division of the 20th.
Great Indian mystic saint Ramakrishna (1836-1896) said:
“The fanatic sincerely believes that his path alone is true and the others are no paths at all. He feels it his duty to attack other religions. But this attitude is born of ignorance. The fanatic helps neither himself nor others. He deals out nothing but evil. Contrary to this, same-sightedness and acceptance of all religions are born of enlightenment. This enlightenment comes as a result of one’s comparing notes with paths that have not been one’s own till now. It is all right for a baby to commence its life exclusively in the domain of its mother. But subsequently as the child grows it must contact others so that its outlook may expand. Acquaintance with others does not come into conflict with attachment to mother. A religious person has, in like manner, to create in him an attitude of devotional inquiry into faiths other than his own. If he does not piously seek to study the other paths, he brings on himself the misfortune of shrinking into the shell of his own religion.”
I’d say this applies equally to nationalism.
I love our multicultural society, I love its multi faith nature. But I don’t love seeing racism and calls for Christian nationalism on my city’s streets, by ignorant, drunken thugs chanting Who the Fuck is Allah. Some wearing medieval Knight costumes. I felt like these guys were exactly like the thuggish English crusaders who brought destruction to the Holy Land – but did you know those crusaders were criticised for bringing back homosexual habits from their travels, so not all bad lol.
Exposure to other cultures broadens the mind. The knucklehead nationalism appearing in the UK at the moment is a direct consequence of Brexit. We put up the walls, tragically removing from our young people the chance to work and live anywhere in Europe. We removed the free flow of people across the Channel, but then found we needed more people to keep our economy going. So inward migration has soared. Take back control said the Brexiteers, ignoring the reality of a globalised world. And now, with the borders up but constantly breached by people seeking sanctuary in our land, a Little-Britain island mentality is emerging.
Brexit happened. The country is still reeling from the shock, from the economic loss, from the lies and chaos. But this is also a chance to rip up the rule book and start again. The right wing is already well set on such an agenda, the left badly needs to find a new vision for a new era.
Here’s my manifesto:
Cannabis
Creativity
Community
Care
Co-operation
Consciousness
rainbow messenger 