CATEGORY: Global POLEMICS

Jon Kaufman3rd August 2016

Jeremy Corbyn is Winning

I’ve no idea if Mr Corbyn can win a national election. At first glance the political demographics seem stacked against him. The so-called traditional working class vote is fragmented, demoralised and disorientated. And, caught as it in a vice like grip between globalisation and automation, shows every sign of continuing its relentless decline. But beyond this narrow definition of the working-class lies the ninety-nine percent. They too can also be defined as the working class because in the final instance, the vast majority of this ninety-nine percent must rely on selling their labour power in order to survive.

Jon Kaufman10th July 2016

Chronicles, Thomas Piketty

It’s refreshing for an economist, and a damn good one at that, to be able to put their arguments in a way that the lay person can grasp. Thomas Piketty has done just that, though I should add that I found his monumental Capital pretty tough going. But the essence of Piketty’s polemic, be it in full academic mode, or the more accessible journalistic mode, is that inequality is increasing across the planet, with the one percent getting an ever larger share of the cake and the ninety-nine percent having to scramble around for the remaining crumbs. Chronicles is a collection of nearly fifty short journalistic style articles dating back to the financial collapse of 2008 and running through to late 2015.

Jon Kaufman29th June 2016

Blairite Blues

I’m very certain that the Parliamentary Labour Party could find themselves a shiny new Blairite face in a sharp business suit to lead the party and enhance the chances of Labour getting into No 10. But to what purpose? Labour, under Tony Blair, won three national elections and during that thirteen-year period of governance the inequality within the country continued to grow, the markets and financial system continued to be unregulated, the social housing stock continued to decline, the principle of university fees was entrenched into the education system, further parts of the nation’s infrastructure were privatised and our foreign policy continued in a pro-imperialist, neo-colonial direction. In other words, a continuation of everything Thatcher and her neo-liberal chums stood for.

Jon Kaufman28th June 2016

Post Brexit – Editorial

All that was once solid melt away into air. Karl Marx was reputed to have said these words or something similar way back in the nineteenth century, words that feel most apposite in the wake of the Brexit vote. British political parties are in turmoil as is the British State itself. And the political ramifications go so much further. The entire EU project could unravel. The Front National in France are emboldened. In fact, right wing and openly neo-fascist parties across Europe, already somewhat in the ascendancy, are ready to jump on the anti EU bandwagon. And perhaps most significantly of all, in the wake of the Brexit vote, a Trump presidency seems to inch ever closer. Marx also noted that; In fifty year’s history barely moves a day and then in one day it can suddenly move fifty years. Once again, hugely apposite, but whether we have moved fifty years forward or fifty years backward is a matter of fierce contention.

Jon Kaufman19th June 2016

The Untold History of the United States, Chapter 2, Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick

So rich in detail and documentation is this unprecedented history of the United States that I promised myself that I would review each and every chapter. Then I got side-tracked and I only managed to deliver on the introduction and chapter one. Well now I’m back with the full intention of delivering on the original pledge. If we want to get a grasp on the current state of play in US political history there is no better place to start than this explosive chapter. It’s got everything; corporate fascism US style, greedy bankers holding the country to ransom, fascist plots a plenty and the revolutionary New Deal as served up by President Roosevelt. It’s as if someone has pressed the replay button. All that history we have witnessed with Reagan and the two Bush’s and the Clintons with Trump in the wings, it all seems to have its roots way back in the inter-war period.

Jon Kaufman4th May 2016

Bad Jews, Joshua Harmon, Theatre Royal Haymarket

Had loads of fun with this one. Cleverly scripted, well acted, and most critically as it turns out, a highly topical polemic. In short, brother and sister are at war with each other. Usual sibling rivalries but with an added ingredient. Jewish brother brings home his blond girlfriend/fiance who just happens not to be Jewish. Sister berates brother for threatening to marry outside of the Jewish faith thereby weakening the purity of Jewish line. Brother retaliates by accusing sister of upholding a fascist ideology more akin to the Nazis. All good fun, but in the light of the anti-Semitism accusations swirling around the Labour Party at the moment, and in particular those aimed at a certain Mr Jeremy Corbyn, this turns out to be deadly serious stuff.

Jon Kaufman27th April 2016

The Plague by Albert Camus

A mountain of words has been written about this all time post-war classic, so it remains only to ask the question; how goes the plague in 2016? On one level Camus Plague clearly concerns how we humans respond, in our various ways, to fascism, be it military, institutional or cultural. Some of us oppose it outright, others seek to accommodate to it, while others willingly collaborate with it. And of course there are a thousand shades between. But I suspect Camus’ Plague operates at a far deeper level still. For Camus, the Plague is that of human indifference, of a deficit of empathy; of a retreat into ones own selfish needs. As such, the Plague is always with us, lurking in every country, in every community and in the consciousness of every individual.

Charleigh Kirby9th March 2016

Twenty-First Century Feminism

I am a feminist. Am I a wild, radical extremist who demands men to be eradicated from planet earth? Occasionally. What about International Men’s Day? a male comrade of mine recently exclaimed. ‘Why are women entitled to an entire day celebrating their existence and men aren’t? Oh the anguished tears of oppression. And in case you’re wondering, international men’s day actually falls on the other 364 days of the year.

Jon Kaufman2nd March 2016

Europe – In or out, the corporates will still rule the roost

While the Bullington Bullies turn their spite on each other with their spurious arguments over the UK’s status with the European Union, the British electorate are faced with an imponderable choice. But when one considers the matter closely, it is really no choice at all. In either scenario the giant corporations and banks that bestride the planet will still be in control of the British economy. No rational person can really believe that, post referendum, the chronic housing situation in the UK is going to be sorted out by either the in camp or the out camp. And no rational person can believe that either the stay or leave camps, are going to regulate the banks and corporates. The tax havens that facilitate wholesale tax evasion will still be in place whatever the outcome of the referendum. So too will the toxic fossil fuel industry and the equally toxic food industry.

Jon Kaufman2nd March 2016

Spotlight, a Review

I watched this one the day before the Oscars, unaware that it had even been nominated. When I discovered the next day it had in fact won best film, it was further confirmation that the entire circus that is the Hollywood Oscars is not worth two beans. This is a mediocre film by any standards. A typical Hollywood, good versus evil, righting injustice type of film that could apply to just about any type of injustice you could care to mention. Totally formulaic in its construction, without a hint of nuance or complexity. The characters are all one-dimensional, as is the script and dialogue.

Raan Oosha21st February 2016

Coffee Shop Reality

“Most of the hatred in this world is of the manufactured kind; created purposely, skilfully and manipulatively to keep the people fighting amongst themselves so the business elite can control the land we live on, the labour we expend and the goods and services we produce.

Jon Kaufman27th December 2015

Making History by Stephen Fry

This is a witty, clever piece of what if historical sci-fi. In parts, this is Stephen Fry at his very comic best, as good as his General Melchit from Black Adder Goes Forth fame. In other parts it fades away to little more than irritating public school boy humour. But rising above the ebbs and flows of Frys humour is a deadly serious underlying theme, one that deserves much consideration. The plot revolves around a simple sci-fi plot to remove Hitler from the historical landscape. Not just the adult, genocidal Hitler, but any trace of the person.

Jon Kaufman21st December 2015

Podemos, Syriza, the SNP and the Corbynistas – The fightback gathers Momentum

Earlier this month Eamon Brennan wrote an article for Sporting Polemics calling for the need for an alliance of progressive parties. I believe on this he is spot on. During the hustings from the last election, my heart sank when Ed Miliband declared unambiguously that he would never entry into an alliance with the SNP. This was not only politically inept but strategically muddle-headed, especially when you consider that at that point in time the SNP was far to the left of Labour on virtually every issue. Miliband, playing to the agenda set by the Tories, fell head-first into their trap.

Jon Kaufman21st December 2015

New Government Sports Strategy: Eighty-four pages of fine sounding platitudes.

When it comes to entrenched poverty it is often asked: is it a culture of poverty or a poverty of culture that is the problem? But there really is no chicken and egg situation when it comes to poverty. Material poverty always and everywhere drives cultural poverty. It always has and it always will. Admittedly, once a culture of poverty has taken hold it too can work to further entrench a material poverty, but we should not allow ourselves be lulled into the mistaken belief that cultural poverty is at the root of the problem.

Jon Kaufman16th December 2015

David Cameron – No if’s No Buts

Somewhere along the line, national democracies, limited as they were in both scope and ambition, were quietly but comprehensively supplanted by global corporations. At current estimates, the largest five hundred of these wholly undemocratic and unaccountable monoliths have taken control of the planet its governance, its economy, its infrastructure and its culture. They control our socio-political present, they manipulate our understanding of our past and they seek, at every turn, to control our collective future. They are, to all intent and purposes, omnipresent and omniscient. Their wealth exceeds all but the biggest nations but collectively they are far, far more powerful than even the most powerful of nations.

Jon Kaufman16th December 2015

Religion – Keep it out of schools

The other day I walked into one of my schools for a regular table tennis coaching session and what was I confronted by? A hall half full of kids being drilled into the wonders and joys of the perennial Christmas Carol. Hark the herald angel sings, glory to the new born king. I recognised the words because I’d had them drilled into me during my own school days some fifty years ago. It was a particularly incongruous scene because at least half the students were from a Muslim background. It felt wrong and not just because of any Muslim sensibilities. After all these years it was the same old story. Someone, somewhere seemed to think that rolling out the Christmas agenda was a form of upholding British values.

Jon Kaufman16th December 2015

Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton

The easy part of this review is pointing out what’a great about this collection. It celebrates human diversity; it allows the human spirit to triumph over human adversity, and above all it is always and everywhere life enhancing. Given the current state of play with respect to drones and jihadists, the three photos selected by Stanton of young Muslim women, is a wonderful antidote to all that Islamophobic fear and loathing that is currently swirling around. The subjects seem to just want what we all want, to be allowed to get on and just be. In fact, that is probably a fair summation of the whole collection. Here I am take me or leave me. I’m not bothered about anyone’s preconceived conceptions.

Raan Oosha9th December 2015

Syria – Puppets and warmongers exposed

Contrary to what the mainstream media would have us believe, Jeremy Corbyn’s first few months in charge of the Labour Party has been a resounding success and some of the seeds that he is presently sowing may well, if nurtured, yield handsome fruit in the years to come. Of course, the media has done its absolute best to undermine the man with subtle and not so subtle barbs of every conceivable nature; to his character, to his principles, even to his dress code and how low he bows. At every opportunity they have tried to belittle and demean him. He’s been lambasted as a coward, a communist and completely out of touch.

Jon Kaufman29th November 2015

ISIS – Mirror image of western neo-colonialism

I was going to blog on the folly of the proposed British bombing of ISIS, but having recently read two articles in The Guardian, one by a Jurgen Todenhofer 27/11/15 and the other by regular columnist, Seamus Milne written way back in June of this year, I decided there really was nothing else substantive I could profitably add. Instead I would content myself with highlighting the key points of their arguments, adding the odd emphasis here and there. When the British State has such a monopoly on the prevailing narrative, it is so refreshing to know that there are other people are out there, even if in a relatively tiny minority, who share your views.

Jon Kaufman14th November 2015

Paris terror – The blowback continues

It is often said that our great cities are humanity’s greatest achievement. I can warm to that concept. Teeming with a multitude of cultural wonders and, in any single day, billions upon billions of everyday interactions, our cities truly are a wonder to behold. Sure, they have their downsides; vast inequalities, polluted and congested streets, some unsavoury anti-social and outright criminal behaviour and a seemingly ever present shortage of affordable housing. But the fact that millions of citizens, increasingly from very diverse backgrounds, rub along together with a minimum of fuss and bother, gives one a little hope for our collective future. And then comes along a bunch of hot-wired jihadists and everything we take for granted is in ruins.

Jon Kaufman14th November 2015

Don’t Buy The Idea That Heathrow Expansion is Good For The Nation. Simon Jenkins

‘Sporting Polemics, rightly or wrongly, hasn’t always been complimentary to Mr Jenkins. A little too willing to accommodate the excesses of corporate Britain. A little too ready to turn a blind eye to the real nature of corporate globalism. But in his latest opinion piece on airport expansion, despite his trademark pro- capitalist sentiment, he makes some very salient points. The essence of his argument can be summed up by his concluding paragraph which unambiguously asserts that the only real motivation for Heathrow expansion is one of corporate profit. Read More…

« 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 »