Introduction
Revolution is the political section of E.A.R.T.H. This introduction is an outline of where we are at politically, what progress has been made, what might be yet to come and how we can help get there.
A fairly middle of the road environmental party of which I am a member, the Australian Greens, is often labelled extreme by conservative opponents. This is a discussion of what it means to be labelled extreme.
A friend was publishing The Equal Standard magazine as part of her Phd, and asked for submissions on the topic of Extremism. I did two versions and this is the one which got published.
Saviour or distraction?
Should we give everyone in society money to live a more comfortable life? A lot of people think so but is it sensible, feasible? Will it achieve the goals its proponents hope for. What other effects might it have? This is a discussion of the Universal Basic Income which I hope makes some contribution to these questions.
I wanted to write an explanation of why I thought anarchism was the only philosophy capable of taking us into the future. It ended up being more of an extended mind dump, so forgive me for that, but I hope you find something interesting in it. Caveat lector!
In 1962 I was a Conservative. I believed privilege could only be justified by service, high taxes on very high incomes were necessary to prevent an entrepreneurial economy becoming a rentier economy, and Keynesian growth would finance public service improvements and a welfare state that steadily reduced inequality. I was suspicious of ideologically driven, large-scale change. These were the mainstream policies of the Macmillan government at the time. In 60 years I have moved from centre right to hard left without changing my opinions. (Written in 2023)
— Stephen Watkins
George Orwell
When I sit on the train watching people reading crime and fantasy novels, I despair at how stupid most non-fiction is, and then I remember George Orwell's 1984. This is a towering work of fiction, whilst I love the Lord of the Rings which won a number of polls of...