Pound in me pocket
I got no pound in me pocket
I ain’t got an eye in me socket
But Keef’s Labour
Will be our saviour
And boost Great Britain
Just like a rocket
That’s wot he say anyway
Growth the secret of our payday
Rach sez there’s nay money
But we’ll be in’t land of honey
Cos Keef’s Labour
Will be our saviour
Be sad if it weren’t funny.
Welcome to the new dystopia, same as the old dystopia. It's Monday, and less than forty-eight hours ago Iran, in conjunction with Hezbollah and the Houthis, launched a series of missile and drone attacks on Israel. Twitter was alive with tweets about the assault, including footage of the iron dome, and the media stations quickly picked up the attack. WWIII was trending.
The Guardian later reported that:
"The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that about 360 missiles and drones were fired from Iran and that “99% of the threats” had been intercepted in a successful defence mission that may have cost Israel £800m – but will have saved many lives and dented Iran’s military credibility."
It's hard to find really accurate information on the attack and the extent of the success of it. It seems that Iran and its allies weren't expecting to cause very many casualties, and I've read that the drones that they used weren't the most sophisticated they have, though to date I've been unable to verify that.
I've no doubt that millions of people, including me, are sick and tired of the horrors of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, supported by the USA, UK and its allies, and are desperate for the slaughter to end. But Israel has impunity despite the so-called 'rules based order', and is able to get away with mass murder. As a result, the whole of the west has blood on its hands, and has lost all credibility, if it ever had any.
One of the worst offenders is Germany. They have offered unqualified support to Israel and have attacked genocide protestors in their own country. The Palestine Conference which was meant to be held in Germany on Saturday was raided by the police and shut down. One of the Jewish speakers was arrested. Yanis Varoufakis who was invited to speak via streaming has since been banned from entering Germany or making any political broadcasts there. You can find the speech that was banned here.
It's important to know that the dystopian world we live in now isn't new. It's been around for a very long time. When I was a kid, the Vietnam War was raging. The USA dropped many thousands of pounds of bombs on Vietnam and Cambodia, and rained down Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide, onto the rain forests. This series of photographs captures some of the horrors of that time. I was able to witness many of these horrors on TV news at home. Coverage was much more graphic in those days. And, since then, we have had other horrors in the former Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This bloodshed has been going on for the whole of my life in the supposedly civilsed world, most of it initiated by the imperialist USA.
Here we are in our very own dystopia, wondering whether it's really all going to kick off. My view is that it won't - not for a while yet - but I can't be sure. Nobody can. This all comes on top of shit rivers, failing NHS, no dentists, shit post and public transport and a life negotiating potholes on the roads - #BrokenBritain - as they say. What can we do? Stay calm, organise, organise and fight back is the only real option. Support independent and independent socialist candidates in the upcoming local and national elections. Vote Green if you can (I'm not a massive fan, but they are a better option than any of the other parties), and boycott genocidal Labour and the Conservatives.
If you want to find out about more of the history and background to our current problems, check out my post on Western Culture.
