Though I would consider myself philosophically as an anarchist, I am not a revolutionary. Revolutions pit one section of society against the other and lead to bloodbaths, a collapse of the social order, and a power vacuum, and all too often in the chaos and instability that results it is the more bloodthirsty authoritarian elements that come to the fore. What's more, revolutionaries tend to eschew personal responsibility and transformation in favour of changing the system by means of violent force, without realising that without transforming ourselves we will recreate they very system we are supposedly trying to change, often in a more extreme and oppressive form. In addition, the means which we employ to achieve societal transformation carry with them the seeds of the new society. If we employ violent force as our means then we sow the seeds not of utopian vision, but of a violent and authoritarian future.
None of that strikes me as a means to achieve a more just and sustainable society. For me, any grassroots movement
rooted in social justice and libertarianism must have a core focus of assuming responsibility for personal transformation. It is a mistake to assume that the system is out there, and that the blame for our societal ills are the rich or the fossil fuel industry or tyrant dictators. The blame lies with society as a whole, and the individuals that comprise that society, not any sub-group within it. Unless we undergo personal transformation we will only ever recreate the very system we seek to change.
So, in my view, we need a radical popular enlightenment. A movement that, among other elements, also contains within it practices for the raising of consciousness of each of its members, much like the second wave feminist groups of the 70s and 80s did. In other words, along with traditional forms of struggle, we also need a strong focus on healing, rapprochement, and self-realisation, so that our movements are composed of mature elders, realised individuals, responsible members of society, and not just disaffected people often inappropriately acting out from a place of wounding.
I don't know how that will come about, but I know that is what we need, and so for me my activism has always been about trying to help create a society in which such a radical popular enlightenment is more likely to spontaneously arise, and where the counter forces are weakened enough that it is able to thrive and grow without being crushed, whether by state force, capitalist seduction, or internal forces of control and authoritarianism.
So here are a few ideas that I think can take us into that scenario, and which do not require any violent revolution or fancy political ideology to happen. In other words, these are radical changes that have wide acceptance within society already, and which many people would welcome as positive, and that can be achieved within the existing political-legal-economic framework, without violence or the need to demonise any group.
1. A four day working week without any reduction in pay. I mean, how can the police crush our movements when we are calling for something that they too will welcome? This goal is already been taken up by several councils across the UK, and even Defra have announced that they are developing plans to trial it. I think this is a goal that will relieve so much stress and pressure from so many tens of millions of people, stress and pressure that enacts a terrible toll over the course of our lives, destroying the spirit of the nation, and a nation without spirit is a nation that will never develop real emancipatory movements.
2. Universal income. That is, a basic income that is given monthly to every adult in the country without condition. Say, £1,000 a month. I mean, why not - wouldn't we all welcome it? And yes, it is affordable, I mean, who says we have to work for money anyway? Only the greedy capitalists among us who seek to exploit us for their own gain. Money doesn't cost anything to create, so why should we work for it? This is another aim that already has widespread appeal, and even some political parties have been toying with the idea of putting it on their election manifesto. Like the four day week, it would bring relief to tens of millions of suffering people, and it is something we could achieve, and it will mean that we are not forced to work, but can choose. That is a massive gamechanger, and will totally remake the values we have as a society. Why shouldn't we create a society that works for us, instead of one that exploits us?
3. Proportional Representation. A democratic system that is genuinely democratic begins with proportional representation. At present, a political party can get a large percentage of the vote but due to the first past the post electoral system and the geographical boundaries of parliamentary wards, not get any representation in Parliament. I mean, if we really want a genuine democratic system, then proportional representaion is a good start. It already has lots of backing across wide sectors of society, and so it is definitely something that could be achieved, and it will immediately mean that millions of voters out there who feel shut out and disenfranchised suddenly have a voice in the nation, and that means it will totally revitalise our democracy, and a society that is excited about democractic values again is a society in which more democratic experimentation is likely to occur.
4. A New People's Democracy Building. We need to retire the Houses of Parliament, and build a new People's Democracy Building somewhere else, say, in Birmingham. The Houses of Parliament represents the old school British establishment version of 'democracy', and we need to make a clean break from the past. A move to a new people's Democracy, situated outside of of London, would signal that we have entered into a new era and would allow our democracy to begin anew with a different set of values, values more suited to the contemporary era and not the old era of colonialism, aristocrats, bankers and corporate pirates.
5. A Break up of all Media Monopolies. It is obvious that influential individuals or organisations should not be allowed any control over the media, and certainly not any monopoly. Our media needs to be genuinely free and independent and we need to have national policies that ensure that, anf that also support small scale media. All monopolies should be broken up, and all media need to be free from governmental control and from the control of the PR industry.
6. Democracy in the Workplace. We are constantly told that we live in a democracy yet we have no control whatever over the workplace. Corporations and bosses can hire and fire us without the need for any account to the lives and livelihoods of those affected, and they can make decisions that affect us all yet we are told that we have no democratic right to interfere. We must have democratic control over the workplace and the economic sphere so that the decisions that affect us all are taken more collectively. All this needs to involve is a fundamental shift in the legal definition of corporations and businesses, so that they are no longer considered privately owned organisations whose only remit is to seek a profit. Instead they are now considered as an integral part of our social and economic lives and therefore under the democratic control of the general public, and that means they are accountable to us, just as the politicians are. While I know this is far from perfect when compared to, say, the socialist vision of a worker led economy, it is I think realistic and achieveable without severe conflict and bloodshed, it does not explicitly oppose capitalism and so does not require any dramatic and sudden changes with unknown consequences, and also will have widespread appeal.
7. The Nationalisation of the Bank of England. So that money is not created as debt that then has to be paid back with our taxes, but is created for free, on behalf of the people of the British Isles. I mean, it just seems the obvious thing to do. It also means an end to growth, as the obsession with growth only take splace within a fractional reseve system where, due to constant debt creation, the money supply has to continually inflate. And an end to growth... is definitely a good thing.
8. Severe Restrictions on the Financial Sector. The financial sector is out of control and it needs to be pacified and then placed under severe restrictions. For example, gambling with stocks and commodities should be banned, as it is irresponsible. We do not produce goods and services so that irresponsible corporate playboys and playgirls can treat our marketplaces as casinos. These are our livelihoods and the goods that we need to survive and thrive as a culture, and they should be ringfenced from the gambling that currently takes place. We also need to place a massive burden of taxation on the financial sector, in order to prevent the financial sector from exploiting us as it currently does. There are lots of ideas out there on how to restrict the financial sector, you can pick and choose really, but the main gist is that we need to bring this sector under control, as at present it has far too much power and influence and is causing many problems.
9. Nationalisation of the Arms Industry. Armaments are used in wars to kill people, and that means their production should be restricted to national defence only, and not be manufactured by private companies to make money. A system where companies can make arms to sell is a world where war is a profitable exercise, instead of being a last resort in case of national defence. That is an insane world, a world which will quickly lead to the creation of a military industrial complex that controls national governments and intelligence agencies in order to lead nations to war to make money. Sound familiar?
10. A Limit on Top Earners. That there should be a limit on how much a person can earn in a year that is equivalent to, say, 100 times the average UK wage, and that anything above that must be returned to the UK Treasury as tax. I think if you tried to do anything less than 100 times the average UK wage you would get a lot of resistance, but with 100 times the average UK wage, you are really only effecting the top 1%, and even then, they can still earn a lot of money, so it is not affecting them that much, but it does stop the worst excesses of wealth accumulation and ensures a better distribution of wealth, as it means that if the super welathy want to get richer, then they have to increase the UK average wage. So suddenly, the rich are incentivised to make us all richer, which strikes me as poetic justice of a sort.
11. Free Higher & Lower Education & Free School Meals. Education is important, and it should be free, this should be a core value of our society, as should be the provision of free meals for all school children. Also, I think school education should be voluntary after the age of 14. Kids know what they want to do by then, or at least what they don't want to do, and if they are not interested in school they don't really learn anything new after the age of 14. I say that as a former school teacher. It causes so much stress and problems forcing older teenagers to sit in classrooms when they really don't want to. As a teacher, I strongly sympathised with the kids on this matter, as it struck me as an injustice. Below the age of 14, kids are still kids, they respond to adults as children and you can teach them, but beyond that, it needs to be voluntary.
12. Local Police Forces. I think the era of a national police force responsible to government needs to end, as it is clear that that only lends itself to politicised forms of policing. Instead, we should have local police forces that are accountable only to their local community, perhaps through a Community Trust composed of individuals from the local area. This way, the police are actually made to serve their local community, and not central government, and the economic and political forces that happen to control central government. That makes for a real police force, instead of a force being imposed on us all from afar and for purposes that are often not in the greater good.
13. Severe Restrictions on Fossil Fuels. The last but by no means the least goal should be severe restrictions on fossil fuels. These are dangerous substances that are destabilising the entire planetary climate system, and they require strong regulation to massively restrict their use. Out of all the options presented here, this is probably the one that will be least popular and that will encounter the strongest resistance, and that is why I have put it last, because I think that if all the other options were put in place, we would be in a situation where people would be much more favourable to curbing the use of fossil fuels, as we would have created a world that is far more equitable and just, and that will lead to a much greater sense of 'we're all in it together' and community spirit. Out of that kind of milieu comes a society that takes its responsibility to future generations and to the wider life on earth much more seriously.