If you aren’t already perhaps you should be reading this… March 2, 2013
Posted by WorldbyStorm in British Politics, The Left.trackback
…Soviet Goon Boy… a presence long missed from this branch of social media who has returned to engage with the issues that are wracking the UK SWP. Since I last checked in a week or so ago there are now three or four more pieces.
As to those issues, as central facts pertinent to the case emerge the responses of the party become less and less explicable – and SGB has some useful analysis on power relationships within organisations and on basic stuff such as sexual harassment policies that shouldn’t be notable by their absence.
It’s very very difficult to see how this will end. But the term ‘badly’ springs to mind. As to their fraternal comrades on this side of the Irish Sea it is understandable = and this point was made in comments – that they’d be leery (for genuine reasons) to draw attention to these events, though has there been any public communication on the matter since and if not is it likely that pressure might build up to make one?
If you aren’t already perhaps you should be reading this…
Well maybe, but on the other hand, maybe not.
See, I remember, as do we all, that “Soviet Goon Boy” is in fact Splintered Sunrise, a one-time interesting blogger who for reasons of his own decided to disappear up his own fundament in the cause of contrarianism and excessive detail.
Specifically, after a long series of posts on the SWP, which I’ll get back to shortly, he wrote an even longer series on the Catholic Church, in which his main purpose was to defend the more traditionalist (or if you prefer, reactionary) parts of the Church, and particularly Pope Benedict, against all-comers within and without the Church. One effect of this, and an effect which apparently caused him no discomfort, was to attract a large number of extremely dubious commentors to his blog, as well as to attract the praise of some equally dubious supporters, notably Damian Thompson, Blogs Editor at the Telegraph. That’s the chap in charge of promoting genuinely hateful figures such as James Delingpole and Ed West.
Now, let us suppose that we are looking for commentary on the present (and quite likely terminal) SWP crisis, and particularly commentary which centres on the highly important aspects of:
(a) how woman are treated within an organisation and its consequences ;
(b) secretive and hierarchical organisational culture and its consequences.
Wouldn’t that analysis sit rather strangely if it came from somebody who had gone out of his way, over years, to express support and admiration for the most secretive, repressive and anti-women part of the Catholic hierarchy, and particulary a Pope who was both thoroughly misogynist (not to mention homophobic) and deeply implicated in the cover-up of clerical sexual abuse?
Of course it would. Unless we forgot entirely that any of this had ever happened.
A lot of people will forget, of course, but I personally do still possess a functioning memory, and I not only remember the hurrah-for-the-Pope series (until the point as I stopped reading them) but the SWP series before them, and what I recall of that series was that they were interesting until one tired of the pattern. Which pattern consisted of:
(i) taking the same side every time in disputes which one claimed to be taking no side in ;
(ii) never disagreeing with commentors, in order to stay on the right side of everybody ;
(iii) reproducing every confidential document you could get your hands on, and then pretending to be friends with the people who had asked you not to.
Plus of course, a vast, impressive and frankly excessive command of detail.
The result of this was to gain a large number of commentors – albeit not necessarily the same ones, or even the same sort, that turned up for the Catholic Church series. But in each series, although the ostensible subject might be different each post, you were basically getting the same posting every time, because the villains were the same every time, be they John Rees, liberal Catholics or the National Secular Society.
Not that I mind anybody having the same villains every time, though I do take issue with the pretence that things are otherwise. What I do mind, and the reason why I stopped reading, is the feeling that I am having my strings pulled, and that it’s not really a discussion, it’s a contrarian jape in which the blogger rtakes whatever position amuses him the most, that amusement being had at the expense of his readers.
And at the end of the day, either you can write repeatedly, enthusaistically and basically uncritically about Pope Benedict, or you can complain about secrecy, hierarchy and sexism elsewhere. One or the other. Else it’s just a jape, and a jape made worse for coming with a pretence of concern over what are very serious matters.
End of story. And this particular story came to an end, for me, some time ago.
Well, in fairness given my opening sentence ‘a presence long missed from this branch of social media’ I’d have thought that it was clear I was well aware it was SS from the off. I hardly thought that needed restating.
re the rest that’s a most interesting critique and I’ll have to go and think about it. That said the analysis he presents of the travails of the SWP are fairly clearly reasonable and that was what I was getting to above.
But, and I’m just working my way towards this over the last few minutes since I read your comment, I think it’s possible for people to have many often deeply contradictory aspects to their worldview.
Whether we’re having our strings pulled is a different matter. I know the stuff I take seriously from SS/SGB and the stuff I don’t. And people do have compartments in relation to their approaches and beliefs so I’m leery to dismiss one part out of hand because I’m not in sympathy with the other part. But I can’t deny that there’s a certain dislocation between one and the other and it would be very interesting if that were explained in some form or fashion.
‘After you’d spent so much time exploring the maze of procedural shenanigans, obscure personal antagonisms, byzantine organizational structures, arcane doctrinal differences and peculiar ethical rationalizations – all quite bewildering to the uninitiated – that seems to make up the strange, closed world of ecclesiastical traditionalism, turning your attention once more to the far left must have been a refreshing change.’-Ken MacLeod on a previous SGB post.
http://sovietgoonboy.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/the-swp-crisis-some-reflections/
I’d have thought that it was clear I was well aware it was SS from the off. I hardly thought that needed restating.
Oh sure, I knew you knew. But I thought it worth restating partly in case anybody didn’t know, and partly for rhetorical purposes given the point I was making, that the Benedict stuff had not been forgotten.
As far as contradictory aspects to someone’s worldview are concerned – sure, but one’s interest in that collapses the moment one feels that strings are being pulled. If you think it’s a prank, then there’s not a “worldview” being expressed.
And thing is, you can’t really come back from that. Once you’re convinced that a person is taking the piss out of you, on whatever level, then they can’t really come back to you and say “I’m straight up about this stuff, honest”. Not if the basic technique, the approach, is the same.
It all went on far too long, I’m afraid.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any sense dismissing what you’re saying, I guess I just never quite saw it that way. I felt there was a degree of leg-pulling, particularly re the tweets during the visit of Benedict to the UK (Or at least I hoped it was leg pulling) and a cynical view of the goings on in the SWP, but… as I say you’ve given me a lot of food for thought…
Does he still like Girls Aloud?
Well, that’s another aspect, the pics in the earlier period were… um… different. (and perhaps baiting as well in the sense ejh means).
Amusing pro-Benedict article in today’s IT in which Breda O’Brien expresses bemusement at young people’s lack of enthusiasm for his former holiness, seeing as he is such an environmentalist and such an outspoken critic of the free market. No, me neither.
Did you read Stephen Collins apologia for the government? I’m tempted to start a Saturday ‘Voice of the orthodoxy’ piece with one quote from him. It was toe-curling stuff.
I note that Collins didn’t mention Pat Rabbitte’s comments at the launch of the book he discusses in his article: “Speaking to a gathering of old left-wing comrades at a book launch on Tuesday evening, he began: “I have just come from another heavy day spent reducing the living standards of the Irish people.”” Austerity: a comedy goldmine! Isn’t it great that one of the most powerful political figures in Ireland can see the lighter side of 15% unemployment, mass emigration, and the depression and anxiety felt by hundreds of thousands of people about their future?
Stephen Collins’ piece was enormously reassuring…
-Governing in a time of austerity… an enormous challenge…do the right thing…a reluctant public…will hurt them in the short term… a hugely important step…deserves enormous credit… making the hard choices …better for all concerned…should reinforce the stability… concerns assuaged by…will keep the country on target…another straw in the wind…worst of the recession may be over…vastly experienced politicians…how fickle the electorate…stay the course…their place in the history books is assured… keep the show on the road….-
..
Returning to the topic and related matters, there is a growing swell of rumour that the irish swp has passed a motion critical of its British counterpart in its handling
Of the accusations against CC member ‘ comrade delta’ anyone have more details ?
Amazing how he has been paid to write the same article every Saturday since September 2008
And not just by the Irish Times – the European Commission paid for him to go to Athens and write the same article; he did CTRL-F and replace for the politicians’ names, the rest was the same.
Pangur ban, I heard from an Irish ex-SWP activist who has resigned over the issue that the majority of the Irish organisation disagreed with the British CC, but Kieran Allen, James O’Toole and John Molyneux disagreed with their criticism. As a result, no official condemnation was put forward.
any notion of what they disagreed with Gearóid?
Surely there is way use the stock phrases CL highlights above into some sort of Stephen Collins Column generator.
Would save him the trouble every Friday.
All that bullshit about Benedict being a closet left-winger because he utters the odd bit of waffle about the soullessness of modern society might be marginally more convincing if he hadn’t been JP2′s chosen hit man in the mission to root out the last vestiges of Liberation Theology.
There you did have a current within the church which had widespread popular support and did offer a challenge to capitalism and it was ruthlessly stamped out so the Vatican could get on with the more important battle against condoms and homosexuals, a battle which Breda and her cohorts, despite all this false flag stuff in the Times, thoroughly approve of.
As I recall this point used to be argued in the comment section of a certain blog, whose posts would claim that the politics of the Catholic Church were basically the same as Old Labour. Commentors would occasionally observe that what really exercised the church was items such as abortion and gay marriage, which seemed to be what really mattered since that was where the excommunications actually tended to be threatened. But it made no difference.
Like I said when the Catholic Church actually did have a left wing tendency within it, they did their best to stamp it out and to a large extent succeeded. Anyone who knows anything about the history and politics of the church in the seventies and eighties knows that notwithstanding the odd rote comment these days about how it would be nice if capitalism was a bit nicer. JP2 in particular fought tooth and nail against left wing movements in Central America. Old Labour my arse.
All that bullshit about Benedict being a closet left-winger because he utters the odd bit of waffle about the soullessness of modern society might be marginally more convincing if he hadn’t been JP2′s chosen hit man in the mission to root out the last vestiges of Liberation Theology.
I am reminded that another German gentleman spoke about the soulessness and anomie of modern society.
Of course, we know what party martin Heidegger joined.
Stephen Collins I mean!
There’s a whiff, more than a whiff, of ‘Comical Ali’ to Stephen Collins’ column today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfAeMtcURg0
The NC of the Irish SWP voted a few weeks ago to condemn the handling of the Delta rape case. However, they also passed an amendment saying that they would not make the position public or make any announcement as such, for fear of being seen to ‘interfere’ in the workings of another IS group. However, that is their position if asked about the matter.
Curiouser and curiouser as was said I think by a character
In Alice in wonderland
Any nominations for the title of mad hatter?
Not like the British SWP never interfered in the workings of the various smaller IS groups
Where once there was silence:
http://www.jimjepps.net/?p=273
And another masked insider:
http://sovietgoonboy.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/lord-acton-and-the-guillotine-our-tendency-after-cliff/
As Oscar Wilde might say : to have one sexual scandal in a European IS affiliate is unfortunate to have two within a decade is positively careless –
‘Sex trots and the fatherland ‘
http://socialistunity.com/13439/