Progressive culture since 1954
There is a second kind of anxiety, as we step out into the world we share with the virus. There is the question of how we have allowed ourselves to be moved by these events: how we will tell the story of what has just happened, how we will mourn.
Our report aims to assess the Jobs Protection Framework and what we know about our industrial situations. It’s a ‘not these concessions right now’ perspective for those of us who want an effective and hopeful strategy for the long run.
When a letter arrived from an Elizabeth Irving — a name he didn’t recognise — Bill passed it to his wife. His eyesight was poor and he didn’t want any trouble. Still, the pale blue airmail envelope looked innocuous enough. Probably a misunderstanding. Someone had looked up William Reynolds in the phone directory —these things must be online nowadays? — and sent it to him by mistake. The envelope had been posted from Dili, each stamp showcasing a different exotic snake.
For the left – who have long been trying to surpass the limitations of liberal capitalism – it’s somewhat disingenuous to go along with this ‘dark times’ charade and pretend that the collapse of the bourgeois world order isn’t entirely desirable.
In common with many other artists, writers are one of late capital’s most avidly tricked-out assets: not expected to be motivated by crass material concerns themselves, their output nonetheless provides a handy source of wealth for other industries to profit from: industries of marketing, of publishing, of academia.