Capitalist Cynicism Kills
Morning Comrades! I have been showing off a few of the new samples I bought to see what we can do with them for the Fall Winter Season of Black Lodges and whilst I am not entirely sure I can do a drop this weekend, possibly but let’s see - I’ll say this much, I have found a wonderfully competent local embroidery business and I will be working with them. At this point, or rather for the planned first FW drop we will be looking at an organic cotton, nicely cut and heavy black crew neck sweater. I am going to keep the embroidery minimal and tone in tone for now because that’s how I will want to wear it. Additionally, there is a zip up fleece sweater in the works and by the looks of it an embroidered, lined, black coach jacket down the line. So far it looks like I could be getting the first sample of the crewneck back on Friday, so stay tuned. I will be using our Telegram Group to keep you updated with these.
Two pieces of news have really pissed me over the last couple days - granted there has been more but let’s focus on these two. First up, of course, comes from England and specifically the continuing fucking audacity of the Tories - some of you may remember the so-called “Battle Bus” that lied about the money being paid to the EU and what could be done with it instead:
Turns out, like everything else they said, it was a fucking lie and now, after having corruptly rinsed all tax income for more than questionable deals with their Eton Buddies, the Tories are suggesting to raise the National Insurance Tax to “re-fund” the National Healthcare System - after, purposely de-funding it for years - an insult in itself, made even worse by the fact that an increase in an NI tax will hugely and disproportionally affect Working Class Earners- instead of, logically, creating a wealth tax.
It is so genuinely horrifying, insulting and abhorrent that the only response at this point can only be an upward punching, organized class war. Aside from the all the obvious corruption, disdain for life, lying and incompetence this alone should incite the above.
The second piece of news is peak cynicism of the US kind - the fact that unemployment benefits would cease on Labour Day, of all days. The mere fact that the US government had moved the traditional day of May 1st to September 1st alone always has left me gobsmacked, but combine that with the fact the eviction moratorium has expired with all branches apart from the SC being run by the self-proclaimed “peoples” party, well, what can you say, other than fuck them all, truly,
I dare only imagine what that can and will potentially mean for the nigh on 9 million people that this applies to but it is nothing short of cruel and criminal in my book.
In other important news of the day, the Guarding just released an incredibly important interview with Judith Butler, and when Judith Butler speaks, we all should do our damn best to sit down and listen. Especially her take on TERF’s is noteworthy. The article is linked in the picture below
The Terfs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) and the so-called gender critical writers have also rejected the important work in feminist philosophy of science showing how culture and nature interact (such as Karen Barad, Donna Haraway, EM Hammonds or Anne Fausto-Sterling) in favor of a regressive and spurious form of biological essentialism. So they will not be part of the coalition that seeks to fight the anti-gender movement. The anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times. So the Terfs will not be part of the contemporary struggle against fascism, one that requires a coalition guided by struggles against racism, nationalism, xenophobia and carceral violence, one that is mindful of the high rates of femicide throughout the world, which include high rates of attacks on trans and genderqueer people.
The anti-gender movement circulates a spectre of “gender” as a force of destruction, but they never actually read any works in gender studies. Quick and fearful conclusions take the place of considered judgments. Yes, some work on gender is difficult and not everyone can read it, so we have to do better in reaching a broader public. As important as it is, however, to make complex concepts available to a popular audience, it is equally important to encourage intellectual inquiry as part of public life. Unfortunately, we are living in anti-intellectual times, and neo-fascism is becoming more normalized.
With that, I will leave you with a shorter than usual selection of the fuckening and hot shots for today. Thank you for tuning in, by all means, share this far and wide, the more people we get on this bus, the merrier