Morning Comrades and welcome back after the Easter break. Initially I had planned on utilizing these 5 days off to relax and re-focus some of this writing on here and as some of you may already thanks to social media, I caught Covid at the tail end of last week. On that note, I hope everyone, after these 5 days off, can agree on the insanity of a 2 day weekend, when the bare minimum should be 3 days off per week.
There are a number of really important articles I wanted to go through with you all today, and I will link them at the end of this email for your pleasure, but their examination is going to take a back seat for now.
To start, here is this week’s playlist, Black Lodges Weekly Jams 136.
In retrospect, the selection of songs all makes sense, but I sure was a little out of it last week. If you like your tunes angry, short-ish, brute and to the point this is the one for you. Whatever variations you are used to from these don’t happen here, unabashedly to be fair and that’s all that needs to be said about this week. It jams.
Second note before I get into this week is a big thank you to everyone that picked up a piece from the birthday mutual aid drop. All in all, we just scratched the 2000€ mark in profits that have gone over to Doctors Without Borders. Thank you for that. It matters and means a great deal. I’ve placed the order with my printer and expect those pieces to be here in 12-14 days. You’ll get an automated email from the online store once your order has shipped.
Now, Covid. First off, don’t worry, I have no intention to write a covid journal or anything like that, but after having avoided this damn virus for 2.5 years I have a few thoughts that I think to be relevant. So far my symptoms have been manageable, I presume that is the right word, they’re similar to a nasty cold. Truthfully, continuously figuring out the quarantine logistics in regards to safety, work, food and what not are proving to be more stressful than the actual disease. Which is not to say that I am belittling this bastard, on the contrary, Covid is and remains a deadly airborne disease and in light of the most recent moves by the capitalist death cult that is forcing us to act as if it’s all over, it is not.
However, all of that isn’t what has been a recurring headache over at this end. I have tried my best to isolate and be watchful for others since this pandemic started, probably a little excessively so but I also figured better safe than sorry. Especially, during the first 18 months prior to vaccinations being available, I did what was medically sound when it comes to airborne pandemics, mask, stay the fuck away from people, vigilant cleanliness and so on. Post-being double and then triple vacced I gave myself a little more leeway in regards to doing things good for my mental health, seeing more friends, occasionally going to bars etc - always aware that by doing so I was putting other people and myself at risk- At that point, I was weighing up the cost of isolation in regards to my own health and those presented to me to places I wanted to go to. Clearly, I miscalculated.
Interestingly enough, I felt awfully responsible and guilty after my first few days of presenting symptoms, in the sense that I had personally failed my family, my housemates and friends that I may have infected before my tests confirmed my infection - honestly, my symptoms were hugely akin to the usual, annual hay-fever bullshit I go through in April/ May and my daily rapid test all came back negative. Nevertheless, I obviously had caught the virus and before testing positively, saw 2-3 people here in my house, who obviously, caught it as well. I felt terrible and occasionally, that personal fault still hits me out of nowhere.
This is probably the biggest trick the bastards pulled on us, not just in regards to Covid, but genuinely every discriminatory result of capitalism is laid at the individuals feet to deflect any and every systemic critique, and yes, I genuinely thought I was immune to that bullshit myself too. I am not and its genuinely rattled my cage. The simple fact is, that those whom we have given power to, are paying money to and have given up substantial freedoms for, have failed at every step of the way to do the bare fucking minimum to keep the people safe, not just from the pandemic, but literally “everything”, but let’s stick to Covid for now.
I haven’t checked what the official death toll currently is, here in the West, but I know it to be devastating and continuously so. I am still utterly convinced that we had the option and chance to have dealt with this pandemic entirely differently, the Zero Covid Plan still is the most logical, humane path towards that but that would have meant putting severe breaks on capitalism, with the end goal of working towards a different economic and value system that places life before profit but hey, call me a hopeful dreamer and all. Of course, as we all know that didn’t happen, but the fact that it did not happen wasn’t by accident. Everything “economically” possible was done to safe and protect the largest financial contributors to our politicians at whatever human cost necessary - and feel free to call this large-scale corruption resulting in millions of deaths in 2 or so years - and most, if not all, sound, scientific and medical contingency plans in existence were ignored.
Within a year of this, the official capitalist narrative quickly changed from systemic faults that allowed this to individual responsibility / fault and that was pounded out on all possible propaganda channels, without end, till this day. You want to protect yourself, you do this. Not “we” will guarantee logic and science to lead us, but no, you choose if you want to get vacc’d, wear a mask, as long as you get back and consume. I know, I and many others have written about this insanity often enough and I myself am also exhausted by the repetition, I have just not felt so caught out by my own internalized and manipulated guilt in a long, long time. It’s shocking to a degree to become aware of just how insidious this machinery of individualism is and works, despite having studied it closely for many years. To that end, “individualism”, as a trait, response, societal idea is not the answer, never has and certainly never will be. Community, communal support, action and collectiveness is. I am still working on figuring out my own feelings of guilt and / or shortcomings here but to be sure, my rage outward, at the 1% and their puppets has significantly intensified. We are being killed, killed for the sake of profit and those doing the killing have names and addresses.
P.S.: A weird side effect, I think that is the right way to frame this, of having Covid at this end, is that I am always hungry and eating easily twice as much as I usually do, it’s wild! I haven’t worked out since last week Wednesday and expected my need for energy to decrease relative to that but holy shit, I am shovelling food into me like my growing teenager does. Aside from the usual fatigue etc - anyone else have / had this? Just for the sake of pleasing my own curiosity.
There are, obviously, heaps of other, relevant topics worthy of discussion but the above had to be stated. With that, here are a number of texts, opinions that I wanted to share with you.
This is and was an eye-opening read, especially, the 2nd part of this essay. The first part is an accurate historical analysis of how we got here, but the 2nd part is where I was floored, only because it feels and reads as the first, genuine and honest take of what is happening and will happen. Jacques Baud, a retired colonel in the Swiss intelligence service, was variously a highly placed, major participant in NATO training operations in Ukraine. Over the years, he also had extensive dealings with his Russian counterparts. If there is only one article you read from this today, make it this one.
Interview with Russians Against the War
“The Prolekult podcast is intended to provide a discussion format to consider Marxist theory in the light of the world historic crisis it today faces, problematising traditional or axiomatic readings of the crisis and interrogating the detail behind questions, rather than necessarily putting forward a set position. In this way, we hope the format can bring a useful critical component to our other work, allowing discussion of method and problems of analysis.
In this episode, James interviews Russians Against the War (RAW) - an openly socialist and communist group working within Russia - on their position on the war in Ukraine, the situation inside Russia economically and politically, and their plans to hold an international socialist peace conference. The answers provided here were agreed collectively by RAW ahead of the interview, and a transcript is also attached.”
Strategy of Denial - A Take
A Critical Pathway For A Manageable Future Of Humantity - A position paper by the Climate Crisis Advisory Group that I found not only vital in their clear suggestions as to how and why, but also making this understandable.
Thanks as always for your time and attention. This work can only exist with your participation and support. If you can, share this far and wide and if possible, become a supporting patreon. Until Thursday, I remain yours, without compromise,
V.