Power

A Material and Philosophical Reckoning. Part 1.

Morning Comrades.

This is a long overdue series of dispatches on power. Realistically, this could, should and has warranted a series of books from smarter people than myself and obviously I am leaning on those, as well as my own writings from my PhD that very specifically dealt with the question of power. To be clear, there is going to be serious criticism of us, me, as I feel it is needed, out of compassion more than anything else and very much in the tradition that Marx put forth “it is all the more clear what we have to accomplish at present: I am referring to ruthless criticism of all that exists, ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be.” as the time desperately calls for it.

A few basic statements to establish: The current world as we experience it here in the West and as it is imposed, violently, on the rest of the world cannot continue. From the grand scale of the environmental economics, to the self-proclaimed rules based order to the macro-realities of how we arrange our existence in relationships, work, the resulting weariness and apathy, our submissiveness to power structures that exist not in our favour, nothing as it is can continue. Not only from a moral and ethical standpoint but also, and specifically, a material one.

So we want change. We’ve wanted change for a long time and yet here we are. The above is increasing at a pace in violence that defies understanding, let alone the ability to act accordingly. Without any grand theoretical rumblings we need to talk about how to achieve change, realistically, not romantically, considering all realities before us.

We need to talk about power. What it is, how to attain it, how to wield it, how to let go off it and what to do with it, at first materially, and then, or possibly, at at the same time, morally and ethically. For my part, the later comes afterwards, again, soberly assessing where we are.

As it stands, we, here in the West need to understand what power is, why it is necessary for change and eschew all of the indoctrinated concepts of morality that have been wielded against us by the ruling classes to understand who and what we are facing so that we can then bring about the change that is required. Philosophy first, today, then politics and power later.