Kind: Notes

"For we knew only too well:
Even the hatred of squalor
Makes the brow grow stern.
Even anger against injustice
Makes the voice grow harsh. Alas, we
Who wished to lay the foundations of kindness
Could not ourselves be kind."

To Posterity, Bertolt Brecht

I quite like a bit of utopianism.

Yeah maybe you shouldn’t write recipes for the cookshops of the future, but it’s nice to think about all the lovely cakes that will be available.

This article postulates that the solidarity economy is not helpful, because it isn’t revolutionary:

https://regenerationmag.org/the-real-movement-against-the-solidarity-economy/

It was triggered by this article suggesting a change to Marxist theory to incorporate the solidarity economy: https://regenerationmag.org/marxism-and-the-solidarity-economy/ (only scanned this but seems a bit.. bold. Marx misunderstood his own system, ima fixit)

Smash capitalism or erode it? Not exactly a new point of ideological contention.. interesting though to see solidarity economy explicitly critiqued.

Really interesting article. It reiterates nicely one of the huge possibilities of social media: allowing previously silenced voices to be made public, and surfacing injustices previously hidden. I think it strangely ignores the centralisation of social media though, which essentially means it is mediated again. I think open web technologies can be a counter to that.

https://theintercept.com/2017/11/25/information-warfare-social-media-book-review-gaza/

Really want to go deep into the political history of the textile industry, any good book recommendations? It’s incredible and horrible lesson from history. Manchester is wrapped up in it.

Like before the industrial revolution, people had spinning wheels and hand looms in their homes. The industrial revolution brought in spinning frames, power looms, centralisation, mass production and a whole shitload of exploitation around the globe to go along with it. Why? Where’s that tendency come from?