Occasionally, I look at the statistics for the posts I put up on this blog to see which ones get a large number of hits and which ones don't. Before I go any further, I want to make it abundantly clear that I don't write posts in a style and on themes that will guarantee a larger audience. I write posts because I feel that certain issues need to be addressed. However, looking back through the statistics, I couldn't help noticing a pattern. Namely that posts about grassroots initiatives that are going to have a positive impact on people in the here and now are the ones that tend to get less views than the ones where I'm having a rant about something that's happened.
Here's a list of the less well performing posts that I've written recently:
This project ticks a number of our boxes:) 12.9.24
Digging in at the Plot In The Park is keeping us sane... 22.8.24
Guerilla gardening… Just do it! 10.7.24
We have a paper:) 7.7.24
Prefigurative action 29.6.24
Getting started on making a difference at the grassroots 23.6.24
On average, these posts have got 15-25% less views than the ones where I'm having a bit of a rant. I want to make it clear that I've no intention of quitting putting up posts about what we can do in the here and now to start building alternatives to the toxic, increasingly dystopian world we currently have to endure. Ranting about the state of the world is no good if you're not willing to put in the work needed to create something better. Which is why we have this other project - At the Grassroots. This is the mission statement we have on the At the Grassroots blog:
It’s easy to know what you’re against in a dysfunctional, unsustainable and increasingly dystopian world. Railing against the world we have to endure may make you feel better but…does it lead to positive change? We know that the political, economic and social system we inhabit is rapidly heading towards its use by date and that we have to bring about radical change if we’re going to survive. There are many ways of bringing about the change that’s needed. What this project is about is what can be done in the here and now to boost sustainability, community cohesion and neighbourhood resilience in an increasingly volatile world. It’s about building the new world we need and want in the decaying shell of the old one we currently endure.
It lays out pretty clearly what the project is about. It's not something fluffy, that's for sure. It's about the hard graft of building an alternative where we all can flourish, doing so in harmony with the natural world that supports and sustains us. One of the key things about At the Grassroots is that we don't apply rigid purity tests to grassroots projects that we feel are broadly moving in the right direction. Given the urgency of the situation we face, we haven't got time for the so called 'luxury' of refusing to work with or support a community focused project just because there may be a few things about them that don't quite chime with us. If they're getting stuff done that builds the confidence of a community and makes a difference in the here and now, we'll support it.
Which is precisely why, despite a few reservations, we're giving the We Are Avon project our support because they're launching initiatives that will have a positive impact on decentralising and localising food production in the region I live in: This project ticks a number of our boxes:) 12.9.24.
This is an interesting project that ticks a number of our boxes. What really grabbed our attention was a) the desire to decentralise and localise food production in the Avon region - something that's very dear to our hearts - and b) the desire to clean up the waters of the Avon and her tributaries. On that basis alone, we've given this project an entry in The Directory.
I recently took a break from blogging because I felt I was getting sucked into a spiral of doom and outrage. It's all too easy to get swept along with the doom cycle on (anti)social media and find yourself venting anger rather than working out how to build a better world. I'll freely admit that I've been guilty of that over the years and that there are posts I've put up in the past that I now regret. What I want to avoid is putting up one post after another about how dire the world is, with no solutions to offer, with the end result being that people are pushed further towards learned helplessness, despair, anger and division. What I also want to avoid doing is writing posts that generate outrage and increase the divisions between us. If I allow myself to do that, I end up unwittingly doing the work of those who presume to rule over us and who want us at each other's throats.
You only have to look at a platform like X (formerly known as Twitter) to see the politics of outrage and division in full flow. Okay, depending on who you follow, that's not the entirety of what X is about. However, the way the algorithms work, all too often you end up with too much ranting, outrage and blatant attempts at sowing division on your feed. I don't want to shut myself away from the world and I have to monitor this stuff to keep my finger on the pulse, particularly when it comes to the way we're being pitted against each other, but bloody heck, it can get very wearing at times! You don't need me to tell you that the divide and rule merchants are working overtime to get us at each others throats and to ensure that it stays that way.
This is why we loved the idea of this initiative bringing young working class people from East London, Bradford and Mansfield together, in Mansfield, for an exchange visit: Cultural exchange visit to Mansfield ignites discussion of class and community. These are communities that the divide and rule merchants, from the so called 'patriots' on the one hand to the Islamists on the other, want hating and despising each other. Bringing young people from these communities together to talk about the issues that unite them, as well as the differences between them and how they could be resolved, is a vital counterpoint to those on all sides who are fostering division. We all need to bear in mind that the one thing those who presume to rule over us fear the most is a united working class. This is why back in our Independent Working Class Association days in 2007, we issued this statement about the damage multiculturalism was doing to working class unity:
Multiculturalism has failed - where do we go from here?
Originally anti-racism placed a strong emphasis on fairness and equality, with the aim of uniting people rather than dividing them. Multiculturalism, which insists everyone be treated differently, undermines the concept of fairness.
Examples abound: calls for the state funding of religious schools, money going into projects that benefit one particular ethnic or religious group at the expense of the whole community, and increasingly segregated schools and housing.
It is now clear that promotion of multiculturalism was never intended as a stepping-stone to universal social justice for all. It is instead a replacement for it. It stems from the desire to ensure the working class remains divided and demoralised while a devastating neo-liberal agenda is driven through.
For us, the choice for the future is stark. Either we draw together in pursuit of our common interests, or we sit back and allow multiculturalism to produce its bitter fruit - the disintegration of our communities and the growth of political and religious extremism.
If elected, we will submit the following motion to Thurrock Council at the first opportunity:
Fair allocation of council resources ‘This council agrees that using taxpayers' money to fund projects aimed exclusively at one ethnic or religious group only serves the cause of those who wish to see society fragmented and polarised on racial and religious lines. Therefore, in the true spirit of anti-racism, this council agrees to no longer support projects based along, ethnic or religious grounds.’
It gives us absolutely no pleasure to say that since that statement was issued, our predictions have been proved to be correct. The question is, how do we reverse that damage to create a sense of unity again? There are no easy answers to that question, not least because it involves a lot of us having to do some pretty deep soul searching.
The last thing I want to do is call for censorship on platforms like X. That's not least because I need to look at some of the more repugnant posters to see how they're pushing the agenda of the divide and rule merchants, whether that's wittingly or unwittingly. What I do want to do is ask people when they see something on social media that outrages them, is to take a few steps back and ask themselves whether or not they're being played by people with nefarious agendas. The nefarious agendas can come from all points ranging from race baiting so called 'patriots' on the one hand to a Left that has forgotten about working class unity and has made a project of using 'privilege theory' to divide us on the grounds of race. A Left that appears to have made racial division an industry that sustains them. It also applies to both Zionists and Islamists, upon whose respective houses I wish a veritable pox to fall. All of the aforementioned f**kers have absolutely no interest in seeing the majority of us uniting against the banksters, the corporations, and the governments doing their bidding. We on the other hand have every interest in overcoming division and building a sense of unity.
Even in a post about trying to escape the doom spiral, I'm starting to get pretty ranty, and possibly quite negative, about the way the tactics of divide and rule are bing deployed against us! You can see how easy it is to get into such a cycle of gloom where it feels as though there's nothing we can do but to bunker down and hope we survive. Survive for what though? A shattered world, where after people and nations have been pitted against each other, there's nothing left but weariness, cynicism and fear? That's not the future I want for me or for anyone else. Which is why, as far as is possible with this blog, and certainly with our sister project At the Grassroots, we want to look at ways of building the world we want.
I know I keep banging on about it but, this is what we're trying to do with At the Grassroots when it comes to practical grassroots initiatives that get things done:
In The Directory there’s a list of all the grassroots community projects across Bath, Bristol and the surrounding settlements that we’re currently aware of who, each in their own way, are doing their best to make the world a better place to live in. These include a fair number of food growing projects and also, resources on how to organise your own project.
The Directory is a work in progress that is constantly being added to. Any help in doing this or suggestions as to how we can improve The Directory will be greatly appreciated:) Each of these projects has a different story and background we can all learn from. One of the aims of setting up At the Grassroots is to encourage these groups to talk to each other to exchange experiences, ideas and skills with the hope that what emerges is considerably greater than the sum of its parts.
I hope you can see and appreciate what we're trying to do to escape the doom spiral and to do our bit to building a positive future for all of us. Any help in achieving this, particularly from people living in the Avon region, will be greatly appreciated:)
They call it "outrage porn", don't they, and a writer can feel the way it sucks you in when you see stats like yours, if even only a part of the aim is to benefit financially from your efforts. We know that's how "The News" works. I think that's where meeting in person to work on projects is so different, when we have achievable aims, rather than sitting in front of a screen scrolling or watching out of boredom.
You're doing a fantastic job, Dave & Liz - keep it up!