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How punk and counterculture extends beyond purely music, lifestyle and fashion

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Me wearing a very punk sleeveless leather jacket covered in pin badges Characterised by its vast and broad public image, and its followers taking on their trademark alternative image and way of presenting, one may view the influence of the punk movement as being merely cultural, and lifestyle based, or use the term as an all-encompassing means of describing anything vaguely alternative, individual and outside of social norms, or that would be countering existing fashionable and cultural conformity. While this is largely accurate, there is way more to punk than just a style clothing and music, and, indeed, it would be wrong to consider oneself as punk without taking into account the political dimension of the movement, the ideology adopted by individuals involved within it, and ultimately the overlaps and clear presence of similar ideals for punk movements on both sides of the political spectrum, those movements on the right arguably having become hugely over-ruled by punk movements on ...
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Race, riots and empire: Why education should be decolonised

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Flowers laid at a memorial after a Professor Jason Arday vigil I attended In the light of the tragic death of Professor Jason Arday, an academic at Cambridge University for merely existing as who he was (however the media and the establishment wants to hide this and sanitise this to normalise and make institutional racism seem more palatable), one must reflect not only on the huge loss to the university his many students he inspired and helped out on their academic journeys, but why people continue to shy away from recognising racism, slavery and Western colonialism for what they are, as opposed to glossing over and sugar coating these with falsified bias on modernisation and the influential power of the West. It is through observing this tragedy through this lens that one can further realise more clearly that the decolonisation process in regard to societies attitudes on the legacy of these aforementioned events needs to extend to education, particularly with regard to the teaching of...
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Energy, imperialism and global environmental crises: A systematic overview on sustainable development

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In our present post-consumerist society ruled by fear of scarcity, resource disparity and the overruling interests of the elite, desperation, crisis and shocks to the global environmental and financial systems in operation are central to redefining the interests of society. These issues have come about through continual failings of economic growth and environmental destruction, the rise of capitalism and western interests, and the growth in affluence for the wealthy, and in spite of solutions to reverse these having been proposed, the urgency of the situation, as well as the fear of losing income gained to the wealthy through capitalism thus failing to support their vested interests, these have been backtracked on, with immediate and unsustainable fixes having been put into place.  development globally. For many geostrategically important nations within the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, the reasons in which they are so popular for investment in by influential Western neo-colo...
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How nuclear war has failed in achieving diplomacy and social stability globally

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  "If Truman's broadcast turns out to be true, then I think this is the time that all of us [working on the atomic bomb] should literally cut our stomachs... the Americans have achieved a great victory over us" These were the words of Nishio Yoshio, the leader of the Imperial Japanese Army's atomic bomb project said after Harry Truman announced the dropping of a bomb on Hiroshima. While security and status within global systems of power on a military level are frequently adopted as means of furthering nations' influence as sovereign nation states and seen as means by which to preserve diplomacy and relations with other powers, through this further ability to effectively maintain control of geo-strategically important regions. However, this authoritarian and war-mongering mentality only proves to have hindered these outcomes, and only serves the interests of the already influential colonial and neo-colonial superpowers who thrive off of the abuse and exploitation o...
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Is abolishing nation states possible or desirable? A Proudhonist take

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What constitutes a nation is a question with many definitive answers, all of which being heavily influenced by socioeconomic development, position and integration into world systems, and level of superpower status, not to mention the countless other more culturally ingrained practises that define one's national identity and the social and cultural significance of this globally, arguably presenting one's status as a nation state as considerably more nuanced than merely being defined by their individual international sovereignty and self governance on a global scale, and how this affects their integration and cooperation in international agreements. It is through linking this back on my perspective as an internationalist that I will argue whether the existence of these nation states in question is entirely problematic in all respects, and whether abolishing them is likely to effectively bring about the freedom and diplomacy that it sets about to facilitate, or if this can purely ...
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My visit to Dubrovnik's Red History Museum

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A stone walled city nestled within a rugged expanse of mountains and jagged coastline punctuated by hidden caves in the typical karst topography of Southwestern Europe, and running parallel to a multitude of small islands submerged within the Adriatic sea, waters glistening blue and green in the Mediterranean sun, is what seems like any other coastal tourist destination. Yet amidst the beachside bars and restaurants, souvenir shops, bike and car rentals, and all things typical of many European tourist destinations, one can notice the more subtle facets of the Croatian economy past and present. Tucked away within the many ornate Baroque and Renaissance era buildings and typical rural abodes are a few indicators of a heavily religious society, several churches and cross carvings, sculptures and images, as well as some museums, artwork and graffiti indicative of its past as part of former Yugoslavia. It is through visiting Dubrovnik's Red History Museum that one can further recognise ...
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Dialectical materialist critique of the systematic alienation, exploitation and capitalisation of disability in the workplace

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When taking a naturalist and dogmatic stance on the chronic perpetuation of outdated and ableist ideals regarding the integration of the disabled population within society, what can be made apparent is the overriding prevalence of Marx's theory on alienation put into practice. This can be reflected on through recognising the common view that one's position in society is largely determined by their ability to engage with the "reciprocal influences amongst government" which would supposedly related to their involvement in "the economy, social classes, state, and status groups" present within a  capitalist society (Oliver, 1999), these all being things which would put disabled people into an increasingly marginalised position, and a supposedly lower status and level of influence on the society in which they coexist amongst others. Observing the inability for the disabled population to effectively integrate within society in this way, appears to be very obviousl...
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