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Commodity fetishism: A dialectical take on capitalism and wellbeing

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Me aged 16 when I was nearing my thinnest Looking in the mirror, I watch the person in front of me. I move my leg, their leg moves as well. I point a finger forward. They point back at me. I take a step back. They are a step back from where they were before. I observe their appearance taking note of the scant physical form they take: very slim (in fact painfully so), this further made apparent through noticing their very small stature at no more than 5'4, with prominent cheekbones and a very visible collarbone jutting out. Their bones are easily feelable, and their flat chest and their almost concave tummy are very clear to see. Their flesh appears to be wearing away from their ribs, with what remains of it tightly clinging on closer to the bone, as if in fear that it would literally melt away. Their strength and energy wanes and their expression is one of awkwardness and discomfort. This rapid convalescence leaves its mark on this victim in the same way that sand and salt from the...
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Remembrance Day: Why there is no glory and victory in ongoing imperial war

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Me wearing a white poppy brooch- an anti-war symbol of peace and remembrance As I scroll through the latest news of rising defence spending and military investment interspersed amongst the recounts of student protests against the austerity of these governments, a minute's silence is announced in the university library in honour and respect to those that gave their lives during the first and second world war, and their victory in giving their youth for the peace and freedom to come.  "What peace and freedom?" I wonder, as I continued to notice the ugly reality of ongoing investment into supporting those facilitating unjustified imperial war being put at the price of the global poor. This hits particularly close to home considering very recently I lost my grandmother who lived in the UK under the second world war (and long before that my grandfather who fought in the second world war, and whose family escaped antisemitism and persecution in pogroms in Russia and Poland prio...
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Syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism and education: The application of unionisation to education

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With four hours a week of lectures on a drastically reduced timetable (thus making my undergraduate course seem more like a postgraduate course, limited communication and shortened office hours for lectures, spending cut on resources, 60% of cleaning staff fired, and disability support for students being painfully low at the University of Portsmouth, we realise cuts quickly arriving and controlling every aspect of our educational lives, something which even the university's clever marketing strategies and attempts to obscure systemic corruption for fear of their reputation (about which they could do with learning a thing or two from Joan Jett) fail to obscure. As such, student action and active on campus mobilisation is paramount. It is in this post that I will observe the sheer breadth of unionisation its many forms, its evolution, and how this can effectively be linked back to our ever expanding revolutionary movements on campus, becoming increasingly important in this current ec...
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"Girl boss feminism": What it is and why it is problematic

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A conservatively coloured two piece tailored suit of knee-length pencil skirt and fitted blazer, leather loafers or heels, briefcase, all paired carefully with perfectly cut and styled hair subtle but effective makeup, and above all, a straight posture and orderly evenly paced gait when walking to signify coolness and confidence at the same time as power, authority and gravitas. This is the appearance and presence adopted by many women in positions of power, be that through being CEOs of companies, business owners, political leaders, members of royal families, or anything else in between. This is the basis that "girl boss feminism" is built upon. While some see this as empowering towards women and a display of transcendence of gender roles, I see it as alienating, exploitative, and a sure fire means of effectively preserving the patriarchal norms of which our current hierarchical capitalist society is ruled by. These characteristics continue to be present within so much media...
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A post-Marxist understanding of the European agricultural economy

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In a society led by rising affluence and disparity between the wealthy and the poor, consumption had sky rocketed, and methods of industrial and agricultural production advanced and adjusted to this change through heavy mechanisation and using more efficient and less labour intensive means of production, tenant farming and individual small scale agriculture has become comparatively rare. It is because of this that one can question whether peasant labourers on land as considered as the proletariat by Marx and Engels prior to and during the Industrial Revolution can be seen to likely be dying out and making way for other occupations forming the livelihoods of this class. This, along with growing consumption of more internationally produced and exported foods featuring within the typical diet of the UK's population, has led to individual farm labourers beginning to struggle more, thus most often featuring the country's farmers becoming easier to divide into two extremes: either we...
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Sex, capitalism and commodity fetishism: The tragic cases of on-campus sexual abuse

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Radical feminism is not feminism. This is a statement I stand by and will continue to stand by as a young AFAB gender non-conforming individual who advocates for a redefinition and diversification of feminist theory, yet also frequently feels somewhat excluded and alienated from such discussions on the matter.  This can be largely attributed to the constant sense that misandry is being used by many women to give off a false sense of empowerment and seemingly strength in fighting misogyny, as opposed to what it is in actual fact: a more socially accepted form of sexism which is seen by women to make their preconceived fears and prejudices justified, and that preserves and acts mutually exclusively to misogyny other forms of sexism, while also appearing to belittle the non-gendered struggles many face with regard to their sexual vulnerability, and also have very clearly transphobic undertones. All of these only serve to further alienate and isolate people within their struggle, thus ...
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From Portsmouth to Paris: The rising austerity in education

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As I watch my years spent studying at university gradually eat away at my income like a Pac Man navigating its way through the maze of a costly student life in Portsmouth (each dot in the maze being a fraction of my tuition fees, a fine for an overdue library book, a replacement of a missing student ID, or a repair to a maintenance issue in my student accommodation, haunted by the ever present ghosts of failing economic prospects yet to come), I question the fairness of this system. I wonder if a system free of class and where income doesn't control every aspect of our lives can ever be possible. Since Tony Blair's proposal for tuition fees, this level of socioeconomic disparity with regard to education has become yet more apparent especially throughout a period of constant fluctuation and mass stagnation of economic growth during continued recovery from financial crises, especially given the many unnecessary cuts to welfare and education spending, two things that are paramount...
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