Join Us in Pushing Back Against the Establishment
Come to our first members' meeting on Thursday 7 April
It remains to be seen whether 2022 will be performatively lamented by pundit and celebrity lovies as a year of woe like 2016 or 2020. Among this cohort, the destruction of Ukrainian cities and the tens of millions dispossessed by rising fuel prices rank with celeb-on-celeb slapping incidents at the Oscars, as opportunities for grandstanding.
But such is the regularity of shocks and outrages, that you can imagine the repeat claims of ‘worst/craziest year ever’ may have finally subsided.
Times are certainly changing. The assumptions of decades past are collapsing, and the regular bouts of hysteria undoubtedly relate to the dying of an old world – for what, we don’t yet know. But in every new departure there is a fundamental conflict of interests.
When it comes to the EU, hobbling from one shock to another, Europe’s elites seek every advantage against its peoples. In any time of war, the military state seeks to position itself both against competitors and internal dissidents. The energy suppliers are raking in huge profits, just as the warehousers and supermarket moguls did in the pandemic. In education and the culture industry, a court-cognoscenti will continue to insist on diversionary and self-serving ideologies, even as the brute reality of conflict and poverty exposes reality.
Conter is pushing from the other side. I doubt any Scottish publication can match our scepticism on transnational institutions like the EU and Nato; insistence on maintaining criticism of power at times of change; permanence in attitude that the interests of big business, the state and western militarism are not the interests of the vast majority, no matter how noisy these institutions are with waffle about ‘equity’, ‘openness’ or ‘human rights’.
This stance matters because in Scotland, these interests, and that noise, are state ideology. With a new dispensation yet to be born, the next period will continue to see the erosion of the old world. This should be a time when a meaningfully socialist left – one with no illusions in that dying world – develops its analysis and capacity.
That’s why we are seeking to expand Conter’s community, with new opportunities to engage with the project and add to an analysis of where things stand, and where we can intervene. We are urging supporters to sign-up to our Patreon, which entitles subscribers to a raft of exclusive podcasts and other content, and access to our regular members’ forums. See below for the first instalment on Thursday 7 April.
We want to hear from you, and develop together an alternative to the sorry state that Scotland undoubtedly is. If you share our convictions, don’t hesitate to get involved.
Forum
Has Scotland Abandoned Progressive Foreign Policy?
In our first live forum for our subscribers, we ask if the idealism of a progressive Scottish policy - of 'Bairns Not Bombs' - has finally collapsed into the SNP leadership's Atlanticism.
Free on Conter
Madeleine Albright’s Anti-Fascism
Reviewing a book by the late US empire-builder Madeleine Albright, James Foley argues US state-backed ‘anti-fascism’ is a trap for anyone on the radical left.
Symbolic Violence
Cat and David examine the latest moral panic, and the continued mutation of establishment liberalism towards jingoism and authoritarianism.
Putin’s Russia: A Hobbled Power
Chris Bambery argues that Russia, far from being an emboldened super-power, is a weak regional force.
Scotland’s Charity Sector is Being Marketised
Leslie Huckfield argues that the Scottish Government is transforming the Scottish third sector through corporatisation.
Independence Supporters Need to Talk About the Policy Failures of the Scottish Government
Jonathon Shafi argues that the Scottish Government is hiding its dire policy record behind false claims of preparation for independence.
For Our Subscribers
Bombs not Bairns: How the SNP Embraced Militarism
Jonathon Shafi, James Foley and David Jamieson discuss the contortions of Scotland's political leadership, and what they mean for the future of Scotland.
NATO Wars: How the 'Defensive Alliance' Became a Global Menace
We talk to Vladimir Unkovski-Korica, lecturer in Central and Eastern European studies at Glasgow University, about Nato's wars in the 1990s, and how they led the way for 'liberal imperialism'.
Elections, Socialism and "Democratic Socialism"
James and Pete are joined by American political scientist and activist Michael Billeaux to discuss what went wrong, what we can learn and whether the divide between reform and revolution still matters.