Alex Callinicos/SWP vs Laurie Penny/New Statesman Facebook handbags

[Bakunin]

Nearly right. Except it's macchiatos with some arsehole in New York darling. Most likely imaginary ones with imaginary arsehole in imaginary cafe, but still.

Ahem, I somehow find it highly dubious to assume that Penny Dreadful doesn't spend much time hanging out with arseholes.

Like does tend to attract like, after all.

 

[butchersapron]

let's scam her

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

let's scam her

Paging Mr Topcat!

 

[Bakunin]

I can imagine her punching that out on the keyboard and then swanning off to have a latte with some arsehole in a hip cafe (maybe in Brixton Village; I hear it's the place to be!). Ugggghhhhh.

Well, if Penny Dreadful really, truly is the 'voice of the movement then it's only appropriate that a movement composed of her and her fellow hipsters should have its own anthem:

 

[gawkrodger]

off topic again - what's happened to Topcat?

 

[frogwoman]

i saw him post a few days ago ..

 

[Bakunin]

And, for those who may need a refresher course in exactly why Penny Dreadful is exactly that, here's this little gem from last year:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/laurie-pennys-diary-6390227.html

 

[frogwoman]

These days, I live in two cities. In one of them, I'm a precariously employed young person. I associate with activists and jobless workers in squats and cramped, overpriced flats rammed with empty cereal packets and internet cables. People eat food out of skips and wear out their trainers running away from the police. In the other, I'm a media luvvie and mingle with people who take taxis to events that have name tags to make it clear something important is under way. TV and radio programmes are made, editorial meetings are held, and networking takes place in large glass buildings. More than any other city, London is a chimera, a human monster stitched together from overlapping lives. Sometimes there is irritation at the seams.​

 

[DotCommunist]

precariously employed as a fucking new statesman columnist?

truly, laurie is one of the precariat

 

[Captain Hurrah]

lol.

She should meet some of my friends who have never been to an ex-poly let alone Oxbridge. Precarious my fundament.

Middle class faker trying to have it 'both' ways.

 

[Bakunin]

Fear not, my fellow posters. Help is at hand...

*Pops down to the local market, sets up stool and puts an open suitcase on top of it*

'Roll up, roll up, get 'em while I've still got any left! There's a run on these things every time Penny Dreadful publishes anything whatsoever, so grab 'em while you can! Sick bags! Get your sick bags here! If she punts out another book of her work and starts a full-on tour of personal appearances there'll be a global shortage, so don't say I didn't warn you! Sick bags! Get your sick bags here!'

'They're a fiver a bag and if you have to read anything she writes then ordering a gross would still be a bargain!'

'Sick bags! Get your sick bags here!'

 

[rekil]

Well, if Penny Dreadful really, truly is the 'voice of the movement then it's only appropriate that a movement composed of her and her fellow hipsters should have its own anthem:

I'm for communism
I'm for socialism
And for capitalism
Because I'm an opportunist

(chorus)
There are some who object
Who revendicate and who protest
As for me, I do but one gesture
I turn coat
I turn coat
Always to the right side

I'm not afraid of vultures
Or agitators even
I trust voters
And I take the opportunity to make some dough

(chorus)

I'm with all the parties
I'm with all the homelands
I'm with all the cliques
I'm the king of the converts

(chorus)

I shout, "long live the revolution"
I shout, "long live the institutions"
I shout, "long live the demonstrations"
I shout, "long live the Collaboration"

No, never do I object
Nor revendicate or protest
I can do but one gesture
That is, turn coat
Turning coat
Always to the right side

I turned coat so often
That the coat's splitting on all sides
At the next revolution
I'm turning my trousers

People eat food out of skips and wear out their trainers running away from the police.

Just like in the cartoons.

 

[Captain Hurrah]

 

[rekil]

And, for those who may need a refresher course in exactly why Penny Dreadful is exactly that, here's this little gem from last year:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/laurie-pennys-diary-6390227.html

We listen to a genteel debate, sitting down a little stiffly because our legs are covered in baton bruises from the scuffles in Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly.

Lies.

http://bitchmagazine.org/article/protest-desire-and-cheap-dildos

When I was in New York recently, reporting on Occupy Wall Street, I found it very interesting to watch the protesters begin to realize that perhaps, just perhaps, the police are not there to protect them, but to protect the elite and their assets from anyone who threatens them. That was always was [what] police forces were for, right from the start, when Robert Peel set up the Metropolitan police. Of course, it doesn't come as such a shock to protesters who aren't white and middle class.

'Babylon dem mash up me plan.'

On the 9th of December 2010, in the huge police kettle in Parliament Square, I was in the front of the protest when the horse charge came through. It was unbelievably dangerous: The police were driving the horses through a crush of unarmed kids who had absolutely nowhere to go. Everyone at the front fell down on top of each other, underneath a toppling metal barrier, and I really did think for a few minutes that I might die, or be seriously injured. That was scary.

If only some boffin would invent a device for capturing images which bleeding edge riot correspondents could use to prove they're not retroactively inserting themselves into dramatic events.

 

[MAD-T-REX]

I'm pretty sure you can't drive a horse unless you're on a carriage or herding riderless horses. Fun mental image either way.

 

[treelover]

i think the guy on the right in the first few seconds with the tash is a local face here...

 

[treelover]

Did anyone go?

btw, be interested in knowing the background of these 'hipsters' those clothes(most of them) don't come cheap, not the leggings, etc, earlier youth cults were more diverse, mods, punks, even new romantics were largely surburban middle class

 

[treelover]

I really, really hope she's somehow seen this thread.

Apparently she is very aware of these boards...

 

[Threshers_Flail]

Apparently she is very aware of these boards...

Who says?

 

[treelover]

I'm for communism
I'm for socialism
And for capitalism
Because I'm an opportunist

(chorus)
There are some who object
Who revendicate and who protest
As for me, I do but one gesture
I turn coat
I turn coat
Always to the right side

I'm not afraid of vultures
Or agitators even
I trust voters
And I take the opportunity to make some dough

(chorus)

I'm with all the parties
I'm with all the homelands
I'm with all the cliques
I'm the king of the converts

(chorus)

I shout, "long live the revolution"
I shout, "long live the institutions"
I shout, "long live the demonstrations"
I shout, "long live the Collaboration"

No, never do I object
Nor revendicate or protest
I can do but one gesture
That is, turn coat
Turning coat
Always to the right side

I turned coat so often
That the coat's splitting on all sides
At the next revolution
I'm turning my trousers


Just like in the cartoons.

Thats great, reminds me of Phil Ochs 'love me I'm a liberal'

could have been written for someone like Joscha Fischer

 

[DaveCinzano]

Who says?

The enigmatic ellipsis - it's the international symbol for "I have been blessed with inside knowledge of a non-specific variety, details of which I should dearly love to share with you save for the confidential circumstances under which I was made aware of this gnostic bounty".

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

The enigmatic ellipsis - it's the international symbol for "I have been blessed with inside knowledge of a non-specific variety, details of which I should dearly love to share with you save for the confidential circumstances under which I was made aware of this gnostic bounty".

according to a close friend of the writer

 

[JimW]

Sign up and join in Laurie. Only through criticism and self-criticism are the true warriors of the class tempered!

 

[killer b]

it's very unlikely that she hasn't come across this thread at some point. she'll likely see it as some kind of validation though...

 

[rekil]

June 2010.

Now more than ever, the young people of Britain need to believe ourselves more than acolytes to the staid, boring liberalism of previous generations. We need to begin to formulate an agenda of our own.

[...]

Revolutionary politics involve risk. Revolutionary politics do not involve waiting patiently for adults to make the changes. They do not come from interning at a think tank or opening letters for an MP, and I say this as someone who has done both. Revolutionary politics are different from work experience, and they are unlikely to look good on our CVs.

The young British left has already waited too long and too politely for politicians, political parties and business owners from previous generations to give space to our agenda. We have canvassed for them, distributed their leaflets, worked on their websites, updated their twitter feeds, hashtagged their leadership campaigns, done their photocopying and made their tea, pining all the while for political transcendence. No more; I say no more.

Now. Surely liberalism doesn't get more boring than this.

Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit public discussion

Date: Wednesday 2 May 2012
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Professor Helmut K Anheier, Professor Mary Kaldor, Ahmed Naguib, Laurie Penny
Chair: Catherine Fieschi

As part of the launch of the tenth anniversary edition of the Global Civil Society yearbook, two of the founding editors will discuss the radicalisation of civil society with Ahmed Naguib and Laurie Penny, and ask what is new about the current politics of squares.

Helmut K Anheier is dean at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, and one of
the founding editors of the Global Civil Society yearbook.

Mary Kaldor is director of the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, LSE, and one of the founding editors of the Global Civil Society yearbook.

Ahmed Naguib is an activist and co-founder of the Council of the Trustees of the Revolution in Egypt, who mobilised a march to Tahrir on 28 January 2011.

Laurie Penny is a journalist and feminist activist, and has tweeted regularly from both
the London and New York Occupy actions under the moniker @pennyred.

Catherine Fieschi is the director of Counterpoint, a research and advisory group that focuses on the cultural and social dynamics of risk. Prior to directing Counterpoint, Catherine led the London based think tank Demos (2005-2008).

 

[JimW]

"has tweeted regularly"
Remember standing in solemn tribute at the Memorial to the Tweeters of Belchite.

 

[Bakunin]

it's very unlikely that she hasn't come across this thread at some point. she'll likely see it as some kind of validation though...

Urbanites' General Consensus:

'We think you're generally lacking in talent, honesty or integrity and are more than willing to point out the fact. We're also thoroughly pissed off with your self-appointed 'voice of the movement' bullshit, your outright lies, your inability to check facts properly, your ability to ignore solid facts unless they suit your agenda, your tireless (and tiresome) self-promoting and self-aggrandising attitude, your hypocrisy in being deliberately confrontational and then complaining because people confront you and your ever-increasing tendency to take even the most valid and constructive critics and instantly accuse them of miscogyny/sexism/bigotry/insert baseless insult here.'

Penny Dreadful's Interpretation Thereof:

'46 whole pages and they're all about me, me, me, me, meeeeeeeeee! It simply must be because I'm obviously the One True Voice Of The Movement and, obviously, speaking for a whole generation as well. Remind me to make a list of anyone voicing even the most reasonable criticism so that they can be subject to baseless accusations of nastiness and posssibly for a full-on hatchet job in whichever paper is daft enough to employ me (especially next time I'm caught either not having checked my facts or am outed for blatantly lying again).'

 

[poului]

thread's on page 8 if you simply google her name...

'sup, Penny!

 

[MAD-T-REX]

Page 1 if you search 'laurie penny is an idiot'

 

[killer b]

i don't think that's a search term laurie could ever bring herself to type.