loveme4whoiam
5th August 2008, 01:01
Hi there activists, revolutionaries, and fine leftists. Some may remember me, many won't, but once upon a time I was a pretty regular poster on this superb source of discussion, jibes, and general good humour and enlightenment. And now, after an unfortunately long absence, I wanted to come back.
Important stuff first - I want to apologise to CdL and the other members of the FPM, for whom I did some (rather meagre) work here in the UK. I broke off contact very abruptly, and the organisation and its members deserved far better than that. To explain, let me do a proper introduction post (if anyone is really that interested).
I got interested in leftist politics in secondary school, at a rather shallow level, which steadily progressed thanks mostly to this forum. I was getting ready to head to university and getting more and more into activism - I expected that once I'd moved closer to London at uni, I'd fully dive into events and things going on in the capital.
However, when I reached uni I got incredibly disillusioned incredibly quickly. The term "student apathy" CANNOT be overemphasised, at least in my experience. There is a very lack-lustre RESPECT Party group on campus, but more than anything else they embarrass leftist politics in general, making it very difficult to discuss politics from a left-of-centre perspective and expect to be taken seriously.
In short, my own activism quickly tailed off as I found the group of people around me (whom I had expected to be very receptive, curse my naivety) were, in general, uninterested, or worse, hostile to alternative political views. I know this is not much of an excuse, but that is pretty much it - without an easy, fertile audience to get involved with, I gave up. I can hear your deserved scorn all the way over here.
Anyway, my studies have led me towards the history of Latin American nations and their struggles to be self-determining, and insurgency in general, which has rekindled my interest in politics again. I attended a Q&A session with John Pilger (which was amazingly interesting), and run into some like-minded people which has helped me re-connect with why I believe what I believe. And so, I'm coming back to get back in touch more deeply with the theory and practice of the left, which will hopefully help me not only in my academic life, but also get me back into politics again, regardless of the less than receptive students I spend most of my time with.
Cheers, loveme4whoiam
Important stuff first - I want to apologise to CdL and the other members of the FPM, for whom I did some (rather meagre) work here in the UK. I broke off contact very abruptly, and the organisation and its members deserved far better than that. To explain, let me do a proper introduction post (if anyone is really that interested).
I got interested in leftist politics in secondary school, at a rather shallow level, which steadily progressed thanks mostly to this forum. I was getting ready to head to university and getting more and more into activism - I expected that once I'd moved closer to London at uni, I'd fully dive into events and things going on in the capital.
However, when I reached uni I got incredibly disillusioned incredibly quickly. The term "student apathy" CANNOT be overemphasised, at least in my experience. There is a very lack-lustre RESPECT Party group on campus, but more than anything else they embarrass leftist politics in general, making it very difficult to discuss politics from a left-of-centre perspective and expect to be taken seriously.
In short, my own activism quickly tailed off as I found the group of people around me (whom I had expected to be very receptive, curse my naivety) were, in general, uninterested, or worse, hostile to alternative political views. I know this is not much of an excuse, but that is pretty much it - without an easy, fertile audience to get involved with, I gave up. I can hear your deserved scorn all the way over here.
Anyway, my studies have led me towards the history of Latin American nations and their struggles to be self-determining, and insurgency in general, which has rekindled my interest in politics again. I attended a Q&A session with John Pilger (which was amazingly interesting), and run into some like-minded people which has helped me re-connect with why I believe what I believe. And so, I'm coming back to get back in touch more deeply with the theory and practice of the left, which will hopefully help me not only in my academic life, but also get me back into politics again, regardless of the less than receptive students I spend most of my time with.
Cheers, loveme4whoiam