I decided to dedicate a blogpost to my mate Jon Beech. If you want to make a donation or get involved with the Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network, you can do so here. The blogpost is not recorded in a café when I’ve forgotten my directional mics, and so the sound quality is better.
I discuss or make mention of 11 things that have catalysed important reflections for me in 2019. These are as follows.
Reading/thinking
- Dialectical materialism and Marxist Humanism, following the work of Hegel and especially Raya Dunayevskaya.
- My conscious struggle over the validity of the communization thesis versus transitional demands.
- The podcasts that have mattered to me: Swampside Chats; From Alpha to Omega; and Aufhebunga Bunga.
- Meeting my friend Jon in Leicester and being challenged around my philosophy, conceptualisation of the world and my activism.
Doing
- My doubt over the value and meaning of my voluntary work, and its relation to organising around paid work.
- My energy in relation to organising around paid work.
Being
- The collapse of my love for football, and any meaning to be taken from it beyond friendships.
- Caring for my Nan, and being myself in a particular place.
- Internalising the ways in which Sunita Puri considers palliative care, and who is centred in any interaction we have in this world.
- Mourning and celebrating the end of therapy.
In peace.