This is a work born out of anger. I’m sick of seeing indefensible injustices being perpetrated in the name of the market and capitalism. These are purely human constructs and privileged people only get to run the world (and soon, space) as their private fiefdom because the rest of us allow them to. This formalized gangsterism is not an inevitable outcome of human society. For hundreds of thousands of years the opposite has been true: humans thrived through cooperation.

I want to foment dissent. The mainstream media is a propaganda machine designed to maintain the narrative of the privileged few. Propaganda works. That’s why one of the first buildings to be occupied in a coup is the TV station. Stories of successful cooperation between disenfranchised people are ignored, suppressed or made out to be the actions of rebels or troublemakers or whatever pejorative term the editor decides upon. Why do the privileged fear self-organized cooperation amongst the masses?

As I write, the earth is being eaten alive by the greed of capitalism. By it’s own definition, even when every last human being is dead, multinationals will continue to exist. Don’t ask me to explain the logic of this because profit has no logic other than its own existence at the expense of everything else.

We need to hear alternative narratives. We need to hear the stories of spontaneous, self-organized cooperation.

Change will only come about when the majority realize there are better systems that benefit everyone and not just the few. Money is just an idea for improving trade. If humans are brilliant at anything, it’s coming up with new ideas.

When my latest expression of outrage started to coalesce into a product (the system has trained me to think like this) I thought about the promotion of it. I realized I was being forced into the machine owned and operated by the capitalists. It was their game and it was thoroughly rigged in their favour. Individuals were supposed to dream big and work hard to improve themselves (note: never the wider community) and sell products. Creators were supposed to protect their intellectual property (as if anyone ever had a truly original idea) and prosecute people who stole it.

This very platform is an example of the parasitic nature of late-stage capitalism. It is just a landlord charging rent on every transaction. Play by the rules or be ignored is the unspoken edict. (Okay, okay, I admit, it’s still an improvement on the exploitative model of multinational record companies.)

So I started to use the process instilled into me from my first days of education and think bigger, but not in the way the gang masters wanted.

Instead of trying to do everything myself to protect my intellectual property, I thought why not share the ideas within a community of other artists? After all, that’s how the capitalists maximize the potential of a product; use hired labour to improve it but keep the profits for themselves. With a collective, however, any benefits are shared equally.

The Hard Left Collective

I need help on this song. I titled it Hard Left, which made me think, why don’t I walk the talk? I’ve taken it as far as my talents will allow but it falls short of what I know it could be. My initial thought was it needed a blistering guitar solo to take it to the next level. Then I thought, why guitar? Why not horns or mouth organ (neither of which I can play)? Then I thought why stop there - my engineering skills are letting the song down too. Maybe a producer could help. And what about some different backing vocals? The possibilities are limitless.

In the past, bands were formed when like-minded musicians got together to make music. By necessity, the bands were forced to be local because writing and rehearsal sessions needed the members to be in the same room at the same time. Today, technology allows flexible working. What I’m trying to do is form a global band of like-minded musicians who don’t mind working through technology. My primary motivation for creating music is activism, but I know entertaining activism is far more powerful. There must be others with similar motivation. Why don’t we work together?

So here’s the seed that might grow into something bigger. For that to happen it needs the warmth and water from other artists.

Do you feel you could improve it? Do you have projects you feel need nutrients you can’t access? Let’s help each other. Let’s not wait for permission from our overlords to act.

Who’s with me?

I know I’m reinventing the wheel here but I want put artisan scythes on each of the wheels.