July 25, 2009 by alunparry

The Personal Is Political

How can you change the world if you can’t change you?

That’s the question I ask in one of the tracks in my forthcoming album ‘We Can Make The World Stop’.

It’s one that has been a recurring theme for me in the last couple of years as I’ve encountered more than my fair share of wolves in left clothing.

‘Credentials’

They seem to think that treating people like dirt is a way of affirming their working class credentials.

They’re a very small minority but they piss me off no end.

So this is just for them.

Bosses

Firstly, treating people like shite is what the bosses do. So why do you do it?

Respect

Secondly, respect for others is not a middle class value.

It’s a working class value. It’s at the core of the finest and noblest movements that WE have built.

Stop pretending that respect for others is theirs. It’s not. It’s ours. Don’t give it away just because you’re not capable of it yet.

Abusing other people doesn’t make you part of the Left. It puts you firmly outside of it.

Values

Cheer whatever left cause you like. If you can’t act in accordance with those values yourself, you’re no better than a boss, and you’re certainly not a comrade.

In fact, it makes you look like the hypocrite that you are.

You’re not on the left, you’re just at the bottom so you’ve somehow sidled up to us. If you were doing better you wouldn’t touch us with a barge pole and you know it.

Genuine

But I see right through you, because I have too many genuine comrades to compare you with.

Yes, the personal is political and the way you treat other people matters.

Don’t talk to me about changing the world – not until you can first change yourself.