I'm not quite sure why I've called this blog Independence Red. It just felt right. Its got something to do with the importance of Karl Marx as a social theorist and a recognition that despite the social progress that many in the West have made and the so called End of History, ultimately we all still live in what can only be described as a global capitalist society, one in which so many of us benefit from the exploitation of the world's poor.
In the light of that acknowledgement I guess I've called it Red, because Red remains a symbol of the fight against the exploitation of the poor and oppressed, but it doesn't feel like a class war. In this post modern age of digital media the boundaries have blurred and the certainties of traditional class identities have disappeared and been replaced by 'the middle' who count and 'the others' who don't. I guess that is why so many on the left are pre-occupying themselves with re-inventing socialism as purples and whites in the context of policies that in reality can best be described as blue with pink dots.
That would be where independence comes in, where the issue is not in changing the colour of progressive politics but rather its focus. The fight becomes the struggle of vulnerable and exploited people, who experience their oppression not as an economic collective, but as individuals, families and communities engaged in an everyday campaign to maintain their independence, their integrity and for some their very existence.
