There are mornings when my usual routine of waking up, surveying the news and deciding what to write is broken. This morning is one such occasion. The reports from Manchester are shocking. Of course, and rightly, they block immediate concern over other issues. My sympathies go to all who might be impacted, including those who are providing care.
I do not apologise though for not dwelling on the detail. My concern is not changed by asking the obvious question, 'what's this all about?' That question was, curiously, on my mind as I went to bed last night. After quite a long day I reflected then on why society felt it worthwhile paying a bunch of fairly bright people to come to events like the one I am at in Brussels to discuss how and why society organises its structures of political power in the way it does.
The cynic could, of course, say that this is an exercise in aggrandisement by the politicians. After all, doesn't the study of politics and political economy suggest that what they are doing is significant, and no one in politics is without an ego? I have to say that's a pretty poor explanation. The resulting studies are by no means flattering in many cases, are rarely personal, and consider the issu far too broadly for those involved in this worl to be considered props for an elite seeking to sustain its significance. There must be another reason then.
The conclusion, which is personally significant as I am relatively new in this academic field, is that this study matters because understanding what it's all about is itself significant. Whether or not the question can be definitively answered is not as important as asking it. That I should say is good news: I think definitive answers in short supply. Indeed, that was a point powerfully made in some discussion yesterday as the only explanation for some of the issues we still face ten years after the Glibal Financial Crisis.
Knowing that is in itself important. Most of life is to me about answering the question 'what is it all about?' Directly or indirectly I suspect that is true for many others. At one time priests tried to supply the answers for many people. For some they still do. For others faith in politics provides explanation. On occasion the two combine. For many neither is now sufficient: indeed, the rise of populism in its broadest sense can be seen as an expression of a quest for certain answers where what is desired is in decidedly short supply.
Do I in this situation think it worth investing in seeking answers? I doubt you'll be surprised that my answer is yes, although I'd add that if it was not I would simply move on: I am not seeking to self justify my inclusion in such a group by coming to this conclusion.
And what has this to do with Manchester, and the pain and grief that will be all too apparent today? Superficially very little. Nothing I or anyone else at the conference I am at will, of course, do anything to relieve any of that pain. I make no pretence at all that it does make the world of those whose lives have forever been changed any different today.
But asking why this happens, what it is all about, how we are so fractured that some want to so violently disrupt the lives of others in ways that almost everyone else will find so appalling; well all that is important. Even if we have no absolute answers and no 'ism' will never be a complete explanation seeking answers in common does make sense.
What I stress is the 'in common' bit. What is obvious is that commonality is what is in short supply. In Manchester the consequence is distressingly obvious, but day in, day out that is true in so many other ways if only we open our eyes to it. As Jo Cox was fond of saying, what we have in common is actually much greater than what tears us apart. When we fail to see that tragedy follows.
A tragedy has happened.
I recommend that we keep asking why, and that we try to find answers in common.
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Woke up to news of events in Manchester, the city I grew up in. i was there when the ’93 bomb went of. Strange how more emotion is generated when these terrible events happen in a place that has personal association even though one knows that suffering on an even more massive scale is happening elsewhere. These things are too much for a single mind to hold.
I think the questioning worthwhile but if the questioning goes on in a ritualistic way whilst the underlying structures that create the issues we are questioning maintain -then that needs questioning in itself . As the late physicist and philosopher of mind David Bohm pointed out, we often confront ‘paradoxes’ as if they were ‘problems’ and end up going around in circles.
I also note in this morning’s news:
‘This morning we can tell you that since Theresa May became prime minister, oil industry bosses have poured more than £390,000 into the coffers of the Conservative party. The Tories have gone on to produce an election manifesto that promises “unprecedented” government support for the fossil fuel industry.’ (Guardian)
The awful events in Manchester will bring people together for a while-I’m hearing of people opening up their homes, taxi-drivers giving free rides. Why it takes terrible events to create more cohesion is also a question to ask. Pascal talked of a ‘moral war’ where we feel the need to create change whether the ‘visible’ threat is there or not. In reality, with the scale of inequality, terrible suffering, climate disaster around us-you would think we would have enough impetus to ‘get together’ and create immediate full employment to collectively respond.
What is the Brussels event, Richard? Sounds interesting.
Sorry – I meant to post an answer and never got to it
It was a conference at the Institute for European Studies in Brussels which included a session on tax
I also much appreciated the one on health
Fine words Richard. It will indeed be of comfort to those who have lost loved ones that you and other bright academics are working so hard to find the answers you crave. Let’s hope you find it soon before such tragedy strikes again.
Thank you Keith for putting this all into such clear context.
The real tragedy is that in a world where technology (IT/social media) can turbo charge factors that we have in common, such technology is also (and often) being used to set us apart.
One does wonder if our politicians have cottoned onto this yet? They certainly know how to use the digital world to divide us and unite opinion against certain sections of society.
And the days of having ‘foreign policy’ in splendid isolation are over.
I think that it was Churchill who said something like ‘It is better to jaw jaw than war war’?
He was right and still is. It is talking to each other and listening that prevents hate, conflict and pain.
A much needed thoughtful post at a difficult time. I know the venue (and Manchester) well. I am very saddened……….
I have to be cynical here and say that I fear this was committed as a deliberately timed act of political interference, most likely by one of the many varied parties involved in the war in Syria. That it happens right at a tipping point in the election campaign is just too much of a coincidence. Theresa May was on the ropes last night in the Andrew Neil interview..
People were starting to see that May was an incompetent lying hypocrite. The media were smelling blood and finally starting to hold her to account and call her out on her blatant lies. This will now be largely swept under the carpet and this appalling atrocity will serve as a huge distraction which will no doubt massively shore up the Tories’ polling figures and slow Labour’s momentum.
I’m not saying anyone in the UK (other than the perpetrators) would have been involved in committing an atrocity like this, but there are far too many parties interested in perpetuating the conflict in Syria to allow an anti-war leader like Corbyn to become elected, be they states or extremist militant groups, that wouldn’t hesitate to take such action. IMO
Only on a forum as brave as this one would a post be published suggesting a link between this bombing and Mrs May’s appearance on the Andrew Neil show.
Do you think ISIS don’t do propaganda wars?
Hello Mr Murphy
I’m pretty sure ISIS do do propaganda wars.
However, I’m also pretty sure that an attack such as the dreadful one last might would take quite a while to arrange and organise. Probably months of planning.
I doubt that someone in ISIS high command was watching the Andrew Neil show last night and said “hey, let’s distract from the grilling Mrs May just got by blowing up some teenage girls. Can anyone think of a target?”.
To try and draw a link, any link, between the bombing and Mrs May is, quite frankly, idiotic and allowing such drivel devalues your site. Anyone reading that could be forgiven for thinking this was a site for conspiracy theory nut-jobs. Would you have allowed a post suggesting that the 7/7 bombers were trying to distract from Gordon Brown’s handling of the economy?
Get a grip Mr Murphy, get a grip.
I have got a grip
I suggest you face reality
On top of the appalling tragedy in Manchester it will indeed be a further tragedy if there is a boost for May after it. However, I doubt that the Tories would do anything to appear to manipulate the terrible event to plug their ‘law and order’…national Security agenda whilst branding Corbyn a security threat..I don”t think they can get away with that. Even the Tories wouldn’t stoop so low….would they?
The Sun printed a vile headline at 2.50 am this morning saying the ‘Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonell sucked up to the IRA.’ It is a vile headline in itself but the timing makes it even viler. I sent a complaint to the IPSO about this. i even spoke to them on the phone and they told me (without naming the subject) that there were a particularly large number of complaints rolling in -I assume it was for that Sun headline.
I urge anyone to file a quick complaint with the IPSO on this issue if you have a spare few minutes. It can be done by e mial as the website seems to be malfunctioning. E-mail address is: inquiries@ipso.co.uk
I doubt that the Tories would do anything to appear to manipulate the terrible event to plug their ‘law and order’…national Security agenda whilst branding Corbyn a security threat..I don”t think they can get away with that. Even the Tories wouldn’t stoop so low….would they?
I have no doubt at all that the Tories will now hammer national security in their propaganda and couple it with a vicious campaign branding Corbyn as unable to keep the country safe. I fear this has gifted them the election.
Margret Thatcher was also speaking to the IRA through back channels. I happened to know at least one of the people involved, but it is now out in the open as the archives have been released. The vile use of this tragedy to attack Corbyn and McDonnell is as sickening as it is predictable. Sorry blood is beginning to boil!
we need to be expanding rather than contracting the definition of us.
And now May is putting troops on the streets. She will wring every political advantage she can out of this.
Simon, I assume your comment was meant as a tongue in cheek one! Of course the Tories will try and use this atrocity for their own electoral advantage. Their fellow travellers in the sewer press have already tried to smear Corbyn by calling him an IRA sympathiser in the 1980’s, whilst, of course, ignoring the fact that their beloved Thatcher was speaking to the IRA through back channels at the same time.
A complaint from myself will shortly be going to ipso, as you suggest.
I have to say, it is remarkable how this happened just at a time when the election campaign was beginning to go sour for May. And actually, if the security situation nationwide is has now been upgraded to the highest level, surely the election should be postponed? If another attack is now viewed as highly likely, why would you endanger members of the public by asking them to go to the polling booth?
Because of course, there’s an election to be won. As others have noted, the Tories will do anything and say anything to get and retain power.
Thank you Benz0 for speaking so frankly.I’m sure many of us think like you do but unfortunately the right wing tabloids would demonize such comments and make you out to be some heartless lunatic.
A very thoughtful and wise recommendation; together we are always stronger, as those unknown Mancunians who responded to last night’s tragedy with practical help clearly know.
A senseless tragedy in every respect. Difficult to imagine the grief and pain being felt by all those affected. I lived in Greater Manchester on and off for 20 years and have a deep-rooted affection for the city, whose inner soul is warm-hearted and welcoming to everyone. Few other cities in the world can compare in terms of its progressive credentials and contribution to the modern world. Over the centuries it has experienced more than its fair share of social pain.
And as you know, Richard, it has a long and proud association with Quakers dating back to 1673 with the building of the first Meeting House there in Jackson’s Row. There is so much the world can learn from Quaker spiritual practice, its non-violence tradition and its ‘communality’. But, regrettably & sadly, we’re constantly diverted to and preoccupied with the symptoms and not the causes of violence.
Without in any way detracting from the mourning process following such a nefarious act of mindless killing, it is worth reminding ourselves that there is cause and effect relating to all human activity – both good and evil. At the run up to a General Election it’s not irrelevant to assess in depth each party’s military strategy, especially for an ex-colonial nation whose culture is still so embedded in centuries of violence. One should be very careful as to who one choses as military partners – http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.php/news-comment/2350-america-dropped-26-171-bombs-in-2016-what-a-bloody-end-to-obama-s-reign. “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind …” (Hosea, 8-7).
Thanks