Europe Archives - anti capitalist musings

Imperialism

No One Is Above the Law—Not Even the SAS

The state demands loyalty from its killers, and contempt for those who ask why. To question the SAS is treated as heresy. To investigate them, as betrayal. But no one is above the law. Not even the men with night-vision goggles and state-sanctioned impunity. If the victims of British state violence are to be denied justice so that the myth of military virtue can remain intact, then we are not a democracy. We continue to be an empire that refuses to admit it.

A stylised screen-printed poster, depicting a broken factory window set in a red brick wall. The shattered glass forms sharp, black jagged lines against a beige background, with thick black outlines and graphic shadows. The design uses bold, limited colours—red, black, beige—and a grainy, stippled texture to evoke the mood of militant industrial unrest.

Gaza

Terror Is a Word They Use to Stop You

You don’t have to like the tactics. But if protest that disrupts power is treated as terrorism, then the state has rewritten the definition to suit itself.

A weathered and torn political poster clings to a rough concrete wall. The poster reads “SOCIALISM OR BARBARISM, 2029?” with the words “SOCIALISM” and “2029?” in bold black and “BARBARISM” in bold red. The edges of the poster are frayed and peeling, suggesting age and neglect.

Green Party

The Left Breaks Cover: Sultana, Corbyn, and the Case for a New Party — With McDonnell at the Helm?

The Labour Party under Starmer has become a machine for silencing dissent. Abbott, Shaheen, Driscoll, and others have been smeared, blocked, or expelled. The party has moved right on immigration, welfare, protest, and Palestine — and done so proudly. Sultana’s resignation wasn’t a betrayal of Labour values. It was a defence of them. And if a new left party is to be more than symbolic, it needs more than moral clarity. It needs leadership. Corbyn remains the figurehead, but John McDonnell (articulate, disciplined, and trusted) is the one who could anchor this project. He may not want the crown. But that is exactly what makes him the right person to hold it.

A satirical, realistic-style painting shows Donald Trump dressed as a film director in a tan cowboy hat and military-style jacket, holding a clapperboard that reads “ALCATRAZ: BLOOD AND LIBERTY.” He gestures with one hand as if shouting directions on a chaotic film set. Behind him, National Guard soldiers stand watch while a saloon burns in the distance. A film camera captures the scene, and an alligator’s head emerges from the lower corner, adding to the absurdity of the spectacle.

Alienation

The Last Man Rides Alone

Alienation, Collapse, and the Myth of the Western

Britain

The Art of Losing: Labour’s First Year in Power

Labour’s problem isn’t just that it inherited a broken economy. It’s that it refuses to say so. The party acts like governing is a performance for bond markets and newspaper editors, rather than an act of political leadership. Hard choices are made without explanation. Rollbacks happen without apology. And the public is left wondering: if even Labour doesn’t believe in what it’s doing, why should anyone else?

A large crowd at Glastonbury Festival waves numerous Palestinian flags under a partly cloudy blue sky. Dominating the image is a prominently raised flag in the foreground reading “GLASTO FOR PALESTINE” in white letters across the Palestinian tricolour (black, white, and green horizontal stripes with a red triangle on the hoist side). The atmosphere is festive yet political, with a visible sense of solidarity.

Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray and the Fetish of Empire

Murray calls the IDF a “citizen army”, as if it were Dad’s Army with drones. In truth, Gaza is a laboratory, where missiles are tested, faces scanned, and children used to perfect the next export.

A linocut-style print in bold red, black, and beige tones shows two young men standing side by side. The boy in front wears a dark jacket and t-shirt, his brow furrowed in anger, while the boy behind him wears round glasses and a beanie, looking equally serious.

Book Review

“No one wants to have sex with you”: Lost Boys, Alienation, and the Machinery of Masculinity

The manosphere doesn’t challenge male alienation, it monetises it. These men aren’t resisting power. They are its casualties, desperate to be reinstated as its enforcers.

A graphic-styled image of the “Welcome to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge” sign, reimagined in a red and beige duotone. The sign stands in an arid landscape of scrubland and dry grasses, with an information box beneath it. The image has a grainy, textured overlay that evokes screen-printed posters or photocopied resistance flyers, giving it a raw, politicised aesthetic. The harsh red tones and washed-out background suggest heat, hostility, and defiance.

Book Review

The Dry Run for January 6?

On James Pogue’s Chosen Country: A Rebellion in the West

Giorgia Meloni, dressed in a white suit, leans forward intently as she listens to Donald Trump, who is seated opposite her in a navy blue suit and red tie, gesturing mid-sentence. The two sit in ornate yellow chairs in front of a fireplace adorned with elaborate gold decorations, suggesting a formal diplomatic setting.

I Am Giorgia, and You Are Not

What looks like autobiography is really a sermon: suffer, obey, reproduce, and vote accordingly.

We Took Back Control? Starmer’s EU Deal and the Managed Restoration

You don’t take a country back by restoring student exchanges or standardising exports. You take it back by asking who it belongs to—and who it never did.

Britain Does Not Need a Labour Shortage

Britain doesn’t need a labour shortage to punish the poor.

After Le Pen

Marine Le Pen is out of the race, but her party is preparing for power.

The Yankee Pimpernel

JD Vance isn’t offering Europe advice, he’s issuing terms from the heart of a revanchist empire, dressed up in the language of realism and loyalty.

Not Again

Another boat sinks, more bodies wash up, and Europe’s leaders repeat the same empty promises, yet the boats keep coming, because they must.

Austerity for the Poor, Billions for the War Machine

For years, we were told there was no money, no money for schools, no money for hospitals, no money for the poor, but as Europe rushes to rearm, the old fiscal rules have been quietly torn up.

Vance speaking at the 2024 People's Convention

The Most Dangerous Man in America

J.D. Vance isn’t merely Trump’s Vice President, he’s the intellectual architect of a disciplined, reactionary project intent on dismantling democracy at home and abroad.

Hegseth being sworn in by Vice President JD Vance

A Failing Empire Led by Fools

The Trump administration’s second term is proving to be not a resurgence of American power, but a chaotic acceleration of its decline, marked by incoherence, reactionary bluster, and an open invitation for geopolitical adversaries to fill the void left by its retreat.

The Real Forces Behind Le Pen’s Rise

Marine Le Pen’s rise in French politics, often attributed to immigration and crime, is more accurately understood as a reaction to the economic exploitation and inequality perpetuated by the capitalist system.