Black Cat is Perplexed by the Irrational Beliefs of its Species

Darragh MacAoidh – Black Cat Group (Personal Capacity)

“Man cannot live on bread alone” began the speaker for the Revolution (the recent Christian Union series of events), and right he was too. I was sorted though, I had a BLT. The holy trinity, this divine coalition held together by faith and mayonnaise has been my bulwark against so many of the iniquities of life. Of course, like any faith, it has its own mysteries and obscure meanings. Is tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Should the rasher be smoked, marinaded in maple or plain? What should vegetarians eat? Difficulties can be overcome, but it is the search that will constitute meaning. But let us return to the Christian question. The biggest problem this world faces, according to the eminent speaker, is not the dull old ones trotted out by the left; global warming, famine, genocide etc. etc. Oh no, it is a conflict at once internal and global, the problem is SIN, or rather the unholy trinity of ‘Shove off God! I’m in Charge!’ And most perfidious of all, ‘No to your rule’! That is, the greatest problem is a rejection of God’s law, and an assumption that human beings should make their own choices about how to live. This, he continued, was mistaken, for the world is not our world, it is God’s world, and we must abide by his rules to achieve immanent happiness and the life immortal. These can only be achieved by accepting Jesus’ love, asking for forgiveness for our sins and learning to live the life he commands us to. Deadly. This, incidentally, is the only treatment he gives to the question that was the topic of the debate, i.e. that of the alleged homophobia and sexism of Christianity. Jesus loves you all, you see, just as long as you keep your pants on outside of holy matrimony. And no, civil partnerships don’t count, so don’t even try. But I digress.

I’m not interested in proving or disproving God; that’s so last year. My real interest is that of God’s law versus human will. To explore this debate, I will turn to other long-dead bearded men. A Russian fellow once wrote that “If God existed, it would be necessary to abolish him”. Why? Well, because this fellow (Mikhail Bakunin was his name) felt that Christianity is an alienation of humanity from our will, divesting ourselves of our freedom. He went on to argue that “the history of religion, of the birth, grandeur, and decline of the gods… is nothing, but the development of the collective intelligence and conscience of mankind.” What he means is that humanity creates gods and mythologies, and these reveal more about our historical development than of the mysteries of the world and universe. But the goal is to recognise this and do away with the mystification of the world that we create through religion. The eminent speaker had argued that the Bible needs no defence, that it is a flashlight given by God to us to help us understand the world around us. True enough, but it is humanity that created God, the Bible and the entire Christian mythology (and all others). We should not feel betrayed because it’s wrong, because it’s sexist, homophobic or whatever, we simply need to accept it for what it is; a mythology, a body of stories that we have used to understand the world and our place within it. This is part of a valorisation of human activity in itself.

What the hell does this mean? Let’s turn to another dead bearded man for a hint. But bear in mind that it isn’t holy writ; it has value only insofar as it can be applied to the real conditions of our lives.

Socialism is man’s positive self-consciousness, no longer mediated through the abolition of religion, just as real life is man’s positive reality, no longer mediated through the abolition of private property, through communism.

This, from Mr. Marx, raises more problems; what is socialism and why does it express a ‘positive self-consciousness’? Well, the point is that positive self-consciousness, a realisation of humanity’s creative power involves the transcendence of religious thought. That is, we must move beyond all systems of thought that displace human creative activity and position it outside of ourselves, in God, Brahma or whatever. The goal of socialism is to abolish the mediation of human activity that decentre human self-determination and place it in the hands of a particular class. Capitalism is the alienation of this creative power through the selling of labour, while religion is the alienation of our self-determining consciousness through an acceptance of mystical beliefs. The problem, as an article last week pointed out, is not religion but humanity; it is humans who cause war and countless other atrocities. Blaming this on religion misses the point; it is humans who have created the world we know, in all its brutality, injustice, grandeur and beauty and it is humans who have the power to supersede the old world and create a new one, based on equality, liberty and collective self-determination. We will not find the road to a better world in any books by any bearded men, divine or otherwise, but in ourselves, in our fears and our desires; in our concrete social existence. A better world will only arise if we create it. If you’re interested in a secular group of anti-authoritarian socialists who are interested in exploring the way to a better world, the Black Cat Group meet Mondays at 6pm on RB1 (atheism is not an entry requirement!). For more info see our blog at www.blackcatgroup.blogspot.com.

AN OPEN LETTER FROM ASSOCIATE TUTORS TO THE UNIVERSITY

This letter was written by Associate Tutors at the University of Sussex. It details some of their grievances with the university.

AN OPEN LETTER FROM ASSOCIATE TUTORS TO THE UNIVERSITY

As the university acknowledges "Associate Tutors play an invaluable role in
the life of the university" (University website), yet the concerns listed
below seem to suggest otherwise. These arise from the implementation of
the new national pay Framework Agreement; specifically our incorporation as
flexibly contracted hourly paid staff, into the single pay scale.

Given that the vast majority of ATs are drawn from the DPhil research
student population, this can only be to the detriment of DPhil research
within the University.

Our concerns fall into two main categories: i) Changes to payment rates,
and ii) Treatment in the implementation of this new system.

Calculating how these changes affect us all in our own teaching
commitments, several points have become clear, that
- unless a very large amount of teaching is undertaken, this new settlement
represents a pay cut.
- The new Framework mitigates towards taking on increasing numbers of
seminar hours in order to make the same wage as before.
- To the detriment of our DPhils.

Additionally, we are particularly dismayed at the lack of information
communicated with respect to the changes to our pay. This lack of
information has serious implications for ATs ability to plan financially
and to budget.

We demand that there should be an immediate review and change of
- universal and flat designation of our AT roles under the HEAR grading
system as Grade 5. This does not adequately reflect the range of
responsibilities and activities undertaken by ATs
- the 'multipliers' to reflect the work undertaken in the different AT roles
- a transparent and universal rate for marking to reflect the quality and
quantity of work done.

The welcome statement on the AT web pages closes, by saying that "The
University is committed to constantly reviewing and improving the working
conditions of its Associate Tutors. Deans, Directors, Heads of Department
and administrative staff alike are concerned to make every effort to ensure
that Associate Tutors are well supported, treated fairly and with respect."

As ATs we are proud of the work we do and our relationship with the
University, and don't wish to be forced to damage those relationships with
direct action.

SocCul and HUMS ATs

Who are the Black Cat group?

The Black Cat Group are a collection of people at Sussex Uni who don’t think we can change this world with well-written manifestos, but have decided to write one anyway. We also think red and black compliment each other well and that union-made beer tastes like justice.

For us, the world we live in has not changed as much as some would argue. Sure, we don’t all wear flat caps or work with big hammers but what underpins society is ultimately the same: there is the vast majority, the working class, who have nothing but their ability to work to survive and there are those who live off the profit from the work which the majority do. As well as plain old capitalist misery, most people also suffer problems like sexism, racism or homophobia. ‘Anti-capitalism’ is clearly not enough to combat these problems, though ignoring class won’t do either. In fact, it’s as a class that we must face these problems.

Lifestyle changes and ‘dropping-out’, though admittedly a good laugh sometimes, ultimately amounts to re-arranging furniture on the Titanic. They’re individual solutions to wider, social problems. It’s by organising ourselves as a class, where we live and work, to improve our day-to-day lives that we can build a confrontational movement able to directly attack capitalism.

It’s because of this that we don’t organise students as students. Being ‘a student’ is an odd position to be in, at once we’re consumers and producers (whether now or in the near future) and can have different class interests. Not to mention we’re really lazy. We attempt to organise students as workers, as part of the working class, not for our own sectional interests. This means drawing links between students and staff at university and elsewhere, educating students about our rights at work and how to stand up for them and lots of other stuff that you can’t fit on an A5 bit of paper. We often fail miserably but we keep plugging away anyway. Especially when we see the French at it again.

We reject all political parties, even ‘revolutionary’ ones, because as a class, we are powerful because of our role as the people who drive buses, answer phones, wash dishes, teach in schools and all the other things which keep the world turning. We are not powerful because of any faith placed in political leaderships who upon becoming leaders will concern themselves with little else apart from remaining leaders.

We believe that the only way to effect change for our own ends is through bottom-up directly democratic organisation and direct action. Like this we can improve our everyday lives and, hopefully anyway, do away with capitalism altogether.

If you’re interested in the Black Cat Group, our meetings are at 6pm on Mondays in Russell Building Room 1. We don’t agree on everything and don’t expect total agreement to arise anytime soon so if you’re vaguely interested, feel free to come along..