CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ISSUE V
ISSUE V is the last issue of THE GRIND that will be published in PDF format. We are moving onto bold new projects. The introduction to ISSUE V is a statement of intent regarding that direction. You can read it below.
"Friends,
What have we done? What have we let happen? We have left ourselves to the mercy of men and women who see us as nothing more than votes and statistics. We have given ourselves freely and willingly to those who do not know us or love us, those who would rather see us hungry than go without their second homes and bonuses and perks of the job. We have signed our lives over to companies that had to be told there was a legal minimum they shouldpay us. Every time you go to work and put on your apron or cap or uniform that company is buying pieces of your life where they deprive you the chance to be who you are.
Speak like we speak.
Act like we act.
Look like we look.
Work like we say.
These companies had to be told the legal minimum your time, your life, was worth because they’d pay you less if they could get away with it.
Push these loyalty cards.
Make those sales.
Get those contracts.
Lest our shareholders go hungry and their children die in their beds.
We are told by these people that our voices do not matter and our votes do not count and that we should be quiet, subdued, and happy with our lot in life. You are being lied to! You are being conned and deceived for the benefit of others. They want you to believe that you are
nothing because they are nothing. The politicians, the bankers, the police, the government, business leaders, priests and ministers, murderers, rapists, child molesters, embezzlers, crooks, thieves, and scum; they want you to be quiet. Your silence and acquiescence is the greatest gift you could give them because it legitimises what they are doing and convinces us that this is normal. Fuck the idea that this is normal!
We have let ourselves be fucked into submission by our fathers and mothers and all those who came before us. We have inherited the Earth and become meek in the process. We inherited debt, war, famine, poverty, disease, intolerance, and destitution with a blithe indifference that we should be ashamed of. Why do we accept this? Why are we so weak? We live in a world where a benefit cheat is more likely to face jail than a politician who rapes children. This same world where someone can work 40 hours a week and still not have enough money to eat while we throw away enough food every year to feed everyone. The very same world that makes us feel so bad about ourselves that we inject poison under our skin and drugs into our veins.
But what can we do? We have been infantilised and castrated and subdued, torn apart and atomised, shattered and ruined. What can we do? When our votes mean nothing and our schools teach us to be stupid. When the only thing we hate more than ourselves is each other; when we’d rather have refugees drown in the Mediterranean than welcome them to our shores. When deficits are more important than children and welfare is a dirty word. When foodbanks exist and are allowed to exist and more people vote against a government than for it and the daily, inexorable grind of day to day life drives us to drink and pills and despair. What can we do?
We can eat the fucking rich.
You should take your minimum wage contract and shove it down the gullet of your employers and then see if their deplorable record of treating you like a human being can reinflate their stomachs. Fuck the idea that this is normal.
Fuck your wage that keeps you hungry and working hours that keep you from your families and hobbies
and from yourself. Fuck falling asleep crying and waking up sick. Fuck falling asleep and not caring if you wake up. Fuck being over-educated and under-employed. Fuck applying for entry level positions and being told you need two years’ experience in a similar role. Fuck companies that have more rights than you do. Fuck photoshopped pictures that make you feel bad about your body. Fuck feeling inadequate. Fuck a Labour Party that hates workers and a Tory party that hates you personally. Fuck an establishment and a media full of apologists. Fuck paying for these cunts.
Death to the fucking people traffickers and the corrupt elite who profit from them! Death to the intelligence services that cover up abuse and corruption to avoid institutional embarrassment! Death to the predators and the fear mongers that keep you scared! Death to the idea that this is normal because this is not fucking normal! You are being lied to.
But what can we do? You’re already doing it. By writing, shooting, painting, and creating you’re saying “No, fuck the grind”. You’re saying “fuck the idea that this is good enough”. This is nowhere near good enough. When you create something you make yourself and the world a better place and you succeed on a glorious scale. Every pen or brush stoke is a cry of “things can be better!”.
You deserve better than this. We all deserve better than this.
You are beautiful.
Don’t be afraid! You are beautiful and your plans are beautiful and your ideas are beautiful and your faults are beautiful and your failures are beautiful. You have to know this and trust in this because if you don’t the world will crush you. You have to keep writing and creating because if you don’t, if you let the grind and minimum wage and zero-hour contracts and faulty electoral systems and corrupt elites wear you down and sap those last few precious drops of defiance from your body, we’re fucked.
We can’t let this happen.
Do not let this happen!
We shall eat the rich.
We shall be better.
We shall be beautiful.
Fuck The Grind."
What have we done? What have we let happen? We have left ourselves to the mercy of men and women who see us as nothing more than votes and statistics. We have given ourselves freely and willingly to those who do not know us or love us, those who would rather see us hungry than go without their second homes and bonuses and perks of the job. We have signed our lives over to companies that had to be told there was a legal minimum they shouldpay us. Every time you go to work and put on your apron or cap or uniform that company is buying pieces of your life where they deprive you the chance to be who you are.
Speak like we speak.
Act like we act.
Look like we look.
Work like we say.
These companies had to be told the legal minimum your time, your life, was worth because they’d pay you less if they could get away with it.
Push these loyalty cards.
Make those sales.
Get those contracts.
Lest our shareholders go hungry and their children die in their beds.
We are told by these people that our voices do not matter and our votes do not count and that we should be quiet, subdued, and happy with our lot in life. You are being lied to! You are being conned and deceived for the benefit of others. They want you to believe that you are
nothing because they are nothing. The politicians, the bankers, the police, the government, business leaders, priests and ministers, murderers, rapists, child molesters, embezzlers, crooks, thieves, and scum; they want you to be quiet. Your silence and acquiescence is the greatest gift you could give them because it legitimises what they are doing and convinces us that this is normal. Fuck the idea that this is normal!
We have let ourselves be fucked into submission by our fathers and mothers and all those who came before us. We have inherited the Earth and become meek in the process. We inherited debt, war, famine, poverty, disease, intolerance, and destitution with a blithe indifference that we should be ashamed of. Why do we accept this? Why are we so weak? We live in a world where a benefit cheat is more likely to face jail than a politician who rapes children. This same world where someone can work 40 hours a week and still not have enough money to eat while we throw away enough food every year to feed everyone. The very same world that makes us feel so bad about ourselves that we inject poison under our skin and drugs into our veins.
But what can we do? We have been infantilised and castrated and subdued, torn apart and atomised, shattered and ruined. What can we do? When our votes mean nothing and our schools teach us to be stupid. When the only thing we hate more than ourselves is each other; when we’d rather have refugees drown in the Mediterranean than welcome them to our shores. When deficits are more important than children and welfare is a dirty word. When foodbanks exist and are allowed to exist and more people vote against a government than for it and the daily, inexorable grind of day to day life drives us to drink and pills and despair. What can we do?
We can eat the fucking rich.
You should take your minimum wage contract and shove it down the gullet of your employers and then see if their deplorable record of treating you like a human being can reinflate their stomachs. Fuck the idea that this is normal.
Fuck your wage that keeps you hungry and working hours that keep you from your families and hobbies
and from yourself. Fuck falling asleep crying and waking up sick. Fuck falling asleep and not caring if you wake up. Fuck being over-educated and under-employed. Fuck applying for entry level positions and being told you need two years’ experience in a similar role. Fuck companies that have more rights than you do. Fuck photoshopped pictures that make you feel bad about your body. Fuck feeling inadequate. Fuck a Labour Party that hates workers and a Tory party that hates you personally. Fuck an establishment and a media full of apologists. Fuck paying for these cunts.
Death to the fucking people traffickers and the corrupt elite who profit from them! Death to the intelligence services that cover up abuse and corruption to avoid institutional embarrassment! Death to the predators and the fear mongers that keep you scared! Death to the idea that this is normal because this is not fucking normal! You are being lied to.
But what can we do? You’re already doing it. By writing, shooting, painting, and creating you’re saying “No, fuck the grind”. You’re saying “fuck the idea that this is good enough”. This is nowhere near good enough. When you create something you make yourself and the world a better place and you succeed on a glorious scale. Every pen or brush stoke is a cry of “things can be better!”.
You deserve better than this. We all deserve better than this.
You are beautiful.
Don’t be afraid! You are beautiful and your plans are beautiful and your ideas are beautiful and your faults are beautiful and your failures are beautiful. You have to know this and trust in this because if you don’t the world will crush you. You have to keep writing and creating because if you don’t, if you let the grind and minimum wage and zero-hour contracts and faulty electoral systems and corrupt elites wear you down and sap those last few precious drops of defiance from your body, we’re fucked.
We can’t let this happen.
Do not let this happen!
We shall eat the rich.
We shall be better.
We shall be beautiful.
Fuck The Grind."