At Counterblast, we’re interested in the implications of current affairs for our generation, as students and young people. Tracing the spectrum of attitude (from apathy and alienation to rage and optimism) which characterises how most of us feel, Counterblast reflects on present political actions and activists and analyses the political content of policy and discourse on the global stage. An ascendant generation is being met with a cost of living crisis, a housing crisis, an employment crisis, a planet literally on fire, and a political class which seems effectively disinterested in us. What are the consequences? 

We are also presented with a decade where several major leftist projects have ended in failure and the far-right are gaining ground. Following PODEMOS and Corbyn’s Labour, the task now is to assess their strengths and shortcomings and identify the existing currents driving us to progress.

Two of our guiding principles come from Carol Hanisch’s iconic dictum "the personal is political" and Raymond Williams’ view that “culture is ordinary”. When it comes to culture (a song, a film, a book, a video game) nothing is apolitical.

At Counterblast, we think accessing a work of art needs contextual criticism (i.e., the artwork is an historical product, inflected with the politics of a time and place) and awareness of oneself as a spectator. That said, there is no criticism without aesthetics, and engaging with an artwork’s style - especially where style is used to justify ideology - is indispensable. 

We see all media as objects for understanding the state of politics and everyday life nowadays, but we also encourage reviews of old media, as long as its relevance is patent. Culture has always been ‘ordinary’, a mirror held up for all society to appreciate “its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings” (Williams, Culture and Society).

Our approach to philosophy is pragmatic. We look for the ‘uses’ of thought - anything from dialectics to phenomenology to the philosophy of language - in analysing politics and society. We welcome all kinds of theory, but our outlook is uniquely political, taking our cue from Marx's 11th Thesis on Feuerbach -“philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it."

Relevant topics to explore might include: the philosophy of AI, law, property rights, pedagogy, Conspiracy Theories, critical race theory, gender, nuclear weapons, Just War, etc. Any topic and philosophical method is acceptable, as long as it applies to the direct experiences of people living in the world today. No armchair philosophy!

While we generally encourage most of our contributions to display elements of historicity, this section is expressly focused on historical analysis. Since several of our guiding principles at Counterblast focus on prescience and relevance for readers in the 2020s, we prefer pieces which relate historical events and metanarratives to the contemporary climate. We are also interested in pieces which deconstruct historical narratives broadly accepted as ‘true’ and challenge dominant viewpoints.

For feature articles on ongoing struggles - from protests to fundraisers - at the level of student politics and beyond; to highlight the work of affiliated groups and reflect on the directions of young political movements.