ICE ICE BABY – ‘THE INFILTRATORS’ AND THE SHADOW OF FOR-PROFIT DETAINMENT FACILITIES

Posted on March 22, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged America, american politics, claudio rojas, detainment, documentary, dreamers, featured, film, Florida, ice, immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, incarceration, miami film festival, national film festival, national immigrant youth alliance, NIYA, private prisons, privatisation, ted deutch, the infiltrators, Utah.

By David Breakspear

After its debut screening in February of this year at the National Film Festival in Utah, USA, the main source of information for the documentary The Infiltrators, Claudio Rojas, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials – just days before the documentary was due to be screened at the Miami Film Festival. Friends and colleagues of Rojas claim this act is political persecution.Continue Reading

THE ONLY WAY WE KNEW HOW TO DO IT WAS THE WAY THAT WE DID IT – AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BELLRAYS

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community, Music That Matters and tagged Alternative Tentacles, America, Black Lightning, blues, bob dylan, Bob Vennum, country, featured, Fireballs of Freedom, Fuzzy Vox, genre, independent, jazz, LA, Lisa Kelaula, live music, lyrics, MC5, mission statement, MTM, music, music review, music that matters, music venue, norwich, Norwich Arts Centre, political music, politics, Punk Fuck Rock Soul Vol 1, Punk Fuck Rock Soul Vol 2, Riverside, rock and roll, rock n roll, self published, Staple Singers, Strokes, The 45s, The BellRays, up and coming, Upper Cut, White Stripes.

by Rowan Gavin

Since their formation in the early ‘90s, Californian Rock & Rollers The BellRays have befuddled the expectations of music media and the industry, just as much as they have thrilled audiences. They’ve taken an open-minded approach to the genre that has defined American music for the past seven decades, and they’ve been an independent outfit that whole time.

The BellRays have self-published their nine albums through a variety of independent labels, including Upper Cut and Alternative Tentacles. 2017 saw the release of EP Punk Funk Rock Soul vol 1, the long-awaited follow up to 2010’s Black Lightning, and last month gave us the album-length Punk Funk Rock Soul vol 2. I caught up with Lisa Kelaula & Bob Vennum, the band’s permanent members, before they went on stage at Norwich Arts Centre last Friday.Continue Reading

HOW SHOULD WE ACKNOWLEDGE NATIONAL SINS?

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged African American History Museum, America, civil war, Confederate, Crescent City White League Obelisk, Frederick Douglass, General Lee, George Washington Cable, germany, Harriet Jacobs, Jefferson Davis, legacy, Martin Luther King Jr, memorial, Mitch Landrieu, New Orleans, P.G.T Beauregard, slavery, Smithsonian, W.E.B. DuBois, Washington, white supremacy, William Lloyd Garrison.

by Tara Debra G

Content warning: Holocaust/genocide, slavery, white supremacy

Under the cloak of night, on the 24th of April this year, an obelisk that celebrated members of the Crescent City White League was removed in New Orleans. It was erected in 1891 to honour the group that, twenty years prior, launched a failed insurrection against the Reconstruction Louisiana state government, murdering police officers in doing so. Its plaque in 1931 read: “the national election of November 1876 recognized white supremacy in the South and gave us our state.”Continue Reading

ENVIRONMENTAL WARS: THE CORPORATE AND POLITICAL WAR ON NATURE

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged access, America, china, climate action, climate change, coal, dakota, dakota pipe line, DAPL, department of energy and climate change, energy, environment, environmental protection agency, epa, global warming, GOP, Green, Green Investment Bank, keystone xl pipeline, Myron Ebell, NASA, national parks, obama, oil, paris, Paris agreement, pipeline, pollution, republican, SEC, solar, stream protection rule, Trump, twitter, us army corps of engineers, war on nature.

by Gunnar Eigener

The Republican Party’s war on the environment has begun in earnest.

The US Army Corps of Engineers have approved the final easement to complete the Dakota Pipe Line (DAPL). The Keystone XL Pipeline has also been approved. Republican senators have introduced a bill to disband the Environmental Protection Agency. The Stream Protection Rule has been repealed using the Congressional Review Act. The Securities & Exchange Commissions (SEC) transparency rule has been repealed. The Interior Department methane rule is currently going through the repeal process. Trump has promised to disband the Clean Power Act and the EPA website has removed all pages relating to climate change. Trump’s America First Energy Plan neglected to mention solar energy jobs and, although the initial plan to sell of 3.3 million acres of national land has been withdrawn, proposals have been put forward to transfer federal land to state control. In the UK, the government is pushing forward with the intention to sell the Green Investment Bank and renewable energy ventures look set to slashed even more. A report by the Energy and Climate Committee has predicted that the UK will fail to meet its renewable energy targets. The closing of the Department of Energy and Climate Change led to its operations being transferred to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, casting doubt of the ability to prioritise the environment over business. Continue Reading

OUR DEMOCRACY REQUIRES WE MAKE 2017 THE YEAR OF THE EXPERT

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged 2016, 2017, academia, America, american politics, american presidential election, anglo-saxon, arron banks, Boris Johnson, Brexit, british politics, david davis, deliberative democracy, democracy, Donald Trump, education, election, elections, EU, EU ref, EU referendum, Europe, european politics, european union, experts, first world war, gove, higher education, intellect, inter|national, ivan rogers, liam fox, mary beard, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage, participatory democracy, President, society, students, Trump, uk, uk politics, UKIP, universities, university, US, US election, US president, US presidential election, USA.

by Olivia Hanks

All people are of equal value. The same is not true of opinions – and the conflation of the two is leading us down a dark path to ignorance and authoritarian rule.

2016 was not a good year for experts. Michael Gove (that straight-talking man of the people) declared that the British public had “had enough” of them. On the face of it, it seems he was right: in voting to leave the European Union, 17.4 million people defied the advice of specialists in every field from finance to ecology to social cohesion. A few months later, in the best Anglo-Saxon tradition of oneupmanship, the United States voted to be led by a man whose approach to policy is to say things at random and see which gets the biggest cheer.

A FRIGHTENED AND DANGEROUS NEW WORLD AWAITS? – LOOKING BACK ON OBAMA’S 2ND TERM

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged America, boko harem, cold war, daesh, defence, diplomacy, Donald Trump, Exceptionalism, foreign policy, George Bush, globalisation, hegemony, history, isolationist, Kupchan, legitimacy, make america great again, middle east, Nato, nuclear, obama, Osama bin Laden, protectionist, rhetoric, Russia, Syria, TTIP, unipolar, Yemen.

by Oliver Steward

Two things that have become clear with the election of Donald J Trump as President – elect. Firstly, America’s status as a sole superpower and its Exceptionalism is coming to an end, and secondly, the liberal international order, rooted in principles of international law and community and defined in part by American hegemony, has been turned upside down. The world is in an increasing state of flux.

While it is undergoing a process of reordering, the likelihood is that global affairs may not be very responsive to the will of the United States either through its diplomatic capacity, its institutional structures which it retains its legitimacy, or through hard power. Authors such as Kupchan go further, arguing that America must prepare for the decline of the West, correlating with a decline in its own position.Continue Reading

INVISIBLE PLACES: VISITING ONE OF AMERICA’S LARGEST PRISONS

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged America, american politics, Angela Davis, angola prison, criminal justice, death penalty, invisible places, law enforcement, louisiana state penitentiary, prison, prisons, uk, uk politics.

by Tara Gulwell

Content warning: mentions death row and execution.

Arriving at Angola prison is a bit like realising the horror film you’ve been watching is actually a documentary. Suddenly a landscape that was far removed from my own experience was coming into focus before me as I arrived at the gates. I’ve had family members who were imprisoned or have gone through the criminal justice system, but this was Angola. This was the Alcatraz of the South, one of the most violent subjects of intense fascination in American mythology.

WHAT SHOULD THE LEFT DO TO COUNTER THE RISE OF THE POLITICAL RIGHT?

Posted on November 19, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Adam Smith, America, Bernie Sanders, Brexit, Donald Trump, idealism, identity politics, invisible hand, jeremy corbyn, left wing, liberal, liberal culture, liberals, media, Pauline Hanson, political right, pragmatism, President, refugees, right wing, rise, society, stability, syrian refugees, the man in the high castle, working class.

by Faizal Nor Izham

We live in turbulent times. Just months after Britain decided to leave the EU, as well as the recurring popularity of Australian anti-immigration pundit Pauline Hanson, it was now America’s turn to tread down a similar right-wing path — this time by electing everyone’s favourite media darling, Donald Trump, as President.

As President. Of the United States. Oh how far we’ve sunk.

But is there actually a rational reason for wanting to elect a racist, scare-mongering serial womaniser out of sheer desperation of the times we’re living in? Or maybe there are other things everyday people are getting fed up of as well. Perhaps people have even become jaded with liberal culture as well. Nowadays it is often a shallow parody of its former self. It’s often hollow, intellectually-sterile, idealistic, immobile and sometimes even commercialised in the media.Continue Reading

WELL, WHAT NOW?

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged 2016, America, black, Brexit, british empire, campaign, clickbait, climate change, democrats, Donald Trump, Enid Blyton, fear, fight back, hate, latino, LGBT+, natural disaster, nuclear, obama, political system, power, President, president elect, protest, putin, racism, republicans, response, sexism, the left, United States, US election, vote, Warren Ellis.

by Zoe Harding

Content warning: As you’d expect, this article contains Donald Trump and all the associated bullshit that comes with him. It gets better at the end, but it’s still pretty grim. For a TL:DR, try Warren Ellis’ excellent Transmetropolitan comics, or this. Also contains strong language.

It’s not been a great year for fans of basic human decency towards people who aren’t white, straight, cis men. I’d list the crappy things that have happened on that front alone but I’ve got 800ish words and 2016 is going to get history books all of its own. Now, the self-proclaimed Land of the Free has elected a President who dog-whistled his way into power on a wave of fear, hate, intolerance and general bastardry. Well, great. All we need is a major natural disaster in December and then we’re on track for a nuclear war in January. Shitty things are already happening. Here’s a running list. (Note: The election is still recent. I hope these turn out to be sensationalist clickbait. I really hope.)Continue Reading

PLEASE DON’T LET GODZILLA BOMB MY CITY

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged America, American, army, Bernie Sanders, Colbert, Donald Trump, Donzilla, Drumpf, election, godzilla, Hillary Clinton, international, media, menace, Mike Pence, military, mockery, monster, MSM, Nixon, norwich, nuclear power, nuke, politics, pop culture, presidential elections, racism, satire, spin, supporter, Trump, US, US election, USA, war.

by Zoe Harding

Can anything stop Donald Trump? The recent presidential debate between the Man with the Golden Skin and Madame Nixon has been heralded as another in a series of candidate-ending screw-ups, Trump appearing rambling and incoherent while Clinton seemed uncharacteristically cheerful and unscripted. Trump was called out repeatedly for lying, and his awkwardly unreleased tax returns were dragged ever closer to the cold light of day. Even his post-debate spin was desperate, with Trump claiming imaginary poll victories and showing a surprising measure of the political correctness his supporters are rabidly opposed to. He even blamed his microphone for his weak performance, giving Clinton a chance to drop one more zingy soundbite.

But here’s the thing: this isn’t going to slow Trump down. This won’t turn his supporters off him. To drop into a metaphor I’ve seen employed elsewhere, Trump is Godzilla. Continue Reading

America

ICE ICE BABY – ‘THE INFILTRATORS’ AND THE SHADOW OF FOR-PROFIT DETAINMENT FACILITIES

THE ONLY WAY WE KNEW HOW TO DO IT WAS THE WAY THAT WE DID IT – AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BELLRAYS

HOW SHOULD WE ACKNOWLEDGE NATIONAL SINS?

ENVIRONMENTAL WARS: THE CORPORATE AND POLITICAL WAR ON NATURE

OUR DEMOCRACY REQUIRES WE MAKE 2017 THE YEAR OF THE EXPERT

A FRIGHTENED AND DANGEROUS NEW WORLD AWAITS? – LOOKING BACK ON OBAMA’S 2ND TERM

INVISIBLE PLACES: VISITING ONE OF AMERICA’S LARGEST PRISONS

WHAT SHOULD THE LEFT DO TO COUNTER THE RISE OF THE POLITICAL RIGHT?

WELL, WHAT NOW?

PLEASE DON’T LET GODZILLA BOMB MY CITY

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