FIGHTING FOR TRANS RIGHTS IN A FAR-RIGHT NATION

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Norwich Radical in April 2023, Perspectives and tagged activism, Alister Jack, anti-vaccine, bbc, bnp, Boris Johnson, Brianna Ghey, Covid-19, daily mail, discrimination, drag queens, ehrc, far-right, fascism, featured, gender recognition reform, government, HOPE Not Hate, lgbtQ+, LGBTQ+ rights, liz truss, mainstream media, media transphobia, migrant rights, norwich, Norwich Trans Pride, patriotic alternative, racism, Section 35, Sophie Labelle, Telegraph, Tories, trans rights, transphobia, uk.

By a Norwich LGBTQ+ activist

CW: references to transphobic policy and rhetoric, neo-nazi ideology, far-right violence

Last August, The Norwich Radical published coverage of a drag queen storytime event at the Millennium Library. The event was targeted by far-right organisations, and defended by a much larger group of LGBTQ+ Norwich residents and allies. Since then, far-right protestors in smaller numbers have attempted to disrupt more LGBTQ+ community events in the city. Meanwhile, the government has continued to ramp up anti-trans rhetoric and policy, aided and abetted by the bile of the mainstream press and the complicity of so-called ‘gender critical’ figures in academia and popular culture. This is more than a ‘minority concern’. It is a large-scale civil rights struggle against an establishment more fascistic by the day.

SACRILEGE: SPEAKING WITH THE FOUNDERS OF NORWICH’S GOTH NIGHT

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Norwich Radical in April 2023, Arts and tagged accessibility, arts, Cambridge, Chains on Velvet, club night, Covid-19, east anglia, featured, goth, hybrid events, livestream, music, nightlife, norwich, racism, Sacrilege, subculture, The Rumsey Wells, Wednesday Addams.

By Kasper Hassett

Norwich has a goth scene. That’s not always obvious – but go digging in the Underbelly of The Rumsey Wells on certain Saturdays and you might find yourself caught up with those who move on the city’s darkest dance floor.

Started by Alixandrea and Dvae in Cambridge, Sacrilege is a semi-regular club night showcasing a range of dark music from all eras. In recent years it has moved with them to Norwich, and is now gaining traction as a hub for the East Anglian alternative community to gather and enjoy goth music. I got in touch with Alix and Dvae to discuss Sacrilege, how it came to be and what may be in its future.

STAND UP TODAY, SAVE TOMORROW – NORWICH SAYS ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged acorn, Boris Johnson, cameron matthews, cost of living crisis, Covid-19, CWU, Denzil Dean, eddie dempsey, EnoughisEnough, featured, grace petrie, jeremy corbyn, Jess Barnard, liz truss, NEU, norwich, NUJ, politics, RMT, Royal College of Nursing, taj ali, Tories, trade unions, uk.

by Rowan Gavin

“We are living in unique, unique times.”

The words of Eddie Dempsey, Assistant General Secretary of the RMT, speaking to the packed-out rally for the Enough is Enough campaign at Epic Studios in Norwich on Tuesday night. He’s right. Many are saying they can’t remember a time when so many were so hard-off in this country. Meanwhile, by a number of measures, the richest few have never been so rich. My rent and the rate on my electricity meter have gone up this year, and with more price hikes on the horizon I’m worried about what it’s gonna cost to stay warm this winter. My friends, colleagues, and almost everyone I speak to are facing the same concerns. But despite all that, one thing makes this moment feel unique to me more than anything else: the strength of working people’s will to fight back.

WE LIVE IN A CORRUPT AND VIOLENT STATE – JOHNSON’S RESIGNATION WON’T CHANGE THAT

Posted on July 7, 2022 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged austerity, Boris Johnson, british empire, Covid-19, david cameron, fascism, featured, fields of wheat, Gil Scott Heron, homophobia, Johnson resignation, keir starmer, Labour, metropolitan police, Michael Gove, Nato, police, police violence, politics, pride, protest music, queen elizabeth, racism, RMT, security prosperity respect, theresa may, Tories, trade unions, transphobia, uk.

By Rowan Gavin

At long last, the Johnson juggernaut has run out of road. The Bohnson’s repeated scandals, criminal convictions, outright racism and transphobia were not enough to unseat him; in the end all it took was a few opportunistic cronies seeing a chance to pull their knives. Et tu, Gove?

A STUDENT’S GUIDE TO THE DECEMBER UCU STRIKES

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #ucustrike, casualisation, Covid-19, featured, four fights, gender pay gap, higher education, inequality, insecure contracts, international students, mental health, pandemic, Pause or Pay, pensions, Peter Mathieson, picket lines, solidarity, strike, students' unions, UCU, UEA, universities, University of Edinburgh, workers rights, working conditions.

By Freya Buxton

From the first to the third of December, university students across the UK will experience disrupted teaching, as University and Colleges Union (UCU) branches in 58 institutions go on strike as part of the union’s battles with universities over working conditions.

SPOKEN WORD, SLAPSTICK AND SURREALISM – CRYSTAL PALACE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Catford, cinema, comedy, Covid-19, CPIFF, Crystal Palace, Everyman Cinema, featured, film, film festival, Jade Anouka, johnny vegas, lockdown, racism, South London, surrealism.

By Carmina Masoliver

South East London has given me a new found love for cinema. After enjoying the Catford Mews’ short film festival recently, I made a point of attending the Crystal Palace International Film Festival (CPIFF) in September. Since 2010, CPIFF has been bringing independent films to the big screen from across the globe, including short films, mid-length films and feature films of all genres.

JUSTICE IS RARE IN THE ITALIAN PENAL SYSTEM’S CULTURE OF GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE AND IMPUNITY

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Covid-19, featured, human rights, inmates, Italy, Matteo Salvini, organised crime, police brutality, prison, state violence, Stefano Cucchi, systemic violence.

by Alessandra Arpaia

Content warning: violence, abuse, police brutality

Santa Maria Capua Vetere is a small town in the southern Italian region of Campania. A few weeks ago, prison surveillance videos emerged showing guards brutally attacking prisoners after inmate protests took place in April 2020. The footage is proof not only of the abuse of power that takes place in silence in Italian prisons every day, but it also highlights the urgent need for Italy to reevaluate its penal system. Despite being sparked by demands for better Covid protection and testing, last Spring’s protests were a culmination of longstanding issues which have characterised the Italian judicial and penal system for too long; from lack of basic hygiene standards to a general slowness in judicial processes – not to mention the extreme levels of violence perpetrated by prison guards.

HANCOCK’S HALF-HOUR – THE DARK COMEDY OF UK POLITICS IN 2021

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Boris Johnson, capitalism, conservatism, Covid-19, dark comedy, dominic cummings, featured, Gina Coladangelo, government, Hancock's Half-Hour, jeremy corbyn, mainstream media, Matt Hancock, media, politics, Sajid Javid, sitcom, Tories, uk.

By Howard Green

Sometimes, it’s hard not to laugh at contemporary British politics. The fall of Matt Hancock is the latest instalment in this ongoing political sitcom. Hancock, the Partridge-esque Health Secretary who came to prominence during the pandemic, was forced to resign a few weeks ago through external pressure following an extramarital affair with one of his aides, Gina Coladangelo.

#KILLTHEBILL PROTESTS – WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT COUNTS AS VIOLENCE?

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #KillTheBill, Avon & Somerset police, Bristol, Bristol protests, capitalism, civil disobedience, Covid-19, featured, government, GRT, mainstream media, media, monopoly on violence, morality, norwich, PCSC Bill, poli, police, police murder, police state, protest, state violence, Tories, uk, violence, WHO.

By Howard Green

The most important intergovernmental organisation of the last year, the World Health Organisation, defines violence as:

the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.

The media in this country have used the terms ‘violence’ and ‘violent’ to categorise the recent civil disruption surrounding the Kill The Bill protests. Norwich’s recent protests couldn’t be called ‘violent’ by any stretch of the imagination, but there have still been reactionary responses attempting to write off their importance, including from the EDP. However in the case of places like Bristol, the word ‘violence’ has been openly used against protestors by the media and influential reactionary figures.

LIVING RECORD FESTIVAL REVIEW – PART 1

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged ADHD, audio-visual, controversy, Covid-19, DJ Glade, Edinburgh Fringe, Elian Gray, featured, grief, identity, infuencers, Katie Elizabeth Payne, Katie Payne, Leanne Moden, Living Record Festival, Mango Lassi, Maya Katherine, mental health, Mike Masaros, music, My Mix(ed up) Tape, online theatre, performance, poetry, review, Rogue Play Theatre, Skip Skip Skip, spirituality, spoken word, The Quean's Company, theatre, theatre review, Thrash, Vivid Ashes, web series.

By Carmina Masoliver

January 2021 saw the start of the Living Record Festival, which featured over forty artists and theatre companies showcasing digital work, from spoken word audio pieces to mini-web series. It has garnered many four-star and five-star reviews. In this two-part series, Carmina Masoliver discusses her picks of the festival’s most interesting shows. You can read part two here.

Covid-19

FIGHTING FOR TRANS RIGHTS IN A FAR-RIGHT NATION

By a Norwich LGBTQ+ activist

SACRILEGE: SPEAKING WITH THE FOUNDERS OF NORWICH’S GOTH NIGHT

By Kasper Hassett

STAND UP TODAY, SAVE TOMORROW – NORWICH SAYS ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

by Rowan Gavin

WE LIVE IN A CORRUPT AND VIOLENT STATE – JOHNSON’S RESIGNATION WON’T CHANGE THAT

By Rowan Gavin

A STUDENT’S GUIDE TO THE DECEMBER UCU STRIKES

By Freya Buxton

SPOKEN WORD, SLAPSTICK AND SURREALISM – CRYSTAL PALACE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

By Carmina Masoliver

JUSTICE IS RARE IN THE ITALIAN PENAL SYSTEM’S CULTURE OF GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE AND IMPUNITY

by Alessandra Arpaia

HANCOCK’S HALF-HOUR – THE DARK COMEDY OF UK POLITICS IN 2021

By Howard Green

#KILLTHEBILL PROTESTS – WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT COUNTS AS VIOLENCE?

By Howard Green

LIVING RECORD FESTIVAL REVIEW – PART 1

By Carmina Masoliver

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