THE UK’S INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged Amber Rudd, anti black, black lives matter, BLM, crime, discrimination, division, establishment, featured, Home Office, institution, international, platform, racism, Stephen Lawrence, uk, windrush, xenophobia.

by Gunnar Eigener

Institutional racism has, for many years, been the more unpleasant side of societies throughout the world. Black and other minority communities have long been oppressed by predominately white police departments. Crimes within these communities have rarely received the attention that equivalent crimes in white neighbourhoods have. Civil rights marches have been going on for years, social media tracks the violence of police forces, and the alternative media exposes the racist actions of institutions and establishment figures. But has anything really changed? Have we made any progress that truly shows a change in perception? Sadly, it doesn’t seem so.Continue Reading

TRADING FREEDOMS – THE OFFICE FOR STUDENTS PROPOSALS

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged academics, Cardiff University, censorship, clampdown, debate, establishment, freedom, freedom of choice, freedom of speech, germaine greer, government, HEFCE, higher education, jo johnson, mainstream media, no platforming, office for students, power, regulation, rights, safe spaces, safeguarding, student politics, student power, students, students' unions, transphobia, universities.

by Robyn Banks

CW: mentions transphobia

‘Universities must bring back freedom of speech!’ That was the premise of various headlines surrounding Jo Johnson’s announcement last week of proposed powers for the Office for Students (OfS). One of those proposals is that universities and student unions that don’t conform to Johnson and the OfS’ concept of ‘freedom of speech’ could receive sanctions in the form of fines. While the powers of OfS are still only at the consultation stage, this announcement gives us a rather concerning insight into the plans and aims that Johnson has for the newly formed office.

WHY LORD ADONIS IS WRONG ABOUT POLYTECHNICS

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged Anglia Ruskin University, class discrimination, course cuts, education, employer bias, employment, establishment, funding, funding cuts, government, higher education, House of Lords, job cuts, Lord Adonis, lower income backgrounds, politics, polytechnics, postgraduate study, rent, staff cuts, student accommodation, student debt, student loans, student welfare, tony blair, tuition fees, universities, vice chancellor pay, voters, working class.

by Robyn Banks

This week, former education minister Lord Adonis decided to reopen a debate that was seemingly long-dead. During a report to a House of Lords Committee, he stated that the decision to allow polytechnics to become universities 25 years ago was “a very serious mistake”. This problematic claim reveals the real views of someone who has lately been seen as posing significant challenges of the higher education sector’s issues.

THE LEFT HAS DEFIED THE ODDS. NOW WE NEED TO SHAPE HISTORY.

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged academia, access, accountability, activism, activists, agitate, anti-establishment, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Bright Green, campaigning, citizens, climate change, conservatives, democracy, democratic education, direct action, diversity, economics, election, empowerment, establishment, Free Education, GE17, general election, grassroots, grassroots media, higher education, independent media, inequality, internal democracy, jeremy corbyn, Labour, Labour manifesto, left, Lincoln, mainstream media, media, media bias, Norwich Radical, Novara Media, openDemocracy, Parliament, parliamentary majority, political apathy, politics, polls, power, progressive alliance, progressive parties, Rethinking Economics, Social Science Centre, strategy, students, technology, theresa may, training, Trump, truth to power, upskilling, voter engagement, voters.

by Bradley Allsop

For the third time in a year an earthquake has rocked the political establishment, upsetting polls, pundits and precedent alike. Yet this time, unlike the division and isolation of Brexit, or the utter horror of Trump, we instead have hope. Snatching insurgence from the jaws of implosion, Labour and the broader left have risen to the edge of power. Yet whilst the election result was an excellent start, surviving the challenges our society faces will require much more. We need to build a movement which aims for nothing less than a complete transformation of our society. It is crucial now that we do not succumb to hubris or allow ourselves to be absorbed by the internal Conservative party debates – we need to use the time granted by their division to plan, organise and mobilise the movement that will transform Britain.

WHY THE LEFT SHOULD CARE ABOUT CELTIC INDEPENDENCE

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged anti-capitalism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, Barry, Capel Celyn, capitalism, Celtic, clean energy, cymru, establishment, EU ref, flags, Gwynfor Evans, identity, imperialism, independence, industry, indyref, Ireland, jeremy corbyn, leanne wood, left, leftist, Llyn Celyn Reservoir, nationalism, nicola sturgeon, Plaid Cymru, politics, Scotland, snp, socialism, uk, unionism, Wales, westminster, working class.

by Tara Debra G

“Flags don’t build houses”, said Jeremy Corbyn last year, criticizing Scottish nationalism and the SNP. Well, no, they don’t, but neither does an unelectable party, so swings and roundabouts really. But he does have a point: nationalism as a political framework doesn’t inherently support leftist values, or the working class, or is particularly anti-capitalist.

In fact, the strongest argument I hear against Celtic nationalism from the English left is that it doesn’t solve the foundational economic equality at the heart of class oppression in the UK. I’m a Welsh nationalist and I agree. But the left shouldn’t care about Celtic independence because it’s intrinsically anti-capitalist, because it’s not that – the left should care because leftist ideals should encapsulate anti-imperialism.

AFTER TRUMP AND BREXIT, THE LEFT NEEDS TO REDISCOVER CLASS ANGER

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged anti-establishment, Bernie Sanders, Boris Johnson, Brexit, british politics, class, corbyn, Donald Trump, economics, economy, election, elections, elite, establishment, EU, EU ref, EU referendum, Europe, European Parliament, european politics, european union, Hilary Clinton, inequality, international, international politics, jeremy corbyn, joan williams, Labour, labour party, middle class, referendum, Trump, US election, US president, US presidential election, USA, wealth, working class, xenophobia.

By Robyn Banks

I’m in the break room at work choking on my out of date sandwich. I’ve just been informed by two of my colleagues- good, down to earth working class people who probably think I bang on about my degree too much- that Boris Johnson is a “lad”, and I have no idea what to say. But none of us have any money, I want to shout. And he wants us to have less! Before I can respond, the conversation moves on to laughing about his hair, which is much more tolerable. Later, as I complain about Trumps victory, I am told that all I want is for “everyone to sit in a circle and hold hands”.

US ELECTIONS: WHAT WENT WRONG?

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged anti-establishment, barack obama, Bernie Sanders, bias, Brexit, Clinton, CNN, conservative, democrat, Donald Trump, Drumpf, election, elite, establishment, fox news, Hillary Clinton, house, immigration, justice, lgbtQ+, media, minorities, MSM, neo-con, policies, polls, POTUS, republican, Senate, Supreme Court, taxes, Trump, Trumpwins, US president, US presidential election, wall.

by Gunnar Eigener

The victory of Donald Trump to become the 45th President of the United States has shocked and dumbfounded many. What does it say about the state of politics when the first female major party presidential candidate – who was, by far, the most technically qualified – is defeated by a man who has never held any political office? Continue Reading

THE RIGHT TO ENVY

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged anti-capitalism, capitalism, classism, CLP, corbyn, dignity, Ed Miliband, egoism, entryism, envy, establishment, extreme poverty, jeremy corbyn, Labour, labour party, left wing, meltdown, outlier, owen smith, Oxfam, Parliament, parliamentarianism, PLP, politics, poverty, state, tom watson, Trotskyism, uk, wellbeing, witch hunt.

by George Laver

If, over the last year or so, anybody has been monitoring political discourse, it should have come as no surprise that the Labour Party has collapsed into meltdown. From an anti-electoral onlooker’s perspective, it is over trivial matters; but to the dedicated parliamentarian, it is a cause for some concern. In particular, there are the issues surrounding supposed “entryists” and “Trotskyists” amongst the rank-and-file of pro-Corbyn Labourites. A bitter repeat of the witch hunts against members of the “militant tendency” in the 1980s, this too would be no surprise to those who had the foresight to expect it.

Whilst I am not writing this to defend Trotskyism – or even to defend entryists tactics, parliamentarianism, and so on – I am writing in defence of those who hold viewpoints that are considered outliers to the common political discourse; and in spite of the fact that left-wingers are brandished with the label of “the politics of envy,” there is a perfect justification for envy. It is not a label from which we should blush and shy away.Continue Reading

NEOLIBERALISM

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adulthood, celebration, class, coal, creative writing, credit, dystopia, economy, establishment, formatting, growing up, gunshot, LGBTQIA+, memory, money, neoliberalism, personal, pinkwashing, poem, poetry, political, politics, pronoun, racism, response, SAD, safety pin, war, writing.

by Julian Canlas

drank from lakes
that turned out to be droughts
cut our lids
to see the future
tricked crops
into growing
mined coal with safety pins.
‘It’s time for celebration, not gawking
at deaths crushed by credit,’ you say.

sick dentures pushing teeth back
broke vessels
gold-cracked chinas
rusty hammers made from origami cranes, pinkwashed. never grow
tired of going to the bank, where each need is a static noise
& a gunshot,
where you tell me,

‘you &I are beings in boats.
you&I are
establishments.’

wasting the column. no column. no pronoun to speak.

rather the gusts than a wall
rather understanding than secular missionaries
rather the freedoms of you & me than glass ceilings
rather the prickled rose we will hold firmly than the diamond-sculpted cross
rather the blood &organs than shed skin
rather the body of blood & sinews than war-torn factories

this is stinking of sweet sorrow,
where dystopias are youth’s memoirs, &
where adulthoods are delayed because there is no
money & water.
& until this day, we are sat on swings
that you say will break from our weight.

Featured image via GlobalSocialTheory

A SOCIETY THAT IS FAIR TO ALL: VIEWS OF GUNNAR EIGENER, GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE FOR SEWELL WARD

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged ballot box, establishment, Gunnar Eigener, local elections, local politics, NCC, norwich, Norwich City Council, Norwich City Council election, people, planet, politics, reen Party, Sewell Ward, society, sustainable.

The Norwich Radical is embedded in our home city. We seek to be a platform for debate and discussion of progressive and radical politics within Norwich. We know that the ballot box is only one of many ways of making change, but that elections play a major role in shaping and determining the future of our political landscape. In light of this, we got in touch with candidates standing in the Norwich City Council elections on May 5th, asking for their views on the biggest problems facing Norwich, and their vision for what the Council can do.

by Gunnar Eigener, Green Party candidate for Sewell Ward

I joined the Green Party just prior to the last General Election. I’m not sure why it took me so long to do so. Like many people, I spent years on the sidelines watching government after government cultivate a financial system in their favour, allowing their corporate financiers and allies to get away with crimes that the ordinary person on the street would be charged and imprisoned for. I’ve seen inquiries cover up the misdeeds of establishment figures. Like others, I have stood by and listened to the devastation caused by unbalanced political policies and seen the gradual loss of frontline services. I think part of the problem was I didn’t know where to turn. It’s hard to find optimism in the sordid world of politics.

I read the Green Party manifesto for the last election. I was almost sure that they had read my mind when compiling it. It spoke to me of a desire to make the world a better place without the need to bring down and rebuild society. It examined what’s wrong and proposed ways to fix the many problems we are faced with. It wasn’t perfect. Some of it seemed almost a bit outlandish, a bit leftfield at times. But thinking about it, I realise that the problems we have are not new and neither are the solutions that are put forward to resolve them. Continue Reading

establishment

THE UK’S INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

TRADING FREEDOMS – THE OFFICE FOR STUDENTS PROPOSALS

WHY LORD ADONIS IS WRONG ABOUT POLYTECHNICS

WHY THE LEFT SHOULD CARE ABOUT CELTIC INDEPENDENCE

AFTER TRUMP AND BREXIT, THE LEFT NEEDS TO REDISCOVER CLASS ANGER

US ELECTIONS: WHAT WENT WRONG?

THE RIGHT TO ENVY

NEOLIBERALISM

A SOCIETY THAT IS FAIR TO ALL: VIEWS OF GUNNAR EIGENER, GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE FOR SEWELL WARD

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