THE ACID TEST OF ‘BRITISHNESS’: DEFERENCE TO POLITICAL ELITES OR DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY?

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged Boris Johnson, british politics, Britishness, citizneship, corporations, Covid-19, democracy, economy, elections, featured, freedom of speech, freedoms, media, nationalism, neoliberal, NHS, Perspectives, political participation, politics, poverty, rights, social welfare, society.

by Sarah Edgcumbe

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic continues to have disastrous consequences for many people around the globe who have lost loved ones, or who are struggling to cope financially due to livelihood disruption. Domestic violence rates have increased at a staggering rate, whilst loneliness and uncertainty are having a negative effect on many people’s mental health. It is amidst these turbulent times that once again, much like the train-wreck of Brexit, the acid test of “Britishness” seems to be qualified by how deferential people can be to the political elite, as opposed to how willing they are to defend democracy and the welfare of Britain’s citizens and residents.

ISLAMOPHOBIA IN THE UK – ‘TOMMY ROBINSON’ IS A SYMPTOM NOT THE PROBLEM

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged 2016 London Mayoral Elections, Akala, Alex Jones, alt-right, anti racism, anti-fascism, Baroness Warso, bbc, bigotry, Boris Johnson, British Muslims, child abuse, contempt of court, court system, demonstration, Donald Trump, EDL, extremism, Ezra Levant, far right, fascism, featured, fox news, freedom of speech, Geert Wilders, hatred, islamophobia, Katy Hopkins, law, LBC, london, Matthew d'Ancona, Nazir Afzal, Nigel Farage, Owen Jones, prevent, racism, Raheem Kassam, Richard Price, sadiq khan, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, Steve Bannon, tommy robinson, Tories, Tory Islamophobia, Tory racism, war on terror.

by Scott McLaughlan

Content warning: mentions Islamophobia, racism, paedophilia, sexual abuse, fascism

The sentencing in May this year of Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (stage name ‘Tommy Robinson’) to 13 months for contempt of court has caused quite a reaction from his fellows on the far right. On Saturday 9th June, an estimated 15,000 people turned out for a mass rally in London in support of Yaxley-Lennon, Trump and ‘free speech’. The sinister focal point of the rally was to link rape and child sexual exploitation with migration and Islam.

NOT AS SIMPLE AS R/A/G – THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH UNI RANKINGS 2018

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged censorship, cultural appropriation, featured, freedom of speech, FSUR, journalism, league tables, Never OK, no platforming, privilege, sexual harassment, sombrero gate, spiked, students, students' unions, UEA, UEA SU, universities.

by Robyn Banks

Content warning: mentions sexual harassment

This month, Spiked launched their newest Freedom of Speech University Rankings for 2018. The fourth edition of the rankings, which started in 2015, are an ‘assessment’ of freedom of speech on our campuses. Spiked’s methodology is simplistic. They look at the policies and actions of both universities and their students’ unions (SUs), ranging from the no-platforming of controversial speakers to their codes of conduct. They then give each uni and each SU a rank of red, amber or green, and give an overall ranking to each institution based on these two scores.

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.

IS ANOTHER EUROPE POSSIBLE? – AN INTERVIEW WITH NATALIE BENNETT

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged air quality, antonia costa, british politics, caroline lucas, charter of fundamental rights, david raby, environment, environmentalists for europe, EU, EU referendum, Europe, european politics, european union, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, glyphosate, Greece, Green, Green Party, greens, interview, jeremy corbyn, Jonathan Bartley, Labour, maternity leave, migration, natalie bennett, neonicotinoid pesticides, Nigel Farage, people's assembly, People’s Assembly Against Austerity, podemos, political interview, political interviews, politics, portugal, spain, students, Syriza, tuition fees.

by Rowan Gavin

With just four days until polling day, the EU referendum continues to dominate news headlines and pub conversations. Like many, I have been exhausted by the fearmongering, unconvincing and generally depressing arguments churned out by the mainstream campaigns on both sides. So when The Norwich Radical asked me to interview Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, about the positive Green case for staying in the EU, I was excited to hear some refreshing ideas on the topic. I also got the chance to speak to David Raby, a Green Party City Councillor in Norwich.

EUROPE, YOUTH, AND AN ENDURING TASTE OF NATIONALISM

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged anti-war, EU, Europe, European Parliament, European Youth Event, EYE, freedom of speech, Front National, Human Rights Heroes, integration, MEP, migration, national front, nationalist, Nour Machlah, populist, progressive future, refugee, Strasbourg, Syria, UEA, unemployment, youth, youth engagement.

by Sam Naylor

On the 20th and 21st of May, myself and thirteen other students from the University of East Anglia (UEA) attended the European Youth Event (EYE) in Strasbourg. Over 7,500 young people attended the event, coming together to share ideas on how to tackle youth-related issues through interaction with European decision-makers and speakers.

Through attending plenary sessions on addressing youth unemployment and migration, to panels of Human Rights Heroes and ERASMUS+ opportunities, right the way through to pop-up-tent-style refugee meetings and anti-war talks, EYE provided a space for European youth to imagine a progressive future for the continent and its young people. Sadly, this sparked the cynic in me as the European Union is by no means a shining institution of perfection. An inner voice continued to nudge, searching for some sort of foul play; was the event just one big act to get European youth on board with the EU project? Or is it fair to view young people as more likely to push for their ideals and move away from business-as-usual politics and policies? I’d still like to believe in the latter.Continue Reading

STATE MEDIA AND THE DETERIORATION OF FREE SPEECH

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged alternative, alternative media, china, Colombia, corruption, facebook, free press, free speech, freedom of press, freedom of speech, government, Gulf War, International Federation of Journalists, John Whittingdale, journalism, journalist, Lauren Kuenssberg, media, monitoring, Norwich Radical, press, Reporters Without Borders, RSF, Russia, social media, surveillance, Syria, turkey, uk, US, World Press Freedom Index.

by Gunnar Eigener

Out of the May 5th elections the biggest story was the criticism of the coverage by the BBC and other mainstream media outlets. Particular focus of this was on BBC Question Time and the BBC Political Editor, Laura Kuenssberg. This isn’t the first time that Kuenssberg has come under fire and it probably won’t be the last. A petition was doing the rounds demanding an independent review of how biased her actions may have been but has now been taken down. Additionally, the lack of coverage over the alleged Tory fraud in the last General Election has generated a sense of distrust in the BBC, an organisation that states: ‘impartiality lies at the heart of the public service and is the core of the BBC’s commitment to its audiences’.

NO PLATFORM AND THE AMPLIFICATION OF THE STUDENT VOICE

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged british politics, censorship, feminism, feminist, free speech, freedom of speech, germaine greer, julie bindel, Kate Smurthwaite, LGBT+, no platform, NUS, Peter Tatchell, politics, safe spaces, student, student union, students, transgender, transphobia.

by Cherry Somersby

NUS’ ‘No-Platform’ policy is the refusal to allow ‘racists or fascists’ to speak at NUS events or alongside NUS representatives. Bearing in mind that this policy is often conflated with attempts by individual Students’ Unions to ban certain speakers from their campuses, it has been dubbed by many as an attack on free speech, and further confirmation that the ‘intolerant student left’ have become more concerned with hiding in their progressive echo-chambers than with serious, healthy debate.

ONLINE DEMOCRACY UNDER THREAT IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged academics, arab spring, assad, capitalism, cyberpunk, cyberspace, democracy, End of History, Francis Fukuyama, freedom of speech, globalisation, growth, internet, journalist, keanu reeves, malaysia, matrix, neuromancer, online based democracy, police raids, refugee crisis, revolution, sci-fi, science fiction, singapore, social media, southeast asia, state, Syria, tayyip erdogan, terrorists, the malaysian insider, the real singapore, tron, turkey, william gibson.

by Faizal Nor Izham

One novel I’ve always been meaning to finish is the the award-winning sci-fi classic Neuromancer by William Gibson. Since the initial publication of the counter-cultural novel in – of all years – 1984, it went on to inspire the ‘cyberpunk’ movement in the science fiction genre, as well as the ‘high-tech, low life’ type neo-noir aesthetic that often goes with it. Neuromancer has also gone on to inspire popular films such as Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix.

But what makes the novel so prominent in popular culture is that fact that it was the first to coin the term ‘cyberspace’, i.e. a ‘consensual hallucination‘ replicated artificially by millions of interconnected computer users – which in turn makes up the Internet as we know it today. The story revolves around a washed-up computer hacker hired by a mysterious employer to pull off the ultimate hack (not dissimilar from Keanu Reeves’ original role in The Matrix). This in itself can be seen as an allegory for counter-cultural movements literally taking place within this ‘Matrix’ – a term first coined by the novel way before the movie of the same name was released – a world within the world, similar to the setting of the Tron films.

THE MYTH OF ASIAN DEMOCRACY

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Anwar Ibrahim, ASEAN, asia, cartoon, cartoonist, democracy, elections, freedom of speech, human rights, internet, malaysia, Najib Razak, philosophy, satire, social media, Zunar.

by Faizal Nor Izham

Although Asia as a whole will always be making great strides economically, much more remains to be seen in the way of democracy and human rights. There has always been the myth that Asian values and democracy are incompatible — a well-known fact in Asia, especially in the more developing countries — but in the Internet and social media age, there appears to be a renewed demand for freedom, especially when people’s livelihood and most basic rights are in jeopardy.

However, despite these assumptions, a more thorough analysis shows that Asian history is actually rich in philosophies and traditions that are well-steeped in democratic ideals.Continue Reading

freedom of speech

ISLAMOPHOBIA IN THE UK – ‘TOMMY ROBINSON’ IS A SYMPTOM NOT THE PROBLEM

NOT AS SIMPLE AS R/A/G – THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH UNI RANKINGS 2018

TRADING FREEDOMS – THE OFFICE FOR STUDENTS PROPOSALS

IS ANOTHER EUROPE POSSIBLE? – AN INTERVIEW WITH NATALIE BENNETT

EUROPE, YOUTH, AND AN ENDURING TASTE OF NATIONALISM

NO PLATFORM AND THE AMPLIFICATION OF THE STUDENT VOICE

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