BLACK LIVES MATTER: POEMS FOR A NEW WORLD – REVIEW

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged #rhodesmustfall, 'Funmi Adewole, african-american, Ambrose Musiyiwa, Arun Jeetoo, black, black lives matter, Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World, BLM, capitalism, Charles G Lauder, Community, Covid-19, Eric Garner, featured, george floyd, hope, i can't breathe, imperialism, Jim Aitken, Kevin Higgins, key workers, mourning, Nick Allen, pandemic, poetry, police, police abolition, police violence, racism, Samantha Harper-Robins, The UK is not Innocent, uk, US, xenophobia.

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

Content warning: references to police violence, racist violence.

The revival of the Black Lives Matter movement has inspired an array of haunting artistic responses. Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World, edited by Ambrose Musiyiwa, is no exception. With over 100 contributions from writers of diverse ages and backgrounds, the collection is a poignant exploration of an era of renewed protest and newfound solidarities, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.

NORFOLK BLACK HISTORY MONTH HIGHLIGHTS THE COUNTY’S FORGOTTEN BLACK HISTORY

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged Beeston, black history, black history month, black lives matter, BLM, boxing, Bruce Lucas, coming out, Fashanu, featured, football, george floyd, harriet martineau, Herbie Hide, homophobia, Jem Mace, Justin Fashanu, music, NBHM, norfolk, Norfolk Black History Month, norwich, Norwich School, R&B, race, racism, rock, Rwandan Genocide, Shropham, slavery, soul, sport, USAF, William Smith, Winchester Tower, windrush, Windrush Scandal.

By Sean Meleady

Content warning: racism, xenophobia, homophobia, examples of racist abuse

Children in Norfolk schools are usually taught about Black history within the context of the American Civil Rights movement — predominantly through figures such as Martin Luther King Jnr. or Rosa Parks. However, despite there only being a relatively small community in the county, Norfolk has a rich Black history going back centuries, much of which has largely been forgotten.

NORWICH SCHOOL’S CULTURE OF RACISM

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged Amaka Elumogo, anti-racism, antisemitism, black lives matter, british empire, clive lewis, decolonisation, decolonise the curriculum, featured, george floyd, history, Horatio Nelson, imperialism, Independent Schools Inspectorate, institutional racism, islamophobia, michael ashcroft, norwich, Norwich School, private schools, racism, schools, Steffan Griffiths, Tim Westwood, whiteness.

By Sean Meleady

Content warning: racism, examples of racist abuse

Norwich School has been caught up in a publicity storm this summer after a letter was sent to the school Governors from 264 former pupils and parents in June detailing numerous cases of racist behaviour by pupils and staff at the selective private school.

WHY IS THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY NOT PUSHING TO ENTER THE US UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT?

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged anti black, antifa, BAME, barr, black, black lives matter, burundi, CHAZ, Donald Trump, featured, george floyd, iraq, ken cuccinelli, neoliberal, police brutality, police violence, policing, portland, poverty, prison, race, racism, reparations, responsibility to protect, suicide, Syria, system, uk.

by Sarah Edgcumbe

CW: racism, violence, police brutality, suicide

I’ll admit, the title of this article is posed in a slightly tongue-in-cheek manner, but the underlying premise points to two concurring factors: the hypocrisy and northern hemisphere-bias underpinning global governance, and the distinct shift towards authoritarianism that we are currently seeing in Trump’s America; the latter possibly justifying intervention under the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. The Trump administration’s current bent towards authoritarianism is not mere hyperbole, nor the incendiary Twitter-ranting of an orange mad man, but a dark and extremely worrying leap towards the kind of repression that characterizes Assad’s Syria, or the recent kidnappings in Iraq, wherein those protesting against the regime are bundled into unmarked cars and whisked away into the night. Continue Reading

STATUES ARE COMING DOWN BUT RACISM REMAINS

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #SayHerName, 1312, abolition, ahmaud arbery, anti black, anti-asian, BAME, belly mujinga, black, black lives matter, breonna taylor, british history, Cecil Rhodes, Churchill, colston, desecration, education, empire, featured, george floyd, government, jas assman, Kenya, lockdown, mary seacole, mau mau, munira mirza, olaudah equiano, race, racism, Rhodes Must Fall, Rodney King, say their name, South Africa, statue, Steven Lawrence, system, tony mcdade, uk, war memorial.

by Lisa Insansa Woods

Colston is in the river. Winston Churchill is quivering. Cecil Rhodes glares brazenly at the Oxford University governors threatening to tear him down, his maniacal eyes finding flickers of solace in the realisation that whether he remains or not, the society he served over a century ago still slithers in its self-made pool of white supremacy (enough to still make his cold hard mouth turn into a grin).

The taking down of statues is a powerful display of justice. Every day, the Black community has had to endure looking up at its oppressors whilst simultaneously being battered by the system that those same glorified figures acted to perpetuate. Each statue that falls is a nod of recognition to the Black experience – an experience which has been subdued for hundreds of years as something that is not worthy of our knowledge. However, whilst pulling down a statue is a strong gesture, it does not annihilate the insidious manifestation of racism that courses through every part of our society. We need to do more.Continue Reading

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE RIOTING AND THE LOOTING

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #SayHerName, abolition, ahmaud arbery, Akala, anti black, BAME, belly mujinga, black, black lives matter, breonna taylor, CHAZ, coronavirus, derek chauvin, featured, george floyd, judah adunbi, loot, macpherson, mustafa dikec, neoliberal, paulo freire, police brutality, police violence, policing, poverty, prison, race, racism, reparations, say their name, Seattle, Stephen Lawrence, system, tony mcdade, uk, zygmunt bauman.

by Sarah Edgcumbe

CW: racism, violence, police brutality

We need to talk about the rioting. And the looting. And the destruction of statues during recent Black Lives Matter protests. We really do. The failure to recognise the entrenched nature of historical and enduring structural violence in both the US and the UK speaks volumes in terms of the normalization of oppression, enforced poverty, racism and discrimination in contemporary society. Whilst there are certainly white victims of structural violence, it is an irrefutable fact that Black or minority ethnic communities experience the most severe intersecting consequences – not as uncomfortable rarities, but as a grinding, every day, relentless struggle, which as we have seen in the case of George Floyd along with so many other black men, women and youth, can too often have fatal results.Continue Reading

THE ONLY WAY TO END POLICE BRUTALITY IS TO ABOLISH THE POLICE

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #SayHerName, 1312, abolition, ahmaud arbery, anti black, anti-asian, BAME, Belly Mujnga, black, black lives matter, breonna taylor, coronavirus, derek chauvin, featured, george floyd, government, J m moore, jengba, lockdown, NHS, norwich, police brutality, police violence, policing, poverty, prison, race, racism, Rodney King, say their name, Steven Lawrence, system, tony mcdade, uk.

by Lisa Insansa Woods

CW: racism, violence, police brutality

A tide of anguish currently sweeps our world, hammering at the white supremacist order. On the evening of May 25th, George Floyd was mercilessly killed by a white US policeman. The world watched from their homes as Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, ignoring his screams as he called out that he couldn’t breathe. George Floyd was suffocated of his last breath. Three other policemen stood and watched. The state brutally murdered a Black man. The people decided to revolt.

Right now, we are seeing mass protests from the US to the UK to the rest of the world, both on the streets and online, physically and mentally. Police brutality pervades our society and the recent piling up of Black bodies such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery has become just too much. We need change. The only way to achieve this change is to abolish the police.Continue Reading

george floyd

BLACK LIVES MATTER: POEMS FOR A NEW WORLD – REVIEW

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

NORFOLK BLACK HISTORY MONTH HIGHLIGHTS THE COUNTY’S FORGOTTEN BLACK HISTORY

By Sean Meleady

NORWICH SCHOOL’S CULTURE OF RACISM

By Sean Meleady

WHY IS THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY NOT PUSHING TO ENTER THE US UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT?

STATUES ARE COMING DOWN BUT RACISM REMAINS

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE RIOTING AND THE LOOTING

THE ONLY WAY TO END POLICE BRUTALITY IS TO ABOLISH THE POLICE

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By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

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