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.

FIGHTING THE MEDIA MAN – A GUIDE TO THE UK’S INDEPENDENT, ANTI-CORPORATE MEDIA

Posted on December 23, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Australia, big tech, Bright Green, Bristol Cable, corporate media, crowdfunding, Digital Markets Unit, Donald Trump, Dorset Eye, facebook, fake news, featured, Gal-dem, Google, government, IMA, independent media, independent media association, internet, jeremy corbyn, Joe Rogan, Labour, left-wing, LGBTQIA+, mainstream media, marginalised people, media, media bias, Media Reform Coalition, media regulation, murdoch, New Internationalist, NewsCorp, openDemocracy, politics, QueerAF, The Morning Star, Tories, transphobia, Travellers' Times, uk.

By Rowan Gavin

Content warning: mentions transphobia in media

A friend recently described infamous podcaster Joe Rogan as “an independent broadcaster that you might not like/agree with but [who] actually has a voice to push back against corporate media”. Has the standard of anti-establishment commentary really fallen so low that we must turn to a UFC commentator for any effective criticism of the corporate status quo?

Short answer: hell no!

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.

THE PLAY ABOUT THERESA MAY – REVIEW

Posted on March 11, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Amie Marie, Boris Johnson, Brecht, Brexit, civil service, comedy, david cameron, farce, featured, government, political satire, politics, satire, slapstick, theatre, theresa may, Tories, uk.

By Toby Skelton

There is an elephant in the room with Amie Marie’s mischievous comedy The Play About Theresa May: why publish a satire on May’s bungled and mayhemic term in government in 2021? When placed beside the burning wreckage of policies created by her etonian man-child of a successor, there is a risk of the text losing its relevance before you’ve even passed the cover. Marie navigates this hurdle gracefully, however; its name-sake target has been out of office nearly two years, but The Play About Theresa May is still an extremely timely exploration of political engagement in 21st Century Britain.

BUDGET 2021 AND THE SPECTRE OF CORBYN

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged austerity, Broadland, budget, capitalism, corporation tax, corruption, Covid-19, featured, ge2019, general election, government, jeremy corbyn, keir starmer, Labour, mainstream media, nationalise broadband, norfolk, norwich, pandemic, politics, rishi sunak, socialism, spring budget 2021, Tories, uk politics.

By Howard Green

On March third, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his annual budget for 2021. As you would expect from a modern Conservative government, the budget showed an unwillingness to borrow and spend more than a moderate amount, despite the continuing economic pressures posed by the pandemic, and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to benefitting their rich donors while denying the most basic of help to the victims of years of Tory austerity. Sunak is spending just enough pocket change to maintain the appearance that the government isn’t just doing the bare minimum during the pandemic, but, typically, even this amounts to high praise from the largely right-wing mainstream media.

PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT – TIME FOR THE FIGHTBACK

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged activism, activists, anti austerity, Arcadia Group, austerity, Australia, bedroom tax, benefits, Boris Johnson, campaigning, climate crisis, climate jobs, construction, corruption, Covid-19, cronyism, CWU, Debenhams, east anglia, engineering, eviction ban, featured, fossil fuels, furlough scheme, gig economy, government, green economy, green industrial revolution, Hospitality, hospitals, Jane Loftus, Jo Rust, jobs, King's Lynn, Labour, MPs, nationalisation, NHS, norwich, pandemic, People Before Profit, Philip Green, PPE, public ownership, recession, redundancies, retail, Serco, social security, tax reform, Topshop, Tories, tourism, trade unions, TUC, uk, Universal Credit, welfare state, wildfires.

By John Sillett

The recent collapse into administration of shop group Arcadia and Debenhams’ department stores was shocking, but not unexpected. Both companies have had their assets looted by their owners; Arcadia’s owner Philip Green has become widely seen as the unacceptable face of capitalism. Whilst the vultures pick over the bones of Topshop and its relations, there has been an avalanche of redundancies in many sectors, from construction to engineering. The pandemic has hastened the collapse or rationalisation of companies depending on footfall, like retail, hospitality and tourism.

CHOOSE YOUR RICH OLD WHITE MAN – AN UNINSPIRING ELECTION

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged barack obama, Bernie Sanders, black lives matter, bolivia, Chile, climate crisis, Covid-19, democracy, democratic party, Donald Trump, Evo Morales, featured, government, Hillary Clinton, ideology, Joe Biden, left wing, MAS-IPSP, Movimiento al Socialismo, patriarchy, politics, Southern Border Wall, US congress, US constitution, US election 2020, US government shutdown, US Politics, US presidential election, US senate, USA.

By Howard Green

Every 4 years, the world’s attention turns to the US presidential election. It is widely seen as the most important election in the world, and it’s hard to argue that it will be any less than that this year. In a time of racial injustice, climate crisis and global pandemic, many in America have been looking for their politicians to put forward an inspiring, achievable vision of the future. Instead they have a choice between an egomaniacal incumbent and a lacklustre opposition.

WHY NORWICH NEEDS A GREEN NEW DEAL

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged accountability, air pollution, Alexandria Ocasio Coretz, austerity, build back better, carbon emissions, climate change, common ownership, coronavirus, covid, cycling, democracy, economics, featured, gloal justice, government, green economics, green new deal, Green New Deal UK, Green Party, growth, habitats, infrastructure, jobs, Labour, lewes, Liberal Democrats, london, norfolk, Norfolk County Council, norwich, Norwich City Council, pandemic, privatisation, recession, roads, schools, Sheffield, sustainability, uk, USA, wealth inequality.

By Olivia Hanks

Between 2013 and 2019, an era of ‘austerity’, most of us noticed a marked deterioration in the quality of our public spaces and infrastructure – existing roads and pavements not maintained, school buildings getting shabbier, public facilities closing. During that period, Norfolk County Council oversaw at least £725m of funded infrastructure projects. Incredibly, more than £650m of this was for building or widening roads.

LEBANON’S PRIME MINISTER HAS RESIGNED, WHEN WILL OURS?

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Beirut, Boris Johnson, coronavirus, covid, david cameron, executive, explosion, featured, government, Grenfell, hassan diab, incompetence, Lebanon, resignation, theresa may, tragedy.

by Howard Green

The date is the 10^th of August 2020. The capital of Lebanon, Beirut, has witnessed a great tragedy. A warehouse filled with ammonium nitrate had exploded 6 days prior leaving much of the city’s port destroyed. With over 220 confirmed deaths, hundreds more missing, 6000 injured, 300,000 homeless and around $15 Billion worth of property damage, the prime minister was set to make a statement. It was his resignation.

government

FIGHTING FOR TRANS RIGHTS IN A FAR-RIGHT NATION

By a Norwich LGBTQ+ activist

FIGHTING THE MEDIA MAN – A GUIDE TO THE UK’S INDEPENDENT, ANTI-CORPORATE MEDIA

By Rowan Gavin

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

THE PLAY ABOUT THERESA MAY – REVIEW

By Toby Skelton

BUDGET 2021 AND THE SPECTRE OF CORBYN

By Howard Green

CHOOSE YOUR RICH OLD WHITE MAN – AN UNINSPIRING ELECTION

By Howard Green

WHY NORWICH NEEDS A GREEN NEW DEAL

By Olivia Hanks

LEBANON’S PRIME MINISTER HAS RESIGNED, WHEN WILL OURS?

by Howard Green

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