MADE BY SEA AND WOOD, IN DARKNESS BY ALEXANDROS PLASATIS – REVIEW

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged abuse, Alexandros Plasatis, anthropology, consent, Egypt, featured, Greece, homophobia, humour, Kavala, literature, Made by Sea and Wood in Darkness, migration, misogyny, novel, police, review, sex, sexual hara, sexual violence, surrealism, trans, translation, violence, xenophobia.

By Carmina Masoliver

Content warning: references to and short descriptions of sexual harassment, sexual violence, xenophobia, homophobic & transphobic abuse.

Made by Sea and Wood, in Darkness, the debut novel by Alexandros Plasatis, weaves together a collage of stories that tell the experience of Egyptian immigrants in Greece through a variety of voices. The stories are primarily set in and around Café Papaya in Kavala, where Pavlo the waiter works nights, acting as both a main character and an observer of the Egyptian fishermen. In snapshots of a male underworld, violence dominates this narrative, as the central female character Angie the barmaid fights against being cast as a victim.

THE EU WASN’T ALL THAT GOOD (BUT WE SHOULD HAVE STAYED ANYWAY) – PART II

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged Boris Johnson, Brexit, commentary, conservatives, criticism, demagogue, democracy, EU, Europe, fact checking, featured, fortress europe, fraud, government, Greece, ideology, immigration, Leave, myth, myth busting, neoliberal, no deal, Parliament, Pax Europeae, peace, politics, power, referendum, Remain, TTIP, uk.

By Jonathan Lee

Part I of this article can be found here.

Since the United Kingdom signed the Withdrawal Agreement and formally left the European Union on 31st January, Remainers and Leavers are just as polarised as they ever were. Much of the rhetoric from Leavers and Remainers demonstrates a warped understanding of what the EU actually is and how it works. In this part, we address a few notable example of the things which both sides get very, very wrong.

REFUGEE SOLIDARITY IN THE FACE OF THE RISING FAR RIGHT

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged activism, Are you Syrious, Calais, Chios, Chris Jarvis, Dublin Convention, Enoch Powell, EU, featured, government, grassroots, Greece, Italy, lobby, migrant, migration, NGO, Owen Jones, populism, pressure, racism, Refugee Rights Europe, refugees, right wing, Shoufu Collective, turkey, uk, volunteer.

by Sarah Edgcumbe

Owen Jones recently pointed out that the far right is now at its strongest since the 1930s. A horrifying reality of today’s populist Europe. These groups have been unfailingly and cynically opportunistic in using terrorist attacks in Europe to galvanize hatred against Muslims, whilst presenting themselves as protecting white European innocents from the depravity of the Qu’ran, or simply as “not racist” concerned citizens who feel that we should help “our own” (read: white) homeless before helping others. This mindset has contributed to the election of far right governments in Poland, Hungary and Italy and demonstrates that we should not view these groups as fringe street-movements – they are effecting political change with horrifying efficiency through influencing voters.

Mainstream media is in on this, of course. As Chris Jarvis wrote in October 2016, the media’s reaction to refugees and migrants has been nothing short of inflammatory. The influence of mistruths presented in the media has led to vilification of refugees and migrants. In our failure to protect vulnerable people who are unable to seek protection in their country of origin, we have failed to learn history’s lesson. Enoch Powell would be proud of us. We should all be fucking ashamed of ourselves.Continue Reading

NOTHING WILL STOP THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged BRI, business, California, capitalism, china, climate, climate change, climate change denial, destruction, DRC, economy, Endangered Species Act, environment, environmental, featured, fire, fossil fuels, fuel emissions, government, Greece, heat, heatwave, industry, Ireland, Japan, logging, politics, summer, USA.

by Gunnar Eigener

The environment is changing. All across the globe, weather patterns have shifted, resulting in abnormal meteorological behaviour and pushing society towards conditions it is not used to. The UK has just come out of a record-breaking heatwave. Japan declared a national emergency after heatwaves there killed 65 people. Wildfires in Greece left over 70 people dead and in California, over a dozen people are missing as fires spread. Visitors required evacuation from Yosemite National Park and wind threatens to fan flames in Sweden’s forests.

However, should we be surprised by these events? Continue Reading

TRADE SECRETS #1 – HOW TO HUNT THE STAG: POWER, BLACKMAIL AND EXPLOITATION

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Bretton Woods, Brexit, china, comparative advantage, David Ricardo, dilemma, economics, empire, exploitation, Game of Thrones, game theory, Greece, IMF, infant industry, Nanking Treaty, opium war, positive sum, power, privatisation, series, stag hunt, trade, trade secrets, trade secrets series, World Bank, zero sum.

By Toby Gill

Part of a new series exploring the concept and consequences of ‘free trade’ from a variety of perspectives.

John, Tyrion and Ned lie patiently in wait. They have cornered their target, a colossal, fully-grown stag, grazing nearby. The three of them are in position, bows drawn, waiting to strike. Suddenly the stag bolts, leaping into the undergrowth. Tyrion jumps into pursuit. He knows he has little hope of catching the beast, but he does not despair – it is headed directly towards John’s position. The creature approaches the bush where John is hiding, its end clearly drawing near. But there is no shot. The stag runs past unscathed, and escapes into the night. Tyrion runs over to the bush, exasperated, ready to strike John with the back of his hand. But John is not there. He is around the corner – attempting to catch a rabbit with his pocket knife.Continue Reading

365 DAYS WITHOUT CHANGE — HOW THE ARTS AFFECT OUR ENGAGEMENT WITH CONFLICT.

Posted on September 21, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Aleppo, arts, aylan kurdi, conflict, desensitised, empathy, engagement, Greece, ISIS, media, Omran Daqneesh, photography, refuge, refugee, refugee crisis, Syria, syrian conflict, visual arts, war photography.

by Jess Howard

Content warning: this article contains upsetting images.

In 2015 I wrote an article on an image of a Syrian child’s lifeless body being lifted out of the sea on a beach close to a Turkish resort. The photograph shocked people around the world at the time. It demonstrated the severity of the Syrian conflict, as the child in the photograph, and his family along with him, had been attempting to travel to Greece to seek refuge. September sees the anniversary of the photograph being taken, but how have our attitudes to photography and conflict changed in the past year?Continue Reading

WHAT IS DONE CANNOT BE UNDONE. WE ARE THE ARCHITECTS OF OUR FUTURE.

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged austerity, ballot box, Brexit, capitalism, climate change, creative writing, cuts, daesh, democracy, devolution, eu ref results, EU referendum, Europe, european union, eurozone, expression, financial collapse, future, Greece, human history, immigration, Iraq War, left, left leave, Lexit, Merkel, NHS, Northern Ireland, opinion, pluralism, politics, progressive parties, prose, response, riots, Scotland, snp, solidarity, strength, terrorism, test, tuition fees, Unite, unity, voting, xenophobia.

by Natasha Senior

I keep replaying the same slide show, projecting it on the back of my mind. I see the temperature rising, 9/11, the Iraq war, financial collapse. I enter the ballot box for the first time, eager for change. The coalition forms. Mass extinctions. The SNP wins a majority. Tuition fees triple. The Arab Spring. House prices rise. Riots. The Olympics. Food banks. Austerity. Austerity. Austerity. Benefits slashed. The NHS in turmoil. The Eurozone crisis. Scotland votes for unity. Greece votes for change. They are hung, drawn, quartered. We reach the 1°C threshold. The ballot box takes away a piece of me every single time. The far left brings hope but the far right brings hate. They spread their infectious disease. Storms, droughts, forest fires. Everything I fear begins to materialise in front of my eyes. Refugees fleeing the wars we started but we just condemn them to their fates. Floods everywhere. Terrorism. Xenophobia. Half-truths and outright lies. A vote for fear, a vote for suspicion, a vote for fascism.

The weather joins us in this violence as we drive another dagger into the heart of the world. I tell myself lies to ease the pain, looking for ways to return to the past. Hindsight is 20/20 but we never learn from our mistakes. Hatred and fear, symptoms of this deeply tortured nation. I want to leave this place, I want to end the nightmare, but there is no place on Earth that isn’t infected. I collapse into the carnage. I am in free fall. At the mercy of the past. It’s over.

But it is not over. I will not let it be over.Continue Reading

THERE IS NO THIRD BOX TO TICK: ‘LEXIT’ IS NOT AN OPTION

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged Aaron Bastani, AV, ballot box, Boris Johnson, breaking point, Brexit, british politics, British society, Bush, Cameron, campaign, Clinton, corbyn, EU, EU ref, EU referendum, European Parliament, european politics, european union, general election, gore, Greece, homophobic, isolationism, Jacque Chirac, Labour, Leave.EU, left wing, Lexit, LGBT+, Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage, PR, propaganda, racism, self interest, socialism, trade, Trump, uk, Vote Leave, Vote Remain, voting, xenophobia.

by Elliot Folan

So. The referendum is nearly upon us. And the reactionary Leave campaign rolls on, with Farage unveiling his latest piece of racist propaganda and Leave.EU exploiting the homophobic murder of 49 LGBT+ people for political gain. The leaflets that keep dropping through my door from the official Vote Leave campaign, meanwhile, tell me that we must take back ‘control of our borders’ and rid ourselves of EU regulations that protect workers’ rights. The campaign to leave the EU has had no left-wing voices in it, despite the hopes of lapsed Lexiter Aaron Bastani (who has flipped, and will now vote to Remain). Yet some activists, and a handful of Labour MPs, continue to push the narrative that an exit from the EU will be a triumph for progressive politics.

I understand this view. I don’t want to pretend that I find it incomprehensible, or that it’s without any rational basis. The European Union is an institution weighted towards transnational capital, its decisions are made in backroom committees far from public scrutiny or understanding, and the only directly elected institution — the European Parliament — lacks the formal powers of a proper Parliament. The left-wing critiques of the European Union are not without foundation.Continue Reading

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.

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY AND THE EU SHAMBLES

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged Afghanistan, Amnesty, Amnesty International, asylum, asylum seekers, daesh, EU, EU referendum, eu scheme, family, Greece, human rights, immigration, international womens day, IWD, iwd2016, migrant, one in one out, refugee, refugee crisis, refugees, somalia, Syria, syrian refugees, turkey, UN, UNHCR, united nations, women.

by Robyn Banks

This International Women’s day was supposed to be devoted to refugee women. Well, it was in name — the EU parliament website published a series of articles highlighting the plight of women refugees, such as the fact that two in five are underage. But as EU leaders hammered out a deal on the long night between Mother’s day and International Women’s day, it seemed that the only thing the EU really planned on doing to help women refugees was to use them as fodder for a Brussels photo exhibit.

For a long time, people in the EU from both left and right have been questioning if what they see is really what they get, and nothing is more exemplary of this dishonesty than the EU’s recent deal with Turkey. On two days when much fanfare was made about Mothers, about the trauma of women refugees, about family reunification, we learned about the EUs most absurd plan to date. The plan involves a one in, one out scheme whereby boats crossing to Greece from Turkey carrying ‘irregular’ or ‘illegal’ migrants — e.g. everybody not using official channels, refugee or otherwise — would be intercepted and forcibly turned back. In return for paying their life savings and risking their lives to make the dangerous crossing to Europe by dinghy, they will be sent to the ‘back of the queue’ for asylum seeking.Continue Reading

Greece

THE EU WASN’T ALL THAT GOOD (BUT WE SHOULD HAVE STAYED ANYWAY) – PART II

REFUGEE SOLIDARITY IN THE FACE OF THE RISING FAR RIGHT

NOTHING WILL STOP THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

TRADE SECRETS #1 – HOW TO HUNT THE STAG: POWER, BLACKMAIL AND EXPLOITATION

365 DAYS WITHOUT CHANGE — HOW THE ARTS AFFECT OUR ENGAGEMENT WITH CONFLICT.

WHAT IS DONE CANNOT BE UNDONE. WE ARE THE ARCHITECTS OF OUR FUTURE.

THERE IS NO THIRD BOX TO TICK: ‘LEXIT’ IS NOT AN OPTION

IS ANOTHER EUROPE POSSIBLE? – AN INTERVIEW WITH NATALIE BENNETT

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY AND THE EU SHAMBLES

Support the Radical

Subscribe

By Carmina Masoliver

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Support the Radical

Subscribe