HAPPY APRIL 8TH. LET’S HAVE A PROTEST

Posted on April 7, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged activist, American Civil Rights Movement, antigypsyism, black protesters, Bob Hoskins, Bohémien, Brahms, Charlie Chaplin, Civil Rights, Courtland Cox, culture, discrimination, Ernst, EU Fundamental Rights Agency, Europe, featured, flamenco, France, freedom, french Romani, Gadje, gypsy, Gypsy Jazz, inequality, integration, International Roma Day, legitimizers, Liszt, Manele, Mark Twain, material poverty, Michael Caine, misrepresentation, music, myth, non Roma, Pablo Picasso, persecution, protest, protest song, Ravel, Rita Hayworth, Roma, roma rights, Romani, Romani anthem, Romani Holocaust, Romania, Romany, Sarasate, SNCC, strategic allies, unity, Weber, Yugoslav Partisan, Yul Brynner.

by Jonathan Lee

Content warning: article mentions antigypsyism, racism, discrimination and persecution

Opre Roma, si bakht akana
Aven mansa sa lumnyake Roma.
Roma arise! The time is now.
Come with me, Roma from all the world.

These words were written in 1949 by Žarko Jovanović, a Romani Holocaust survivor, Yugoslav Partisan fighter, and activist. They were put to a traditional melody, and adopted as the Romani Anthem in 1971.

It bears none of the hallmarks of an anthem as conceived in the traditional sense by European nation-states. It is not a hymn or an opera. It’s melody is plaintive, unstructured, reckless even. It does not conceive of a homeland, real or imagined, nor does it call for the unification of a people in a national sense. Instead the lyrics speak of the freedom of the road, freedom from persecution, and the need for unity of Romani people across the world. Amongst many other things, it is fundamentally a protest song.Continue Reading

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

THE INHERENTLY RADICAL IDENTITY OF MULTICULTURALISM

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged arts, assimilation, BAME, barack obama, Beyonce, BME, daily mail, discourse, discrimination, Donald Trump, ethnic, fetish, identity, Ijeoma Umebinyuo, institutional racism, integration, Islam, israel, JayZ, Labour, malia bouattia, Mayor of London, minorities, multiulturalism, Muslims for Trump, NUS, oppression, palestine, Piers Morgan, politics, prevent, race, racism, radical, religion, sadiq khan, sensationalism, student politics, students, West, white privilege, Zac Goldsmith.

by Julian Canlas

‘You are not alive to please the aesthetic of colonized eyes’
– Ijeoma Umebinyuo

An interesting thing happens when fully-assimilated BME in the West engage in politics, whilst retaining and proudly displaying their multicultural and racial identities as minorities—they become characterised as ‘radical’ and disruptive to the everyday function of society. Here are examples of how various politicking non-white figures have been portrayed:

Prior to Sadiq Khan becoming mayor of London on May 2016, Khan suffered from smear attacks by Zac Goldsmith. Goldsmith’s attacks included ‘Sadiq Khan won’t stand up for London’s Tamil community’ and ‘his party supports a wealth tax on family jewellery,’ with the latter based upon the uncomfortable, racist assumption that this taxation is a defining political issue for South Asians. Goldsmith also branded Khan as a ‘radical,’ belonging to ‘a Labour party that thinks terrorists is its friends’.
The newly-elected first Black Muslim president of the NUS, Malia Bouattia, depicted as an ISIS supporter for having been against a 2011 motion condemning ISIS, because of its apparent wording that demonises all Muslims, despite later supporting a revised version condemning ISIS and Islamophobia. She has also been criticised as anti-Semitic despite publicly declaring her stance as anti-Zionist due to Israel’s continued violation of human rights by its continued military occupation of Palestine.

integration

HAPPY APRIL 8TH. LET’S HAVE A PROTEST

EUROPE, YOUTH, AND AN ENDURING TASTE OF NATIONALISM

THE INHERENTLY RADICAL IDENTITY OF MULTICULTURALISM

Support the Radical

Subscribe

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Support the Radical

Subscribe