THE ‘C’ WORD: COMMUNIST ERASURE IN LIBERATION ACTIVISM

Posted on March 27, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged activism, anarchism, Ash Sarkar, communism, featured, framing, identity, label, left, LGBTQIA+, liberation, marginalised, McCarthy, MLK, Piers Morgan, pride, radical, red scare, socialism.

by Kasper Hassett

From the first Red Scare in the US, terms like ‘communism’, ‘socialism’, and ‘anarchism’ have been subject to suspicion and scrutiny. Despite describing common views, they are considered subversive, chaotic and threatening, and cause others to be wary. Many of society’s role models, however, have been communists – especially those most associated with struggles against oppression, imperialism and bigotry. Forgetting this is no accident: when centrists and the right-wing express a shared sense of pride for achievements in activism, they place history under a rose-tinted lens, carefully side-stepping mention of their role in enforcing the barriers which required lifting in the first place.

WELL-BEING FIRST: THINKING HEALTHY IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged abuse, action, apathy, Boris Johnson, Brexit, conservative, coronavirus, covid, covid19, crisis, featured, health, Infection Control Today, jeremy corbyn, Joseph Stiglitz, left, liberal, media, mental health, MSM, NHS, NPD, PPE, psychology, Tory, Trump, uk, well-being, wellbeing.

by Sunetra Senior

A couple of weeks ago we were told of the extent of the Tory government’s negligence during a time of intense international crisis. They disregarded important information provided by advisory committees at critical moments as well as the crucial COBRA Meetings themselves, which are specifically held to ensure strong leadership at times of national emergency. According to the article in The Times, Boris’ earlier inaction has resulted in the number of deaths reaching six figures with the estimated mortality predicted to be 400,000. Of course, in addition to patently disregarding hundreds of thousands of lives, Johnson’s administration has also put the physical health of millions at risk with the virus running uncontrolled throughout the population for a whole month between 24th Feb when the recorded number of deaths skyrocketed, and the announcement of effective lockdown measures in mid-March.Continue Reading

‘DODGY BUT STABLE’: BRINGING BACK THE PROGRESSIVE PUNCH

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged abuse, action, alliance, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Cambridge Analytica, centrism, Chamberlain, Change UK, Contrapoints, democracy, direct action, electability, election, EU, Europe, featured, gaslighting, islamophobia, jeremy corbyn, left, LibDem, liberal, miliband, Natalie Wynne, NHS, no deal, Parliament, progressive, Trump, vote.

by Sunetra Senior

A news-based long read of the darkening climate under Boris Johnson, and consequent examination of the solutions.

NB: this piece was written before the announcement of the suspension of parliament. The call to progressive action is of the utmost urgency.

Shock, horror!! Boris Johnson is Prime Minister, we are on the verge of a catastrophic No-Deal Brexit, and Trump’s ego is bigger than ever before. Prior to this, the Scandinavian Peninsula, or the magical lands of social democracy and hygge, saw the rise of a nationalist group in Finland. There were also the New Zealand shootings in a show of Islamophobia, so horrific, that the country’s PM moved to ban militarised weapons practically overnight. So, amidst this caustic circus, where is the progressive clout? Given the gradual upheaval of the moral development of society, it’s apt to return to a timeless saying: ‘The personal is the political.’Continue Reading

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 3 (OF 3)

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #balanceforbetter, #metoo, austerity, Bladerunner, Cambridge Analytica, conformism, demo, endorsement, equality, featured, feminism, gender rights, germaine greer, left, liberalism, Luce Irigaray, media, Naomi Klein, Nicola Rivers, populism, rally, Rashida Tlaib, speech, uk, womens march, work.

by Sunetra Senior

Part Three (of Three): An Ideological Ambush and Choosing Utopia. Read Part One here and part Two here.

Here, another sinister aspect of the Trump campaign, now verified by the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, was the invasive, online method through which I proposed that an amoral moneyed elite was not only manipulating, but also forcibly hijacking the public’s trust. I will again emphasise another, so far unacknowledged, caveat: this method of manufacturing investment not only cheats people short-term – including those vacuous nutjobs at the top- but sustains a deceptive, distinctly digital control well into the destructive future. Once removed and shiny, the technological medium of devices and social media is the perfect way to distract from the escalation of political inequality by cunningly feigning advancement.Continue Reading

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 2 (OF 3)

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #balanceforbetter, #metoo, austerity, Bladerunner, conformism, demo, endorsement, equality, featured, feminism, gender rights, germaine greer, left, liberalism, Luce Irigaray, media, Nicola Rivers, populism, rally, Rashida Tlaib, speech, uk, womens march, work.

by Sunetra Senior

Part Two (of Three): Bladerunner 2049 and a Tragic Trajectory. Read Part One here and part Three here.

Yet, a year on and the opposite seemed to manifest. Last year’s big, sponsored march was populated by blatant careerists and women who seemed to think the Feminist conclusion lay in just stony vocational power. This was the severe, stifled energy I’d been feeling. It wouldn’t have been surprising to see a placard that read: ‘Good women Go to Work!’ No wonder then, that there was also interpersonal tension and division between the various organisations at the demonstration: women were feeling competitive. Here, I will emphasise: to fixate on external acquirement such as an invincible social status and intensive office hours and treat them as if a modern romance, is to internalise a toxic masculinity that does not oppose but instead reinforces historic gender inequality. Follow this regressive trajectory, and not only do women begin to undermine their previous progress, but too, start to become foot soldiers in a universally dark tyranny.Continue Reading

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 1 (OF 3)

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #balanceforbetter, #metoo, austerity, Bloody Good Period, conformism, demo, endorsement, equality, featured, feminism, gender rights, left, liberalism, Luce Irigaray, media, Natalie imbruglia, populism, rally, sadiq khan, Salena Godden, Sophie Cameron, speech, uk, Women's Muslim Network, womens march.

by Sunetra Senior

Part One (of Three): Bourgeois Beginnings. Read part Two here and Part Three here.

‘Are we in the right place?’ was a semi-serious question posed by a friend of mine at the 2018 Women’s March, which took place in London on 4th March to commemorate worldwide Women’s Day. Having been to many demonstrations between us, including the historic 2017 Women’s March, which took place the day after President Trump’s inauguration, we had sound reference points between us too. Usually, there’s a friendly, lively atmosphere. You might even enjoy some canned ciders as you watch an animated speaker deliver one motivational speech after the next.

In 2018, however, the big women’s march was sedate, controlled, and most alarmingly of all: conformist. I even got elbowed in the face by a male police officer who told me to ‘stay within the demonstration line’. This was immediately after I’d passed a giant stone pedestal, encircled by a murder of male reporters, gathered creepily at that higher vantage point like gigantic crows. Hitchcockian voyeurism aside, women also seemed to be adopting the strange, disciplinary mood. One female speaker said to keep fighting ‘even if it took another 100 years’. But where was the urgency? Where ‘was the anger’? as feminist performer Sophie Cameron tweeted out.Continue Reading

UNITED IN THE FACE OF CRISIS – THE STUDENT LEFT NETWORK

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Student and tagged campaigning, casualisation, climate change, corporate, democracy, education, far right, featured, fossil fuel divestment, higher education, individualism, inequality, Labour Students, left, living wage, marketisation, mental health, NUS, NUS turnaround, prevent, profiteering, rent strike, representation, social justice, student activists, student debt, student left network, students' unions, uk, universities.

By Bradley Allsop

Make no mistake – higher education in the UK is in crisis. After decades of uncertain policy and three successive Tory-led governments with a clear desire to marketise and corporatise our campuses, we’re left with a generation burdened with debt, with an explosion in mental health issues among students, with universities bereft of democracy and increasingly fuelled by precarious labour, with Students’ Unions that are often little more than marketing arms of their universities, and with continuing inequalities in educational attainment. The passionate learning, debate and inquiry that should be the soul of education has become little more than a thin veneer pasted over profiteering and corporate-style expansion.

THE GREEN PARTY CAN BECOME THE PARTY OF THE RADICAL LEFT IN WALES

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged campaign, elections, featured, green politics, Labour, leadership, left, Plaid Cymru, politics, radical, Wales, Wales Green Party.

By Chris Jarvis

Earlier this week, the race to crown the next leader of the Wales Green Party kicked off. Mirka Virtanen, Deputy Leader since 2017 was the first to declare her candidacy. Two other candidates were announced in an email to party members but, at the time of writing, neither have announced their candidacy publicly.

THE TIME IS NOW: LABOUR CAN WIN WITH CALL FOR SECOND REFERENDUM

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Brexit, election, electorate, ethics, EU, featured, honesty, jeremy corbyn, Labour, labour conference, left, liberalism, media, new labour, no deal, no deal brexit, politics, referendum, Remain, socialist, survey, theresa may, uk.

by Sunetra Senior

With 100,000 people having marched on 23rd June, converging from different corners of the country, in the passionate call for another referendum, and David Davis and Boris Johnson walking away from May’s cabinet shortly afterward, the public’s stance on Brexit and party politics became fortuitously aligned. The Tories are breaking apart just as national apprehension for Brexit reaches its peak and support for the Labour Party increases. As murmurs of another general election hover over the governmental rift, Labour could significantly strengthen its standing by explicitly promising to hold a second referendum as part of a game-changing manifesto.Continue Reading

REVIEW – A PARTY WITH SOCIALISTS IN IT, BY SIMON HANNAH

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Inter|national and tagged a party with socialists in it, Aneurin Bevan, antisemitism, Attlee, book, Callaghan, corbyn, Fabians, featured, Gaitskell, Haringey Development Vehicle, history, housing, ILP, Labour, left, Left Book Club, MacDonald, new labour, pluto press, politics, radical, review, SDF, Simon Hannah, socialism, Tony Benn, Wilson.

by Justin Reynolds

It was too beautiful to last. The fragile truce established between Labour’s dueling factions after the party’s unexpectedly strong 2017 general election performance disintegrated just in time for this year’s local election campaign.

Despite everything, Labour still made gains, indicating that its simple anti-austerity message continues to have the capacity to cut through the interference generated by chronic internal feuding. But the result was hardly good enough to foster a new outbreak of peace.Continue Reading

left

THE ‘C’ WORD: COMMUNIST ERASURE IN LIBERATION ACTIVISM

by Kasper Hassett

WELL-BEING FIRST: THINKING HEALTHY IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

‘DODGY BUT STABLE’: BRINGING BACK THE PROGRESSIVE PUNCH

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 3 (OF 3)

Part Three (of Three): An Ideological Ambush and Choosing Utopia. Read Part One here and part Two here.

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 2 (OF 3)

Part Two (of Three): Bladerunner 2049 and a Tragic Trajectory. Read Part One here and part Three here.

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 1 (OF 3)

Part One (of Three): Bourgeois Beginnings. Read part Two here and Part Three here.

THE GREEN PARTY CAN BECOME THE PARTY OF THE RADICAL LEFT IN WALES

THE TIME IS NOW: LABOUR CAN WIN WITH CALL FOR SECOND REFERENDUM

REVIEW – A PARTY WITH SOCIALISTS IN IT, BY SIMON HANNAH

Support the Radical

Subscribe

by Kasper Hassett

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Part Three (of Three): An Ideological Ambush and Choosing Utopia. Read Part One here and part Two here.

Share this:

Like this:

Part Two (of Three): Bladerunner 2049 and a Tragic Trajectory. Read Part One here and part Three here.

Share this:

Like this:

Part One (of Three): Bourgeois Beginnings. Read part Two here and Part Three here.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Support the Radical

Subscribe