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.

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.

RECYCLING LIES: TRUMP, MIGRANT FAMILIES AND THE MEDIA

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged 24 hour news cycle, activists, Adam Curtis, alternative media, campaigning, detention centres, executive order, fake news, featured, hypernormalisation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, mainstream media, media, media reform, migrant families, migration, politics, putin, reporting, Russia, social media, Trump, US government, USA, Vladislav Surkov.

By Robyn Banks

Two weeks ago, Donald Trump signed an executive order bringing an end to the separation of undocumented migrant children from their parents. This was widely reported in the mainstream press as a win for those had publicly campaigned against this policy. But just saying that doesn’t make it so. The executive order did bring an end to the separation of children from their parents, but there has been no commitment to reuniting the families already separated. Children previously taken from their parents are being kept in camps in the Texan desert, while families crossing the border since the executive order are being transferred to ICE ‘Family Detention Centres’, which have extremely limited capacity. Whilst this was picked up by smaller media outlets and on social media, many in the mainstream press didn’t acknowledge these complications, focusing only on the initial ‘win’.

TRADING FREEDOMS – THE OFFICE FOR STUDENTS PROPOSALS

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged academics, Cardiff University, censorship, clampdown, debate, establishment, freedom, freedom of choice, freedom of speech, germaine greer, government, HEFCE, higher education, jo johnson, mainstream media, no platforming, office for students, power, regulation, rights, safe spaces, safeguarding, student politics, student power, students, students' unions, transphobia, universities.

by Robyn Banks

CW: mentions transphobia

‘Universities must bring back freedom of speech!’ That was the premise of various headlines surrounding Jo Johnson’s announcement last week of proposed powers for the Office for Students (OfS). One of those proposals is that universities and student unions that don’t conform to Johnson and the OfS’ concept of ‘freedom of speech’ could receive sanctions in the form of fines. While the powers of OfS are still only at the consultation stage, this announcement gives us a rather concerning insight into the plans and aims that Johnson has for the newly formed office.

SORRY, ARE YOU A TRAVELLER?

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged African American, american deep south, antigypsyism, anxiety, between the lines, Brexit, Commission for Racial Equality, conservative, depression, discrimination, ellesmere port, gipsies, GRT, gyppo, gypsy, irish traveller, johnny delaney, little england, mainstream media, Marc Willers, media bias, mental health, mental wellbeing, Muslims, prejudice, racial equality, Romani, travel, traveller, Trevor Phillips.

by Jonathan Lee

Content warning: article mentions antigypsyism and racism

“The Gypsy and Traveller community complain that they don’t get enough media attention, but crime watch is on TV every week.”

This was the name of a team at a pub quiz I attended in Oxford recently. When it was read aloud, half the pub laughed and jeered. The other half remained silent, either through complicity or complete indifference. No one challenged the offending team, no one called out, no one made a disapproving noise. When the woman behind the bar saw my apparent discomfort, she asked:

“Sorry, are you a Traveller?”

Unsure whether she was apologising for the hate speech coming through the pub’s speaker system, or for the actual ethnicity itself, I answered:

“Yes I am.”Continue Reading

POLITICS & CULTURE – THE AMIEL & MELBURN SEMINAR 2017

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Inter|national and tagged 7 Days, academia, access, activism, alpha male, alt-right, alternative media, Annie Kelly, anti-feminism, art, Athina Karatzogianni, Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust, Chardine Taylor-Stone, class, corruption, critique, culture, culture war, curricula, digital culture, direct action, disillusionment, economics, education, fake news, far right, fascism, feminism, feminist allies, future generations, GE17, higher education, history, holding power to account, ideology, inequality, inheritance, Jo Littler, Judies, knowledge, language, mainstream media, male psyche, marxism, media representation, meritocracy, Michael Rustin, Milo Yiannopolous, Mod, Mod women, modernity, music, neo nazi, neoliberalism, peer-pressure, politics, Politics & Culture Seminar, politics of difference, progress, progress narrative, progressive media, public education, punk, Punk women, representation, Rhian E Jones, right wing, Rosalind Delmar, Roshi Naidoo, Skinhead, Skinhead women, social exclusion, social media, social mobility, socialism, society, strike action, subcultures, talent, Teddy Girls, tenant strike, trust, universities, working class movement, young people, Zahra Dalilah.

by Gunnar Eigener and Rowan Gavin

CW: mentions misogyny, anti-feminism, neo-nazism

Earlier this month, a writer and an editor from the Radical took part in the Amiel & Melburn Trust’s annual residential seminar. The Trust’s aims are “to advance public education, learning and knowledge in all aspects of the philosophy of Marxism, the history of socialism, and the working-class movement’. This year, the topic of the seminar was ‘Politics & Culture’, and the various intertwinings and intersections thereof. What follows are thoughts and reactions about the seminar from our contributors.

THE LEFT HAS DEFIED THE ODDS. NOW WE NEED TO SHAPE HISTORY.

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged academia, access, accountability, activism, activists, agitate, anti-establishment, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Bright Green, campaigning, citizens, climate change, conservatives, democracy, democratic education, direct action, diversity, economics, election, empowerment, establishment, Free Education, GE17, general election, grassroots, grassroots media, higher education, independent media, inequality, internal democracy, jeremy corbyn, Labour, Labour manifesto, left, Lincoln, mainstream media, media, media bias, Norwich Radical, Novara Media, openDemocracy, Parliament, parliamentary majority, political apathy, politics, polls, power, progressive alliance, progressive parties, Rethinking Economics, Social Science Centre, strategy, students, technology, theresa may, training, Trump, truth to power, upskilling, voter engagement, voters.

by Bradley Allsop

For the third time in a year an earthquake has rocked the political establishment, upsetting polls, pundits and precedent alike. Yet this time, unlike the division and isolation of Brexit, or the utter horror of Trump, we instead have hope. Snatching insurgence from the jaws of implosion, Labour and the broader left have risen to the edge of power. Yet whilst the election result was an excellent start, surviving the challenges our society faces will require much more. We need to build a movement which aims for nothing less than a complete transformation of our society. It is crucial now that we do not succumb to hubris or allow ourselves to be absorbed by the internal Conservative party debates – we need to use the time granted by their division to plan, organise and mobilise the movement that will transform Britain.

mainstream media

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

BUDGET 2021 AND THE SPECTRE OF CORBYN

By Howard Green

TRADING FREEDOMS – THE OFFICE FOR STUDENTS PROPOSALS

SORRY, ARE YOU A TRAVELLER?

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