TWO BILLION BEATS BY SONALI BHATTACHARYYA – REVIEW

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Anoushka Chadha, B.R. Ambedkar, British South Asian, Dalit, featured, Gandhi, history, immigration, islamophobia, left-wing theatre, Leicester, momentum, Orange Tree Theatre, people of colour, racism, representation, review, Safiyya Ingar, school, SOAS, Sonali Bhattacharya, Sylvia Pankhurst, teenagers, theatre, Two Billion Beats, uk, war on terror, young people, youth politics.

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

The presence of South Asian characters in British theatre is not the extreme rarity it once was. Whilst South Asians and people of colour more widely are still hugely underrepresented in theatre – as actors, writers, directors and in storylines – there has undoubtedly been some progress in recent years. What remains less visible, however, is South Asian characters engaging in rich discussions of history in all its complexity, from a questioning, left-wing perspective. If this is not for you, you should probably avoid playwright and Momentum activist Sonali Bhattacharyya’s Two Billion Beats, showing now at London’s Orange Tree Theatre.

‘FORWARD MOMENTUM’ OR CONTINUED DECLINE?

Posted on April 4, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Community, Perspectives and tagged activism, bureaucracy, campaigning, community organising, david evans, democracy, general election, general election 2017, general election 2019, general election campaign, Green Party, jeremy corbyn, jon lansman, keir starmer, Labour, labour party, momentum, momentum norfolk, NCG, Norfolk Labour, party democracy, rallies, social media, socialism, Yvette Cooper.

by Sean Meleady

A group of left-wing Norfolk Labour activists have re-founded the Norfolk branch of the socialist pressure group Momentum. Originally they were affiliated with the pro-reform Forward Momentum faction, which argued that the group needed to change in a post-Corbyn era. Following the victory of Forward Momentum candidates in the Labour Party’s internal National Coordinating Group (NCG) elections, at the expense of the Momentum Renewal slate associated with Momentum founder Jon Lansman, they hope that the group can be revived locally.

CHICK COREA WAS ALIVE AND WELL

Posted on February 20, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged anti-elegy, beat poetry, bebop, Ben Jonson, Chick Corea, Chick Corea Is Alive And Well, death, Denise Riley, Duke Ellington, elegy, featured, Frank O'Hara, free verse, It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing, jazz, Matthew Dickman, Michael Dickman, momentum, music, Pablo Neruda, pacing, performance, piano, poetry, rhythm, Texas, Wilfred Owen.

By Vyvyan René

On 13th February 2021, the poet Matthew Dickman posted on Instagram: ‘I wish the poem I wrote 14 years ago was still true.’ The poem in question is ‘Chick Corea is Alive and Well’ – an elegy for the jazz pianist, written fourteen years before his death.

THIS ELECTION IS THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES – HERE’S HOW WE CAN WIN IT

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged art, Brexit, campaigning, doorknocking, environment, family, fascism, featured, general election, general election 2019, green new deal, higher education, inequality, jeremy corbyn, Labour, marketisation, memes, momentum, music, NUS, political art, politics, public services, register to vote, social media, student debt, students, unions, universities, vote, young people.

By Bradley Allsop

The world is on the brink. A shattered environment, gargantuan inequality, a burgeoning mental health crisis, fascism openly spreading across Europe, public services at breaking point… but also the possibility of more radical and progressive change than we’ve seen in decades. Higher education specifically also faces two radically different paths ahead of it: continued marketisation, eroding academic integrity, burdening a generation with enormous debt, crushing academics under enormous workloads, increasingly insecure employment and workplace stress – or publicly funded higher education that opens up space to imagine and create a different sort of campus.

2017: THE YEAR OF THE YOUTHQUAKE?

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged activism, agitate, analysis, BES, change, conservatives, corbyn, democracy, demographics, elections, featured, GE17, general election, Ipsos-Mori, Labour, mobilise, momentum, New Statesman, nme, organise, Parliament, Peter Kellner, politics, Prosser et al, statistics, uk, voter turnout, voting, yougov, young people, youth engagement, youth politics, youth turnout, youthquake.

by Bradley Allsop

Youth voter turnout has long been a topic of debate, controversy and worry in British politics. Always below the national average, it has plunged even more than other age-groups’ dovetailing turnout in recent decades, sparking expressions of concern (although comparatively little policy change) from political parties. This seemed to have changed last June, with sites such as Yougov and NME reporting large increases in the youth vote for the 2017 general election, with the figures suggesting the largest rise in youth turnout in British political history.

IT’S OUR ‘YOUTHQUAKE’ – WHAT WILL WE MAKE OF IT?

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged activism, capitalism, collective action, consumerism, corporate power, crisis, democracy, ecological crisis, ecology, economic crisis, economics, elites, featured, future, GE17, government, housing crisis, individualism, inequality, jeremy corbyn, Labour, mental health, momentum, neoliberalism, organise, Oxford Dictionaries, political apathy, political parties, politics, possibility, poverty, snap election, society, technology, tuition fees, uk, wage stagnation, westminster, word of the year, young people, youth culture, youth engagement, youth politics, youth turnout, youthquake.

by Bradley Allsop

Young people can’t catch a break. On the one hand, we’re scolded and ridiculed for our apparent lack of engagement with traditional political institutions, which is generally assumed to be a result of our ‘laziness’ or ‘apathy’, with our disillusionment and distrust with politicians that have continually failed us apparently precluding our ‘right to complain’. On the other hand, when we do engage politically, in those rare moments when we do seek to take an active role in our futures, we’re painted as thuggish, fragile or naïve. In short, the message we continually get is: “engage – but not like that!”

NORWICH STANDS UP TO TRUMP

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Community, Inter|national and tagged #BridgesNotWalls, anti-racist, Donald Trump, Green Party, kindness, momentum, norwich, Norwich City Hall, Norwich NHS Action Group, Norwich Stands Together, protest, solidarity, stand up to racism, stop the war.

By Hannah Rose and Rowan Gavin

Last Friday, on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, people gathered all over the world to protest against his message of division and hatred. In Norwich, 200 people came together outside City Hall to attend a rally of our own. As well as hearing speakers from several local activist and community groups, the protesters took part in a symbolic stunt, dismantling a wall and building a bridge from the parts. Hannah was there, and Rowan helped organise – here they give us their takes on the event.

WE NEED MORE THAN TALK IF WE’RE TO TAKE ON THE TORIES

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Community, Inter|national and tagged british politics, Community, corbyn, education, electoral reform, Green Party, greens, international, jeremy corbyn, Jonathan Bartley, Labour, labour party, Marina Prentoulis, media, momentum, norfolk peoples assembly, norwich, people's assembly, progressive, progressive alliance, student, UEA, uk politics.

by Olivia Hanks

“I will never campaign on anything with the Tories! Not Europe, not anything!” Marina Prentoulis’s passionate declaration summed up why we were all there, as did the title of the panel discussion: ‘Taking the Fight to the Tories’.

The event, organised jointly by UEA Greens and Momentum UEA, brought Greens, Labour and the People’s Assembly together to discuss how the left might co-operate to get the Tories out of power.

MOMENTUM IS NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged activism, Britain, british politics, campaign, campaigning, corbyn, demonstration, government, Green Party, inter|national, jeremy corbyn, Labour, labour leadership, labour party, left wing, momentum, politics, Syria, trident.

By Chris Jarvis

I’ve been a member of the Green Party of England and Wales for five and half years, and as such, I’m often criticised for sticking my oar into the internal affairs of other political parties, particularly in relation to my views on the Labour Party and its electoral and political strategies. But when it comes to the Labour Party, I just can’t help myself.

momentum

TWO BILLION BEATS BY SONALI BHATTACHARYYA – REVIEW

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

CHICK COREA WAS ALIVE AND WELL

By Vyvyan René

2017: THE YEAR OF THE YOUTHQUAKE?

IT’S OUR ‘YOUTHQUAKE’ – WHAT WILL WE MAKE OF IT?

NORWICH STANDS UP TO TRUMP

WE NEED MORE THAN TALK IF WE’RE TO TAKE ON THE TORIES

MOMENTUM IS NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER

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