LOVE AFTER BABEL AND OTHER POEMS – CHANDRAMOHAN S

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged caste, Chandramohan S, colonialism, creative writing, culture, Dalit, Deeptha Achar, featured, Hayan Charara, Hindu right, imperialism, India, intersectionality, islamophobia, Letters to Namdeo Dhasal, Love After Babel and Other Poems, Malayalam, migration, Muslims, oppression, poetry, post-colonial, radical politics, resistance, South Asia, translation.

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

The following was originally published as the afterword to the collection Love after Babel and Other Poems by Chandramohan S, published in January 2020 by Daraja Press. The collection won the Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista Outstanding Book Award in January of this year. You can order a copy direct from Daraja Press here.

They ask me why do you write poems?
I write poems – the people have the right to…bear arms.

These lines, taken from his one-stanza masterpiece ‘Why Do I Write Poetry?’, encapsulate the very essence of Chandramohan S’ approach to his craft in his third collection, Love after Babel and Other Poems. These poems are unapologetically weapons, fighting against the pre-modern notion of caste in all its insidious 21st century glory.

NO LONGER THE PRESIDENT, NEVER THE PRINCE: STOP CALLING TRUMP ‘MACHIAVELLIAN’

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Bashar al-Assad, catholic church, David Ignatius, dictators, Donald Trump, far-right, featured, Florence, Italy, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Kafka, Machiavelli, Medici, morality, oppression, Orwell, patriotism, political correctness, political theory, politics, republican, resistance, The Prince, tyrants, US congress, US presidential election, USA, virtù, Washington Post.

By Howard Green

The last days of Trump have come at last, heralding an inevitably vast amount of journalistic analysis. Trump has been criticised continually through his presidency from many angles by commentators across the media spectrum. Now, as we seek to understand the terrifying exceptionalism of the past four years, classical political thought has once again reared its head. In order to criticise Trump, many invoke writers who have become associated with a collective anxiety – Orwell, Kafka, and, most frustratingly, Machiavelli. Niccolò Machiavelli and his writings have been associated with despotism and evil ever since his works were placed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum by the Catholic church. But to describe Trump as Machiavellian is a misunderstanding of the controversial but frustratingly correct political theorist who warned against tyrants like him.

GLINNER’S GONE – WHAT NEXT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TRANSPHOBIA?

Posted on July 25, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged allies, allyship, biological essentialism, featured, feminism, gender, Gender Recognition Act, Graham Linehan, ideology, JK Rowling, Kathleen Stock, LGBTQIA+, Mermaids, misogyny, oppression, Paul B Preciado, police, protest, trans lives matter, trans*, trans* erasure, trans* rights, transphobia, twitter, violence.

By Robyn Banks

Content warning: discussion of transphobia, genitalia

In June, the news broke that Graham Linehan, former comedy writer turned full time transphobe, was finally removed from twitter for his continued attacks on the trans* community. Whilst it is positive that twitter is finally taking the action that the trans* community have long been asking for, this should have happened years ago, when Linehan started doxing people who dared challenge him.

IN SOLIDARITY WITH AL-MOUNADIL/AH AS MOROCCO CONTINUES TO STIFLE VOICES OF DISSENT

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged Al-Mounadil/ah, arrests, dissent, featured, freedom of expression, journalism, justice, law, media, Morocco, online news, oppression, politics, press, press freedom, print media, protest, social media, solidarity.

by Yali Banton-Heath

The revolutionary socialist newspaper and website Al-Mounadil/ah or ‘The Militant’ is facing an existential legal threat from the Moroccan state under it’s continued assault on the Left, progressive voices, and freedom of expression in the country. The onslaught of arrests and passing of restrictive legislation in recent years has targeted independent journalists and publications, and the use of social media and the internet as a platform for political expression. As the statement released by Al-Mounadil/ah’s editorial team reads: “the restrictions will not succeed in gagging voices; the advancement of technology will make a mockery of anyone that tries.”

Al-Mounadil/ah’s director received a court summons late last month regarding the newspaper’s compliance with Morocco’s Press and Publications Law; a piece of legislation which places onerous conditions on reporters and journalists in attempt to suffocate dissent in the media. Continue Reading

DECOLONISE WALES: I

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #decolonisewales, 1847 Royal Commission on Welsh Education, Barwyg, Benedictine, Catwg, Christianity, church, collective denial, colonise, colony, cooperative, cymru, decolonise, division, Ecclesiastical Appeals Act, Elementary Education Act, england, Englishries, exports, featured, Henry VIII, Illtud, imperialism, Index of Negrescence, John Beddoe, language, merthyr rising, Meuthin, miners strike, monasticism, Newport Rising, oppression, picket line, Rebecca Riots, settlements, St David, Tonypandy miners strike, Wales, Welsh, Welsh Chartist Movement, Welsh language, Welsh Not, Welshries, William Lamb, Winston Churchill, working class, Y Brad y Llyfrau Gleision.

by Jonathan Lee

Content warning: this article mentions racism, discrimination, oppression, and racial / cultural slurs.

“If the Welsh are striking over hunger, we must fill their bellies with lead” are the famous words Winston Churchill never spoke, about sending in the Lancashire Fusiliers to put a swift end to the 1910 Tonypandy miners’ strike.

Though he never advocated firing on the miners, he did send the soldiers to the picket line, and was definitely still an imperialist, eugenically-minded war criminal. The only reason the quote is mistakenly attributed to him so commonly is because it is so utterly believable. It typifies the contemptuous colonial attitudes held by the man himself, and the English parliament, for the Welsh and the working class.

Wales was England’s first colony – the template for later British imperialism. Many of its basic strategies were forged here in England’s closest and very first colonial asset, before being exported all over the world.Continue Reading

50 YEARS – HOW FAR HAVE WE REALLY COME?

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives, Student and tagged Against The Law, bbc, capital, crime, decriminalisation of homosexuality, discrimination, gay capital, gay men, gay privilege, gay rights, hate crime, homophobia, inclusivity, LGBT+, lgbt+ rights, Marianna Valverde, media, media bias, misrepresentation, oppression, Owen Jones, Peckham, population, positivity, privilege, Richard Taulke-Johnson, sensationalism, sex, Sexual Offences Act, statistics, Stonewall, The Guardian, uk, universities, yougov, young people.

by Alex Powell

CW: mentions homophobia and homophobic abuse

Last week marked 50 years since the Sexual Offences Act 1967 entered into law, in the first step towards the decriminalisation of homosexuality. There’s been a great deal of coverage of this milestone in British media, including some brilliant, informative TV programming (I highly recommend the BBC’s drama ‘Against the Law’). But it is Owen Jones’s recent Guardian column ‘Hatred of LGBTQ people still infects society. It’s no time to celebrate’ that seems to have been most prominent. Jones’ arguments are certainly justified, but commentary like his risks misrepresenting the situation that now faces LGBT+ people in this country. It’s not all bad.

FUCK OFF, TERFS: DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERNET HATE MACHINE

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged bi erasure, female socialisation, feminism, feminist, gaslighting, gender, gender critical, gender reassignment, homophobia, intersectionality, LGBT+, men's rights movement, mental health, misogyny, Neo-Nazis, Neo-Nazism, online harassment, oppression, sex, social media, terf, trans exclusionary radical feminist, trans men, transgender, transphobia, twitter, twitter storm, women.

by Zoe Harding

Content warning: article contains strong language and mentions transphobia, rape, death threats, online harassment, homophobia, biphobia and bi erasure.

So this week a friend of mine said something on Twitter about accepting transgender people as people, regardless of genitalia. One of those reasonable discussions that occasionally ensue on the internet ensued, and ended with her getting dog-piled with sufficient angry, hateful messages to nearly crash her ageing iPhone and accusations ranging from homophobia to gaslighting and advocacy of corrective rape. While the barrage of tweets from a dozen accounts was polite by online discourse standards (for ‘polite’, read ‘no swearing but massively condescending, dismissive, pompous and worryingly intense’) the death threats and abuse that followed in private messages was significantly less so.

Once more, my friend had attracted the ire of the TERFs.Continue Reading

“A VERY DIFFERENT TYPE OF POLITICS” – RESPONSE TO NUS CONFERENCE DAY 1

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #NUSNC17, access, anti racism, anti-sexism, attainment gap, Brighton, campaigning, deportation, direct action, far right, Free Education, HE bill, international students, Liber8 Education, liberated curriculum, liberation, malia bouattia, marketisation, migrant rights, nss, NSS Boycott, NUS, NUS conference, nus elections, NUS Trans Officer, oppression, politics, racism, Sally Hunt, sexism, Sorana Vieru, student activism, student debt, student mental health, student politics, students, suicide, trade unions, trans students, tuition fees, UCU, women's rights.

by Cherry Somersby

Content warning: Article mentions suicide.

The political transition we have seen in NUS over the last 12 months would have been unthinkable this time last year. The student movement has risen to the growing need for radical action this year, building groundbreaking, vital campaigns, presenting a powerful response to the many crises modern students face.

RESISTANCE VOICES: THOSE WHO MARCHED FOR WOMEN

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged 'Nawlins, angelenos, anti-fascism, antifa, banner, Beyonce, Black Lives Matters, boston, Cardiff, class, collaboration, collective, deplorable, Donald Trump, dyke, external, fascism, feminist, femme, fight back, first they came, genitalia, global crisis, guthrie, Hallelujah, human rights, ideology, LA, Leonard Cohen, london, Los Angeles, march, marginalisation, nasty women, New Orleans, objectification, oppression, pastor martin niemöller, performance, POC, poem, police, protest, protest 101, protestors, pussy, pussy power, race, religion, resist, resistance, Rufus Wainwright, sexuality, Trump, US, US administration, US election, uterus, voices, washington dc, white feminist, womanhood, women, women of colour, womens march, wont bow.

In the aftermath of the Women’s March — a worldwide protest in resistance to Donald Trump on Saturday January 21st 2017 that saw an estimated 4.6million people take to the streets in the US alone — The Norwich Radical’s Tara Debra G and Cadi Cliff put a call out. This article is the product of that call out, which asked for thoughts from those who identified as women and who attended one of the many Women’s Marches on why they marched. These are just some voices, but they speak from across the UK and the US in an act of collaboration, solidarity, and resistance. Continue Reading

RACIAL PLURALISM IN THE OLYMPICS

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged 1969, Black Power, Brazil, crime, Gabby Douglas, John Carlos, media, Michael Phelps, nationalism, Norman Smith, olympics, oppression, POC, race, racism, Rio, Ryan Lochte, segregation, sexism, social media, Tommie Smith, tradition.

by Julian Canlas

The 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil, has resulted in a lot of firsts. Nine countries are celebrating their first ever gold medal, including first-time entrant Kosovo, whose sovereignty the Olympics committee recognised only two years ago. The Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) was also formed to ‘bring global attention to the magnitude of the refugee crisis’. Despite not having won any medals, their significance lies in their representation. The ROT acts as a symbol of hope to those who have been forcefully displaced from their home country that the dreams of these displaced athletes will happen despite all the unfair hardships, injustices and atrocities they have experienced.

oppression

LOVE AFTER BABEL AND OTHER POEMS – CHANDRAMOHAN S

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

NO LONGER THE PRESIDENT, NEVER THE PRINCE: STOP CALLING TRUMP ‘MACHIAVELLIAN’

By Howard Green

GLINNER’S GONE – WHAT NEXT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TRANSPHOBIA?

By Robyn Banks

DECOLONISE WALES: I

50 YEARS – HOW FAR HAVE WE REALLY COME?

“A VERY DIFFERENT TYPE OF POLITICS” – RESPONSE TO NUS CONFERENCE DAY 1

RESISTANCE VOICES: THOSE WHO MARCHED FOR WOMEN

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