STATUES ARE COMING DOWN BUT RACISM REMAINS

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #SayHerName, 1312, abolition, ahmaud arbery, anti black, anti-asian, BAME, belly mujinga, black, black lives matter, breonna taylor, british history, Cecil Rhodes, Churchill, colston, desecration, education, empire, featured, george floyd, government, jas assman, Kenya, lockdown, mary seacole, mau mau, munira mirza, olaudah equiano, race, racism, Rhodes Must Fall, Rodney King, say their name, South Africa, statue, Steven Lawrence, system, tony mcdade, uk, war memorial.

by Lisa Insansa Woods

Colston is in the river. Winston Churchill is quivering. Cecil Rhodes glares brazenly at the Oxford University governors threatening to tear him down, his maniacal eyes finding flickers of solace in the realisation that whether he remains or not, the society he served over a century ago still slithers in its self-made pool of white supremacy (enough to still make his cold hard mouth turn into a grin).

The taking down of statues is a powerful display of justice. Every day, the Black community has had to endure looking up at its oppressors whilst simultaneously being battered by the system that those same glorified figures acted to perpetuate. Each statue that falls is a nod of recognition to the Black experience – an experience which has been subdued for hundreds of years as something that is not worthy of our knowledge. However, whilst pulling down a statue is a strong gesture, it does not annihilate the insidious manifestation of racism that courses through every part of our society. We need to do more.Continue Reading

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE RIOTING AND THE LOOTING

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #SayHerName, abolition, ahmaud arbery, Akala, anti black, BAME, belly mujinga, black, black lives matter, breonna taylor, CHAZ, coronavirus, derek chauvin, featured, george floyd, judah adunbi, loot, macpherson, mustafa dikec, neoliberal, paulo freire, police brutality, police violence, policing, poverty, prison, race, racism, reparations, say their name, Seattle, Stephen Lawrence, system, tony mcdade, uk, zygmunt bauman.

by Sarah Edgcumbe

CW: racism, violence, police brutality

We need to talk about the rioting. And the looting. And the destruction of statues during recent Black Lives Matter protests. We really do. The failure to recognise the entrenched nature of historical and enduring structural violence in both the US and the UK speaks volumes in terms of the normalization of oppression, enforced poverty, racism and discrimination in contemporary society. Whilst there are certainly white victims of structural violence, it is an irrefutable fact that Black or minority ethnic communities experience the most severe intersecting consequences – not as uncomfortable rarities, but as a grinding, every day, relentless struggle, which as we have seen in the case of George Floyd along with so many other black men, women and youth, can too often have fatal results.Continue Reading

THE ONLY WAY TO END POLICE BRUTALITY IS TO ABOLISH THE POLICE

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #SayHerName, 1312, abolition, ahmaud arbery, anti black, anti-asian, BAME, Belly Mujnga, black, black lives matter, breonna taylor, coronavirus, derek chauvin, featured, george floyd, government, J m moore, jengba, lockdown, NHS, norwich, police brutality, police violence, policing, poverty, prison, race, racism, Rodney King, say their name, Steven Lawrence, system, tony mcdade, uk.

by Lisa Insansa Woods

CW: racism, violence, police brutality

A tide of anguish currently sweeps our world, hammering at the white supremacist order. On the evening of May 25th, George Floyd was mercilessly killed by a white US policeman. The world watched from their homes as Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, ignoring his screams as he called out that he couldn’t breathe. George Floyd was suffocated of his last breath. Three other policemen stood and watched. The state brutally murdered a Black man. The people decided to revolt.

Right now, we are seeing mass protests from the US to the UK to the rest of the world, both on the streets and online, physically and mentally. Police brutality pervades our society and the recent piling up of Black bodies such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery has become just too much. We need change. The only way to achieve this change is to abolish the police.Continue Reading

REVIEW: WOW FESTIVAL 2016, PART 1

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged #everydaysexism, #SayHerName, #WOWLDN, art, arts, BAM, Charlie Condou, equality, feminism, feminist, festival, gender, international womens day, intersectionality, IWD, iwd2016, Jake Mills, Jude Kelly, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Laura Bates, MAKERS, mansplain, Maya Angelou, media, Michael Kimmel, MSM, NHS, Pat Mitchell, rape, sexism, southbank, violence, women, women of the world festival, wow.

by Carmina Masoliver

I have been going to Women Of the World festival at Southbank’s Royal festival Hall for years on my own. I sometimes feel tentative about talking about women’s rights with friends and family unless I know for sure someone will be on board. This has worked well it seems, as gradually, and through being vocal online instead, more and more friends have become interested in finding out more. This was the first year that I brought a friend along one day, and a family member (Feminist Gran).

I believe I could also do something different to get more friends on board, especially those who have been curious in the past, but remained relatively untouched by my ranting. In this piece, split into two parts to accommodate the weekend events, I will review and discuss some of my personal highlights of the festival, with the intention of raising more awareness and showing what WOW is about.Continue Reading

THE DEFAMATION OF BILL COSBY: BLACK COMMUNITIES AND RAPE CULTURE

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, B.E.T., bill cosby, black, black culture, black lives matter, Damon Wayans, Faizon Love, Jill Scott, John Lennon, patriarchy, politics, R. Kelly, race, racism, rape, Rape culture, Roman Polanski, sandra bland, Terry Richardson.

by Emmanuel Agu

In the three years since the origin of Black Lives Matter campaigning- we as a people have plenty to be thankful for.

Amongst the continuous protests against non-indictments of cops who slaughter us; despite being refused entry to the venues that play our music and profit from our culture, we have made progress.

The movement only gains further ground each day: the suffering of our people is openly documented for all to see, and pioneering individuals in the movement are meeting with possible presidential candidates. The most important achievement of the movement lies in the renewed energy within a generation. Though it is often exhausting hearing the same harrowing accounts; to continuously explain valid theory and personal lived experiences to voices that will attempt to silence you- I am firm in the belief that the only way we can initiate radical change within structured oppression is through continuous and accessible discourse.

#SayHerName

STATUES ARE COMING DOWN BUT RACISM REMAINS

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE RIOTING AND THE LOOTING

THE ONLY WAY TO END POLICE BRUTALITY IS TO ABOLISH THE POLICE

REVIEW: WOW FESTIVAL 2016, PART 1

THE DEFAMATION OF BILL COSBY: BLACK COMMUNITIES AND RAPE CULTURE

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