‘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.

FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE: SOCIAL MEDIA, CELEBRITY, AND MIGRANT RIGHTS ACTIVISM IN ITALY

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Aboubakar Soumahoro, activism, agriculture, campaign, cheap labour, digital media, Donald Trump, exploitation, featured, human rights, immigration, Italia, Italy, labour rights, mafia, migrant rights, politics, popular support, Salvini, social media, trade union, twitter.

CW: Murder, suicide, abuse

by Alessandra Arpaia

In recent years, Italy has undergone enormous internal change as a result of mass immigration from sub-Saharan African countries. The situation has been exploited and manipulated from every angle by the Italian media, politicians and organised crime gangs, fostering hostility towards migrant labourers as well as fuelling their exploitation. Right-wing political elites are adept at harnessing the power of social media to influence the masses; but this is a tactic that needn’t be irreplicable for social justice movements and activists on the Left, too.

THE PROBLEM WITH ‘FEMINIST’ INSTAGRAM

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Carmina Masoliver, cecilia nguyen, chnge, feminism, feminist, Instagram, itsfeminism, jacob castaldi, march, sam sedlack, social media, tanner sweitzer, womxn.

by Carmina Masoliver

In December, I found out that the Instagram account, simply titled ‘feminist’ is run by two cis-gender white men: Tanner Sweitzer and Jacob Castaldi.

Accounts like ‘feminist’ become popular by reposting relevant content from others without creating their own. This means they have more time to simply put out more content. The focus of the account revolves around it being relatable to their target audience, and so part of the responsibility also falls with us as the audience, to make sure we follow the tagged content creators, supporting them rather than simply ‘liking’ posts, and interrogating who is behind such popular accounts when that transparency isn’t there.

WHAT NEXT FOR NORWICH’S YOUNG CLIMATE PROTESTERS?

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Community, Student and tagged activism, air pollution, Broadland Northway, climate activism, climate change, coastal erosion, Coranavirus, Covid-19, education, featured, norfolk, northern distributor road, norwich, pandemic, politics, protest, school closures, schools, social media, young people, youth climate strikes.

By Howard Green

Since 2018, cities across the globe have had many of their Fridays dominated by the vibrancy and passion of youth climate protesters. It’s a testament to the radical attitudes of Norwich’s young population that such large crowds have flocked to the city centre to protest against the current climate regime. Sadly, the Coronavirus pandemic has dried up physical activism in the city for the time being. There is a serious risk that this pandemic may lead to the voices of young people, especially those in secondary school and sixth form, being silenced within Norfolk and across the country. We must diagnose the problem if we are to move forward and continue on in protest.

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

AUNG SAN SUU KYI IS DEFENDING ROHINGYA GENOCIDE; BUT WHY?

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Burma, conflict, crimes against humanity, ethnic armed groups, ethnic cleansing, featured, genocide, human rights, ICJ, international law, justice, Myanmar, NLD, peace, Rakhine State, Rohingya, social media, tatmadaw.

by Lotty Clare

Last month The Gambia, with the support of the Organisation for Islamic Co-operation (OIC), filed a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice against Myanmar, accusing the state of breaching the Genocide Convention due to the systematic violence carried out against Rohingya. Public hearings will take place on 10-12 of December in the Hague and will be attended by a team headed by State Councillor and de facto head of state Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

NARRATIVES OF POWER & THE SILENCING OF COMMUNITY

Posted on December 8, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged antifa, Arundhati Roy, blame, breitbart, class war, classism, corbyn, facebook, fake news, featured, Gandhi, ge2019, Google, ideology, John Lewis, Leila Khaled, Malcolm X, mandela, manipulation, media, MSM, narrative, neoliberalism, poverty, power, resist, social media, story.

by Sarah Edgcumbe

The monopolization and manipulation of public narratives by the powerful has long been a pernicious political reality on both a national and global level. Invariably, they who shout the loudest somehow assert a claim to legitimacy, despite the commonly ill-conceived and downright harmful nature of the content being peddled. Continue Reading

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.

THE RISE OF POPULISM IN 21ST CENTURY POLITICS

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged activism, alt-right, artivism, empathy, far right, Farage, fascism, featured, France, freedom party, generation identity, indentity, le pen, Lega, migration observatory, MSM, national front, Nazi, populism, racism, reactionary, Salvini, social media, Trump, uk, UNHCR, xenophobia.

by Matt Musindi

Politics has become more divisive and polarised than ever, and it is the populists who have been the main beneficiaries of these political divisions. A populist is someone who consistently promises to channel the unified will of the people. Going off this definition, most political parties in liberal democracies are populist and yet this is not the case – why?Continue Reading

STUDENTS’ UNIONS WILL ALWAYS BE POLITICAL

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged anonymity, anti-apartheid, anti-war, BDS, boycott, class, climate change, decolonising the curriculum, democracy, featured, harassment, international students, israel, malia bouattia, marketisation, NUS, office for students, palestine, privilege, racism, social media, student activism, student history, student movement, student politics, student societies, Tories, tuition fees, UEA, UEA SU, UEA Union Council.

By Robyn Banks

Over the last few weeks, UEA Students’ Union has received a number of comments from certain students on social media, complaining about it being ‘political’ and choosing to take political actions such as organising boycotts and funding students to travel to rallies. The SU is also being accused of acting undemocratically for taking these actions. Whilst these accusations are nothing new, in these recent cases the accusers are creating an obscure binary on what the SU can and can’t be seen doing, with a particular focus on only serving certain students’ needs.

by Sean Meleady

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