WHY ISN’T EVERYONE A SOCIALIST?

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged authoritarian, benefits, capitalism, communism, control, featured, feminism, hardworking, margaret thatcher, neoliberalism, politics, poverty, practice, praxis, Reagan, socialism, state, theory, Thomas Mann, wealth, welfare.

by Jonathan Lee

It’s a dirty word for many who don’t really understand what it means. People often broadly sweep Socialism into a single ideology, which is much maligned as an unworkable and authoritarian regime, seemingly unsuitable for the modern day, and unpopular amongst the electorate.

I’ll start out being optimistic, and assume that this ignorance of what Socialism is explains why some people discount it out of hand. Because the premise of Socialism is generally one that I have to believe most people should aspire to in some way. “Every human being should be a moderate Socialist,” Thomas Mann said.

Why? Because Socialism is a general set of social, political, and economic views that places people first. And what’s the point of having a democratic society, in which we the people place power in the hands of a select few to manage our lives, if not to make things generally better for people as a whole?Continue Reading

CRITICISM AS ART: AN INTERVIEW WITH SEAM EDITIONS

Posted on August 12, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community and tagged art, Clare Connors, creative, creative critical, Hybrid Writing Conference, Santander, Seam, Seam Editions, Stephen Benson, theory, UEA, writing.

by Eli Lambe

There is a new independent publishing house in Norwich. Seam Editions has already published some amazing pieces (seriously I am ashamed of everything I’ve ever written in comparison). Focusing on the emerging field of creative-critical writing, they provide a platform for interactive, experimental and formally disruptive writing. I was lucky enough to be able to sit down with four of the team to talk about the incredible progress they have made since their launch late last year. I met Sara Helen Binney, Sarah A. Jones, Simon Pook and Rob Ward at the Playhouse.Continue Reading

REVIEW – TRANSGENDER KIDS: WHO KNOWS BEST?

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Perspectives and tagged bbc, blockers, CAMH, Cheri DiNovo, child psychology, doctors, documentary, gender dysphoria, gender-positive, genderqueer, Herschel, homosexuality, hormones, horror, Hospital, Ken Zucker, LGBT+, media, medical, mental health, mental illness, NHS, non conforming, non-binary, parents, review, sexual reassignment surgery, suicide, television, theory, trans, trans activism, transgender, Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best?, transition, TV.

by Zoe Harding

On the same night Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best? aired (Thursday 12th), an apparently rather excellent documentary named Hospital exposed the difficult conditions under which the modern NHS works, bringing it to the attention of the nation that if you get sick and go to an NHS hospital, you’ll be treated by a doctor who’s working shifts more commonly seen in 19th-century coal mines while the Prime Minister calls them lazy. It was quite good. The subjects of Hospital (doctors) seem to have loved it. No such luck for the subjects of BBC2’s other documentary that night, however. Continue Reading

THIS MAN

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged #derangedpoetess, #notallmen, #readwomen, affection, creative writing, gender relations, hate, identity, love, man, masculinity, penis, physicality, poem, poet, poetry, self, sex, theory, UNESCO, woman, women writers, World Poetry Day, writing.

by Rebecca Tamás

This man is an angel
because
he is not a man

I reject the penis as my chosen ontology
even when his penis is in my hand
even when his mouth is open like a sodden
breastContinue Reading

ON SPLITTING THE LEFT

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged democratic theory, general election, Green Party, greens, Labour, left, politics, split, theory.

by anonymous

Over the Christmas period, I had the unusual experience of being asked to speak with the Burgess Hill Labour Party about why I don’t believe a Green vote splits the left. With the rising profile of the Greens due to controversy of their proposed exclusion from the upcoming leaders’ debates and Sadiq Khan’s appointment to deal with the ‘threat’ posed to Labour by the Green Party, it seemed a germaine subject, but it was quite a difficult sell. Burgess Hill Labour party is a branch of Labour that behaves as if Tony Blair never happened and I am all the more sympathetic towards them for it, but when I hear members of the radical left talk about fighting their corner within the Labour party, I begin to despair at the state of political discourse in this country.

CAN BUSINESS BE RADICAL?

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Norwich Radical in Community, Perspectives and tagged alternative, business, business model, capitalism, economy, ethical, ethical business, fairtrade, norwich, radical, theory, work, workers.

by anonymous

Business seems to be the very opposite of a radical political strategy. Businesses are, after all, the primary unit of the way capitalists view the world and are, by virtue of their definition, intrinsically linked into the capitalist system. When left-wing radicals talk about how goods and services would be distributed in a post-capitalist world, they focus on need rather than profit, and social good rather than endless innovation. In the long-term, businesses as we know them are terrible for our livelihoods, our understanding of each other as people and for the majority of the human race. However, given the distinction between short-term and long-term strategies I laid out in my last article, the question remains: can business be part of a short-term radical political movement?Continue Reading

#STOPTHESELLOFF – THE RESURGENT CAMPUS BASED ANTI-AUSTERITY MOVEMENT: THE STUDENT RADICAL #2

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #stoptheselloff, activism, activist, austerity, campaign, education, privatisation, student, student loans, student radical, theory.

In certain circles, there is the perception that the transformation to the ideal of the student as consumer is complete and that therefore the student activist and a radical student movement is a thing of the past. Although there was the anti-fees flashpoint in 2010, the argument goes, now the modern student is more concerned with getting their money’s worth from the education they directly pay for, than they are about changing the world.

Over the last four years there have been countless examples of campaigns that prove this thesis wrong. This series of articles seeks to explore those campaigns, what they have achieved and what they mean for the student movement and the Higher Education sector as a whole.

by Chris Jarvis

A year ago, the coalition government announced the next in a long list of right wing policies that would disregard ordinary people and seek to outsource the State under the veneer of deficit reduction. This time, it was their second major attack on the Higher Education sector and students after the now infamous tripling of tuition fees in 2010 and took the form of a proposed privatisation of the student loan book.

THE BLURRY LINE BETWEEN EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged elections, evolution, government, left wing, MP, opinion, politics, revolution, right wing, society, theory, uk, UKIP.

by anonymous

As Russell Brand and his particular form of revolutionary politics has seemingly become the popular voice of the disillusioned left in recent months, disengagement from electoral politics among us seems more and more prevalent. Brand’s views on the current political system are legitimate, insightful even, but as many left wing commentators have written in recent months, his conclusions are at best incomplete and, at worst, highly dangerous. Given the rise of UKIP and the right across Europe and growing inequality, it is important for us to acknowledge that revolution and evolution are not mutually exclusive. Continue Reading

ADULT EDUCATION AND THE FLYNN EFFECT

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged adult education, culture, education, flynn effect, government, intelligence, politics, society, theory, uk.

by anonymous

In a rather incendiary headline earlier this year, The Independent presented findings from a survey for Kings’ College London and the Royal Statistics Society that seemed to prove that the British public were “wrong about everything”. From overestimating the number of migrants in the country to believing that crime is rising whilst all the evidence shows that it is falling, it seems that we live in a society of stupid people who believe stupid things, which I’m sure The Independent are delighted about.Continue Reading

IN DEFENCE OF THEORY

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged academia, arts, conservative, derrida, freud, gender, lacan, literature, philosophy, politics, radical, theory, thought, university, writing, zizek.

by Jack Palmer

Like any well-trained student, I’ll open with a quote. It’s one from the forever-sniffing, forever-scruffy, cultural critic and contemporary theorist Slavoj Žižek: “We need theory more than ever today. We should not feel terrorized by this false sense of moralistic emergence: ‘no time for theory, people are starving’ and so on. My god, it is only through theory that we have at least a hope to learn what to do!”

Žižek’s assertion is a provocative one: it challenges our understanding of that word ‘theory’. In the scientific sphere, ‘theory’ means a comprehensively proven idea – one, crucially, that forms the foundation for knowledge. In the humanities by comparison, ‘theory’ is abstract: it’s speculative, faddish and maybe even a little indulgent. But the claim staked here is that theory in the humanities is not all groundless conjecture; for Žižek it’s vitally grounded, and where the real work of thinking happens.

theory

WHY ISN’T EVERYONE A SOCIALIST?

CRITICISM AS ART: AN INTERVIEW WITH SEAM EDITIONS

REVIEW – TRANSGENDER KIDS: WHO KNOWS BEST?

THIS MAN

ON SPLITTING THE LEFT

CAN BUSINESS BE RADICAL?

#STOPTHESELLOFF – THE RESURGENT CAMPUS BASED ANTI-AUSTERITY MOVEMENT: THE STUDENT RADICAL #2

THE BLURRY LINE BETWEEN EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION

ADULT EDUCATION AND THE FLYNN EFFECT

IN DEFENCE OF THEORY

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