SCROUNGE, BY AMIE M MARIE – REVIEW

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Amie Marie, art, arts, assessment, disability, dwp, featured, healthcare, job, jobseeker, matthew hopkins, performance, PIP, review, scrounge, theresa may, threatre, toby skelton, unemployment.

by Toby Skelton

Shortly after the 2016 amendments to the assessment of Personal Independence Payments (PIP), a cartoon scolding the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) began doing the rounds on social media. In it, a figure sits behind a desk declaring: “If they drown, they need PIP. If they float, they weren’t ill.” whilst a woman is dragged out of the office by her hair. Accompanied by the caption “Conservatives Disability Policy”, the illustration caught a lot of online attention for this comparison of the DWP’s practices to those of the elementally evil Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins. Some found it an absurdly distasteful comparison; others deemed it a justified piece of satirical exaggeration. But as Amie M Marie deftly exposes in her new play Scrounge, the cartoon was barely hyperbolic in its analogy.

ADAT YESHUA FOODBANK: ON THE FRONT LINE OF PANDEMIC POVERTY

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged Adat Yeshua Synagogue, after school club, child poverty, Clarendon Road, Covid-19, Emma Corlett, Essex Street, featured, food bank, food poverty, Judaism, Karen Davis, lockdown, mutual aid, norwich, Norwich Food Hub, NR2 Skills Share, Oxford Street, pandemic, poverty, Rabbi Binyamin Sheldrake, Suffolk Square, Synagogue, Town Close, unemployment, wealth inequality.

By Sean Meleady

The Jewish community in Norwich has a rich history which goes back centuries. As the Covid-19 pandemic writes a new chapter in the history of the city, one Synagogue on Essex Street has helped set up a food bank in an area sharply divided by wealth disparity.

NORWICH CITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME TRIAL

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged arts, basic income, Bolsa Familia, Brazil, Brexit, canada, Catherine Rowett, child benefit, child poverty, clive lewis, Community, Covid-19, economics, featured, Finland, food banks, gender equality, Green Party of England and Wales, India, Jamie Osborn, Labour, mental health, Namibia, netherlands, norwich, Norwich City Council, norwich green party, Norwich Labour Party, organise, Permanent Fund of Alaska, Sierra Leone, spain, Switzerland, taxes, trade unions, training, UBI, UBI Lab Network, UBI Lab Norfolk, Uganda, uk, unemployment, Universal Basic Income, Universal Credit, welfare system, work.

By Sean Meleady

Norwich City Council has backed calls for the government to support a pilot for Universal Basic Income (UBI), which would trial providing a monthly income to all residents of the city, following a recent debate at City Hall. City councillors argued that all residents should receive this fixed monthly amount regardless of employment status, wealth and marital status.

IS IT FINALLY TIME FOR AN ANTIGYPSYISM INQUIRY IN THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY?

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged Alan Mellins, antigypsyism, antisemitism, Ashkali, Community, conservatives, discrimination, featured, Gary STreeter, gypsy, hate speech, hatred, Irish Travellers, islamophobia, JAck Dromey, Joanna Dabrowska, Manush, media, Mike Bird, minorities, nick clegg, persecution, Philippa Roe, racism, Robert Fraser, Roma, Romani, Sandwell, Selous, Sinti, society, stereotypes, Tories, travellers, UKIP, unemployment, Yenish.

by Jonathan Lee

Content warning: hate speech, antigypsyism, inclusion of derogatory language.

After a Hope Not Hate survey revealed the not-so-shocking discovery that two thirds of Conservative Party Members are islamophobes, pressure has been mounting for the Tories to launch a party inquiry into Islamophobia. In a time when Jeremy Corbyn’s hummus eating habits spur fresh cries of antisemitism, it is encouraging to see that the ‘Nasty Party’ are not immune from scrutiny for the widespread racism amongst their members. Though the survey results were damning, the response from the media has been somewhat subdued. Can you imagine the backlash if a survey found that two thirds of Labour Party members believed antisemitic conspiracy theories? Or if 43% said they would prefer the UK was not led by a Jew (as Conservatives members indicated at the possibility of a Muslim Prime Minister)? The next Tory leader will inherit this scandal and may not be able to brush it off so easily.

Now that the lid has been blown off the rampant islamophobia within the Conservative Party, it’s high time other widely held racist beliefs in the party ranks were examined; not least, antigypsyism.Continue Reading

AN OPEN LETTER TO STEVE DOWNES, EDP.

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged accommodation, advice, anon street team, barriers, charities, City, Community, crisis, Eastern Daily Press, edp, exclusion, featured, foodcycle, grassroots, Haymarket, homeless, homelessness, hot meals, housing pressure, isolation, mental health, mental illness, norfolk, norwich, Norwich City Council, norwich foodcycle, Norwich Soup Movement, poverty, private landlords, rough sleepers, Shelter, social exclusion, soup kitchens, stereotypes, steve downes, stigma, The People's Picnic, unemployment, vulnerable, zero hour contracts.

by Eli Lambe

No, Soup Kitchens are not making Norwich’s “Homelessness problem” worse. It might seem that way to you, if you’re used to brushing the vulnerable off and not having to see the reality of more and more people’s lives. The easy solution – and the one that your newspaper and the local police like to peddle – is to force rough sleepers and vulnerable people out to the fringes of the city, where they’re cut off from their community and support and, most importantly it seems, you don’t have to see them.

What makes you think that your walking past the Haymarket every so often qualifies you to write about the lives of the people in the queue?Continue Reading

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO ANTIGYPSYISM

Posted on December 29, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged accidental racism, accidental racist, Alliance Against Antigypsyism, antigypsyism, antisemitism, Ashkali, Balkan Egyptians, beginners guide, black, campervan, chakras, Community, costume, discrimination, Europe, european commission, European Parliament, featured, gypsy, halloween, hate speech, hatred, health services, infant mortality, Irish Travellers, islamophobia, life expectancy, Manush, middle ages, minorities, persecution, rabbit hole, racism, Roma, Romani, safe housing, segregation, Sinti, social acceptance, society, stereotypes, travellers, unemployment, Yenish.

by Jonathan Lee

Content warning: article explores discrimination, racism, hate speech and antigypsyism and includes derogatory language.

Don’t say gypo or gypped. Pikey or tinker. Don’t put up ‘No Travellers’ signs.

If you are not Romani, never wear Gypsy-themed costumes at Hallowe’en. And don’t call yourself Gypsy because you think you’re free spirited. Or because you’ve been to India, or believe in chakras, or live in a campervan or something. These things are racist towards Romani people and Irish Travellers. It’s called antigypsyism.

This is the specific form of racism directed against Roma, Sinti, Travellers, Manush, Balkan Egyptians, Ashkali, Yenish and others who are stigmatized as ‘gypsies’ in the public imagination.

Unfortunately, there is a lot more to it than a few nasty words and some garishly tacky costumes. In order to fight this phenomenon in our society, you need to understand how deep the rabbit hole really goes.Continue Reading

THE ROAD TO FULLY AUTOMATED LUXURY GAY SPACE COMMUNISM: PART 1

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged arab spring, automation, basic income, capitalism, communism, culture, FALC, FALGSC, future, Ian M Banks, mechanisation, revolution, space, The Peripheral, UBI, unemployment, utopia, utopian, william gibson.

by Zoe Harding

Let’s leave the sordid world of Earth behind for a bit, and explore the potential of a concept that’s kind of easy to dismiss out of hand.

In his venerable Culture series, Iain M Banks describes a future society based around Minds, unimaginably super-intelligent AIs that control vast ships and space-going habitats, on which a massive collection of alternately hedonistic and depressed lesser-biological beings (assumed to be human, although it’s never made explicit) live pampered and comfortable lives. The Culture is semi-utopian, although, if it resembles any society, it resembles the US in its relations with other civilisations, The books frequently focus on both the skulduggery necessary to keep the civilisation running and the injustice of being born outside it. Nonetheless, it is a portrait of a society in which humans (probably) are protected, cared for and treated equally through advanced technology.

Because utopias aren’t easy or fun to write, few societies like the Culture have appeared in fiction before or since. There is one notable version, however, in the form of an oddly idealistic leftie meme: Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism.Continue Reading

A CYCLE OF FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY – MENTAL HEALTH AND JOBHUNTING

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged anxiety, depression, empathy, employment, isolation, job application, mental health, stigma, unemployment.

By Liam Hawkes

“You interviewed well but unfortunately we just didn’t feel that you were right for this particular position.”

These are the words that no one seeking employment wants to hear. Looking for a job, especially during times of uncertainty and instability, can be a terrifying prospect. My own recent experience of this has got me wondering about the connection between job seeking, rejection and our mental health.

HUMAN RIGHTS — THE PRODUCT OF COLLECTIVE STRUGGLE

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged anti trade union, Barbara Castle, collective struggle, contract workers, Dagenham, equal pay, Equal Pay Act, european committee on international trade, freedom of association, human rights, human rights day, international human rights, Labour, living wage, merthyr rising, minimum wage, multiracial, paid parental leave, pay gap, pentonville five, shrewsbury two, strike, tolpuddle martyrs, unemployment, universal declaration of human rights, workers rights.

by Chris Jarvis

Yesterday was the International Human Rights Day, a brief moment when the world recognises and remembers the value and history of human rights. A central element to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights — the founding document of contemporary human rights legislation and protection — are the rights of workers. Article 20 of the declaration enshrines the right to freedom of association — the right to join and form trades unions. Trade union rights are further guaranteed through Article 23, which also recognises the right to free choice of employment, fair and favourable working conditions, protection against unemployment, equal pay for equal work and fair remuneration for an individual’s labour.

Traditional narratives around human rights are that they are a result of the work of international declarations, legislative frameworks and statesmanlike politicians. Unsurprisingly, none of these are true. It’s important to acknowledge that human rights, and particularly the rights of workers, have rarely been gifted to us through benevolent leaders. Rather, they have been won after long fought battles and collective struggle.Continue Reading

GRADUATING WHILST BLACK

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #BlackLivesMatter, #rhodesmustfall, #ueagrad16, BAME, Bangladeshi, black, Black Caribbean, BME, Brexit, discrimination, diversity, education, employment, erasmus, ethnic, european union, Frances O'Grady, grad week, graduate, graduation, graduation week, Institute for Social and Economic Research, job application, job market, Masters, Pakistani, post-university, prejudice, race, rhodes, Trades Unions Congress, TUC, tuition fees, UEA, unemployment, university, women.

by Candice Nembhard

I graduated! I actually graduated. Mortarboard thrown, picture taken, congratulatory conversations with parents and friends and then you hear the dreaded, “What are you doing next?”

It’s not that I have never given much thought to what would come post-university — quite the opposite. The last few months prior to dressing in my cap and gown have been filled with endless job applications, copious redrafts of my CV and looking into Masters programmes both in the UK and elsewhere – I cannot be the only one. I am certain the same can be said of other BAME students whose road to graduate employment is a lot more uncertain and suspiciously taxing.Continue Reading

unemployment

SCROUNGE, BY AMIE M MARIE – REVIEW

by Toby Skelton

NORWICH CITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME TRIAL

By Sean Meleady

IS IT FINALLY TIME FOR AN ANTIGYPSYISM INQUIRY IN THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY?

THE ROAD TO FULLY AUTOMATED LUXURY GAY SPACE COMMUNISM: PART 1

A CYCLE OF FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY – MENTAL HEALTH AND JOBHUNTING

HUMAN RIGHTS — THE PRODUCT OF COLLECTIVE STRUGGLE

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