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.

CHOOSE YOUR RICH OLD WHITE MAN – AN UNINSPIRING ELECTION

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged barack obama, Bernie Sanders, black lives matter, bolivia, Chile, climate crisis, Covid-19, democracy, democratic party, Donald Trump, Evo Morales, featured, government, Hillary Clinton, ideology, Joe Biden, left wing, MAS-IPSP, Movimiento al Socialismo, patriarchy, politics, Southern Border Wall, US congress, US constitution, US election 2020, US government shutdown, US Politics, US presidential election, US senate, USA.

By Howard Green

Every 4 years, the world’s attention turns to the US presidential election. It is widely seen as the most important election in the world, and it’s hard to argue that it will be any less than that this year. In a time of racial injustice, climate crisis and global pandemic, many in America have been looking for their politicians to put forward an inspiring, achievable vision of the future. Instead they have a choice between an egomaniacal incumbent and a lacklustre opposition.

OUR DEMOCRACY REQUIRES WE MAKE 2017 THE YEAR OF THE EXPERT

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged 2016, 2017, academia, America, american politics, american presidential election, anglo-saxon, arron banks, Boris Johnson, Brexit, british politics, david davis, deliberative democracy, democracy, Donald Trump, education, election, elections, EU, EU ref, EU referendum, Europe, european politics, european union, experts, first world war, gove, higher education, intellect, inter|national, ivan rogers, liam fox, mary beard, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage, participatory democracy, President, society, students, Trump, uk, uk politics, UKIP, universities, university, US, US election, US president, US presidential election, USA.

by Olivia Hanks

All people are of equal value. The same is not true of opinions – and the conflation of the two is leading us down a dark path to ignorance and authoritarian rule.

2016 was not a good year for experts. Michael Gove (that straight-talking man of the people) declared that the British public had “had enough” of them. On the face of it, it seems he was right: in voting to leave the European Union, 17.4 million people defied the advice of specialists in every field from finance to ecology to social cohesion. A few months later, in the best Anglo-Saxon tradition of oneupmanship, the United States voted to be led by a man whose approach to policy is to say things at random and see which gets the biggest cheer.

POST-TRUTH POLITICS AND THE WAR ON INTELLECT

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged american politics, american presidential election, austerity, brendan o'neill, Brexit, british politics, Cameron, class, cuts, david cameron, debt, deficit, Donald Trump, elitism, EU, EU referendum, european politics, european union, fedia buric, george osborne, grantra, intellectualism, international politics, inter|national, media, Michael Gove, politics, pomerantsev, post-truth, putin, SOAS, spiked magazine, the sun, Trump, US election, US president, US presidential election, USA, vladmir putin, vlandislav surkov, working class.

by Robyn Banks

“Does it follow that I reject all authority? Far from me such a thought. In the matter of boots, I refer to the authority of the bootmaker; concerning houses, canals, or railroads, I consult that of the architect or engineer.”- Mikhail Bakunin

There’s a new buzzword in the air. We are now living, it is claimed, in a post-factual or post-truth society, where facts no longer matter to the general public. At face value it seems like a bizarre claim. But while politicians and the media have always lied to the public, if you consider the audacity of the lies of the last decade in contrast to the sheer number of tools available to us to find out the truth, you begin to see the point.Continue Reading

THE NORWICH RADICAL YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community, Inter|national, Perspectives, Student and tagged #noDAPL, #readwomen, #shakespeare400, #standwithJNU, 2016, academies, Amelia Womack, articles, arts, Australia, BDS, Beyonce, biomass, black lives matter, BLM, Brazil, Brexit, canada, caroline lucas, Chris Jarvis, Colombia, comics, Community, conference, cricket, cuba, david bowie, divestment, easter rising, editorial, education, empire, Ende Gelände, energy, erik petersen, EU ref, feminism, football, fossil free, France, gender, Green Party, hate crime, HE, Heathtrow 13, housing, India, international, iraq, israel, Italy, IWD, JNU, Jonathan Bartley, journalism, Leave, LEMONADE, LGBTQIA+, malia bouattia, Marina Prentoulis, meantal health, media, mental health, migration, mischief brew, music, national, Nigeria, norfolk, Norway, norwich, Norwich Radical, NUS, owl sanctuary, Panama Papers, people and planet, Perspectives, Peter Tatchell, poetry, PokemonGO, politics, punk, queer, racism, radical, reclaim the power, refuge, refugee, refugees, Remain, representation, resist, review, round up, SAAC, sadiq khan, school, sexuality, Standing Rock, student, student movement, Syria, the gambia, the Philippines, trans, translation, UEA, UEA SU, uk, university, US, US presidential election, violence, visibility, War of Words, whitewashing, wrestlemania, writing, year in review, Zambia.

by The Norwich Radical

2016 was a bleak year for many. Across the world, the forces of liberty, of social progress, and of environmental justice lost time and again in the face of rising fascism, increased alienation, and intensifying conflict. That notwithstanding, there have been moments of light. In the Austrian Presidential election, the electorate confirmed the independently Green candidate Alexander van der Bellen; the #noDAPL water protectors gained a soft victory in early December; in fact, there is a full list of positives from the past year, if you want cheering up.

2016 saw our team expand to more than 25 writers, editors, and artists as well as host our first ever progressive media conference, War of Words. Our readership has grown from 5,000 per month to more than 6,500 per month. In total, nearly 80,000 people have read content on The Norwich Radical website this year.

In 2017, The Norwich Radical will turn three years old, with plans to grow our team and publication more than ever before. We’ll also be returning to Norwich to bring debate and discussion on the future of the media, with War of Words back for a second year. Continue Reading

AFTER TRUMP AND BREXIT, THE LEFT NEEDS TO REDISCOVER CLASS ANGER

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged anti-establishment, Bernie Sanders, Boris Johnson, Brexit, british politics, class, corbyn, Donald Trump, economics, economy, election, elections, elite, establishment, EU, EU ref, EU referendum, Europe, European Parliament, european politics, european union, Hilary Clinton, inequality, international, international politics, jeremy corbyn, joan williams, Labour, labour party, middle class, referendum, Trump, US election, US president, US presidential election, USA, wealth, working class, xenophobia.

By Robyn Banks

I’m in the break room at work choking on my out of date sandwich. I’ve just been informed by two of my colleagues- good, down to earth working class people who probably think I bang on about my degree too much- that Boris Johnson is a “lad”, and I have no idea what to say. But none of us have any money, I want to shout. And he wants us to have less! Before I can respond, the conversation moves on to laughing about his hair, which is much more tolerable. Later, as I complain about Trumps victory, I am told that all I want is for “everyone to sit in a circle and hold hands”.

US ELECTIONS: WHAT WENT WRONG?

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged anti-establishment, barack obama, Bernie Sanders, bias, Brexit, Clinton, CNN, conservative, democrat, Donald Trump, Drumpf, election, elite, establishment, fox news, Hillary Clinton, house, immigration, justice, lgbtQ+, media, minorities, MSM, neo-con, policies, polls, POTUS, republican, Senate, Supreme Court, taxes, Trump, Trumpwins, US president, US presidential election, wall.

by Gunnar Eigener

The victory of Donald Trump to become the 45th President of the United States has shocked and dumbfounded many. What does it say about the state of politics when the first female major party presidential candidate – who was, by far, the most technically qualified – is defeated by a man who has never held any political office? Continue Reading

US ELECTIONS: A NEW STATE OF POLITICS

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Bernie Sanders, campaign, democrat, demographic, DNC, Donald Trump, election, Hillary Clinton, media, personality, politics, republican, US, US presidential election, USA, wall street, White House.

by Gunnar Eigener

Whatever the result of the upcoming US elections, it will be remembered for being a particularly nasty campaign and for raising the shadow of far-right politics in parallel with Europe. The likely, and predicted, winner is Hillary Clinton — although more for being the lesser of two evils rather than a preferable option. The sheer lunacy of Donald Trump’s policies should have Clinton leading by a country mile but this is not the case. So what has happened and what does the future hold for US, and global, politics?Continue Reading

THERE’S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT — CHECKING IN WITH ITALY

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #BastaUnSì, #IoVotoNo, Beppe Grillo, Berlusconi, Brexit, Camera dei Deputati, Colombia, constitution, daesh, EU, Europe, FARC deal, Gustavo Zagrebelsky, international politics, iraq, Italian politics, Italians, Italy, Lybia, Maria Elena Boschi, Matteo Renzi, media, Movimento 5 Stelle, PD, politics, proposed bill, referendum, representation, Republic, rise of the right, satire, Senato della Repubblica, Syria, Trump, US presidential election.

by Alex Valente

It feels like the international landscape of politics is readying itself for some massive shift, in the geological, tectonic plate sense. We’ve had the rightwing rising across European countries, from Hungary to France, via the UK and Austria, to name a few. We have the constant shitshow that is the US presidential election campaign. We have the war stages of Syria, Lybia, Iraq, with Daesh’s fluctuating relevance and interference. We have the stifling of oppositions and minorities across India, Hungary, Turkey. We could go on.

So what is Italy up to, in all this joyous mess? Italy which is, I’ll remind you, the inadvertent (except for all things geographical) front stage for the Mediterranean migration fluxes, one of the minor players in the EU’s whatever-it-is-it’s-doing-right-now, and trying so very hard to stay internationally relevant — as it has been strenuously doing for the past however many years.Continue Reading

FANNING THE FLAMES OF WAR IN SYRIA

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged barack obama, Bashar al-Assad, burkini, Hilary Clinton, Iran, ISIS, Islam, islamophobia, Julian Assange, Lebanon, Libya, middle east, nuclear, oil, Ottoman Empire, Saudi Arabia, Syria, terrorism, turkey, US, US presidential election, war, WikiLeaks.

By Faizal Nor Izham

While Islamophobia continues to run rampant on the streets of Europe, one critical aspect that tends to be overlooked by the mainstream media when it comes to the Western world’s relationship with the Middle East is the steady stream of armed aid the former provides to pro-Western regimes in the latter. Understanding the main source of grievances in the Arab world may offer us a clue as to why there is so much tension stemming from the Middle East today. For example, it’s no secret that the British government has for a long time been highly complicit in its arms dealings with Sunni Saudi Arabia, often used by the oil-rich kingdom to exterminate Shi’ite Houthi rebels in Yemen. And even more recently, leaked emails from Hillary Clinton also indicate that she is fully supportive of fanning the flames in Syria even further through the export of arms to extremist groups such as ISIS.

US presidential election

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

By Howard Green

CHOOSE YOUR RICH OLD WHITE MAN – AN UNINSPIRING ELECTION

By Howard Green

OUR DEMOCRACY REQUIRES WE MAKE 2017 THE YEAR OF THE EXPERT

POST-TRUTH POLITICS AND THE WAR ON INTELLECT

THE NORWICH RADICAL YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

AFTER TRUMP AND BREXIT, THE LEFT NEEDS TO REDISCOVER CLASS ANGER

US ELECTIONS: WHAT WENT WRONG?

US ELECTIONS: A NEW STATE OF POLITICS

THERE’S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT — CHECKING IN WITH ITALY

FANNING THE FLAMES OF WAR IN SYRIA

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