TWO BILLION BEATS BY SONALI BHATTACHARYYA – REVIEW

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Anoushka Chadha, B.R. Ambedkar, British South Asian, Dalit, featured, Gandhi, history, immigration, islamophobia, left-wing theatre, Leicester, momentum, Orange Tree Theatre, people of colour, racism, representation, review, Safiyya Ingar, school, SOAS, Sonali Bhattacharya, Sylvia Pankhurst, teenagers, theatre, Two Billion Beats, uk, war on terror, young people, youth politics.

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

The presence of South Asian characters in British theatre is not the extreme rarity it once was. Whilst South Asians and people of colour more widely are still hugely underrepresented in theatre – as actors, writers, directors and in storylines – there has undoubtedly been some progress in recent years. What remains less visible, however, is South Asian characters engaging in rich discussions of history in all its complexity, from a questioning, left-wing perspective. If this is not for you, you should probably avoid playwright and Momentum activist Sonali Bhattacharyya’s Two Billion Beats, showing now at London’s Orange Tree Theatre.

LAST WORD FESTIVAL – LAUREATES: CECILIA KNAPP AND ALEXANDRA HUỲNH

Posted on July 30, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged agency, Alexandra Huỳnh, Amanda Gorman, artist, Caroline Bird, Cecilia Knapp, compassion, featured, imposter syndrome, introversion, Kendrick Lamar, language, laureateship, literature, london, music, National Youth Poet Laureate, objectification, online events, poetic form, poetry, poetry education, read women, Roundhouse Poetry Collective, Sacramento, Safia Elhillo, self-care, self-employment, songwriting, Steve Camden, Terrance Hayes, the last word festival, uk, USA, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, Warsan Shire, women, young people, Young People's Laureate.

By Carmina Masoliver

This year’s Last Word Festival at The Roundhouse has been a mixture of online and in-person events. Although I had hoped to be able to attend more events, and accessing the festival hasn’t been easy, it was a pleasure to listen to poets Cecilia Knapp and Alexandra Huỳnh in conversation as I tucked into my dinner at home.

ITALY’S FAR-RIGHT ARE INDOCTRINATING SCHOOL CHILDREN

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Community, Inter|national and tagged Casapound, education, far-right, featured, Fratelli d'Italia, Giorgia Meloni, Italian politics, Italy, Matteo Salvini, neofascism, Northern League, politics, schools, Tor Bella Monaca, young people.

by Alessandra Arpaia

CW: violence

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Italian party Fratelli d’Italia, has recently published a book about her life. One Italian journalist has described the book as the “biography of a leader who has been trying for some time to humanise her public image”. Another called it the “perfect influencer biography”, and a book filled with “pre-made sentences that would look great on Instagram”. Many others have criticised the book for its outright lies. Needless to say, it’s sparked widespread controversy.

BLAME GAME: A GOVERNMENT SCARED OF YOUNG PEOPLE

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged blame, BLM, Boris Johnson, covid, covid19, dominic cummings, eid, exams, featured, government guidlines, movement, NHS, protest, scapegoat, student, uk, young people, youth.

by Howard Green

Since Monday, people living in England are no longer allowed to meet in groups of more than six. Although this is not hugely practical given that many employees and students are being required to return to work and study, these new restrictions show that our incompetent Government is prepared to occasionally act in service of public health rather than into the hands of the free market. But it’s very apparent that these restrictions are aimed at minimising social gatherings amongst young people, who have unjustly been the subject of blame for the recent upsurge in COVID-19 cases.

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.

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.

#NOTENOUGH – UEA’S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #NotEnough, Ayeshah Lalloo, counselling, david richardson, featured, Jess Fairweather, Jonathan Walker, mental health, Nick Sadler, norwich, solidarity, Sophie Smith, stress, Student Support Services, student welfare, students, suicide, Theo Brennan Hulme, UEA, UEA SU, universities, WeWillBeHeard, young people.

By Jess O’Dwyer

Content warning: mentions suicide

Going to university is a challenging time. For many it is their first time away from home with full independence. New students are presented with countless opportunities and choices, many of which will shape and change them as people. For people with mental health issues, however, this challenge is often exacerbated.

2017: THE YEAR OF THE YOUTHQUAKE?

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged activism, agitate, analysis, BES, change, conservatives, corbyn, democracy, demographics, elections, featured, GE17, general election, Ipsos-Mori, Labour, mobilise, momentum, New Statesman, nme, organise, Parliament, Peter Kellner, politics, Prosser et al, statistics, uk, voter turnout, voting, yougov, young people, youth engagement, youth politics, youth turnout, youthquake.

by Bradley Allsop

Youth voter turnout has long been a topic of debate, controversy and worry in British politics. Always below the national average, it has plunged even more than other age-groups’ dovetailing turnout in recent decades, sparking expressions of concern (although comparatively little policy change) from political parties. This seemed to have changed last June, with sites such as Yougov and NME reporting large increases in the youth vote for the 2017 general election, with the figures suggesting the largest rise in youth turnout in British political history.

IT’S OUR ‘YOUTHQUAKE’ – WHAT WILL WE MAKE OF IT?

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged activism, capitalism, collective action, consumerism, corporate power, crisis, democracy, ecological crisis, ecology, economic crisis, economics, elites, featured, future, GE17, government, housing crisis, individualism, inequality, jeremy corbyn, Labour, mental health, momentum, neoliberalism, organise, Oxford Dictionaries, political apathy, political parties, politics, possibility, poverty, snap election, society, technology, tuition fees, uk, wage stagnation, westminster, word of the year, young people, youth culture, youth engagement, youth politics, youth turnout, youthquake.

by Bradley Allsop

Young people can’t catch a break. On the one hand, we’re scolded and ridiculed for our apparent lack of engagement with traditional political institutions, which is generally assumed to be a result of our ‘laziness’ or ‘apathy’, with our disillusionment and distrust with politicians that have continually failed us apparently precluding our ‘right to complain’. On the other hand, when we do engage politically, in those rare moments when we do seek to take an active role in our futures, we’re painted as thuggish, fragile or naïve. In short, the message we continually get is: “engage – but not like that!”

THE TUITION FEE FREEZE – TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged access, austerity, Brexit, child poverty, conservative party, conservative party conference, conservatives, elections, false promises, fox hunting, Free Education, government, help to buy, jeremy corbyn, Labour, less well off, living standards, migration, older people, patronising, politics, prime minister, privatisation, property ladder, repayment threshold, snap election, student debt, student loans, student welfare, students, theresa may, tuition fee freeze, tuition fee rises, tuition fees, voters, voting, young people.

by Laura Potts

As the country continues to languish in the grasp of a Conservative government, and the shadows of brexit and the snap election continue to lengthen, many are left questioning the political standing of this country’s future. This year’s extraordinary general election has made many people feel alienated from their government, especially among the younger generation. Hardly surprising, as the ultimate outcome reflected the voting preferences of their elders, with 58% of 60-69 yr old’s voting conservative while 62% of 20-24 year olds voted labour.

young people

TWO BILLION BEATS BY SONALI BHATTACHARYYA – REVIEW

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

LAST WORD FESTIVAL – LAUREATES: CECILIA KNAPP AND ALEXANDRA HUỲNH

By Carmina Masoliver

ITALY’S FAR-RIGHT ARE INDOCTRINATING SCHOOL CHILDREN

BLAME GAME: A GOVERNMENT SCARED OF YOUNG PEOPLE

by Howard Green

#NOTENOUGH – UEA’S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

2017: THE YEAR OF THE YOUTHQUAKE?

IT’S OUR ‘YOUTHQUAKE’ – WHAT WILL WE MAKE OF IT?

THE TUITION FEE FREEZE – TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

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