Tag: Politics

Marxism 2015 3: Accommodation and Day Two

A personal account of day 2 of Marxism 2015.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this, my third post about Marxism 2015, the five-day political festival hosted by the Socialist Workers Party at the Institute of Education in London. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be inspired to share it.

ACCOMMODATION

I was booked to stay with somebody in Walthamstow, and although their house is not close to a tube station, it would nor amlly have been easy to get there. However, the tube strike meant that we had to go by bus to Clapton and get a London Overground service to Wood Street. In the heavy traffic generated by the tube strike this took considerable time. Getting in the following morning was easier, but I failed to allow enough time (a very rare occurrence) and arrived a little late for the first meeting…

AT THE EVENT

Here is a photo of my timetable for the day in question, showing the meetings I decided to attend…

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All of these meetings were magnificent, but I am going to concentrate for photos on the first two, and for most of my text on the third.

Here then are some photos from the first meeting, and fascinating stuff it was too, with a convincing demonstration of egalitarianism in early human history…

Anatolia.
Anatolia.
Catalhoyuk
Catalhoyuk
Cayonu
Cayonu

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These reconstructions are wrong in one respect - the houses had neither windows nor doors, being approached through the roof, with most of daily life taking place on said rooftops (there being no roads).
These reconstructions are wrong in one respect – the houses had neither windows nor doors, being approached through the roof, with most of daily life taking place on said rooftops (there being no roads).

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A mother goddess from these ancient remains.
A mother goddess from these ancient remains.
A 19th century South American village on similar lines.
A 19th century South American village on similar lines.

For the second meeting I attended that day on Mental Health, photos really can tell most of the story…

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Another connection to where I grew up - Jeremy from Streatham talking about the Mental Health Charter.
Another connection to where I grew up – Jeremy from Streatham talking about the Mental Health Charter.
Jo from London tells of family memories of living near a mental hospital (When we first moved to London there was exactly such an institution within a few minutes walk of our home)
Jo from London tells of family memories of living near a mental hospital (When we first moved to London there was exactly such an institution within a few minutes walk of our home)

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This picture adorns one wall of the Elvin Hall where the meeting took place.
This picture adorns one wall of the Elvin Hall where the meeting took place.

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Susan gives her opening talk on Mental Illness: A Disorder of Capitalism.
Susan gives her opening talk on Mental Illness: A Disorder of Capitalism.
The feature image for this post.
The feature image for this post.

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A GERMAN-CENTRIC TAKE ON CLASSICAL MUSIC

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this meeting I was a little disappointed that it was so dominated by German and Austrian composers, with only brief mentions of the Italians (my favourites). Before moving any further I must pay tribute to Siobhan from East London who stepped in at the twelfth hour when the person who should have been chairing the meeting could not be located, and did an excellent job…

Siobhan from East London who stepped in as chair at the twelfth hour.
Siobhan from East London who stepped in as chair at the twelfth hour.

Although as I have said I would have preferred more credit to be given the Italian composers, I did enjoy this meeting, and overall Sabby Sagall acquitted himself well in slightly testing circumstances…

Sabby Sagall speaking about Classical Music.
Sabby Sagall speaking about Classical Music.

I will finish this post with a few pictures from later in the day…

Mark L Thomas addresses a packed house on "Are the Greens a Left Alternative?"
Mark L Thomas addresses a packed house on “Are the Greens a Left Alternative?”
Shahrar Ali, leading Green, offers constructive comment from the floor.
Shahrar Ali, leading Green, offers constructive comment from the floor.
Sarah Creagh introduces "Rosa Luxemburg and the German Revolution"
Sarah Creagh introduces “Rosa Luxemburg and the German Revolution”
A moment of whimsy -a close up shot of on of Sarah Creagh's earrings.
A moment of whimsy -a close up shot of on of Sarah Creagh’s earrings.
Blackhorse Road Station, from where a 123 bus gets to the end of the road on which I was staying, by night (definitely the best time to see it!)
Blackhorse Road Station, from where a 123 bus gets to the end of the road on which I was staying, by night (definitely the best time to see it!)

Marxism 2015 1: Getting There and The First Couple of Meetings

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my first blog post about Marxism 2015, a five day political festival taking place in Central London. In this post I will be covering the journey down, and the very start of the event. The way the event works (at present) is that there are two sessions on the Thursday afternoon before the Opening Rally on Thursday evening (which will have a post to itself), then three full days (Fri, Sat, Sun), before two sessions on Monday morning and the final rally at 2PM on Monday.

GETTING THERE

Following the advice contained in Sutcliffe’s first law of travelling by public transport I selected the 10:56 train, which arrived at King’s Cross bang on time at 12:38, giving me oodles of time to walk to the Institute of Education (where the event is happening), deposit my larger bag in the left luggage room, eat my sandwich and locate the venue of my first meeting.

THE FIRST MEETING: GENDER AND SEXUALITY

This meeting which took place in Clarke Hall was bedevilled by technical problems but nevertheless a very fine meeting. Just some of the things covered were Istanbul Pride (over 100,000 last year, attacked by riot police this year), the votes for gay marriage in Ireland and the USA, and two high profile transgender cases, Kelly Maloney (who was formerly boxing promoter Frank Maloney) and Caitlyn Jenner (formerly 1976 Olympic gold medal decathlon winner Bruce Jenner).

It also introduced me to an acronym: TERF which stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. The example cited was Janice Raymond.

Before moving on to the second meeting, here are some photos from these early stages of the event…

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Our main speaker at this meeting, Laura Miles.
Our main speaker at this meeting, Laura Miles.

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MEETING 2: ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND SECULAR STAGNATION

i went to this meeting after a last minute change of heart, and regretted the decision. Although there were some points of interest, it was the one meeting I have been at so far (near the end of Saturday) that I did not particularly enjoy. However, I have some photographs…

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Andrew Kliman, main speaker at the second meeting I attended.
Andrew Kliman, main speaker at the second meeting I attended.

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General Election and Other Stuff

As is now usual with my posts I will be starting with some links for you to follow before moving on to the main meat.

LINKS

http://blog.autism-mom.com/2015/03/the-one-thing/

https://twitter.com/LabourEoin/status/581869391802982401/photo/1

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ending-foodbank-britain-labours-5-point-5394101

https://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/university-a-free-not-a-safe-space/

https://dankeeling1.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/our-unfair-society-and-cavemen/

https://a6er.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/tories-may-not-reveal-details-of-12bn-welfare-cuts-until-after-election-politics-the-guardian/

https://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/current-benefit-sanctions-policy-is-bonkers-says-workfare-industrys-top-spokesperson/ A devastating indictment of the current benefit sanctions policy.

https://thepoorsideoflife.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/single-parent-attend-the-jobcentre-and-get-referred-to-social-services-as-a-troubled-family-new-trial-at-ashton-jobcentre/ Britain;s worst jobcentre strikes again.

http://edgeofhumanity.com/2015/01/28/faces-africa/

http://politicalscrapbook.net/2015/03/leaflet-claims-former-tory-minister-is-a-socialist-chloe-smith/ Tory desperation in the fine city of Norwich.

https://notesfromthenorth75.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/uk-general-election-2015-from-dissolution-onwards/

http://charlottehoatherblog.com/2015/03/29/interview-with-george-todica-pianist A singer interviews a pianist…

http://blog.autism-mom.com/2015/03/there-if-he-needs-it/

http://autisticeyes.com/?p=1085

http://autisticeyes.com/?p=1078

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukips-energy-spokesman-an-idiot-after-urging-people-to-turn-all-their-lights-on-for-earth-hour-10142008.html Just another example of UKIP at their hilarious worst.

http://autism.ehoow.net/?p=115

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Good-Friend-to-Some-One-Who-Has-Asperger%27s-Syndrome

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/katie-hopkins-reported-to-the-police-for-race-hatred-by-labour-mp-simon-danczuk-after-tweet-about-pakistani-men-10142833.html?dkdk A legendary troll getting her come-uppance.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/29/lgbt-wellness-march-27_n_6959078.html

http://www.visitnorfolk.co.uk/inspire/Norfolk-great-sights.aspx Some quality images of Norfolk here.

http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/ A campaign website.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-southwark-woods The petition to save Southwark Woods.

http://www.scoop.it/t/autism-by-autism-daily-newscast

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/cameron-and-miliband-should-have-faith-in-their-bolder-policies-10142312.html The Independent on the election.

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/03/30/election-choice-isnt-as-stark-as-david-cameron-wants-you-to-think/ Vox Political on the election.

http://wfdrc.tumblr.com/ The online hub of a campaign to save a vital resource for disabled people in the Waltham Forest area.

The first set of pics from today…

Mike Rosen's name on the cover of a book is generally good sign, and this book is even better than that suggests.
Mike Rosen’s name on the cover of a book is generally good sign, and this book is even better than that suggests.

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GENERAL ELECTION 2015

While I thoroughly understand and respect those who wish to vote for a left-wing alternative to labour, I urge care. By voting for a small left-wing organisation you may just end up helping the tories. In my own constituency I am faced with only two remotely palatable choices, labour or green. The fact that labour have selected an excellent candidate in Jo Rust, and the fact the only time this seat has been occupied by anyone other than Henry Bellingham since 1983 was between 1997 and 2001 when labour held it have been sufficient to sway me. I will vote labour and I will do so with a song in my heart, and I want to see a huge turnout at the ballot-boxes in King’s Lynn because that is how we will do our part to ensure that we are not saddled with another five years of Cameron and his cronies.

Here in plain text is my personal voting history in general elections…

MY GENERAL ELECTION VOTING HISTORY

  • 1997: Labour and celebrated long and hard as the government that had been in power all my conscious life was finally booted out.
  • 2001: Socialist Alliance – I was in a rock-solid labour seat at the time and could afford to vote to the left by way of protest.
  • 2005: Respect – see above
  • 2010: Liberal Democrats – my worst ever mistake in a general election, but at the time it seemed sensible. The labour candidate who had been parachuted in from Leicester then torpedoed his own credibility with a speed to rival that of a Ukipper and the only other possibility to unseat the sitting Tory was the one I voted for. Five years of betrayals later I can say with certainty that I will NEVER make that mistake again.
  • 2015: Labour – with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. We have an excellent candidate in Jo Rust, labour took this seat in 1997 (the only period since 1983 when the MP has been other than Henry Bellingham) and can therefore do so again.

Having reached this stage you deserve some more pictures…

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Another vote that will be settled on May 7th - that for Britain's national bird. Here is my candidate.
Another vote that will be settled on May 7th – that for Britain’s national bird. Here is my candidate.

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Imaging, Database, the-saleroom.com New Style and Some Thoughts on GE2015

There is a natural split in this post between the first three aspects and the fourth, and this will be accentuated by placement of pictures.

Among the various things I have been doing over the last couple of days are producing and uploading the last few images for the January auction (this Wednesday, starting at 10AM, Fakenham Racecourse or online via http://www.the-saleroom.com), and working on the database.

The process for adding new images to an online catalogue on the-saleroom.com has been greatly simplified. Where previously one had to email or wetransfer late images and hope that they got uploaded, one now has the capacity to edit directly, including replacing images. The process can be done by clicking and dragging from the folder in which your images are stored at your end into the space for images on the-saleroom.com. Personally I found the new system a joy to use. Now to mark the change of tack in this post here are some of those images…

25 ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? 90 90a 90b 130 ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? 387On the subject of the rest of this post, the forthcoming General Election, one should first of all remember that it is not one single contest, but 650 separate contests, each decided on a first past the post basis. The second point is that for everyone except the rich another five years of Cameron as PM will be an absolute, unmitigated disaster. Fortunately, I am saved any great difficulty in my own constituency by the fact that the only candidate with any sort of chance of dislodging the current Tory MP happens to be someone I would be happy to vote for anyway. Jo Rust (Labour) is a Unison Rep, was involved in the successful campaign against the Saddlebow incinerator, was one of those who helped We Are Norwich to make the EDL feel as small and insignificant as they were. The contrast between the incumbent and the challenger is particularly marked when it comes to the NHS – Unison Rep versus shareholder in one of the companies who stand to benefit from the carve up of the NHS. If you are in Northwest Norfolk and want to see the back of the Tories make sure that on election day you get to the polling station and vote for Jo Rust.

A couple more images to finish off – these are of lot 778, which will probably go under the hammer at approximately 2:30PM on Wednesday.

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