Reclaiming History: A new project to support in the age of culture wars and censorship.

 

“History is always about context, not imposing our own moral values on the past.” Zareer Masani

If one thing has begun to characterise the ideological conflict we we are going through in the current period it's censorship. More to the point it's becoming self-censorship and conforming to the latest demands of the new ideologues who make unchangeable statements and demands. Each of their latest pronunciations is not open for debate. Their views are not to be challenged.

The most obvious area that this development has taken place is seen by the rise of trans-ideology which refuses to knowledge even the most minor criticism. Either you are with them or you are the enemy. The TERF, the bigot and face on-line denunciation and cancellation in  the style of Mao's Red Guard.

However the problem does not stop there. In  The Spectator   Robert Tombs writes an essay that compares the modern notion of "wokeness" to that of Marxist determinism. 

An incautious word, however innocuous or indeed sensible it might seem to most people, can wreck a career. As when the Communists ruled the roost, producing evidence for your opinions is not a defence: being right increases your guilt by making your challenge to orthodoxy more flagrant and dangerous. What was then ‘bourgeois objectivity’ is now ‘white fragility’ or ‘colonialist rationality’. Now, as then, dissent is to be suppressed: by no-platforming, censorship, intimidation, dismissal, even threats and actual violence."

A group of noted historians have begun to fight back against the politically motivated desire to rewrite history to fit the new ideology. Hardly new, The Nazi's and Communists both did so to suit their aims and burned books and hunted down dissidents and elements that would not conform. 

A new website History Reclaimed has been established by these historians with the following mission statement:

The abuse of history for political purposes is as old as history itself. In recent years, we have seen campaigns to rewrite the histories of Western democracies so as to undermine their solidarity as communities, their sense of achievement, even their basic legitimacy. There have been calls to abolish national days in Canada and Australia, and both countries have been accused of being founded on genocide. Slavery—despite being almost universal until the early 19th century—is cast as the original sin of Britain and the United States, supposedly shaping their societies and creating their prosperity. Figures central to their histories are stigmatised as racists or for having connections, however distant, with slavery. Calls for massive reparations are being heard.

These ‘culture wars’ seem to be aimed squarely at demoralizing Western countries. They are being pursued in the media, in public spaces, in museums, universities, schools, civil services, local government, business corporations and even churches. Whether to ward off criticism or to gain advantage, institutions have rushed to embrace the most negative interpretations of their own countries’ histories.

Activists sometimes assert that ‘facing up’ to a past they present as overwhelmingly and permanently shameful is the path to a better and more ‘inclusive’ future. But the real effect—perhaps the true aim—of their actions is nihilistic destruction. Tendentious and even blatantly false readings of history are creating divisions, resentments, and even violence. This is damaging to democracy and to a free society.

Free societies depend on popular participation, trust and solidarity. They need a sense of common purpose and self-worth. A shared history is a necessary foundation for a successful democracy.

We do not take the view that our histories are uniformly praiseworthy—that would be absurd. But we reject as equally absurd the corrosive claim that they are essentially shameful. We agree that history consists of many opinions and many voices. But this does not mean that all opinions are valid, and certainly none should be imposed as a new orthodoxy.

We are an independent group of scholars from seven countries and several ethnicities with a wide range of opinions on many subjects, but with the shared conviction that history requires careful interpretation of complex evidence, and should not be a vehicle for facile propaganda. We intend to provide context, explanation and balance in a debate in which condemnation is too often preferred to understanding.

We aim to inform and support individuals and institutions who feel uncertain in the face of the culture wars. We have begun by bringing together on this website a wealth of writing on contested issues in history, and we will continue to produce a stream of new writing which will both set the agenda for historical debate, and call out fake history.

Website: History Reclaimed

Rinchen Kyi, a Tibetan teacher, needs your help!

On 1st August, Rinchen Kyi, a teacher from eastern Tibet, was taken from her home and arrested by Chinese authorities. With no recognisable crime, the only assumption can be that she was arrested for teaching at a Tibetan language school.

Following her arrest, Rinchen Kyi was taken to Xining, then transferred to an undisclosed location two days later. She has now disappeared.

Rinchen’s husband and 13-year-old daughter have not been told where she is being held. They have not been told when she is coming back. They have not been given any updates on her current health.

Free Tibet demands Rinchen Kyi's immediate and unconditional release

We are calling on you, our supporters, to email authorities in Qinghai Province and your local Chinese embassy with this demand.

Stand up for Rinchen

Previous successes show that numbers matter. Every email sent increases the pressure on Chinese authorities and is another step closer to the release of a political prisoner. Please spare just two minutes today to stand up for Rinchen and her family.

Your support makes a real difference to the lives of political prisoners in Tibet. International pressure can lead to the release of prisoners, improved conditions and gives political prisoners strength.

We will not rest until Rinchen Kyi returns safely home to be with her family. Join us in demanding her immediate release.

Free Tibet Website: freetibet.org

Musical Influences - Enter the Dutch

During the seventies a number of Dutch bands came onto the British scene. Probably the first I recall was Shocking Blue with their one and only hit single Venus (later covered by Bananarama in an almost unrecognisable form) but there were three other bands that developed a fomwing in the Prog Rock World.

First up would be Focus and their single Hocus Pocus which made yodelling mainstream though they had another memorable hit in the form of Sylvia. With limited pocket money I only ever had their Focus III double album and a couple of singles. 

Focus hit the charts in the UK in 1971 with the number 2 hit album Moving Waves and last charted in 1975 with Mother Focus which reached number 23,

Also around were Alquin whose album Marks was the first and only album I purchased of the four that they released between 1972 and 1976 .Their music is worth a listen even if they failed to hit the charts in the UK as far as I recall.

Last up is Golden Earring who are best remembered for their signature tune Radar Love which is a terrific piece of music though it was their only hit single in the UK reaching number 7 in 1973. Suprisingly this group was actually founded in 1961 as the Golden Earrings, though they eventually dropped the "s".

Focus - Hocus Pocus on the Old Grey Whistle Test (1973)

Alquin -  Dance on the Old Grey Whistle Test (1974)

Golden Earring- Radar Love (1973)

Will Sharon Graham lead Unite back on the path to working for it's members rather than the ideologues?

 

The result of the General Secretary election has come as a surprise to most observers who foresaw either Turner inheriting his mentor Len McCluskey's crown or the top leftist candidates splitting the vote and allowing mainstream pro-Starmer candidate Gerard Coyne to slip in and win as he was only 4% behind last time round.

The actual votes were as follows:

Sharon Graham - 46,696 (37.7%)

Steve Turner - 41,833 (33.8%)

Gerard Coyne -35,334 (28.5%)

Turnout -123,866 (out of aprox 1.4 Million members)

As someone who supported Coyne the result is disappointing however it would seem that there is possibly something to be gained in that the BBC reports:

"As general secretary, I will put all the power of our union into defending their jobs, improving their pay and protecting their rights."

As the former head of Unite's Organising and Leverage Department, she led recent disputes at British Airways and Crossrail as well as campaigning to unionise Amazon.

She says her focus will continue to be on workplace rights rather than internal Labour party politics or "settling old scores" at Westminster.

Sharon Graham was backed by a number of hard left organisations including the Socialist Workers Party  and the Socialist Party (Militant) which was why I amongst many others had ruled her out as a possibility. However if as she says she will stay out interfering too much in Labour affairs this could be to Starmer's advantage.

A trade unions activities should always be geared towards acting directly for it's members. Unions are not political parties and will contain members from right across the political spectrum. The hard left have always abused this even in those unions like PCS which are not affiliated to the Labour Party.

I am prepared to give Sharon Graham the benefit of the doubt though I do hope she heeds the words of Labour Against Antisemitism  who have issued the following statement: 

Euan Philipps, spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism, said:

“LAAS congratulates Sharon Graham on her election as General Secretary of Unite the Union.

During her campaign Ms Graham was clear that as General Secretary of one of the UK’’s largest unions she would avoid interfering in the running of the Labour Party. We trust Ms Graham will be true to her word and allow Keir Starmer and the Labour Party leadership a free hand to undertake the large reforms required to effectively tackle antisemitism.

We also hope Ms Graham will look to the concerning evidence of widespread antisemitism in her own organisation and begin reforms to tackle anti-Jewish racism there.”

"I am a free man not a number"

Photo: Wiki: Fair Use

From the sixties TV show The Prisoner comes the famous declaration that Number Six is a man with the right to be free both physically and literally from a world of oppression. It is one of the most important, if fictional declaration of the individual.

This was a time when there was hope that the world could be free, that the individual mattered and free thought would survive. The war against fascism had been won but the conflict between the free world and communism continued util the late eighties when the Soviet empire finally collapsed. 

However history does not end there.

Today we still face threats to our individual freedom and there are within our society those who would still take it away ranging from the hard left, so-called anti-imperialism and of course the rise of Islamism in it's various forms.

For a long time I have as both a trade unionist and a retired individual attempted to oppose the rise of these ideologues starting in the PCS union used and manipulated by the far left as they turned the union from being a "representative" organisation for it's members into being an "activists" union. The members would be told what to do, not asked as the vanguard knew better.

This extended into the Labour Party with the rise of Corbynism an authoritarian, hard-line movement that tolerated no decent. You were either with them or some kind of Tory or Jew. The rise of antisemtism  grew inside this new movement. They would defend any minority any ethnicity except the Jews.

 

For them the destruction of Israel was central to their overarching desire to see "Western Capitalism" collapse and in that process use the Islamic world as an ally in their march towards the socialist utopia. The Zionists were in the way. Their rights to self-determination the sole exception to their rule.

To their credit a few stood against this racist trend yet still supported Corbyn frankly making their assistance against antisemitism useless. 

Corbynism was a totally corrupted political trend full of bullies both on line and in meetings. People like the General Secretary of the ever declining PCS Union Mark Serwotka joined Labour to purge and deselect any and all who would not bend to their agenda.

Many like myself who despite not being members had urged for a Labour vote were driven away. Ultimately the Corbyn bubble burst but Labour was left emasculated from it's former self. No more "broad church". There are now at least two parties in one struggling for hegemony. 

Currently the party is expelling members of the parasitic Socialist Appeal (Militant) group and the antisemites and their enablers in misnamed groups like Labour Against the Witch Hunt. The charlatan Ken Loach is out as is Graham Bash of Labour Briefing & partner of the vile Walker woman who was kicked out under even Corbyn's watch as her views and behaviour were that unacceptable inside the Party. 

Now I hear Pete Firmin a former member of the International Marxist Group (IMG) is also out. Another so-called socialist who fell down the rabbit hole of Corbyism. 

There are those who continue to defend these people including so may who even deny the existence of antisemitism inside the Labour Party.

All this plus the growth of misogyny from the identitarian , gender and trans-movements leading to attacks o feminists ad the no-platforming of women like Germaine Greer, the rape and death threats against JK Rowling further make me fear for the future.

The final straw for me is the fall of Afghanistan. The left talk about the defeat of Western Imperialism rather than the victory of stone age Islam(ism) large numbers even rubbing their hands in glee. They are the quislings in our midst who would try to disarm us in the face of adversity and proof of that was seen as Stop the War leaders told the Kurds not to accept US weapons.

One harridan in PCS accused me of "war-mongering" for demanding we assisted the Kurds and Yazidi's against ISIS and sought to get my post removed from the PCS Facebook Page. She didn't see this as censorship, just "anti-war". 

Meanwhile the Yazidi's were raped and murdered. 

Even now former PCS fixer John McInally considers me a "right-wing, reactionary pro-imperialist" (which I don't see as an insult rather a compliment) while fellow blogger Andrew Coates (after a heated discussion with his leftist friends) says "he does not see the point" of me while some of his mates think any opposition them is trolling. 

Ideology trumps the individual human being with these shysters. We just don't count. That's why the gulags the purges, executions and mass murders have taken place everywhere these Marxists have had power.

Well I've got news for you. despite my particularly limited physical ability to get involved I will do whatever I can to fight against these people who are so obviously intolerant of the individuals right to differ from their world view.

The hard left, the anti-imperialists, the identity politics charlatans and the Islamists are the enemy of us all. It's time to stand up to them and their nonsense. The buck stops here!

Musical Influences: Deep Purple

Deep Purple were formed in 1968 a few years before I was old enough to appreciate the rock music scene but as soon as I heard Machine Head in 1972 I never looked back and over the years have remained a fan even as the line-up changed.

The band released some classic albums in the seventies including Fireball, Machine Head, Burn ad probably the best ever live album ever recorded Made In Japan which gets a spin on the turntable to this day.

I've posted three of their classic numbers for you to listen to as their music speaks for themselves.

Website: deeppurple.com

The Spartacist League: An overview of left-wing cultism

The following article was brought to my attention on Facebook by Andrew Coates who produces an interesting and informative blog that covers left-wing politics. Although short and not really telling observers much new it is the discussion between ex-members that really needs to absorbed. Some of the information provided is highly disturbing.

Notes From The Underground:

Whatever happened to the Spartacist League


Comment: 

What's interesting about this post is not the article itself which doesn't really tell me much I didn't know or could have guessed but the discussion between Steele and Creegan. It never fails to amaze me how ostensibly intelligent people can get dragged into what was/is (politics aside) just a classic cult. The fact that Trotskyist politics became used in this way is indicative of so much of the Marxist movement. It goes all the way back to the beginning.

The desire by revolutionaries to be "top dog". The abuse of power by those who achieved it is reflected in the antics of those who try to follow in the foot steps of the various "messiahs" of Marxism. From Stalin to Healy there is a common pattern which repeats itself from fairly mild forms to the extremes as appears to have been the case with the Sparts.

In so many ways the left does reflect the Life Of Brian which was what was to a large extent motivated John Cleese. Even recently the cult behaviour was resurrected in the Corbyn movement. So many people still write about him on line as if his appearance on the scene was something sacred and he was faultless. It was..the press, the Zionists. the right wing. Anything but seeing faults within him or themselves. All fascinating behaviour but not wanted or needed in the real world thanks.

Antisemitism in the Peace and Justice Project (Campaign Central)

 

Most political activists will be aware that the Great leader Jeremy Corbyn launched  his Peace and Justice Campaign to wild adoration from his assembled acolytes and disciples. It's website and Facebook group contains all the usual drivel about imperialism and how the Western democracies threaten world peace.

You know the score. Russian bombs don't kill only British and American ones do. We should back the call by Stop the War Campaign (run by Iranian lickspittles Lindsey German and John Rees) to pay reparations to the Taliban murderers as they literally exterminate women's rights and kill all potential opposition. These people really do have an unpleasant view of the world.

However what you might not know is there is an unofficial Facebook Page run by a small coterie of individuals including Christine Flight and Che Marguerite (a woman not a bloke before you ask). They have some interesting rules which one wouldn't expect to find on a left wing site where racism of all kinds would not be expected..except they do and warn about guess who:

"We're very friendly with a lot of awesome red members but...this group is PUBLIC. You CANNOT make, or even risk, Racist or Antisemitic comments here. Both for your own protection and for Jeremy's. You will be politely warned once, then removed. Obviously don't use the J-word loosely or talk about Israel, or Israeli’s when you mean the Israeli Government. #BDS your posts remain your own, not JC's or the Groups. Be Careful." 

J-word? They couldn't mean (shock, horror) Jews by any chance could they. Can't risk mentioning the Jews. Juden Verbotten!

Except you don't have to go far to find clear antisemitism as this comment came up very quickly:

Cherry Anne Tickle: The Tories are trying to blacken Mr, Corbyns name ,that you will never do,go back and stay with your Conservatives or Israelites maybe!

"Israelites". A historical term that refers to Jews.

That seems to have passed the Admins by....

  
Careless and indicative of the true face of left-wing Corbynism. A movement riddled with antisemitism .

Biden, Chamberlain and the left: appeasers of tyranny

The shock of the Taliban's victory in Afghanistan leaves a cold feeling inside not just me but millions of others around the world. Already the executions and violations of human rights have begun in earnest. 

The so-called socialist left has almost without exception celebrated the defeat of what it calls "Western Imperialism" claiming it was the Americans and the West who are the real enemy.

Tell that to the fleeing Afghans. 

Tell that to the women who will be forced back into total subservience.

Tell that to the female Mayor of Kabul who said she awaited her fate.

The rise of religious fascism will not end here. ISIS has lost one caliphate it is building elsewhere. In Mozambique, in Sub-Saharan Africa. Al Queda remains a threat as do the the terrorists of Hezbollah armed to the teeth in the failed state of Lebanon by Iranian clerics who seek hegemony in the Muslim world.

The there's the war in Yemen. The left blame the West yet it is the Iranians who started this conflict and armed the Houthi.

There was the war in Syria where the left only protested about Western bombs as if the Russian ones killed and maimed no one whilst propping up Assad's vicious dictatorship.

Religious fascism in the form of Islamism has scored yet another victory against the ever weakening democracies. The enemy without is joined by the enemy within. Not just Islamists but those that cover them like the various left-wig sects who seek to destroy our democratic way of life and think the defeat of the West by deranged Jihadists will hep their cause.

If our freedoms are to survive then the time has come to stand up to the Islamists and the so-called left both at home and abroad.

The left have shown that do not care one jot about ordinary people. They parasitically adopt issues to further their own cause. They cynically use race, religion, asylum seekers, refugees, antisemitism and whatever else they can get their claws into to undermine and divide. In this they are no better than the fascists

If our freedoms are to survive then the time has come to stand up to the Islamists and the so-called left both at home and abroad.

____________________

Meanwhile President Biden will join Chamberlain as one of history's worst appeasers. 

Satire meets reality........

Musical Influences - Genesis

Genesis were one of the earliest bands I got into starting with Selling England By The Pound and Genesis Live very quickly after grabbing a couple of albums from their back catalogue all of which are now considered classics of the Prog Rock Genre.

The band are not to everybodies tastes as I became aware especially after they drifted into the world of popular music, though for the most part I continued to follow them for a long time. However the influence that Genesis had on me was very much only up to their double concept album, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

It was this song that brought  to my attention when I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) entered the charts in 1973. Love the lyrics....

Peter Gabriel was a great front-man for Genesis, though this led to jealousies with the other members of This track from Genesis Live, The Knife was originally from the LP Trespass.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway was the last album from their classic years and remains a favourite to this day though my vinyl copy purchased in my schooldays really does need replacing with a CD!

"The billionaires are the government and they are Israel"

If anyone needs reminding how inherently antisemitic & conspiracy theory led the Corbynites were and remain even without their Messiah I offer you this. 

Note the first two lines.

And then see how only the democratic West gets the blame. Russia, China & Iran are always let off the hook. 

Does anyone remember the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign?

 

Back in the early eighties during the Thatcher years I recall a whole umber of different campaigns that we (that is the "left") used to go o demos protesting about. El Salvador, South Africa and Nicaragua backing the Sandinistas if I recall correctly. 

There was certainly a more internationalist approach by the left than today where the obsession with the Israel/Palestine conflict to all else has led to the rise of an antisemitic left*. But I digress, well sort of. Do you remember the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign?

I do. Had the t-shirt, mug, various badges, pamphlets and went on a few demonstrations. It was a big campaign supported by the unions, the Labour Party and the left almost without question. Today we hear very little about it ever sice the "right side" that is the left "won".

Daniel Ortega was the hero of so many of us as he fought the oppressive US backed regime ad set up a new socialist future. Yet today even Beauty Queens are not safe from him and his wife who both have every intention of hanging onto power at all costs.

As elections approach The Guardian reports:

For months Ortega’s government has been detaining political adversaries, including presidential hopefuls, ahead of an election in which the former Marxist guerrilla and cold war antagonist of Washington will be running for a fourth consecutive term.

Berenice Quezada, who was Miss Nicaragua 2017, was detained at her home late on Tuesday night and placed under house arrest, the Citizens Alliance for Liberty (ACXL) party said.

She was the eighth contender in the election to be arrested since May. The other seven candidates and about two dozen opposition leaders have been arrested on vague treason charges. Most of those arrested in the crackdown are being held incommunicado, at undisclosed locations and with no access to lawyers

Of course if you listen to those few comrades still defending the so-called "revolution" it's all the fault of the USA and the "right-wing opposition.....

The Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action Group claims:

Nicaragua faces a critical situation as it approaches its elections in November. The US has upped the ante once again, threatening Nicaragua with yet more sanctions and other coercive measures and continuing to fund and support Nicaragua's right-wing opposition. As has been the case for several years now, the reports in corporate media give a completely distorted and false impression of what's actually going on in the country.

Not sure how a Beauty Queen is such a threat but then Ortega has his fawning fan club with the likes of Margaret Flowers tells us:

.... social transformation (revolution) requires both political power and participation by the people. Without political power, revolutionary programs will not have the material resources they require. Without the participation of the people, revolutionary programs, even with resources, cannot be put into practice and defended.

Typical Marxist gush that relates to the imposition of "socialism" from the top down by any means necessary which brooks no opposition as the experience from the Soviet Union through China to Cuba has taught us.  

No wonder Nicaragua has been put on the back burner by so may of the comrades. Every one of their revolutions has brought not justice or freedom but repression and dictatorship by the vanguard that the left see themselves as beig part of. A corrupted ideology through and through.

___________________________________________________

*And they wonder why no Jew can ever trust them over Israel? No one should trust them ever. I will return to this theme tomorrow using their own words

Kim Wilde ft Boy George - Shine On (New Single!)

It's rare that I buy 7" vinyl singles these days though I did pick up a couple (Hawkwind & Alien Weaponry) a few years back but it's not like the old days when we could pop out after school and pick up the latest releases for 50p a shot! The going rate for a vinyl single these days appears to be £7.99, so just for the occasional treat. 

This latest limited edition release from Cherry Red Records features two stars from the eighties, Kim Wilde & Boy George teaming up for a duet. I've always been a fan of Kim Wilde and did pick a album of hers a couple of years back.

Anyway without further adieu for a Friday night is their duet Shine On....

Available from: www.cherryred.co.uk

Kim's Website: www.kimwilde.com

Musical Influences - Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd are one of Britain's most successful bands and back in 1973 when they released Dark Side Of The Moon it seemed like everyone who listened to music had a copy and that poster was on their wall! The album seemed to stay in the charts like forever. It was in fact a world wide hit. 

As a result I began collecting Floyd;s back catalogue and over the years did manage to have all their studio albums though a couple did get nicked. I recall their first two LP's beig re-released as a double album as A Nice Pair and when I got enough money remember the shop assistants face when I asked if they had the album. Did't think. Realise now. Sorry love. My bad.

Floyd did a mixture of both serious and amusing tracks such as Bike which remains the missus favourite.

Another of Pink Floyd's amusing little tracks was the rather lengthily named Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict from the Ummagumma double album.

Although I like all their albums, though the jury is still out on their last effort The Endless River. If you ask me which is my favourite it will always be Atom Heart Mother.  It's unlikely that there will ever be any new albums from the bad though I do keep a eye out for Dave Gilmour.

Website: www.pinkfloyd.com

Taking Some Time On: Underground sounds of 1970 (Cherry Red Records)

The seventies opened with a whole world of underground and/or progressive rock as most of these bands were known to me as I became interested in music in the early seventies. Previously Cherry Red Records had released Banquet covering the underground scene in 1969. Additionally they released New Moons In The Sky: The British Progressive Pop Sounds of 1970 plus two subsequent compilations covering 1971 and 1972 respectively.

This compilation features bands which have appeared in both series such as Family, Hawkwind and Curved Air amongst others. Like all the releases in these series their are bands that I was familiar with, vaguely heard of or had not heard of at all. Certainly unless one has a vast collection of early seventies albums most of these tracks will not be in your collection. In this 4 CD set there are just two tracks I already had out of a total of 57.

CD 1 includes tracks from Barclay James Harvest, Fleetwood Mac, Van De Graaf Generator, T2 and more. I have chose this number,  The Song Of McGuillicudie The Pusillanimous from Egg

CD 2 Introduces us to Kevin Ayres, Traffic, Rare Bird,Stray, Family and others. From this I have selected Funny Ways from Gentle Giant.

CD3 brings us Quatermass, East Of Eden, Hawkwind, Cressida Affinity and others. From this I have selected Things May Come, Things May Go, But The Art School Goes On by Pete Brown and Piblokto

Finally on CD 4 we get Michael Chapman, Curved Air, Yes and more though the choice to end this post is Heaven from Gracious. 

Available from: www.cherryred.co.uk

The previous compilation in this series is still available: