More Demo Pics
A couple more placards from yesterday's STUC demo.
:: | 4:32 PM |Save This Page | |
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Bastards!
"Bastards!" A remarkable show see's chat show host Paul O'Grady take on the condem cuts
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:: Saturday, October 23, 2010 ::
Society?
The most intellectual placard I have ever seen on a demo. Great turnout as 20, 000 took to the streets to protest against the cuts in Edinburgh.
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:: Saturday, September 18, 2010 ::
And You Thought British Trots Were Weird
From the nation of France and the strange world of Trotskyists, or at least some Trotskyists comes this tale. Lutte Ouvrière is a French trotskyist group who are fairly sizeable and have had a certain influence on French politics. They have had MEP's elected and have representatives at local level across France. Their best known member Arlette Laguiller (above) has stood for President several times and has received some impressive votes.
They are well known for their iron discipline and uncompromising nature. Rumour has it that members are not allowed to marry or have children, they need to be dedicated to the revolution.
Much of this paranoia has its origins in the birth of the party and the post-1968 clampdown by the French state. The 1940's saw brutal internal struggles, sometimes ending in murder, within the French Communist Party. The 60' s saw many left wing parties banned, forced to go underground or change their names.
We recently learned that party founder Robert Barcia, alias Hardy, died. The thing is he actually died last year. The party, on his express orders, kept the matter secret. The entire membership of several thousand knew and they all kept the matter secret. Whilst I admire their discipline you have to wonder about the internal regime of a group like this.
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:: Sunday, August 29, 2010 ::
Alan Moore at the Edinburgh Book Festival
Last week saw the appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival of the arch-mage and Lord Protector of Northampton himself, Mr Alan Moore. The last time I 'met' Mr Moore was in about 1985 at the late lamented Science Fiction Bookshop in West Cross Causeway, around the time of Warrior for which Mr Moore contributed V for Vendetta and Marvelman amongst others.
Alan was his usual darkly fascinating self, but was quite charming to all those who queued for up to an hour to get book signed, his stories kept the queue amused as well.Labels: alanmoore
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:: Saturday, August 21, 2010 ::
Open source cola
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:: Thursday, August 05, 2010 ::
Shirty
This flickr stream is nothing but old punk and metal t-shirts. Cool.
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:: Friday, July 16, 2010 ::
The Streets of Cleveland are Silent
I've been meaning to write something about the passing of Harvey Pekar. Time to do it, Harvey was certainly one for documenting his life. I had the pleasure to meet Harvey when he spoke at the Edinburgh Film Festival several years ago. I wrote about it here. He seemed like a genuinely decent guy, although undoubtedly an eccentric. He had a keen sense of social justice that he stayed true to, even when it cost him gigs like his spot on a U.S chat show.
His work with Robert Crumb endeared him to many and they were clearly kindred souls in many respect, as a read of Crumb's work on his days as an obsessive Jazz record collector would confirm.
He'll be missed.
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