Watch
Tangerines a fascinating film set in eastern Europe about a war that barely made the international headlines. Between 1992 and 1993 a war took place in Abkhazia in Georgia where separatists wanted to create an independent state. The film is set in a rural village where most of the inhabitants, who were originally from Estonia, have left. Only two older men remain, Ivo and Margus, who are trying to get in the tangerine harvest. The war slowly creeps into their village and they save the lives of two soldiers from opposite sides of the conflict. As they nurse the men back to health they challenge them over their role in the war. They remind them of their real lives as sons and members of their own community and they try to bring a sense of humanity to two young men who have been grounded into a war machine. It is a film with a strong anti-war message. Unfortunately it only had a few screenings locally so you will have to hunt it down on DVD. Best film of the year.
Find out
about the Headscarf Revolutionaries by Brian W. Lavery. Few books are written about working class people taking direct action over injustice and even fewer about working class women; this is an exception and a worthy one. Find out more at the first Mary Quaile Club event for autumn 2015 on Saturday 3rd October at 2pm at the Working Class Movement Library. It’s not about glamourising the past either; also in the session will be Hilda Palmer of the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre who will talk about how they initiate and support campaigns to prevent deaths at work. Further info see
Read my review at
Support
a play about Mary Quaile. We do not need actors, comedians and writers to speak on public platforms about austerity. We need to see more women like Mary who, in her time, refused to be exploited as a catering worker and threw off her apron and organised a strike. She went onto to become one of the most important trade union women in the north west although today she has been forgotten. The MQ Club are trying to raise money to commission a play about her see
The MQC will not be getting any arts funding or Labour council funding so it’s down to us to contribute, find out more at. All contributions, big or small, are welcome.
Look at
The Hidden Project exhibition by Red Saunders, 8th October – 16th November 2015 at the Moston Miners. This is a fantastic exhibition, so much of radical history has been forgotten, and Red in this project has reimagined those events. Red is a photographer and he decided to recreate episodes from history and produce large scale photographs. The effect is stunning and a reminder of the role that dissenters, revolutionaries, radicals and non-conformists have played in our history. I loved the picture of my hero, Thomas Paine. Hopefully it will remind people of the important role he played in promoting ideas of democracy in his book “The Rights of Man.” Further details see
Laugh
I know it’s the Irish Labour Party and my favourite socialist James Connolly but it could be over here………thank goodness for JC (Jeremy Corbyn!)
lipstick socialist 