With Since the descent into civil war in Syria, revolutionary forces have seized control of the Kurdish region of Rojava. This talk aims to assess the strengths,challenges and vulnerabilities of the revolutionary project under way there. In terms of strengths, I will focus principally on four: (1) revolutionary discipline and the power of ideology; (2) consciousness-raising, collective mobilization, and assembly democracy; (3) gender emancipation; and (4) attempts to accommodate ethnic and […]
Introduction The last twenty years or so have seen a wave of publications recounting and examining the history of the New Left and radical Black, Latino and Native American organisations of the 1960s and 70s in the United States. Many of these books have been concerned with the spectacular exploits of these formations, particularly the armed struggle fractions which appeared in the 1970s such as the Weather Underground, Black Liberation Army and the paramilitary sections of the American Indian […]
Tracing Movements is a collection of films documenting struggles against immigration controls in Europe. At RHZ, we will be screening two films: Patra, Dead End relates the campaigns to stop the destruction of migrant camps in the port-town of Patra, Greece. Today, migrants continue to live in limbo, with no chance of gaining in Greece, and stopped from continuing their westward journey. Across the Adriatic in the fields of southern Italy, seasonal migrant workers live segregated from Italian […]
Those keen on heroes Often find they’ve feet of clay. Here’s one example: Someone who fought two world wars, England’s greatest Englishman, A national treasure Who rivals the Crown Jewels. Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill. Churchill had a school-friend Called Aubrey Herbert Who, in 1915, wrote in his diary, “Winston's name fills Everyone with rage. Roman emperors killed slaves to Make themselves popular, He is killing free men To make himself famous.” Churchill enjoyed war. “A curse should rest […]
Documentary about the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a radical black workers' group based in the car factories of Detroit. Through interviews with members, supporters and opponents as well as footage of leafleting and picket lines, the film documents their attempts to build a radical black workers' organisation to take on both management and the union and fight to improve conditions for all workers, black and white. Libcom.org
In April we hosted Black Star: Britain’s Asian Youth Movement, a talk by Anandi Ramamurthy on her book of the same name. Recently a film has been released on the same subject: A documentary film made by local young people looking at the history of their community from the 1960s to the 1980s with particular interest in the murder of Gurdeep Chaggar in 1976, the 1979 anti-fascist demonstrations and the death of Blair Peach and the 1981 burning down of the Hambrough Tavern. The film uses the […]
Not A BRHG Event
1943 Bristol tensions in the racially segregated US army spill over into full blown fighting on the streets of Old Market between Black and White GIs. Using Bristol as a case study Professor Neil Wynn explores the impact of US racial politics on war time Britain. Part of a series of free talks at Trinity - Vice & Virtue: Discovering the History of Old Market 1900-2005 - invites you to a series of talks by local and national experts on the many aspects of Old Market's History. We will be […]
Anandi Ramamurthy will discuss the prejudice and political struggles which Asian youth movements have encountered in Britain. Black Star: Britain’s Asian Youth Movement (Pluto Press, 2013) documents the vibrant Asian youth movements in 1970s and 80s Britain who struggled against the racism of the street and the state. Anandi Ramamurthy shows how they drew inspiration from Black Power movements, as well as anti-imperialist and workers' struggles across the globe. Drawing on her intimate knowledge […]
The Black Presence website was formerly the Black Presence in Britain, a history site about black British history. The Black Presence in Britain website was set up in 1998 due to a lack of information about the contribution of Black people to British history to be found on the Internet.
In ten years we'll leak the truth By then it's only so much paper According to the U.S. punk band the Dead Kennedys it takes about 10 years before our 'democracies' decide to "leak the truth" about activities of secret arms of the state. In the current world of social media and the information highway there seems to be a perception that no secret is safe and that "it will get out somehow". This suggests the cosy idea that somehow the internet is leading us to a more open society with rapid […]
