News Feed - Bristol Radical History Group

The fall of Colston – the true story

Since the fall of the slave-trader Edward Colston's statue in June 2020 the government, institutions, local politicians and his defenders, the Society of Merchant Venturers, have all been forced to react in one way or another. What unites them is that they have all attempted to cover up years of active defence or inaction concerning the celebration, commemoration or memorialisation of slave-traders in the city. From the mouths of people directly involved in the campaigning and activism […]

Red Notes Choir Performance

Catch Bristol's wonderful Red Notes Choir, who will support the Bristol Radical History Festival by performing at 12 noon. They'll be singing outside Mshed on the harbourside...unless it rains, when they'll be in the Ground Floor Foyer by the Mshed main entrance. The Red Notes Choir is a Bristol-based socialist choir. They have a repertoire of songs from around the world on historical, union, peace, green and human rights themes. "We use the streets of Bristol and further afield to spread our […]

Politics and Protest: Posters from the Women’s Liberation Movement 1970-2000

We are pleased to host this exhibition at the BRHFestival 2022 on 14th May at Mshed. You can view the exhibition from 10am to 4pm, at the Level 2 foyer, inside Mshed. Talk - 2pm at the Level 2 Foyer, Sue Tate, a trustee from the Feminist Archive South, will give a talk about the exhibition, and answer any questions. About the exhibition: Politics and Protest is a dynamic, colourful and inspiring exhibition of 70+ posters selected from Feminist Archive South's collection of over 1000. It was […]

Stroud History walk: John Thelwall – ‘The most dangerous man in England’

missing thumb

In the summer of 1797, Citizen John left the shadow of government spies in London to visit Samuel Coleridge in Nether Stowey and then stay in the Stroud area. We recreate Citizen John's adventures with a performative walk around Stroud. Meet at the Lockkeeper's Cafe at Walbridge, Stroud, GL5 3JS at 1.00pm (2 min walk from Stroud Train Station). A leisurely walk along the Stroudwater Canal and then a climb to Rodborough Common. We then descend to The Prince Albert for a pint or two. Probably […]

The Spycops scandal from 1968 to present

the long road to hold those responsible to account

Our panel of speakers will address the scandal of the Spycops, the hitherto secret operations of undercover cops spying inside labour and social movements since 1968. Since the scandal became public knowledge in late 2010 with the exposure of Mark Kennedy, activists have traced and identified numerous #spycops along with their true and false identities. They have exposed some of their law-breaking activities; internal cover-ups; and coercion of numerous innocent, mainly women activists, into […]

‘How Labour Governed’ – 1945-1951

1945: The war in Europe has just ended and the Labour Party wins a resounding general election victory. What follows is celebrated on much of the left as a period of progressive government which should inspire us to build a fairer society. However, at the time, critics pointed out that every socialist principle had been betrayed by politicians. In fact this was really a period much like any other, marked by continued militarism, colonialist suppression, racism, austerity and reactionary […]

The Fall of Colston – the Strategies of the Campaigns

The fall of the Colston statue on 7th June 2020 can be seen as the culmination of 100yrs of campaigning against his city centre presence, which had intensified in the last decade, and intersected on that famous day. Whilst many individuals & institutions suddenly rushed to disown him, and the impact of the toppling rippled much further away than just in Bristol, that wasn’t the end of it! Tory ministers, right-wing media, Labour politicians, the CPS and the police launched a campaign of […]

Sabotage

The Story of the Hunt Saboteurs Association

By Dazza Scott

Book Review: Dazza Scott, Sabotage: The Story of the Hunt Saboteurs Association (Hunt Saboteurs Association, 2021). In 2023 the Hunt Saboteurs Association will mark its 60th anniversary. Sabotage shows that it has plenty to celebrate. For all the horrors, joys, tears, and moments of farce brought to life in this book, the hold of bloodsports is much diminished since the organisation was founded in 1963. There is a long tradition of opposition to fox hunting and other cruel sports, an expression […]

Radical Empathy: Voices of the Bristol Crisis Service for Women

By Rosie Wild

In April 1986 a group of women in Bristol who considered themselves both feminists and survivors of psychiatric treatment came together to found the Bristol Crisis Service for Women (BCSW). Organised as a collective and with scant funding, the group drew on the feminist practice of consciousness raising to develop its work. It also took inspiration from the contemporaneous Survivor Movement, that rejected the medical model of mental illness, condemned the barbarity of much psychiatric […]

A Night of Solidarity with Myanmar

Featuring the Rebel Riot UK Tour 2017 Documentary plus Discussion Panel and Q&A on Situation in Myanmar Now

A Night of Solidarity with Myanmar takes place at The Cube on 2nd March from 7.30pm - get tickets here. Early arrivals will enjoy some 'Myanmar snacks' cooked up by members of the Myanmar community in Bristol. Hosted by the local #WithMyanmar support group on FB, it's aim is to spread awareness, information & understanding of the current situation in Myanmar (aka Burma), and generate support for it's people resisting the Military Coup there on 1st February 2021. That Military Coup followed […]