MARCH AGAINST THE CUTS!

DEMONSTRATE AGAINST CUTS!
Sat.4 December
assemble 12 noon outside Hanley Town Hall, Albion Square, Hanley
Organised by NORTH STAFFS AGAINST CUTS –
supported by North Staffs TUC
No More Job Losses for North Staffs!
No more cuts in our services!
bring your banners & placards

National Union of Journalists Strike.

Okay so last blog I criticised the media in general. However let's not forget the individual struggles within the profession. A BBC Journalist strike is taking place this weekend.

http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1788

Media Propagated North/South Divide.

I was watching BBC News the other day, when there came a report about the effects of the recession on the usual - small businesses, high street etc, when they showed a report about the effects of the recession in a specific town. I could almost feel the tension as they ran VT. The name of the place is not important, (suffice it to say it was Wolverhampton) but you know that with the BBC they are always going to (unfairly) single out a northern town. Granted, as we all know, or should know, Wolverhampton is in the Midlands and not the north as such, but to people or businesses or corporations based in London, anywhere beyond say, Bristol tends to be viewed as that generic part of the country known simply as 'the north'.

Now yes, large areas of the Midlands and indeed the north are more prone to the effects of the recession, particularly in those areas of former industries. But I would argue that by constantly highlighting these areas means that the Beeb is NOT highlighting areas in the south. And in media land, not showing it is equal to saying it does not happen. Not to sound conspiritorial, but the BBC leaving areas of the home counties alone in terms of negative coverage - those areas traditionally associated with Tory dominance, smacks of complete bias. And Dagenham, Basildon etc, are we to believe these are southern utopias? No. However, another thinly-veiled stereotypical portrayal of the working-class. The media is only to happy to selectively tell us that in times of recession we simply cannot cope, whilst our bourgeois rulers go almost unscathed.

Women and the Struggle for Socialism.

On Thursday 30th September at a nondescript bar in Hanley (due to the CWU HQ being closed) several comrades met to discuss this week's branch topic 'Women and the Struggle for Socialism'. The lead-off was led by comrade Claire from London who came up to give the same lead-off at a public meeting earlier at Staffs Uni.

First off, we heard how the capitalist media today portrays a 'post-feminist society'; that is to say that women have won the major battles of the sexes and now 'have it all' in today's world. However, the facts reveal that on average women earn 15 percent less than men, and are more likely to take casual, part-time or temporary posts, and largely in the domestic sector.

What's more it is possible that 1 in 4 women will at some point experience domestic violence, and 1 in 7 will be raped.

There is also an increase in the sex industry, and the further commodification of women in advertisements.

In Engels' Origin of the Family he states that the woman's role is linked to class. The agricultural industry in older societies led to a surplus of production, meaning that men were the members who worked the land. And institutions like family protected private property.

The Industrial Revolution actually led to economic independence for women, and even under capitalism gains were made (albeit slowly) for more accepatance of women within the workplace. The NHS allowed more women to work in various sectors, and more nursery places were available to allow women more freedom in career choices. And how fitting that these are the very areas under attack by a Con-Dem government. (We later discussed the closure of a local NHS nursery in Stoke). Of course the Tories have used family breakdowns as the root of all evil and continue to attack child benefits making it even harder for women to defend the gains made in the past.

This is why as socialists we continue to fight for women's rights by fighting for a change in attitude and how society is organised. As Engels says, "Throughout most of history women's oppression did not exist, and in the future will be no more again."

After the lead-off Andy continued this theme by saying instead of sacking huge numbers of workers, share out the work for all levels of society.

Claire also reiterated the class issue by saying that working-class men don't benefit from the oppression of women, rather it is the ruling class that do. Working-class men would arguably prefer that women had more equality in the workplace to alleviate the strain of their own toil.

Another point raised was that capitalism does not recognise socially useful roles such as nursery nursing, social work and other roles associated with women as being important, hence the ease in which bosses can eradicate such services.

The overall feeling was clear - if capitalism is removed then attitudes can change as we as a society have been constantly institutionalised in our attitude to women, feminism and equality by the media and capitalism.

"I only said "Rockerfeller."

I was watching the film version of Arnold Bennett's The Card again recently. How good is it? Granted, it represents the spirit of capitalism re-presented as some benign, benevolent force we should all aspire to, but there is a certain charm that the film lends, in a similar way to other films of the era such as Genevieve. We shouldn't celebrate the repressed imperialistic culture but damn it, we can't help it.


What is laughable* however, is the way the Potteries accent is portrayed. This is something no programme or film has ever got right. With the possible exception of those idiots who'd be on Blind Date. Here though the generic 'northern' accent comes out in a clear display of ignorance. Landlords, lawyers and mayors all conforming to late 19th-century fatties who say "ey-up" and "t'road"like they're from Lancashire. (which is about 50 miles up t'road incidentally)


Alec Guinness himself does not even need to do this himself though you know. His Received Pronunciation is good enough for us, with the occasional "t'ra" thrown in to remind us he's playing a working-class person.

*The other laughable thing of course being somewhere like Chell having a Countess.

Cheddleton Railway

Last week my family and I took my dad up to Cheddleton for his 65th birthday where he got to drive a steam engine. Suffice it to say he was a smug bugger. Not a bad price for 170 quid.

"Don't Forget Me" Part 2; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace Socialism.

As I have previously argued, the costume of D-Fens can be said to reflect the 'everyman', but when we consider it is so bound up in the McCarthey-trial era Republican America, it could also represent right-wing middle-class suburbia. Yet a change occurs halfway throughout the film. Douglas's character, after killing the Nazi (standing up to fascism?) says he is "past the point of no return." As the audience we are led to assume that he has now become more sinister. This may very well be, but I believe a change in ideology has occurred.
If the shirt and tie of D-Fens is middle-class America, then this is now shed in favour of black overalls, surely a symbol of the working-classes; from a professional, nostalgic aesthetic to a more industrial, and almost Eastern European get-up.
It is from this point that the change in ideology occurs.
The first scene that occurs after this dress change is D-Fens walking towards a construction site. And already the local council's motives are questioned.
I don't think anything's wrong with the street. You' re trying to justify your budgets. -I know how it works. If you don't spend your budget,you won't get any money next year. I want you to admit there's nothing's wrong with the street!
In a world dominated by private companies doing the jobs that previously belonged to the public sector, this statement may make sense. No longer can we rely on our local officials to take responsibility for services rendered; rather like housing we are served by Aspire or Kier, and our hospital food by Serco. Under socialism, these services do not need to be run for profit, nor by external agencies.

The next scene involving D-Fens (or Bill Foster) takes place at a golf club. Already the bourgeois golfers assum Foster is the groundsman, to which his partner replies "if he is he's out of uniform," and "he's not a member, look how he's dressed." Incidentally, note how the upper class are now being presented; weak, innefectual and arrogant old men. It is more telling however, and more in keeping with socialist ideology in the response Foster gives to these models of capitalism after almost getting hit with their golf ball. (Itself an attack on the working class?)
"It's not enough you got all this land for your little game? But you had to kill me with a golf ball? You should have children playing here. Family picnics. You should have a petting zoo. ...instead of electric carts for you old men with nothing better to do."
What a perfect example of the socialist manifesto in regaards to community services. The same can also apply to derelict land and not just affluent areas. If land is derelict it is because it is not profitable for that land to be used, or the capital to invest may be too high. Likewise as an exclusive club in which members quite happily 'pay their dues', it is not profitable for that land to be used in a socially beneficial way.
Bill Foster then climbs into a plastic surgeon'sback yard and assumes the family there own the house. Again, he is representing anger and hatred towards the ruling class. To emphasise this he soon softens when he discovers the father enjoying a barbeque is just the caretaker, and even more so when he (wrongly) assumes he has accidentally hurt his daughter. He now finds affinity with the working-class in a more personal way.
In the end, his attempt to ensure his death in order for his daughter to receive the insurance money can be seen as the only solution to provide for her, and this has had to come from inside the capitalist system itself. And as such, death must occur.
I realise that on face value, Douglas's character, essentially, becomes more of a sociopath as the film progresses, and that the character of Prendergast has more to do with the issues of masculinity, but I believe applying a Marxist approach is still a valid exercise, regardless of the morality of the narrative.