A Filmmaker's Diary.

Well I have in place all the elements for my next film. A Bunch of Keys will commence filming at some point in the next few weeks. I have my cast and today I was working on possible musical themes for it. Obviously here will be a perfect place to publish the production of this project. For now I am simply trying to arrange shooting dates.

North Staffs Anti-Cuts Demo

On the 4th December around 100 people braved the cold to attend a demonstration in Hanley city centre against the savage cuts implemented by the Con-Dems and Stoke City council. In attendance were a number of speakers from various organisations including North Staffs TUC, Unison, Unite, Youth Fight For Jobs, PCS and NASUWT. The community group ‘Save Our NHS Buttercups Nursery was also in attendance – a campaign Stoke Socialist Party has been supporting for a number of weeks.
Speakers from all the groups attending spoke to the crowd, and all had one overriding theme – that of the need for unity between groups involved our anti-cuts campaign. Andy Bentley from Stoke Socialist party reiterated this point by stating the need for us to oppose ALL cuts rather than some, as local councils would try to divide the working-class against each other otherwise.
As well as those present being inspired and vocal, the event also received support from shoppers, and drew interest from bus drivers over the road at Hanley bus station. All this despite Stoke City council’s best efforts to limit the effectiveness of the demonstration! But the message to the council and the Con-Dems was clear – the public sector and ordinary working-class of north Staffordshire will unite and fight the cuts!

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.