Further to those Mark Birkett and Les May articles by Andrew Wastling

'TWO-JOBS RUMBELOW' - A GIANT AMONG PYGMIES

or is he MILKING the MASSES in the Land of Gracie Fields?

SOMETIME in the future, the city of Metropolis is home to a Utopian society where its wealthy residents live a care free life. One of those is Freder Fredersen. One day, he spots a beautiful woman with a group of children, she and the children quickly disappear. Trying to follow her, he is horrified to find an underground world of workers who apparently run the machinery that keeps the Utopian world above ground functioning. In Metropolis the citizens are sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

In one of the film's most memorable scenes ( one of many ) Freder Fredersen sees an exhausted worker in overalls desperately struggling with the mechanical hands of the clock measuring the passage of long and arduous shifts. In a scene redolent of recurring memes in literature such as , The Prince & The Pauper, or A Tale Of Two Cities, when Sydney Carton’s sacrifice of his own life on behalf of his friends Charles Darnay on the guillotine of Revolutionary France, Fredersen asks to swap places with the worker to give him some respite from his torturous labours and the brutalisation of long repetitive shifts seemingly without end.

Freder arduously working a ten-hour shift on the clock machine. Freder is like a Christ figure, crucified on the clock. From Fritz Lang's sci-fi silent classic.Metropolis (1927).

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Free the Riverside One!' Further to Mark Birkett & Les Mays articles by Andrew Wastling

LIKE all readers of Northern Voices I have also been following the issue of Steve 'Two-Jobs' Rumbelow with growing disbelief and anger. Some might argue that in a town where a councillor is allowed two votes it was surely only a matter of time before a subtly illogical extension of this Orwellian Double-Think culture would eventually mean we were always destined to arrive at a situation where the Councils Chief Executive Officer would have two full-time jobs, draw two full-time salaries and presumably have twice the number of holidays of your typical worker whilst achieving only half the expected outcomes.

Steve 'Two-Jobs' Rumbelow can sometimes be seen in the background of our local NHS CCG Zoom meetings resplendent in his natural habitat of silent participant in yet another interminable online meeting where anything of value is not discussed until the cameras and microphones are switched off and the Public Excluded from what very little remains of the democratic process. The online meeting remains nonetheless by far the best environment in which to see him exhibiting the superhuman powers which enable Steve to hold down two full time jobs at one and the same time . His masterful grasp of both of his employment remits and Zoom meeting technology can be clearly observed to maximum effect each time he remembers to unmute his laptop to share his valuable pearls of wisdom with the assembled participants. You only have to observe him in action to see that he is worth so clearly worth every penny of both his salaries.

I pride myself as something of an advanced multi-tasker myself I can generally deal with obstructive Council sycophants via email , make a mental note of the kick-off times of the away day match, remember to test the fire alarms, keep all my case notes in (more or less) order all whilst mopping the office floor and singing a happy song as I go along but even I'm forced to admit defeat and acknowledge that Steve's innate prowess leaves me merley lumbering along on the hard shoulder of life. In fact we are all left running on the spot in the starting blocks as Steve effortly transcends life's many insurmountable hurdles.

When work ethics and motivation was being handed out to the rest of us humble members of the British proletariat Steve was clearly out there at the front of the queue - a pole position he has endeavoured with very fibre & sinew to maintain ever since. He is after all clearly an elite member of Britain's famed meritocracy. Whilst many local workers struggle to meet ends meet and are forced onto the charity of foodbanks & mutual aid food networks despite juggling several part time or zero-contract jobs Steve's Patrician countenance it seems bareley needs to break into a sweat.

Like so many of us, I naturally assumed at first the whole thing was a scam reflecting the very worst elements of the local nepotism & cronyism we have all come to expect. How wrong I was!

I have been informed on good authority that Mr.Rumbelow has been gifted the necessary personal qualities and transferable professional skills which us lesser mortals can only dream of. He is one of the select few. Why else would he be in Rochdale after all?

His inscrutable Zen -like online demeanor was simply Steve approaching the nirvana of Bureaucratic Enlightenment as he silently mentally calculates his rate of pay per hour whilst doing two appointed tasks simultaneously whilst deducting precisely any personal expenses which might impact on his personal yearly tax rate minus anything he can possibly avoid under Gift Aid legislation - that or he'd fallen asleep through sheer exhaustion!

One can only marvel at the mathematical genius needed to calculate the mileage allowance whilst performing two different job descriptions for two seperate job roles whilst driving to two different meeting destinations in the same car . . . or is it two-cars?

The man is nothing short of inspirational! He presumably prepares for two Monthly Target Reviews with his employer(s) and completes two sets of yearly Continuing Professional Development training courses and contends with double the hangover from two Office Christmas parties. One wonders how he finds any time left to run the Council?

That is the spanner in the works for poor old Rumbelow.

I have only recently been reliably informed of the Gulag conditions Steve endures whilst incarcerated in No1 Riverside, his tortuous hours ,the selfless separation he is forced to endure from his family and loved ones whilst he slogs through his brutal work life balance in his ascetic near monastic isolation. One can only marvel at his strength of character, his enduring stamina and dedicated selfless commitment to Public Service he exhibits in his daily working regime?

I can only suggest Steve joins a union as a matter of urgency to avoid the need to work such excessive hours to feed and clothe his family and we as socially concerned citizens and trade unionists launch a 'Free the Riverside One!' campaign to see this cruel exploitation of a fellow worker is not allowed to continue an hour longer than absolutely necessary.

After all comrades we would all I'm sure do the same for any other victim of indentured or sweatshop labour brutalized into slaving away for eighty plus hours a week anywhere else on the planet? Quite how Steve will be able to join us on two separate picket lines at the same time should he go on strike and withdraw his labour simultaneously from two separate employees to improve his working conditions in two seperate locations remains anybody's guess?

Workers of the world Unite !

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Navigating 'Hell' in troubling times!

CHRIS DRAPER reviewing the English film 'THE ROAD TO HELL' which he claims was the 'first socialist film' writes:

'Premiered in London on Friday 28 July 1933, Lansbury himself attended the show and a couple of months later introduced the film to delegates attending the Labour Party’s annual conference in the White Rock Pavilion, Hastings. Although the film was generally well received where shown it proved impossible to secure a general release. Cinemas were dominated by Hollywood and ultimately controlled by local authority licensing committees eager to ban Socialist Film Council films as did Birmingham Council in 1935.'

This film fills a very narrow canvas much of it filmed in George Lansbury's home portraying the impact of the then National Government's Means Test on a family in a city, London. Most of the domestic scenes were filmed in George Lansbury’s 39, Bow Road home making it, as Chris Draper himself says: 'an accomplished though economical production.' It shows the struggles of an urban lower middle-class family dealing with the difficulties of the economic depression.

It is tempting now to compare this film with the European film Kameradschaft produced in 1931 shortly before 'THE ROAD TO HELL'. Kameradschaft is also based on a real life disaster, perhaps one of the worst industrial accidents in history; the Courrières mine disaster in 1906 in Courrières, France, where rescue efforts after a coal dust explosion were hampered by the lack of trained mine rescuers. Expert teams from Paris and miners from the Westphalia region of Germany came to the assistance of the French miners. There were 1,099 fatalities.

Kameradschaft (English: Comradeship, known in France asLa Tragédie de la mine) is a 1931 dramatic film directed by Austrian director G. W. Pabst. The French-German co-production drama is noted for combining expressionism and realism. It reflects the spirit of European internationalism, while the English film is much more parochial.

It would be hard to find an better example of the Little Englander phenomena of an island people contrasting so vividly with the concept of continental co-operation as in these two films.

The plot of the European film Kameradschaft is as follows:

'Two boys, one French and the other German, are playing marbles near the border. When the game is over, both boys claim to have won, and complain that the other is trying to steal their marbles. Their fathers, border guards, come and separate the boys.

'In 1919, at the end of World War I the border changes, and an underground mine is divided, with a gate dividing the two sections. An economic downturn and rising unemployment adds to tension, as German workers seek employment in France but are turned away, since there are hardly enough jobs for French workers. In the French part of the mine fires break out, which they try to contain by building brick walls, with the bricklayers wearing breathing apparatus. The Germans continue to work in their section, but start to feel the heat from the French fires.

'The fire gets out of control, igniting gas and causing roof collapses that traps many French miners. In response, the German miner, Wittkopp, appeals successfully to his bosses to send a rescue team. As the German rescue team leave in two lorries, its leader explains to his wife that the French are men with women and children and he would hope that they would come to his aid in similar circumstances. In the mine itself, a trio of German miners breaks through the grille on the border between the two countries. On the French side, an old retired miner sneaks into the shaft hoping to rescue his young grandson. The Germans rescue the French miners, not without difficulties. After all the survivors are rescued, there is a big party with speeches about friendship between the French and Germans. French and German officials then reinstall the underground border grille and things return to the way they were before.'

It is very apt that these reviews are appearing now as the EU and the UK are arguing over rights to fishing.

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Britain’s First Socialist Film?

(and where you can watch it for free!)

by Christopher Draper

I GREW UP addicted to TV and loved “Robin Hood”, “Play for Today”, “Boys from the Blackstuff” and “The Monocled Mutineer” but kicked the habit long before the emergence of shopping channels, Ant & Dec and Jeremy Kyle. If Britain’s Got Talent it’s not evident from TV – the opium of the people.

Radical Cinema

RADICAL director Ken Loach was on telly in the 1960’s but as the medium grew increasingly idiotic shifted to cinema, where for decades he’s almost single-handedly kept alive the fragile flame of Britain’s socialist film culture. Loach wasn’t our first socialist director yet so little regarded is political cinema in Britain that lefties are more able to identify radical foreign film makers like Eisenstein, Vigo or Bunuel than any British pioneer.

Socialists and Film Makers

THERE were four decades of film making in Britain before in 1933 a trio of iconoclastic activists created the Socialist Film Council (SFC) with the intention of producing politically conscious films for public showing. The leading lights were Rudolph Messel (1905-1958), Raymond Postgate (1896-1971) and George Lansbury (1859-1940) with Messel the prime mover. Postgate was a writer and founder member of the British Communist Party and as a left-wing dissident, he was one of the first to resign in 1922 for refusing to follow the Moscow line. During WWI Postgate had been expelled from university, gone on the run and been gaoled for conscientious objection. George Lansbury was President of the Socialist Film Council and leader of the Labour Party, a role he’d accepted in 1931 when Ramsey MacDonald “ratted”, allied with the Tories, formed a “National Government” and imposed savage cuts and the “Household Means Test” on the unemployed.

As a Labour activist and accomplished amateur film maker Rudolph Messel was a key player in bringing socialist politics to the big screen. Like Postgate he’d enjoyed a privileged upbringing but was much slower to embrace socialism. At Oxford he’d participated in the notorious “Hypocrites Club” whose membership included Evelyn Waugh, Terrence Greenidge, Anthony Powell, Tom Driberg and Roger Hollis. In 1924 Messel and fellow hypocrite Greenidge jointly produced an amateur film entitled, “Big Dog”. The club was closed down by the University authorities the following year after staging an outrageous “Nuns and Choirboys” event. Messel’s friendship with Greenidge endured and in 1926 the pair jointly produced and directed “Next Gentleman, Please!” featuring their hypocritical associates in a film exhibited in Oxford’s “Super Cinema”. During the 1926 General Strike Messel, still firmly enamoured of the louche lifestyle, pitched in on the government side but educated by the experience he moved ever closer to socialism and developed a particular interest in Soviet film making. After visiting Hollywood in 1927, the following year he wrote “This Cinema Business”, described by his publisher, Ernest Benn, as “the first comprehensive and serious study of the Film in our language”. In 1929 and 1931 Messel stood unsuccessfully as a Labour parliamentary candidate and in 1932 was a member of a prestigious Fabian Research Bureau group that enjoyed a two month long “fact-finding” tour of the Soviet Union.

Socialist Film Council

RAYMOND Postgate and novelist Naomi Mitchison accompanied Messel touring Russia and on their return all three contributed chapters on their observations to a compendium volume, “Twelve Studies in Soviet Russia” edited by Margaret Cole and published by Gollancz. They also collaborated in producing the Socialist Film Council’s first film “The Road to Hell”, written by Postgate and directed by Messel. The film depicts the devastating effects of the National Government’s austerity policies upon a working class East End family. The novelist Naomi Mitchison, in the words of the Daily Herald critic “acted beautifully” in the role of the mother of the family. Postgate played the role of the father. Messel also appeared in the guise of a drunken playboy while fellow “hypocrite” Terrence Greenidge played the part of Freddy, the family’s elder son. Daisy Postgate, Raymond’s wife, and George Lansbury’s daughter, played Freddy’s girlfriend. With many of the domestic scenes filmed in Lansbury’s 39, Bow Road home it all made for an accomplished though economical production. Premiered in London on Friday 28 July 1933, Lansbury himself attended the show and a couple of months later introduced the film to delegates attending the Labour Party’s annual conference in the White Rock Pavilion, Hastings. Although the film was generally well received where shown it proved impossible to secure a general release. Cinemas were dominated by Hollywood and ultimately controlled by local authority licensing committees eager to ban Socialist Film Council films as did Birmingham Council in 1935.

Watch “The Road to Hell”

DESPITE Lansbury’s influence the labour movement gave little material support to the SFC and although it managed to complete one more film this spark of socialist cinema would have been extinguished if it had relied entirely on the organised labour movement. Fortunately a few isolated though determined and largely forgotten individuals did successfully produce politically radical films into the 1960’s when Ken Loach memorably lit the “Big Flame”. I’ll post more on these overlooked directors and studios in future NV posts but for now watch and be inspired by “The Road to Hell” on the British Film Institute website (no charge or registration required!)

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Film Review: STALIN’S OMELETTE

  by Christopher Draper

POLISH DIRECTOR Agnieszka Holland’s important new film tells the story of Gareth Jones’ courageous reporting of Stalin’s murderous 1932-33 “Holomodor”.  This Soviet “holocaust” was alternately ignored and denied by the world’s press and remains so today.  Jones’ reports and reputation were traduced by his press colleagues, orchestrated by Walter Duranty, the celebrated, Pullitzer Prize-winning, resident Moscow correspondent of the New York Times who shockingly trivialised the deaths of four million Ukrainians with the observation, 'You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.'

Mr Jones goes Free-range

Whilst the salaried correspondents of the international press were content to remain in Moscow, wined, dined and accommodated in relative luxury as favoured mouthpieces of Soviet propaganda, Gareth Jones investigated independently as an irregular 'stringer'.  After interviewing, on his own initiative, numerous Russian representatives in Moscow, in March 1933 Jones obtained official permission to travel by rail to visit and report on a 'model' Soviet tractor factory in Kharkiv.  Gareth duly boarded the train in Moscow but got off well before reaching Kharkiv so that he could conduct his own 'unofficial' investigations into conditions on the ground in rural Ukraine.

Already aware of widespread rumours of Stalin’s ruthless treatment of rural Ukraine, Jones, a fluent Russian speaker, trudged forty miles on foot, passing through fourteen villages and everywhere encountering starving people.  Peasants expressed their fierce resentment against Bolshevik battalions corralling them into collectivized farms and then stealing away their pitiful produce with no regard for their former ways of farming, culture, co-operation and exchange.  Despite this mechanistic regimentation of rural labour resulting in a catastrophic diminution of production Stalin demanded and appropriated ever increasing amounts of grain, meat and vegetables.

Inconvenient Truths

Jones left Russia at the end of March and immediately filed newspaper reports and delivered public lectures on the starvation conditions he’d witnessed and just as promptly he came under attack from Stalin’s apologists, led by Walter Duranty.  The first of more than twenty of Jones’ published reports appeared in the Manchester Guardian on 30 March 1933 headlined 'FAMINE IN RUSSIA'.  The very next day the New York Times printed Duranty’s dismissive, 'RUSSIANS HUNGRY, BUT NOT STARVING'.  Referring to Jones by name, Duranty described Gareth’s account as 'a big scare story'.

Holland’s film does an excellent job of raising the profile of the myriad key issues around the Holodomor and its reporting.  The production values are high and visually the picture looks well alongside other 'art-house' productions but characterisation has been sacrificed to inaccurately accentuate a desired narrative.  Like the original reporting of the Holodomor, the film shows signs of clumsy political manipulation.  Absolute integrity and telling inconvenient truths were the essence of Gareth Jones’ reporting yet Agnieszka Holland has taken several absurd liberties with the truth to sex up her picture.  To be specific:

a) There is no evidence that Jones, inadvertently, or otherwise, indulged in or even witnessed any incidents of cannibalism in the Ukraine.

b) Jones explicitly states that he saw no dead bodies lying around unburied.

c) Whilst living in Paris it’s quite possible that Duranty previously indulged in the sort of sex parties depicted, there’s no evidence, and it’s most unlikely, that he did so in Moscow in the 1930’s and placing Jones at such an event is absurd.

d) Jones never met George Orwell, nor is there any evidence that his reporting inspired Animal Farm.

e) The key character 'Paul Klebb' who, in the film, posthumously inspires and informs Jones’ Ukraine journey never existed but was doubtless inserted as a spurious, politically motivated reference to a similarly named individual who was likely murdered on Putin’s orders.

Good Effort but no Cigar

Despite the film’s shortcomings it should be seen and reflected upon.  It’s not unvarnished truth, if that were ever possible, but it’s accessible, reasonably entertaining and essential viewing for anyone with a serious interest in history or politics though it’s far from the last word.

Many lies and inaccuracies about the Holomodor remain to be challenged and as this film exemplifies, new untruths are still being manufactured so in “HOLOMODOR - Part Two” (to be published shortly on this website) I’ll identify false claims made by (amongst others) authors, Anne Applebaum, Sally J Taylor, James William Cowl and the Communist Party of Great Britain and examine Stalin’s role in the 1935 murder of Gareth Jones.

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"Unsung Hero - The Jack Jones Story"

I attach a Flyer for the Blackley & Broughton Contituency Labour Party showing of the Film:

"Unsung Hero - The Jack Jones Story"

On Sat 21st March, 6.30pm at the Moston Miners Cinema.

Please do your best to attend.  You can pay at the door but please let me know in advance if you are coming. 

Yours in Comradeship,

VAL EDWARDS

0161 795 3483 or 07840955149

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Blue Story Film Ban Dispute

  Slag-off of Cinemas for ditching film after Birmingham brawl

 by Brian Bamford

RONAN Bennett, the Northern Irish novelist, screenwriter and one-time anarchist, today criticised the decision of a cinema chain to shutdown showings of the film Blue Story following a brawl between warring gangs in which teenagers armed with machetes in Birmingham fought.

Since the shutdown there have been claims of an overreaction to clash as police say decision not based on official advice.

Two leading cinema chains are now facing a backlash over their decision to withdraw a film about warring street gangs, 

Ch Supt Steve Graham stressed that the force did not ask for the movie to be withdrawn by Vue and Showcase cinemas after the disturbance at the Star City leisure complex on Saturday night.
Footage on social media appeared to show people fighting in the foyer area of the cinema, where families and children were queuing to watch Frozen II, while witnesses said some of those involved tried to force their way into screening rooms without paying.


Showcase said it would no longer show the movie at its 21 venues in the UK after Vue withdrew the movie from nearly 100 cinemas on Sunday.  Six teenagers, including a 13-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy, were arrested after what West Midlands police described as “maybe the worst thing” its officers had seen.

 But following mounting criticism, Showcase has since said tonight that it was reinstating the film “supported with increased security protocols”.

BBC Films described Blue Story as an “outstanding, critically acclaimed debut feature, which powerfully depicts the futility of gang violence. It’s an important film from one of the UK’s most exciting new filmmakers which we’re proud to be part of.”

Its distributor, Paramount Pictures, said though it was “saddened” by events at Star City, Blue Story was “an important film” that had had “incredibly positive reaction and fantastic reviews”.

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'The Dead Don't Die' in Cannes

 Review:  Zero Hours Comedy

DIRECTOR Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty have come storming back to Cannes with another tactlessly passionate bulletin from the heart of modern Britain, the land of zero-hours vassalage and service-economy serfdom – a film in the tradition of Loach’s previous work and reaching back to Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. It’s fierce, open and angry, unironised and unadorned, about a vital contemporary issue whose implications you somehow don’t hear on the news.

Like their previous movie, I, Daniel Blake, it depicts the human cost of an economic development that we are encouraged to accept as a fact of life. Like I, Daniel Blake, it is substantially researched through many off-the-record interviews, and rich in detail. But I think this film is better: it is more dramatically varied and digested, with more light and shade in its narrative progress and more for the cast to do collectively. I was hit in the solar plexus by this movie, wiped out by the simple honesty and integrity of the performances. Yet my emotions were clouded by my feelings about a certain toxic political issue. Of this, more in a moment.

The drama concerns Ricky (played by Kris Hitchen) a former construction worker in Newcastle who lost both his building work and his chance of a mortgage after the economic crash of 2008. He is a hardworking, affectionate guy with a bit of a temper and a liking for drink. Now he is renting with his wife Abbie (Debbie Honeywood), a contract nurse and in-home carer who has to visit dozens of disabled, elderly and vulnerable people every day for their meals, baths and “tuck-ins” – jargon for an eerie formalised version of maternal intimacy. It’s a workload that over the years has left no time for her to tuck in her two kids at the end of the day. They are Seb (Rhys Stone), a stroppy teen who has artistic talent but is in trouble with the authorities, and his smart kid sister, Liza Jane (Katie Proctor).
Ricky’s mate persuades him to get on what looks like a nice little earner: van driving for a big delivery company. But the firm’s hard-faced manager Maloney (Ross Brewster) – a bullet-headed guy with a number-one cut – brusquely tells Ricky that he will be employed on a quasi-freelance basis, with none of the benefits of conventional employment. He has to buy or lease his own van, or rent one from the firm at a ruinous daily rate, and meet strict targets for deliveries. These are set by the all-important scanner, worryingly called a “gun”. Particularly important are the “precisors”, customers who have paid extra for precise delivery slots. Maloney shouts things like “Let’s get the cardboard off the concrete!” when all the packages are being loaded: a telling real-world detail. But Ricky has no time to go to the lavatory and has to carry an empty plastic bottle with him, a necessity which is not just mortifying but makes him vulnerable. And Maloney has not told him everything about the insurance situation.

So Ricky persuades Abbie to sell the car she needs for her work so he can buy the van that is going to be their route out of financial misery. He is hired – or in the firm’s sinister terminology, he is “onboarded” – and Laverty creates a subtle resonance when a caring and careworn copper tells Seb he has a great family and that he should “Take that onboard”.

Read more:   http://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/16/sorry-we-missed-you-review-ken-loach

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'NAE PASARAN!' – and the Labour Government

Review by Chris Draper

I’VE just watched the film “NAE PASARAN!”, the story of how some Scottish workers disrupted Pinochet’s fascist regime and would urge you to catch it when it arrives in your area.  If it’s not being shown in your town then persuade your community group, union branch or political friends to organise a screening – you won’t be disappointed.  In September 1973 Pinochet, backed by the CIA, seized power in Chile and established a dictatorship with concentration camps, torture and mass murder.  Condemnation of the coup was immediate, worldwide and included many who may not have supported the system destroyed by Pinochet yet were appalled by the barbarity of his regime.

'Nae Pasaran!' tells the story of how workers at an East Kilbride factory in 1974 refused to handle aero engines sent by Pinochet’s airforce for repair and servicing.  Their action infuriated the regime but gave hope to Pinochet’s opponents.  'Nae Pasaran!' movingly reveals the personal stories of four men, one now dead and three very old, who initiated the action. One of the four, Bob Foulton was a church elder who started the ball rolling by refusing to handle the Chilean engines on humanitarian grounds.  To me the key underlying theme of the movie is the importance of direct action rather than Parliamentary politics.  The men refused to do what they considered wrong didn’t just write to their MP or await union instructions, they acted first and sought support afterwards.  It’s just as well as they received scant support from the Labour Government and although this isn’t a central concern of the film 'Nae Pasaran!' prompts politically-inclined viewers to reflect on this issue and it’s worth examining the facts.

At the time of Pinochets’s September 1973 coup Ted Heath’s Tories were in power but within months (February 1974) Harold Wilson’s Labour Government was elected and was in office when the East Kilbride workers began their action (March 1974). Besides the eight aero engines, Pinochet’s regime was also anxiously awaiting other vital military supplies from Britain including two frigates, two submarines and a refitted destroyer.  To the absolute shock, surprise and disgust of loyal Labour supporters, in April Wilson’s newly elected government announced it would honour all existing Chilean military contracts!

Rather than adding strength and legitimacy to the action of the East Kilbride workers the Labour Government did precisely the opposite.  It successfully leant on the national leadership of the AUEW union to direct the workers to handle the engines (the men only partly complied). As the film describes, the engines were eventually returned to Chile through subterfuge and likely Labour government collusion. It is not mentioned in the film but the 1974-1979 Labour government refused to isolate the Pinochet regime.  Minister Michael Meacher met a delegation led by the Chile Solidarity Campaign and informed them that he would not impose a trade embargo as it might harm British jobs and business.  In fact between 1974-79 British investments in Chile more than doubled from £13m to £28m.  Although the government did permit entry to Britain by some refuges from the Pinochet regime as Labour Home Office Minister Alex Lyon laconically admits in the film, they were first individually screened on the basis of information supplied by the CIA!

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Labour apologists argue that 'next time it will be different'.   It was therefore significant to witness what happened in 1998 when, under another Labour administration Pinochet was held in Britain in response to an International Arrest Warrant charging him with Human Rights Violations, including the murder and the torture of 94 Spanish nationals. Instead of belatedly making amends for Labour’s previous record Jack Straw, the responsible Minister sought every possible opportunity to evade his moral obligations.  After the Law Lords repeatedly ruled Pinochet should stand trial Straw resorted to the dubious device of claiming he was medically unfit.  When Pinochet flew back to Chile, on descending from the plane he mocked Straw’s claim by rising triumphantly from his wheelchair to greet his adoring fascist supporters!

Labour loyalists will inevitably still insist 'next time it will be different' and some find reassurance in Jeremy Corby’s denunciation of Pinochet to a BBC reporter on his 1998 arrest, 'one of the great murderers of the century'.   I would remind such simpletons that Tony Blair derided Thatcher’s administration as 'the Party of Pinochet' while Peter Mandelson called Pinochet 'a brutal dictator' whose claim of immunity was 'gut wrenching'.  Even as Harold Wilson’s newly elected Labour government prepared to sell the 'Nae Pasaran' workers down the river, in Parliament he hypocritically denounced Pinochet’s regime as an 'oppressive fascist government'.  Doesn’t madness reside in doing the same thing time-and-time-again in expectation of a different result?

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Enough Said!

by Les May 
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THE editors of 'Northern Voices' have decided to give this post by Les May below some prominance owing to a level of half-baked thinking, which appears to be developing today in the anglo-saxon world.  Sensing this following the open letter published in Le Monde in January offering an alternative view to the #MeToo campaign, and signed by Catherine Deneuve and 99 other prominent French women, Agnès Poirier last month wrote '...an insider’s guide to French feminism'. In this essay Agnès Poirier comments on the Catherine Deneuve letter thus:
 'In other words, these 100 French women, representing many more in France, argue that this new puritanism (of the #MeToo campaign) reeks of Stalinism and its “thought police”, not of true democracy.  What they refuse to countenance is an image of women “as poor little things, this Victorian idea that women are mere children who have to be protected”, the same one extolled by religious fundamentalists and reactionaries.'
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A number of copycat actresses with an eye on some cheap publicity have announced they will wear black at the BAFTA awards on 18 February to support those ‘fighting’ sexual harassment.

On Tuesday 6 June 1944, 61,715 British men, 70,000 American men and 21,400 men from eleven other nations were landed on the beaches of Normandy.  They were there to start to liberate Europe and the World from the Nazi ideology.  By the end of the day 4,414 were dead and 5,500 wounded, in the fighting which followed.

Can anyone point me to any evidence that General Eisenhower was inundated with correspondence from outraged women demanding that every man accused of sexism, sexual harassment, misogyny, manplaining etc, should be withdrawn from the invading force? 

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 Anonymous said...

This makes no sense whatsoever. So it's fine for men to sexually assault women because men at times have fought in wars? What has the entertainment industry to do with war anyway?
I've read better journalism in the Daily Mail.So now you've gone after women, who's next on your list?

Friday, 23 February 2018 at 10:26:00 

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Les May said...

As the writer of the piece which drew this response I do not feel under any obligation to respond to a comment written by someone who is unwilling to put their name to it. However as it is predicated on an assumption that ‘women’ are a homogeneous group and that adverse comment on the behaviour of a small number of women is somehow an attack on all women, I will do so.

What this piece drew attention to was that these women were not ‘fighting’ sexual abuse, they were posturing.

When someone claims to be ‘making a stand’ or ‘fighting’ some perceived evil it is a good idea to ask what the cost to them really is. Posturing in a posh frock in front of the camera or clicking on a smartphone to tweet your favoured hashtag carries zero cost.

The men who made a stand against fascism in the Spanish civil war, the men who landed on the beaches of Normandy, the women of SOE who parachuted into occupied Europe, the men and women who joined Resistance groups, all stood to pay a terrible price for the choices they made. That is courage.

Similarly the people who emerged from the death camps can rightly be called survivors, as can the people who escaped from the Grenfell Tower fire. You can’t if you mean a man who was ‘trying it on’ put his hand on your knee.

And if I am going to ‘go after’ anyone it would be the spineless male journalists who have shown that the lack the balls to take on the more grotesque aspects of this witch hunt, which demands no less than that every accusation by a woman is assumed to be true, and ideas of natural justice and due process are jettisoned. Instead they have stood back and let women like Catherine Deneuve, Joanna Lumley and Germain Greer try to bring some sense of proportion to this issue.

Women are not some homogeneous group who all think the same way. The BAFTA women and the women journalists who drench them with praise are not a representative sample of all women. Stop pretending that they are.

Saturday, 24 February 2018 at 20:38:00 GMT

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Blacklist FILM appeal

THANKS to all of you who have made a donation. For those that still plan to, there are 4 days to go.

Dear All,

I am having a final push for donations for the film Blacklist by Lucy Parker. If you are able to make a small donation or distribute this request, we would be really grateful. Sorry to ask!!

Kate (and Lucy)

www.cityprojects.org

www.blacklistfilm.co.uk

0781 306 2595

City Projects

46 Brooksby’s Walk

London E9 6DA

Blacklist Film: Final push for donations

Lucy Parker and City Projects have been working on the film Blacklist for over two years. We have raised £28,000 towards production so far and we need a further £12,000 by the end of February to go into production, to make a work that will do justice to the research and that will be able to adequately draw attention to the blacklist case.

There will be a special screening for all donors with guest speakers, and so a £10 donation can be seen as a ticket to this event. Please donate today! Larger or smaller donations also welcome.

Follow the link at www.blacklistfilm.co.uk to make a donation, and please tick the gift aid section if you are an individual UK tax payer to give us an additional 25%. 

Whilst we would prefer that this film was publicly funded, we have exhausted art and film funds, as the former has few options and the subject matter is too political for the latter. The film has relevance to all of us, looking at the immediate effects and wider implications of the construction industry blacklist. It will introduce new audiences to the blacklist case and be made freely available to campaigning groups.

We have so far received funding from the Arts Council England, Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust and from many Unite and Unison union branches, and individual donations. We have also received funding and support from Jerwood Space and Rhubaba Gallery during the research phase.

'I, Daniel Blake' Snubbed by US Oscars

KEN Loach's film 'I, Daniel' Blake'* was been overlooked  in the 2017 Oscar nominations.  The picture which was filmed in Newcastle, and starred the Geordie comedian, Dave Johns, had been expected to grab the attention of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science.
Since winning the Palme d’Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival, two awards at the British Independent Film Awards (Dave Johns for Best Actor and co-star Hayley Squires for Most Promising Newcomer), last Sunday the film got five Bafta nominations.
It got Best Film - where it will be up against the all singing, all dancing and very lovely La La Land among others - and Outstanding British Film, the list of Bafta possibilities also includes Best Director for Ken Loach, Best Original Screenplay for Paul Laverty and Best Supporting actress for the aforementioned Hayley Squires.
So, you can see why everyone expected the film, which tells the terrifying tale of two people thwarted by the bureaucractic British Benefit's system, to be among those read out during the big reveal of the nominations, which came direct from Los Angeles last Tuesday afternoon.
Jessica Cripps discussing  I, Daniel Blake‘s controversial exclusion from the Oscars on 'epigram' wrote:
 'Successful cinema leaves an impact on its audiences. I, Daniel Blake reached parliament when MP Jeremy Corbyn recommended Prime Minister May watch the film as an example of the government’s ‘institutionalised barbarity.'
She concludes by saying:
'The gritty realism may have failed to create a buzz in Hollywood, but the honesty has touched the hearts of audiences worldwide; it lives on in political ripples rather than in an Academy Award.'
 
*  The indie winner: I, Daniel Blake It won the Palme d’Or in Cannes, comes from a beloved British auteur and has garnered critical acclaim, but would Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake prove too tough a sell for cinema audiences? If UK distributor eOne had any qualms, they have surely evaporated now that I, Daniel Blake has opened with an impressive £404,000 from 94 cinemas, and £445,000 including previews. Stripping out the previews, site average is a very robust £4,298.

Film-maker calls on Danczuk to sleep-outside

SIMON DANCZUK MP  has declined to sleep on the streets after the documentary film-maker, Gary Jay suggested he do so following Danczuk's derogator comments about beggars in Rochdale town centre last week.

A year ago, Gary spent four days filming his experience of living on the streets in Manchester city centre for a documentary called ‘Human Garbage’ during which time he was attacked, spat on and threatened.

The film-maker Mr. Jay was reported in the Manchester Evening News (MEN) as saying:

'I slept with drug addicts, alcoholics, was threatened by the city’s drug dealers with my life and attacked.

'I would like to send out a personal challenge to Mr Danczuk to do exactly the same thing again, with me to see what it is like to beg for food, money to feed yourself, be spat at, be ignored, sleep in doorways, be robbed, be attacked and be preyed on by drug dealers.

'I promised my family I would never do such a thing again, but I can not stand by and watch as a man who demands such high wages comment on people who have little to nothing and not be challenged for his actions as a member of parliament.

'I thought it was disgusting for a person in a position of power to make a comment like that. Now he’s now part of the problem.'

The MEN has contacted Mr Danczuk for a comment, but apparently the MP has not yet responded.

Appeal for Funding of a British Film Noir!

MY name is Diogo Salgado and I’m currently studying Digital Media Production at Sheffield Hallam University going into my 3rd year.   

I hope that you don’t mind my getting in touch with you but we have been talking to Cinema for All about a particular opportunity that we would like to offer up to community cinemas, film clubs and societies. 

I’m currently helping with the release of a new British Independent Film, THE INCIDENT.  In preparation for the film’s UK release in the Autumn we are working hard to raise the profile of the film, by reaching out to those we think the film maybe of interest to.

The film has very strong links to Yorkshire; the film was shot in West Yorkshire, our Director Jane Linfoot is from York, our Producer Caroline Cooper Charles is based in Sheffield, and our actress Tasha Connor is from Leeds.   

British independent films are increasingly difficult to get made, and distributed; the challenge is multiplied for female filmmakers – only 11.9% of British films are made by female directors, this is one of those rare films!   

THE INCIDENT is a modern British Noir -  a tense, atmospheric emotionally haunting, thought-provoking film.  We are reaching out to film clubs who are interested in supporting British independent films through their clubs and membership.  

We are currently in the midst of crowd funding to help us release our film in a small selection of independent cinemas and on Video on Demand in the Autumn.  The below link gives you all the details on our film, and our campaign.   

Campaign Link: - https://igg.me/at/theincidentfilm  

We are offering a specific PERK to Film clubs, whereby for a £100 donation you would be purchasing the license to screen this British film at your club (after the film’s official release), with a signed poster included, and the name of your Film Club would appear in our film credits as a SUPPORTER of this film. 

In addition, should you be interested in having the Director: Jane Linfoot attend the screening for a Q&A this could be arranged if travel / overnight costs are covered where necessary.  

The attached E-Flyer has all the relevant information - if it is at all possible for you to share some of our posts regarding our campaign they can be found on our Facebook page and Twitter feed - it would be a tremendous help to us to have these shared.   

Thank you so much for your time. 

Kindest regards, 

Diogo Salgado. 

https://twitter.com/theincidentfilm  

https://www.facebook.com/TheIncidentFilm/

'Apologies': New Blacklist Short Film

'Apologies' a new short film by Lucy Parker

Jerwood Studio, 171 Union Street, Bankside, London, SE1 0LN
Preview Tuesday 26th July 1830 - 2030, exhibition continues to 28th August. 

 As part of the Blacklist film project being produced by City Projects, Lucy Parker is presenting a new 14 minute film about legal apologies, made for Jerwood Visual Arts.

 'Should we just do away with apologies all together?' political theorist Dr Mihaela Mihai asks a law school class. The group discusses the worth of apologies when delivered by a collective to an individual. Two blacklisted construction workers, Stephen Kennedy and Jack Fawbert join the session as ‘case studies’ for the group to understand how they felt about the public apology they received from the companies responsible for their blacklisting.

 This work is part of ongoing research towards a longer film, about the experiences of construction workers whose employers made use of a blacklist, which kept a record of an individual’s political activity at and outside of work. Since the files were discovered in 2009 the workers have been seeking justice. The workers have recently received compensation payments from firms however the significance of the apology is tempered by the lack of legislative change or a criminal trial, and therefore by the threat that the practice of blacklisting will continue.

Participants: Samuel Bikwa, Jack Fawbert, Van Ferguson, Mariam Juliane Sieben, Stephen Kennedy, Shajahan Miah, Dr Mihaela Mihai, Louise Mai Newberry, Jonathan Thorpe. Camera: Nick Gordon Smith. Camera (interviews): Barbara Nicholls. Sound: James Bull.

http://www.jerwoodvisualarts.org/exhibitions/jerwood-solo-presentations/


Fundraising Campaign

City Projects is now fundraising for Blacklist in order to complete the film in 2017 and get it out to the widest possible audience. We have been awarded funding from Arts Council England and are looking for donations to raise the shortfall.

The film will combine discussions and scripted drama - a group of blacklisted workers share their experience of being blacklisted and reflect on the legal campaign; student electricians debate the pro’s and con’s of speaking out at work with their (blacklisted) tutor; and student lawyers discuss the failings of the legal system in protecting workers rights. The three groups will come together at the end of the film in a court room scene, to give the final word to the blacklisted workers. The film will bring the construction industry blacklist to the public attention, and act as a cautionary tale for employees of all industries.

It will be shown widely at cinema screenings, community events, art galleries and film festivals and made freely available to campaigning groups. The film is due for completion by the end of 2017 when there will be a special screening to thank all donors.

Please visit the website to make a donation:

www.blacklistfilm.co.uk 

Best wishes,

Kate Parker

…………………………………………………….
City Projects
www.cityprojects.org
www.blacklistfilm.co.uk
0781 306 2595

City Projects is an Industrial and Provident Society (for the benefit of the community). Registration no. 29667R.

'We Are The Many' at Hebden Bridge

Sent in from Trevor Hoyle

Hebden Bridge Picture House -- Sunday 17 July

'WE ARE MANY'

AHEAD of the upcoming publication of the Chilcot Inquiry, it feels timely to revisit Amir Amirani's incendiary documentary We Are Many. It's the story of 15 February 2003, when over 30 million people in over 800 cities across the world marched in demonstration against the Iraq War. How did this day come about?  Who organised it?  And was it, as many people claimed, a total failure?

Tolpuddle Radical Film Festival

Hi Brian

Only 60 people across the entire UK need to donate just £10 each for the Tolpuddle Radical Film Festival to survive another year!

Our list of trade union and trade council supporters continues to grow and our individual supporter numbers have doubled to 20 in under a week.

We are on our last push to raise the final £600 to run the festival this year and need every pound to make it happen. Please help if you can! All donations from £5 upwards will help us keep film at Tolpuddle.

Individuals can donate via our Kickstarter Campaign and Unions, Union Branches and Trade Councils can donate via Post, PayPal or BACS.

Please help if you can! All donations from £5 upwards will help us achieve our fundraising goal.

Our list of our current 2016 Sponsors and Supporters is here:

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You can contribute via Kickstarter here.

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Money can be donated by BACS to Acc: 59415010 Sc: 60-02-05

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Donations can be paid directly in to our bank account via Paypal 

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Cash or cheques can be sent to Chris Jury, Tolpuddle Radical Film Festival, 48 New Street, Shipston On Stour, Warwickshire CV36 4EN.

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The 2015 Tolpuddle Radical Film Festival will run alongside the main Tolpuddle Festival from Friday 15th July  – Sunday 17th July 2016.

All the details can be found on our website here:

Yours Hopefully

Chris Jury & Reuben Irving
Festival Directors, Tolpuddle Radical Film Festival

Cervantes Institute Manchester on Deansgate

There's No Winter Blues at Manchester's Instituto Cervantes	Cineastas y cinéfilos se dan cita en el Instituto Cervantes de Mánchester, pues proyectaremos una selección de cortometrajes del Kino Film Festival. Además, participamos en la proyección y charla con el director Oskar Alegría en HOME, donde presentará su filme 'La casa Emak Bakia'. Film-makers and film buffs meet at Manchester's Instituto Cervantes, as we'll be screening a sample of short films from Kino Film Festival. Besides, we'll take part in the screening and Q&A with Spanish director Oskar Alegría at HOME, where he'll talk about his film 'The Search for Emak Bakia'.
	24/02/2016 - 25/02/2016 - 26/02/2016Miércoles/Jueves/Viernes - Wednesday/Thursday/Friday (6.30pm) Entrada libre/Free entry (RSVP)                                                     Ciclo de cine: Kino Film Festival La Società Dante Alighieri, Alliance Francaise y el Instituto Cervantes de Mánchester  participan en este festival con tres programas de cortometrajes de producción europea. (+)   Cinema Season: Kino Film Festival Società Dante Alighieri, Alliance Francaise and Manchester's Instituto Cervantes take part in this festival with three short film programmes by European directors. (+)
	09/03/2016Miércoles/ Wednesday (6.30pm) HOME (2 Tony Wilson Place, M15 4FN Manchester) Entradas/Tickets                                                    'La casa Emak Bakia' + charla con Oskar Alegría Una película vanguardista de Man Ray llamada Emak Bakia, en vasco “Déjame en paz”, desata la historia de una búsqueda. (+)  'The Search for Emak Bakia' + Q&A with Oskar Alegría A Man Ray avant-garde film called Emak Bakia, or Leave Me Alone (from Basque), will be the starting point of a search. (+)