Speaking Up - March 2024 Issue
Welcome to the March 2024 Issue of The Norwich Radical! As we teased in the previous issue, we have some special features coming up later this year, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the publication - but until then, take a look at this issue's plentiful offerings.
We are now bearing witness to full scale genocide in Palestine. Starvation and displacement are being used by Israel as tools of war. They have also become impending threats in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Local activism, as we saw last issue, is attempting to sway those with power to do the right thing (albeit way too late) - the response of Norwich City Council, as Councillor Hannah Hoechner writes, is less than encouraging.
The recurring theme of this issue is one of allowing the unsung, the unseen, the unheard back to the fore - be it in cinema, music, activism, or artistic endeavours. Zana Baklava, the mind behind new radical publication Disappointment Magazine, reports on the birth and launch of the zine, as well as their own Kurdish, radical queerness influencing the publication. Returning contributor Mary Munford re-examines the work of pioneer cinematographer Alice Guy, through the lens of recent hit film Poor Things. Long time collaborator Sunetra Senior asks us to revisit our own identity and self - and its connection to community, society, and nature - through the philosophy of Alan Watts. And resident dark music expert Kasper Hassett provides a thorough exploration of the new hotness in the world of goth, synth, post-punk, EBM, industrial and darkwave.
NORWICH CITY COUNCIL:
STOP DEMONISING PEOPLE CALLING FOR SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE
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STEPPING AWAY FROM SHAME - DISAPPOINTMENT MAGAZINE
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SEEN BUT NOT HEARD: ALICE GUY & POOR THINGS’ BELLA BAXTER
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THE DREAM OF YOU: THE ALTERNATIVE ACTIVISM OF ALAN WATTS
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TOP DARK AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC RELEASES TO WATCH IN 2024
by Hannah Hoechner
As a recently elected councillor, I assumed it was a given that elected representatives in Norwich would treat residents respectfully and facilitate their participation in local democracy whenever possible. I was surprised and saddened to discover how the Labour leadership of Norwich City Council has instead sought to sideline and silence the people asking for solidarity with Palestine in Norwich.
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by Zana Baklava
For a long time, I wanted to make art and build community, but I let the weight of my shame stop me. This largely came from my teenage years growing up in Kurdistan, where being queer and trans was not an option and being socialised as a woman meant being quiet and obedient. Diverging from cultural norms was not safe as the laws protecting women did not exist until 2015.
I have lived out and proud in the UK for years now, but I still felt afraid to use my voice. Founding Disappointment Magazine was a way for me to rip off the bandage of complicity in my own self-limiting shame.
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by Mary Munford
If Alice Guy and Bella Baxter could have met, each might have recognised a sister under the skin. Born in the late Victorian age, both enjoyed unconventional lives and careers, in which technology and science were significant, succeeding on their own terms despite the mores and men around them.
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by Sunetra Senior
This is a time when control and Conservative ideology are systematically contorting society and gradually permeating mass consciousness. As a result, it may be reassuring to consider an alternative democratic philosophy that can transcend such myopia, offering us instead the remedial liberating truth: the sanctity of autonomous power and its underlying benign paradigm of expansive perspective. We are being pushed to live in the simplistic context of money, profitability and chasing numbers when really there is so much more to life. The recent news that only UK citizens earning above £38,000 will be ‘allowed’ to marry abroad has been especially depressing: the scourge of classism coupled with xenophobia is rife. In fact, a piece published by The Guardian asserts that in many ways, society is even worse off in today’s time: from the diminishing rights of the workforce and trade unions to the increased power of traditional gatekeepers and the loss of the socio-economic stability of being in the EU.
In short, the world of the contemporary individual is as contested as it has ever been before – arguably more so since the propagation of the civil progress of prior decades may depend on it. It is therefore imperative that we defend, develop and even celebrate our strong sense of self. Fortunately, the very resource required to do this – personal equanimity – is within our reach.
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by Kasper Hassett
With new albums from Aux Animaux, Rein, ABU NEIN, Agent Side Grinder, Kanga and even synthpop granddads Depeche Mode, 2023 was an abundant year for fans of dark and electronic music - and 2024 is promising to be another.
What follows is a non-exhaustive list of new music releases to anticipate across the year and beyond, including goth, synth, post-punk, EBM, industrial and darkwave. Some have already been released, some pre-empted with new singles, and some are just hopeful speculations, but all are worth lending your ears to. So turn down those lights and turn up that bass - here are the music releases across the dark and electronic spectrum to look out for in 2024.
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It feels strange for the world to keep spinning, and life to continue, on the background of criminal atrocities and global political collapse. If and where you can, find your people, re-establish communities, keep each other healthy and safe. We will see you in two months for our anniversary special issue.
In Solidarity,The Norwich Radical Team
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