Welcome to the September 2024 Issue of The Norwich Radical! Thank you for bearing with us over the summer months as we took a break to recuperate some of our energy, and bring you another full issue this month. We have a selection of long reads and reviews ready for you to cosy up with as we move into another Northern Hemisphere autumn.

It has been a year since the date that Israel's impunity came to full fruition, as the genocidal rogue state continues to wage war upon the people it claims to rule over, those it considers inferior, and neighbouring lands getting in the way of its territorial expansion - all with the complicity of every Western country whose interests align with warmongering business and genocide. We have not been writing any new pieces on the situation, as we do not have direct access to the region or its people, and would not do justice to the reality of the lives of Palestinians and now Lebanese people being displaced and murdered in the name of imperialist terrorism. Rest assured, however, that The Norwich Radical remains steadfast in its support of the liberation of all oppressed people, from Palestine to Turtle Island, from Sudan to Congo, from Kurdistan to beyond. If you would like to read through our archives on the region, we recommend starting here and here.

This issue, Jonathan Lee fills us in on the predatory advancements of tech giants towards minority languages, among all the other resources they're mining for profit. Sunetra Senior provides a long read on the reality of the UK in the post-election post-traumatic period we find ourselves in, and attempts to find the healing hope we need. And we delve into some alternative music and film with reviews of up-and-coming synth-pop-goth fusioneers Urban Heat's latest album, from Kasper Hassett, and a new film documenting the Gujarat fishing community taking on the World Bank Group, from Ananya Wilson Bhattacharya.

September 2024 Issue - Contents

GOOGLE TRANSLATE AND THE FUTURE OF THE ROMANI LANGUAGE
--
RECOVERY IN THE WAKE OF THE ESSENTIAL PSYCHOPATHY OF SUNAK’S GOVERNMENT
--
REVIEW: URBAN HEAT - THE TOWER
--
REVIEW: THE FISHERMAN AND THE BANKER

GOOGLE TRANSLATE AND THE FUTURE OF THE ROMANI LANGUAGE

By Jonathan Lee

The reception by Romani people to the new feature has been ambivalent. Some are very pleased, not least a few Roma Nationalists who finally get to witness the diversity of many Romani dialects reduced to one single computer-generated language. Others are more perturbed at the process, purpose, and consequences behind this action. Many are sitting on the fence.

RECOVERY IN THE WAKE OF THE ESSENTIAL PSYCHOPATHY OF SUNAK’S GOVERNMENT

By Sunetra Senior

After almost fifteen years of a hard-hearted Tory government, we can intimately feel it. The national health of the UK has been essentially annihilated: not only has the economy been on the brink of collapse, demarcated by periods of severe recession that have shown through the rocketing cost of living and destabilisation of public services, but even our moral and social livelihoods have been in decay.

REVIEW: URBAN HEAT - THE TOWER

By Kasper Hassett

As Urban Heat released a stream of singles teasing The Tower, I found myself unsure what to expect from the full album. Each track felt so different, transcending tone, topic, even genre. As it turns out, that wild oscillation precisely captured the essence of the album. 

REVIEW: THE FISHERMAN AND THE BANKER

By Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya

‘The Fisherman and the Banker’ follows the Wagher fishing community in the Kutch region of Gujarat, Western India, over a decade as they bring a legal case against the multinational corporation, The World Bank Group, which has funded a coal-fired power plant on their coast. Through interviews with members of the community and the US-based lawyers working on their case, director Sheena Sumaria highlights how the company is destroying the community’s livelihoods by making it increasingly hard for them to continue fishing on the coasts.

There is no place to turn where the news does not affect us, but that does not mean we are powerless. Keep building community, keep each other safe, help where and how you can. And, as always, stay Radical.

In Solidarity,
The Norwich Radical Team

Next Issue: November 2024