Other politics
Fans of American pulp horror cinema mourn the loss of George A Romero, leaving us after 78 years after a mercifully brief battle with lung cancer. In his early years, Romero went to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and stayed there … Continue reading George A. Romero – Land of the Dead reconsidered
There’s been two and a half years of non-campaigning on independence other than marches and rallies to keep spirits up.
Instead of campaigning for independence, we’ve had four SNP elections with milky non-confrontational anti-politics full of slogans like “Stronger For Scotland”. To which I would ask, which Scotland? And how does this strength manifest – there’s been few SNP platforms to inspire and uplift working people.
Corbyn understands little about the national question and is clearly being briefed by reactionary and independence-hostile elements in the branch office. Nevertheless, he is gaining power and popularity by articulating left solutions to social problems. Housebuilding, nationalised energy, public railways – mana from heaven for those one in four Scots who haven’t the means to save for retirement. Continue reading “Conservative Prospectuses won’t cut it – Outflank Corbyn”
The democratisation of our media – including the continuing work of the Scottish Socialist Voice – has given birth to high-quality internet streaming video and affordable camera equipment, often in the form of broadcast quality high-definition video in the palm of your hand. This liberates creators, broadcasters and filmmakers.
Cinema bears its fruit; one of the first films of note that grasped the possibility of home-made media was Jonathan Caouette’s intensely personal documentary, Tarnation in 2003. Telling the story of his life and relationship with his mentally ill mother – the film was initially made for a tiny total budget of $218.32, using free iMovie software on a Mac home computer, and went on to critical acclaim. The power and decreasing cost of cameras, audio capture and computing power have exploded since then.
As your elected social media co-ordinator, I regularly and clearly see the difference in engagement between posts with embedded graphics and video, to those without. Continue reading “Video Production: a series”
The Scottish Socialist Party recognised that a Brexit vote under the present circumstances would unlock a “carnival of reaction” – a tidal wave of racism and little Islander mentality which would continue to blame and demean migrants and those seeking asylum for Britain’s catastrophic failures on working class people.
We also noted the revolutionary left Leave argument was strategically inept – and was nowhere near strong or organised enough to counter the brutal right’s mentality – and was one that chose to walk away against the rise of sweeping fascist parties across Europe. Continue reading “EU and Independence Paper”
Saturday, I went to Stirling. Later in the evening, the Stirling Branch comrades had a curry night, to raise cash for the branch. We ended up with a shade under a hundred quid – which was by no means bad.
The same night, there was a “supporters of the union” fundraiser – which raised around £300,000. It was attended largely by the filthy rich, and reported in the Sunday Times.
One of the big prizes was – “A fabulous chalet and a family home, with six bedrooms sleeping 12, all en suite. Although the chalet does not come with a chalet girl, we will provide one for you.” Continue reading “Two years on – and the economics of campaigning”
Saturday and Sunday – was in Stirling. Stayed over on the branch organiser’s sofa. Had a pile of work to do, so headed there early, and brought my laptop to start work on a branch movie poster campaign, and to knit together a reasonably complex short film about the RMT’s struggle to keep the guards on trains. Continue reading “Recent SSP video pieces”
There’s an acute shortage of socialists who aren’t fighting with one another. During the past four years of activism two things have become clear.
Righto. Since getting a nice DSLR last year, I’ve been quite busy. Learning an absolute ton of useful information from YouTube on getting passable results.
It’s not been an easy choice. The Leave and Remain campaigns have been absolutely bereft of anything positive to say about the future of the nation either way.
I’m for Remain. But just barely – I do not endorse the EU as it is manifested. It’s nowhere near democratic enough. more weight could be placed on the power of directly-elected representatives in the parliament than the indirectly-elected ones in the Commission, for example. Continue reading “The European Question”
Serious concerns have been raised by political activists and civic society regarding the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 (henceforth, OBFA). In coming to this debate, I am interested in free speech, online media, and fair trials. Legally, it is a wide-open bourach. Continue reading “The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012”