I was asked to provide a 500 word statement to the SSP when standing for the post of Social Media Officer. The social media of a political party should reflect its choices, priorities and activism. Each intervention should tell a story. It should address and promote our perspective on current affairs and work done. It is one of the most …
George A. Romero – Land of the Dead reconsidered
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 after he graduated, making shorts and TV documentaries, scraping together the cash to make a breakout film – “Night of …
Conservative Prospectuses won’t cut it – Outflank Corbyn
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 …
Video Production: a series
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 …
EU and Independence Paper
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 …
Two years on – and the economics of campaigning
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 …
Recent SSP video pieces
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.
Oppression, equality and respect
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. I’ve had no end of people being shut out and ostracised from politics because they’re ill-educated or say the wrong things without meaning to offend. There’s no shortage of folk that are blinded by pious bullshit …
Getting the SSP’s conference film done
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. Filmmaker IQ The Basic Filmmaker DSLRGuide Philip Bloom David Kong’s video series RocketJump Film School
The European Question
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 …