In to 1970s my ex and I helped set up a branch of the Anti-Nazi League in Shrewsbury and, in a rather foolhardy manner, offered to have our address and phone number put on the leaflets...I was a bit worried in case we got bricks through the window and nasty phonecalls but luckily nothing of the kind happened.
I'd like to propose The World Turned Upside Down as this week's theme song, partly because I recommended it (tee hee) but also because it's a stirring riposte to fascists of all kinds. I've posted a link on RR to a site where you can download several versions, but I'm posting Maggie Holland's here because it's not on that site. Plus a few others about violence of various kinds.
Crash the Party, by Richard Thompson (TonNL's recommendation)
Valentine's Day Is Over, by June Tabor and Oysterband
The World Turned Upside Down, by Maggie Holland
American Skin, by Bruce Springsteen
Blow You Away, by Robert Earl Keen
2 comments:
Re, 'The World Turned Upside Down', an interesting song and one that has my basic sympathy.....but....
with my 'history' hat on although I have alot of sympathy for the Diggers and Levellers was there a realistic chance that they would succeed AT THAT TIME? In 1649 the fact that they killed a King was revolutionary enough without the thought that the 'plebs' would also get a voice in govenment.
My greatest disapointment is that Britain was ahead of everybody else at that time in terms of Republicanism, but in the following centuries we lost out to the Americans, French and Russians and then everybodyelse and are now one of the least representative Democracies in the world, rather than the foremost, which we were just before the Putney Marsh debates.
It's part of the 'being first' thing, isn't it - that others learn from our mistakes! One thing is that when the monarchy was restored the new king didn't have anything like the same powers his father had had, and so people felt it was 'good enough'; I've also heard a theory that the rise of Methodism in the C18 was a factor in dissolving protest, as it taught its congregation to put up with things because they would get their reward in heaven.
The time I'm most worried about is now, because people don't seem to care any more - don't bother to vote, for instance.
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