The Metro is one of these papers that I, and doubtless many other people, read for one simple reason - it's available free on the buses. I certainly wouldn't pay for it, as its politics are horrendously right wing. And they plumbed new depths on Wednesday 16th May, with an article about the closure of The Public nightclub which made up for in vicious scapegoating what it lacked in accuracy ...
To start with, it's very convenient for the Metro to bring the Royals into the story, at a time then the mainstream media have been fawning over the Royal family and too many people have bought into the pro-Royal hype. As it approaches, the Jubilee is already starting to feel like an anti-rabies injection - long and drawn out, excrutiating and absolutely inescapable !!!
Yet, for better or for worse, the closure of Public had nothing to do with 'Toff haters'. The article admits people had "complained about people fighting, being sick, urinating and swearing in the street outside" - the kind of anti-social behaviour which, understandably, attracts complaints in a very much un-posh, post-industrial village like Clowne!
Then the article takes a tone bordering dangerously on being disablist, when it implies that people with disabilities were killjoys whose complaints led to Public's closure. Well, I - and the vast majority of people with disabilities - have no problem with able-bodied people having fun, conditional upon the 'fun' not being at the expense of people with disabilities or any other oppressed minority. Besides, many night clubs nowadays are accessible to people with disabilities, and there is a thriving art of wheelchair dancing - both positive effects of the inclusivity which right wingers bemoan as 'political correctness' (whether 'gone mad' or otherwise).
Then there's the comment which would be hilarious if it wasn't so toxic: "If someone with a disability complains, it has ten times the weight of an able-bodied person’s complaint." Yeah, right. In the same parallel universe, the sky is orange with purple dots, Cameron is the most popular prime minister ever, Atos Healthcare are in charge of Army recruitment, and we're all listening to the current number one hit ("Those Were The Days Of Our Lives" by Eminem feat Michael Jackson) on cylindrical CD's :P
At the end of the day, the council didn't actually shut Public down anyway, the owners decided to do that for whatever reason. What the council did was cut the permitted opening times, so Public could only open until midnight, instead of 2:30 am. Considering some of their clientele were acting in a way which would get working class people decried as 'chavs', it could be argued that Public actually got off lightly.
Ah well, they would probably argue, it is an irresponsible minority of customers who are being anti-social and spoiling it for everyone else. They may well have a point there. But the same is also true in many other cases; when pubs and clubs are forced to stop under-18s nights or stop admitting young people, due to anti-social behaviour or even just 'under age' drinking, you never see the mainstream press up in arms about freedom to have fun!
But why let the truth get in the way of a good story? Especially one which helps brainwash people into prejudice against people with disabilities, at a time when the government, supported by the capitalist Establishment, have declared war on disability benefits, Remploy, and many important services for people with disabilities.
Not that we can really expect any better from the Metro, which is run by the same company as the Mail - the same Mail that, in the 1930's, supported the British Union of Fascists with the headline "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" :/
For news from a working class viewpoint, which supports unity across the class - not the scapegoating of minorities - you are best off reading the Socialist Worker. This is free to read online, and paper copies can be bought in many large towns and cities on Saturday mornings. You may even wish to join the SWP, and help us sell our paper and get the truth across to a wider layer of people.
Socialist Worker is your paper - Buy it, read it, sell it!
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Radio pirates and Establishment raiders
It seems to be open season again on pirate radio, or free radio as I prefer to call it (BBC News: Pirate radio 'puts lives at risk').
The allegations of pirate radio causing interference go back to at least the 1980's, probably before that, and are as grossly exaggerated now as they were then. Besides, the constant crackdowns on free radio stations can, if anything, have a counter-productive effect where it comes to the elimination of interference. As penalties for 'illegal broadcasting' increase and the severity of studio raids increase - now even records and CDs can be confiscated, as well as broadcasting equipment - free radio operators take steps to avoid the studio being located. One is the use of 'link transmitters' on non-broadcast frequencies, which massively increases the risk of them being on a frequency used by emergency services or aircraft. As is the case with drugs, criminalisation has created a risk which really need not have been there.
In any case, the Establishment are being hypocritical, whining about free radio 'putting lives at risk' while, at the same time, the maintenance of emergency service radio equipment is being cut back. For example, one of the companies involved in the maintenance of radios for the emergency services, Arqiva, has just made a large number of people redundant (including myself :-( ). I fail to see how scaling back the maintenance of such vital radio equipment can increase the reliability of emergency services' communications :-P
There are also constant - again grossly exaggerated - reports from the Establishment media, about pirate stations being involved with illegal drug-related rave parties. Again, when the mainstream broadcasters continue to irresponsibly promote alcohol, which kills more people and causes more violence than illegal drugs, the stench of hypocrisy is overpowering!
The real reasons for the crackdown on free radio are twofold. The most obvious one is that the legal stations - which, despite calling themselves 'local radio', are increasingly owned by a handful of medis giants - don't want competition eating into their fat profits.
The less obvious, but maybe more important, reason for the Establishment's hatred for free radio, is also to do with competition - for ideas. The mainstream broadcasters have, over the past few years, increasingly become a mouthpiece for Establishment propaganda. For example, the broadcast media played an important part in encouraging people to support the Iraq war in 2003, and during the Gaza conflict, the mainstream news reports were heavily biased in favour of Israel. Then there's the endless adverts for military recruitment, against 'benefit fraud', etc. The last thing the Establishment want is alternative broadcasters eroding the ability of their media to indoctrinate the masses.
Not that all pirate radio is inherently progressive. In my time on the free radio scene, I came across a few characters who were just as alienated and brainwashed as many in wider society. But at their best, community-based pirates can and have given a side of the news not generally heard on the mainstream stations, and helped promote local activity against racism. For example, in the 90's, the Birmingham pirate PCRL had a phone-in programme about the threat of the BNP and how to deal with it.
What we need is broadcasting by the community, aiming to inform and serve the community. Not by big business, aiming to promote the Establishment's agenda and maximise profits.
The allegations of pirate radio causing interference go back to at least the 1980's, probably before that, and are as grossly exaggerated now as they were then. Besides, the constant crackdowns on free radio stations can, if anything, have a counter-productive effect where it comes to the elimination of interference. As penalties for 'illegal broadcasting' increase and the severity of studio raids increase - now even records and CDs can be confiscated, as well as broadcasting equipment - free radio operators take steps to avoid the studio being located. One is the use of 'link transmitters' on non-broadcast frequencies, which massively increases the risk of them being on a frequency used by emergency services or aircraft. As is the case with drugs, criminalisation has created a risk which really need not have been there.
In any case, the Establishment are being hypocritical, whining about free radio 'putting lives at risk' while, at the same time, the maintenance of emergency service radio equipment is being cut back. For example, one of the companies involved in the maintenance of radios for the emergency services, Arqiva, has just made a large number of people redundant (including myself :-( ). I fail to see how scaling back the maintenance of such vital radio equipment can increase the reliability of emergency services' communications :-P
There are also constant - again grossly exaggerated - reports from the Establishment media, about pirate stations being involved with illegal drug-related rave parties. Again, when the mainstream broadcasters continue to irresponsibly promote alcohol, which kills more people and causes more violence than illegal drugs, the stench of hypocrisy is overpowering!
The real reasons for the crackdown on free radio are twofold. The most obvious one is that the legal stations - which, despite calling themselves 'local radio', are increasingly owned by a handful of medis giants - don't want competition eating into their fat profits.
The less obvious, but maybe more important, reason for the Establishment's hatred for free radio, is also to do with competition - for ideas. The mainstream broadcasters have, over the past few years, increasingly become a mouthpiece for Establishment propaganda. For example, the broadcast media played an important part in encouraging people to support the Iraq war in 2003, and during the Gaza conflict, the mainstream news reports were heavily biased in favour of Israel. Then there's the endless adverts for military recruitment, against 'benefit fraud', etc. The last thing the Establishment want is alternative broadcasters eroding the ability of their media to indoctrinate the masses.
Not that all pirate radio is inherently progressive. In my time on the free radio scene, I came across a few characters who were just as alienated and brainwashed as many in wider society. But at their best, community-based pirates can and have given a side of the news not generally heard on the mainstream stations, and helped promote local activity against racism. For example, in the 90's, the Birmingham pirate PCRL had a phone-in programme about the threat of the BNP and how to deal with it.
What we need is broadcasting by the community, aiming to inform and serve the community. Not by big business, aiming to promote the Establishment's agenda and maximise profits.
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Blog off, Blears!
Ah well, I guess we should be flattered that political blogs are obviously a big enough thorn in the side of the government, for a government minister to attack us (BBC News: Blears attacks political bloggers). But Blears' knee-jerk attacks on those who disagree with her, and the way her government is going, do nobody any favours - least of all herself and her government!
Far from "fuelling disengagement" with politics, as Ms Blears alleges, blogs are one way in which ordinary people can re-engage with a political scene which many feel is becoming increasingly remote from working class people. If anything is fuelling disengagement, it is the flood of reactionary right-wing policies which are often driven by the needs of the capitalist Establishment, and the out-of-touch rantings of government ministers in tabloids like The Sun and the News Of The Establishment, sorry, World. Indeed, one government minister even pitched his reactionary immigration legislation at Sun readers (BBC News: Woolas ' looking to Sun readers'). If you ask me, Blears' attack on grass-roots blogs while remaining silent on ministers spouting, even signalling new legislation, via the tabloids, seems to be a case of the Establishment's "seeming hypocrisy" which Blears berates us for unearthing :-P
Ms Blears does have a point when she says some blogs are right-wing - even some blogs which are allegedly left-wing (notably those of the so-called 'decent left'), in supporting wars on Iraq and Afghanistan and (in the case of Harry's Place) even 42 days detention for 'terror suspects', often have de-facto reactionary right-wing undercurrents. But there are many left-wing blogs out there, many some way to the left of Blears and her fellow New Labourites (easy I know!) - such as Snowball's excellent Adventures in Historical Materialism blog. Blogging is also invaluable in getting across news which is not covered by the Establishment media, which Blears' friends are so in love with. Especially in more repressive regimes (eg Burma during the military regime), or areas under foreign occupation (eg Iraq and Palestine).
Yet, at the same time, it is true that blogging on its own is very limited as to how much social change (or 'added value' to use Blears' Newspeak) it can bring. For real social change, we need to confront the capitalist Establishment in real space.
Which is why this blog urges all readers (that means you!) to actively support, and get involved with, every strike, every protest against cuts in services and attacks on our living standards, to become actively involved in your trade union, and - last but not least - become actively involved in politics by joining a truly working class political organisation, such as the Socialist Workers Party!
Far from "fuelling disengagement" with politics, as Ms Blears alleges, blogs are one way in which ordinary people can re-engage with a political scene which many feel is becoming increasingly remote from working class people. If anything is fuelling disengagement, it is the flood of reactionary right-wing policies which are often driven by the needs of the capitalist Establishment, and the out-of-touch rantings of government ministers in tabloids like The Sun and the News Of The Establishment, sorry, World. Indeed, one government minister even pitched his reactionary immigration legislation at Sun readers (BBC News: Woolas ' looking to Sun readers'). If you ask me, Blears' attack on grass-roots blogs while remaining silent on ministers spouting, even signalling new legislation, via the tabloids, seems to be a case of the Establishment's "seeming hypocrisy" which Blears berates us for unearthing :-P
Ms Blears does have a point when she says some blogs are right-wing - even some blogs which are allegedly left-wing (notably those of the so-called 'decent left'), in supporting wars on Iraq and Afghanistan and (in the case of Harry's Place) even 42 days detention for 'terror suspects', often have de-facto reactionary right-wing undercurrents. But there are many left-wing blogs out there, many some way to the left of Blears and her fellow New Labourites (easy I know!) - such as Snowball's excellent Adventures in Historical Materialism blog. Blogging is also invaluable in getting across news which is not covered by the Establishment media, which Blears' friends are so in love with. Especially in more repressive regimes (eg Burma during the military regime), or areas under foreign occupation (eg Iraq and Palestine).
Yet, at the same time, it is true that blogging on its own is very limited as to how much social change (or 'added value' to use Blears' Newspeak) it can bring. For real social change, we need to confront the capitalist Establishment in real space.
Which is why this blog urges all readers (that means you!) to actively support, and get involved with, every strike, every protest against cuts in services and attacks on our living standards, to become actively involved in your trade union, and - last but not least - become actively involved in politics by joining a truly working class political organisation, such as the Socialist Workers Party!
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