Good grief, the great and the good are dropping like flies. Last week I heard that the cartoonist Ronald Searle had clocked out in December age 91. I can’t write obits for all these people but thankfully this is not necessary as The Economist published a fantastic one last week. The audio edition is even better.
men drinking at a bar in Berlin
Only an idiot would consider her a racist
Having followed the career of Diane Abbott MP for some years I consider her to be a great benefit to the House of Commons. While she is not as technically learned as some, she has a common sense approach that slices through bullshit like a knife through butter and, most of all, I believe that her heart is in the right place.
Now we hear that she has tweeted that “white people love to play divide and rule” and she is being lambasted as a racist. What are we to think?
Personally, I’m getting a feeling of Déjà vu. Back in March last year TV producer Brian True-May was suspended after being accused of racist comments relating to the ITV series Midsummer Murders. When speaking in an informal situation, he was asked if his Ms Marple style/chocolate box program should have ethnic minorities. He answered no and added that “..it wouldn’t be the English village with them”. A friend of mine told me that suspension was not enough and that Mr. True-May should be imprisoned!
The comments of Mr. True-May and Dianne Abbot do nothing to show racism. If we held ourselves to the same standard as we hold other people we would all be behind bars. On the face of it both comments ARE racist but only an idiot would depend on these words in isolation to judge a persons character and the calls for the resignation of Ms. Abbott are merely political opportunism.
As a white man, I understand Dianne’s comments while welcoming her clarification. In truth the baying mobs who chant RACIST have more in common with real racist than do the, usually innocent, people who stumble into these mine fields laid by the mean spirited and the lame witted.
This is not to say that all who utter remarks such as these are not racist, just that the judging of people by a handful of isolated remarks shows a bigotry and prejudice more in keeping with the likes of the BNP. The accusations come from a “them and us” mentality. They are supported by the simplistic idea that racism is a simple yes/no analysis. That anyone whose commitment to anti-racism is called into question must be immediately rejected as evil. Often, I suspect, this attitude is propelled by the fear of the finger of racism being pointed at anyone who dares defend such people.
This week real racism was in the news in the form of the conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of Stephen Larwence. When confronted with events such as this, we may be forgiven for wondering whether hypocrisy in the racism debate really matters? While Brian True-May might have lost a few weeks pay and Dianne Abbot a few voters this is nothing when compared to the horrendous suffering by many black people in this country as demonstrated by the murder of Stephen Lawrence..
I believe that hypocrisy in the racism debate does matter. While not knowing anything about Brian True-May I am not willing to brand him as racist for the handful of comments I have been fed during a media frenzy. Similarly nobody with any intelligence or sincerity who follows politics can seriously consider Dianne Abbott a racist.
If we continue to turn on each other every time one of us is accused of racism then we will all learn to disguise our opinions and this will not be a good thing. I am told by English friends who work in America that it is almost impossible to have an intelligent conversation at work. Nobody even tries as they are all afraid of tripping up over racism, sexism, agism or any other bloody ism. Yet do we consider America to be the least racist of countries? The election of President Obama would suggest that they are yet the disgraceful attacks on Mr. Obama indicate otherwise.
The debate on racism has become stilted and the two extremes monopolise debate. The outright racists at one end and the bigoted anti-racist at the other. Each side can be recognised by their obsession with hate. Their insistance on dividing humanity into absolute good and absolute bad. This leaves the rest of us walking on eggshells.
The intermittent witch hunts betray a society desperate to prove it’s anti-racist credentials while neglecting some very real forms of racism which exist in the world today. For example the monopolising of racist victimhood by Israel allows it to settle fundamentalist Jews on Palestinian land while simultaneously throwing the accusation of racist at anyone who dares to criticise. While the Israelis carry out ethnic cleansing Newt Gingrich refers to families who may have lived in Palestine for longer than America has existed as “so-called Palestinians”.
Dianne Abbot has done us all a favour by showing that ANYONE can be caught out saying something stupid which, when one is too lazy to pay attention, can be branded as racist. We should all, therefore, calm down and stop flinging accusation of racism about in such an indiscriminate manner.
The words of Rudyard Kipling may be worth considering:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;
…..Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
………daughter…I mean man..woman……..person….human…oh bollocks!
Poppies
Opinionated, contrary, independent, insightful, brave, intelligent, iconoclastic. It is absurd for me to even attempt to summarise the life of Christopher Hitchens who died yesterday of oesophageal cancer. He was 62.
Christopher Hitchens
Stewart Fraser - bothered about hippies
On the 15th November I was watching Channel 4 News and saw Stewart Fraser, the Chairman of the Policy & Resources Committee of the City Of London Corporation, say that the Occupy protesters at St Paul’s cathedral should be moved. He made the usual excuse of our whinging elite when he said that the protesters had no solution, only criticism.
Of course! They are not professional economists or bankers. They represent the people who have suffered from the policies of people like Mr. Fraser. This is like the captain of the Titanic blaming the passengers for complaining. Mr. Fraser would do well to focus more on the incompetent bankers who got The UK into the current mess rather than trying to suppress the people who are protesting.
Anyway, I wrote the bloke an Email which, so far, he has ignored. I suggets anyone else who is interested in this write him an Email too. You could try this address: COL-EB-TC@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Attention: Stewart Fraser,
I just saw your appearance on Channel 4 news in which you were completely dismissive of the protesters at St. Paul’s cathedral and seemed to be making up reasons for their eviction on the fly.
I have worked in the City before but not at any great seniority. I also realise that there will necessarily be conflict between authorities and the protesters in such a situation.
However, you arrogant dismissiveness is extraordinary. You have a bee on your bonnet about a handful of protesters in the street yet where were you during the credit crunch? Where were you as the banks and politicians ruined the economy? Not a squeak. Not a squeak.
As Evan Davis has pointed out, just prior to the credit crunch, at the end of a boom which had run on for ten years (and was therefore due to bust), a major bank (I forget which) had lent £40 for every £1 it had in deposits. This meant that if the value of its investments were to fall by just 2% the bank would be insolvent. This is incompetence and complacency on a massive scale.
Further, at the same time, while the economy was booming, the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, was running a deficit. (If you can’t repay debt in the good times then when can you?)
And where was Stewart Fraser? Nowhere to be seen. Yet when a bunch of hippies pitch tents in the street there you are swaggering around on TV.
Further, while I understand that bonuses can be a useful tool most investors are in it for the long term. It is therefore idiotic to pay traders massive bonuses because they made good profits in a single year.
As a man approaching retirement I require long term growth not erratic variations in my investments. As it is my investments have plummeted.
Your arrogant dismissive attitude emphasises that you guys still don’t realise that a lot of people are suffering because of your actions.
Your profile on The City Of London web site states that you enjoy walking, I suggest you walk. Step down from your role as Chairman of the Policy & Resources Committee.
Fantastic Art Photography
This the (former) United States Republican presidential front-runner discussing Libya. Let’s hope the Libyans don’t see it or they may change their minds about democracy.
Quack Quack - Alistair Darling speaking at The Old Market
Last Thursday evening I saw the ex-chancellor, Alistair Darling, speaking about his new book: Back From The Brink, at The Old Market in Hove. These talks are organised by City Books, a small but very active, book shop on Western Road.
The room was pretty packed with a few hundred people who had all paid a fiver to see Mr. Darling. He gave a short speech where he summarised his view of the collapse of Western Banks and how he considered that New Labour had rescued the situation. He claimed that at one point “The system had reached a stage where we were within hours of total collapse” and later said that he had “written a cheque for, effectively, 500 billion pounds”.
Not much was said about the cause of the crisis and he took the opportunity to point out some of the more favourable aspects of Tony Blair’s leadership such as reducing child poverty.
He spoke calmly and reasonably and with a trace of wry wit. He seemed to me a sincere politician. As with Jack Straw, people may claim that. though he seems sincere and reasonable in fact, behind the scenes, he is conniving to do so. Like a swan, on the surface complete calm and poise, while beneath the surface there’s frenetic activty. However, after years of the obviously insincere and calculating politicians such as Peter Mandelson, it strikes me that this is a little like the Chinese Room argument in philosophy. Or if you prefer another ornithological analogy: if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it’s a duck. Mr. Darling spoke reasonably and apparently sincerely so perhaps he is a sincere and reasonable man.
In fact I was quite surprised at my reaction. As a serial political ranter, who is quite capable of condemning Tony Blair as the devil incarnate, I found myself thinking more sympathetically about politicians in general and, though Mr. Darling’s manner may have helped this, I think the act of occupying the same room helped establish a more empathic rapport as it allowed the audience to see the man as well as the politician.
After the speech Mr. Darling took questions which were mainly about the financial crisis. He made the point that Germany has benefited from the Euro by having a comparitevly weak currency helping German exports to China and he pointed out that these exports will decline if Germany leaves the Euro. He said “If you want the Euro, you have to accept the consequences of the Euro”. This is a very interesting argument and it made me consider the United States. Though California has screwed its economy there is no talk of California leaving the dollar.
City Books
Up in London on Friday night to see The Long Notes at The Underworld. The Underworld is an old venue below The World’s End pub in Camden. I hadn’t been to the World’s End in year but it felt much the same. After a couple of support acts The Long Notes came on and played a selection of celtic tunes from their new album The Shadow Of Stromboli. Good stuff!
Claire de Rouen Books
The next day I headed for The British Museum to see the Grayson Perry exhibition The Tomb Of The Unknown Craftsman. As I meandered my way toward my destination I stopped to look in a little gallery named The Outsiders on Greek Street. It held some interesting work based mainly around sharks and butterflies. The viscous and the delicate. Further along on Charing Cross Road I browsed in the windows at the various book displays. Amidst the noise of the buses and the random strangers passing by I mused that, as technology and commercialism advance, these simple delights of the metropolis will be lost. As we all move to electronic books, the bookshops will close down and be replaced by a Charing Cross Road book shop exhibition. It has started already as the variety of human existence is gradually being erased from British town centres. The area around Tottenham Court Road tube station is still under development. No doubt it wil be necessary to build a lot of identikit shops on top of it and I wondered what future lay in store for Denmark Street with it’s historic shops selling musical instruments. Further along a hint lay in store for me in the form of a map along with some blurb promoting it as Tin Pan Alley. Ordinary people naturally create fascinating and culturally significant monuments in our cities. Riddley Road Market perhaps or Denmark Street. As commercialism swirls around them, these monuments become caricatures of themselves. I fully expect that in years to come, when Dalston is inhabited by 99% white bankers, Riddley Road Market will be covered over by a dome, sponsored by Sainsbury’s and awful watered down Caribbean music will be played over a sound system. It’s already being called Riddley Road “shopping village”. I expect Denmark street will go the same way. It’s sad but everything has it’s season. The kids will create something new.
Head Of A Fallen Giant
And on the subject of something new this exactly what Mr. Perry has on display at The British Museum. He has very cleverly picked out various items from the museum’s extensive collection of ancient artefacts and displayed them alongside new works of his own. The effect is to place contemporary art in context. Yes, Mr. Perry’s art may be in vogue and may be worth millions and all the rest of it but at it’s basic level these are artefacts. They are creations of mankind in the 21st century and they reflect the society of which they are a part.
I particularly liked Head Of A Fallen Giant, an, apparently, metal skull studded with symbols of Britishness and likened by Mr. Perry to an old sea mine left washing around in the sea for years. The large tapestry entitled Map Of Truths And Beliefs was a wonder and it struck me that Mr. Perry appears to be using symbolism in the same way as classicist painters. Mr. Perry is amazingly prolific and has produces numerous works in all kinds of mediums from tapestry to cast metal to engineering as in his Kenilworth AM1 motorbike. The exhibition is a definitive must see.
Another one of Grayson's
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Photography
travel photography – Objectifying the subject
Tags: Andaman Islands, Art, cameras, developing world, flickr, human safaris, India, Jarawa, Jarawa people, photographer, photography, The Guardian, The Long Way Home, Tourism, tourists, Travel, Uganda
The Long Way Home
Recently The Guardian ran an article reporting that India is to crackdown on what are termed “human safaris” where comparatively rich tourists visit the Jarawa tribe people of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
The Jarawa people have long been isolated from the rest of the world and are now being affected by a major road built across their land by the Indian government. A video accompanied the report showing Indian tourists getting the tribes people to dance for food.
Of course we sympathise with the Jarawar and abhor the idea that tourists casually throw them food in order to capture a few second of video footage.
But are we so very different? As a keen photographer I keep an eye on Flickr and, today, I came across this picture which appealed to me. The picture shows a couple of Ugandan children walking down a dirt road carrying baggage on their heads. The girl also carries a large container probably for water. It’s a nice shot. The colours are subtly beautiful and the girl’s expression is interesting.
But take a step back here. How would we feel if tourists wandered around poor areas of America with expensive cameras, capturing images of people struggling with bags and then drove back to their hotels in the evening to eat and drink too much?
I am in no way condemning the photographer of this shot. I have taken similar pictures and have to defend photography as an art form and state that, while the streets of western countries are fantastic subjects for photography the scale is less and less human. The beauty of pictures such as The Long Way Home may be related to their simplicity and humanity.
I guess there have always been disparities in wealth and power between the haves and have nots but these days cheap air travel seems to allow we who live in the rich world to objectify people from the “developing world” without a thought.
Vietnamese Girls