Questioning The Balls Of Political Activist & Culture In England:



Indymedia London is dead!

You hear me dead? Brown bread dead.

What was supposed to have overthrown the BBC - the way Che and Fidel overthrew Batista, the way the Khomeini overthrew the Shah, the way Mp3 overthrew Cd’s - is dead.

Conservatives are in power. The Iraq war is long over, America have a liberal President, and all is rosy. But the tool that was supposed to be reflective of the political will and political culture in the nation's capital has called it a day. I will give their excuses for this shortly.


Let's go back 1976, wilder times in England when your political affiliation to some extent defined your person. At a time wheneveryday politics was in full swing. And even the youth were aflame with world-changing outlooks and ideals in the mass culture. This is what Jonny Rotten, a Brit had to say about political activity:- “ I am an anarchist.”
Anarchy in the UK.


If we are to look at cultural moods historically where has political activity - in the mass culture sense - in covered over the last 50 years in England?

Correct me if I am wrong, but without being too intricate I would say in the main stream this is how it has played out:

’45-65 - Establishment of NHS and other state sanctioned welfare systems, Post-war socialists like Aneurin Bevan aligning with the common folk towards state socialism (a true inland movement)

‘70’s - Greenpeace, diversification of socialist parties, Punk Music movement (a mixture of inland and foreign movements)

80’s - Miner’s strike, Anti-Thatcher lobbyists (true inland movement).

90’s - Jack all (my generation no movement).

00’s - Anti-Iraq, anti-globalisation, anti-starbucks, no-logo, anti-nike, INDYMEDIA LONDON (foreign and borrowed movements).

Today - Riots, Ad-busting, Amnesty International, English Defence League .


Compare these movements of political activity to that of Latin and US of A, where everyday political activity involved party members who actually died for their ideals. And the political culture saw veterans and common citizens get gassed, spied on and almost seen as threats to national security. Shall we mention the activists in Grenada or Ecuador during the 80’s who were to echo Che’s call for a thousand Vietnams? Shall we mention the Black Panther party feeding on a cocktail of self-empowerment mixed with F.Fanon, and Malcolm X in the US, or the Baader-Madoff gang in Germany?

It isn’t a mistake that the only everyday political activity films of late within England have been foreign in the mould of Northern Irish issues via Stephen Rea and the guy who made Crying Game film. (I think the film Hunger – about a NI prisoners hunger strike by Steve Mcqueen further stresses this point).

Whereas Germany could still pull out Goodbye Lenin, Edukators and it would still resonate with the young and old alike.

I miss the days of Gang of Four (Brit musicians of the punk era), the true quartet of lyrical Marxism four-corned who said:

“They say our world is built on endeavor
That every man is for himself
Wealth is for the one that wants it
Paradise, if you can earn it
History is the reason
I'm washed up”

Gang Of Four – Paralysed


I mean we now live in an age where the EDL - judging by the youtube clips on their leader - are the loudest, and brashest voice of political activity in the literal sense mentioned above.

I live in Manchester, and have been doing so for the last four years having moved from London. This is where the welfare of the nation is supposed to have been born, (Marx, Engels?), yet when I ask my folks in different everyday circles from work to retail chick check out their voter apathy.

I almost want to be a Muslim, not because I believe in or would like to reinforce the negative connotations of terrorism hinted in the media, I am not dumb. No, but because they are considered an enemy in a large way by the rising fascist parties like EDL. EDL for their part are actually gathering pace with sympathy from non-political party folk fast. Thus if I was a Muslim this would force an environment of political will to develop. Everything the Muslim does have a political resonance.
But I am not a Muslim, yet. I believe in Christ, what the Quakers did back in the day, but we all know how that ended up don’t we?

Anyway the title of this essay/report/rant was – questioning the political will in the England – and it is with shame that I have to mention the inevitable; Indymedia ..... you guessed it London, is closing. For those not in the know the Indymedia defines itself as this:

“Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth." Indymedia was founded as an alternative to government and corporate media, and seeks to facilitate people being able to publish their media as directly as possible.” Wikipedia.


This is the reason why Indymedia London gave for closing was:

“So it is with a sad heart that we bring this latest chapter to an end. Firstly thanks to all the people, friends and comrades who have participated in the project with us over the years, as users, as members of the london collective (over 50 people) and other imc collectives, or as supporters behind the scenes. All of us wish to continue working in a similar terrain and view what comes next as a development from the work that’s already been done. However for us, this Indymedia project is for many reasons no longer the one which we think is tactically useful to put our energy into.”

Yeah right, to move energy elsewhere. They sound like they created the damn thing, they only originated off of other Indymedias in 2008. I think is a reflection of the political will not just in the nation’s capital but England as a whole.


I mean sure we borrow causes from other EU nations. (Watching Che part one last night one wonders how England supported Latin causes in the 80’s – Grenada, El Salvador the lot.

Indymedia New York is still rolling strong. But that’s not the point, the way IM London talks you’d think all what indymedia represents is going down the dumps. Now when I think of it, what did it represent to me?

The most hard-hitting article I ever read was seven years ago about how a guy became homeless, it was personal and unflinching, and a good ending as well. Come to think of it that was Indymedia Ireland. Latuff – one of the best political cartoonist in the world - only gets jibes for his craft. The only contribution I remember giving was some Christian related stuff, and I think poem from Yeats Things Fall Apart.



Personally I think most people not born in England pushed the causes Greece, Israel etc.
BBC whom has moved up north to Manchester must be laughing.

When I read that Johan Cyruff the legendary footballer once refused to play for Real Madrid because they supported Franco 30 years previous I am blown away by such acts of deviance never to be rivalled in England.

When I watch Russia Today and see the anniversary of the Vietnam war in detail showing the effects of agent orange on kids whilst I am eating my breakfast I get the gist that political activity culture isn’t dead in Russia either.

We all know France protest like every other day. They created dissent in the modern sense.

Let’s nor forget Ukraine’s orange revolution, and the leader who was poisoned and disfigured because of it. (Could you imagine Ed or David Milliband in a hospital looking like clayface from '1990 Dick Tracy because Cameron's crew didn't want them to compete?)


England, is a monarchy, we need people to tell us what to do. Our entrepreneurs get taxed (or punished) for over 40% of their earnings if they blow the roof financially. There is always that spectre of King George that the yanks obliterated. Like Christian Slater said in the film Pump Up The Volume; I need strength.

Yes there are fringe parties and quiet political activist in England, but they aren’t culturally relevant by any mass in the classical sense in that English culture doesn’t tolerate dissent socially. The closest thing we have to Jonny Rotten's ilk is probably somewhere on soundcloud anonymously plying their trade. Or maybe the Ting Tings: We Started Nothing. At the time of writing David Cameron is cutting child benefits has set caps on the unemployed benefit, but isn’t harassed an ounce of what was thrown at RED Tony Blair.

It just seems like concerning political culture and activity relevant in England today unless you are part of the EDL or a Muslim actual in house political activity on the scale and with the stakes of the miners strike, the urgency of the recent riots, the lyrics and mindset of punk music and ten point plan of post-war socialism – there is no personal revolutionary environment for you, to encourage you, and genuinely fight with you.

I need strength. I turn to my man from Gang of Four:

“I can't make out what has gone wrong
I was good at what I did.”

Oh but we still have Bansky, thank God for brash, and anonymous non-glory hunting Bansky. Leyman 2012