#1499

Great shout.

Musa Okwonga’s such a bloody good egg. Lot of time for him.

5 Likes
#1501

Imagine binding that much of your personal identity up with Captain fucking Cook that you felt you had to defend his statue all night in the pissing rain. Fuck me.

#1502

Went to a BLM march here in Liverpool today, it was quite emotional and ran dead smoothly, and there were some great speakers, particularly one guy from Toxteth who was emphasising the importance of not being distracted by statue controversy, informative plaques etc, basically saying stuff like that is ultimately pointless if it’s not followed by urgent change eg giving black citizens monetary control over their communities, was great.

Absolutely no visible counter-protesting, and the police were keeping watch from about 500m away.

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#1503

Like, want to know about Captain Cook? Read what the people who he fucking destroyed think of him.

Something of note here is that Dr Williams is even-handed, academic, and mostly just sad about Cook and subsequent British invaders’ destruction of millennia of Dharawal and Gweagal culture, and that is something that carries through in interviews with Indigenous Australians. Of course they’re angry, but they’re sad because they’ve lost the spiritual connection to Country, something which is foundational to their being, because the British needed a place to put convicts. Fucking awful.

1 Like
#1504

Again, no cops so it remained peaceful and, of course, was ignored by the media

#1505

there’s a reading group and a couple of the suggested topics are sort of relevant


google doc in there with some suggested reading

1 Like
#1506
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#1508
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#1509

Went to the one in Eastbourne today, maybe a thousand people? Not sure really, but was good! Very sensibly socially distanced, no trouble, heart-felt speakers, positive vibe. No racist pricks around as far as I saw (apparently a couple around some statue near the pier or something )
I think it was only really put on to soak up a few numbers from Brighton so that wouldn’t be quite so busy.

Really pleased all today’s protests have not had any troubles! Quite the contrast to those dickhead protests!

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#1510

I’d imagine they were in London?

#1511

Someone I know has posted a ‘dog lives matter’ picture on Facebook.

#1512

Yeah I guess!

#1513

I ended up a BLM demo today by accident, but was really glad I did. Was taking my daughter out for a walk round the park when we came upon a big gathering, probably only a couple of hundred people, but organised with a mic and speakers and people in high-vis to organise. Stuck around long enough to hear a local councillor and nurse give good speeches and did part in a minutes silence / kneel and some chanting. Felt good to be a part of it. Reckon the crowd was probably 70% white, much like the local demographic, and a real mix of ages, lots of families with kids. Really positive, glad it happened.

15 Likes
#1514

Baby steps

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#1515

And they put spike strips behind the cars they stopped.

#1516

strong, strong rumblings the nba season will be cancelled in solidarity with blm. and its the players driving this. the league are desperate to start again.

<3

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#1517

Grenfell was three years ago today.

Hard to imagine it’s that long ago, I remember getting the Hammersmith & City Line past the site a day or two after the fire and just being utterly horrified by what I saw. It felt totally ghoulish and voyeuristic looking, truly it did, but it was impossible not to.

It’s absolutely astonishing - but of course not in the least bit surprising - that families of the victims are still waiting for any sort of justice.

6 Likes
#1518

Things I’ve learnt today: Bear Grylls is the head of worldwide scouting.

This is a good response IMO; a tough one to navigate for that organisation.

#1519

there’s an LBC ad at the side of the A6 by the bridge over the M60 in Stockport, a quite prominent/busy/central location, which I’m fairly sure was one for him.

which, what the fuck.

it was a video board, few other ads too, but how is this fucker even employed? seeing someone like that advertised so prominently is galling af

#1520

fucking rotten though, the way defenders of these figures effectively or overtly disregard black history.