Save Heanor Fire Station

Online ;


http://bookshelvesandbrownale.blogspot.com

www.ambervalley.info

Quotation Station - Frank Dupuis

"The contrasts to be observed between the effects of the depression in Africa and England were striking enough to arouse my curiosity. In Africa the collapse of export markets meant bankruptcy to many planters and some traders and had aroused discontent among native producers but no African was either destitute or even badly in want. The `unemployment problem` simply did not exist.

To find in England, where people were suppposed to be so much richer and wiser than `natives`, multitudes depending upon public assistance even for food, and begging for hard work as if it were a charity to be dispensed by the generous, was startling. It impressed me as unnatural although my English friends, to whom it was customary, did not regard it so. They were satisfied that all differences between England and Africa could be explained by industrialisation. But they could not tell me how.

I thought they condemned in advance any suggestion that a more primitive society might have some lesson to teach them. Was not the black man a poor brother in need of their help and guidance ? As I knew that the black man was just the same as other people and quite capable of providing for himself, I was less disposed to accept assurances which others seemed to pass without question."

Frank Dupuis - A Planter`s Story, in `Land and Liberty` magazine, 1957 

Frank Dupuis spent nearly twenty years in Africa. He may originally have gone there on military service, but at some point he took up agricultural pursuits, returning to England in 1931.

He found the answers to his questions in W R Lester`s Unemployment and the Land and as a result became involved in a group called the United Commmittee for the Taxation of Land Values, contributing to their periodical Land and Liberty regularly.

For the moment we will simply note that the United Committee was a body that drew inspiration from the works of American philosopher Henry George and was not an organisation that can be easily classified as being either left or right wing. It still exists today, under the name the Henry George Foundation.

The quote above is interesting in many ways and I suspect different people will take different things from it. I am quite happy for that to be the case and have no intention of  interposing my own thoughts and interpretations.

Updates ; Minority Rights Group September 2012 (Kenya)

The Minority Rights Group has issued a press release condemning "ongoing retaliatory attacks" between the Orma and Pokomo ethnic groups in Kenya`s Tana River Disrict.

The group has praised Kenya`s "new and progressive constitution" and has urged the Kenyan government to build on the "postive environment" this has created by taking "immediate steps to protect the lives of  affected communities and prevent a further escalation of violence.""

MRG`s Director of Policy and Communications, Carl Soderburgh, is quoted as saying "These attacks are related to poverty, competition for scarce resources and marginalisation of minorities...If governments in East Africa continue with policies like the privatization of rangelands, commercial ranching and sedentarisation of nomads, without the participation of communities, peace will continue to elude the region."

For more information ; http://www.minorityrights.org/7962/press-releases/press-releases.html

Happy Birthday, Nelson Mandela

Various parties have gone online to post items commemorating Nelson Mandela`s birthday on Wednesday and slightly belatedly I`m going to do the same.


At risk of showing my age, I thought I`d post an image of my Free Nelson Mandela badge, which obviously dates from a time when Mandela`s circumstances were rather different to the ones he enjoys today.

I had hoped to post pictures of a few other relevant items of a similar vintage but unfortunately my inbuilt tendency to untidiness means that I`ve no idea where I`ve put them !  When I get a few moments I`ll see what I can find and post a few more images.


In the meantime, these two items may be of particular interest ;


Peter Clottey - South Africa`s Unions Congratulate Mandela on Birthday - 17 July 2012


VOA News - S. African School Children Sing Happy Birthday to Mandela - 18 July 2012


both of the above can be found at http://www.voanews.com/section/africa/2204.html .

African Rights

"Spurred by popular uprisings in North Africa, pressure to respect the rights of all Africans is growing across the continent, but political leaders are standing in the way, says the internationally respected lobby group, Amnesty International."

That`s the opening paragraph of an unsigned article posted on the allAfrica website ( http://allafrica.com  ) on 24 May 2012.

To read the full article, including a link to Amnesty`s report, click here ;

http://allafrica.com/stories/201205240011.html

As I`ve explained before, I`ve decided to brighten up the blog occasionally with pics of a few items of my own. This picture, by a Zambian artist named Patrick Kamanga, was purchased from a shop in Nottingham, UK,  probably during the 1980s. It has no real connection with the story on the All Africa site, but I thought it would make things a bit more interesting. 

Perspectives ; Racing to the UK (Part One)

Often a variety of different perspectives are needed to cast light on the social issues of the day, and race relations in the UK is no exception.

The Runnymede Trust publishes the views of representatives of the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish Nationalist Parties and is actively involved in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Race and Community. For more on the Trust`s work, see my articles `Racing to Runnymede`, Friday 9 March 2012 at http://angpav.blogspot.com and   `Ann Dummett 1931 - 2012` , Thurs 8 March 2012 on this blog.

The Runnymede Trust certainly brings it`s own contribution to the debate, but clearly it cannot be the only one. What other voices are out there ?

There have been two distinctive contributions from the Conservative Party ;

Max Wind-Cowie (ed) - Are We There Yet ? is a product of the Progressive Conservative Group and features contributions on issues around race and equality by Conservative thinkers such as Andrew Boff, Max Wind-Cowie, Mohammed Amin, Paul Goodman and others. It can be found on the website for Demos (www.demos.co.uk) , and can be downloaded free of charge. I must admit that reading this is on my `things to do` list but with one thing and another I`ve not got round to it yet. I am particularly interested in Mohammed Amin`s `Hard-Edged but Inclusive` and Paul Goodman`s  `Time to End the Tory War on Multiculturalism` , as on the face of it they sound like something I could relate to.

Probably the most thorough work on race and Conservatism is that by Lord Ashcroft KCMG, particularly his report `Degrees of Separation`. For further detail on that, you could do worse than check out his article Ethnic Minority Voters and the Conservative Party at http://lordashcroftpolls.com . This offers a summary of `Degrees of Separation` and a link to the full report.

So there we have links to publications featuring the views of what I would think are the four main political parties in Great Britain (GB comprises England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom also includes Northern Ireland). There is no particular reason why the Conservatives are more heavily featured than the other three.

Of course, political parties don`t have a monopoly on wisdom (far from it!). At some point in the future I`ll be returning to this theme and looking at various non-party organisations.

Happy Birthday, Dr Du Bois !

W E B Du Bois was born 23 February 1868.

What would he make of our world today ?

Over at www.webdubois.org , Robert W Williams comments "In a world that can be improved to promote the highest ideals of knowledge, peace and love, I would like to think that the progressive spirit of Du Bois lives on."

He asks himself where this spirit can be found and considers the implications of what we used to call `new technology`; "High-tech communications permit wider and speedier interactivity across the globe itself. It is an interconnectivity which challenges what we mean by the terms `global` and `local`."

His comments are echoed by the writer of  an editorial in a recent British Humanist Association newsletter (Unsigned - We Are Citizens of the World - BHA Newsletter 30 January 2012, at  www.humanism.org.uk ) ;

"We are finding new ways of keeping in touch with each other. This, at times, can make the world seem very small and enables our actions to have a much wider impact. New technology and ways of communicating constantly remind us that we are citizens of the world."

Online campaigning groups are everywhere it seems. It`s worth stressing that these may be quite different in character according to the time and place in which they find themselves; Move On in the US is firmly rooted in the Democratic Party while 38 Degrees, it`s sister organisation in the UK, where distrust of politicians is more widespread, is viewed by many ( most ?) of it`s supporters as an alternative to existing political structures.

 However, the point made by Dr Williams and our anonymous humanist, that the local has become global, retains it`s validity it seems to me.

Are there pitfalls to be found ? Inevitably, new forms of organisation throw up new difficulties and it`s worth remembering that staff of these organisations tend to be appointed rather than elected.

Dr Williams has another point to make ; "I am also aware that there is a digital divide which separates the electronically outfitted, jacked in and techno savvy from those less technologically equipped  and trained. It is a divide that spotlights the unequal material relationships in which we as humans are implicated. Such disparities would probably alarm Du Bois, and might have provided him with further evidence of poverty amidst plenty (or maybe because of it)." 

These concerns have implications for practical matters such as the provision of public services. Dr Williams` comments reminded me of an article I read recently by Ayub Khan,  an official connected with the Library Service in Warwickshire, UK ; "There are still millions of people who have never used the internet, many of whom are what society politely calls `disadvantaged` . Around 23% of households don`t have an internet connection. For the unconnected, real libraries...are a way of joining the digital world and not feeling so left behind." (Ayub Khan - Where Next for Libraries, www.booktrust.org.uk , 2 Feb 2012 , posted in the blog section) .

Dr Du Bois led a long and active life characterised by many idealogical twists and turns. Many individuals and organisations claim continuity with his work. A variety of schools of thought, some mutually exclusive, claim him as their precursor or their adherent. Some have accused him of inconsistency, but whatever changes of outlook he may have embraced, his "progressive spirit" remained constant. If we are looking, as Dr Williams suggests, for the true spirit of the man then in addition to the `usual suspects` , maybe we should also look among the less exalted souls campaiging in support of local services and to regenerate run-down neighbourhoods.

I can think of no better way to end this article than by quoting Dr Williams once again ;

"Dr Du Bois` spirit remains vital and cogent even today."

Happy Birthday, W E B Du Bois !

Thanks once again to Nottingham-based author Dr Tony Shaw for use of his pictures. Visit him at http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com .















  

Libraries and Democracy

Staying with the theme of libraries,  here are a couple of articles that I found interesting on the question of libraries ad democracy ;

Ian Clark - Libraries : The Foundation for a Democratic Society, 22 Sep 2010 at www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress .

Anita Sethi - Dispatch from Iraq, 23 May 2011 at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/cultural-capital

There are, of course, many online sites providing information relating to the future of libraries in the UK and elsewhere, including http://angpav.blogspot.com and  the newly-relaunched www.librarycampaign.com .

Mr Kennedy Goes to the Library

American Channing Kennedy has attracted some attention with his recent online article, `Libraries Are Part of the Safety Net...`, which appeared online at http://colorlines.com recently. Colorlines*, which is a new name to me, is a Civil Rights-type organisation and is Mr Kennedy`s employer ( http://colorlines.com/archives/author/channing-kennedy ).

A large part of the reason for the attention his article has attracted is the fact that he has included an interview with his mother, Barbara Jean Walsh, who spent two decades running libraries in small-town America. Her experiences and reminiscences, he argues, have "stark parallels" with the campaigns going on today.

His mother emerges as a very strong person.  I don`t think it would be excessive to describe her as an inspiring person, one  who had to deal with some harsh realities ; she cites the case of one woman attending literacy classes at the library whose husband beat her because he didn`t want her learning to read and write.

In fact, Mr Kennedy  has contributed two articles about libraries to the Colorlines site, `Libraries are Part...` (2 June 2011) and `Is Anyone Fighting for your Town`s Library ?` (5 June 2011).

`Libraries are Part...` has been reproduced at http://www.care2.com (posted by Lindsay Spangler 7 June 2011 in `education blogs`), and is quoted with an accompanying link by British author Alan Gibbons under the heading `Is This Why Governments Hate Libraries ?` ( 7 June 2011 ) at http://alangibbons.net .

I gather Mr Kennedy`s local library campaign is http://saveoaklandlibrary.org , whose site is well worth a visit.

I like Channing`s article and, while he doesn`t really seem to need my help, I`m only too happy to bring him to a wider audience to the best of my limited ability.

Should you be interested in other issues affecting Oakland, or campaigns concerning library provision in the UK, you might like to visit http://angpav.blogspot.com. You might need to search around a bit, but you should find what you`re looking for if you persevere.

* The phrase `color line` is one associated very much with W E B Du Bois, who popularised the phrase in his book The Souls of Black Folk (1903). For an interesting explanation of his uses of the phrase you might like to search for `color line (civil rights issue)` on Wikipedia. The  very interesting article that appears there shows that Du Bois actually used the phrase three times in that one book, each time with a different meaning, according to context.