On this day, 15 January 1934 the popular UK tabloid the Daily Mail published an article called “Hurrah for the Blackshirts!” in support of Oswald Mosley’s fascist movement. The article was written by Viscount Rothermere, who was an avid supporter of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini, as well as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party. Rothermere declared in the paper that the election of Nazi MPs “represent[ed] the rebirth of Germany as a nation”. After the Nazi seizure of power, when democracy was abolished and many socialists and communists were sent to the concentration camps, Rothermere praised how “Under Herr Hitler’s control, the youth of Germany is effectively organised against the corruption of Communism.” Rothermere corresponded personally with Hitler, and met with him several times, and wrote approvingly of how the Nazis had dealt with Jewish people: “Israelites of international attachments were insinuating themselves into key positions in the German administrative machine… It is from such abuses that Hitler has freed Germany.”
Rothermere’s family still own the Mail, which today continues to advocate far right politics. For example in recent years they have attacked the National Health Service for distributing HIV medication, falsely claimed that a terrorist bomber was an LGBT+ activist, falsely claimed that most people trying to claim sickness benefits were faking it, criticised the National Trust for acknowledging the existence of gay people, falsely claimed that 10,000 people were trying to claim sickness benefits because they were “too fat”, mocked gay marriage, made countless false claims about Muslim immigrants and much more. Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips was repeatedly quoted in the manifesto of Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist Anders Brevik who murdered 93 people. Today, the Mail is the top-selling newspaper in the UK.
Learn about the fight against Mosley after WWII in our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/2020/02/17/e35-37-the-43-group/https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1630838827101261/?type=3
Solarpunk Action Week has been ongoing twice a year since 2019, with every week looking bigger and better than the last. People all over the world are planting gardens,
learning new skills, building things, reducing waste, spreading
information, taking direct action, and getting their neighborhoods and
workplaces organized.
We, your humble hosts, have consulted the auguries and scheduled Solarpunk Action Week 2021 for:
April 25th to May 1st!
Mark your calendars, kids
What is Solarpunk?
Solarpunk is a movement in speculative fiction, art, fashion and activism that seeks to answer and embody the question “what does a sustainable civilization look like, and how can we get there?” The aesthetics of solarpunk merge the practical with the beautiful, the well-designed with the green and wild, the bright and colorful with the earthy and solid. Solarpunk can be utopian, just optimistic, or concerned with the struggles en route to a better world — but never dystopian. As our world roils with calamity, we need solutions, not warnings. Solutions to live comfortably without fossil fuels, to equitably manage scarcity and share abundance, to be kinder to each other and to the planet we share. At once a vision of the future, a thoughtful provocation, and an achievable lifestyle.”
And what is Solarpunk Action Week?
Solarpunk Action Week is a week dedicated to taking radical environmentalist and anticapitalist action to make the world a better place. Previous Action Weeks have seen people starting gardens, learning new skills, making and repairing things, reducing waste, spreading information, getting involved in community organizing
All you have to do participate is begin or continue with an environmentalist, anticapitalist project and talk about it in the #SolarpunkActionWeek tag; it’ll get a lot of signal boosts to connect with other people around the world doing the same. &and follow along on Mastodon at @SolarpunkActionWeek@ecosteader.com
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The previous Solarpunk Action Weeks saw a lot of individual actions, and those were incredible to witness, but we’re at our most powerful when we come together, so your homework for the next 6 months between now and the end of April is: Get organized! If we were able to do so much as individuals back in March, just imagine what you could get done rolling into Solarpunk Action Week with a crew ready to go
If you’re new to organizing, here are some great places to get started:
And I’m sure people will link to all sorts of other great projects and resources in the rebagels, so keep an eye on the notes!
If you’re already part of a union or a tenants’ association or what have you, even better! Get them in on it.
What can I do?
So many things! You can check out the #SolarpunkActionWeek tag to see what others have done in the past for inspiration. The two dinguses organizing these events have got resource tags full of just so many things you might could do and how to get started on them, here and here respectively. And here are some other fun ideas:
“We have always lived in slums and holes in the wall. We will know how
to accommodate ourselves for a time. For, you must not forget, we can
also build. It is we the workers who built these palaces and cities here
in Spain and in America and everywhere. We, the workers, can build
others to take their place. And better ones! We are not in the least
afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the
slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own
world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here,
in our hearts. That world is growing this minute.“
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
