Doncaster crackdown: the shape of thing to come? (54)

The thing is, their idea of what is 'English' never existed and is purely an invention of modern times. England was always diverse and over the centuries immigrants with different cultures made their home here time and time again. There have also always been regional and city cultures that differed from one another so much so that it scarcely seemed that 'England' could be one country. Then of course there are the different social classes that all have different cultures many of which are far removed from one another. These people want to turn the clock back but the time they yearn for never did exist in history.

However, it is plain to see that 'intolerance' is back on the political agenda and there are people about who will take away our freedoms if we don't fight them.

'taste the whip, in love not given lightly, taste the whip now bleed for me' Velvet Underground

8,000 people? Small pride innit. Get the feeling it will be a lot bigger this year, which can only be good for the people of Doncaster who are angry about this. Think I might attend myslf, with a large "I came from Manchester to parade my sexuality" placard.

It's not the funding issue which is a problem with this, in my opinion, it's the homophobia behind it. Personally, I think the businesses, in some towns which are not even gay ones, who make a killing in profit should pay for the parade. I have no idea whether Doncaster's smallish pride is profitable for anyone.

It might be worth mentioning in this thread that there is some level of protest against Pride ("Pride is a protest") coming from queer community in the areas where it has become a mainly commercial venture. (Such as Manchester).

De

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In the west country the yearly charity carnivals are all entirely self funded and are the most impressive in the country, many floats costing over £10,000 each of volunteers fundraised money.

Your comment that intolerance is "back" just stuns me, just look at disappearing liberties over the last 10 years, I personally have found find this last labour gov by far the most oppressive and intolerant regime obsessed with its control I have ever lived under.

- J.

My, what sharp teeth I have.

Edited 7 Jun 09, 12:16 PM by BadWulf

hello. i think this is slightly inaccurate. the stonewall riots took place in 1969 after a police raid on a bar frequented by gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered. with this in mind the early and surviving movement has been known as GLBT. the first actual marches took place in 1970.over a period of years the more political and harder edges were displaced and words such as liberation and freedom were dropped from publicity.i think all groups should have equal access to funding for events but unfortunately most councils select the ones that will get them the best press, make them look good, and provide sound bites that may help them stay in power

"That sort of thing". A quick google of news articles with that phrase show that the phrase is mostly used to verbally reduce a collection of the preceding words. It also generally marks out the collection of preceding words as odd, unusual, or otherwise atypical.

The question is whether the collection of preceding words is the immediately given "gays and lesbians" (he did not use the more PC term "LGBT" or even the more medicalised "homosexual") or if he's talking about:

The term "parading through town" again has very negative connotations. Unjust arrogance on the part of those doing the parading seems to be common.

The anti-PC stance the mayor and his party advertises could, ironically, be more PC so that it doesn't appear so offensive and bigoted. He could have argued (as others have on here) that if we give one group funding we have to give all groups funding, but I doubt he would cut funding to, say, groups of veterns who wish to "parade through town". It's all well and fine to be anti-PC, but Davies' words bely a negative attitude towards the LGBT community which he does not bother to justify with economic or political reasons.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

hello. the BNP spectre has rather become a little like the "terrorist threat" ogre. as pointed out, a wide variety of rights have been lost under the labour government of the last decade and right wing social control is very much a reality. when people feel betrayed and disaffected by traditional government they are likely to turn to more radical credos and that will include the BNP. if the BNP were to ever get elected i guess my father, mother and i would be on a boat back to dublin, but despite that i'm not prepared to let a few scare headlines about them obscure and deflect more realistic threats that already exist. also, and admittedly with limited knowledge of the facts, i dont feel the doncaster situation constitutes a "crackdown".

darcy

Edited 7 Jun 09, 12:36 PM by masterdarcy09

Local Authorities should concentrate on providing services that benefit the community as a whole and that can only be provided by collective organisation. That way we wouldn't need to pay so much Council Tax and people would have more money to spend on minority interest of their own choosing.

Last year I got an questionnaire from my Local Council asking me fill it in with a load of personal information. I refused and sent them an Email; extract below.

Why they need to know this information in order to empty my rubbish bins, keep the roads maintained, fix the streeet lamps, police the streets and maintain a fire service plus a miriad of other service the Local authority should be providing is beyond me.

I wouldn't be happy with anyone outside of the medical profession having access to my medical records, especially if it involved mental health. Mental health is such a complex subject little understood by the majority of people that the only people that should be making decisions based on mental health problems are qualified psychiatrists or psychologists. Theodore they do not need the information as a social worker, unless they fall into one of the above categories, is not competent to use it properly.

Susan Williams

This is true but more oppressive regimes are on their way, the Labour government, like all governments, has been serving the ruling class during its time in office and this class has now decided that it wants to move to a more dictatorial form of rule.

'taste the whip, in love not given lightly, taste the whip now bleed for me' Velvet Underground

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