The Good News Only - thread...

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Hitchington

Hitchington

Wokey Dick
Location
New York-Paris-Pokemon
Unkraut said:
Before this gets put in the dustbin of history, Colston has the lives of some 84 000 slaves on his conscience. The legacy of Marx in what his disciples did in the 20th century amounts to some 120 million dead. Political opponents of the new Soviet state were treated basically as slave labour in the early days. The legacy of the Soviet empire is more than one petty dictatorship, as is seen daily in the news.

So toppling a statue or two of Marx would be a million times better than Colston, but as the founders of BLM are Marxists, I suspect they wouldn't be interested in this.
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Before getting into a game of "Despot Top Trumps" it would be good to understand the context of why in particular the statue of Colston was torn down and symbolically dumped in the dock, and why no other statures of slave traders in other cities have been treated in quite the same way. Historically this goes way beyond the BLM movement and bringing Marx into it just feeds into the culture war narrative being peddled by the far right including the current conservative government.
Edward Colston is, says Katie Finnegan-Clarke, “almost like a cult figure” in Bristol. There is a Colston Street, and Colston Tower is on Colston Avenue. There is even a Colston bun, which you might eat on Colston’s Day. Finnegan-Clarke, one of the activists in the Countering Colston campaign, went to Colston’s Girls’ school, where “there are statues everywhere, and we had three ceremonies every year to celebrate his life.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ve-trade-past-from-colston-hall-to-penny-lane
Former Colston's Girls' School pupil Katie Finnegan-Clarke tells LBC pupils were made to honour the former slave trader with "inappropriate" birthday rituals including singing at his grave, wearing his favourite flower, and eating his favourite bun.
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https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/present...upil-reveals-inappropriate-rituals-to-slaver/
Knowing all this and seeing Colston every day, there on his pedestal – combined with the city’s wealth and Georgian pomp, which was intimidating for someone from my background – made me feel that this was a city I would struggle to ever call home.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-colston-for-more-than-20-years-good-riddance
Bristol residents passing Colston’s memorial statue in their city centre, walking down streets and past schools, buildings and pubs named after him have been implicitly told that his philanthropy – which itself was conditional on recipients sharing his own political and religious beliefs – outweighs his role as a slave trader.

That, as stated by the plaque, he continued to stand as ‘one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city’.

This, of a man who was involved in the enslavement of 84,000 Africans. Of those, 12,000 were children under ten years old. 19,000 of them died on slave ships.

Bristol is home to one of the oldest black communities in the UK and is diverse with diasporas from all over the world. For many Bristolians confronted with the celebration of his legacy across the city on a daily basis, they could have had ancestors on one of Colston’s ships, and if not his then one belonging to someone not dissimilar to him.
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https://www.thersa.org/blog/2020/06/bristol-colston-statue
 
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D

Deleted member 49

Guest
Unkraut said:
Before this gets put in the dustbin of history, Colston has the lives of some 84 000 slaves on his conscience. The legacy of Marx in what his disciples did in the 20th century amounts to some 120 million dead. Political opponents of the new Soviet state were treated basically as slave labour in the early days. The legacy of the Soviet empire is more than one petty dictatorship, as is seen daily in the news.

So toppling a statue or two of Marx would be a million times better than Colston, but as the founders of BLM are Marxists, I suspect they wouldn't be interested in this.
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Economist v Slave Trader.....run around now !
 
FishFright

FishFright

Well-Known Member
Unkraut said:
Before this gets put in the dustbin of history, Colston has the lives of some 84 000 slaves on his conscience. The legacy of Marx in what his disciples did in the 20th century amounts to some 120 million dead. Political opponents of the new Soviet state were treated basically as slave labour in the early days. The legacy of the Soviet empire is more than one petty dictatorship, as is seen daily in the news.

So toppling a statue or two of Marx would be a million times better than Colston, but as the founders of BLM are Marxists, I suspect they wouldn't be interested in this.
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Marx was a political author , tell me about all those time he ordered deaths .
 
glasgowcyclist

glasgowcyclist

Über Member
Cirrus said:
More good news, Margaret Ferrier is going to trial for her Covid rule-breach:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-59894859

Not particularly up to speed with Scottish legalities so is this a magistrate jobbie or will there be a jury? (and will she get a tame one if it is)
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She would only get a jury trial if she was being tried on indictment. This offence is only triable as a summary case so the trial will be heard by a sheriff sitting alone.
 
Fab Foodie

Fab Foodie

Legendary Member
mudsticks said:
Thought we needed a fresh injection of 'Good News'

Ok it's local news - but isn't most news ultimately*??

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-59827621

*Until we get that long overdue invasion of the outerspace aliens who somehow compel us all to start being decent humans to each other, and stop trashing the planet :blush:
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Hooray for Devon!
The deep valley dwellers are fine people....

Exeter's lovely and growing-up we thought it paradise as well!
Looking forward to moving back :-)
 
OP
OP
mudsticks

mudsticks

Squire
Fab Foodie said:
Hooray for Devon!
The deep valley dwellers are fine people....

Exeter's lovely and growing-up we thought it paradise as well!
Looking forward to moving back :-)
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Some of us are ok i s'pose...

Others of us, are really and truly dreadful.:angel:

Pretty much like anywhere, really..

Exeter does keep coming near the top for quality of life and so on.
Has some nice bits and feels pretty safe.

I guess ultimately it depends on what you measure.

But the RSD seems like a good bunch to support yes.
 
Fab Foodie

Fab Foodie

Legendary Member
mudsticks said:
Some of us are ok i s'pose...

Others of us, are really and truly dreadful.:angel:

Pretty much like anywhere, really..

Exeter does keep coming near the top for quality of life and so on.
Has some nice bits and feels pretty safe.

I guess ultimately it depends on what you measure.

But the RSD seems like a good bunch to support yes.
Click to expand...

Maybe not something to 'shout' about....

523
 
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Unkraut

Unkraut

Master of the Inane Comment
Location
Germany
Ian H said:
That's a bit like blaming Jesus for the Westboro Baptist Church.
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So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

I anticipated this kind of reply by looking at the legacy of Marx in what his disciples did with his theories in the last century. Marx was not a sound tree and he has never born good fruit. It never ceases to amaze me that there are still those who think Marx was sound and 'if only his ideas had been better implemented' you would have achieved a utopian society on earth.
 
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