Eltham Lights Up

It's not everyday that you see such a sight in a south-east London suburban high street - a giant lit-up ghostly figure processing down the middle of the road.

The occasion was the switching on of the Christmas lights in and around Eltham High Street (SE9, London). The 10th annual Eltham Lights Up ceremony on Thursday 19 November featured a lantern parade and performances by local primary schools, aswell as the cast of the Bob Hope Theatre’s Wizard of Oz pantomime.

So far, so very local, so what? Well, it was a marvellous example of an event which involved many sections of the community and which loads of people turned out to join in and to watch. (It's also a gratuitous opportunity to show off the photos I took...). The children were beside themselves waving their glowsticks around and jigging to various musical floats.

After the energetic parade there was an impressive fireworks display off the roof of the Marks & Spencer building - everyone oohed and aahed in all the right places.

Even the local MP, Clive Efford (photo below right), turned up and said a few words on the stage erected next to the St Marys Community Centre - a stage which had been earlier populated with glittery jazz-playing santas (I didn't say it was tasteful, it was fun...) - actually they were really quite good.  So well done Eltham.

Getting arty in Southall, West London

Louise Ashcroft has left this interesting invitation on an earlier Southall-related post, to which you might want to respond:

" Hi,
I am an artist making a project about Southall which will be exhibited in a major warehouse exhibition organised by London's Departure Gallery on 10th-13th Dec 2009. I am inviting people to email me info/opinions/images/media inspired by the location of my project, which is in a warehouse on an industrial estate in Southall, west London. I would really like you to email me something to include in the project.

Everything I receive will be exhibited together in a sculptural way and will be labelled with the sender's name. Everyone involved will be credited in the exhibition catalogue. Please respond asap (by 1st December).

This is a great opportunity to showcase your ideas about the local area and to get involved in an interesting project. It need not take much time.

Many thanks.

Louise Ashcroft      industrialestatesouthall@googlemail.com "

The Truth About Hardeep Singh Kohli

Yes, it's him again:

Saturday 5 Dec 2009, 8pm

The Truth About Hardeep Singh Kohli
 

"Hardeep Singh Kohli stands up. Actually, he might just do the hour sat down. He’ll chat, he’ll try and be witty and maybe even accidentally make you laugh. This is his first London gig after his debut Edinburgh show "The Really Naked Chef". (He won’t be naked or cooking though.) AGES 16+ Presented by Capel & Land Ltd."

£16.00. Concessions: £14.00

Arts Depot, 5 Nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley, London.   http://www.artsdepot.co.uk

Truss selection to force by-election in Greenwich's Eltham South ward?

A meeting tonight in Norfolk could decide whether we are in for a by-election in the Eltham South ward in Greenwich Council.

At that meeting Elizabeth Truss, the newly-selected Tory parliamentary candidate for South West Norfolk is attempting to avoid de-selection tonight, after the row erupted about the Norfolk party members not having known about Truss' 18-month affair in the past with an MP (all has long since been been forgiven and forgotten by her husband). Now that has come to light, they are meeting to decide how relevant it is that their candidate had an affair and also that she apparently did not flag this up to them. Many feel, though, that this row is more about the way in which the central party has imposed its candidate on a local constituency. There's been a 'blogging blizzard' with much talk about 'Cameron cuties', the 'Turnip Taliban' and, no less, 'a fight for the very soul of the Tory Party'.

Ms Truss is at present one of the three Conservative Councillors for Eltham South. This is how she won in 2006:

Eltham South Ward (turnout 40%):

Name	Party	Results
Eileen Glover	Conservative	1668 ELECTED
Peter John Henry King	Conservative	1611 ELECTED
Michael John Lewis	Liberal Democrats	1284
John Colin Littlefield	Labour	720
Terence Arthur Malone	Labour	693
Mark Simon Pattenden	Liberal Democrats	1386
Lester Elliot Shubert (commonly known as Elliot)	Liberal Democrats	1168
Elizabeth Mary Truss	Conservative	1443 ELECTED
John Twidale	Labour	667

Elizabeth Truss's local and activist record has been much defended by local Tory councillors (well, they would wouldn't they?). The meeting begins at 7pm tonight. It will be interesting to see what happens. My guess? Under pressure from the Tory machine bent on national election success, I think she'll stay selected in Norfolk.
[Update 22.30hrs: About 200 members of the South West Norfolk Conservative group voted 132 to 37 to back Elizabeth Truss as their candidate at the next General Election.]

When Boris met Dave, Kash was picking peaches: first Punjabi-American mayor in California

A quick post about a wonderful rags-to-riches (or rags-to-power) story last week:
"Kash Gill, who grew up as a farm worker, will be sworn in today [10 November] as Yuba City’s first Punjabi-American mayor.  As many of you know, Yuba City (often referred to as the pindh of California), has a large Punjabi Sikh population....It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that finally a Punjabi-American will be taking the seat of mayor. The event does, however,  signify a signficiant step for a community that makes up about 12 percent of the population in Yuba City.  The story also embodies the dream, which many immigrant communities carry with them – that by working hard and perservering, anything is possible". [credit: Langar Hall]
It is another Amercian Dream story, perhaps just like Obama's.You have to acknowledge though, that although Kash Gill, now aged 47, grew up helping on the family farm, he is a college graduate and then went on to be a banker - so he didn't quite down his farming tools and was then carried aloft into onto the hustings. Still, he had humble beginnings and it made me wonder whether that could happen in the UK. This was especially so as I watched "When Boris met Dave" on TV earlier tonight. The programme is a 'docu-drama' portraying the shared priviledged past at elite Eton and Oxford of the two most powerful Conservative politicians in Britain: London Mayor Boris Johnson and party leader David Cameron (Cameron is top, second from left; Boris, bottom, first right). Admittedly, there's a bit of a difference between the mayor of a small USA town and a UK prime minister-to-be. Still it made think. I think that from the trade union shop floor is probably as humble a beginning as we get in UK politics. At the risk of sounding like that Monty Python (?) sketch (where they compete over who had the poorest upbringing) - do you have any 'better' UK examples?

Multicultural…ism, schism and Racism

This should be a lively event for those near Birmingham on 26 November, though alas I won't be able to get there.

The Drum in partnership with South Asian Alliance presents a debate, Multicultural…ism, schism and Racism.

"Is multiculturalism a good thing or a bad thing? Immigration has transformed Britain, making it a more vibrant, cosmopolitan nation. But have multicultural policies also left it more divided? How should we deal with questions of free speech and religious freedom in a multiculturalism society? And has multiculturalism helped or hindered the struggle for equality? Writer, lecturer and broadcaster Kenan Malik and author of The End of Tolerance, Arun Kundnani debate the vexed question of multiculturalism, racism and equality." 

Malik is often billed as one of the early 'left-wing' critics of multiculturalism whilst expect Kundnani to defend multiculturalism and talk about the 'new racism' especially since the 9/11 terror attacks in USA. I think much depends on what exactly we mean by multiculturalism but broadly I think it is a good way to organise modern society where people of different backgrounds find themselves living together - I've yet to hear about more attractive alternatives. The debate starts at 7pm at The Drum, 144 Potters Lane, Aston, Birmingham. If you make it I'd like to hear about how it went?

Svapnagata: British Asian Music and Dance Festival

For fans of Indian and British Asian music, dance and choreography there's a great festival coming up. Svapnagata at Sadler's Wells (in Islington, London) will be featuring over 60 such artists in a festival from 16 to 28 November 2009. 
Svapnagata, which means 'dreaming' in Sanskrit, is curated by multi-award winning composer Nitin Sawhney and dancer/choreographer Akram Khan. The festival will include a whole range of Indian musical experience from classical dance to British-Asian hip hop. Other notable names include Anoushka Shankar, Trilok Gurtu and Jan Gabarek. See the Sadler's site for the programme.

I've seen both Akram Khan and Nitin Sawhney performing on different occassions (and, in an earlier life, have interviewed Sawhney). They are two very focussed and grounded individuals who are hugely talented. They not only reflect their respective disciplines of dance and music but they subvert, mix and fuse their art coming up with unique material which stretches boundaries - to carry on the cliches, they are cutting-edge (click on the pic, below, to hear them talking about the Festival - or see this interview with the BBC).

I saw Akram Khan perform last year in Sacred Monsters also at Sadler's, with Sylvie Guillem, and it was spellbinding - the closest it's possible to come to tears by watching dance.

So you might want to check this out. And for 'south-east London' readers, you might be interested to know that Khan and Sawhney are both South London boys...

'What Fatima Did' at the Hampstead Theatre

Hampstead Theatre World Premiere

A Hampstead Theatre Production

What Fatima Did…

by Atiha Sen Gupta  
22 October - 7 November 2009


 This sounds a fascinating play which presses many topical buttons at the moment:

"Fatima Merchant is feisty and strong-willed.

At 17, she drinks, smokes and parties. On the eve of her 18th birthday, without word or warning or explanation, she adopts the hijab.

Suddenly, to her friends and family she is no longer the Fatima they thought they knew.

What Fatima Did... is a funny and provocative exploration of attitudes to identity, freedom and multiculturalism in contemporary London.

Hampstead Theatre has championed the work of Atiha Sen Gupta since she joined the theatre’s young company, Heat&Light, in 2003. She has written with Roy Williams and Tanika Gupta for Hampstead’s new writing festivals – Daring Parings 1 and 2. Now, her first solo full length play, commissioned when Atiha was 17, forms the centrepiece of Daring Pairings 3."

 The author herself hails from an interesting background - in an interview with the London Evening Standard we're told:

"As it turns out, she isn't Muslim and her parents are not religious. Her accountant father is half-Sri Lankan, half-white. Her Indian-born mother, Rahila Gupta, is a political journalist and activist for Southall Black Sisters (her co-authored book Circle of Light, about a real-life case of domestic violence, was made into the film Provoked, starring Aishwarya Rai)."

It's has some sizzling reviews - I wish I had heard about this earlier, still we have until Saturday...

The strange case of the 'Schotten Preise'

I heard about this extraordinary story - the Germans have for centuries been using a racial stereotype about the Scottish to refer to something that's cheap in price. This has persisted so deep that German outlets even have a stock phrase 'Schotten preise' ('Scottish price') which is routinely used to refer to products going cheap.

The price comparison site Geizkragen, for example, uses this 'happy cartoon Jock' complete with tartan hat and kilt combo advising Germans how to save money.  The Telegraph reports that:

"The Scottish National Party is to lodge an official complaint with Germany’s advertising association, arguing the long-established marketing technique is offensive.

Angus Robertson MP, the party’s Westminster leader, said the phrase promotes an unfair racial stereotype that Scots are mean and advertisers would not dare make the same association with orthodox Jews.
Mr Robertson, the son of a German, said it was unacceptable to portray Scots in such a pejorative way. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” he argued.

“You wouldn’t do it with orthodox Jews, so why do it with Scots? The constant association of our country and people with meanness and cheapness is beginning to hit at the borders of defamation and insult.”

Why have the Germans picked on the Scots particularly?  We're told that "“Schotten Preise” may derive from the 15th century when many Scots lived in German-populated areas of the Baltic and are believed to have offered goods at competitive prices." So ingrained is this phrase that a friend of mine (English) studying German even found it listed at the back of her German dictionary as one of the 'common phrases' to learn!

 However, right on cue, it is not long before those objecting to racial stereotypes are accused of being 'politically correct'. "Alex Johnstone, a Conservative MSP, accused Mr Robertson of indulging in “a kind of political correctness we could well do without”, saying he should act “in a more light-hearted and engaged way".  Yes, everyone should be happy to be called a p*** or else you're just being, well, miserable. I'm sure there's a place for jokey banter (ask any Asian who has to smile at curry jokes) but such stereotypes should not be used in public material, however much it persists in folklore.

I hope the SNP gets somewhere with its complaint. Still, I have to admit that it's a relief to be a bystander for a change in the more usual 'racial slur' rows.

The Grewals: Channel 4 documentary on Sikh family

This TV series is going to be a 'must-see' for every Asian household in the country.
"Following the success of the Bafta nominated The Family in 2008, the Grewal family from Windsor will be the subject of this major observational documentary series for Channel 4. This year there are nine family members - one of whom is born during the series - and three generations all living under one roof."

It starts on 4 November at 9pm on Channel 4 and, if the previews are anything to go by, it's going to be hilarious. It's got the full stock of characters that any British-Asian will recognise. But more than that, and most poignantly as a comment on an 'immigrant family', it has characters that ANY community would recognise - guess what, underneath the different style of clothes, food and language, famillies are pretty much the same.

I'm curious about the editing and the narrative which the editors will choose to pursue - the preview seems to be playing it for laughs but I'm guessing they'll be some bitter-sweet moments too in the mix.

I'm very curious about the language use which will be portrayed - were the participants advised to use English more than Punjabi? Did the editors favour cutting in the English bits more than Punjabi? How much Punjabi will there be and will it be subtitled? As someone who's primary research interest is 'code-switching' (or a more academic reference), I'm also looking forward to seeing some good examples of the languages being mixed together in the conversations of speakers (what great linguistic data, verbal and visual, the whole unedited footage would be - that's the stuff of fantasy, well, mine anyway....)

Anyways, here's the preview clip:


The doc has been picked up all over the media - even The Sun seems chuffed about it.

And finally, prompted presumably by this series, there is to be a related event at the Royal Society of Art (RSA) in London:

RSA Screens with Channel 4 - The Family: How has the portrayal of South Asians in the media changed in recent years?
17th Nov 2009; 18:30

The BAFTA nominated series ‘The Family’ returns this year with the Grewal family from Windsor. Filmed over a period of 8 weeks, with 28 cameras following them round the clock, this unique observational series documents the universal themes of family life.

Join us for a special preview screening of an episode of ‘The Family’ and the chance to see shorts by Asian filmmakers.

A Q&A will follow, discussing the representation of British South Asians in the media, chaired by Channel 4 Head of Diversity, Oona King, commissioning editor, Aysha Rafaele and filmmakers Sadia & Shazia Ur-Rehma. In association with Channel 4 and Bombay Mix.

October half-term week: Hamphire to Greenwich

I feel all BNP-ed out after last week and have had to turn attentions to half-term week with the children. It's a shame the current lovely warm weather could not have been predicted - we had a lovely October half-term week in Hampshire a couple of years ago. Having set off on a Friday evening, we stayed a couple of days at the Shorefield Country Park, just ten minutes walk from the Christchurch south coast with its pebbly beach with its colourful rows of beach huts (our photo above). We had lovely woodland and beach walks, swimming, eating and relaxing. Then the car was packed up again and we moved camp, driving through the New Forest a few miles inland just outside Winchester, and stayed at the slightly quirky Marwell Hotel - you're supposed to feel like you're on safari and in an animal-infested jungle - to convince you it comes complete with piped animal noises in the corridors! And, you know, it kinda worked, the children loved it. From there you can, of course, cross the grounds on foot and visit the vast Marwell Zoological Park, the raison d'etre of the hotel (though all mention of the word 'zoo' seems to have been purged from their website) - don't forget to get your discounted zoo tickets from the hotel reception. The next day on the way back home we had a sunny but cold day at Paulton's Park. It took a lot to amuse our then-3 and 5 years olds! I'm not sure why I went into this old story - just feeling nostalgic about this week I guess, and the places we've been with the children who are growing up fast.

[Warning: possible spoiler alert coming UP - thanks to Plummy Mummy for pointing that out]
This week has been more local. I took the children to the Greenwich Odeon to see Disney Pixar's Up today. A strange but intruiging film - "by tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip." It was the usual animation triumph for Pixar though quite dark in places - the death and miscarriage in the first 15 minutes had my eyes stinging, I have to say. However there's enough else to amuse the kids and they seemed to enjoy it. We braved the tiny Nando's afterwards which was busy busy, busy. There were tears there from my little boy though who, having piled up his bowl, couldn't then (in a 'heaven turned to hell' moment) get the frozen yoghurt dispensing machine to stop! All was well in the end.

Anyways, back to the old school and work routine next week, though before then we have the Halloween circus to brave...

Pimped my blog

It's still me here! Well, I finally got round to updating my blog - not perfect by a long way but at least ...er...unique. Though I have to admit to a sentimental fondness for template '565' which served me well for quite a while. Would be interested to know what you think?

Anita Desai and Kiran Desai in conversation

If you're interested in 'post-colonial' literature from the Indian diaspora, here's an event which might interest you:

Saturday 31 October 2009

Anita Desai and Kiran Desai in conversation 

"A rare opportunity to listen to the formidable family duo Anita and Kiran Desai, who discuss the different cultural, historical and literary forces that formed their writing lives and which have made them the internationally renowned authors they are today. What were their main influences and how did they start out? Have global publishing contexts changed? How does it feel to share a similar craft? This intriguing conversation between mother and daughter includes short readings from both writers."
At Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road, London.   Click here for more details

Legitimisation of fascism: 'The genie is out of the bottle'*

Well, it's over. I think many will breathe a sigh of relief over the relative pummelling that Nick Griffin got on the BBC tonight. He showed himself up with his cod 'ice-age' history and frankly offensive claims that America's infamous KKK was a non-violent organisation! The panelists did well, with some of them very well-prepared. However, on balance I have to agree that the BBC did not have to have NG on Question Time itself - it could have discharged it's 'duty of balance' through its news programmes eg. Newsnight, as it has done already. I think having NG on such a 'news entertainment' programme does add legitimacy to the BNP. Yes, I know close to a million people may have voted for them, but then again, Hitler was elected once too and look where that ended. The BNP are a party which a sizable percentage of British people cannot join because of the colour of their skin (its proposed constitutional change to allow non-white people to join has yet to be agreed and enacted) and which, if elected, would constrain the rights of people (to jobs, to housing, etc.) on racial grounds. It wasn't a good move to have him sitting up there with the big boys and girls. I think the BBC can only have been playing for ratings.

Finally, for more detail, a couple of links to some live blogging and comments on the programme: the New Statesman and BobfromBrockley (*title quote here from the Statesman blog by Mehdi Hasan). And here's the iplayer link to watch the programme.

[Morning update: depending on what you read or watch, it was either a triumph showing up fascism or it was a lynching and has created sympathy for the underdog. But, hey, sometimes you are the underdog for all the right reasons and deserve not to win.]

Questions of our time: freedom of speech, tolerance and the new media

Whilst following much of it, I’ve been pretty silent here on the hot blogsphere topics of the ‘left’ during the last week or two. We’ve had:

- ‘freedom of speech’ issues (the Jan Moir piece on Stephen Gately , Geert Wilders’ visit and the BNP on Question Time) and

- the traditional media vs new media (the 2.0 web success resulting in the records complaints to the PCC about the Moir piece)

Other bloggers have been saying it so much better (and quicker!), as linked above.

It will be interesting to see how the BNP plays out on Question Time tonight (BBC1, 10.30pm ). Will Nick Griffin expose himself? Will he come across as a credible politician with views on a range of (non-race related) topics? Which of the other panel members will be most effective/useless against NG? Will Bonnie Greer prove to have been a good choice? And perhaps most importantly, following the programme, will there be a rise in support for the BNP?