Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, Parthenope, Where Dragons Live and Thunderbolts* reviewed by MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE
What we do with fascists
As the AfD is welcomed in the UK parliament, ALEXANDER CARTER reminds us how music became a battleground in the 1980s and 1990s, fighting fascism with guitars and microphones
Punk poet Attila the Stockbroker in 2018; The Cable Street Mural in Shadwell, East London was painted on the side of St George's Town Hall by Dave Binnington, Paul Butler, Ray Walker and Desmond Rochfort between 1979 and 1983 to commemorate the Battle of Cable Street in 1936. The original design was by Dave Binnington
CHRIS SEARLE wallows in an evening of high class improvised jazz, and recommends upcoming highlights in May
MARY CONWAY applauds the revival of a tense, and extremely funny, study of men, money and playing cards
MEHDI ACHOUCHE explores the constant fascination of cinema with Marxist alienation from Fritz Lang and Chaplin to Bong Joon Ho
FIONA O’CONNOR steps warily through a novel that skewers many of the exposed flanks of the over-privileged
MARY CONWAY applauds the study of a dysfunctional family set in an Ireland that could be anywhere
MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
IN the 1980s, Britain’s far right was on the rise. Fascist parties fielded over 100 candidates in the 1983 general election. And culturally, the far right was also making ground.
“White power” bands like Skrewdriver and Peter and the Wolf began drawing sizeable crowds and selling thousands of records. In 1987, Skrewdriver’s frontman founded Blood & Honour, a music network that soon gained followers and branches throughout the US and Europe.
Blood & Honour’s emergence caused tremors among the UK anti-fascist movement. Anti-Fascist Action (AFA), the dominant anti-fascist group of the time, struck back with their own musical network: Cable Street Beat (CSB).
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