Opinion: The North Has Always Been at the Cutting Edge of Culture
Kojo Koram
Forget the stereotypes, red wall voters aren’t inherently culturally conservative. The north has always pioneered culture.
Tag: culture
Downstream: Has the Left Forgotten How to Have Fun?
Ash Sarkar is joined by ACFM’s Jeremy Gilbert to discuss euphoria, liberation, and the wisdom in the rave.
Opinion: England Is in the Midst of an African Renaissance – but It’s Still Racist As Hell
Kojo Koram
As impressive as England’s current African cultural renaissance is, the goal must ultimately be to create a world free of the painful legacies that produced it, writes Kojo Koram in Contesting Culture, a new series asking who really owns British culture.
Novara FM: Sex, Dissidence, Desire
Jonathan Dollimore joins James Butler to talk sex, subversion and truly dangerous knowledge.
ACFM: #ACFM Trip 16: the Long ‘90s
The one where the gang remember the end of history.
Opinion: Everybody is Doing Identity Politics, Even If They Think They’re Not
Ash Sarkar
Labour didn't suffer an embarrassing local election defeat because it's 'too woke' for the working class. It lost because it has no idea who the working class actually is in 2021, writes Ash Sarkar.
ACFM: #ACFM Microdose: Jeremy Gilbert on Folk Music
Jeremy Gilbert tunes into the politics of folk music, from communist troubadours to pastoral psychedelia.
Long Read: Money Can’t Free Britney – But a Strike Could
Eleanor Penny
The pop star inhabits a gilded version of the same cage that traps all wage labourers. She also has the same tools to escape, writes Eleanor Penny.
Opinion: Sex and the City Is Back and I Couldn’t Help but Wonder: Will the Show Finally Throw Off Shackles of Capitalism?
Eleanor Penny
As the hit HBO franchise returns for its seventh season, Eleanor Penny asks whether our heroines will at last escape their opulent purgatory.
Long Read: The West is Dying – of Narcissism
Arun Kundnani
Conservatives often frame demographic change as western cultures 'committing suicide'. The left must challenge this, writes Arun Kundnani, because as individuals and as peoples, we can only grow through our encounters with others; in pursuing a purification of the west, conservatives foster the very cultural death they claim to fear.
Report: ‘It’s All Performative, They Don’t Care’: Why Tate Workers Are Going on Strike
Sophie K Rosa
Facing redundancy during a national recession and global pandemic, Tate workers are going on strike, arguing that, despite the art institution’s socially conscious image, it is the lowest-paid and most diverse workers who will be worst impacted. Sophie K Rosa reports.
Long Read: How Grime’s Origins Show a Path to Cultural Resistance
Charlotte Watson
Forged in the shadow of London's financial district, criminalised by the state and locked out of the mainstream music establishment, Charlotte Watson reflects on the lessons we can learn from grime's early years.
Opinion: Independent and DIY Venues Offer Us Steps Towards a Lived Socialist Culture
Luke Cartledge
With pandemic support and mutual aid groups kicking into gear around the country, Luke Cartledge argues the spaces from which they operate - largely DIY community initiatives - should be part of the infrastructure of socialist organising.
Long Read: Literally Just Vibing: How Music Streaming Platforms Manipulate History, Legacy and Emotion
Fred M-G
In this long read, music-maker Fred M-G takes a closer look at how the "sonic wallpaper" curated by the music streaming services upon which we now rely flattens and sanitises music's history and potency.
ACFM: #ACFM Microdose: Musical Cities
The #ACFM crew take you on a tour from Detroit to Manchester, considering the cultural history and politics of the musical city.
Novara FM: How We Might Live: Architecture and Culture
James Butler is joined by Owen Hatherley, culture editor of Tribune Magazine to talk architecture - socialist and otherwise - and the politics of culture.
Fuck Business, Fuck the Law, Fuck Parliament: The Descent of British Conservatism
Aaron Bastani
With the government's decision to suspend parliament ruled unlawful, we are now confronted with a crisis so deep that Britain's establishment party is discrediting the order it has historically sought to uphold, argues Aaron Bastani.
ACFM: #ACFM Trip 4: Love and Hate
In this latest episode of #ACFM, Nadia, Jeremy and Keir discuss the politics of love and hate.