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Political equality @ Glasto...


tom22
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Just something I was talking to my mates about at the festival...Glastonbury is completely brilliant, any person will have the time of their life their, music or no music, drugs or no drugs, booze or no booze etc.

 

It's a great leveller, CEOs moshing with toilet cleaners, people coming together from across the world to enjoy five amazing days in Somerset, detached (as much as you can be in 2015) from the rest of the world.

 

So open, so free, so fun...except everywhere you go there's more left wing politics drummed down your throat than you can quite take in. I understand the history of CND and the fact there's always going to be a lefty bias at these kinds of events, but it kind of feels like how I imagine it was in the height of Communist China or Cuba with the one-sided nature of things, particularly in Shangri-La and Leftfield.

 

I don't particularly care one way or the other and certainly don't take offence to any of it, but surely it's completely contradictory to the open nature of an event like this to have it making such uncontested political statements against the democratically elected government with no opportunity for any kind of fair debate?

 

(Bet this will get torn to shreds).

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No fair question, but it might get torn to shreds

I've answered this before in a similar way - the trouble with right wing politics is it's about me me me and what I can get what can I do

This is almost entirely at odds with the festival environment where we are all in it and equal together - there's no scrabbling to get better shit for yourself so you can get more than your fellow man - the whole thing is intrinsically a "leftie" or as I prefer to call it "human and caring" event

So no, you won't see stuff arguing for less restrictions on vendors - because the fact that the profit-hungry mass-market McDonald's and Nandos and Dominos of the world aren't there is a wonderful thing

You won't see stuff arguing for less contribution to helping other, you won't see stuff arguing for forcing people to work for minimum acceptable pay or facing sanctions, you won't see people leaving those who fall in the mud to lie in it laughing at their inability to take care of themselves

So no, there won't be much right wing, inhumane and selfish stuff at the festival - but it's for a good reason. The festival is a wonderful and loving place precisely because it is the opposite of that.

If you want to experience it the other way around go to Latitude and then a few of the Lovebox/Magic Summer type corporate events where it's half sponsored by BMW and PIMMS with VIP sections in the prime viewing areas at each stage and see how a right wing festival feels - then make your own call

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I'd suggest you put on your tin hat and keep your head down Tom.

Fundamentally the politics of the festival are left wing, so that's your starting point. It's never claimed (to my knowledge) or been held up as an apolitical platform, so although it is inclusive and welcoming to all that doesn't mean it's going to give a balance of political views.

On a more political note I would argue that left wing politics is by its nature more inclusive. The politics of the Tory party are, to a greater or lesser degree, about the benefits to the few rather than the many. So left wing politics is more in keeping with the inclusive nature of the festival.

My tuppence worth anyway.

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I think the only problem I'd have with the politics at the festival is if it claimed to be balanced. It's a festival rooted firmly on the left. It is what it is. As much as you could spend the weekend without seeing much music, the politics can be avoided as well. Nobody is ramming anything down anybody's throats. Except maybe for a few choice tents at Oxlyers.

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I was surprised/disheartened to see the poll of attendees who voted in huge numbers for the Tories being bandied about during and after the fest.

As a "foreigner" one of the reasons I enjoy attending the fest is to be reminded of the progressive political left in the UK. It's not evident *enough* for me as I've mentioned to people here before.

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"everywhere you go there's more left wing politics drummed down your throat than you can quite take in"

 

Two things here Tom:

 

First, don't confuse the catch-all phrase "left wing politics" with the more accurate description of  "anything that isn't traditionally thought of as right wing politics". Greenpeace is not just a "left wing" campaign and nor is CND. Sure they campaign on issues that often resonate those on "the left" but there is no reason why a politician on the right can't campaign for the environment or to get rid of our nuclear weapons. It's just that very few do. The same could be said about WaterAid and Oxfam. These are not political movements in the left / right sense, though they do highlight issues that, by their nature (in particular a focus on the effects of injustice and inequality) tend to attract more support on the left.

 

Secondly, and most importantly, what Glastonbury tends to highlight for a few days each year is that there is far more to politics and social campaigning in this country than you might ever imagine over a whole year of simple exposure to our mainstream media. That does not mean that Glastonbury is particularly 'left wing' in terms of the views expressed, but is more of a reflection of how right wing our press and media are all the rest of the time. This does not make Glastonbury the problem, it makes it part of the solution.

 

If you are uncomfortable with messages like these being highlighted for three days in your year then I really would suggest that it's you rather than the festival that should think about a change in outlook.

Edited by marktea
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I was surprised/disheartened to see the poll of attendees who voted in huge numbers for the Tories being bandied about during and after the fest.

As a "foreigner" one of the reasons I enjoy attending the fest is to be reminded of the progressive political left in the UK. It's not evident *enough* for me as I've mentioned to people here before.

 

hopefully these folk had their view challenged and opinions changed over the course of the festival..

the lefty politics are congruent with (almost) everything about the festival

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"everywhere you go there's more left wing politics drummed down your throat than you can quite take in"

 

Two things here Tom:

 

First, don't confuse the catch-all phrase "left wing politics" with the more accurate description of  "anything that isn't traditionally thought of as right wing politics". Greenpeace is not just a "left wing" campaign and nor is CND. Sure they campaign on issues that often resonate those on "the left" but there is no reason why a politician on the right can't campaign for the environment or to get rid of our nuclear weapons. It's just that very few do. The same could be said about WaterAid and Oxfam. These are not political movements in the left / right sense, though they do highlight issues that, by their nature (in particular a focus on the effects of injustice and inequality) tend to attract more support on the left.

 

Secondly, and most importantly, what Glastonbury tends to highlight for a few days each year is that there is far more to politics and social campaigning in this country than you might ever imagine over a whole year of simple exposure to our mainstream media. That does not mean that Glastonbury is particularly 'left wing' in terms of the views expressed, but is more of a reflection of how right wing our press and media are all the rest of the time. This does not make Glastonbury the problem, it makes it part of the solution.

 

If you are uncomfortable with messages like these being highlighted for three days in your year then I really would suggest that it's you rather than the festival that should think about a change in outlook.

I'm out of up votes but yes this.

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I think you need to look at where the origins of the Festival scene are, who and what opposed the festival scene, and who attended the events and put them together - and situations where those people were beaten up (Beanfields) and the fact Michael gave them shelter and in return they added so much to the Festival over the years.

 

In the 80's events like glastonbury were so anti-establishment people who attended were likely to lose their jobs for threatening the system with their left wing views - certainly I lost a couple of jobs over attending back in the day.

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I think that the festival is rooted in concepts such as inclusion, valuing diversity, human rights etc so it will therefore always be "left wing".

I genuinely can't understand how anyone sleeps at night after aligning themselves to the right-wing, as such.

Part of the reason I keep coming back is the joy at being somewhere that being selfish isn't the default setting with everything else considered a bit loopy.

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People have short memories and forget just how much the right wing government tried to derail protest - if you went on a march you were photographed, and blacklisted. If you attended rallies you were added to a list, the undercover police embedded themselves so deeply in organisations they married with their false identities intact - this is the facts that many people seem to have forgotten.

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