Political equality @ Glasto...

[Jakeyboy1986]

top post - you applied for a space in next year's Shangri-La areas yet? all those would go down well.

New for 2016... Rightfield. Compered by the bloke who played Frank Butcher in Eastenders and workshops such as "How to solve Child poverty" (for those that can't make it, the short answer is simply redefine child poverty thus lifting thousands of hungry children out of poverty without lessening their hunger or spending any money)

[pecks]

The Wednesday night bonfire does need a bit of a shake up.

 

maybe we can just start "burn a Tory" Wednesday. 

[PabloCoke]

Rightwing Glastonbury would basically be a top gear live show

[fatyeti24]

it would at least be fun to topple it, Saddam-style

i would remove one of my hunters to hit it in the mouth!

 

[pecks]

loving this thread btw

[fatyeti24]

Rightwing Glastonbury would basically be a top gear live show

 

tbf, they do let Frank Turner in every year.

[Winslow Leach]

New for 2016... Rightfield. Compered by the bloke who played Frank Butcher in Eastenders and workshops such as "How to solve Child poverty" (for those that can't make it, the short answer is simply redefine child poverty thus lifting thousands of hungry children out of poverty without lessening their hunger or spending any money)

 

Have you tried 'kill all the poor'?

[zero000]

tbf, they do let Frank Turner in every year.

[Spindles]

Have you tried 'kill all the poor'?

Ok, how about cut taxes, raise vat AND kill the poor?  I mean, we could just run it through the computer...just to rule it out.

[Jakeyboy1986]

Have you tried 'kill all the poor'?

Sounds like the perfect theme song, if someone here could write a few verses I'm sure the Ukip brass band and the Tory triangle playing collective would join forces to provide the backing music.

[fatyeti24]

Sounds like the perfect theme song, if someone here could write a few verses I'm sure the Ukip brass band and the Tory triangle playing collective would join forces to provide the backing music.

i do love a calypso.

[Wooderson]

Again, it wasn't real

Good to hear, thanks mate.

[FuzzyDunlop]

why would the festival give a voice to people who hate it and everything it stands for?

What an absolutely baffling post.

Absolutely spot on. I had a discussion on the sunday about this. The tories and systematically tried to quash any type of social moment, ever

Whilst you don't like football, the way Maggie demonised every fan. Wanted ID cards to be put in place... Then some asked for a minutes silence when she pegged it!!!

On your bike. No chance

Edited July 10, 2015 by FuzzyDunlop

[jeffie]

Absolutely spot on. I had a discussion on the sunday about this. The tories and systematically tried to quash any type of social moment, ever

Whilst you don't like football, the way Maggie demonised every fan. Wanted ID cards to be put in place... Then some asked for a minutes silence when she pegged it!!!

On your bike. No chance

 

Reminded me, I've still got to organise that grave dancing party.

[DeanoL]

Completely get all of the above, and as I say I'm not fussed one way or the other. I just find it odd how inclusivity is at the heart of so much of Glasto, yet so much is so narrow about the spectrum of opinions you see and can have. In our group of 6 for example, I know votes in May went for at least 3 different political parties. That's our choice, it doesn't make me like/respect them or anyone else more or less. However how it can be right for things like the below to be completely fine with no other side of the argument are what I'm referring to. Where's the huge mural mocking Ed Miliband?

 

There's probably some confusion here. Leftfield is very political, advertised as such, and does what it says on the tin. I do wish they'd actually invite people of different views to have actual debates, but that's not what they do. Outside of that, there's not much politics at the festival (there's a thread from earlier in the year bemoaning the lack of it, in fact).

 

This year we had Shangri-La - the important thing to understand is that Shangri-La is interactive theatre, it tells a story that takes it's cues from real world goings on but it's fiction. Last year, the them was all about corporations taking over Hell, and we saw all their big corporate ideals being imposed. That wasn't them being pro-capitalism, it was them telling a story. This year the story was that people had started to rise up and protest against the corporate overlords - again, this was reflect Occupy and other real world movements, but it was part of the story, part of the fiction. It was certainly fiction with a left-wing bias but it wasn't actually out-and-out campaigning. Even though it was, paradoxically, actual fictional campaigning!

 

tbf, they do let Frank Turner in every year.

Ironically enough, this was the first year they let him in since 2010. Quite possibly because of his political views.

[Pink_Tequila]

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).

Laughable and sad. How democratically elected our government are is debatable itself. You are surprised the 'Leftfield' is left wing?! Glastonbury comes from a non-conformist tradition, not particularly similar to Maoist China. The festival espouses views of equality and fairness that are the antithesis to the Tory government however they have been elected. Saying this you were free to join any discussion in The Leftfield at any time. Did you go along at all? How you can really expect Shangri La to give a platform for a conservative government is beyond me. Maybe you are young and don't remember the Beanfield as some of us do or maybe you just need educating a little.

[eFestivals]

damn this thread, I just don't have enough upvotes.

[eFestivals]

New for 2016... Rightfield.

 

That idea's been floated before here.

 

It didn't happen because none of the rightists were prepared to pay for it.

 

[fatyeti24]

damn this thread, I just don't have enough upvotes.

equality gone mad!

[jeffie]

equality gone mad!

 

Bloody communist!

[fatyeti24]

Bloody communist!

i don't think he does enough to accommodate more right wing opinions here.

[Comfy Bean]

Anything that balances this shit has got to be good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fur_q]

New for 2016... Rightfield. Compered by the bloke who played Frank Butcher in Eastenders and workshops such as "How to solve Child poverty" (for those that can't make it, the short answer is simply redefine child poverty thus lifting thousands of hungry children out of poverty without lessening their hunger or spending any money)

Followed by a Love Racism, Hate Music night hosted by Eric Clapton

[pedmills]

I remember watching a thing where Billy Bragg took Boris Johnson to Glastonbury, and if i recall correctly, Boris^TM described it as a "capitalist paradise".

 

There is a small element of truth to that - it's full of profit-making individual stalls. If Glastonbury really wanted to represent socialism, it could provide its own food stalls etc. 

 

That aside, you don't even need history to explain why Glastonbury is and should be a bit left-wing.

 

The issues that a rightfield would promote just wouldn't get people fired up in a communal atmosphere:

 

"Lets kill foxes!"
"Lets give tax cuts to the richest members of society!"
"Lets cut the BBC's funding!"
"Lets cut tax credits for poor families!"
"Lets make it easier for companies to fire employees!"
"Lets purchase enough nuclear weapons to have the capacity to instantly kill millions of people!"
etc

It would sound ludicrous and no one would be interested.

 

Left-wing politics is about collective responsibility, right-wing politics is about personal responsibility. People at a festival are singing, shouting, clapping together with thousands of strangers. It's a communal, collective experience. I reckon everyone becomes a little more left-wing for those five days.

[eFestivals]

 

it's funny how you only accept some things that the IFS say.