The Chiminea-named after those French vertical ceramic barbecues like the one adorning my former landladys’ garden meeting place- is a late-night alternative weekend radio show broadcasting from Battersea, SW London, now in its 10th year.
Andy Bungay / The Chiminea
The region has a cluster of independent activism that might stem from William Morris down at Merton Abbey Mills (echoed by singer Gill Manly’s recent year as Mayor) , Cromwell hosting the Putney Debates and /or William Blake holding his philosophical nose to get married at St Mary’s on the Thames which converts organically into a jazz club now and then.
I remember the seismic rebellion of post-Grenfell service charged leaseholders that spelled the slow demise of 40 years of Tory rule at Wandsworth Council, from which fireworks still flare now and then. This is all far more than parochial , with the pioneering work of the White Bear Club in Balham getting parcels of said to Ukraine, Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees ( chaired by humourist and Old Labour activist John O’Farrell with advice from Lord Alf Dubbs) , and Gaza as well as Ukraine is of pressing concern.
Wandsworth Friends of Palestine, for example, have been lobbying for divestment by the new Labour authority, and you will find their activists out and about in local shopping areas and maintaining the resistance on the march and the e-mail chain. There are also mavens of data, historical precedent and sheer dogged endurance whom it is a pleasure to speak to on the show. Andy Worthington, independent journalist and activist is now joining us every month , and in our latest extended conversation he draws parallels between the annexation and incarceration of Gazan citizens and the tracking of Guantanamo as aspects of the playbook of demagogues. He also indefatigably searches, as I guess we all do, for the seeds of change, as no doubt the Democrats will be doing across the pond. Andy Worthington has regularly visited the Gazan solidarity vigil outside the American Embassy in Battersea, previously while tracking the State of London photo-journalistically on his bike.
As our new monthly feature develops, we will be looking to welcome voices of resistance and for change with the beating heart of Gazan resistance sometimes as a single issue, sometimes woven into the world view it informs. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of my former colleague Colin Crilly (and old friend Debbie Golt over on Resonance FM) in enabling 8 years of cultural counterblast, all of which is archived here, and we hope you enjoy and engage, in your preferred mix, with what we are beginning with Andy Worthington who has been a stalwart regular amidst his wider activity for almost as long…
Andy also writes and sings protest songs for our times with the Four Fathers who launched their new album, Songs of Loss and Resistance last 17th November in beautiful downtown Deptford. This is the type of music we like to feature (noting that in Gaza as under the Taliban, poets and teachers were prime targets, and in having been so they will not be forgotten)… “Poetry you can dance to” in the words of Benjamin Zephaniah. Not least the noble soundscapes of Palestine and the Arabic world “hopefully” all of this mixes into the chance to delve and nurture hope at a relaxed, but not intoxicated, point in the week. Looking forward to your company at the weekend sometime.
(Photos: Pixabay)
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