Racism on my doorstep...

I had the pleasure of attending the opening of an exhibition at the Manchester Urbis exhibition centre last Wednesday evening, which raised some interesting questions about racism, the use of violence for political change and how racsim and other extreme views might come upon us in everyday life and what our reactions might be.

40 years on from the 1968 Mexican Olympic Games, when John Carlos and Tommy Smith controversially raised their fists in a Black Power salute, this exhibition looks at the meaning and history behind this gesture, as told through the graphic artwork of Emory Douglas, the official artist of the Black Panther Party and its first and only Minister of Culture.

Douglas created a compelling, motivational graphic style. His art from this period, documents growing civil unrest and rapid change. The exhibition shows Douglas' work from this period, including posters, cartoons and campaign pamphlets.

His slogans, 'All Power to the People', 'Revolution in our Lifetime', and his use of pigs and rats for the first time, to represent police and politicians, have become part of everyday language.

I thought the exhibition was very good and ably illustrated both the history of the movement and the evolution of Douglas' art during the Black Panther years. One thing that sticks in my mind from this exhibition is the way some of the artwork appears to promote violence. In the face of police harassment and brutality, it is no wonder the black community felt they had to fight fire with fire, it must have seemed like there was no other way to find justice, but I also find it hard to understand political movements that appear to advocate violence. Of course, I haven't been in a position in my world where I have ever been moved to violence to defend my way of life against injustice, intolerance or racism. The exhibition left me wondering under what circumstances might my attitude change.

I was sitting quietly with a few friends in our regular haunt, Retro Bar, on Saturday and we were discussing homophobia, as you do. For some reason, rightly or wrongly, we agreed that the gays would probably be more welcome in Tibet than China. I don't know how we came to that conclusion but it was a fairly light-hearted conversation. However, some drunk sat opposite us who had nothing to do with our group of friends butted in saying "more fool them", and then launched into an excessive and hate filled diatribe relating homosexuality with the decline of decent morality and the "downward spiral" of society. To say the least, I was quite shocked to hear someone preaching hatred in my local bar. It was completely uncalled for and very offensive. He was backed up by his skinhead friend who arrived and explained that they were lifelong members of the BNP. I'm afraid that this sort of thing just cannot be tolerated and we were forced to discreetly alert the bouncers who removed the offending gentlemen from the premises.

The whole incident made me feel rather angry. I just couldn't understand why this guy had felt the need to interject with his hate filled bile when he must have known that it was going to cause offence. Did he do it just to be controversial? Was he drunk, did he really know what he was saying? More likely he was expressing his right wing shite because he genuinely believes it and has been radicalised by his own economic circumstances or some other unfortunate situation, lack of education and limited social outlets. And he had really bad hair.

This incident is particularly relevant on the eve of the US Presidential election. We can only hope that the American electorate see sense and elect Barack Obama into office. How effective either of the two presidential candidates will be is a matter of debate but the fact that America is willing to now elect a black man as President is a major statement and a very positive one. It may also mean that the ghosts of things like the Black Panther Party can finally be laid to rest.

Yet if my experiences in Retro Bar are anything to go by, extreme attitudes, racism, and homophobia can easily slip in the back door when you are not looking. Liberal democracy has delivered political stability and economic success in the West for many years now, but with stability comes apathy and we should remember that it is easy for extreme opinions to become more widespread when they remain unchallenged. We don't want to be in a situation where the only course of action is to pick up the gun to defend our rights to be who we are. We should continue to be vigilant and not take our freedom for granted.

So what of my own slightly conflicting views? I did feel angry when we were challenged in Retro Bar. At first I was speechless, but after that I could have shouted and raged and waved my arms in the air with the best of them. What would happen if this opinion was not in fact a minority opinion, was was the prevailing opinion of the forces of law and order, of a right wing majority in the UK? Would I then be the radical? Would I be the extremist? Would I be the guy raising my fist in honour of some radical libertarian movement, like John Carlos and Tommy Smith? Would I be taking up arms against the police and calling them pigs? Maybe I would.

Anyway, peace and love to you all.