This one's a bit political. (I know: me, political? Who would have thought...)
There
is a real and rising tide of far-right and racist activity in the UK
(and in Europe. And in the US. And, let's be frank, damn near everywhere
we look.) This is a Bad Thing.
The UK genre community
is, on the whole, a fine and welcoming place, one that opposes the
politics of division, prejudice and hatred. Certain people have tried to
portray it as being otherwise: at best they're mistaken, at worst,
liars.
But actions, not words, are needed. Hence: Shock Against Racism.
SAR
is a network of horror writers, artists and fans against racism and the
far right. Our goal is to raise funding to combat the Right's lies and
hatemongering, any way we can.
Two Shock Against Racism
events are planned for this year: the first event will take place at
Write Blend, 124 South Road, Liverpool L22 0ND at 7.30 pm on Friday 23rd
November, and will feature readings by Ramsey Campbell, Priya Sharma,
Cate Gardner and myself. Tickets £3.00 on the door, and all proceeds donated to Hope Not Hate.
The second event will take
place at the Cowley Club, 12 London Road, Brighton BN1 4JA at 7.30 pm on Sunday 25th November, and will
include readings by Tom Johnstone, Rosanne Rabinowitz and V.H. Leslie. Tickets £3.00 on the door, with all proceeds donated to Brighton Anti-Fascists.
As well as the need to take action against the far right and to show where our community really stand, there's another reason I decided to start SAR. The 25th November will mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Joel Lane, an exemplary author and friend to many of us in the community. Joel was avowedly political and a committed anti-fascist: I can think of no better way to honour his memory.
The Facebook page for the Liverpool event is here.
Yep, I've used this one before, but it still applies.
I haven't really done Things of the Week for a while, because the most recent Things of the Week have been, well, horrible. Donald Fucking Trump for Christ's sake. We also lost Leonard Cohen, yet another in the non-stop roll call of great minds and talents 2016 has taken from us.
I'm not going to make jokes about it. I have POC friends, LGBT friends - not to mention pretty much any US friends who aren't complete douches - who are quite rightly terrified right now. An actual fascist is going to be the next US President. His White House will be run by an avowed White Supremacist. His Vice President has vowed to roll back not only same sex marriage, but every law preventing discrimination against LGBT people. (And despite all the right-wing jeering about PC culture, 'safe spaces' and 'special snowflakes', the new US strongman flies into a world-class tizzy when the cast of a musical dare to speak out to that Vice-President and call on him to, you know, not to be a bigot.)
But the Right are hypocrites. The same people demanding everyone now unite behind Trump are the ones who burned Obama in effigy and vowed to make him a 'one term President' (although their utter incompetence in that regard might at least be heartening.) They'll scream and shout over the cast of Hamilton calling out Mike Pence (as they did over the Dixie Chicks when they criticised Bush and the Iraq Invasion) but will scream about FREE SPEECH when it's their right to spew venom. There's no playing nice with them; they exploit the liberal idea that one should see both points of view, be reasonable, play by the rules - while refusing to do any of those things themselves.
The ones in the UK are no better. Anyone believe for a moment that Farage and the rest of the Leave campaign would have shut up and walked away if the June Referendum had gone to Remain by 52% to 48%? Like hell they would. But now that four per cent margin is a club to try and beat their critics into silence. Meanwhile, hate crimes have rocketed since the Brexit vote, and our new Prime Minister, who has openly stated that she wants to abandon the European Convention on Human Rights and who has now instituted the most intrusive mass surveillance in British history, has practically adopted UKIP's political agenda.
I've said for years we've been sliding into fascism; it's one of the recurrent themes in so much of my work.
Now we're pretty much there.
But despair is an ally to the enemy. Margaret Corvid has written an excellent piece on practical things Brits can do to combat Trump and what he represents. This article by Masha Gessen, who fled a similar brand of fascism in Putin's Russia, also makes for sobering but essential reading.
To my American friends: contrary to what some people claim, the horror community in the UK is not made up of fascist sympathisers, appeasers or collaborationists. (A certain individual is still spreading that claim, because everything has to be about themselves and their personal feuds - it's not only a lie, but now it's a pernicious one because it sows discord between people who should be on the same side.) Let me, let us, know what we in the UK can do to help. For what little it may be worth, if anyone's looking for a place to guest-blog about what's going on, to get what they want to say out there, consider this blog of mine a platform, yours for the asking.
Best wishes, everyone. This year has been a grim and scary one in so many ways, and it isn't over yet. 2017 isn't looking particularly promising. But the Trumps, the Farages, people like that can ultimately only destroy. Their end will come. In the meantine, let's focus on making their time in power as short as possible, stopping them doing as much damage as we can, and making sure as many of us as possible are still here when the morning comes. Because there will be a morning. There will be, if we can believe in it.
Rosanne Rabinowitz shared this one of Leonard Cohen's recently. It seems pretty apt right now.
Gloria has been my friend for over 20 years. She's Manchester born
and bred, and one of the kindest, funniest, warmest, most big-hearted
human beings it's ever been my privilege to know. Today, she was
tailgated and nearly run off the road - deliberately - by a driver
who glared at her with a loathing and contempt that scared her stiff.
Did I mention the colour of her skin isn't white?
This is just one of dozens if not hundreds of similar incidents
I've heard about since the EU Referendum. Not just in the news. From
people I know. Doesn't even matter if they were born in the UK or
not. They look 'a bit foreign.' And that's enough.
Also, as of this
moment, I have several friends who've lived in Britain for years but
now have no idea whether or not they'll be able to stay.
Real talk: I do not give a FUCK, right now, if you voted Leave
‘but aren't racist’. That's not the issue. Whatever your reasons,
every racist piece of shit in the UK now thinks that 52% of the
population agrees with them and has just given them the green light
to turn on anybody different.
So if you voted Leave, then you need to
stop saying 'I'm not racist' when you hear about stuff like this, and
instead you need to stand up and SPEAK UP. Make it clear to the
racists that they do not speak for you. Because you, more than anyone
else, are the ones they need to hear that from. They think you agree
with and support them. Tell them, loud and clear, that they do not.
If you're attending Fantasycon this year, and you want to know what to attend/avoid, here's my itinerary...
Friday night (17th September) 6.30 pm. I shall be reading... and I've only just realised I'll be the first one up for the whole Con! Eek! So please show up and make a scared man a bit more relaxed. Currently planning to read an excerpt from the new novel I'm writing plus a short story.
Also on Friday night:
10.30pm. I'll be on the panel 'Get Real: Looking at how weird fiction can often be the best tool to address issues in the world around us.' Co-starring with: Joel Lane, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Lisa Tuttle, Stephen Volk and Allen Ashley. I'm truly not worthy.
Edited to add...
Saturday (18th September) 1.00pm. Launch for the Solaris Books anthology The End Of The Line, edited by Jonathon Oliver and featuring my story 'The Sons Of The City'. Co-starring with Ramsey Campbell, Joel Lane, Paul Meloy, Rebecca Levene and many, many more. It's gonna be a good 'un, this.
2.00pm. Launch for Never Again, edited by Allyson Bird and Joel Lane and featuring my story 'Malachi'. Also involving Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Rob Shearman, Tony Richards, Lisa Tuttle, Nina Allan, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Kaaron Warren and Thana Niveau- among many other authors.
Sadly Chris Teague at Pendragon Press tells me that Angels Of The Silences won't be ready for the Con. That's a pity, but what the hell, it'll be out sooner or later anyway. Thanks anyway to Chris for publishing that little tale.
And once that's out of the way, I'll just have fun. Including forays to the Metal Karaoke that's also going on...
I've been accepted for a few anthologies this year, but none I'm prouder to be included in than this:
Never Again is an attempt to voice the collective revulsion of writers in the weird fiction genre against political attitudes that stifle compassion and deny our collective human inheritance. The imagination is crucial to an understanding both of human diversity and of common ground. Weird fiction is often stigmatised as a reactionary and ignorant genre - we know better. The anthology will be published by Gray Friar Press in September 2010, and edited by Allyson Bird and Joel Lane.
It will be a mixture of original stories and reprints from Ramsey Campbell, Lisa Tuttle and Joe R. Lansdale amongst others. Never Again is a non-profit initiative aimed at promoting awareness of these issues among readers and writers of weird fiction. The editors, authors/artist and publisher will receive no fees for this work. Any profits made from sales will be donated to anti-racist or human rights organizations, e.g. The Sophie Lancaster Foundation.
The Sophie Lancaster case was one of the most revolting crimes I've ever encountered, and there are few things that fill me with greater loathing than fascism or racism. Or homophobia, for that matter. Prejudice and hatred based on ethnicity or sexuality is contemptible and pathetic. The political organisations that attempt to exploit those impulses and gain power from them- such as the BNP under the repulsive bigot Nick Griffin- are the vilest of the vile and must be defeated.
I'm delighted to announce that my story 'Malachi'- first published in my collection A Hazy Shade Of Winter- is to be included in Never Again. I hope you'll buy the anthology, because the money you spend on it will go to as just and worthy a cause as you could hope to find.
