Activism Archives - Bristol Radical History Group

We must begin with the land

Seeking abundance and liberation through social ecology

Food is glorious. Food is glorious, but it is also increasingly precarious. This may not make headlines, but we all need to care. Office for National Statistics figures suggest that domestic food inflation has seen prices rise by more than a third since 2020. This is currently leading to a proliferation of food banks, unimaginable only a few years ago. Shockingly, world hunger has increased during the past decade, according to the United Nations. The reasons for this situation are complex but […]

Dorset Radical Bookfair

The 6th Dorset Radical Bookfair is on Saturday 20th September at Vita Nova Arts Charity, 11 Roumelia Lane Boscombe BH5 1EU. BRHG will be running a bookstall and providing a talk on the anatomy of last years' anti-immigration riots with case studies of Bristol, Stoke and Tamworth. Come along for stalls offering books, zines, pamphlets, periodicals, clothing, art. Talks, discussion, vegan food, kid's area, gender neutral bogs. There's also the afterparty at Analog! We’ve booked five acts: singer […]

More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish, More Ciaran Walshes: An Obituary

By e2windsor

Ciaran Walsh, Stag and Hounds, Old Market 2020

We are mourning due to the sudden and shock recent passing of our dear comrade and fellow radical historian, Ciaran Walsh. Ciaran was a force of nature; a proud internationalist and spirited anti-monarchist. He was a tireless activist for social justice in all contexts, whether fighting to defend his local community centre or showing international solidarity with Palestine. He would stand up in the struggle against racism and fascism, whenever and wherever they arose. Ciaran organised radical […]

Palestine Action and the Terrorism Acts

Why it is important to remember....

By Randall Brantley

This week (30 June 2025) the Labour government Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, began the process of proscribing the political group Palestine Action (PA) under the Terrorism Act 2000.[1] The following article considers the recent history of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (from 1974 to the present), and the attacks by UK governments on the legal defences of campaigners who carry out non-violent civil disobedience. It suggests, from the evidence, that rather than a supposed gradual extension of […]

Radical Lambeth 1978-1991

By Simon Hannah

This eminently readable and thoroughly researched book offers an insight to the rollercoaster ride of the London borough of Lambeth in the 1980s. For the whole of local government, the 1980s brought immense challenges. Under enormous pressure from the Thatcher administration, which stripped very substantial finance from councils, local government faced impossible challenges. But the story of Lambeth, as told by Hannah, offers a detailed insight into attempts to maintain local services, keep […]

CND Demands a Continuing Supply of History

We have a selection of posters, photos and printed materials from the early 1980s when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher agreed to siting US Cruise missiles in the UK at the same time as the Soviet Union was deploying its new SS20 missiles in Eastern Europe. There was anger and anxiety across Europe, rejuvenating the anti-nuclear movements and triggering huge protest demonstrations. The membership of CND in Bristol and across the UK expanded rapidly and the new energy and ideas transformed the […]

‘No Coloureds, No Irish, No Dogs’

The struggle against racial discrimination in Bristol housing

In conversation with Silu Pascoe, members of the 'Windrush Generation' share memories and experiences of how they overcame racial discrimination when finding somewhere to live in Bristol. In particular, Joyce Morris-Wisdom recalls the 'pardner-hand' system that enabled her parents to become home-owners. Guy Bailey OBE outlines the setting up United Housing Association which was the first Black-led housing association in 1980s Bristol.

Criminalising protest

How did a Bristol grandmother end up with a 20 month prison sentence for taking part in a peaceful protest? How did the law change after the acquittal of the Colston 4 to prevent future protestors talking about the issues that motivated their actions in court? Why did the police think they could arrest a man in Oxford for criticising the King? Is it true that, in the words of Liberty lawyer Katy Watts, "broad anti-protest laws are shutting down people’s freedom of expression"? In this session, […]

‘Stopping business as usual’

The Dunnes anti-apartheid strike within a wider political environment

The three-year strike which followed the July 1984 refusal of eleven workers at Dunnes' Stores Henry Street branch in Dublin to handle South African goods is perhaps the most celebrated episode of anti-apartheid activism outside Southern Africa, yielding memoirs, academic scholarship, radio and television documentaries and even a play. While still recounting the essential narrative of the strike for those unfamiliar with it, Padraig Durnin's talk will explore what made it exceptional in […]

The Counterculture and the LGBT Press – Bristol and Beyond

Reviewing the relationship between the Counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s and the LGBT movement, this talk concentrates on the origins of LGBT periodicals as part of the alternative press of the period. It will cover such topics as the underground culture of gay men when male homosexuality was illegal, the repercussions of the decriminalisation of male homosexuality in 1967 and the campaign of legal discrimination to which both the early LGBT press and the alternative press were subjected in […]