AS we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, we will be reflecting on what progress has been made in our alleged modern democratic society and what hasn’t.
The themes of Peterloo still ring loud and clear today. I think our continued fascination with events on August 16 1819 is because the parallels still rage. The constant bullying and victimisation of the perceived “have nots.” The rabid class, racial and financial snobbery which has backed people into a dangerous corner.
People were desperate then and they are desperate now. Confused and bamboozled by corrupt political agendas.
Two hundred years ago people assembled in peaceful protest on Peter’s Field in Manchester to demand among other things the right to vote. Seventeen people lost their lives that day. Many others lost their livelihoods through the injuries they sustained.
Many people argue that Peterloo wasn’t successful in forging a democratic legacy. I beg to differ. I believe it was the catalyst that led to democracy in Britain.
Two centuries on I wanted to ask if people still felt protest was an important revolutionary tool. What protest meant to them and their experience of it in modern Britain. I approached a group of artists and academics who I admire and who I feel are working towards a different route map for the future.
Bryony Shanahan (along with Roy Alexander Wise) is one half of the newly appointed artistic directors at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Bryony began her professional career as an associate director working with Sarah Frankcom.
It became clear very early on Bryony had something vital and urgent to contribute to the world of theatre. A fresh and exciting voice and a genuine dedication to theatre and its impact politically and socially. An exceptional director. After Sarah Frankcom’s game changing tenure at The Royal Exchange, it’s exciting to know that the theatre is going to continue pushing boundaries and expectations with Bryony and Roy at the helm.
Lisa Mackenzie is a working class academic and rebel ethnographer from a mining community in Nottingham. Lisa started her academic journey on an access course at 31. Lisa’s work amongst many things highlights class inequality, social justice and working class culture. Lisa is at the top of her game. Her book Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain has been described as “a heart wrenching and powerful book…class analysis at its most visceral and sensitive.”
For me Lisa’s voice is a beacon of hope and truth in a society that has left the working class by the roadside. Her foresight, understanding, honesty and intellectual prowess continue to inspire me.
Lone Taxidermist (Natalie Sharp) is a musician, costume maker, skin decorator, performer and provocateur. The Quietus described her as “an unholy amalgamation of Grace Jones, Ari Up and John Cooper Clarke…”
Her work is as groundbreaking as it is bizarre. Constantly pushing musical boundaries not only sonically but visually too. Lone Taxidermist is part of the movement known as New Weird Britain. To me this new movement seems to be embracing all that is beautifully eccentric and garishly revolutionary in the British outsider music scene. Long may it continue with Natalie leading the charge.
Maxine Peake is Morning Star ambassador and guest editor of the Peterloo special.
