Politics 1970 - 2000 (years 1985 on more significant)
1981
Iran hostage crisis came to an end with the release of 52 Americans from captivity. Held for more than a year, the hostages, who originally numbered 66, served as pawns in a game of international brinkmanship between the Iranian revolutionary government of Ruhollah Khomeini and U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter.
1982: Falklands war
british fighter jets over london
1984: The miner's strike
1985: Broadwater farm riots. Killing of PC Keith Blakelock. Framing of Winston Silcott.
Great story told by Stafford Scott of the first stone thrown by the black youth on the Broadwater farm, evryone watching its projectile in stunned silence as it landed over the police lines. The black youth moved back thinking that the snatch squads would come in and make an arrest. When the police kept their line a second stone was thrown. Again the rioters moved back, ready to flee expecting a police stampede. After the second time there was no stampede the same youth bent down and picked up a third stone. On this a cheer went up. It was the moment that the suppressed and brutalised black youths realised they had some power, that now was the hour to fight back. And so with stones, against heavily armed police, the Broadwater riot began.
1986: Chernobyl
Radioactive cloud creeps across europe.
1990; London Poll tax Riots
Police/media cover-up of the riots. Incompetant police public order practices (a la Hillsborough tragedy).
1990 - 1991: Persian Gulf War
17 Jan 1991 Operation Desert Storm
Technology vs man/the arms trade/oil
1997: 31 August Death of Princess Diana
6 September Funeral
The country comes to a standstill. London turns into a ghost town for half a day. They sound the funeral knell and someone screams "Diannaaaaahhhh" and a nation wavers in the frequency of that cry and the clipping of horses hooves on road are all that can be heard.
Chile/Pinochet
South Africa
Northern Ireland
Falklands
Balkans
Middle East
Iraq war
Gaddafi/Hussein/Mandela/Thatcher/Reagon/Terry Waite
IRA
1990's (US):
During the last decade of the 20th century, the United States became the world's sole superpower. It possessed the world's most productive economy and most mighty military. It dominated global trade and banking, and its popular culture was influential across much of the globe. During the 1990s, the U.S. economy grew rapidly due to a sharp fall in interest rates and the price of oil, the growth of new computer and communication technologies, globalization, and the expansion of international trade, finance, and entertainment. The end of the Cold War unleashed violent ethnic, religious, and national conflicts, especially in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Africa. The first important foreign policy crisis of the post-Cold War era involved Panama, which the United States invaded in 1989 to safeguard American lives and to protect the Canal Zone. This was followed in 1990 by Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, which was reversed by the Gulf War. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia resulted in U.S. intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Hungerford Massacre
James Bulger
New LabourDeath of Princess Diana
Columbine massacre/Dunblane shootings
Poll tax riots
Politics post 2000 (will come as vague premonitions in dreams and hallucinations and false memories)
Afghanistan
Iraq
Please use comment form to add suggestions or links to important political events or defining images
1981
Iran hostage crisis came to an end with the release of 52 Americans from captivity. Held for more than a year, the hostages, who originally numbered 66, served as pawns in a game of international brinkmanship between the Iranian revolutionary government of Ruhollah Khomeini and U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter.
1982: Falklands war
british fighter jets over london
1984: The miner's strike
1985: Broadwater farm riots. Killing of PC Keith Blakelock. Framing of Winston Silcott.
Great story told by Stafford Scott of the first stone thrown by the black youth on the Broadwater farm, evryone watching its projectile in stunned silence as it landed over the police lines. The black youth moved back thinking that the snatch squads would come in and make an arrest. When the police kept their line a second stone was thrown. Again the rioters moved back, ready to flee expecting a police stampede. After the second time there was no stampede the same youth bent down and picked up a third stone. On this a cheer went up. It was the moment that the suppressed and brutalised black youths realised they had some power, that now was the hour to fight back. And so with stones, against heavily armed police, the Broadwater riot began.
1986: Chernobyl
Radioactive cloud creeps across europe.
1990; London Poll tax Riots
Police/media cover-up of the riots. Incompetant police public order practices (a la Hillsborough tragedy).
17 Jan 1991 Operation Desert Storm
Technology vs man/the arms trade/oil
1997: 31 August Death of Princess Diana
6 September Funeral
The country comes to a standstill. London turns into a ghost town for half a day. They sound the funeral knell and someone screams "Diannaaaaahhhh" and a nation wavers in the frequency of that cry and the clipping of horses hooves on road are all that can be heard.
Chile/Pinochet
South Africa
Northern Ireland
Falklands
Balkans
Middle East
Iraq war
Gaddafi/Hussein/Mandela/Thatcher/Reagon/Terry Waite
IRA
1990's (US):
During the last decade of the 20th century, the United States became the world's sole superpower. It possessed the world's most productive economy and most mighty military. It dominated global trade and banking, and its popular culture was influential across much of the globe. During the 1990s, the U.S. economy grew rapidly due to a sharp fall in interest rates and the price of oil, the growth of new computer and communication technologies, globalization, and the expansion of international trade, finance, and entertainment. The end of the Cold War unleashed violent ethnic, religious, and national conflicts, especially in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Africa. The first important foreign policy crisis of the post-Cold War era involved Panama, which the United States invaded in 1989 to safeguard American lives and to protect the Canal Zone. This was followed in 1990 by Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, which was reversed by the Gulf War. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia resulted in U.S. intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Hungerford Massacre
James Bulger
New LabourDeath of Princess Diana
Columbine massacre/Dunblane shootings
Poll tax riots
Politics post 2000 (will come as vague premonitions in dreams and hallucinations and false memories)
Afghanistan
Iraq
The Rise of rightwing politics across Europe. A direct consequence of US foreign policy and the war on terror which had the effect of making Islam a revoltionary religion... something dangerous and militant. Suddenly, all across Europe, those same generations who pre 9/11 wanted to disown their religion, now appropriated it. Islam became 'gangsta'. Gangsta rap for young muslims was out and allah was in. As a natural consequence to the rise in militant Islam across europe came a rise in right wing politics. That rise is consistent amongst the european countries with the biggest muslim populations.
Please use comment form to add suggestions or links to important political events or defining images
Hillsborough:police refuse to open gates at football match and fans crushed to death.
ReplyDeleteBirmingham pub bombing. Manchester Arndale centre bombing...