Eighty one years ago last Wednesday, October 4th, 1936, Londoners stood up to the threat of Fascism in England at the Battle of Cable Street. This was about eight months after the release of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. In Europe, the Fascists were in power in Germany under Hitler and in Italy under Mussolini. In Spain, Franco had begun receiving military support from Germany and Italy in his battle against the Popular Front. Londoners were familiar with nature of Fascism and its virulent anti-semitism.
In England, the British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley were planning to lead a march of about 3,000 in their blackshirt uniforms through the East End of London, which at the time had a predominantly Jewish population. The government hesitated to ban the Fascists from marching and instead dispatched a contingent of about 6,000 Metropolitan Police in an attempt to protect the Fascists. The Young’uns’ Cable Street describes how citizens opposed to Fascism who understood the march to be an attack on the Jewish residents and on solidarity in general, responded. In two words: No pasarán!
We at San Diego Free Press love watching all kinds of video. Those short visual stories entertain, inform, and agitate in a way completely different from the written word.
Since our platform is about expressing ideas and ideals instead of cash flow, clicks, or fundraising, we have the freedom to include a wide range of topics and formats that might not work elsewhere. We don’t need or want paid content, promotional materials, or story lines designed to please donors.
So the idea here is to present videos one or more of the editors feel speaks to them. Sometimes it will be news. Sometimes it will be history. And a lot of the time it will be culture. You can not and should not separate these things: it is diversity and intersectionality that makes our movement strong.
Feel free to suggest videos at contact@sandiegofreepress.org