25th July 2011

I don't really care for tribute bands.

I would rather have the original and if they don't, can't, play live any longer by virtue of age, infirmity or having been enrolled in the great rock pantheon in the heavens, then I will settle for listening on my ipod.

But sometimes something pretty unusual comes along, which is why last night I was listening to Chuck Prophet and the vaguely tribute-ish sounding Spanish Bombs play the whole of London Calling.

It was a musical tour de force, ear bleedingly loud and just terrific, the band was great and they played with an interesting alternative take that made it at once both a tribute and a re-reading of the original work.

In a sense, the re-interpreted songs provided a new narrative for politics and communities in the 21st Century and the high point was the song mid-way through the set that described a modern take on jungian neurosis:

I'm all lost in the supermarket

I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer

A guaranteed personality

This has been a tragic weekend with the peace of Norway shattered by a right wing extremist, the disaster was too quickly labelled as an Islamic Terrorist outrage by politicians around the world including our own government.

But the papers are also reporting on the continuing falling out from News International, the Euro Credit Crisis, the need for a further round of quantitive easing to get us all back to the supermarket spending again and the stand off between Tea Party Republicans and President Obama in the USA.

Right wing extremism is all too easy to dismiss as the ravings of a lunatic fringe but ninety three, mainly young people have died simply because they attended a labour party youth camp and that cannot under any circumstances be justified or excused and our thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have died their families and the Nation.

There is a sense in which such extremism, which is indeed shocking to all right minded people, needs to be tackled head on, but there are ways of achieving this of which far and away the most positive is to engage in a public conversation which engages individuals and groups.

This public discourse needs to take the form of a new narrative replacing hostility and confrontation with a dialogue promoting the liberal values which allow human beings to flourish.

The narrow political ideologies of monetarism and conservatism which find expression in the American Tea Party which is proving so influential in American politics, despite their rhetoric, bring neither equality nor freedoms to people.

The Norwegian gunman is being described as a 'Christian Fundamentalist' which will doubtless fuel further debate about the role of religion in public debate.

My own preferred phrase is 'social ecumenism' by which I mean a relationship which is both open hearted and which includes all sectors and opinions and in which sometimes opposing views can be debated and reconciled wihtout resorting to violence.

More simply it rests on the twin commands to love God (however you understand that concept) and your neighbour, as yourself.

Or, as we sang along with Chuck Prophet and the Spanish Bombs last night, evoking a spirit and a time when freedom was celebrated and fascism resisted:

The hillsides ring with, "Free the people"

Can I hear the echo from the days of '39

With trenches full of poets

I met Chuck Prophet after the show and thanked him for the performance, Yeah he replied, It was fun ..........