Scurlock 9 - Dirty Protest, a brilliant night out!
One of the greatest achievements of the ruling class could be said to be their ability to make the working class ashamed of itself. MTV’s shameful ‘The Valley’s’ has young people representing the worst stereotypes of the working class that our so called ‘betters’ can throw at us. Violent. Alcoholic or border line. Drug taking. Fake tanning. and on and on and on.
Another perpetrator is Channel 4’s Shameless and I leave readers of this message to comment further on that dribble of...
Dirty Protest, which you can join via NTW group website, offered an alternative look at working class and generally ‘valleys people’. I grew up in the valleys and the grandparents and great aunts and uncles that surrounded me were good, humourous, honest, proud, hard-working people who believed that everyone should be given a fair start in life. My father grew up in a house where his father banned all alcohol, except in the pub of course.
South Wales. Rebecca Riots, The Merthyr Riots, Dic Penderyn, The Chartists, 500 miners going to Spain in the 1930’s to fight Fascism whilst dozens of women-led support groups in the Valleys would send aid packages to families in Spain suffering under Franco’s Jackboot, Nye Bevin, Cardiff Coalition to Defend Asylum Seekers, Bridgend Stop the War Group, The Miner’s Strike, mass marches against the fascist BNP in the 90’s and post-millenium,... The list goes on. But this is not the valleys that MTV want’s to portray. But thankfully there are groups like Dirty Protest willing to give a real voice to the real people of the Valleys.
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Comment by Dean Scurlock on November 1, 2012 at 0:46
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A great philosopher once wrote that 'workers have no country'. I believe in the communality of all working people and culture. If you think about it, who have you more in common with? David Cameron. Terry Mathews or a working man/woman in Afghanistan. For me its the latter. If you insult a Welsh working class person, deride them as a chav, then you do the same to their brothers and sisters in England, America, Australia, Japan, Iraq etc.
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Comment by Ray Thomas on October 29, 2012 at 5:30
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Sorry! I meant October 25th, not 26th!
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Due to an unforeseen clash of commitments, I couldn't get to "The Real Valleys" on October 26th unfortunately. My wife, however, who is English (her family roots are in the North-East) was really glad she made the effort. She hates the stereotyping and the crass portrayal of the Valleys and the people who live there which the TV programme portrays. Yet another example of programming at "the lowest common denominator level" which is evidenced in so much of today's media. So, congratulations to Dirty Protest for responding in such a positive way - you've acquired two more supporters - and I'd still love to come and meet with you guys some time soon.
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