This meeting will examine the lessons to be learnt from Joe Strummer so the left can fight its own cultural war against the right.
Joe Strummer (1952-2002), as lyricist and leader of The Clash, did more than any other individual musician in the post-war period to inspire people to be on the left and sustain them in those beliefs and practices. How was he able to do that and what were the conditions under which this happened?
The background to this is that the left needs to pay much more attention to music and culture as battlegrounds on which to fight ideological war against the right. Otherwise, not only will the right monopolise music and
culture for its own ends but the left will be with one less tool when fighting politically, economically and socially for a better, fairer world.
Professor Gregor Gall will examine these issues following the publication of his book, ‘The punk rock politics of Joe Strummer: Radicalism, resistance and rebellion’ (https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526148988/) on 28 June.
This meeting is a joint-enterprise between the University of Glasgow’s Economic and Social History section and the Jimmy Reid Foundation. The event will be chaired by Dr Ewan Gibbs, Lecturer in Global Inequalities and there will be plenty of times for questions and contributions from the audience.