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Author: Jay Baker

Why Labour Aren’t Rallying the Troops

Posted on September 14, 2016December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

In 1992, it was The End of History and we were “rockin’ in the free world.” But how did it happen? As Oliver Stone repeatedly demonstrates in his brilliant series The Untold History of the United States, key figures are important to diplomatic relations. By the late 1970s, the days of a trade union talisman…

Labour Loyalties and Where They Lie

Posted on September 11, 2016December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

The 1980s in which I grew up were dark days. The Conservative Party, having won the 1979 general election, dominated British politics, winning again in 1983, and beating Neil Kinnock’s Labour in both 1987 and 1992 before his party decided he was “unelectable.” Get used to that word. It gets thrown around with greater frequency…

Jeremy Corbyn Vs the British Army

Posted on December 2, 2015December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

This past spring’s British general election was pretty depressing stuff. After the Liberal Democrats sold out their principles to go into coalition with the Conservatives, aiding and abetting the Tories in their quest to exploit the bank bailout’s depletion of the Treasury in order to sell off the state, few of us believed there was…

Facebook isn’t a Tool Any More. We’re the Tools for Using It.

Posted on June 1, 2015December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

Carrier pigeon. Snail mail. Telephone. Email. Facebook. One of those things is not like the others. That’s because one of them is less a form of a communication, more a private corporation by definition. Call me? Sure! Email me? Why not! You actually have a choice about which service you’ll use to do so. But…

I Visited Mainland Europe and All I Came Back to Was This Lousy Fascism

Posted on September 8, 2014March 22, 2019 by Jay Baker

Whenever I lived in North America and people asked me about Europe, I’d tell them that – as a Doncaster-born bloke living most of my adult life in Sheffield – I didn’t know all that much about the place. Then they’d remind me that my own beloved Britain was, after all, in Europe, and with…

How He-Man Got Me Into Feminism

Posted on July 14, 2014December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

When I was in kindergarten, I was very rarely found playing cops and robbers or war games. Instead – my mother today confirms – I was with my female friend at the time putting baby dolls into prams. Other mothers asked her if she was at all concerned about my behaviour. ‘Why would I be?’…

Survival of the Fittest: Ultimate Warrior and Hate Speech

Posted on April 12, 2014December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

[UPDATE: Since this was first published, WWE and the Ultimate Warrior’s estate have erased most of the sources from his own website, as well as footage from YouTube. I will try to find the links in archives but they have gone to great pains to rewrite history – if you’ve read this post, you’ll know…

The Day Pro Wrestling Died

Posted on February 20, 2014December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

Each generation of professional wrestling fans seem to have the same nostalgic complaints as the last: pro wrestling, they claim, isn’t as good as it used to be. Either these fans long for when the business seemed more legitimate as Bruno Sammartino’s slow, deliberate grappling matches led to his historic seven-year WWWF World Championship reign,…

Batman: Making a Killing (part two)

Posted on August 20, 2012December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

Read part one here. When Warners’ Batman brand was ready for reboot in 2005, things looked relatively promising: director Christopher Nolan was no slouch, and seemed to take the source material seriously enough, while he also brought in a host of skilled actors – Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, Gary Oldman, Liam…

Batman: Making a Killing (part one)

Posted on August 14, 2012December 12, 2018 by Jay Baker

What comic book character has been so enduringly popular as Batman for the last 70 years? After Superman, you’re hard pushed to think of one that comes even close – in almost every major ranking, Batman is right there, second only to “The Man of Steel” himself. Superman came about at a time of political…

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About

Jay Baker is a social entrepreneur and community educator from Sheffield, UK.

He has twenty years of experience working for social justice – applying the DIY “punk” ethic to making documentaries, writing books, organising anti-fascist events, and launching and running projects helping to empower communities in both Britain and North America – where he has been invited to speak, chair, and MC at festivals, conferences, and events from Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada) and Huddersfield University (UK) to the Non-Violence Festival (Canada) and the Festival of Debate (UK).

Jay works in social impact with his partner Jane and with her co-founded AFC Unity and helps run Libre Digital. He is also a director of the board at E.D.E.N Film Productions. He is a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and a proud member of both the IWW and Acorn.

Baker has his critics too: He has been listed as a “public enemy” by the fascist website Redwatch, provided the inspiration for the character of a “self-righteous left-wing blogger” in one book, as well as a sinister social media figure portrayed by a Hollyoaks actor in another story for the stage. He was unfollowed on Twitter by Owen Jones and Tom Watson, who also blocked him – because of his support for Jeremy Corbyn and Chris Williamson.

He has written for Now Then, The Scavenger, and the award-winning zine La Bouche, amongst other websites, zines, and newspapers. In addition, he hosts the political pop culture podcast The Left Fist.

He is interested in pop culture, creativity, and technology – topics he blogs about here, from an anti-capitalist, punk perspective.

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Punk DIY media activist and community coach. Lifelong anti-capitalist interested in pop culture, creativity, technology. @IWW_Europe member. Views mine. he/him.

Jay Baker 🌹
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C4meronM4tthewsCameron Matthews@C4meronM4tthews·
10h

In the darkest of times, the stars shine brightest 🌟

@NadiaWhittome represents #hope in these dark times

Congratulations on your election sister 👍🏽
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C4meronM4tthewsCameron Matthews@C4meronM4tthews·
10h

Britain's youngest MP vows to only take home £35k of her £79k salary

Labour's @NadiaWhittome will donate a huge chunk of her pay to Notts charities - saying until wages rise for the likes of Nurses & Firefighters, she will only take a "worker's wage"
1/2
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/britains-youngest-mp-vows-only-21094591

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DukeOfHardRockJay Baker 🌹@DukeOfHardRock·
1h

Massive congratulations to the absolutely amazing @NadiaWhittome on becoming a Member of Parliament. I've followed Nadia's long journey for quite some time and a more principled person with such immense integrity you could not ask for.

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JaneWatkinsonJane Watkinson 🌹@JaneWatkinson·
1h

The concepts of mutual aid (discussed below in Andrew Ross's book), dual power and counter power structures are things we can focus on now as we battle against this far right Conservative government. It's not going to be easy but it is vital we carry on this fight.

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JaneWatkinsonJane Watkinson 🌹@JaneWatkinson·
1h

We need to keep going and build on the amazing hope and vision that the Labour manifesto embodied. We have to build on what John McDonnell's Economics for the Many book critically argues for and inspires.

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