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Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

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Re: Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

#21

Post by arethuza »

forkandwait wrote: post #8
you_owe_me wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still, seeing white people living in such a bad conditions is striking. Please don't take out of context my comment, it's just what I think. I am brown by the way.

Poverty is a class issue, not a race issue. Sometimes they are correlated (US cities, all of the US southeast), sometimes not (west Virginia, rural everywhere EXCEPT the southeast, everything Irish - - you can't get whiter than Irish)

"you can't get whiter than Irish"

Sectarianism was a pretty dreadful problem in Glasgow (and to a lesser extent the other cities in the Central belt of Scotland) - it still exists although not nearly as bad as it used to be:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarianism_in_Glasgow

Re: Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

#22

Post by agapon »

nine_k wrote: post #15

The photos have a striking similarity to what I've seen in Soviet Union as a child, in the end of 1970s. I can easily imagine myself one of these children on the photos, doing the same things. Of course, not all parts of Soviet cities were as rundown, much like not all parts of Glasgow were as rundown.

I have recently been to Morozov Tenements in Tver, Russia (originally built in 18xx for workers of Morozov textile factory there) and people still live like that to this day. It's really hard to believe that that can be within a couple of hours travel time from Moscow. https://nvdaily.ru/info/129950.html

Re: Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

#23

Post by arethuza »

DanBC wrote: post #13
rbobby wrote: post #4

The book Angela's Ashes is a pretty solid read. Life in a poor area of Limerick Ireland.

The film Ratcatcher (1999) is about a boy growing up in tenements and dreaming of moving out to a new housing development. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171685/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 The Scheme is a tv documentary about an estate in Kilmarnock. I don't like programmes like this, but it's not the worst of its kind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X6KfCYJx_g Poor Kids (2011?) shows children living in poverty in the UK. It's…

Bill Forsyth (who went on to make Local Hero) did a nice wee comedy set in Glasgow in the 1970s - That Sinking Feeling:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Sinking_Feeling

Re: Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

#24

Post by forkandwait »

arethuza wrote: post #21
forkandwait wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poverty is a class issue, not a race issue. Sometimes they are correlated (US cities, all of the US southeast), sometimes not (west Virginia, rural everywhere EXCEPT the southeast, everything Irish - - you can't get whiter than Irish)

"you can't get whiter than Irish" Sectarianism was a pretty dreadful problem in Glasgow (and to a lesser extent the other cities in the Central belt of Scotland) - it still exists although not nearly as bad as it used to be: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarianism_in_Glasgow

My (poorly articulated) point is that all the non-class markers we use to oppress people - whether skin color, religion, accent, clothing style, music preferences, etc - just disguise class oppression. In the USA, I think we emphasize color in order to avoid the hard truth that society was created so that a few could fuck the many.

And I meant "white" literally, to point out the absurdity that poverty is a function of skin color as opposed to deep class organization. If light skin color is what made one rich and powerful, then Catholic Irish would be at the top. But...

Re: Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

#27

Post by prestonbriggs »

Tycho wrote: post #25

Doesn’t look that bad, frankly. Everyone looks healthy at least.

The kids look fine, but the older folks look pretty bad, I think. So many of the captions are of the form: So-and-so waiting. For what? Nothing much, I'd guess.

Re: Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

#28

Post by slededit »

arethuza wrote: post #19

Unfortunately, place like Maryhill are still some of the most deprived areas in Scotland: http://simd.scot/2016/#/simd2016/BTTTFTT/9/-4.0000/55.9000/ I still find it shocking that in such a small country (6 million people) there can be a variation of over 10 years in the life expectancy of a newborn based purely on where they are born: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2017/variation-in-life-ex... NB I'm 53 so a con…

This BBC documentary shows what its like in more recent times. Its better, but not dramatically so. Most importantly the despair and lack of hope is still there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bxYeyq0xq4

Re: Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

#29

Post by Gibbon1 »

forkandwait wrote: post #24
arethuza wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"you can't get whiter than Irish" Sectarianism was a pretty dreadful problem in Glasgow (and to a lesser extent the other cities in the Central belt of Scotland) - it still exists although not nearly as bad as it used to be: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarianism_in_Glasgow

My (poorly articulated) point is that all the non-class markers we use to oppress people - whether skin color, religion, accent, clothing style, music preferences, etc - just disguise class oppression. In the USA, I think we emphasize color in order to avoid the hard truth that society was created so that a few could fuck the many. And I meant "white" literally, to point out the absurdity that poverty is a function o…

I agree with that, recently read a rant about how liberals have fallen into the trap of seeing oppression as caused by discrimination based on skin color, instead of of oppression as a power class thing. And think if only some of the feet in the boot were brown that'll be fair.

Does it help a man of color if the foot in the boot is sometimes brown? I think not a boot is a boot.

Re: Powerful Photos of Life in the Old Glasgow Tenement Blocks – 1969-72

#30

Post by Gibbon1 »

i_feel_great wrote: post #26

What is the background economic situation in Scotland at this time?

I just have three anecdotal bits to share.

1. One friend said the rest of Britain historically exploits Scotland. People are poor because their taxes and profits they generate are sent south. AKA Thacher/Majors 's government was pulling £1000 per capita a year out of Scotland.

2. Another man said that heavy industry in Britain was in decline in the 1960's 1970's.

3. And a guy I worked with said Britain after WWII was in economic ruin because of the WWI and WWII. Rationing continued into the mid 1950's.

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