Manchester, the heart of evolution and the industrial revolution, including art, business, and cultures. The capital of the North. Although the weather is not very warm and welcoming, the people are!
Decolonising Manchester Museum, by Isabella Heis
Anyone who has kept up with decolonial action will know that museums are one of the key sectors expected to undertake decolonisation, with Eurocentric narratives and colonised or unethically acquired objects taking centre stage in museums throughout the world. The original indigenous contexts, and sometimes even the consent of the objects’ country of origin, have historically been absent from these displays.
The 60s Ban the Bomb Movement in Manchester, by Isaac Feaver
The ‘Ban the Bomb’ movement was a direct challenge to the existence of nuclear weapons and adapted to the changing technologies and doctrines of the ensuing Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union that followed the end of the Second World War. Among the major actors of the Cold War was Britain, whose nuclear research predated and had added substantial scientific knowledge to the U.S. Manhattan Project. Britain pursued nuclear weapons independently from the U.S., gaining atomic weapons in 1952 and the far more destructive hydrogen bomb in 1957. Although Britain established itself as a member of an exclusive international nuclear club, there were significant, albeit, small movements in favour of nuclear disarmament at home.
Suffragette City: Manchester in the Fight for Women’s Votes, by Aimee Butler
With the amount of recognition, promotion and publicity today’s feminist movement receives worldwide, it is important to reflect that the gruelling fight for female suffrage took place not so long ago. Whilst we still have a long way to go in terms of gender equality, the progress made since the suffragette movement of the nineteenth and twentieth century is a remarkable feat that is worthy of recognition.
How the Philosophies of Marx and Engels were Birthed in Manchester, by Louise Moracchini
Buried in an alcove of the Reading Room in Chetham’s library is an unassuming wooden desk. This desk was the station from which the founders of Marxism constructed their ideology during their time in Manchester. It was during the summer of 1845 that Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx worked from this desk, diligently developing the intellectual and literary roots that would change the world.