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‘Where there is no struggle there is no progress’ Frederick Douglass

Great BBC Radio 4 repeat of an ‘In our Time’ programme about Frederick Douglass an astonishing man, born a slave in the USA in 1817. Self educated, self made, companion to Abraham Lincoln, what is covered in this programme shows us the historical background to BLM, and thus shows us that when Michelle Obama stated, ‘When they go low, you go high’, this appeal has a long history. Respect due. Entrepreneur, orator, statesman, part of British and US history, how can this man not be a role model to all?

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Shakespeare, icons, archetypes, current affairs (and riots)

Two great programmes on BBC Radio 4 today, Mon March 16th. There is stuff about Trump and Twitter Spats, American history, the role of popular movies in political or philosophical discourse or not, and an astonishing tale of the Astor Palace Riot in which Shakespeare and 'The English Actor' was responsible for the deaths of 31 rioting commoners at the hands of the US militia.