Spectre of Europe - An Alternative Paris Commune Timeline

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@Emperor of no one

Who is Sobek?[/QUOTE]

From Wikipedia

Sobek (also called Sebek, Sochet, Sobk, and Sobki)-an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and fluid nature.[2][3] He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in its form or as a human with a crocodile head. Sobek was also associated with pharaonic power, fertility, and military prowess, but served additionally as a protective deity with apotropaic qualities, invoked particularly for protection against the dangers presented by the Nile.
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I will say that I've never seen this meme before, but I'll gladly take an ancient Egyptian god over a hockey mascot any day.

It might make me a bad socialist, but I always thought Gritty was cringey and a very odd imitation of the right's appropriation of Pepe.
 
I am incredibly late to the party but I just have to say, this is awesome. Very well developed even 60 years after the POD. Keep up the good work.
 
Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Three - African Influenza - India

One of the curious elements of African Influenza was the ragged way in which it spread around the globe. It was as if a protractor had been placed on the Gold Coast, the points of its flat edge pointing NE to Cairo and SW across the South Atlantic. The disease spread across borders and shipping lanes in a 180 degree arc, fanning out across the Western world, but traffic in the other direction was far slower. Pathways were slow across Africa itself, an effective Egyptian Quarantine didn't help, and by the time that African Influenza had entered the trade routs of the Indian Ocean the major ports were more prepared. There were, of course, outbreaks across Asia. But quarantine in the Raj, in China, and elsewhere managed to keep the disease at bay. Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and large parts of the Dutch East Indies staved off the disease entirely.

What was devastated though, was the British ruling class in colonial India. Travelling along the shipping routes that helped transport the sickness, their traffic back and forth to the metropole put them at especial risk. One of the worst outbreaks in India was in the colonial settlements around Shimla, which had to be first isolated and then, ultimately, abandoned to the sick and the dying as medical authorities battled to avoid a spread. The transport of military units, of goods, and of support personnel were all slowed or stopped during the quarantine.

It was an opportunity few Indian activists were prepared to let slide, whatever their political persuasion. Direct Action Days, something initially proposed by the socialist elements of Indian politics, became more common. These involved one-day protests, or strikes, or stoppages aimed at demonstrating how easily colonial rule could be disrupted. Although there were a number of critics of these tactics, who saw the easy potential for violence inherent in such direct confrontation, Direct Action Day proved wildly popular with Indian Home Rule Congress supporters.

But it wasn't just political action. One of the breakthrough moments for this change of attitudes came from the cultural realm. The IHRC was a savvy actor and, under pressure from colonial authorities, was inventive in thinking of ways to stimulate new forms of debate and support. One of these was investing in the emerging India cinematic movement - known increasingly as Konkan. A suburb of Bombay, where 45ft letters spelling out the name of the area had been erected on the bluffs by an ambitious real estate developer, Konkan's easy rail access, rugged coasts, forests, and beaches had proven ideal locations for filming. Now the hub of Indian cinema, so famous that the burgeoning film industry in the USA's Miami took to using the name Miam-kan, was being weaponized to speak to the masses.

Aurat_1940S.jpg

Radha [Sardar Akhtar] clings to her children in 1939's AURAT - a searing indictment of colonial rule in India.

Just one example, AURAT [literally - WOMAN], produced in 1939, demonstrates how politicized film making had become. Aurat tells the story of Radha, a typical village woman, whose husband is run over and killed in an accident by a minor colonial official. Rendered destitute, she clings to her small family, trying to keep them afloat in an uncaring world. Aurat was a heart-rending depiction of the problems of a colonial society that claimed to care about Indian people but offered no safety net or justice in reality. She is scared off from pursuing compensation or justice for her family, hounded from place to place, turned away by uncaring institutions, and only saved through the collective compassion of her village community who pull through to remortgage her family farm from the authorities who have foreclosed it. A powerful message from a major studio and director, Aurat became a must-see for Indians who crowded into the growing number of cinemas around the country to see its humane and anti-colonial message.

The IHRC and other independent movements could sense, perhaps, a shift in the balance of power and in early January 1940 announced to the British authorities and India generally that they would begin the collection of a mass petition across all corners of India that would call for an immediate shift to Home Rule for India. 'Refuse it' Jinnah told British reporters in Lahore in December 'and we will move towards full independence and Direct Action will take on new meaning'.
 
I wonder if there shall be a reaction to film-making and media in the British Isles in response to the Indian movie scene? I can see new "Decency Codes" be passed in Parliament to curtail the influence of the camera lens on current issues, although I doubt they'll be stated in those terms.
 
I wonder if there shall be a reaction to film-making and media in the British Isles in response to the Indian movie scene? I can see new "Decency Codes" be passed in Parliament to curtail the influence of the camera lens on current issues, although I doubt they'll be stated in those terms.

Definitely, there will probably be copycat codes popping up in other countries as well. Like the US.
 
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