bricolage
10th January 2011, 14:16
Radical queers at the time were involved with supporting the miners in the 1985/5 Miners’ strike and we in the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners’ Group made a record of our involvement with a mining community in South Wales.
“The South Wales miners’ strike of 1984-1985 saw the formation of a curious alliance between a plucky group of young homosexuals from London and miners in Dulais Valley. In Dancing in Dulais, an initial wariness on the part of the young gays, the miners, and the miners’ families gives way, through sometimes delicate interactions, to a loving and purposeful solidarity. The unembellished videography captures well this fascinating-to-witness union of two disparate yet ultimately kindred groups. The “Pits and Perverts” benefit concert features the Bronski Beat.”http://www.coolcave.co.uk/blog/video/all-out-dancing-in-dulais- (http://www.coolcave.co.uk/blog/video/all-out-dancing-in-dulais-1986.html)1986.html (http://www.coolcave.co.uk/blog/video/all-out-dancing-in-dulais-1986.html)
One thing about the miners strike that I've always seen as worth remembering is the way it illustrated the nature of prolonged class struggle to expand beyond its initial confines. The attempted spread of the miners strike outside of sectionalism to include industries such as the railways and other power sectors, some bits more successful than others, is the first example of this and it could be said that it would have only been by such an expansion that the strike could have been won. Yet what this video also shows is the way struggle can break down barriers that exist within the working class both nationally and internationally. Dancing in Dulais focusses on the links made by LGBT groups with striking miners yet there are numerous other examples such as womens support groups formed in areas traditionally very patriarchal to internationalist connections made with those suffering oppression in Northern Ireland and South Africa. I'm sidetracking a bit from the actual video which I'd recommend watching but this is the context I would see it within.
“The South Wales miners’ strike of 1984-1985 saw the formation of a curious alliance between a plucky group of young homosexuals from London and miners in Dulais Valley. In Dancing in Dulais, an initial wariness on the part of the young gays, the miners, and the miners’ families gives way, through sometimes delicate interactions, to a loving and purposeful solidarity. The unembellished videography captures well this fascinating-to-witness union of two disparate yet ultimately kindred groups. The “Pits and Perverts” benefit concert features the Bronski Beat.”http://www.coolcave.co.uk/blog/video/all-out-dancing-in-dulais- (http://www.coolcave.co.uk/blog/video/all-out-dancing-in-dulais-1986.html)1986.html (http://www.coolcave.co.uk/blog/video/all-out-dancing-in-dulais-1986.html)
One thing about the miners strike that I've always seen as worth remembering is the way it illustrated the nature of prolonged class struggle to expand beyond its initial confines. The attempted spread of the miners strike outside of sectionalism to include industries such as the railways and other power sectors, some bits more successful than others, is the first example of this and it could be said that it would have only been by such an expansion that the strike could have been won. Yet what this video also shows is the way struggle can break down barriers that exist within the working class both nationally and internationally. Dancing in Dulais focusses on the links made by LGBT groups with striking miners yet there are numerous other examples such as womens support groups formed in areas traditionally very patriarchal to internationalist connections made with those suffering oppression in Northern Ireland and South Africa. I'm sidetracking a bit from the actual video which I'd recommend watching but this is the context I would see it within.