GARA , thats the Glasgow Anti Racist Alliance , had a do at the vastly impressive Victorian Masterpiece that is the Glasgow City Chambers.The Home turf of the Lord Provost and Glasgow City Council and lurid corrupt venal politicians.
Entering into the Grand Front Door opposite the cenotaph in George Square one is immediately struck by the imperious array of textures of marble of many hues and the redblock sandstone full size statues holding aloft the many grand icons of domination and symbols of the unchallenged confidence of empire , a perfect place corrupt venal politicians to hide behind a cloak of respectability.Look up and you see shimmering mosaics and white and ishfahani turquoise offsetting the austere Victorian hardbuild rock with the vibrancy of imperial Pompeii lushness.Look slightly around and come into view an elegance one finds in the Venetian Quarter of Galatasary District of Istanbul.Look to the other side and you see the Ochre textures you find only in Rome , yet made of solid marble , giving a perennial continuous feel to the exuberant ebullience topped , yet again , with an almost musical counterpoint of a domed roof interspersed with a blue one only find in the finest Chinese pottery.And yet you realise you have merely entered the Reception waiting Room area where a most friendly and helpful official will take your name and direct you to the portion of the building in which your stated business is taking place.
It is no wonder that many a committed class conscience Labour Politician has entered this building , only to be taken in by the imperious and beguiling oozing of power emanating from the masonry only to become afflicted with the urge to retain this elite privilege for all time and become the very part of the establishment that the voters gave them the mandate to dismantle.
The event itself was taking place in the Grand banquet Hall , a place that is reached by several levels of grandiose fleets of pure stone steps , giving views of a different level whenever you turn from one flight to the next , with small catches of what literally become corridors of power as you rise higher and higher , you see the "Assistant to the Lord Provost" Door , eventually the "Office of the Lord Provost" Door and ultimately the massive Doors of the Banquet hall give way to an expanse the size of a modern day theatre , all round are mosaics , this time adorned with gold , that give the feel of the Great churches of the Slavic east , the centre piece is a large white background mosaic above a stage at one end of the vast hall that shows a British Regal Official receiving vast stores of gifts from a whole host of natives , no doubt grateful to the imperial British Empire for giving them the kind of civilisation that can only be appreciated by giving them vast amounts of gold;spices;tobacco and precious minerals that the indigenous lands may happen to possess.
The event itself was well hosted with full protocol being given , upto and including a gold chains of office weighed down privy convener giving the address on behalf of the Lord Provost who was clearer to busy to be present in person.We also have a delicious buffet laid on containing an array of hot and cold vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes along with copious amounts of Ginger Beer.
The one event in this years Black History Month is a lecture by the biographer of Mary Seacole ( the lady pictured above) who was around at the same time as Florence Nightingale as a nurse in the Crimea War , though she never became quite as famous.But the good news is she did receive the 2004 award for the most significant Black Person in British history and the Scottish Branch of the Royal College of Nurses are collecting funds to build a long overdue statue in her honour.
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