1 was surprised and rather disturbed to read the article called Repatriate the Prich sistersl" in Red Weekly 6 FebWhile I shere your views on the re petriation of the sisters and similarly calf for an and to all harassment of them in prison, I was disturbed to find the following unexplained complaint included:
overt lesbian behaviour towards them by some prisoners', and also Dolours' com plaint that Tve been banished to another part of the wing beside a lesbian."
Whilst I racognise that these may be valid assertions of harrassment from the authorities, this by no means comes across in your articie. Unfortunately what does come across is that you in no way dissociate yourseit from these anti-gay remarks, or endeavour to state that you are against the oppression of gly people in capitalist society.
1 understood from previous issues of your paper thet you stood firm on the position of denouncing all sexual oppres sion, including thet of gay people. In fact your paper his been one of the only ones on the revolutionary left to give coverage to the struggles of geys against their op pression. Pleise tell me whether or not 1am right in this respect. LYNNE BAXTER, Fish in the Sea, by John MeGrath, presented by the 7:84 Theatre Company.
A common weakness of agitational theatre is a two-dimensional effect, with the characters reprewomen, or 'bureaucrats", Fish in the Sea is a refreshing change a full-length play with an characters to live out political ideas and positions, rather than mouth them. The contradictions and conrather than ignored or minimised, and there is a richness of plot, dialogue and musical expression seldom found on the lett.
It is overall an amusing, moving and Hed Weekip has received several letters along similar lines. The comments which from statements issued by the Price sisters and their relatives, and the grievances which they refer to are legitimate: that the prison prisoners, taking advantage of the brutalising effects of the prison environment (particularly in sexual matters), to harass the Price sisters.
However we agree that the way in which this grievance was stated was quite wrong, giving the impression that what the sisters objected to was the sexuality of their fellow prisoners, rather than its ox. ploitation by the authorities.
Vie also agree that Red Weekly should have indicated its view, which is, of course, unequivocal defence of the richt af gay beople to freely express Their sexuality. and against all forms of sexual oppression. Lonary and then editor of the strikeoccupation builetin at the factory.
All this is encouraging However a sented simply as caricatures of "workers, central weakness of the play is its treatment of the relationship between the industrial, economic strugae and the home life of the Maconochie family. overtly political theme, which uses the In direct contrast to the men, the women do not develop at all during the play, and remain totally trapped within the confines of their own disfusions of the characters are portrayed torted emotions, their conditioned desire for security in marriage, and their individual, isolated view of the world. Even Fiona, the "brainy one' is defined essentially in terms of her sexual attractiveness. She takes no RED WEEKLY should educate its members to develo class covicious refiends to dinal with 1t situation. They should be caught to m ain the reasons for poor services. that talism las run down public services: t