18/12/2020
This week marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of John Lennon, who was shot in New York City on December 8th 1980. His passing hit many people as a shock and he was mourned not only for his music, but his political stances too. Lennon and other members of the Beatles, especially George Harrison, maintained an interest in what can broadly be called the sixties and seventies counterculture, sponsoring alternative politics, progressive organisations and reading widely on spirituality, culture, society and public policy. Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono read the underground newspapers such as IT, Black Dwarf and Oz Magazine. During the early 1970s Lennon and Ono had friends active in the Gay Liberation Movement and on a number of occasions, before moving to New York, Lennon had invited members of the London GLF to his house. According to the book “No Bath But Plenty of Bubbles” by Lisa Power, which looks at the early years of the London Gay Liberation groups, Lennon was working on his masterpiece “Imagine” and asked the London GLF visitors what they thought of it. For John Lennon, eastern spirituality, radical politics, liberal democracy and individual freedom all came together in his vision of a fairer, peaceful world. On the anniversary of his passing, we remember him as an ally and a friend to minority communities.
