rs21 magazine Spring 2015 launches tomorrow

The Spring 2015 issue of the rs21 magazine will be launching at our event for International Women’s day 50 Shades of Struggle: Women and the New Social Movements taking place at LSE tomorrow (Wednesday 11 March, 7pm, East Building, Room E304) – get your copy at the meeting, from your local rs21 group, by subscribing or on the streets!

‘Politics’ in Britain over the next two months will be dominated by the run up to the general election. Although the outcome at present is far from clear, the electoral landscape – be it the Green surge, the rise of UKIP or the meteoric growth of the SNP – is changing. Amy Gilligan examines what is happening to Labour – where is their support coming from and what challenges are they facing, while Anindya Bhattacharyya discusses the crises on the right.

In the run up to the general election a major issue, particularly in London, is housing. Ruth Lorimer places the fights around housing within the wide battle for the “Right to the City” and our resident economics agony aunt explains why rents and house prices are skyrocketing.

The established order of electoral politics has been shaken more strongly elsewhere in Europe with the victory of Syriza in the Greek general election. In the context of Syriza’s success, Podemos’ growth in Spain and radical movements that have emerged in Scotland following the independence referendum, Neil Davidson takes a step back to discuss the role of revolutionaries in politics “from above or below”, looking at the disintegration of social democracy and the impasse the left finds itself in.

The movements against police killings of black people have seen new, exciting campaigns emerge in the US, that have inspired activists in Britain. Shanice McBean looks at how the protests in Ferguson have been driven by the racism and injustice that permeates everyday life for black people in America. She discusses the solidarity that there has been between anti-racist protesters and LGBTQ+ campaigners in the US, and internationally between people in Gaza and Ferguson.

Continuing the examination of the relationship between race and class, this issue includes an in-depth review of Satnam Virdee’s recent book Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider by Colin Barker. In his review, Colin traces the history of anti-racist struggles in Britian from the Chartists of the 19th Century to the Anti-Nazi League in the 1980s.

A major focus for rs21 is understanding Marxism and feminism today. Estelle Cooch presents the results of a significant piece of research into the nature of feminists today. She looks at the nature of the ‘new feminist’ movements that have exploded internationally in the last few years. Complementing Estelle’s article, is a conversation between US-based socialist Tithi Bhattacharya and Kavita Krishnan, Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, about the current state of the women’s movement in India.

Finally, Kim Moody, author of In Solidarity, continues the debate begun by pieces by Ian A and Kevin Crane in previous issues the rs21 magazine about the nature of work today, the extent and effect of precarity and what this means for class struggles. This is an important contribution to a discussion that will continue in future issues.

As ever, we welcome potential contributions for the magazine and the website. If you would like to respond to anything you read in the magazine or online, get in touch!