Notes From Below: Workers’ Inquiries #HM2018
Ian Allinson reports from Historical Materialism conference on the Notes From Below project
Paradise Lost in California: A community struggling to survive
Climate change is turning working class Californians into sitting ducks. Sadie Fulton writes about how people are struggling to build networks of solidarity in the face of climate disaster, ruling class neglect and the far right.
Planning a Just Transition in Scotland: 17 November
On Saturday 17 November, there will a one-day conference in Edinburgh to discuss the transition to a sustainable low carbon economy.
What strategy for labour in the US? #HM2018
Ian Allinson reports from a debate at the Historical Materialism Conference about strategy for the US labour movement, with useful lessons for the UK.
The Old Lie
The First World War ended 100 years ago today, on 11 November 1918. Four years ago, Matthew Cookson looked at how poetry of the period reflected growing resistance to ruling class justifications for war. Now he returns to the theme to explore how struggles over how it is remembered have continued to this day. One […]
Six socialist takeaways from the US midterm elections 2018
Alan Maass looks at some of the main themes of the 2018 US midterms and what they tell us. This article first appeared on socialistworker.org No. 1: This is what polarization (not democracy) looks like Coulda been, shoulda been. The 2018 midterm elections should have been a ringing repudiation of Donald Trump and the Republican […]
Bolsonaro elected president of Brazil: how did we get to this point?
Following the recent election of Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil, Marcelo Badaró Mattos asks how we got here.
Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin’s race problem
David Renton reviews the latest opportunistic attempt to make sense of the resurgence of reactionary politics in the West.
Weathering the storm
Reflections on the election of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil by Lisa Leak, who spent Election Day with anti-fascists and feminists outside the Brazilian Embassy.
With love and solidarity; with sadness and rage
Over 100 people gathered under the Cable Street mural for a vigil for Pittsburgh on Sunday 28 October. Contributions from Colin Wilson and Taisie Tsikas. Last night, over 100 people gathered under the Cable Street mural in the East End for a vigil for the lives lost in Pittsburgh to antisemitic, white supremacist violence. Under […]
The Left and a People’s Vote
While the march was mainly organised and led by the neoliberal ‘centre’, there were also socialists on the march. Unite activist Ian Allinson discusses how the left should respond.
Trump’s transphobic attack is deeper than definitions
The Trump administration is escalating its attacks on transgender people — and the left has a duty to not only resist, but put forward a positive vision, writes Fainan Lakha. Shock and sickness produced a heaviness in my body that kept me pinned me under the covers all Sunday. Moments after waking up that morning, I […]
Neither Westminster nor Stormont
This week, buoyed by the #NowForNI campaign, Labour MPs have made multiple attempts to extend reproductive rights to the North of Ireland. On Tuesday 23 October, Diana Johnson’s largely symbolic ten-minute rule bill to scrap the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act (the law used to criminalise abortion) passed its first reading by 208 to […]
rs21 pamphlet | Israel: the making of a racist state
A new rs21 pamphlet explains exactly how the Israel-Palestine conflict came into being – and why Israel has always been a racist state
We are working women and we make Glasgow
The strike that began today (Tuesday 23 October 2018) in Glasgow may be the biggest equal pay strike in UK history. Pete Cannell reports on Day One. Thanks to Christine, Mike and Eric for their contributions to the report. The two-day strike for equal pay involves more than 8,000 Glasgow council workers, members of the GMB and […]
AUDIO: My body, my choice
In a discussion held at rs21’s September 2018 National Meeting, Kate Bradley introduces pro-choice activist Maev McDaid (3:40) and transfeminist Joni Cohen (17:50) on reproductive rights and freedoms for cis and trans women. The recent referendum in the Republic of Ireland made headlines around the world, but much remains undone for reproductive rights in both Ireland […]
Report on A Day Without Men 2018
A Day Without Men featured sessions on fascism and sexual violence, migration and the care industry, and workplace organising.
Fracking resumes but the movement builds
A movement is building that could bring about the end of the fossil fuel industry and replace it, from the bottom up, with something new.
Anti-fascist demonstrators outnumber the far right in London
On October 13th, the DFLA attempted a rally in London and were opposed by thousands of counter-demonstrators. rs21 members report on the day’s events. On the 13th of October, the far-right Democratic Football Lad’s Alliance (DFLA) attempted to march through London. In response, two counter-demonstrations formed at around midday to shut them down. The DFLA […]
Calais stories
Mitch Mitchell is a regular visitor to Calais a part of his work with Refugee Lifeboat.
Video: Ele Não! Brazilians protest Jair Bolsonaro
rs21 spoke to Brazilians protesting against far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro as the country went to the polls for the first round of voting
Care, consent and coercion under capitalism
Alan Sears, a socialist activist based in Toronto, spoke to Hazel Croft about sexuality, sexual coercion and consent, and the possibilities for sexual liberation today.
AUDIO: The Fire Last Time – 1968
Marxist historian Neil Davidson talks on 1968 and the broader period of uprisings and reprisals of which it became the most visible example
‘Legitimate Concerns’: the Language of Division
How does the language of “legitimate concerns” play into racist narratives? Hanna Gal argues against making any concessions to the discourse of the right.
The Looming Massacre in Idlib
The regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is threatening to carry out a massive assault on the province of Idlib, including a potential chemical weapons attack, in a bid to crush one of the last strongholds of opposition. Such an assault would have a potentially devastating impact on civilians, many of them refugees from the […]
US prison strike: the slaves rebel
The heroic strike action of prisoners in the United States highlights the potential for revolt among America’s modern-day slave population
Reflections on the Education Spring
An interview with Lois Weiner about the flowering of militancy in the US education system
After the Heß demo – why do the Berlin police protect (some) Nazi marches?
Police in Berlin recently enabled a neo-Nazi demonstration to march through the multicultural Friedrichshain district
The people versus the parliament in Argentina
The Argentine Senate’s vote against legal abortion is a bitter setback – but Argentine women will not be silenced