Voices against Trident – video from CND demonstration in London
On Saturday tens of thousands of people protested in central London to oppose the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system.
We can defend jobs without supporting nuclear weapons
We reprint this article from last September in solidarity with everyone marching today for a missile free future In the wake of recent statements by Len McCluskey, an Aerospace Unite rep argues that unions should support those arguing for a future beyond nuclear weapons. The destruction of the world is not a job creation scheme Len […]
Chanting crowds and flying shrapnel – The Night Manager reviewed
Radical former-spy John Le Carre’s The Night Manager started this week on BBC 1. Tony Aldis took a look. From its opening credits those responsible for The Night Manager seem determined to ditch much of the image of George Smiley, his huge glasses and smoke clouded, rain drizzled world. Slick CGI images of weapons mixed with the […]
Unison and UCU strike together in FE over fair pay
Jessica Redman, a Unison member at a college in London, reports from Wednesday’s FE strike Wednesday 24 February saw Unison and UCU members in Further Education colleges across England strike together over pay for the first time in a decade. The strike was over an ongoing dispute with the Association of Colleges (AoC). The FE Joint […]
“£1 extra an hour for all” – UNISON and UCU national FE Strike
Tomorrow (24 February), for the first time in over a decade, UNISON and UCU in Further Education will be striking together for more pay. Mark, an FE lecturer in London discusses why they are taking action. Why we are striking Lecturers, admin and support staff working in Further Education colleges in England are to take […]
Peckham Community Pride 20/2/16 – report with photos and video
Report, photos and video by Steve Eason Peckham Community Pride, a political, non-commercial march through SE15 from Peckham Library down Rye Lane, protested the anti-immigration raids and the intimidating “go home vans” that have targeted Peckham. Community pride was called by the civil rights group Movement For Justice and Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSMigrants). […]
How will EU debate impact migrant solidarity?
A talk given by Anindya Bhattacharyya at the recent London2Calais summit about how the migrant solidarity movement can respond to the debates around migrants in the context of the referendum on Britain’s EU membership. I want to talk in general terms about the political situation in Britain, and the way that debates around migrants are […]
Review: The Imperial Radch trilogy
Amy Gilligan reviews Ann Leckie’s series of SciFi novels, set in a post-gender galaxy. Recently I found myself racing through Anne Leckie’s excellent Imperial Radch trilogy: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Mercy and Ancillary Sword. It’s a great SciFi series, but also quite political, addressing questions around imperialism, workers’ rights and especially gender. There is also a lot […]
On framing JNU for an imaginary crime
rs21 is pleased to republish Aditya Sarkar‘s article on the vicious attacks of the far right Indian government on students and academics at Jawahalal Nehru University in New Delhi. These attacks have met with growing protests by students and academics. This article was originally published on kafila.org. Some editorial explanations have been added to the original text. […]
‘I was a shop steward and I had a duplicator’ – IS in the 1970s
As the battles of the 1970s intensified Norman McLean became an electrician working in factories and on building sites. Norman spoke to us about his experiences of being a revolutionary activist in an exciting period of working class history. Part 1 can be found here Part 2 Getting Organised What did it mean to be […]
‘Becoming a shop steward transformed my political life.’ – IS in the 1970s
May ’68 and the struggles of the late sixties radicalised tens of thousands of students, some became revolutionaries and joined revolutionary groups. Norman MacLean became a member of the International Socialists (IS) and started working in factories, organising and agitating with his fellow workers during the heightened period of class struggle known as the ‘upturn’. […]
A journey through utopian landscapes: Last Futures – review
Ruth Lorimer reviews Douglas Murphy’s new book Last Futures: Nature, Technology, and the End of Architecture Douglas Murphy’s Last Futures is a fascinating journey through the utopian landscapes of radical modernist architecture. Delving into plans for futuristic megastructures, plug-in cities and lunar colonies, he traces the connections between the hopes and fears of the late twentieth […]
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
With accusations of racism at the Oscars, the play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom about black experience in the entertainment industry is having a timely revival. Tazmin Aldis reviews. Reportedly one of August Wilson’s finest works, the play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set in 1927’s Chicago. Fundamentally the plot centres itself around a black singer, […]
The connection between the #JuniorDoctorsStrike and the American corporate takeover of the NHS, part 2
In Part 1, Dr Bob Gill (@DrBobGill) explained the unreported and sinister drive behind the push to change Junior Doctors’ contracts. Part 2 discusses what this means for the future of the NHS, as well as the importance of the current dispute. Reposted with the author’s permission from the Keep Our St Helier Hospital website.
The connection between the #JuniorDoctorsStrike and the American corporate takeover of the NHS, part 1
Dr Bob Gill (@DrBobGill) explains the unreported and sinister drive behind the push for changing junior doctors’ contracts. Reposted with the author’s permission from the Keep Our St Helier Hospital website.
David Widgery: “Why do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts”
For Valentine’s Day we are reposting an article about love and sex under capitalism, by the activist and journalist David Widgery (1947-1992). Written in 1972, this piece was first published by Oxford Left Review in the October 2013 issue. Sexual love is the movement that breaks the rules; an uprising of the senses that abolishes propriety. Time alters. […]
Sexual and domestic violence after austerity: it’s bigger than Roosh V
Kat Burdon-Manley argues Roosh V the unsavoury face of a much bigger problem with structural and institutional racism and sexism Bang, Day Bang, 30 Bangs, Bang Poland, Bang Iceland, Bang Estonia, Bang Lithuania, Don’t Bang Denmark, and Bang Ukraine are just some of the titles of Roosh V’s books, and pretty much sum up his character […]
#JuniorDoctorsStrike heats up as protesters descend on Whitehall
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s decision to try to force the much disputed new contract on Junior Doctors has provoked an immediate and furious reaction. Adam DC reports.
The NHS Choir sings for the #JuniorDoctorsStrike – video report
On 10 February, Junior Doctors again went on strike to protest against the government’s proposals for a new contract. But their action is also part of wider fight to save the NHS against increasing privatization. As shown by the NHS Choir’s Christmas number 1, this struggle which has found broad public backing. Michael Shaw was there to film the […]
LBGT organisations close in the face of Tory cuts despite claims of support
Organisations supporting LBGT people are currently closing down at a rapid rate. Colin Wilson discusses why this is happening despite the British ruling class claiming to support LGBT people. The number of LGBT youth groups in the North West has halved since 2010, reports the Guardian recently in an article headlined “Services for LGBT young people […]
Liverpool football fans: why we walked out
Royston Bentham of the Football Supporters’ Federation and Spirit of Shankly explains the protest movement that underpinned Saturday’s walkout by supporters of Liverpool football club and has led to the club apologising to fans, and a freeze on ticket prices. In November 2012, at a public meeting in the Sandon pub, the birthplace of Liverpool […]
From Slaveholders to Sanders: A Brief History of the US Democratic Party, for British Readers
American socialist Bill Crane provides a brief history of the Democratic Party from its inception to the present, and asks how revolutionaries might relate to the movement behind presidential nominee Bernie Sanders. The US Democratic Party is the oldest surviving modern political party.[1] In its longer than two centuries’ history, it has survived multiple political crises, […]
#JuniorDoctorsStrike: The government wants to impose this contract on us. Let’s show them who really owns the NHS.
The government has stated that they intend to impose their hated contract on Junior Doctors, Rhian Smith a medical student, looks at the risks and choices ahead. “7 day care” or not, the NHS will rapidly fail without a quick injection of funding and staff. How we respond at this juncture will shape the future […]
#JuniorDoctorsStrike: report on the strike and pictures from the picket lines
As junior doctors across Britain walk out for their second day of strikes, medical student Sophie Walton weighs up where the dispute is currently at. Thanks to rs21 supporters for sending in pictures. Junior doctors are on strike again today as they continue to fight against government plans to impose a new contract on them. Negotiations have moved on […]
Critiquing empire through the white man’s gaze – a review of The Revenant
The Revenant has been widely praised, not least for its apparent critique of colonial expansion. However, while its de-romanticisation of the frontier is an improvement on recent cinematic glorification of imperialist violence, the colonised subjects remain largely silent. Joe Hayns reviews. The adverts punting The Revenant are now showing fifteen (or is it twenty?) five-star reviews, and sleeping in […]
Syria: Peace talks collapse, Aleppo encircled, disaster looms for rebels
Mark Boothroyd puts the Syrian regime’s offensives in Aleppo into context and discusses what anti-war activists in Britain and internationally can do. The past week has seen major developments on the ground in Syria which imperil the entirety of rebel held Syria. The regime has launched an offensive in the north Aleppo countryside which has cut the […]
Tarantino, Clinton and the “N” word
Lets talk, says Caliban’s Revenge I don’t like the way Tarantino puts the “N” word in the mouths of his white characters. I don’t like it because it seems to me to spring from both a patronising attribution of racism to working class “street” whites as a signifier of ‘realness’ (the hipster cousin of realism), and […]
Carnival – Partying for the right to fight.
Around the world this week carnival celebrations are taking place. Dave Randall looks back at how carnivals developed as acts of political defiance, and argues that we should all bring the politics back to our parties – and the parties back to our politics. Aside from the moving corporate celebration of buttock shaped hearts and red roses, February […]
Oxford University’s liberal mask slips in Rhodes Must Fall campaign
The liberal face that Oxford University likes to present has been challenged in the campaign to remove the statue of racist Cecil Rhodes.
Saturday is not the same as Tuesday: a update on the Junior Doctors’ Contract dispute
Next Wednesday (10 February), Junior Doctors will take another day’s strike action. Here, Sophie Walton gives an update on where things stand with the dispute. Where are we now? Junior doctors are set to strike once again as they continue to fight the imposition of a new contract that compromises on anti-social hours and […]