Building a global climate movement: COP21 and beyond
Over twenty years of UN climate talks have failed, writes Tabitha Spence. The global demonstrations today are signs of a building movement that is unprepared to accept further betrayals. But we’re going to need a whole new level of struggle to break the current deadlock. Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the UN […]
What do we do about ISIS?
As Cameron tries to make the case for the UK bombing Syria, Rick Lighten argues that as well as arguing against bombing Syria we should build a vibrant anti-racist movement that is able to counter Islamophobia and provide ideological and practical solidarity to migrants and refugees. Protests against the bombing of Syria are taking place in towns […]
Greenwich teachers celebrate victory!
Teachers at John Roan school in Greenwich won a victory this week in their fight against excessive work loads. We reported on their first day of strike action on 10 November. Below we publish their letter to supporters and the official National Union of Teachers statement on their successful dispute. Picket line outside John Roan. Photo: […]
Autumn statement: Tories retreat under pressure, prepare new offensives – and show signs of weakness
The Tories have backed down over tax credits, junior doctors and workfare, writes Colin Wilson. Meanwhile they are on the attack over benefits, education and health – but they have real weaknesses that campaigns can target. The autumn statement showed us two things. First, the Tories retreated on several fronts where campaigning has put them under pressure. […]
Nuclear nightmare, gas fracking free-for-all and fuel poverty: Tories unveil UK energy policy
As the world COP21 Paris summit on climate change nears, governments internationally are burnishing their environmental credentials for what will evidently be yet another failure in really getting to grips with global warming. Demonstrators around the world, including in London, on 29 November, and during the COP itself, will be holding governments to account for […]
Whose security? Climate protests in France during the state of emergency
The French government has called a ‘State of Emergency’ and banned all demonstrations for 3 months following the tragic events in Paris. Nick Evans explains why, despite the bans, the protests during the Paris climate talks (COP21) must, and will, go ahead. Riot police in the Calais camp earlier this month. Photo: London2Calais The French government has announced […]
American protests challenge anti-migrant racism
Many politicians have been using the attacks in Paris to whip up prejudice against migrants – in Europe and also the US. But there have also been protests in America calling for solidarity with refugees, report Lauren Nickell, Sofia Arias and Akunna Eneh. This article originally appeared in the American newspaper Socialist Worker. Defying a tide of […]
The right to water: an interview with Mike Gonzalez
Mike Gonzalez and Marienella Yanes are the authors of The Last Drop: The Politics of Water (Pluto: 2015). Mike talked to Nick Evans about the fight to put the world’s water back under democratic control, and the wider connections between climate change and class struggle. Water Protests in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2000 How does looking at […]
HM2015: Where is Britain going?
Joe Sabatini summarises three sessions about Britain at Historical Materialism conference. He concludes that there are opportunities for revolutionaries in the rest of Britain to follow those in Scotland, and shape debates about how we fight for reforms. This article is a report based on three sessions at this year’s Historical Materialism conference that covered the […]
What challenges does Cameron’s war drive face?
The government wants to bomb Syria. We need to understand the problems Cameron faces making that happen so as to oppose the push to war, argues Colin Wilson. Cameron wants to bomb Syria, but he faces problems doing so. The major problem in parliamentary terms is a report about British bombing of Syria produced by […]
HM 2015: How the West Came to Rule
Marxist scholars have long debated the origins of capitalism. Bill Crane reports on a fruitful debate at this year’s Historical Materialism conference about the recent book ‘How the West Came to Rule’. The question of how capitalism emerged and became the basis of the international system has generated a number of incredibly fruitful debates among […]
Can Corbynomics Work?
Sam O’Brien discusses whether the economic ideas put forward by Jeremy Corbyn when he was campaigning for the Labour leadership could work The election of Jeremy Corbyn has continues to generate a tide of foaming comment from Telegraph columnists, Blairite hacks and Tories alike. As if his views on Palestine, Trident and tuition fees […]
Sorry! An apology from Muslims (or those perceived to be Muslims) to humanity
We’re pleased to be able to republish a poem by the Syrian Kurdish poet Amir Darwish with permission of publishers Smokestack books. A collection of Amir Darwish’s poetry can be found in the book Don’t Forget the Couscous. Sorry! An apology from Muslims (or those perceived to be Muslims) to humanity We are sorry for […]
Junior doctors vote for strike
Sophie W, a medical student in London, looks at what you can do to support the junior doctors strike 27,741 Junior doctors have voted to take strike action in the face on proposed contract changes. More than 76 % of the 37,155 junior doctors took part in the ballot, with 99.4 % saying they would […]
HM 2015: Financialisation and the Built Environment: A Response to or a Cause of Crisis?
Tom Haines-Doran reports from the Financialisation and the Built Environment: A Response to or a Cause of Crisis? session at the Historical Materialism conference in London in November 2015 This panel pulled together three papers looking at financialisation and the built environment in the case of Turkey. Somewhat disappointingly, and in common with some other talks at […]
TTIP: capitalism on steroids
Mathilde Dahl is an activist in Students Against TTIP. Here she explains what TTIP is, why we should be worried about it, and how we can stop it. A new set of corporate power grabs are in preparation. These deals are negotiated in secrecy, wrapped up as trade agreements and sold to us with the promise of economic […]
HM 2015: Social reproduction and intersectionality
The Historical Materialism conference that took place in London earlier this month continued important debates around social reproduction and intersectionality. Here, Colin Wilson introduces the concept of social reproduction and summarises the discussions that took place in meetings with Tithi Bhattacharya, Alan Sears, Hester Eisenstein, Kate Davies and Lise Vogel. What is “social reproduction”? The first plenary of Historical Materialism, […]
After Paris: no to imperialist wars, no to Islamophobia, no to attacks on refugees
We are horrified by the attacks in Paris: we join in mourning the dead, and send our condolences to the loved ones of those who have died. These attacks are part of the war raging across the Middle East, including the deaths of 40 people killed in Beirut and 17 killed in Baghdad on Friday […]
A tribute to the anonymous and unsanctioned creativity of the slums
Mike Gonzalez explains how Empty Lot, an installation at Tate Modern by Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas, reflects the social realities of Latin American megacities. It begins at night; silent figures crouching in an empty lot. It will usually be on a hillside, on an abandoned piece of building land in a public space – fenced but […]
Greenwich teachers: on strike for respect and fighting to win
NUT teachers at John Roan School in Greenwich took strike action on Tuesday, 10 November over their working conditions. In their words, they have “an unsustainable workload alongside excessive monitoring and scrutiny of our work”. A local trade unionist reports from the picket line. “It’s important we take this action as I’ve seen the effects at other […]
Migrant solidarity in London and Manchester
Two activists, Ewa Barker and Kate Bradley, discuss their involvment in migrant solidarity in London and Manchester Ewa Barker initiated Manchester to Calais. Here she explains the dynamic within the movement in Manchester The response to our page on Facebook was phenomenal! A deluge, hundreds of emails, making offers, asking advice, intending to start similar actions […]
Ten Days That Shook The World
In celebration of the 98th anniversary of the Russian Revolution we are publishing this short extract from John Reed’s brilliant eye witness account, Ten Days That Shook The World. Reed was a socialist journalist from the USA, who described the revolution as: “Adventure it was, and one of the most marvellous mankind ever embarked upon.” […]
Dismantling the NHS is turbo-charged neoliberalism: Review of How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps
NHS activist Gill George reviews Youssef El-Gingihy’s book How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps The NHS is a milestone in history – the most civilised step any country has ever taken The quote above is what Aneurin Bevin told the first NHS patient ever to be treated, back in 1948; and that’s how Youssef […]
Debating the work of sex work
Melissa Gira Grant responds to questions from Estelle Cooch about her work and her understanding of sex work today. Sex work has become the subject of heated debate within feminism. That debate is highly polarised – so much so that the two sides even tend to use different terms, “prostitution” and “sex work”, for the topic […]
Lecturers to strike over pay and in defence of access to education
Mark Harding, a lecturer and UCU member in London, looks at the uncertain future of the further education sector and the Tuesday 10 November strike in colleges in England. Lecturers working in further education colleges in England are to strike on Tuesday 10 November for their UCU union’s demand of £1 an hour extra pay […]
New deal for junior doctors: still #notfairnotsafe
Medical student Sophie W explains that the much trumpeted new offer to junior doctors still means a big pay cut and unsafe hours. Jeremy Hunt’s offer to junior doctors is spin, and doesn’t address the initial concerns about the fairness or safety of the contracts. The new offer includes: An 11 % pay rise on […]
Arguments for revolution
Jack Farmer argues that we need revolutionary ideas more than ever now that Jeremy Corbyn is Labour leader The unthinkable has become real: a socialist is leader of the Labour Party. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Labour’s history is littered with right-wing leaders who have betrayed the hopes of those who voted for them. As I […]
Cat’s Credit Crunching: Has Grexit been averted?
Thoughtful Thanos asks: Has a Grexit been averted? Dear Thanos, When Tsipras caved in to Troika pressures and accepted the implementation of austerity measures, the impression policy makers wanted to create was that a Grexit had been averted. But the reality is a lot more complicated. The Greek state remains broke, and in this the […]
Gaza 2014: Israeli barbarity and Palestinian resistance
Sylvia Cooke reviews Max Blumenthal’s The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza (Verso, £14.99 – currently £10.49 including shipping from the Verso website).
The GOP train wreck
Lance Selfa, a member of the International Socialist Organization in the US and author of The Democrats: A Critical History, discusses how it came to be that the Republicans, US capital’s preferred political vehicle, is synonymous with government dysfunction and clownish celebrities. Observers of the US political system today could be forgiven for asking themselves just […]