Solidarity Call from Brazil Trade Union
rs21 has been approached by the Brazilian trade union federation CSP-Conlutas with the following message for solidarity on the eve of the World Cup, which we are happy to share. Please send solidarity messages and motions to didi@cspconlutas.org.br and dirceutravesso1@gmail.com. See below for a model motion. STATEMENT FROM CSP-Conlutas: ***On the Eve of the World Cup*** A […]
Nursery Day Care Staff being forced into False Self-Employment to save the boss money
Last Sunday (6th April) the government made agency tax changes following from concerns raised during the consultation on “onshore employment intermediaries: false self-employment”. It is supposed to clarify the law on self-employment and payroll companies. For some time now employers have been avoiding tax and causing problems for their workforce by the scam of telling […]
‘See Them Ah Come, But We Nah Run’ – A view from the ground of campaigning against the National Front
Anti-immigration and racism is on the rise, a racist party is riding the wave and looking like becoming the third party in British politics. Anti-racists and anti-fascists have to stop them. Whilst this might sound familiar, the year is 1978 and the party is the National Front. Colin Revolting remembers being a punk school kid […]
No laughing matter! The state of comedy in Britain
Mitch Mitchell takes a look at how popular comedy developed in the 1980s into something that challenged the oppressive ideas of society, rather than reinforcing them, as well as asking if there is any radical edge to comedy today.
Thousands rally in Belfast and Derry to protest against rising tide of racism
(report by Matt Williamson, picture by Aisling Gallagher) Some 4,000 people gathered in Belfast city centre last Saturday to protest at escalating levels of hate crime and increasing racist rhetoric in mainstream politics. A similar event took place in Derry. The Belfast rally was organised at in two days and marks a sea change in […]
UKIPwatch: Lancashire Tories turn right
Andy Cunningham reports from Lancashire on a divided race between Labour and the racist right. You couldn’t have missed Nigel Farage if you’d taken a drive round Bolton and Bury in the run-up to 22 May elections. His faintly ridiculous but always fury-inspiring face was plastered on every other bill board. UKIP poured resources into south […]
25 de Abril, Sempre! Portugal 40 years after the Revolution
Mark Bergfeld speaks on the legacy of Portugal’s revolution of 1974, and its relevance to today’s struggles against austerity.
UKIPwatch: Farage cleans up in the Fens
Mitch Mitchell reports from Cambridgeshire, where UKIP scored strongly, in the first of a series of snapshots from anti-UKIP activists around the country.
Remaking the Working Class and its Power
Ian Allinson summarises the key ideas in this useful book about workers’ power. Forces of Labor, Workers’ Movements and Globalization since 1870 by Beverly J Silver (Cambridge University Press, 2003) Forces of Labor was greeted with positive reviews upon its release over a decade ago, but there has been little discussion of this brilliant book since, […]
EDL Outnumbered in Colchester
On Thursday 22 May the English Defence League (EDL) returned to the streets of Colchester. Around 100 antifascists and students gathered to oppose less than 30 EDL members.
A View from the Bridge : A modern classic stripped to its tragic roots
Jack Farmer reviews a new production of Arthur Miller’s play, currently running at the Young Vic Director Ivo van Hove’s production of A View from the Bridge strips away all distractions, distilling Arthur Miller’s classic tragedy down to it’s hard and bitter essence. With no set, no props and no interval, the emotional punch of the play […]
Report on solidarity picket for Ukrainian miners
Jan LadziÅ„ski reports on a solidarity picket outside the London HQ of the oligarchs who are refusing to pay Ukrainian miners a decent wage. On Friday afternoon there was a solidarity picket outside the offices of EVRAZ, the company in charge of Kryvyi Rih coal mines. EVRAZ is owned by Russian oligarchs: Roman Abramovich, Alexander […]
SOAS Fractionals statement
This statement first appeared on the Fractionals For Fair Play (FFFP) Facebook page. FFFP STATEMENT ON ACAS TALKS AND UPCOMING NEGOTIATIONS ALL-FRACTIONALS MEETING ON 3 JUNE 5PM ROOM 116 On Friday 23 May UCU representatives and SOAS management reached an agreement at ACAS regarding the fractional staff dispute. This agreement is a first victory for […]
The May of the masses: the Tiananmen Square movement 25 years on
4 June marks the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Charlie Hore looks back at the inspirational movement that went before, and repression that followed. Twenty-five years ago, a mass protest movement exploded across China’s cities, posing potentially the biggest challenge to China’s rulers since 1949. The Tiananmen Square movement, as it came to […]
Euro elections: consolidation on left and right
Anindya Bhattacharyya follows up his predictions for the Euro elections with analysis of the results. He argues that the problem isn’t necessarily UKIP, but the space that UKIP occupies, and that space needs to be shut down. The Western Isles refuses to count ballots on a Sunday, and Tower Hamlets ended up taking an extra […]
Kicking off in Rio: popular protest and the politics of the World Cup (public meeting)
Brazil has seen huge attacks on its poor and a fightback from hundreds of thousands as two mega-events – the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 – inflict themselves on a country of huge inequalities. Speakers: Writer Mike Marqusee and Rio resident Ali Sargent will talk about the politics of these “trojan horses […]
Event: Thanet Freedom Festival, 19 July
A multi-cultural anti-racist community event in the spirit of Love Music Hate Racism. Freedom Festival Lineup Spookasonic Sam Bumble Spyplane Nicola Booth Milky Negro OHHMS Avenge Thee + Naime Snowden Colliery Brass Band Roma Choir (plus 2 more Roma acts) Milos and Niklolas Lucia Xavier Dimitris Michailidis All My Ghosts Darren Barnes GriffAmy Libbi Jaeggi […]
Review: The Pajama Game strikes a chord
Even for those who usually baulk at the idea of seeing a musical, the new production of The Pajama Game is a treat not to be missed, argues Jaz Blackwell-Pal It may seem strange to step into a West End show and be greeted by an actor telling you that this is a story ‘about […]
Manchester antifascists celebrate BNP defeat
Around 60 demonstrators from Unite Against Fascism gathered outside the Euro election count at Manchester Town Hall
Immigrants are NOT the problem: rs21 North London public meeting (video)
rs21 North London hosts a public meeting with veteran anti-racist campaigner Darcus Howe, Mark Bergfeld, and Ezequiel, a representative of striking SOAS cleaners. Video interview with Darcus Howe available here. Follow rs21 North London on Twitter and Facebook.
Capitalism and Crisis: Why vampires shouldn’t feed on themselves
Amy Gilligan explains how the contradictions at the heart of capitalism that mean that it is an inherently unstable system, prone to crises.
Video: building community support for a strike
Jonathan Neale, an rs21 member, talks about how to build community support for a strike.
Margate mobilises against UKIP’s ‘Nasty Little Nigel’
Over a hundred people gathered on a beautiful sunny day in Margate on May 17 to protest against Nigel Farage.
Newcastle: report from antifascist mobilisation
On Saturday, around 250 people turned out to oppose an EDL march in Newcastle. The counter-demonstration had been organised by Newcastle Unites, a local grouping supported by UAF, Labour councillors and others.
rs21 guide to the European elections: predictions and recommended votes
Anindya Bhattacharyya crunches the figures and predicts polarisation, with a right wing consolidation around UKIP and a left wing tussle between Labour and the Greens I’m going to stick my neck out and give my predictions and recommendations for the European elections in Britain on Thursday. First the headline news: Yes, UKIP is riding high, […]
Busting immigration myths
Immigration has dominated the discussion in the run up to the European elections on Thursday. Politicians and the media are happy to spread anti-migrant myths, Bunny La Roche seeks out the facts MYTH: Migrants hold down wages FACT There is little evidence that mass migration has significantly driven down wages. Three studies undertaken between 2009-2011 […]
Appeal of the Kryvyi Rih Basin Miners to the Workers of Europe
Miners in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine are engaged in a labour dispute with the enterprises of EVRAZ HQ, whose headquarters are in London. They are issuing this appeal to workers in Europe for solidarity. The oligarchs who are refusing them pay are the same oligarchs who have driven Ukraine to the brink of fratricidal […]
Always a slip between cup and lip: a commentary on the Indian elections
The Great Quinquennial Cacophonic Political Symphony: some thoughts on the Indian elections letter from Chennai by PM Raman, economic historian India, the world’s largest democracy, holds parliamentary or general elections every five years. But this time round it has attracted considerable global media attention: there is a lot at stake for transnational capital as well […]
Review: Comics unmasked
Adam DC reviews a new exhibition at the British Library, Comics Unmasked, which illustrates how in a period of austerity and social degeneration, the politics of the comic is moving leftwards again. Politics is an ever present theme from the very start of the British Library’s new exhibition, with the the ‘V’ (for Vendetta) […]
Behind the screens: an interview with two Curzon cinema workers
Ritzy workers in south London recently went on strike for the Living Wage, but they are by no means unique. Rs21 member, Estelle Cooch, caught up with two workers from Curzon cinemas and asked them to explain why everything is kicking off in the cinema industry. How did you get from an informal network of organising to […]