Review | Derailed: How to Fix Britain’s Broken Railways
Why is train travel a disaster? How can we fix it?
Disaster for May, opportunity for the left
Amy Gilligan and Colin Wilson offer an initial analysis of the June 2017 election results.
Why is Donald Trump the president of the United States?
Amy Gilligan and Dominic Jones crunch the numbers to understand what happened in November’s election in the United States To the surprise of most observers, Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election in the United States. It is clear that an important task at the present time is to oppose his policies and the political […]
Understanding the US elections – some things to read
After a period of time that seems as long as a geological eon, today is finally election day in the US. While we wait for the results to come in, Amy Gilligan and Bill Crane have collected together some articles from rs21 and comrades in the States that discuss some of the key debates that […]
Review: The Ministry of Nostalgia
Amy Gilligan reviews Owen Hatherley’s book The Ministry of Nostalgia: Consuming Austerity (Verso, 2015) The Ministry of Nostalgia is an exploration of the way a particular version of the past, particularly the austerity of the 1940s and 1950s, continues to be used under neoliberalism. This “austerity nostalgia” is typified in the ubiquitous “Keep Calm and […]
US elections: “This is going to go down as a pivotal election American history”
With only days to go before the penultimate primary elections in the US, Amy Gilligan spoke to California based journalist, writer and activist Adam Hudson How do you think that Sanders will do this week in the California primary? Sanders has a decent shot of winning California, but it’s still up in the air. His […]
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 […]
Seventy years after Hiroshima
On 6 August 1945 the first nuclear weapon destroyed Hiroshima. Amy Gilligan recalls travelling to Japan ten years ago to mark sixty years since the horror of the atomic bombs. This week marks the 70th anniversary of the devastation of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US. In 1945 two atomic bombs were dropped, three […]
Ideology drives maintenance grant cut
Amy Gilligan argues that neoliberal ideology is at the heart of the Tories’ cutting of student maintenance grants A report this week from the Institute of Fiscal Studies shows that the government’s plan to scrap maintenance grants for students from the poorest households will mean that 40% of students will graduate with debts of over £53,000. […]
Hundreds of thousands march against austerity in London
Amy Gilligan reports from yesterday’s impressive anti-austerity demo. Hundreds of thousands of people marched through London from the Bank of England to Parliament Square yesterday on the “End Austerity Now” demonstration, organised by the People’s Assembly. The demonstration was so large that getting an accurate figure for the number taking part is difficult, but the organisers’ […]
Why do earthquakes kill?
We can’t predict earthquakes. We’re not going to when and where exactly a fault will break, but we can prepare for them, and try to mitigate the effects when they do occur.
Labour – what are they good for?
Amy Gilligan asks what it means for people to support Labour today and what is happening to this support? This article was originally published in the Spring 2015 issue of the rs21 magazine One of my earliest experiences of political activity was going canvassing for the Labour Party. I was, I should probably say, about […]
Scaffolding struggle: what is a revolutionary media?
Why do we write? And what for? Amy Gilligan thinks through why we use publications, and what a ‘revolutionary’ media could mean. Where there are people calling themselves revolutionaries, you can be reasonably sure that there’ll be some kind of publication. It might be a newspaper, magazine, journal, pamphlet, or these days a website. And […]
Peace scarf “wraps up” MoD at anti-nuke protest
Amy Gilligan reports Thousands of people encircled the Ministry of Defence in London yesterday with a giant, pink knitted peace scarf. The “Wrap up Trident” protest was called by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) to send a message that Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system, must be scrapped, not replaced. MPs are set to vote on […]
8 things you need to know about the oil crash
Kate Deer, Amy Gilligan and Brian Parkin answer some of the key questions surrounding the recent crash in oil prices. Why has my petrol got much cheaper? Anyone who drives, or has passed a filling station won’t have failed to notice that petrol prices have plummeted recently. The average price in the UK for a […]
On the march against police racism and violence: report from California
Protests against police violence and racism have continued all week in America, with the biggest marches on Saturday. rs21 member Amy Gilligan reports from California. Tens of thousands of people in cities across the US took to the streets on Saturday afternoon as part of continuing protests against police killings and racism. Organisers estimated around 60,000 participated in […]
London protesters show solidarity with Ferguson, bringing traffic to a halt
Amy Gilligan reports from last night’s #LondonToFerguson rally Around 2,000 protesters – young, black and white, people of all genders, lead by women – raced through the streets of central London last night to demand justice for Michael Brown and show solidarity with demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri. The London protest came in the wake of Monday’s decision against indicting Darren Wilson, the police officer who […]
Women in science and the sexist space shirt
As space probe Philae landed on comet 67P last week, a row erupted over a sexist shirt. Geophysicist Amy Gilligan looks at the under-representation of women in science – and how it can be challenged. Last week Philae, a lander deployed by the European Space Agency spacecraft Rosetta, made contact with comet 67P. Rosetta left […]
Tens of thousands join parade of the labour movement
Amy Gilligan reflects on Saturday’s TUC demonstration. The large TUC demonstration on Saturday saw tens of thousands of trade unionists march through central London. Branch banners from across the country were visible in many of the union blocks, and groups from outside of the capital made up a substantial proportion of those marching. The demonstration was […]
Public sector strikes: a guide to who’s on strike when and why
Next week will see groups of workers from across the public sector taking industrial action in defence of pay and services. The week will culminate with trade union demonstrations in London and Glasgow on Saturday. Amy Gilligan rounds up who’s taking action when. UPDATE, 10 October Two of the strikes were called off yesterday. An RMT statement […]
Egypt: from revolution to repression
Anne Alexander, from the MENA Solidarity Network, is the co-author, with Mostafa Bassiouny, of the forthcoming book Bread, Freedom, Social Justice. She spoke to Amy Gilligan about workers’ movements and revolution in Egypt. Originally published in the Autumn 2014 issue of the rs21 magazine. The book begins with a detailed look at the workers’ movement […]
‘Disobedient Objects’ for a ‘Multitude of Struggles’
Amy Gilligan reviews ‘Disobedient Objects’, on until 1 Feb, and ‘A World to Win: Posters of Protest and Revolution’ on until 2nd Nov, exhibitions at the V&A Museum, London . Both are free to visit. Disobedient Objects is a new exhibition at the V&A which showcases a large number of items from grassroots social movements, […]
‘We save people not banks’: FBU pensions fight continues
Amy Gilligan spoke to Cameron Matthews, FBU Cambridgeshire Brigade Secretary on the picket lines at Cambridge fire station about the strike and supporting victimised FBU member Ashley Brown.
Review: Strike for America
Tomorrow over a million public sector workers will go on strike. Amy Gilligan reviews Micah Uetricht’s recent book Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity which looks at how teachers in Chicago organised and won. Originally published in the Summer 2014 edition of the rs21 magazine The story of the victorious Chicago teachers’ strike […]
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.
University staff should reject a 2% rise
Amy Gilligan is a researcher and UCU member at Cambridge. This article originally appeared at the Labour blog Left Futures. (pic: UCU strike at Manchester Metropolitan University.) UCU and EIS members in higher education are currently voting in a ballot whether to accept the employer’s “full and final offer” in the pay claim. I’ve voted to […]
Left lifted by surprise win for Free Education motion at NUS conference
Amy Gilligan from Cambridge University rs21 reports from NUS conference LEFT ACTIVISTS were happy after a surprise win after a tense NUS conference vote this morning. A motion supporting free education passed, committing the union to campaigning against all methods of charging students for education. The vote went to the count, but was passed comfortably – […]
Interview: Spies, surveillance and Cambridgeshire police
Cambridgeshire police tried to recruit an activist to spy on Unite Against Fascism, UK Uncut and Cambridge Defend Education, according to video evidence which came to light in November last year.
Willetts met by noisy protest in Cambridge
Activists from Cambridge Defend Education ensured that a talk yesterday evening at the Cambridge Union Society by David Willetts was met by noisy protest.
Craft, gender and politics
Why would a revolutionary socialist spend time knitting? Amy Gilligan writes on craft for production and pleasure.