Syria is not exceptional: interview with Joseph Daher | Part 2
In part 2 of a new interview with rs21, Syrian-Swiss socialist Joseph Daher looks at the relationship between the Kurdish PYD and Arab Syrian movements
Syria is not exceptional: interview with Joseph Daher | Part 1
Syrian socialist author Joseph Daher discusses the nature of the Assad regime and the social basis of the uprising against it which began in 2011
Moving the centre: The Marxist squatters and the populist mayor
Joe Hayns interviews the organisers of a ‘House of the People’ who are facing similar questions in Naples.
A ‘total’ movement: what next for Morocco’s Hirak after 20 July?
Morocco, and in particular the serially repressed and neglected Rif region, has been rocked since late last year by a series of enormous, and almost entirely non-violent, protests. rs21 offers its unqualified support to the adherents of the Hirak (Popular Movement), and has done since the protests broke out. We also endorse the efforts of […]
How Rifian are the Rifian Protests?
Joe Hayns reports from Rabat on the protests that started in the Rif and are now spreading across Morocco. This piece was originally published on his blog. If you enjoy reading it, then please consider donating here to help to fund his continued documentation of the current situation in Morocco. ‘Are they Moroccans, or what?’ […]
Interview: The Fight for Fair Pay in Universities
‘Fractionals’ are hourly paid part-time teaching staff in universities who are paid a ‘fraction’ of a full-time salary. An increasing proportion of academics are on these precarious contracts. On 8 May, SOAS Fractionals for Fair Play (FFFP) announced via their Facebook page that, after threatening a mass marking boycott in late March, management had accepted all of […]
Breaking with the bureaucrats: how to reclaim Unite
Joe Hayns writes about the need to end the bureaucratic stasis at the top of Unite and support dynamic grassroots struggles led by rank-and-file members. On Monday (27 March) Unite members start to vote on who will be their next General Secretary – the centrist incumbent, Len McCluskey; the right-winger, Gerard Coyne; or the socialist, rank-and-file candidate, […]
May and Trump: Bringing us back to the streets
Joe Hayns discusses the spate of demonstrations in the UK instigated by Donald Trump taking office and the prospects they open up. Is a proto-protest movement forming? What are its prospects? On Friday 20 January, 1000 protested outside the US embassy; Saturday 21 saw the 100,000-strong Women’s March; on Monday 30, at least 40,000 were […]
The high stakes of the Deliveroo Strike
12 August saw Deliveroo couriers, on day two of their strike, protesting outside management’s offices. Joe Hayns asks what’s at stake. Thronging a street in central London – shouting together at a management that’s gone from smug to terrified in 72 hours – were around 150 Deliveroo couriers. During a sit-down discussion the most recent offer […]
After Byron Burgers: Everyone Who Is Here Is From Here
Joe Hayns looks at the context in which Byron Burgers collaborated in the deportation of its employees and the next steps for our movement. On Monday 1 August up to 400 people demonstrated outside the Holborn, central London, branch of Byron Burgers against management’s collaboration with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in the deportation of […]
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 […]