Reflections on ‘The Fall’
Colin Revolting gives his thoughts on The Fall, an extraordinary play about a protest movement in South African in 2015-16 which has had an enormous impact in the West.
‘But we will stand upright’ – migrant hunger strike in Athens
Migrants awaiting reunification with their families in accordance with EU law have been on hunger strike in Greece and Germany for several days. Ida-Sofie Picard and Will Searby report from Athens. The hunger strike in Syntagma square has been ongoing for eight days now. In Lesvos migrants have been on hunger strike for 15 days. […]
Islamophobia in Europe: fuel for the far right
As the encroachment of far right parties grows throughout Europe, with the deployment of overtly racist rhetoric creating those who are deemed ‘real’ Europeans and those deemed a threat, Seb Cooke argues an authentic movement against fascism can only come from working class resistance. The far right and fascists of Europe were celebrating on Sunday […]
Intolerants not welcome – The Battle of Lewisham 1977
13 August 2017 will be the 40th Anniversary of the “Battle of Lewisham” when thousands of local people and other anti-racists refused to allow the fascist National Front to intimidate them with a provocative march through the community. Lewisham poet Mark ‘Mr T’ Thompson has written this poem in remembrance and celebration of the historic event. […]
Does migration undermine workers’ rights? A case study from waste management
Kate Bradley asks what labour stratification in the waste management industry tells us about British capitalism – and whether ‘managed migration’ would be the answer to the sector’s poor working conditions. Following Jeremy Corbyn’s speech last week on big companies’ abuse of migration, many media outlets including The Guardian have published critical responses. A New […]
We’re all off to Glasgow in the Green: in defence of the Green Brigade
Jamie Lewis comments on the two-match ban imposed on Celtic supporters the Green Brigade. I don’t think I have seen anything like the Celtic fans in all the stadiums I have played. – Xavi Parkhead, Celtic FC’s home ground, has a well-earned colloquial moniker: Paradise. The best players in international football regularly speak in awe […]
“My son was killed in the hands of police”
The death of Rashan Charles in police custody has led to the largest anti-police protest in Hackney for some years, and the first large black protest since the riots of 2011, writes Charlie Hore. Several hundred people rallied outside Stoke Newington police station on Monday 24 July in an angry protest after the death of Rashan […]
Review: Soul of a Nation
Caliban’s Revenge finds the current exhibition at Tate Modern a great place for searching for answers in a time of crisis and opportunity. In 1968, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King was assassinated. In the immediate aftermath, a wave of riots broke across America. Known as the Holy Week Uprising, […]
Keep On Keeping On! – the Redskins and me (part 2)
In the second part of his recollections on the Redskins, Colin Revolting recalls being a revolutionary during the miners’ strike and its aftermath during the Redskins’ growing popularity, including TV appearances, being attacked by fascists and touring against apartheid with their radical rock and soul music. (To read the first part of Colin’s reflections, click […]
Take no heroes – only inspiration: the Redskins and me
Colin Revolting recalls how he became a revolutionary and the role in the process played by the music of the Redskins, a band who gained a notable amount of popularity in the 1980s for their blistering, punked-up version of unabashedly radical soul music. If you type ‘Neither Washington nor Moscow’ into a search engine the […]
Pride not profit
The London Pride march takes place this coming weekend, on Saturday 8 July. Barclays, Tesco and Virgin Atlantic are all sponsors of an increasingly corporate event. But opposition to dominance of corporations and official state bodies is also emerging internationally. After Black Lives Matter, uniformed cops can’t march at Pride in Toronto, while on 10 […]
#GE2017: Immigration, Labour and the left
Any concession to restricting immigration necessarily involves the notion that immigrants are a problem, and contributes to hostility and racism against all immigrants.
revolutionary reflections | Climate Change and Migration in the age of Imperialism’s four horsemen
How can we trace the interconnections between war, famine, pestilence and conquest that are being unleashed in a new form as the climate crisis unfolds?
Reflections on the Manchester bombing vigil
Colin Wilson reflects on the vigil in Manchester after the bombing of the Ariana Grande concert on 22 May.
‘There are no foreigners here except the bosses’: Precarious workers strike back
Leo Zeilig, author of An Ounce of Practice (Hoperoad, 2017), describes recent precarious workers’ strikes at the University of London. By eight in the morning on Tuesday last week it had already been raining for a few hours. I had turned up early for the strike and stopped on my way to the picket-line in […]
#GE2017: Why does Labour make concessions to the right when it comes to immigration?
Jonas Liston reflects on Angela Rayner’s recent appearance on Question Time. How can she be awful on immigration whilst savaging the Tories on everything else?
Free movement is a workers’ right – Unite must defend it
Lisa Leak argues that defending freedom of movement for migrant workers is the only way forward for British trade unions. On Monday (27 March) Unite members started 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, Ian Allinson. We are currently […]
#M18: Vienna protests against racism and attacks on the right to protest
Report and photos by Nick Evans. “Stop instrumentalising us. Muslim women are fed up with being told what to wear. We want freedom to wear what we want.” The #M18 demonstration in Vienna began with speeches by Muslim women, Afghan and Syrian refugees and socialists, condemning the recent ban on the full-face ban and attacks […]
Racist Scottish Defence League humbled in Alloa
Luke from Edinburgh UAF reports The Scottish Defence League came to Alloa yesterday as they thought they could take advantage of a 2000 signature petition claiming that the council was giving refugees priority for housing over disabled and homeless locals. Just 40 SDL were confronted with a loud and proud demonstration of 200 overwhelmingly local […]
Peckham Pride: ‘When one marginalised group becomes a target, it is a risk to all of us.’
Last Saturday saw the second year of Peckham Pride; marching through south London in a show of solidarity between the LGBT community and migrants. Ida-Sofie Picard, an organiser for Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants, writes on the politics of Pride, solidarity, and the importance of celebrating histories of resistance for struggle today. February the […]
Fortress UK, migration and Brexit: a briefing
Mike Haynes puts forward a briefing on some of the facts showing the difficult situation migrants already face trying to obtain legal permission to live in the UK Socialists argue for the free movement of people – it should be a human right for people to go anywhere; attempts to control movement are racist and divisive; […]
One Day Without Us – an interview with Laura Stringhetti
Steve Eason spoke to Laura Stringhetti from the One Day Without Us campaign about the migrant solidarity day of action on 20 February What is your campaign about and where did you get the idea from? Our campaign is called One Day Without Us. It was created after the Tory conference, as a reaction against the […]
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 […]
Demonstrate against Trump and May tonight – details of all the demonstrations that we know of
Tonight will see angry protests across Britain against Trump’s vile racist travel ban and Theresa May’s revolting invite to him for an official state visit. We list here all the demonstrations that we know of 10 days ago the Women’s Marches against the newly anointed Trump mobilised millions across the USA and the world. […]
Paris, 19 March 2017: A March for Justice and Dignity
We publish this statement in solidarity with those demonstrating on 19 March, on the eve of the French presidential election, against police brutality, murder and state racism in France. Translated by David Broder. https://blogs.mediapart.fr/marche19mars/blog/191216/le-19-mars-une-marche-pour-la-justice-et-la-dignite One a month. That is the average number of fathers, brothers and sons we lose because of the brutality of the forces […]
Trump inauguration: Edinburgh protests
Eileen Cook reports on two demonstrations in Edinburgh in less than twenty-four hours. The first, on Friday evening, was called by Stand Up to Racism, UCU Scotland, Muslim Women’s Association, anti-war and peace groups and others. It was attended by nearly six hundred people. It was very crowded at the assembly point on the narrow […]
Mafia III – fighting white supremacy in ‘New Bordeaux’
Arjun Mahadevan reviews a new game, Mafia 3, with a black Vietnam vet hero and in the process takes down white supremacy Mafia III is an open-world action game set in 1968 in the town of ‘New Bordeaux’, a fictionalised version of New Orleans. The protagonist is a black Vietnam veteran, Lincoln Clay, trying to […]
Opening up a debate on black America – Beyoncé’s Lemonade
Monique Alicia Bell considers her favourite album of 2016 – Lemonade from Beyoncé I have been a Beyoncé fan since the days of Destiny’s Child, expressing my teenage moods by blasting ‘Emotions’ on repeat. As I watched women freaking out in excitement over this year’s visual album Lemonade, I decided I had to dedicate one full […]
Challenging racism on the Kent coast
The need for a mass anti-racist movement in Britain needs to be at the very heart of socialist politics today. Here Bunny La Roche and Ben Millard reflect on the experience of anti-racist organising in Kent over the last twelve months. Kent Anti Racism Network (KARN) has been busy over the last year. But it […]
Lessons from Fawley: From ‘British jobs’ to migrant solidarity
In 2011 the ‘British jobs for British workers’ slogan sent shivers down the spine of anyone championing the rights of migrants. Brian Parkin assesses a recent watershed dispute at Fawley and discusses how – and why – the tide has turned On Wednesday 27 July at 10.00 am, just four hours before workers at the […]