Oxford University’s liberal mask slips in Rhodes Must Fall campaign
The liberal face that Oxford University likes to present has been challenged in the campaign to remove the statue of racist Cecil Rhodes.
Saturday is not the same as Tuesday: a update on the Junior Doctors’ Contract dispute
Next Wednesday (10 February), Junior Doctors will take another day’s strike action. Here, Sophie Walton gives an update on where things stand with the dispute. Where are we now? Junior doctors are set to strike once again as they continue to fight the imposition of a new contract that compromises on anti-social hours and […]
The other NHS strike – why bursaries for student nurses matter
While attention has largely been focused on the series of industrial actions planned by Junior Doctors, they are not the only NHS workers threatened by proposed government reforms. Mario A, a student nurse, explains why he and his colleagues are planning a walkout, and what it means for the future of the NHS.
COP21 – climate and capitalism
Joe Sabatini dissects the neoliberal mindset behind the Paris talks in December and what the COP21 Agreement means for saving the planet.
Power play in the global climate movement
What Paris made clear is that now is the time to draw lines as the wider climate movement cannot fulfil its own agenda.
Charlie Hebdo is racist, not anti-racist ‘satire’
Charlie Hebdo’s latest cartoon is ‘satire’ that does nothing to satirise. In uncritically reproducing racist tropes, it can be considered as nothing other than racist itself. Kavita Krishnan explains… The latest Charlie Hebdo (CH) cartoon suggests that the refugee baby Aylan Kurdi would grow up to be a bestial man groping women, like the immigrants allegedly involved […]
Understanding Syria: resource page
Mark Boothroyd has gathered together news sites, analysis, cultural archives and links to a number of the best short films and documentaries to help in understanding the situation in Syria. The Syrian revolution has generated an immense amount of written coverage, analysis and culture. It can be hard to separate truth from propaganda given the competing world […]
#bursaryorbust: student nurses fight to defend the NHS
Today thousands of student nurses will march through London demanding that the NHS bursary should not be scrapped. Emma RC discusses the campaign she’s been part of at King’s College London and argues the #bursaryorbust campaign is part of a wider fight in defence of the NHS. Like most years since its birth, it has […]
Sexism is not an imported product
Dozens of women were sexually harassed on New Year’s Eve in Germany. But rather than connecting the events to everyday sexist violence in Germany, the political and media establishments have focused on the nationalities of the alleged perpetrators argue Silke Stöckle and Marion Wegscheider. Originally published in German by marx21, translated into English by Kate Davison. […]
Why public transport is broken
As rail users are once again hit by fare increases, with one season ticket topping £10,000, Tom Haines-Doran discusses the damage that privatisation continues to do to public transport and the examples of resistance we can look to You might think public transport has largely escaped austerity, particularly if you live in London or have heard […]
Calais and the refugee crisis: building solidarity and thinking through the politics
Mitch Mitchell from London2Calais looks back at six months of activism to deliver aid to refugees trapped in northern France.
International statement: We fight dictatorships, imperialist aggression and Daesh. We reject the politics of “national security”, racism and austerity. It’s time to mobilise!
Over recent months, people across the Middle East have been hit by an intensification of conflict in Syria and Iraq. That escalation has been sponsored both by global imperialist powers – chiefly the USA, Russia and European countries – and regional imperialist actors including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Iran. These conflicts are the product […]
Boris wants to team up with Assad and Putin to rain more bombs down on Syria
Ministers in the UK, France and Spain are now calling for the West to work with Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Anindya Bhattacharyya takes on Boris Johnson’s arguments Today’s Telegraph contains a thousand words from Boris Johnson about why Britain should ally with Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin over Syria. Wade through his gollygosh prose if […]
Why I’m cycling to Paris
John Walker explains why he’s setting off on his bike to the COP21 in Paris. Along with around 130 other people, I will be cycling to join the demonstrations around COP21, all the way from London to Paris. We will be taking five days, cycling from London to Brighton on Sunday 5 December, taking the ferry from […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.” […]
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 […]
Zero hours calling
Shanice McBean reports on the impact of zero hours and agency work on organising call centres Organising in a call centre was difficult mainly because of the so-called ‘flexibility’ of work. Our caller workforce was split into those working for an agency (who were on probation) and those working directly for the company (who were the experienced […]
Radicalising the rank and file
The following comments are extracted from a very lengthy and detailed discussion which rs21 members Anindya Bhattacharyya and a Unite rep recently conducted with the US Marxist labour historian Kim Moody. A former member of Students for a Democratic Society and the US International Socialists, Moody served on the editorial board of the journal he […]
Fighting for fair tips
Nilüfer Erdem reflects on organising the unorganised in restaurants and hotels The ‘Fair Tips’ campaign, led by the Unite Hotel Workers’ and Restaurant and Bar Workers’ branch, over the tips policy in big restaurant chains has seen many successes. The campaign targets large chain companies, which take money from staff tips – a so-called ‘administration […]