Left solidarity: supporting grassroots movements in Syria
Last weekend, Syrian activists and their supporters around the world held demonstrations to mark the second anniversary of the Sarin gas attack in Ghouta. Many Syrians feel that they have been at best ignored by much of the mainstream international left and anti-war movements, who often focus on geopolitics rather than the demands of the […]
Questions to think with
Annie Teriba asks 4 questions about Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign. This is an open invitation to help think through what it means. 1. How does the changing nature of struggles jar with the narrative coming from Labour elites? Local campaigns are doing work not just to fight austerity but also to rebuild community. Local battles and/or […]
Corbynmania comes to Cardiff
#Jezwecan – but only if we fight! Know-it-all lefty Seb Cooke checks out Corbynmania and looks to the battle ahead.
2 takes on #JezWeCan
We asked James Elliott and Adam Ramsay for their responses to the surging support for Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign to lead the Labour Party. James Elliott is a Labour Party member. He is deputy editor of Left Futures and member of NUS NEC. Thousands of young people have signed up to Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign because […]
Kids Company – the politics of charity
David Cameron praised Kids Company as part of his “big society”. After the organisation’s collapse last week, Richard Belbin asks what attitude the left should take to charities. The closure of Kids Company has been met with a mixed response from many in the media and indeed from other workers within the voluntary sector. Whilst no […]
Cat’s Credit Crunching: What is quantitative easing?
Regular Robin asks: What is quantitative easing? Dear Robin, Quantitative easing is an economic policy measure used in recessions. It stems from the belief that the key problem during an economic crisis is lack of money in circulation. For example, when banks refuse to lend money, investors are cautious to buy stocks and bonds. Consumers […]
The longest picket line I’ve ever seen
Both the striking workers and desperate migrants at Calais need our solidarity, writes Colin Frost Herbert. The longest picket line I’ve ever seen. Or rather the longest effects of a picket line. The news cameras pan back to show a helicopter view of the Kent countryside and three miles of two lines of parked juggernauts […]
EU debate: “Exit will only act to strengthen Fortress UK”
Mikhil Karnik argues that EU law is essential in ensuring that some, including some of those from outside the EU, have the right to reside in the UK. I understand why Owen Jones seeks to seize the opportunity presented by the conduct of the EU and the leaders of its member states in relation to […]
Social Housing, Not Social Cleansing: Focus E15 Campaign’s Victories
The mothers of the Focus E15 campaign are beacons of resistance for all of us fighting austerity. Since being served eviction notices in August 2013, they have organised demonstrations, council sit-ins and a hugely successful occupation of the Carpenters Estate. Joy Macready visited the campaign’s weekly Saturday stall outside Wilkos on the Broadway in Stratford […]
EU debate: In, out, or shake it all about?
Adam DC puts forward a radical abstentionist point of view in the debate about what position socialists should take about the upcoming referendum on Britain’s membership to the EU The starting point for any discussion regarding the UK’s European Union (EU) referendum must be that the issue is one between different factions of capital and […]
The fear of Islamism and the terror of the state
Peter Hill on the ‘power of nightmares’ from Syria to India and the UK. The ‘war on terror’ has seen a revival since the rise of ISIS, aka Da’esh, in Iraq and Syria, and now beyond. Like the original ‘war on terror’ against al-Qaeda several years ago, it has also provided a pretext for authoritarian […]
The crisis in homecare
By civilised standards people living longer should be something to celebrate. But in the twisted logic of neoliberalism it is regarded instead as a burden – a “demographic time-bomb”. Here, former Edinburgh care worker Marlyn Tweedie explains the reality of the growing crisis in social care. This article was originally published in the Leeds publication […]
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. […]
Why was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon siegheiling?
…And were ‘we’ really so unaware of what it meant in 1933? Michael Rosen writes. The real problem posed by the photos of the future queen siegheiling is not whether she was too young to know what she was doing but why her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was doing it too. I’ve noticed on twitter, and indeed […]
Echoes of eugenics in Osborne’s budget
Eugenics is alive and well – in the Tory budget. Nicholas Cimini explains why. Last week we saw the first all-Tory budget in almost two decades and with it the introduction of a “two-child policy” that cuts tax credits and housing benefits for families with more than two children. This means new claimants will not […]
Black leadership: New and old generations
Graham Campbell discusses the crisis of Black leadership, and the new generation that is emerging. After this year’s general election, a record number of Black Labour and Tory MPs will walk down Westminster’s corridors. Black faces have never been more visible in the establishment and in Parliament. Meanwhile Black working class people, who make up […]
Planning the siege on Tory party conference
The Tories are holding their annual conference in Manchester from Sunday 4 until Wednesday 7 October. Rick Lighten reports from a People’s Assembly meeting that took place in Manchester this week to begin planning for a series of protests and events around the conference. Over 100 people attended the meeting to start mobilising and […]
The real effects of racist immigration policy
Kat Burdon-Manley lays out how the current government’s failures around the Mediterranean migrant crisis links to immigration policy at home In the first half of 2015 an unprecedented number of people were killed on the Mediterranean by decisions of our governments. The UK is complicit in the murders of approximately 1750 people travelling from north […]
The Magpie: Tories attack workers’ right to resist
The Magpie takes on the Tories latest attacks on workers’ rights to organise in their latest column The Tories have now published their much-trailed Trade Union Bill. It goes much further than their manifesto in restricting workers’ rights. Key elements are: All strikes will be unlawful without a 50% ballot turnout Strikes in health, education, […]
Understanding the Corbyn campaign: an interview with Max Shanly
Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign for Labour leader is in full swing. Max Shanly is a member of Young Labour’s National Committee. We interviewed him about his hopes and expectations for the campaign. Max spoke to us in a personal capacity and is not an official representative of the campaign. Can you start off by explaining what role […]
Cartoon: Not waving but drowning
by Caliban’s Revenge, originally featured in the Summer 2015 issue of the rs21 magazine
Women’s lives under austerity
Christine Bird, in an article originally published in the Leeds publication Northern Star, discusses the realities of many women of lives under capitalism and austerity, arguing that things weren’t always this way, and they won’t be like this forever. The Tory – LibDem coalition just gone was hardly at the forefront of the global struggle for […]
EU debate: “the EU is simply conforming to the neoliberal architecture of its DNA”
Brian Parkin continues the debate on the EU, arguing for a vote to leave the EU. This is an edited version of an article that appeared in the lasted issue of the Leeds publication Northern Star. For many socialists the issue of a forthcoming referendum on the EU poses some dilemmas. On the one hand […]
EU debate: “Leaving the EU won’t get rid of neoliberalism”
Bettina Trabant, originally from Germany, currently living in London, continues the discussion on which side to support in the vote on EU membership. We will be continuing this debate with another article from Brian Parkin tomorrow. Socialists have been debating the upcoming EU referendum ever since the general election in May and can be […]
Are the machines about to kill us and take over?
Last week many people may have seen a news story about a fatal accident at work in Germany. This one managed to make international news on the basis as that the worker was killed by a robot. The involvement of a robot prompted a flurry of jokes about the coming robot apocalypse – a staple […]
10 years on: Timeline of anti-terror legislation since the July bombings
There has been an almost constant ramping-up of anti-terror legislation in the UK since the 9/11 bombings in 2001. Legislation passed that year set the context for subsequent laws. In the wake of the 7/7 bombings, 10 years ago today, the New Labour government introduced a new wave of legislation. This timeline tells the story […]
EU debate: “We will have to be making strong and principled arguments against immigration controls and for open borders whichever side we end up on”
Luke Evans discusses some of the term of debates that revolutionary socialist should hold in mind when debating the EU referendum There will be a referendum on EU membership, as a consequence of the Tory majority victory in the UK general election. This referendum is going to be staged as a direct vote between choosing […]
EU debate: “The road to defending the right to migrate cannot go through restricting migration rights”
Charlie Hore kicks off debate and analysis on the rs21 site in advance of the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, set to take place before the end of 2017. Charlie argues for support for a yes position in the referendum, and tomorrow we will be publishing an article that argues for supporting a […]
Ten Years on From Make Poverty History
Pete Cannell reflects on being involved in the large protests around the Make Poverty History campaign and the G8 Alternatives that took place in Scotland 10 years ago. This is part of a new series in which activists will consider different moments and forms of activity they’ve taken part in over the years. Just […]
Fighting the Prevent agenda
The Prevent agenda is an Islamophobic policy framework that pushes forces racist policing into teachers’ classrooms.