Trafficking and sex work in Latin America: are women really being rescued?
Jessica Gutiérrez is a therapist working with survivors of sexual violence based in Buenos Aires. She describes how her experience of a brothel raid in Mexico radically altered her views on trafficking for sexual exploitation. (photo: an “operativo de rescate” [rescue operation] in Chiapas, Mexico, 2010 – see Spanish language report in Prensa Libre) A few […]
Trouble in Toryland as the referendum gets rocky
The possibility of Scottish independence has got our rulers in a tizzy, writes Anindya Bhattacharyya. What a weird week it’s been. Monday night saw YouGov’s announcement that its latest Scottish referendum poll had the Yes camp on 51%. This sparked jubilation among independence campaigners. But the reaction of political establishment south of the border was little short […]
The birth of Palestinian Resistance and the 1936 uprising
In the fourth installment of Neil Rogall’s series on the history of Palestine he looks at a long history of Palestinian resistance to occupation that culminated in the Arab revolt of 1936 Read part 1 of this series, The Origins of Zionism, here. 1936 witnessed the beginning of the largest and longest Palestinian revolt against […]
Groundhog day for the eurozone?
Estelle Cooch looks at whether the economic optimism pushed by politicians lives up to the headlines. First published in the autumn 2014 edition of the rs21 magazine. On the 14th August amidst much cheering from the media and economists the eurozone emerged from its longest ever recession. In other words the gross domestic product (GDP) […]
NUT executive passes up opportunity to join 14 October public sector strike
Andy N, an executive member of Birmingham NUT, writes in a personal capacity on a poor decision by the teaching union’s national committee The National Union of Teachers (NUT) executive committee decided last Friday against calling its members out on strike alongside other public sector unions on 14 October. Some 1.3 million workers in GMB, […]
On being comrades
On a night out drinking and suffering from the resulting inebriated disposition, Karl Marx and his friends Edgar Bauer and Wilhelm Liebkneckt started smashing up a number of street lanterns using a pile of paving stones. Bauer in his drunken state had, prior to this act of wanton hooliganism, tripped over them. They were then […]
The origins of the Iron Wall: Zionist settlers during the mandate
In the third part of his series on Palestine Neil Rogall looks at the influx of the Zionist settlers and the politics that they developed. Read part 1 of this series, The Origins of Zionism, here. In 1922 the British received a ‘mandate’ to govern Palestine from the newly created League of Nations. This was […]
New terror laws – nothing but racist propaganda
Civil liberties are eroded and Muslims scapegoated – and all without evidence writes Lois JC On Friday the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre or JTAC upped the UK’s terror threat level to ‘severe’. This is the second highest risk level based on their own measurements, and means that the chance of a terror attack on UK […]
Ebola: protests, profits and the role of Big Pharma
Sophie Williams writes on the politics behind a deadly virus that has infected thousands. Sophie is a medical student and health activist based in London The outbreak The current outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has infected and killed more people since its start in December than any previous outbreak. There have been more […]
After Rotherham – how can we protect every child?
We need a consistent and effective response to child abuse. But, writes Christine Bird, that means thinking the issues through, and rejecting racism and hypocrisy.
Palestine, the Great War and British Imperialism
In part two of his series on Israel and the occupation of Palestine Neil Rogall moves on to look at how Britain’s strong relationship with Israel goes back to the Balfour Declaration which paved the way for the Zionist state. Read part 1 of this series, The Origins of Zionism, here. A well-loved chant on […]
No To Nato: joining the dots between Palestine and Western imperialism
The Nato summit due to take place in Newport and Cardiff will be met by a week of demonstrations. rs21 spoke to Adam Johannes, secretary of Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, about the protests. So what exactly is this Nato Newport summit? Who is going to turn up and what will they be getting up […]
ISIS, Iraq and Syria: Peering into the faultlines
Sam Charles Hamad has written a detailed response on the IS Network site to Andy Cunningham’s article earlier this month on ISIS, Iraq and imperialism. Sam stresses the role played by Iraq’s outgoing prime minister Nouri al-Maliki in carving out Iraq’s Sunnis from the government, alienating the former Sahwat militias and thereby creating conditions for the rise of ISIS […]
Ferguson Latest: Mourning, Still Fighting
When a family invites the public to come share their grief at a funeral service for their young son, they’re sending a message: We must not forget his murder.
#Ferguson: protests, policing, propaganda
Aamna Mohdin takes a look at the role played by web publications and social media in challenging the official narrative around the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Strong support for Scottish independence in mass canvas
The Radical Independence Campaign (RIC), on Tuesday released the findings of their recent mass canvas of 18,000 Scottish voters, showing a lead for Yes over No in the forthcoming independence referendum. A Unite rep discusses how the results contrast to official polls. Canvassing over 18,000 voters in 90 working-class communities across the country, RIC […]
The origins of Zionism
In part one of our new series on the roots of Israeli terror former lecturer on the subject, Neil Rogall, looks at the origins of Zionism.
Nein, Nyet, No: a brief history of jazz, rock & roll, race and repression
Mitch Mitchell takes a look at the music that made racists and rulers come out in hives.
Things to be angry about and frightened of: A response to Ian A
Kevin Crane responds to Ian A‘s article ‘Anger, confidence, fear and hope in the workplace‘, arguing that the nature of precariousness at work needs to be taken seriously. Many of the things Ian has written are perfectly sensible and may, for some readers, be urgent matters. I think, however, that in stressing certain useful points, […]
Statement of solidarity with the Syrian revolution
The Syrian revolution is at a crossroads, and Syrian revolutionaries are in desperate need of support as they fight on several fronts.
New fault lines in the Middle East: ISIS in a regional context
As the calls for more direct intervention in Iraq grow and the US drops their first bombs, Andy Cunningham looks at what the rise of the Islamic State means for the wider Middle East. Following discussions with other comrades, this article was revised by the author on 14/8/14 to remove a factual error and to […]
Fight for your right to read
Alan Gibbons, author, organiser of the Campaign for the Book and lifelong socialist discusses the attacks that the library service is facing in Britain. He is based in Liverpool where proposals to cut eleven of the city’s nineteen libraries have recently been announced. It is the fiftieth anniversary of the public library service. This should […]
Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Remain Under Sentence of Death in Egypt
The new regime in Egypt has been handing out mass death sentences to Muslim Brotherhood supporters. General al-Sisi has exploited hostility to the Brotherhood to crack down on mass street protests more generally and to excuse his betrayal of the people of Gaza. More needs to be done to defend the Brotherhood supporters, writes Peter […]
Why does Michael Gove hate Blackadder?
Today marks the 100th anniversary of Britain declaring war on Germany in the the First World War. Cameron, Gove and others want us to remember it as “just war”. But Matthew Cookson argues that cultural representations of the war are an explicit condemnation of our rulers’ justifications for it, and often an implicit critique of […]
A bluffer’s guide to boycotting Israel
A handy one-stop-shop for all the arguments you’ll need to argue for the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israeli apartheid
Netanyahu: Wanted for War Crimes
Israel has been bombing Gaza for three weeks now. Over a thousand Palestinians are dead, including many children.
World War One: The main enemy was at home
Karl Liebknecht’s burning words of opposition to the imperialist slaughter of World War One.
Isolate Israel to end this horror
We are seeing a huge wave of protest around the world, in many cases involving direct action to an extent we have not seen before.
Hitting Hamas hard
Estelle Cooch takes a brief look at the origins of Israel’s latest assault on Gaza and argues there is more to it than humanitarian crisis Amidst the flood of Israeli propaganda that has polluted the papers and news channels this week, few comments have been more revealing than that by the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, […]
Sisi has silently launched a murderous crackdown in Egypt, activists warn
Reports are appearing on Arabic social media sites that Sisi’s regime in Egypt is ramping up repression against anti-coup protests. At least 11 demonstrators, including teenagers, were murdered by regime forces on Thursday and Friday last week. The dead include Ahmed Hussein, killed on Friday in Shubra el-Kheima, Egypt’s fourth largest city, and an 18 year […]