Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
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Feminism and LGBTQ liberation

Gender and nationalism: Breivik’s ‘Western values’

Breivik’s political motivations for committing the massacre have been consistently side-lined. But when examined, his far-right politics demonstrate clear affinities with much more mainstream right-wing ideology.

graffiti in Holyrood Park, near the Scottish Parliament showing a heart transgender symbol

No more ‘delays’ to trans rights: reform the GRA now!

Scotland-based rs21 member Leslie Cunningham argues we should all be fighting in the struggle for trans rights, and asks: why the delays to reforming the Gender Recognition Act?

A black and white photograph of Angela Davis (right hand side) speaking to a large, assembled crowd into a microphone.

Reading Women, Race & Class 40 years on

Rose Whitehorn reflects on some of the key themes conveyed in Angela Davis’ Women, Race & Class, and this work’s significance during the resurgences in anti-racist and feminist organising.  

Sketch of a raised fist.

Alba is a dead end

None of the main pro-independence parliamentary parties are capable of delivering an independent Scotland that puts the needs of working-class people first.

Image shows a woman holding up a placard reading Power to the People Not the Police with a backdrop of other women in the crowd.

We Will Not Be Divided – Statement from Sisters Uncut

Sisters Uncut’s statement against police and state violence and the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021, originally published on 23 March 2021. rs21 signed the statement alongside groups including Black Lives Matter UK, Jewish Solidarity Action and Docs Not Cops. 

Large crowd at Black Trans Lives Matter demonstration in London

Video: building the fightback against transphobia in Britain

Charlotte Powell and Jules Joanne Gleeson speak about what is needed to win trans liberation and defeat transphobia in Britain.

A crowd of people marching through central london at a Black Trans Lives Matter demonstration

Video: The state of transphobia in Britain

In December, rs21 organised a meeting ‘Transphobia in Britain: Building the Fightback’. Here we present two of the speeches from that meeting, which give an overview of transphobia in Britain, its impact, and prospects for its defeat.

Image shows an internal chamber of the Seimas, the seat of Lithuania's parliament in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Civil partnerships and reproductive rights in Eastern Europe: an interview with Laima Vaige

rs21’s Leslie Cunningham interviews Dr. Laima Vaige, a feminist and LGBTQ activist from Lithuania, on same-sex partnerships in Lithuania, abortion rights in Poland, and LGBTQ people’s experiences across Europe during the Covid crisis.

Sylivia Pankhurst addressing a crowd outside the headquarters of the East London Federation of Suffragettes, Old Ford Road, Bow

Review | Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel

Sylvia Pankhurst’s life was full of tireless activism in the cause of women’s rights, anti-imperialism and the emancipation of the working class

What happened at Clapham Common

An eyewitness account of a powerful event marred by shocking and gratuitous acts of violence by the Metropolitan Police.

Flowers and a sign reading 'end violence against women'

We can’t rely on the police to protect women

In the aftermath of Sarah Everard’s murder, politicians immediately called for heavier policing. But more police will not end violence against women.

A photo of feminists in Chile marking International Women's Day.

IWD 2021: Five feminist fights for the year ahead

Reproductive justice, sexual violence and harassment, justice at work: on International Women’s Day, we look at key feminist fights for the year to come.

An image of a pile of women's magazines

Review | Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again

Kate Bradley reviews a highly readable intervention into recent debates amongst feminists

Ash (Nathaniel Curtis, left) and Ritchie (Olly Alexander) in Russell T Davies' It's a Sin.

Review | It’s a sin

It’s a Sin is a compelling account of the human suffering of the AIDS epidemic and homophobia in the 80s, but the show sometimes seems to be dodging the big political questions.

Image is an aerial view of a pro-choice rally in Poland, showing thousands of people filling a crossroads, in 2020.

Poland’s feminist uprising

Women in Poland are making their own cause for hope by taking the streets. rs21 spoke with several feminist activists in Polish union Inicjatywa Pracownicza about the recent wave of feminist strikes and protests.

Liebig34 displaying queer feminist banners and flags.

Autonomous space in Berlin: Liebig34, eviction, and gentrification

The violent police eviction of Berlin’s iconic Liebig34 space is the latest event in a never-ending battle between the city’s radical-left counterculture, and the forces of state-aided gentrification.

A group of people tending to a small flowerbed under a windowsill.

What a way to make a living – A former mental health care worker

A former care worker details her experiences in residential mental healthcare.

Review: Radical Happiness

Lynne Segal’s most recent work, Radical Happiness, addresses the relationship between political action and personal fulfilment.

protest signs read: No Recourse No Safety

No Recourse to Public Funds: the threat to migrant women and children

Covid-19 has exposed the cruelty of the No Recourse to Public Funds (NPRF) rule. It should be scrapped immediately.

Review | Fortunes of Feminism

Leslie Cunningham reviews Fortunes of Feminism by Nancy Fraser, a critical account of changes in feminist thought in the era of neo-liberalism.

From Stonewall to Black Lives Matter

Thinking about rebellion: Keegan O’Brien reflects on the threads that connect the Stonewall Riots to the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement.

‘I was born a baby not a boy’: sex, gender and trans liberation

Shanice McBean argues for a Marxism with trans liberation at its heart through a materialist analysis of gender and sex.

Solidarity on the streets of London and Manchester

People protested to stand against the Tories’ attacks on trans rights and to demand justice for Shukri Abdi. The two causes found each other on the streets.

The promotional image of the documentary Epstein: Filthy rich

Review: Epstein: Filthy rich

Kate Bradley reviews a documentary series focusing on giving a voice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein.

Fighting back better: abolitionist trans struggle and the GRA

To defeat transphobia, we must build radical anti-racist solidarity against state violence

50 years after the Equal Pay Act

Money can’t buy you love – but it does pay the bills. Fifty years after the Equal Pay Act, women are still fighting for equal pay. What lessons we can now learn from the Covid-19 pandemic?

Viktor Orban at the European Parliament.

Trans rights and ‘gender ideology’ in Hungary

The Hungarian parliament has passed new legislation that will eradicate any recognition of transgender people. Hanna Gál situates the new developments in the context of the far-right ruling parties’ hostility to ‘gender ideology’ and argues for a trans-inclusive feminist fightback.

What a way to make a living | A personal assistant in social care

Hanna Gál interviews Meriam Mabrouk on working as a personal assistant in social care.

A blue sign in a grassy park that reads 'Keep it moving@

Covid capitalism

In this essay originally published in Spectre Journal, Tithi Bhattacharya and Gareth Dale explore state responses to coronavirus to mitigate the crisis of capital.

revolutionary reflections | Marxism and childhood

Estelle Cooch traces the contradictory history of childhood under capitalism. How do we defend childhood and fight for a world where play and creativity are not limited to children?