In defence of ‘childless cat ladies’
The reactionary right-wing attacks on women’s autonomy
Rape and murder in Kolkata – mass protests against state-sanctioned sexist violence
Protests have spread across West Bengal following the rape and murder of a trainee doctor. This report gives context of systemic violence against women in India.
Review | Who’s Afraid of Gender?
Around the world, the right are mobilising around “gender”. Colin Wilson reviews Judith Butler’s new intervention.
The SWP apology is too little, too late
The rs21 steering group argues that the SWP’s apology for the way it handled its 2013 crisis is inadequate
The Tories’ pro-natalism agenda
Colin Wilson unpacks the right-wing agendas behind the new Tory childcare policy.
rs21 updates its ‘About Us’ statement
The new rs21 ‘about us’ – how the membership designed the new statement
Global crises and global revolts
Shireen Akram-Boshar on multiple global crises and revolts, signalling rising popular rage against the neoliberal capitalist order
Learning from the Second International: a review of Reform, Revolution and Opportunism
Mike Taber’s new collection exposes fissures within the Second International.
‘Our Bodies, Our Lives’: Hundreds protest against anti-abortion demonstration in London
rs21 member Colin Wilson reports from ‘Our Bodies, Our Lives’, the counter-protest to this weekend’s anti-abortion march in central London.
Popular protest and labour insurgency in Iran
A Tehran-based activist assesses the movement, and the under-reported role of workers’ struggles in the wider street mobilisations.
The IS History Project
A new oral history project aims to record the memories of socialist activists from the 1960s and early 1970s. Project members Sue Sparks and Hazel Croft explain its aims and its relevance for activists today in an interview with rs21 members.
Review | Bodies Under Siege
Even traditional mainstream conservative parties are linked to proponents of reactionary ‘Great Replacement’ theories.
Right-wing gender politics: regenerated
Lisa Leak outlines the forces arrayed against trans people in Britain now.
South Korea: updates from recent struggles
A South Korean socialist talks about union struggles, parliamentary politics and Me Too
The fight for abortion and reproductive justice after Roe
Camila Valle, Sherry Wolf, Emily Janakiram, and Holly Lewis discuss how socialists can organise to fight for reproductive justice.
‘Woman! Life! Freedom!’: the social revolution in Iran
As protests in Iran continue and deepen, an Iranian activist argues for greater solidarity from the left in Britain.
‘We are all Mahsa’: riots shake Iran
Protests and riots have spread across Iran after a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, was murdered by the morality police
This is no time to stay silent
The Depp v Heard trial has unleashed a torrent of misogyny that feminists cannot ignore.
The union of women and the Paris Commune
An account of the Women’s union of the Paris Commune, extracted from Mark Winter’s forthcoming book ‘Turbulent Women’
The double shift: talking childcare and gender in the pandemic
As many nations re-enter lockdown, Kate Bradley interviews two rs21 members on their experiences with childcare, work and gender during Covid lockdowns.
Reimagining the relationship between care and power
Abu Leila reviews Abolition. Feminism. Now. in the context of radical politics in Britain.
Capitalism, debt and feminism
Kate Bradley reviews A Feminist Reading of Debt, finding an insightful account of the relationship between debt, gender, and capitalism, as well as examples of how to fight back against debt.
Review | Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment
We need a feminism integrated with struggles for economic justice and against racism, homophobia and transphobia.
Obituary: Eileen Cook, 1950-2021
Eileen Cook, who died on 6 October 2021, was a life-long trade unionist, feminist campaigner, and revolutionary socialist. She is much missed by many, including her comrades in Edinburgh rs21, who remember her in this obituary.
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.
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?
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.
#KillTheBill – where it came from, where it’s going
Th Police Bill is an assault on us all and an attack on us all must be met by resistance from us all. Unity and solidarity must be the clarion call of this movement.
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.
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.