Repressing independence: the Spanish Amnesty Bill and Catalonia
Is the Amnesty Bill a weapon in disguise?
Spanish elections: what next after fear trumps hate?
Luke Stobart analyses the Spanish election results.
#IWD2023: women fight across the globe
On International Women’s Day, rs21 members share 13 inspiring examples of women fighting for liberation and against capitalism and state repression.
Repression and revolt in Catalonia
The Catalan revolt has revealed the flawed nature of the Spanish 1978 constitutional settlement, writes Paul Amby.
Pétain, Franco and chemical warfare in the Rif
While Macron has been trying to rehabilitate Pétain as a WWI hero, the latter’s role in a war against Africa’s first anti-colonial state is less well known.
After the elections, what next for Catalonia?
Andy Durgan outlines the political landscape following Catalonia’s recent elections.
Video: Can Catalonia Survive?
On 16 November rs21 hosted in London a discussion of the movement for Catalan independence.
Catalonia: crisis puts the working class centre-stage
Seb Cooke argues that the level of ongoing mass struggle will determine the result of the current stand-off in Catalonia. ‘It was the red vision of the revolution, which, inevitably, would one day carry them all away, on some bloody evening at the century’s approaching end.’ This is how Emile Zola describes a march of […]
Scottish solidarity with Catalunya
Pete Cannell of International Socialists Scotland (Scotland rs21) reports back from recent solidarity protests with Calatunya.
Spanish state out to smash Catalan independence referendum
Andy Durgan writes from Catalonia On 1 October the people of Catalonia go to the polls to decide if their country will become an independent republic or not. The Spanish government insists that the referendum is illegal and have unleashed a wave of repression unprecedented since the end of Franco’s dictatorship 40 years ago, meaning […]
The contradictions of Corbynism
Support to mainstream parties of the left must be made tactically alongside work to organise a mass revolutionary party.
Letters from an anti-fascist fighter in Spain
Following the Battle of Cable Street, Scottish communist Jim ‘Jock’ McKissock travelled to Spain to fight against fascism 80 years ago. He wrote letters to his comrades in back in London. They were passed by one of those long-standing communists in the 1970s to Colin Revolting’s father and he found them among his father’s piles of […]
1936: revolution in Spain
Andy Durgan is author of The Spanish Civil War (Palgrave 2007) and Comunismo, revolución y movimiento obrero en Cataluña 1920-1936. Los orÃgenes del POUM (Laertes, 2016). In the latest of a series of articles marking the anniversary of General Franco’s military coup against the Republican government of Spain, he argues that the revolution was always up […]
Homage to Catalonia: the working class in the saddle
In a series of articles marking the anniversary of General Franco’s military coup against the Republican government of Spain Colin Revolting revisits George Orwell’s masterpiece of revolutionary reportage.
Not doing a Jay-Z
Jonas Liston is delighted by Jeremy Corbyn’s victory. But he’s not going to join the Labour Party. Whilst on the one hand today, I became the dickhead working on a roof in this ghastly torrential rain, who every passer-by pities, on the other hand, I’m delighted by the space Corbyn’s leadership election victory has opened […]
Politics in the age of austerity: from above or below?
Neil Davidson discusses the disintegration of social democracy and the impasse of the revolutionary left, and asks what attitude revolutionaries should take towards social democratic parties.
Understanding Podemos: “common sense” policy
In the final part of his analysis of Podemos, Luke Stobart examines the group’s response to Spain’s social crisis. This is the third part of a series exploring the rise of Podemos, originally published on the Australian Left Flank website. The first part looked at how the new organisations drew on the inspiration and power of […]
Scotland and Spain: lessons from contemporary social movements
Scotland and Spain have both seen mainstream politics in crisis in recent months. Neil Davidson and Luke Stobart discussed the significance of recent events at a meeting organised by rs21 in London on 30 November 2014.
Understanding Podemos: Radical populism
In the second of three articles about Podemos, Luke Stobart makes a critical examination of the political ideas behind the group who are now Podemos’ formal leadership. The “secret” of Podemos according to Pablo Iglesias: I have defeat tattooed on my DNA. My great-uncle was shot dead. My grandfather was given the death sentence and spent 5 […]
Understanding Podemos: 15-M and counter-politics
The rise of the radical Podemos movement in Spain has been both inspiring and meteoric. In the first of three articles, Luke Stobart examines how a party created only in January has become the main political opposition. Here we publish the start of his article – you can read the conclusion on the Australian socialist website Left […]
Protesters take to the Tube to highlight Spain’s crackdown on abortion rights
(report by Lois JC and Shanice McBean, pics from mybellyismine.wordpress.com) Spanish activists have launched a campaign called Mi Bombo Es Mío (“my belly is mine”) in response to plans by the government to make abortion illegal in all but a handful of cases. The campaign is now spreading internationally. On Thursday and Friday last week women from Spanish and Irish abortion rights […]
Protest against Spain’s anti-abortion bill: 7pm, Friday 27 June, London SW1X 8SB
Abortion rights are under attack in the Spanish state. The right wing government wants to make abortion illegal in all but very restricted circumstances. This is the most fundamental attack on women’s rights in a European country for decades. It must be stopped. The bill will be heard in parliament on Friday 27 June. The Women’s Assembly from the […]
What can the British left learn from Podemos?
Adria Porta Caballe asks how a change in language and approach took the fledgling Spanish party Podemos to be a surprise of the European elections In the Spanish left we had been saying for a long time that Podemos was going to be the surprise of the European elections. And, finally, on Sunday 25 May it became […]
rs21 Political Weekend: Social Movements and United Fronts Today
Rebecca Short writes: Colin Barker and Sølvi Goard’s workshop on Social Movements and United Fronts Today tackled arguments that are key for anyone organising on the left. As the room started to fill, a video was played from perhaps one of the most exciting struggles in the past year, that in in Bosnia Herzegovina, etching […]
Whatever happened to the indignados?
Luke Stobart has written the first column in a three part series tracking the radicalisation that has swept the Spanish state since the 15M protests of 2011.
My Belly Is Mine: Londoners against Spanish abortion law
Around 40 people gathered outside the Spanish embassy in London on Saturday to protest in solidarity with women in the Spanish State over abortion reforms.
2013 in YouTube videos
Mark Bergfeld collects videos showing episodes of resistance from across the world in 2013.