URL: Latest posts
Tahrir Square this morning: eye witness account
Comrade Pete reports: Having just returned from Tahrir Square, I can understand some, only some, of what Abu Faris has written. Tahrir Square, at least at 10 this morning, had very little politics and felt a little chaotic and probably unwelcoming f...
Amnesty: tell Russia not to block action against Syrian killings
Dear Supporter, In March last year, as people were rising up across the region, protesters took to the streets of Syria to demand human rights reforms. Since then over 5,000 have been killed as those in power responded with a bloody crackdown. Thousa...
Chris Huhne on crime and punishment
Wise words from a man who knows exactly what he’s talking about… …and may soon be able to speak with even more authority on the subject.
The death of decency
Cross-posted from Benefit Scrounging Scum It’s been a long, hard eighteen months. Harder and tougher than I could ever communicate to you. I could try and tell you of the times Sue and I spent hours fevered, medicated and desperately unwell jus...
The dishonesty, banality and inconsistency of Terry Eagleton
“A hundred real thalers do not contain the least coin more than a hundred possible thalers…My financial position is, however, affected very differently by a hundred real thalers than it is by the mere concept of them (that is of their pos...
In defence of Little Israel – an interview with Michael Walzer
Cross-posted from Bicom‘s website. Interview conducted by Bicom’s director, Alan Johnson. Michael Walzer is co-editor of Dissent. Since 1980 he has been a member of the faculty at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. His books...
When it comes to social justice, trade unions are the only show in town
By James Bloodworth, cross-posted from Obliged to Offend . Workers at Primark in Northern Ireland have voted overwhelmingly for strike action after the company attempted to impose a pay freeze on its shop staff for the second consecutive year.
Stop The War protest flops: good!
The Stop The War Coalition’s protest event outside the US embassy in London on Saturday was, it seems, a wretched affair with barely four hundred people bothering to turn out: good! The days when Stop The War played a reasonably positive (i...
Burns Night
I was out to celebrate Burns Night at the Captain’s Bar, where various performers were doing songs and poems. Neil Thomson, who was hosting, did a relaxed rendition of Now Westlin’ Winds, (Song Composed in August)- a lovely evocation of...
Help save trade unionist Mahdi’s life.
Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, President of the Bahraini Teachers Association, must be freed from jail. Now. Is this email not displaying correctly?
Nicol Williamson walks off the stage
Nicol Williamson, actor. Born 14 September 1938; died 16 December 2011 A wild, erratic talent: “Nicol Williamson, whose death of oesophageal cancer at the age of 73 has been announced, was arguably the most electrifying actor of his generation,...
The union-Labour link and the dead-end of disaffiliation
Letter to the AWL’s paper Solidarity & Workers Liberty, by Darren Bedford Britain’s biggest union, Unite, “should only fund Labour when it supports [their] policies”, says Jerry Hicks, left challenger in the union’s general se...
Happy birthday Comrade Tatchell
60 years old today – and 45 years of campaigning. One of the few figures in British public life who is entirely admirable. Above: attacked by Mugabe’s thugs I can’t better Nick Cohen’s tribute from Sunday’s Observer: ...
Walking through ‘Capital’ with David Harvey
By Martin Thomas of the AWL David Harvey’s Companion to Marx’s Capital may become the most widely-used handbook for studying the great “critique of political economy” which Karl Marx published in 1867. Harvey’s book has a clear, brisk, and...
Unilever – hands off our pensions!
The pensions battle hits the private sector. Unilever workers, organised by Unite and the GMB, have begun an eleven-day series of rolling strikes across the company’s twelve sites in England and Wales. From the Unite website: Unilever – h...
Ron Paul: the “left”‘s favourite racist, antisemite and homophobe?
Congressman Ron Paul poses with neo-Nazi leader and campaign contributor Don Black. (Photo: Ace of Spades) The grotesque freak-show that is the US Republican Party’s search for a Presidential candidate has already provided us with some almost...
Royal coup de grace
Broadcasting in Britain is controlled by the royal family – and they will force any television channel that criticises them to close down, Press TV revealed today. Ofcom has revoked Press TV’s licence, claiming that Press TV had not paid...
Etta James 1938 – 2012
Though her life had its share of troubles to the end — her husband and sons were locked in a long-running battle over control of her estate, which was resolved in her husband’s favor only weeks before her death — Ms. James said she wanted her m...
Scottish labour movement must find its own voice
From the Workers Liberty website By Dale Street “There are two different forms of nationalism in the referendum. The British nationalism of a ‘No’ vote. The Scottish nationalism of a ‘Yes’ vote. And Scottish nationalism...
When Thatcher dies
By James Bloodworth at Obliged to Offend: Instead of celebrating when Thatcher dies, the left should reflect on what a pig’s ear it’s made of the past 30 years . Ever since Margaret Thatcher stopped appearing in public due to poor health, the...
