Ben Maisky scrutinises Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s Socialist and anti-imperialist credentials and questions whether certain sections of the left are mistaken in their support for Gaddafi.... [read more]
So far this year, junior doctors – for the first time in over 40 years – have taken two days of industrial action in defence of their terms and conditions, and to defend the NHS against Tory cuts and privatisation.... [read more]
The blame game commenced immediately. Without waiting for an investigation or any hard information whatsoever, Washington lost no time in pointing an accusing finger at Moscow... [read more]
John Green reviews an exhibition focusing on British artists’ contribution in support of the Spanish Republican government in its struggle against General Franco’s fascist coup in 1936... [read more]
The eulogies in the media for the late Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm, praise his historical insight yet express bemusement at his adherence to the Communist cause. Why is there a lack of understanding as to why so many of his generation remained loyal to the cause of their youth? John Green explains.... [read more]
Mass Support + Iron Party = Socialist Revolution? Thomas Riggins analyses chapter two of Lenin’s Left Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder... [read more]
The Syrian government is truly fighting to defend itself against an armed opposition that is violent, sectarian and unpopular with the large majority of Syrians... [read more]
On 5 July 2015 the Greek people overwhelmingly rejected the austerity measures imposed by the institutions that were known as the Troika... [read more]
On Thursday 10th October the Marxist Student Federation hosted a fiery debate between Alan Woods, editor of In Defence of Marxism, and Orlando Figes, Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, on the topic of "The Russian Revolution: Triumph or Tragedy?"... [read more]
Neoconservatives including Clintonites are pushing hard for a direct US attack on Syria to prevent the collapse of their regime change project... [read more]
For those of us who study Israel and Zionism from the vantage point of Britain, there are some things we are able to predict with unerring accuracy... [read more]
Greek capitalism continues to be the weak link of the Eurozone as it is still under the “intensive care” of the EU support mechanisms for the fourth consecutive year and is in recession for the sixth consecutive year... [read more]
Thomas Riggins states that the majority of Americans support more gun controls to reduce and prevent the epidemic of violence in the US
... [read more]
Tamara Pearson on the results of a recent survey which suggests high approval ratings for Chavez, but relatively low ratings for his party.... [read more]
In the week that the war in Aghanistan has returned to the front pages of British newspapers, Ewan Gibbs reminds us why Britain and the US are fighting.... [read more]
The Indonesian massacres of 1965-66 rank among the biggest mass murders of the 20th Century. Looking back on this tragic episode, Nathaniel Mehr asked Noam Chomsky for his observations on the significance of US and British support for the massacre. ... [read more]
The investment potential of the Russian economy offers good reasons why it is time for the West to take a more positive attitude towards the country. The President-elect might be doing everyone a favour in the long run, David Morgan argues.... [read more]
While some of the mainstream media are unsuccessfully seeking to tarnish Castro’s image, thousands upon thousands of messages are pouring into Cuba from literally all over the world to pay homage to him... [read more]
The historic leader of the Cuban Revolution celebrated his 90th birthday on 13 August 2016. CSC executive member Dr Francisco Dominguez looks back at his legacy and internationalism... [read more]
Bryan Gould, former Labour shadow cabinet minister, asks how voters are likely to view a party that so manifestly lacks the courage of its convictions... [read more]
The expression “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” is the best way to describe the reaction in the Western media to the results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Ukraine.... [read more]
As part of our series analysing Lenin's book "Left-Wing" Communism: an Infantile Disorder, Thomas Riggins looks at what Lenin had to say about the problems of ultra-leftism in Britain in 1920... [read more]
In a male dominated society, women have been largely excluded from politics in Papua New Guinea. Catherine Wilson reports on female participation in the elections currently underway... [read more]
Francisco Dominguez insists the US must respect the constitutional sovereignty of Honduras and withdraw its support for the military coup.... [read more]
Addressing a Lenasia rally in solidarity with the people of Gaza on 14th January, Zwelinzima Vavi characterised the Israeli government as a racist regime comparable to Apartheid South Africa. ... [read more]
In the week that the Morning Star's London office sustained extensive damage from an electrical fire, Tomasz Pierscionek urges readers to show their support for Britain's only socialist daily.... [read more]
In their new book Union Jackboot: What Your Media and Professors Don't Tell You About British Foreign Policy, doctors T.J. Coles and Matthew Alford discuss a range of topics, including neo-colonialism and the hypocrisy it necessitates.... [read more]
Camilo’s visit accomplished the goal. Media interviews in Spanish and English reached many thousands. He brought information and analysis which has been largely censored or ignored in coverage of Nicaragua. ... [read more]
As I will show below, it is likely the deaths in Khan Sheikhoun were caused by an armed opposition faction, not the Syrian government. The goal was precisely what has happened: a media firestorm leading to direct U.S. aggression against Syria.... [read more]
In the first of these two articles we examined the successes of the junior doctors strike and how they were brought about. In this concluding part we examine what didn’t work so well... [read more]
Every state that ever existed in world history has sought to justify its actions abroad by claiming that it is has the moral right and justice on its side... [read more]
Niall Ferguson has a very conservative world outlook which, when applied to the analysis of current social reality, has a tendency to so warp his perceptions that the situation he writes about becomes an imaginary inverted world... [read more]
George Tait Edwards explains how Shimomuran-Wernerian macroeconomics is the best available path to prosperity once the politicians of the West understand the effectiveness of that option... [read more]
A mighty naval battle took place this week on the waves of the Mediterranean. It will go down in history as the equal of Salamis or Trafalgar... [read more]
The veteran left wing Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn has declared that he is putting himself forward to go on the ballot paper for the Labour leadership election... [read more]
Almost a thousand Israeli personalities have already signed an appeal to European parliaments for their governments to recognize the State of Palestine... [read more]
All those working to protect our precious (and valuable) environment were greatly cheered to hear that finally we can wave goodbye to Owen Paterson... [read more]
My attention was drawn by chance to another article on Diego Garcia in the Independent stating that the government must renegotiate with US over the use of the island for rendition flights.... [read more]
Former MP and member of the Labour shadow cabinet, Bryan Gould, discusses a strategy for improving economic performance and addressing inequality... [read more]
I express my deep sadness when hearing of the torture and unlawful killing of persons in state custody or the recent execution of 23 Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers by Tehrik -i-Taliban (TTP) Mohmand Agency.... [read more]
The German federal elections have just run their course and the CDU/CSU gained the lion’s share of the public's support. Apparently the electoral results were unaffected by the major political scandal of the summer... [read more]
On May 2, the FBI suddenly announced that they had placed Assata Shakur on its “Most Wanted Terrorists” list. The FBI's accusations target Shakur as an individual, but the labeling of her as a terrorist is an attack on all revolutionaries says Eugene Puryear... [read more]
The southern most region of Spain, Andalucía, has always been a socialist fiefdom but the centre right Partido Popular (PP) came very close to toppling the socialist PSOE party from power in the 2012 regional elections, writes David Eade... [read more]
On the 7th of June 2012, Melinda Taylor and three other ICC delegates were arrested in the city of Zintan in Libya by Zintani militia. How should the Australian media handle the story? Finn Bowen takes a look.... [read more]
Thomas Riggins reveals the results of a poll conducted by ScienceDaily examining attitudes to the new voter identification laws in the US... [read more]
This weekend healthcare campaigners will gather for a conference on how to fight the Coalition’s newly passed Health Act. Alex Nunns assesses their options... [read more]
In the last of a series of articles on the French elections, David Eade looks at the breakdown of the National Assembly elections and the way forward for Francois Hollande and the Parti Socialiste ... [read more]
As the US President hints at a withdrawal from Afghanistan, R.M. Harrison wonders whether he has taken heed of the old saying “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. ... [read more]
The recent University of Pennsylvania BDS conference, organized by student group, PennBDS, was the latest example to illustrate both the effectiveness of the global movement and also of the real worry felt by supporters of Israel in the US, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
An activist involved in the Save Dale Farm campaign calls for solidarity with the site’s residents who are facing eviction within a week. ... [read more]
Daina Z. Green reports on the terrorism of Mexican unions by their own Government in support of business interests over that of their own workers. ... [read more]
If Diane Abbott is serious about standing as a real alternative to the Milibands, she should espouse a leftwing platform, says Steve Jones.... [read more]
On the 90th anniversary of the Kapp Putsch, Socialist Appeal Mick Brooks looks back on how Germany's working class united as one to resist a reactionary coup d'état.... [read more]
Joanna Allan on the high-profile campaign to draw international attention to the plight of the people of the Western Sahara at the hands of the brutal Moroccan occupation.... [read more]
With hundreds of innocent civilians killed in Israel's brutal attack on Gaza in recent days, Walter Leon argues that the Israeli labour movement has a moral duty to help rally domestic opposition to the aggression.... [read more]
On the Fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, Alexa Van Sickle talks to Manuel Yepe, the former Cuban Ambassador to Romania and close friend of Che Guevara, about what the future may hold for the Caribbean island. ... [read more]
Zoe Gannon believes a progressive policy on taxation would help restore working-class support for Labour and revive the party's electoral prospects.... [read more]
Tomasz Pierscionek on the five Cubans held by the US on charges of epsionage, which thye deny, and the attempts to bring enough national and international pressure to bear to get their convictions re-examined.... [read more]
Robert Yourell of the American campaign group VoteStrike.com believes a general strike in September would send a strong message to Washingotn elites.... [read more]
What’s going on in the repo market? Rates on repurchase (“repo”) agreements should be about 2%, in line with the Federal Reserve funds rate... [read more]
One of the things people were promised under Corbyn’s leadership, was a genuine member-led party, where members’ views were listened to and acted on.... [read more]
On Easter Saturday I revisited Salisbury to see for myself. This was, after all, a holiday weekend, and Salisbury should be packed with people. Yes, car parks were full but…... [read more]
The US Postal Service, under attack from a manufactured crisis designed to force its privatization, needs a new source of funding to survive. Postal banking could fill that need.... [read more]
Despite falling apart at the seams over its Brexit ‘negotiations’ with the EU, and its internal fights and scandals, bringing shame and embarrassment to the UK, Theresa May’s government is determined to carry on with its money-oriented and earth-trashing policies... [read more]
Political commentators have long been puzzled by the fact that, right across the globe and for several decades, the political left has been in retreat and – more than that – has apparently been unable to mount any significant challenge to the growing neo-liberal hegemony which has dominated western democracies since the 1980s... [read more]
In early 2003 it was claimed that Iraq was a threat to other countries. Today we have something similarly ridiculous and dangerous. Supposedly the Syrian government decided to use a banned chemical weapon which they gave up in 2013-2014... [read more]
Nobody will start peace negotiations if they believe that peace is impossible. The belief in peace will not make peace certain. But at least it will make peace possible.... [read more]
I come from a fairly long line of mercantile family forebears with strong business skills and profit inspired attitudes. Although I chose not to go into business as my brothers did and I became a teacher of English, every emotional nerve in my body believed in wealth creation as being the only way forward for all.... [read more]
Amnesty International (AI) has done some good investigations and reports over the years. However, less well recognized, Amnesty International has also carried out faulty investigations contributing to bloody and disastrous actions... [read more]
The story of the White Helmets is principally a “feel good” hoax to manipulate public perception about the conflict in Syria and continue the drive for “regime change”... [read more]
Amnesty has been pressing the British government on Saudi Arabia’s use of outlawed weapons, only to be told sanguinely that UK Ministers have been provided with “assurances” by Saudi Arabia “of their proper use.” Work that one out: “proper use” of illegal weapons.... [read more]
Former Labour shadow cabinet minister, Bryan Gould, explains how a parliamentary party ready to unite behind its leader would in turn invite and deserve a considered response from Corbyn... [read more]
Reports of Erdogan supporters beheading soldiers in public, and film of screaming crowds stamping on the bodies of soldiers who were trying to surrender, expose the atavistic sentiments for revenge that the coup seems to have unleashed as a backlas... [read more]
This constantly troublesome and disloyal bunch of Labour MPs don’t care about the country or their Party. They cannot see that it is they, not Corbyn, who are making the Party unelectable... [read more]
Only by developing a set of radical and progressive alternative political solutions can Labour be able to challenge effectively this upsurge on the right... [read more]
The Poll Tax Gerrymander gave the UK an unforecast by pollsters 4th Conservative victory and the undistinguished government of John Major... [read more]
It is Labour’s long-standing support for, and failure to challenge, the central tenets of neo-classical orthodoxy that has disabled any challenge they have tried to make to any other aspect of the Tory progamme... [read more]
How speedily the lies of the “international community” in general, and those of the US and UK in particular, about the Syrian situation are unraveling since the participation of Russia... [read more]
To the great puzzlement and consternation of pundits and pollsters, the British general election produced what seems a great democratic victory for the Conservative party... [read more]
The Wall Street Journal on 8 April turned over an entire editorial page to former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz... [read more]
Former UK Environment Minister Owen Paterson this week accused the European Union and Greenpeace of condemning people in the developing world to death by refusing to accept genetically modified crops... [read more]
Churchill famously said that democracy is the worst political system, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time... [read more]
The fourth part of an 'Introduction' to an illustrated book of poetry by Faysal Mikdadi. The collection, Painted into a Corner, appeared in the summer of 2014... [read more]
The horrific carnage we have seen unleashed in Gaza in recent weeks - a humanitarian catastrophe - would not have been politically or economically affordable without the tacit acquiescence of the global jewellery industry... [read more]
Back in 2003, Tony Blair stated that Saddam Hussein could hit Britain with a missile within 45 minutes. He also said that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction... [read more]
British Environment Secretary Owen Paterson is a staunch supporter of the GMO sector despite mounting evidence pointing to the deleterious health, social, ecological and environmental impacts of GMOs... [read more]
Ruben De Sai on how Nigel Farage's UKIP and the mainstream media are preventing an honest debate on the European elections, and the economic issues that no one is talking about.... [read more]
Investigative reporter Greg Palast is usually pretty good at peering behind the rhetoric and seeing what is really going on. But in tearing into Senator Elizabeth Warren’s support of postal financial services, he has done a serious disservice to the underdogs... [read more]
5th March marked one year since the death of Hugo Chávez, the great Venezuelan revolutionary, who was an inspiration to the masses in Latin America and across the world... [read more]
Journalist and researcher, Carol Anne Grayson, talks to Dr Tomasz Pierscionek about his involvement in campaigning against the use of armed drones ... [read more]
Journalist Carol Grayson was asked to write an article on the war in Afghanistan for a new magazine, Afghan Zariza, but was told that the “boss” thought it was “too inflammatory, so the article was banned from publication!... [read more]
The ANSWER Coalition calls for protests and a letter-writing campaign to reinstate Khalil Vasquez and Tafador Sourov, two student leaders at the City College of New York disciplined and charged for trying to stop the closure of a student centre... [read more]
The primary objective of the world’s leaders is to avoid another banking and financial crash that could be worse than the one in September 2008... [read more]
Throughout the whole Syria crisis, one thing which has been striking, is the clear absence among British political circles, to actually listen to the points being raised by the Syrian people... [read more]
Ungrateful as I feel for bashing someone who was actually trying to be helpful, it was difficult not to (a) laugh and then (b) groan at a short letter I recently received from a client’s local MP, writes Felix McHugh... [read more]
As part of his series of articles analysing Lenin's classic work "Left-Wing" Communism: an Infantile Disorder, Thomas Riggins looks at what Lenin had to say about compromise and cooperation with political rivals... [read more]
It has been a big year for the English health service, for the wrong reasons. With so much happening so fast, Alex Nunns of the NHS Support Federation pulls together the strands to explain what is really going on in the NHS... [read more]
Palestine has become a “non-member state” at the United Nations as of Thursday November 29, 2012.The draft of the UN resolution beckoning what many perceive as a historic moment passed with an overwhelming majority of General Assembly members: 138 votes in favour, nine against and 41 abstentions, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
In his latest article analysing “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder, Thomas Riggins looks at Lenin's views on what sort of relations a Marxist party should have with the trade union movement... [read more]
LPJ Iberian correspondent, David Eade, provides a breakdown of the Catalan elections and discusses the implications the election results have for the issue of Catalan independence... [read more]
Europe is different, as we are often reminded. The general wisdom is unlike the US’ unconditional support for Israel. European countries tend to be more balanced in their approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Earlier this week, Malala Yousafzai was brutally shot by gunmen as she was returning home from school. Masked assassins stepped onto a bus filled with terrified children, identified her, and shot her at point blank range in the head and neck.... [read more]
Syria's Civil War is essentially a war between the majority Sunni Muslims and the minority Alawites (Shi'ites) who have ruled Syria for over 40 years. The result is a foregone conclusion. President Assad will lose and the Alawites will be ousted. Or will they? And before they do, what will be the price paid by others, asks Faysal Mikdadi.... [read more]
The big economic news has been the massive 100bn euros bailout of Spain’s banks. However the back story has been the numerous protests by Spaniards against measures to support banks which are largely in trouble through their own greed, corruption and mismanagement, writes David Eade.... [read more]
Chavs by Owen Jones has rightly been lauded as an overdue rejoinder to the steady and near unstoppable denigration of the working class in Britain over the past three decades of unbroken Thatcherism, under both the Tories and New Labour, reviews John Wight.... [read more]
Once again Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir waved his walking stick in the air. Once again he spoke of splendid victories over his enemies as thousands of jubilant supporters danced and cheered. But this time around the stakes are too high, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Ben Maisky explains how George Galloway’s overwhelming victory in the Bradford West by-election demonstrates a clear rejection of the three main parties and their policies.... [read more]
Gay marriage: 'oh dear, oh lor’, how did this become the issue of the hour? The world appears to have divided itself into two camps and I find myself in neither'- journalist and writer W Steven Gilbert shares his thoughts... [read more]
With the Sun newspaper launching yet another campaign of 'Beat the Cheat', Felix McHugh highlights the problem of claimants being cheated out of their benefits... [read more]
Introducting the death penalty is not only controversial but, as Chris Bath shows, it is too easy for mistakes to be made and for innocent people to die.... [read more]
Britain’s history of war and imperialism, and its current role as junior partner in service to US hegemony, has had a deleterious impact on British society at home, writes John Wight.... [read more]
In a recent article, columnist Yaniv Halili described British author Ben White as 'anti-Semitic'. He also denounced Arab Knesset member Hanin Zoabi for writing a forward to White's latest book, Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy, writes Ramzy Baroud.
... [read more]
Stephen Gilbert challenges the so called 'accuracy' of ICM opinion polls and shows how Labour continues to miss classic opportunities to rebut Conservative policy. ... [read more]
W Stephen Gilbert delivers an up-to-date, state and fate of the retail trade in Britain, it is partly personal and anecdotal, and partly a critical overview: part three.... [read more]
Felix McHugh looks at the how the Coalition government plans to cut Employment and Support Allowance to further impoverish those who have the least... [read more]
Dr Tomasz Pierscionek describes the treatment of war veterans, from the Vietnam era to those returning from present day conflicts, and highlights the continual deceit war-mongering governments use to deceive the public. The real enemies are not foreign but domestic.... [read more]
Catherine Wilson on the continued disparity of wealth between the indigenous Australians and the rest of society and empty attempts by the government to change this.... [read more]
The Colombian military has had numerous successes targeting high-ranking leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in recent years. Its two greatest successes were the killing of secretariat members Raúl Reyes in 2008 and Jorge Briceño, alias “Mono Jojoy,” last year. By Garry Leech... [read more]
Ramzy Baroud celebrates the spirit of international solidarity that has provided crucial practical and moral support for the Palestinian struggle in recent years.... [read more]
The first decade of the 21st Century has been marred by violence, militarism and oppression in the Global South. But there has also been resistance. Tomasz Pierscionek profiles some of the radical heroes of the past ten years.... [read more]
Garry Leech argues that the US role in the Honduran crisis represents a continuation of the traditional US approach towards democracy in Central America.... [read more]
A Justice for Colombia report on an important petition calling on the British government to end its support of the murderous Uribe regime in Colombia.... [read more]
Adam Gill reviews the recent local elections in Venezuela, and considers the long-term implications of a mixed outcome for the Chávez government.... [read more]
Samuele Mazzolini on the vicious campaign being waged by right-wing elements opposed to the mildly socialist reforms of Bolivia's President Evo Morales.... [read more]
As Britain's National Health Service celebrates another milestone anniversary, Barbara Humphries reviews sixty years of struggle against encroaching privatisation.... [read more]
After a successful strike last month was followed by a similar action at the start of July, Rick Grogan urges the public to get behind the Tube cleaners.... [read more]
As the Brown government seeks to push through 42-day detention, Tom Bangay argues this latest counter-terrorism measure is impractical, unpopular, and an affront to civil liberties. ... [read more]
This war of narratives was discussed at a 24 April SOAS event, co-sponsored by its Palestine Society and the Jewish Network for Palestine (JNP). Rather than give a lecture, the author Gilbert Achcar, Professor of International Relations at SOAS was interviewed by Professor Haim Bresheeth... [read more]
As public banking gains momentum across the country, policymakers in California and Washington state are vying to form the nation’s second state-owned bank, following in the footsteps of the highly successful Bank of North Dakota, founded in 1919.... [read more]
Over the last 20 years extreme right-wing groups have been on the rise throughout the world. They share a belief in white supremacism and conspiracy theories that allege there is a global plot to replace white Christian populations with Muslims and people of color. ... [read more]
There is something fundamentally wrong with a society when children feel they have to carry deadly weapons in order to protect themselves.... [read more]
Funding through the Federal Reserve may be controversial, but establishing a national public infrastructure and development bank should be a no-brainer.... [read more]
The war of words between Tony Blair and Theresa May over the last few days is quite revealing – not of Blair’s known position regarding the Brexit mess, but because the Prime Minister’s rant showed her weakness.... [read more]
The October 16 issue of NY Review of Books has an article by Janine di Giovani titled Why Assad and Russia Target the White Helmets. The article exemplifies how western media promotes the White Helmets uncritically and attacks those who challenge the myth.... [read more]
Its hard now to believe how things once were. Full-blooded socialism never found a secure place in the British experience, but through the Seventies we had something more than the piecemeal reform of social democracy.... [read more]
After 70 years, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still unresolved. The conflict simmers for a few years, then erupts again with new massacres and violence.... [read more]
California has over $700 billion parked in private banks earning minimal interest, private equity funds that contributed to the affordable housing crisis, or shadow banks of the sort that caused the banking collapse of 2008.... [read more]
On 22 March 2018 The Washington Post published Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman’s confession regarding the Saudi Arabian government’s facilitation of the CIA in financing and offering support to an Islamic cultural narrative across the ‘Muslim world’. ... [read more]
It was in May, 1939. The British rulers of Palestine had just published a White Paper, putting the dampers on our Zionist vision. The world war was drawing close, and the British Empire needed the support of the Arab world.... [read more]
On the 26th May 1967, using money borrowed from my stepmother after swearing her to secrecy because I lived in unjustified terror of a very kind Dad, I boarded a flight to Jerusalem... [read more]
Islamic State is frequently referred to as the biggest threat facing Britons. But an even bigger one, in terms of death and social division, is austerity... [read more]
Illinois is teetering on bankruptcy and other states are not far behind, largely due to unfunded pension liabilities; but there are solutions.... [read more]
This is the third part of a paragraph by paragraph commentary on a recent article posing as journalism in the March 6, 2017 issue of The New Yorker... [read more]
Mallards Cottage was where I wrote my first novel. I called it The Return. I used to dream most of its events – the very plot was born of a dream on Christmas Eve of 1976... [read more]
The new American Health Care Act has been unveiled, and critics are calling it more flawed even than the Obamacare it was meant to replace... [read more]
And so the Bonaparte of Momentum was born. At a stroke, Momentum’s democratic structures have been abolished; the tireless work of thousands of Corbyn supporters over the past year-and-a-half thrown out the window... [read more]
2017 is going to see many revised versions of the October Revolution. Some prejudices need to be countermanded even before they are uttered. Lenin’s reputation is overshadowed by, and confused with, Stalin’s.... [read more]
News outlets like Russia Today, whether or not you agree with the content and ideas espoused, promote diversity of thought and provide a different perspective on world events that is urgently needed to broaden opinions, balance perspectives... [read more]
Sexual violence, early marriage, gender inequality and poverty are some of the factors being blamed for the alarming rates of depression and attempted suicide among women in Bougainville... [read more]
It has been widely commented that the two main contenders in the US presidential race are both deeply flawed candidates, even that they are both unfit to hold high office... [read more]
Unknown to most people, the White Helmets brand was conceived and directed by a marketing company named “The Syria Campaign” based in New York. They have managed to fool millions of people... [read more]
The British government has spent “over £100 million” since 2012, “working closely with a range of actors” to “find a political solution to the conflict and prepare to rebuild the country in the post Assad era.” ... [read more]
Discontent among the uninformed tends toward unreasoned emotion. The educated dissentient is able and willing to identify the nature of a problem and articulate an indictment of the problem’s source.... [read more]
One side promises them an impossible economic nirvana if they vote to leave, while the other side terrifies them with an economic apocalypse – if they vote to leave.... [read more]
The only reason the UK is having a referendum on whether the UK should stay in (Remain) or leave (Brexit) the EU, is because of the difference of opinion within the Conservative Party.... [read more]
Most accounts of the origins of the industrial revolution are Anglo-centric, focused upon how the industrial revolution in England began from about 1750... [read more]
Tiffany’s should act immediately to disassociate itself from BSGR and ensure that their cut and polished diamonds are not a source of revenue for regimes guilty of gross human rights violations in Africa or Palestine... [read more]
It seems that the Parliamentary Labour Party does not want to change the country, or itself. It seems instead to be doing everything it can to return to the pre-Corbyn days. ... [read more]
Tony Blair’s assertions in Parliament in 2002 were integral in the excuse for the illegal invasion and ongoing bloodbath now also engulfing Syria... [read more]
Former MP and member of the Labour shadow cabinet, Bryan Gould, explains the need for Labour to break free from the neo-liberal consensus that has long imprisoned the left in an intellectual straitjacket... [read more]
During the last 27 years, Conservative and Coalition Governments have passed legislation aimed at reducing the voting rights of people not likely to be supportive of the Conservative Party... [read more]
There is a need for both Israelis and Palestinians to change their discourse which is based on a mixture of rewriting history, expansionist aims, victimhood and endless conspiracy theories where none exist... [read more]
Sweet and light - crude oil from the delta of the river Niger is the major Nigerian commodity and European and American companies export it for a profit... [read more]
Immigration, and how the parties claim they will control it, is one of a handful of issues that will be pivotal in swaying swing voters either right or left in this year’s general election... [read more]
When I was 15 years old and a member of the Irgun underground (by today's criteria, an honest-to-goodness terrorist organization), we sang "(In the past) we had the heroes / Bar Kochba and the Maccabees / Now we have the new ones / The national youth…"... [read more]
In his book ‘The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective’, economist Angus Maddison noted that India was the richest country in the world and had controlled a third of global wealth until the 17th century... [read more]
When a high-ranking official of one country calls the leader of another country "chickenshit", it may be assumed that the relations between the two countries are not at their best... [read more]
The similarities between the building of Israel and the US are astonishing. The native people are portrayed as savage, inherently violent, unable to understand peace... [read more]
The Palestinians of Gaza consider themselves to be living within “occupied territory”, a fact recognised by the United Nations Human Rights Council and Human Rights Watch due to the fact that Israel maintains control of Gaza’s airspace, waters and borders... [read more]
Steve Richards is right to say that next year’s election will not, and should not, be decided by personality politics. So what will determine the voters’ preferences, asks former MP and member of the Labour shadow cabinet, Bryan Gould... [read more]
“The situation involving Palestine and Israel is an undeclared war, in which the aggressor, Israel, has destroyed the Palestinian economy, robbed people of their land, unilaterally changed borders, and unilaterally built a wall of exclusion to keep Palestinians out of their land... [read more]
The Yinon plan is an Israeli strategic plan to ensure Israeli regional superiority. It insists and stipulates that Israel must reconfigure its geo-political environment through the balkanization of the surrounding Arab states into smaller and weaker states... [read more]
In recent weeks, with the crisis which has befallen Iraq and the upsurge in ISIS related violence, Iraq has become the focus of many media articles which mostly state that the anti-war movement was right to oppose the 2003 war... [read more]
All the chatter after the European Elections has been about the surge in the far right parties with the National Front in France and UKIP in the UK leading the charge. Yet in Spain the move has been markedly to the left, writes David Eade.... [read more]
The form of state prevalent in the developed capitalist world at the time of the Commune was a state that functioned to support the bourgeoisie in its war against the working class... [read more]
How would the US react to a declaration that the Palestinians would not conduct negotiations with an Israeli government that includes semi-fascist parties?... [read more]
Not only is Middle East “Peace Envoy”, Catholic convert and Butcher of Baghdad, Tony Blair gunning for mass destruction in Syria, he has recruited the son of an Archbishop to help him... [read more]
Felicity Arbuthnot discusses the outcome of the Crimean referendum in view of rampant propaganda being hysterically stirred from Washington and Whitehall... [read more]
The Hungarian General Election takes place on Sunday April 6. The spotlight has been on the far right party, Jobbik, which will be fielding a national list at the polls... [read more]
I am missing the presence of Moazzam Begg as an important contributor to the daily political debate on terrorism and counter-terrorism on social media... [read more]
When U.S. marines carried out the savage and systematic execution of Iraqi families and small children in Haditha [in November 2004], it was initially reported as a “battle” with “insurgent casualties.”... [read more]
The first in a series of articles by Thomas Riggins analysing Lenin's famous work The State and Revolution: The Marxist theory of the State and the tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution... [read more]
Spain’s right wing Partido Popular leader and Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has achieved a notable feat. He has managed to have all the socialist parties in Europe declare war on his government.... [read more]
Dr Faysal Mikdadi publishes an excellent account of Palestine's history, focusing on how the economic, racist, religious, nationalistic, commercial and orientalist attitudes of Britain shaped the land and its people (Part 2 of 2)... [read more]
In the run up to the 8th December municipal elections in Venezuela, the campaign of speculation, hoarding, profiteering, overpricing and sabotage of the economy has intensified... [read more]
Following the 96th anniversary of this world-shaking event, Eugene Puryear describes the historical significance of the Russian revolution and shows that more people are looking to an alternative as global capitalism continues to decline... [read more]
In both, the Labour votes remain solid enough to provide realistic bases for recapture in 2015. The main party that has lost ground is demonstrably the other one... [read more]
In an August 2013, journalist Greg Palast posted evidence of a secret late-1990s plan devised by Wall Street ans US Treasury officials to open banking to the lucrative derivatives business... [read more]
Elijah Pryor discusses the significance of Torrington Community Hospital for the North Devon community and the campaign to challenge cutbacks to the hospital's services... [read more]
Ellen Brown reports on how former Peace Corps volunteer Will Ruddick and several residents of Bangladesh, Kenya, face a potential seven years in prison after developing a cost-effective way to alleviate poverty in Africa’s poorest slums... [read more]
The Spending Review by George Osborne contained no surprises. But suppose Mr Osborne really understood economics and actually wanted to improve the British economy. George Tait Edwards provides a constructive speech for a competent chancellor... [read more]
George Tait Edwards MBE makes the case for the urgent implementation of Keynesian economics to stimulate growth, based on the economic model's previous success in the US, China and Japan... [read more]
What happens to people when they become government science advisers? Are their children taken hostage? Is a dossier of compromising photographs kept, ready to send to the Sun if they step out of line? George Monbiot writes.... [read more]
WikiLeaks is a rare example of a newsgathering organisation that exposes the truth. Julian Assange is by no means alone, writes John Pilger.... [read more]
Paula is depressed. She has no motivation to look after herself, to eat or to get dressed. Some days she stays in bed and doesn’t open the curtains. Felix McHugh discusses the hurdles one of his clients faces in trying to navigate the welfare system.... [read more]
I am a Palestinian British Muslim. I take great pride in my dual heritage. There shouldn't be a price to pay for this duality, but there is. I have paid it always reluctantly, occasionally resentfully and once or twice bitterly, writes Faisal Mikdadi... [read more]
A new campaign to honour the memory of the militant Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison on the 100th anniversary of her tragic death was launched on 29 November at the Firebox Café in King’s Cross. David Morgan reports
... [read more]
Ramzy Baroud writes, in life, some phenomena cannot be explained by ordinary logic or technical language, let alone official discourses. How did Gaza manage to fight back with such ferocity and undying vigour in quelling the latest Israeli war despite years of a bloody siege and one-sided war in 2008-9?... [read more]
Palestinian Authority leader, President Abbas, is attempting to gain an upgraded status for Palestine at the UN this month writes Susan Walpole... [read more]
Many key phrases have been presented to explain Israel’s latest military onslaught against Gaza, which left scores dead and wounded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is flexing his muscles in preparation for the Israeli general elections in January, suggested some, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Öcalan’s isolation may be over as the hunger strike ends in Turkish prisons, but the unjust trials of the opponents of the Government continue. Tim Baster and Isabelle Merminod report ... [read more]
Thomas Riggins gives an analysis of Chapter Four of Lenin's 'Left Wing' Communism: an Infantile Disorder and describes the Bolsheviks' struggle against both 'opportunism' and 'petty-bourgeois revolulutionism'... [read more]
When an individual with mobility problems seeks to obtain Employment and Support Allowance, simply getting to the assessment centre can be the first of many unpleasant battles. Felix McHugh reports.... [read more]
Peter Tatchell recalls the contribution of LGBT rights pioneer Allan Horsfall, who died from heart failure on 27 August 2012, aged 84-years-old.... [read more]
Finn Bowen asks that in light of the possible convergence of Public Relations and Journalism - once completely separate professions - can we ‘trust the truth’ the media portray? ... [read more]
No solution will come from our chain-of-command—the solution is fighting our chain-of-command. Michael Prysner, former US army corporal and Iraq war veteran, discusses record suicides amongst active-duty soldiers and reminds troops that they do not have to fight wars of imperialism... [read more]
The neoconservatives are back with a vengeance. While popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and other Arab countries had briefly rendered them irrelevant in the region, Western intervention in Libya signaled a new opportunity, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Turkey, a NATO member, has historically been a key strategic ally of the West in the Cold War but the political situation inside the country is far from tolerant of opposition, writes David Morgan. ... [read more]
David Lane reviews a collection of three volumes compiled by Craig Calhoun and Georgi Derluguian chronicling the origins and aftermath of the global financial crisis... [read more]
Yemeni forces continue to push against fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda. Their major victories come on the heels of the inauguration of Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi, who is now entrusted with the task of leading the country through a peaceful transition writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
John Pilger shows that Barack Obama’s sudden “conversion” to the cause of same-sex marriage barely disguises the prime motives of a president as reactionary and violent as George W Bush.... [read more]
The removal of contributory Employment and Support Allowance assessment has not been a major talking point during the Welfare Reform Act's progress onto the statute book but I believe it is actually the most pernicious of all the benefit cuts which are just about to take place, writes Felix McHugh.... [read more]
In the first of a series of articles on the forthcoming French Presidential elections, David Eade evaluates Francois Hollande - the Parti Socialiste candidate who may well be the next French President... [read more]
Ramona Wadi speaks with a member of the famous Chilean band Inti Illimani, a group that was part of the nueva cancion movement in the 60s and 70s... [read more]
Dr Tomasz Pierscionek reviews a book that charts the development of America's foreign policy throughout the course of the Cold War and beyond... [read more]
At a time when the poorest are being hit hardest, W Stephen Gilbert comments on the obsence bonuses enjoyed by those at the top echelons of the financial sector and puts paid to the reasons most commonly used to justify such unfair practice.... [read more]
Welfare rights worker Felix McHugh reports that, contrary to regularly repeated rumours, obtaining Disability Living Allowance is much harder than many are led to believe... [read more]
Kevin Baker shows how the US administation cares little for the lives of American soldiers. Many troops dying in Afghanistan today were 8 years old when the 9/11 attacks happened. ... [read more]
The recent coup attempt in Ecuador was just the latest attempt to destabilise independent development in Latin America, writes Eva Golinger.... [read more]
Iqbal Tamimi on why the BBC's response to the complaints they received of bias in their 16th August 2010 Panorama programme is inadequate.... [read more]
Hussein Al-Alak looks at the lifesaving work of a mental health charity that has spent the past ninety years helping ex-soldiers cope with life after service.... [read more]
'New' Labour is too close to big business to deliver the radical change the country needs, but it is by far the lesser of the two evils on offer, writes Richie Nimmo.... [read more]
Of the many international solidarity movements in the world today, the Palestinian struggle has a special status. Greg Sharzer explains why.... [read more]
Irish politics has been back in the UK media limelight in recent weeks and months. Veteran campaigner Roy Johnston sets out a condensed history of the political dimension of the Irish independence struggle.... [read more]
Khaled Taja, 70 years old and the iconic figure of Arabic drama, is planning to play the leading role in a movie about the tunnels of Gaza, writes Iqbal Tamimi.... [read more]
Following the 100th British death of 2009 in Afghanistan, Steve Jones argues that the unwinnable war in Afghanistan can never deliver social and economic progress to the Afghan people.... [read more]
Barack Obama has weakly capitulated to Binyamin Netanyahu over Israeli settlement-building in the heart of the Arab community in East Jerusalem, says Uri Avnery.... [read more]
Hugo Chavez has condemned the Colombian government's decision to permit the US to expand its military presence in Colombia, as James Suggett explains.... [read more]
A damning judgement on army killings suggests that officials at every level have covered up torture and murder, as George Monbiot explains.... [read more]
George Monbiot says people who claim that population growth is the big environmental issue are shifting the blame from the rich to the poor.... [read more]
Looking back at the fall of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, Uri Avnery asks what lessons - if any - can be learned by activists campaigning for justice for Palestine.... [read more]
The Obama administration's policy on Israel-Palestine is looking increasingly indistinguishable from that of the Bush years, as Ramzy Baroud explains.... [read more]
Israeli intelligence is using the relationship between Iran and leftist leaders in Latin America to stoke up fears in relation to Iran's nuclear ambitions, says Tamara Pearson.... [read more]
Hussein Al-Alak reflects on the recent tabloid furore over an ill-conceived miniature anti-war protest led by Muslim extremists in the UK.... [read more]
With both mainstream political parties apparently united in their determination to privatise the UK postal system, Mick Brooks makes the case for resisting so-called "part-privatisation".... [read more]
Garry Leech examines how the Colombian governmetn is using anti-terrorism as a pretext for a concerted attack on patently non-violent social organisations.... [read more]
Looking back over the US presidential election contest, Ramzy Baroud is sceptical about the likelihood of serious "change" under an Obama administration.... [read more]
Michael Albert is a prominent activist and economist and a co-founder of Z Magazine. Adam Gill spoke to him about the Venezuelan government's radical "Consejos Comunales" initiative, aimed at deepening participatory democracy.... [read more]
With the US elections just around the corner, Garry Leech examines the candidates' respective positions on international economic issues, and concludes that there is relatively little to choose between them.... [read more]
James Suggett on how the United States is using the pretext of counter-narcotics to further its political struggle against Hugo Chávez's Venezuela. ... [read more]
As Colombia's President Uribe continues to target the country's indigenous communities, Mario A. Murillo examines why many Colombians are opposed to Uribe's reactionary government.... [read more]
Forty years ago, on the night of August 20th-21st Russian and other Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia, thus putting an end to the ‘Prague Spring.’... [read more]
Victor Petroff asks: Was the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia really the obvious battle of good vs. bad the media storm might have led us to think it was?... [read more]
With Bolivian voters set to go to the polls and the Morales presidency in the balance, Ben Dangl examines the issues at stake in the forthcoming recall vote. ... [read more]
Samuele Mazzolini examines recent developments in the Argentinian Senate, where the right have rallied to block progressive tax reforms.... [read more]
Samuele Mazzolin on why the Ecuaodorean president's agenda for modernisation and wealth redistribution has brought him into an unlikely conflict with the country's indigenous groups.... [read more]
Class struggle and its capacity for state transformation were institutionalised by the works of a German philosopher called Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.... [read more]
Here in the UK we’re trapped yet again by that old mantra: Hurry up and wait. It’s such a familiar fallback by now we tend to regard it as the norm.... [read more]
Central bankers are out of ammunition. Mark Carney, the soon-to-be-retiring head of the Bank of England, admitted as much in a speech at the annual meeting of central bankers... [read more]
It may be a new low in propaganda. National Public Radio (NPR) used the news that Syrian First Lady Asma Assad had overcome breast cancer to mock her and continue the information war against Syria... [read more]
The Tulsi Gabbard presidential campaign has filed a major law suit against Google. This article outlines the main points of the law suit and evidence the the social media giant Google has quietly acquired enormous influence on public perceptions and has been actively censoring alternative viewpoints.... [read more]
When the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last week, commentators were asking why. According to official data, the economy was rebounding... [read more]
Payments can happen cheaply and easily without banks or credit card companies, as has already been demonstrated—not in the United States but in China.... [read more]
Home ownership has been called “the quintessential American dream.” Yet today less than 65% of American homes are owner occupied, and more than 50% of the equity in those homes is owned by the banks.... [read more]
“I'm running for president to be able to bring about this sea change in our foreign policy that is so necessary for us and for the world.”... [read more]
The controversial re-election of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari underscores the militarization of the country’s political system and economy... [read more]
In April 2014 I was part of an international delegation which visited Syria for five days. In each city we had meetings with political, religious and social leaders but also had time to wander about and talk with people on the streets. ... [read more]
With each day that passes the conflict and animosity between the conservative reactionary forces and the global movement for progressive change becomes more acute, uglier and increasingly dangerous... [read more]
Hydraulic fracking is the process of releasing gas and oil from shale rock: huge quantities of water, proppant (usually sand ) and chemicals are injected at high-pressure into hydrocarbon-bearing rocks... [read more]
Wall Street owns the country. That was the opening line of a fiery speech that populist leader Mary Ellen Lease delivered around 1890. Franklin Roosevelt said it again in a letter to Colonel House in 1933, and Sen. Dick Durbin was still saying it in 2009. ... [read more]
Central bankers are now aggressively playing the stock market. To say they are buying up the planet may be an exaggeration, but they could. They can create money at will, and they have declared their independence from government. They have become rogue players in a game of their own.... [read more]
Robert (Bob) Parry was born in 1949 and died suddenly from pancreatic cancer in January 2018. An enthusiastic tribute to him and his work was recently held in Berkeley California... [read more]
The Fed is aggressively raising interest rates, although inflation is contained, private debt is already at 150% of GDP, and rising variable rates could push borrowers into insolvency. So what is driving the Fed’s push to “tighten”?... [read more]
Two days ago, the State of Israel celebrated its 70th birthday. For days we heard about nothing else. Innumerable speeches full of platitudes. A huge festival of kitsch.... [read more]
Bayer and Monsanto have a long history of collusion to poison the ecosystem for profit. The Trump administration should veto their merger not just to protect competitors but to ensure human and planetary survival.... [read more]
In less than a month, the four year anniversary of the Saudi-led war on Yemen takes place, with no real solution in sight or clear hope for a total cease-fire in one of the world’s poorest countries... [read more]
It is true that in the EU referendum, more people (52%) voted to leave than remain (48%) with the EU. But of the total electorate, that was 37% wanting to leave, 35% wanting to remain, and 28% that did not vote. ... [read more]
What the hell am I? An Israeli? A Jew? A peace activist? A Journalist? An author? An ex-combat soldier in the Israeli army? An ex-terrorist?... [read more]
On December 14 the Scottish National Party (SNP) Finance Minister, Derek Mackay presented to the Scottish Parliament the Scottish Government’s budget for 2018-19.... [read more]
Honduras is in crisis. The national election took place on Sunday 26 November. Results posted that night showed the challenger Salvador Nasralla with a 5% lead with 57% of the votes tallied... [read more]
Angela Merkel, who has been in power for 12 years and who won just 33% of the vote in the elections held on 24 September, failed to negotiate a coalition government that would rule over the German and the European working class for the next four years... [read more]
One vital aspect of Globalisation is that local wage traditions, built up over centuries of trade union struggles by the working class, have to give way to cheap labour that moves at the speed of money around the globe to satisfy the needs of multinational companies. Cheap labour has been achieved by making wars and creating a refugee crisis... [read more]
If anyone is still wondering why North Korea was being “provocative” in missile tests and repeatedly declaring what would seem to be a daunting arsenal (although there is still no irrefutable, concrete proof of deliverable, long range nuclear weapons capability) here is just a small taste of what it’s southern neighbor, in cahoots with Godfather America, has planned... [read more]
During his visit to hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico, President Donald Trump shocked the bond market when he told Geraldo Rivera of Fox News that he was going to wipe out the island’s bond debt.... [read more]
A team of researchers at the University of Oxford published the results of a survey of the world’s best artificial intelligence experts, who predicted that there was a 50 percent chance of AI outperforming humans in all tasks within 45 years... [read more]
A few months ago, I interviewed Noam Chomsky as part of our new book Voices for Peace: War, Resistance and America’s Quest for Full-spectrum Dominance... [read more]
The law is indeed trickier than a snake, and can slip under obstacles and slither away into the undergrowth. It leaves in its wake tattered truth and battered justice... [read more]
Western media and Democratic Party politicians have made a major campaign accusing Russia of “meddling” in the U.S. election. The following are major problems with the “anti-Russia” theme, starting with the lack of clear evidence.... [read more]
In the tumult of the last few days, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the "unification" of Jerusalem, one of the articles stated that "even peace-activist Uri Avnery" voted in the Knesset for the unification of the city.... [read more]
David Cameron rigged the 7 May 2015 election and planned to gerrymander the constituency boundaries in 2016 on the basis of a vastly reduced British electorate - the great majority of the voters who were removed from the rolls were non-Conservative voters.... [read more]
Perhaps the most sadly significant sign among the daily deceits currently stinking up the White House, is the redefinition of "presidential."... [read more]
I am a Palestinian. Do not relegate me to some imperial design suiting Israel's ends and tell me to pack off to Jordan or anywhere other than where I was born and where my forefathers have lived for well over a thousand year... [read more]
This is the second part of a paragraph by paragraph commentary on a recent article posing as journalism in the March 6, 2017 issue of The New Yorker.... [read more]
This is the first of a five part paragraph by paragraph commentary on a recent article posing as journalism in the March 6, 2017 issue of The New Yorker... [read more]
And there are those who ask, ‘Whatever happened to the idealism of my generation?’ Anyone who remembers the Sixties/Seventies years finds themselves asking that question... [read more]
Russian track and field athletes, plus the entire Paralympics team, were banned from the Rio Games last summer. This was based on the first McLaren report commissioned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA).... [read more]
Donald Trump is absolutely correct when he says the mainstream news media lies, purveys fake news, and is the enemy of the American people... [read more]
Trumpism is not a uniquely American phenomena. It is the local variant of an ultra-right anti-establishment ideology that has a worldwide manifestation... [read more]
The most incisive analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict I have ever read was written by the Jewish-Polish-British historian Isaac Deutscher... [read more]
As President Obama takes his last lap around the governing field before turning it over to Donald Trump LLC, many liberals and some deluded "leftists" have taken to thanking him for his eight years of service to the 1%... [read more]
I was invited by Mahmood Abbas, the President of the Palestinian National Authority, to take part in joint Palestinian-Israeli consultations in advance of the international conference in Paris.... [read more]
Donald Trump has spat in the faces of at least half the Israeli population. He has appointed a bankruptcy lawyer named David Friedman to the job of US ambassador in Israel.... [read more]
UNISON activist Terry McPartlan arrived home one day to find a letter stating that he’d been expelled from the Party after 36 years of continuous membership.... [read more]
Writing is the hand that feeds society’s conscience and consciousness. Writing examines life, the essential process of civilized awareness, the fuel of serious social discourse... [read more]
The third day of November 2016 was an historic day for parliamentary democracy. It was a day on which an investment fund manager and a hairdresser took on the might of the UK government in the High Court and won... [read more]
People wonder why Netanyahu denounces Abbas as an "inciter", while not mentioning Hamas. To solve this mystery, one must understand the Israeli Right does not fear war, but is afraid of international pressure – and therefore the "moderate" Abbas is more dangerous than the "terrorist" Hamas.... [read more]
Political ideas and structures don't die easily. The human mind is lazy and apprehensive, and clings to familiar ideas, long after they have become obsolete... [read more]
Luck can be a great benefactor. It can also be the cause of catastrophes. I seem to remember that one of those evil Greek gods or goddesses destroyed their human victims by making them lucky.... [read more]
"Anti-Semitism in France" is now all the rage in Israel. A huge propaganda effort is invested in this campaign. The aim is to induce French Jews to come to Israel... [read more]
The ICC will examine the Chilcot Inquiry Report for evidence of abuse and torture by British soldiers but have ruled out putting Tony Blair on trial for war crimes... [read more]
Charles Anthony Lynton Blair is beyond all shame. No matter how widely the guilt is spread, he was Captain of the No 10 Downing Street ship, and thus should shoulder commensurate blame.... [read more]
As we stroll along the transitory journey of life, it is only natural to progressively focus first and foremost on our education, acquiring skills, career aspirations, and perhaps marriage... [read more]
During the eighties and nineties here in the UK we were broadly encouraged to eat lower fat spreads such as margarine, associated with a push for polyunsaturated fat consumption... [read more]
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place each year on the 27th January and is marked on that day to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, by the Soviet Union’s Red Army... [read more]
The leaked Panama Papers, from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca & Co, are spilling the beans on the details of what the rich, powerful and greedy get up to with unseemly amounts of dosh... [read more]
A group of soldiers, supported by a major part of the political scene, has mutinied against their commanders. This is a major menace to the structure of the state, a challenge to what remains of our democracy.... [read more]
Bernie is the only candidate who has unwaveringly stood for socio-economic justice, educational and political empowerment, civil and constitutional rights for all... [read more]
Before 2011, Libya had achieved economic independence, with its own water, its own food, its own oil, its own money, and its own state-owned ban... [read more]
Former Labour shadow cabinet minister, Bryan Gould, questions the economic benefits Britain supposedly derives from being part of the EU... [read more]
The regional power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia has intensified as a result of Riyadh’s summary execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr... [read more]
All governments encroach, creep into our lives, and smother our minds with ever more legislation that infringes our human rights and civil liberties... [read more]
The hypocrisy and double standard that permeates the jewellery industry when it comes to blood diamonds is laid bare when one examines the ethical credential of Tiffany’s diamonds – one of the world’s most prestigious jewellers.... [read more]
One glance on Sunday morning at The Guardian website demonstrated quite clearly what is wrong with Britain – and, probably, the rest of the ‘developed’ world... [read more]
Much of the left would agree that the European Union does not always function in the best interests of either the European or International working class... [read more]
Bryan Gould, former Labour shadow cabinet minister, explains why Jeremy Corbyn's campaign appealed to those who are disturbed by increased poverty and widening inequality... [read more]
Let's put it bluntly: to try to stop IS means supporting the Assad regime. Bashar al-Assad is an abominable fellow, but he has kept Syria together, protected its many minorities and kept the Israeli border quiet... [read more]
Eric Draitser raises important questions about the recent attack on a market in the Syrian town of Douma and highlights gaps in the official narrative of events... [read more]
Many people, battered and depressed by the result of the general election cheered up when Jeremy announced he was entering the Labour leadership contest... [read more]
The larger social architecture defined by the academic, political and corporate ties of the gun lobby helps explain how we could systematically take the fight to the NRA... [read more]
The long anticipated historic nuclear accords between the P5+1 countries and Iran is now poised to set a new milestone for non-confrontation and dialogue... [read more]
Many people thought (and hoped) that Scotland voting No in its Independence Referendum last year had laid that idea to rest. Far from it... [read more]
In 2015 the industry of terrorism has moved into a new phase and the scenarios I painted – such as the militarisation of civil society - have gone mainstream... [read more]
Bryan Gould, former Labour shadow cabinet minister, says Labour's leaders must be prepared to do the hard work needed to produce a convincing alternative in line with much current and developing economic thinking... [read more]
After Labour’s dismal performance in Thursday’s election there have been a lot of theories on why it turned out to be such a terrible night for the party... [read more]
It’s not only the Scots who are disillusioned with Westminster politics. The 2015 election once again doomed the north to five more years under a leadership it hasn’t voted for... [read more]
England’s Easter was the culmination of recent events which have brought the would-be great and good to their knees - and knee deep in hypocrisy... [read more]
I fear the outcome of the general election; I fear the deals made by politicians desperate to stay in power, deals that will further harm the disadvantaged poor... [read more]
My father once taught me how to withstand blackmail: imagine that the awful threat of the blackmailer has already come about. Then you can tell him: Go to hell... [read more]
Last year July 2014, Mansoor Jaffar, a senior journalist for Al Arabiya, wrote a scathing article critcizing Pakistan for its “zombie-like response" to the Gaza killings... [read more]
The devotion of one’s intellectual and material resources to the betterment of human society has been emphasized in Persian literature, culture and religions since the earliest times... [read more]
The Penrose Inquiry, the public inquiry into the circumstances in which patients treated by the NHS in Scotland became infected with Hepatitis C, HIV, or both, through the use of blood or blood products published its Final Report on Wednesday, 25 March 2015... [read more]
The gains to all sides from a nuclear resolution and the strategically inevitable normalisation of relations between the U.S. and Iran will far outweigh the collective perceived losses... [read more]
If you were a university student at any time from 1962 to 1989, you received a maintenance grant; it started off at a little under £400 p.a. and reached £1,430 in 1980... [read more]
People are suffering from a deficiency which is as unbalancing as a hormone or vitamin deficiency. What we are severely lacking in is democracy... [read more]
In November 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned bank, is more profitable than Goldman Sachs Group... [read more]
The Senate report on CIA torture reads like a Stephen King novel, a transcript from the Nuremberg trials, or Josef Mengele’s notes from Auschwitz... [read more]
The Shas party has split into two. Opinion polls show that both parts are hovering around the 3.12% threshold which is now necessary for entering the Knesset, after the minimum was raised by the last Knesset... [read more]
The murder of Baha Mousa springs to mind as a line in the sand where we may have publicly turned a corner for soldiers being exposed for abusing innocent civilians... [read more]
Israelis are fed up with Binyamin Netanyahu. They are fed up with the government. They are fed up with all political parties. They are fed up with themselves. They are fed up... [read more]
According to research conducted by the Sutton Trust, an educational charity based in the UK, almost a third of university graduate interns are being forced to work without pay, as a means of ‘getting their foot in the door’ of their respective careers... [read more]
The first part of an 'Introduction' to an illustrated book of poetry by Dr Faysal Mikdadi. The collection, Painted into a Corner, appeared in the summer of 2014... [read more]
Many innocent people have become victims of the state in Pakistan as successive governments assisted the US with its War on Terror operations after 9/11... [read more]
Those in power don’t speak of ‘people’ or ‘killing’ – it helps them do their job. And we are picking up their dehumanising euphemisms, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Sweden, like Britain, was always considered a "pro-Israeli" country, loyally voting against "anti-Israel" resolutions in the UN. If such important Western nations are reconsidering their attitudes towards the policy of Israel, what does it mean?... [read more]
Surrounded as we are by crises, it can sometimes seem like there is no hope. But whether it’s climate change, conflict, food security or inequality, there is a solution. We call it localization... [read more]
In recent days the name of the firm “Blackwater” has reared its ugly head once again with the trial of four men, part of an assignment contracted by the US State Department to provide “security” in Baghdad during 2007... [read more]
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the capitalist counter-revolution in China, an immense political vacuum opened up in ideology and politics on a world scale. Article by Dr Lal Khan... [read more]
What is happening right now in Ukraine may not just be another conflict that will rumble on for a few years and then slowly end in a messy compromise... [read more]
I have no idea where the Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL or whatever name it uses came from, and I'm just as baffled by the roots of its violent ideology... [read more]
Monsanto believes it is having trouble getting its message across to the public. Last year, it began a makeover. It realised that it and GMOs have an image problem... [read more]
Dr Robert Braun, veteran politician and senior member of Hungary’s opposition party, MSZP, speaks with Dr Tomasz Pierscionek about Hungary’s transition from Eastern Bloc state to neo-liberal democracy and describes the challenges currently facing the country... [read more]
The Israeli media are now totally subservient. There is no independent reporting. "Military correspondents" are not allowed into Gaza to see for themselves, they are willingly reduced to parroting army communiqués, presenting them as their personal observations... [read more]
Samina Baig from the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan has once again made the news becoming the first female to summit all seven highest peaks in the seven continents in just under eight months... [read more]
Many individuals in the Western nations are still great at invention, but innovation — defined as the transfer of these inventions to the factory floor — has generally failed in the West... [read more]
Western governments and their advisors can no longer continue to ignore the work of the master economist Dr Osamu Shimomura (1910-1989) who provided the insights which have produced the high growth of the China Sea economic zone... [read more]
In his latest essay, John Pilger describes the liberal "one-way, legal/moral screen" behind which great power and its Orwellian propaganda ensure an impunity for war and deception, dependent on what Leni Riefenstahl called our "submissive void".... [read more]
Longevity science may divide us into treated and untreated: the first living ever longer, the second dying even younger than now, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
The USA wants to turn Ukraine into a permanent area of crisis, keeping it just off the boil of war. In this way Russia will feel threatened... [read more]
Prior to the recent national elections in India, there were calls for a Thatcherite revolution to fast-track the country towards privatisation and neo-liberalism... [read more]
After the nearly decade long occupation of Iraq, you would have thought that some within British political circles would have learned about the country they sent troops to occupy back in 2003.... [read more]
The principal threat to expression comes not from state regulation but from censorship by editors and proprietors, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
While most of us are happy to trade, to buy products from other countries, to take part in what is now a “global community”, we want to do it on our own terms... [read more]
One side's terrorists are the other side’s freedom fighters. That is not simply a matter of terminology. It is a difference of perception, which has far-reaching practical consequences... [read more]
The proposal to hand back some decision powers to member states of the European Union regarding GMO approvals is currently being discussed, writes Colin Todhunter... [read more]
Thomas Piketty's book, Capital in the 21st Century, has almost had the effect of a tsunami on economic thinking in the United States, writes Thomas Riggins... [read more]
Apparently, the results of the national general election in India mark a turning point. We are told that the nation has spoken and has given the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP party a ‘landslide victory’... [read more]
Given the bloody nose Boris Johnson received from the well supported actions of RMT members in their dispute over the closure of ticket offices, it is not surprising that he should be lobbying Cameron to neutralise the union's opposition... [read more]
The Indian Oil and Environment minister has added fuel to the debate about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by approving field trials of 200 GM food crops on behalf of companies like Monsanto... [read more]
A friend reminded us on Facebook that today, 8 May, is the anniversary of the end of the War in Europe when Fascism was thankfully defeated... [read more]
Successive British Governments have persistently denied the importance of industry in the national economy, with some of ministers foolishly regarding industrial decline as inevitable writes George T Edwards... [read more]
Dr Tomasz Pierscionek discusses how UKIP seek to plug an electoral void that ought to be filled by a Labour Party offering a socialist programme... [read more]
The People’s Assembly has the potential to become the successor to the popular fronts of the 1930s in uniting the broad left writes Dr Thabo Miller... [read more]
When Transparency International issued its report on election spending on Monday the section that captured the headlines was that showing that Fidesz would spend over double the legal limit – and get away with it. Fidesz stayed quiet on this revelation but needless to say the opposition parties took to the social media immediately, writes David Eade.... [read more]
I have three challenges for the architects of a proposed transatlantic trade deal. If they reject them, they reject democracy, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
The International Brigades were hailed for bravery. But British citizens who fight in Syria are damned. If only they did it for the money, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Spaniards and Gibraltarians will remember well the case of Cengiz Yalcin. However as the British, French and USA secret services were claimed to be involved in his arrest, the case probably reverberated around the world... [read more]
Most of us have read how difficult it has been for whistleblowers Julian Assange and Edward Snowdon since exposing state secrets, now imagine blowing the whistle from behind bars of one of America’s most notorious penitentiaries... [read more]
The BBC's Today programme is enjoying high ratings, and the Mail and the Telegraph are, as usual, attacking the corporation as left-wing... [read more]
Still basing himself on Engels' work, Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Lenin points out that the State is the first form of society exclusively to base itself on a given territory... [read more]
Before President Obama even began the State of the Union address, two people I knew in the audience, from two defining points in my life... [read more]
The truth is that the situation in Italy is getting desperate. Amongst those under 25, unemployment is as high as 40% with many of those in work underpaid and on short term contracts... [read more]
On 18/1/2014, around two hundred people gathered in Manchester for a fundraising benefit to aid the cause of teenage asylum seeker, Olayinka, who faces the risk of Female Genital Mutilation, if forcibly returned to Nigeria... [read more]
Shimomuran economics is the name I have given to the collection of no-debt, high-growth economic understandings practised in post-war Japan and post-rapprochement China... [read more]
Dr Faysal Mikdadi publishes an excellent account of Palestine's history, focusing on how the economic, racist, religious, nationalistic, commercial and orientalist attitudes of Britain shaped the land and its people (Part 1 of 2)... [read more]
It is now fifty years ago, come November 22nd, that John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in an event that had a huge bearing on the course of history from that day on... [read more]
I first heard Martin Schulz speak in Sofia in June at the PES Congress. He was then, as he is now, President of the European Parliament. He articulated a clear vision for reforming the EU which struck a chord... [read more]
On Wednesday 6 November a very significant event took place in Brussels. Martin Schulz was confirmed as the Party of European Socialists candidate designate for the European Commission President. So how does this impact on you? The answer is in a very big way, writes David Eade.... [read more]
Dr Lal Khan explains how the Western media conveniently suppresses aspects of Malala Yousafzai's background so that Pakistani youth and workers remain oblivious of this brave girl’s struggle... [read more]
The 10-year-old Londoners I took to Wales were proof that a week in the countryside is worth three months in a classroom, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
According to a recent article in the New York Times two of the candidates running for mayor of New York have become alarmed about the worldview of Bill de Blasio, the front running candidate of the Democratic Party... [read more]
This afternoon [Tuesday] Labour Leader Ed Miliband made his keynote speech to his party’s annual conference in Brighton. Speaking as is now usual for more than hour without notes Miliband set out his vision of how “Britain can do better” under Labour, writes David Eade.... [read more]
Cumbria Unison convenor Paul Lloyd argues that whereas Socialism may have lost its voice in the political arena, it is still present in our daily life... [read more]
George Tait Edwards comments on the comparisons and contrasts between the policies and personalities of Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minster of Japan, and David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom... [read more]
The United Nations recently warned that the ongoing turmoil inside Syria and Iraq has formed a situation where "the battlefields are merging” into one, writes Hussein Al-Alak... [read more]
Those of us who defend the planet are increasingly subject to abuse. It is the price we pay for confronting the power of money, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
When James Wharton stages his Canute-like attempt to prevent Labour from taking back Stockton South, then that party ought to put down an amendment declining to give the 'Daft Bill' a Second Reading in view of its entire failure to address some issues, writes David Lindsay.... [read more]
George Tait Edwards provides a brief timeline about the creation and spread of the new knowledge about how to make an economy grow with explosive force ... [read more]
Frank Owen, the lead character in Robert Tressell’s novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, expressed his frustration at the dismissive response of his fellow workers to his arguments for a better society... [read more]
I set off to Bulgaria after being selected by the Party of European Socialists to be part of the 100 plus team from all across the European Union to monitor the General Election. David Eade reports.... [read more]
The only way forward is back: to retrace our steps and seek to return atmospheric concentrations to around 350ppm, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Voting violations such as ballot rigging, vote buying and control are acts we associate with the shadier, non democratic nations of the world. However such practices are alive and well right here in the EU, writes David Eade.... [read more]
Former British Prime Minister's fee market policies paved the way for current economic crisis and she legislated the UK’s first new anti-gay law in over 100 years: Section 28, writes Peter Tatchell, Director, Peter Tatchell Foundation.... [read more]
Why are 97 per cent of our rivers shut to the public? A millionaire minister’s amazing conflicts of interest give you a clue, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks, it seems, was not a one-off, desperate idea of a few Eurozone “troika” officials scrambling to salvage their balance sheets reveals Ellen Brown... [read more]
I find it incredible that ordinary US citizens believe that they have the right to keep and bear arms in this day and age writes Susan Walpole... [read more]
Viewers of Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ‘45 are shocked to see Winston Churchill being booed and heckled during the 1945 General Election campaign. They ought not to be remotely surprised writes David Eade... [read more]
On Saturday I attended the MSZP socialist party rally in Budapest. It was held at the national stadium dedicated to Ferenc Puskás, writes David Eade... [read more]
This does not happen every day: a Minister of Culture publicly rejoices because a film from her country has NOT been awarded an Oscar. And not just one film, but two.
... [read more]
According to an article in last Thursday's Wall Street Journal, the Senate is considering a bipartisan plan to require all working people in the US to carry a biometric ID card. Thomas Riggins reports... [read more]
Thomas Riggins concludes his analysis of Lenin's 'Left-Wing' Communism: an Infantile Disorder and looks at what conclusions can be drawn from the book's previous nine chapters... [read more]
If you have an image of a person who is an old school Communist mayor and trade unionist in Andalucía the chances are you would come up with a description of Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, writes David Eade.... [read more]
The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI brings an opportunity to reform Catholic doctrine on human rights issues, writes Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation.... [read more]
Susan Walpole argues that the problems facing Christians, Muslims, Jews and other religions today appear to be firmly rooted in their ideologies of identity... [read more]
There are awards for everyone. There are the Logies, the Commies, the Tonys, the Theas, the Millies ("They cried with pride") and now the Shammies, writes John Pilger... [read more]
Emissions are rising, ice is melting and yet the response of governments is simply to pretend that none of it is happening, says George Monbiot.... [read more]
A winter's day, some years back: a fall on the ice landed George Monbiot in A&E – and that's when he met the man with tattoos on his neck and knuckles.... [read more]
Felix McHugh shines a spotlight on the propaganda spread by the mainstream parties that seeks to demonise those made unemployed or those who are too ill to work... [read more]
Richard Kirker remembers Ian Buist: the quintessential Civil Service mandarin, but also a doughty proponent of social progress. He had a fearless determination to champion the rights of the victims of injustice, minorities and the marginalised.... [read more]
Ian Buist: Ian Buist, CB, colonial officer, overseas aid administrator and champion of human and gay rights, was born on May 30, 1930. He died on October 19, 2012, aged 82, remembered by Richard Kirker.... [read more]
Faisal Mikdadi discusses the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and presents a road map for achieving peace between all peoples and factions that reside in these lands (Part 2)... [read more]
Nathaneal Sansam comments on two elections that took place on the same day: the Corby by-election and election of a Police and Crime Commissioner in Humberside... [read more]
John Green writes about the life and work of one of America’s greatest singers who was ‘disappeared’ from public life and airbrushed out of the history books... [read more]
Despite hurricane Sandy, neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney will speak about global warming. The danger this poses is huge, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Being a supporter of Palestinian statehood used to be a more lonely road than it is now. It was difficult to mention Palestine in public because it was such a 'dirty' word, Susan Walpole writes... [read more]
Since the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, the US has struggled with its foreign policy and its perceived role within global politics. Finn Bowen discusses the past, present and future of US foreign policy... [read more]
David Lane reviews a book which illustrates the global nature of developments in healthcare: Health Care Reform and Globalisation: The US, China and Europe in Comparative Perspective... [read more]
US elections are manifestly linked to the Middle East, at least rhetorically. In practical terms, however, US foreign policies in the region are compelled by the Middle East’s own dynamics and the US’ own political climate, economic woes, or ambitions, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
After months of activity and apologies, the message from Nick Clegg to the left of centre voter was this: "We are not the party for you." At least, this was the message I took away with me. Not just from the Lib-Dem conference but also from the New Statesman article by Richard Reeves, Clegg's former director of strategy, writes Nathaneal Sansam.... [read more]
Since the Second World War, US foreign policy has been largely predicated on military adventures, by severely punishing enemies and controlling ‘friends’. Diplomacy was often the icing on the cake of war, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Dr Faysal Mikdadi remembers the Sabra and Shatilla massacre in 1982 and examines the findings of the Kahan Commission which found that responsibility lay with former Israeli Defence minister, Ariel Sharon... [read more]
John Green reports that Julian Assange is the new bête noir, the man to be vilified, smeared and slandered. In all the media hysteria about the rape allegations made in Sweden against Assange by two women he slept with, the real issue is being conveniently buried.... [read more]
Edward Bernays is known as the father of modern advertising/propaganda. Colin Todhunter emphasises and how we must and indeed can break free of the addictions and fears being promoted daily.... [read more]
Two Toyota Land Cruisers filled with well-built gunmen in ski masks and all-black outfits appear seemingly out of nowhere. They approach a group of soldiers huddled around a simple meal as they prepare to break their Ramadan fast. The gunmen open fire. This is not an opening scene of a Hollywood action movie. The massacre actually took place at an Egyptian military post in northern Sinai, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Palestinian refugees in Syria cannot expect to exist outside a paradigm of danger and unpredictability. Their brethren in Lebanon learned the same lesson years ago, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
In 1947, Nehru spoke about a tryst with destiny. Free from the shackles of British colonialism, India was on course for a bright new future. Fast forward and witness the not so glittering outcome that Nehru didn’t have in mind, writes Colin Todhunter.... [read more]
The widespread killings of Rohingya Muslims in Burma – or Myanmar - have received only passing and dispassionate coverage in most media. What they actually warrant is widespread outrage, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The mainstream corporate media has been fooling the public for decades. It fails to shine a light on important decisions that are made behind closed doors by unaccountable corporate players, senior politicians and unelected bureaucrats, writes Colin Todhunter.... [read more]
Condemning Israeli rights violations in Palestine by leading human rights and humanitarian organizations is nothing new. Unfortunately, such calls are rarely followed by any organized political campaigns, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The spectacle of sport, like the 2012 Euro Cup, is the primary medium through which nations and national identities are imagined, writes Ilia Xypolia.... [read more]
The age of revolutionary romance is over. Various Arab countries are now facing hard truths. Millions of Arabs merely want to live with a semblance of dignity, free from tyranny and continuous anxiety over the future, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Tomasz Pierscionek writes about Cuba's internationalist outlook following discussions with a representative of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples and his own observations in Havana... [read more]
Lord Freud, Welfare Reform Minister, recently said: "We always push for the strongest possible punishment for benefit thieves who are stealing money from the people who need it the most".If David Freud did not exist it would be necessary for a left-wing writer to invent him, writes Felix McHugh.... [read more]
Uri Avnery reveals that in Israel senior military officers and intelligence chiefs are speaking out against President Binyamin Netanyahu's calls for war with Iran. However, Netanyahu ignores their warnings and carries on regardless... [read more]
Miles Caston explores an alternative 'Gap Year' idea for those wanting to differ from the norm. WWOOF lets you contribute to a local community abroad and help the environment through maintaining sustainable ways of living ... [read more]
Israel is currently experiencing the kind of turmoil that may or may not affect its political hierarchy following the next general election. However, there is little reason to believe that any major transformations in the Israeli political landscape could be of benefit to Palestinians, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Shortly after progressive Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was overthrown by a Western backed coup in 1960, the former UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjöld, died in mysterious circumstances. John Green asks if the two events were in any way connected.... [read more]
Israel’s colonization policies are entering an alarming new phase, comparable in historic magnitude to the original plans to colonize Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem following the war of 1967, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Pop dinosaurs head up Britain’s Eurovision challenge and the Olympic jamboree. New seasons of X Factor and Pop Idol are being spawned in some modern marketing womb of entertainment hell. They are destroying Britain’s reputation as an alternative music powerhouse, writes Miles Caston.... [read more]
Baroness Tonge, spoke at the House of Lords in January 2009 of the "impotence of the international community, not just in Gaza, but…over 40 years of occupation of Palestine by Israel," Ramzy Baroud explains further.... [read more]
Stephen Gilbert argues that surveillance over the whole population involves an erosion of our basic liberties. We give away our rights at our own peril.
... [read more]
Marwan Barghouti, the prominent Palestinian political prisoner and Fatah leader, is a unifying figure among Palestinians, last week he called on Palestinians to launch a “large-scale popular resistance” which would “serve the cause of our people,” writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The victimisation of a Cambridge University student has caused anger and outrage amongst the wider student body. Thus far, 2800 Cambridge students have signed a petition condemning the University’s decision to suspend the individual concerned... [read more]
Palestinians are governed by laws without internationally recognizable legal frame of reference, a situation that allows Israel to justify the detention of Gaza patients seeking medical treatment outside their besieged area, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Next year will see the centenary of the death of Alfred Russel Wallace. Simultaneously with Darwin the discoverer of evolution due to natural selection, but history has largely eclipsed his name under Darwin’s immense shadow, writes John Green.... [read more]
Despite all of Hamas’ assurances to the contrary, a defining struggle is taking place within the Palestinian Islamic movement, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The secret NATO report, "State of the Taliban 2012," commissioned by the US and NATO was never supposed to see the light of day. Unfortunately for the US war party it was leaked to the press, writes Thomas Riggins
... [read more]
Women of every oppressed nationality are often at the helm of revolutionary movements. Unfortunately, the contributions of women are frequently dismissed or forgotten... [read more]
The three women Nobel Peace Prize winners of 2011, wore head Covers. Does that mean that the ‘West’ is acknowledging freedom of identity of people from the third world? asks Iqbal Tamimi.... [read more]
From the Chagos islands to Libya, a ruthless system has been at work, often resorting to violence whilst trying to maintain the illusion of democracy... [read more]
Richard Becker dissects Obama's 2012 State of the Union address and shows that the 'CEO of the imperialist ruling class is carrying on with business as usual... [read more]
David Eade reflects on Ed Balls' recent speech at a Fabian Society conference and asks whether the Shadow Chancellor is more of a hinderence than a help to his own party... [read more]
Following the decline of the manufacturing sector, in recent years, Dr Jonathan Feldmann discusses ways in which Britain could go about redeveloping its industrial base... [read more]
Dr Tomasz Pierscionek reviews a book challenging one of the last remaining forms of prejudice deemed ‘socially acceptable’ in modern Britain. (This book is now free to download from this review.)... [read more]
John Green asks whether we need a mass party to represent the unions and the left and to advance the interests of the entire working class (Part 2)... [read more]
If Islamist movements come to power all over the region, they should express their debt of gratitude to their bête noire, Israel, states Uri Avnery
... [read more]
A qualitative change is taking place within the European Union where it is crystal clear that national independence and democracy are being dumped without formal procedure or public announcement, says John Boyd.... [read more]
In the second of her interviews using the 'Lego Serious Play' method, Patrizia Bertini meets Ollie, a young occupier at the OccupyLSX camp... [read more]
2011 had its share of tragedy. Human lives were lost in Palestine. But hope was also sustained by the sacrifices of numerous ‘ordinary’ people, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Stephen Gilbert asks whether Britain is a Christian country and whether Cameron's coalition government lives up to the Christian values he professes... [read more]
There is a rising tide of Euroscepticism within mainstream political parties and on the floors of national Parliaments throughout the European Union, says David Lindsay.... [read more]
Despite David Cameron's attempt to brush the November 30th strike under the carpet and continue with his attacks on the poorest, John Wight predicts that strong resistance to the cuts will continue.... [read more]
Through a mist of tears, I caught up with the conclusion of 'My Transsexual Summer', Channel 4’s four-part fly-on-the-wall series, says W Stephen Gilbert.... [read more]
Uri Avnery explains how the three main pillars of Israeli democracy - the courts, the media and the human rights organisations - are under threat from the political right. ... [read more]
An in-depth critique and analysis of the beginnings of the civil war in Libya and what was at stake for all parties involved in the final conflict, split into three parts. (Part 2)... [read more]
Following a recent trip to the island, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the end of the Bougainville Civil War, Catherine Wilson reports on the role women played in bringing peace to the island.... [read more]
As the Spanish general election approaches, David Eade shows how a protest movement, led by the homeless, will be campaigning out on the streets.... [read more]
Deborah X provides a personal view of the effect of the coalition’s policies on single parents, their children and the communities in which they live... [read more]
Colin Leys discusses the profound impact that the Health and Social Care Bill will have upon the publically owned National Health Service... [read more]
In an ideal world (one in which The X Factor is but a terrible dream, foisted upon us by a vengeful Satan), students wouldn't have to pay tuition fees, says Chris Mason-Felsing.... [read more]
Hussein Al-Alak talks about the origins of Combat Stress- a charity that has cared for the mental health of veterans since the First World War.... [read more]
Sarah Carlson looks at the growing social protest movement in Israel and discusses the need for the Israeli working class to combat not only the economic policies of their government but also its colonialist policies.... [read more]
As Colonel Gaddafi’s regime enters its final days, Brian Becker looks at NATOs involvement in bolstering the rebel movement and the truth behind the so called campaign of ‘humanitarian intervention’ ... [read more]
As expected the state is warming to the task of cracking down hard, as they like to put it, on looters/rioters past, present and future. Cameron and May have been strutting around talking tough about what they are going to do. ... [read more]
Michael Prysner, reveals how the newly appointed American Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, is bringing back Bush-era rhetoric and pushing to extend the occupation of Iraq.... [read more]
Jeremy Corbyn reflects on the rise of Murdoch media empire and the years of shameless and blinkered journalism that have been a feature of the newspapers controlled by the media mogul.... [read more]
When media magnate Rupert Murdoch was summoned before the Commons select committee on 19th July, one man tried to ensure he would not walk away untarnished. Jonathan May Bowles, famed as the individual who threw a shaving foam pie at Murdoch, explains his actions.... [read more]
From JA Hobson's re-published classic to Doug Stokes and Sam Rafael's lucid contemporary critique, understanding imperialism is key to achieving a fairer and more sustainable world, writes Nathaniel Mehr.... [read more]
Ahmed Amr relates his experience from the front line of the anti-Mubarak demonstrations and considers culpability of the US in what happened. ... [read more]
Now that the dust has settled on Ed Miliband's surprise victory in the Labour leadership election, Michael Prior considers the challenges facing the new leader as he seeks to move the party away from Blairism.... [read more]
Garry Leech reflects on the Orwellian distortions in Hillary Clinton's recent comments on the history of US involvement in Central America.... [read more]
The rise of China is almost universally hailed as a great success story. Ted Sprague considers the largely unreported human cost of China's forward march.... [read more]
The long-running tensions between Colombia and Venezuela have escalated this week after further provocation by the Colombian government, writes Eva Golinger.... [read more]
Samuele Mazzolini reflects on an election that has consolidated the dominance of Silvo Berlusconi's centre-right bloc, and the continuing malaise of the Italian left.... [read more]
The media fixation with pointless symbolic milestones serves to trivialise the everyday misery of victims of US violence, argues Ramzy Baroud. ... [read more]
A number of recent initiatives have sought to place the narratives of Armenian, Rwandan and other genocide victims alongside the memory of the Jewish Holocaust. A vocal hardcore of Zionist bigots has reacted in predictable fashion, as Amanda Sebestyen explains.... [read more]
The humanitarian crisis in Haiti has brought into sharp focus the injustice of neoliberal economic exploitation; Greg Sharzer argues that charity alone cannot pull Haiti out of its desperate plight. ... [read more]
A concert in London, jointly organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and the TUC, will raise funds for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.... [read more]
A new law prohibiting Venezuela's corporate media from inciting violence against the Chavez government has prompted violent demonstrations from right-wing student groups, as James Suggett explains.... [read more]
Hugo Chavez believes the Colombian government is planning to fabricate a pretext for a cross-border military attack, as James Suggett reports.... [read more]
A just and peaceful solution to the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict will only be possible when the US ceases to block every move made towards it, argues Ramzy Baroud. ... [read more]
This month's recommended read is a passionate and intriguing account of the early life of the Daily Herald newspaper, as Matt Genner explains.... [read more]
Hugo Chavez has warned the US and Colombia that any aggression against Venezuela will be met with firm resistance, as James Suggett explains.... [read more]
In the first of a two-part essay examining the background to the recent terrorist attack in Iran, Daniel Pye looks at the US government's employment of proxy armies or 'surrogates' in its bid for strategic control of the Middle East. ... [read more]
Delivering the 2009 Caroline Benn Memorial Lecture, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell hailed the ongoing defiance of the world's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the face of deeply-entrenched homophobic prejudice.... [read more]
US representative Peter Galbraith was recalled by the United Nations after a row over the disputed Afghan election, as Rupert Cornwell explains.... [read more]
Will the Obama administration break with tradition and provide US support for democracy in Latin America? Probably not, if the Honduras coup is anything to go by, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Steven Littlewood spoke with prominent Afghan pro-democracy campaigner Malalai Joya about elections, imperialism and the turmoil in Afghanistan.... [read more]
Garry Leech on how the Colombian community of Libertad has struggled to free itself from the brutal violence of Colombia's paramilitary forces.... [read more]
Hussein al-Alak examines the widespread incidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among soldiers and workers involved in the Iraq war.... [read more]
In the wake of the highly politicised media storm over the release of the 'Lockerbie bomber', Adrian Cruden reflects on a number of unanswered questions about the Pan Am bombing.... [read more]
Whatever David Cameron may be saying publicly, massive public sector cuts will be a certainty if the Tories win the next election, as Steve Jones explains.... [read more]
Socialist Appeal's Adam Booth says the Vestas closure is just another manifestation of an economic system which prioritises private interests over the public good.... [read more]
Governments across Latin America are expressing growing unease over the militarism of joint US-Colombian policy in the region, as Kiraz Janicke explains.... [read more]
Lila Ghobady outlines why Iran's 'reformist' candidate does not represent a real alternative to the repressiveness of the incumbent regime.... [read more]
James Suggett on the Venezuelan government's response to the ongoing anti-Chavez campaign being pursued by the country's corporate mass media.... [read more]
Liz Davies says some pressing questions need to be answered about the way in which London's police conducted themselves during the G20 protests.... [read more]
In the wake of the unprovoked - and ultimately fatal - attack on bystander Ian Tomlinson at last week's G20, Daniel Read calls for an end to police brutality and the culture of police cover-ups. ... [read more]
With mainstream politicians apparently unable to find a way out of the present financial mess, Michael Prior believes now is a critical time for the left to mobilise.... [read more]
Christopher Vasey on the high-profile committee report which has drawn unwanted attention to the UK secret services' involvement in the torture of alleged terrorist suspects. ... [read more]
Cristina Brooks spoke to Greg Maughan of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party about his views on recent developments in the economic sphere.... [read more]
Examining mainstream media coverage of recent international conflicts, Tomasz Pierscionek argues that the nearly all-encompassing false reality of the Hollywood sci-fi classic "The Matrix" is merely an example of art immitating life.... [read more]
In the week that a controversial new law on pornography came into force, Symon Hill outlines his concerns about the implications for sexual freedom, and civil liberties more broadly.... [read more]
As India and Pakistan engage in sabre rattling troops have been moving towards their forward deployments, Assed Baig asks: What about the victims of this age-old rivalry?... [read more]
Reviewing the events of the past fortnight in Gaza, Ramzy Baroud condemns the failure of Arab governments to provide meaingful support for the Palestinian people.... [read more]
Examining the legal framework of humanitarian intervention, Alexa Van Sickle calls on the international community to act now to prevent a humanitarian tragedy in Zimbabwe.... [read more]
Samuele Mazzolini examines a bold new intiative from the Ecuadorean government, aimed at establishing a coordinated transnational policy among debtor nations with respect to the crippling debt burdens that are stifling progress in the developing world.... [read more]
Major upheavals at the national level have overshadowed local developments in much of the US election coverage. Demetrius Notice rounds up a number of important state-level ballot measures pertaining to various aspects of social policy.... [read more]
Ahead of next week's big vote in the United States, Jon Peter Daly reviews the valiant efforts of a minority party - the Party for Socialism and Liberation - to mount a progressive challenge to the mainstream parties.... [read more]
James Suggett on the latest development in the ongoing Venezuelan-led initiative for greater Latin American integration in the face of the world economic crisis.... [read more]
As part of our ongoing series of articles marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Tomasz Pierscionek examines Cuba's exemplary record on healthcare. ... [read more]
Richard Scorer on how the current economic crisis presents a challenge to the Democrats' cosy relationship with big business and finance.... [read more]
John Cruddas MP on why the Labour Party's present crisis calls for a rejection of the ethos of selfish individualism which defined the New Labour project.... [read more]
Matt Genner argues that committing itself to a national living wage would help restore Labour's credentials as the mainstream party most committed to social justice. ... [read more]
Peter Taylor-Gooby argues that the Conservative party's latest attempt to scapegoat the poor reflects the extent to which Thatcherite individualism has poisoned British society after over a decade of New Labour in power.... [read more]
With market speculation very much in the news at the moment, Mick Brooks examines the phenomenon of the hedge fund, and its role in the current economic malaise.... [read more]
Following on from last week's article, Sven Eric Balabanoff continues his look at the role of "Push-polling" in this year's US elections. ... [read more]
Samuele Mazzolini on the bold steps taken by Ecuador's President Correa as he bids to bring financial stability and security to the country.... [read more]
Neal Lawson, Chair of the campaign group Compass, believes the Labour party must free itself from New Labour's fixation with market fundamentalism and return to social democratic values.... [read more]
Much of Colombia has rejoiced at the assassination of leading FARC member Raul Reyes. Samuele Mazzolini considers the wider implications of Colombia's reckless approach to counter-terrorism.... [read more]