IN PORTUGAL’S recent elections, the people voted to chuck out a European Union backed pro-austerity government. The governing coalition between the liberal Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the conservative People’s Party (CDS-PP) won only 102 seats out of 230. By contrast, the anti-austerity left did well. The Socialist Party (PS) won 32.3 per cent […]
IT DOESN’T take long for memories to fade. The picture of drowned three-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up on a beach near Bodrum, Turkey went viral across both social and mainstream media back in September. The image humanised the tragic fate of hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in Syria. Its immediate effect was to […]
THE TORIES’ response to the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War is to allow a mere 20,000 Syrians to settle in the UK over the next five years – an average of 4,000 a year. It will take nearly a year for the first refugees to arrive, so bureaucratic are the rules governing […]
IN THE last month Israeli occupation forces have murdered 60 Palestinians, 15 of them under the age of 18. One, Dania Irshaid, a 17-year-old student returning from school, was shot holding her hands in the air. Israeli sources later claimed that she had been “carrying a knife”. Nine Israelis have been killed in the same […]
On 11 October a demonstration against state terror ended in the bloodiest massacre in Turkeys’ recent history. About 10,000 people travelled from across the country to gather in front of the main railway station in Ankara. Two major union federations, the Turkish Medical Association and the Engineers’ and Architects’ Association, had mobilised for the march, […]
ONE of the most important factors in Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign was his opposition to the war in Iraq, and to any future wars in the Middle East. The lies and spin that took us to war in Iraq under Tony Blair still weigh heavily on the minds of millions. Ed Miliband’s refusal to give […]
Ian Townson, a Lambeth housing activist, traces the contours of a housing crisis made worse by Tory policy AT THE last election, all the mainstream parties issued their usual shopping list of measures to deal with the chronic housing crisis. The one thing they all lacked was a strategic plan for it. Having relied for 30 […]
TORY plans to reduce tax credits have been defeated in the House of Lords. This is a welcome setback for Osborne, but he is still determined to grab £4.4 billion from low paid workers and the self-employed. The Lords’ vote will delay Osborne’s plans by three years, but his Autumn Statement will reveal fresh […]
National Gallery staff have ended their indefinite strike having won serious concessions after 100 days of action. Originally opposing moves to privatise the security and visitor services, PCS members also demanded the London Living Wage and later the reinstatement of Candy Udwin, a senior union rep who was sacked on trumped up charges early on in […]
The Tories’ Trade Union Bill will ramp up Britain’s anti-union laws, already among the most repressive in Europe. Liberty and the British Institute of Human Rights have condemned the Bill as an attack on civil rights. The Tories’ aim is to finally destroy the welfare state by breaking the public sector unions’ resistance, to create […]
British steel is in crisis. While cheap Chinese is steel being “dumped” on world markets, three body blows have been inflicted on steel production. The SSI steelworks in Redcar is going into liquidation, with the government refusing to offer any lifeline. A mothballing operation will now see 2,200 jobs go, in a devastating blow to […]
Jeremy Corbyn won Labour’s leadership election by mobilising hundreds of thousands with his call for Labour to break with the austerity consensus and lead opposition to cuts, privatisation and war. The comprehensive nature of Corbyn’s victory has opened up a serious struggle over the Party’s future direction. The Blairite right have been quick off the […]
Marc Dauncey interviewed a returning Labour Party member in South Wales THESE are tumultuous times for the Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn’s dramatic win and a huge influx of activists. Nowhere is that more evident than at the grassroots, local level – constituency and branch meetings. But how are these new activists finding the experience? […]
Matt Hale from Sheffield Central CLP (pc) spoke to Red Flag about the local Corbyn4Leader campaign RED FLAG: HOW DID JEREMY’S CAMPAIGN GO IN SHEFFIELD? MATT HALE: We initially started with an open organising meeting, inviting both Labour Party members and trade unionists, where we planned a series of events. We ran numerous phone banks and put […]
DAVID Cameron is threatening to put a series of votes to the Commons that would radically up the tempo of the war drums. First there is his stated aim to expand the UK’s theatre of operations in the Middle East to include bombing Syria. Labour has already, two years ago, thwarted this aim, when the intended […]
100,000 people who signed up to Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign over the summer, ticked the box to indicate they wanted to keep in touch and get active after the election. Many are new activists or returnees to the party. Now the team behind Jeremy4Leader has decided to launch Momentum – a new movement to encourage them […]
THE TORIES have wasted no time. More anti-union laws, less social housing, new wars. Cameron and Osborne are railroading Bills through Parliament. The Tories have launched a class war against ordinary people. So the labour movement has every right to respond by placing ourselves on a war footing. And now we have an anti-austerity leadership […]
Keen to get the hundreds of new members in your area active? Then try these 5 helpful tips to get people involved HOLD A SOCIAL EVENT It doesn’t have to be all-signing, all-dancing…though that would be ideal. A local hall, someone’s house, a local cafe or meeting room is fine. Make sure people can drop […]
By Richard Brenner MILLIONS of people now have a choice. You can choose David Cameron and the Tories who want to cut tax credits for working people, cut benefits for disabled people and people who have lost their jobs, raise tuition fees for students and cut taxes for the rich. Or you can choose Labour […]
Nearly 50 activists voted by over three to one to constitute themselves as Lambeth Momentum and Southwark Momentum on Thursday 15 October. They were enthused by the opportunity to create a movement oriented to struggle against the Tories – but also by the urgent need to complete the work of the sweeping victory of Jeremy […]
Scarcely a week after Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party, the Sunday Times published a statement by an anonymous serving general threatening that the army high command would prevent a Corbyn-led Labour government carrying out its programme. The threat was made in response to Corbyn’s high profile opposition to Nato and Trident and plans […]
By Dave Stockton 15 September 2015 Jeremy Corbyn’s programme for a future Labour government contrasts dramatically with the austerity-lite policies that lost Ed Miliband and Ed Balls the general election. They are miles more radical and coherent than the mish mash offered up by Jeremy’s rival candidates in the Labour leadership election. In their own […]
By Bernie McAdam 14 September 2015 Britain’s anti union laws are already the most repressive in the European Union. Thanks to the new Tory Trade Union Bill, they are now set to get much worse. Liberty, Amnesty International and the British Institute of Human Rights are the latest organisations to condemn the Bill as ‘a […]
By Dave Stockton 14 September 2015 When Syriza’s Alexis Tsipras resigned as Prime Minister, on August 20, he triggered a new general election, which will take place on 20 September. This enabled him as Leader to choose the entire electoral list of his party. He made it clear that he would not include the 32 […]
By Jeremy Dewar 13 September 2015 Over 100,000 people marched through the streets of London on Saturday 12 September under the slogan, “Refugees Welcome Here”. It was the biggest pro-migrant demonstration we have seen for many years. Not only did the crowd cheer every point that brand new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn say, but it […]
ISLAMIC STATE has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, which killed 13 people and wounded more than 100. The whole working class movement should stand united in condemning these indiscriminate acts of terror and extend our sympathy and solidarity to the families, friends and bystanders traumatised by these horrific events. The […]
3 September 2015 The drowned body of three year old Aylan Kurdi washed up on a beach near Bodrum, Turkey on Wednesday 2nd. The photograph has concentrated the minds of millions on the catastrophe unfolding on Europe’s Mediterranean shore. Aylan drowned along with his five year old brother Galip, his mother Rehan and nine other […]
By Marcus Halaby and Sam Copley 11 August 2015 A large part of the Western left and radical media have written off the struggle against the totalitarian Assad regime in Syria as irretrievably lost. Effectively, for them, the counterrevolution has triumphed. And alongside them, there are also those who never supported the revolutionary uprising against […]
By Jeremy Dewar 12 August 2015 There are more refugees in the world today than ever before. This year’s Global Trends Report, published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), puts the figure at 59.5 million people at the end of 2014, a record 11 million up on the 2013 figure and over […]