Prime Minister David Cameron has again whipped up racist fears about immigration, calling for “good immigration, not mass immigration” and claiming he will stop “hundreds of thousands” coming to Britain.
“DIRTY BABYLON!” snarled the crowd in time to the reggae beat. It was a line from a 1980s Smiley Culture hit: “Cockney say Ol’ Bill, we say Dirty Babylon”. How appropriate. The death of Smiley Culture in police custody is yet another suspicious death at the hand of the Met. Little wonder it has angered […]
The Socialist Workers Party has always rejected the need to build itself on the basis of a revolutionary programme and is now building Respect as a populist electoral alliance, and describing it as “the new party”. Luke Cooper traces the evolution of the SWP and argues that this latest move to the right is firmly […]
1. The situation in Britain is marked by an historic offensive against the public sector, carried out by an openly bourgeois, anti-working class Tory government. Lib Dem support has plummeted – with most polls putting them below 10 per cent. The chief beneficiaries are Labour who are riding high on the back of the collapse […]
Joana Pinto stood for the Vice President Union Development position at this years NUS conference. Below is her speech, calling for a fighting students union
All we seem to hear about on the TV these days is “Will and Kate”, “the Royal Wedding”, how it’s all so “British” and how “exciting” it all is. If, like us, another mention of the Royal Wedding gets you rushing for a sickbag, then you should come to REVOLUTION TODAY, a joint event hosted […]
The Alternative Vote (AV) system isn’t proportional, but it’s still an improvement on the rotten First Past the Post (FPTP) system, that’s why socialists should be campaigning for a critical ‘yes’ vote The referendum on the AV system tells us a lot about the Clegg-Cameron Coalition. In return for the Liberal Democrats dropping their commitment […]
By Karen Petrie For more than three decades Marx and Engels argued that a revolution was the only way workers could achieve a socialist society. For them revolutionary crises emerged inevitably out of the conflict between classes in capitalist society. Capitalism creates the possibility and necessity for revolution. In the form of the “proletariat”, […]
Tuesday 17 May 5.30pm March from University College Hospital to Whitehall This is a crucial moment for the battle to defend the NHS. Andrew Lansley looks incrreasingly beleagured as the opposition to his plans grows from all sides. The government claim to be listening while they try to stick to their plans, and every day […]
Over 100 Leeds activists gathered on 9th April for the Anti-Cuts Convention, an event aimed at building and uniting the anti-cuts movement and decide our next steps after 26th March, writes Rebecca Anderson
Joana Pinto talks about her experience running for NUS Vice President position, NUS conference, and where students can take the fight from here
Luke Cooper argues that the “Black Bloc” tactic used on March 26 can’t stop the cuts in a reply to John Moses published on the Open-Democracy website. Read it here…
The death of Smiley Culture while in police custody has struck a chord that has resonated deeply across south London and Britain’s black community. Even the Evening Standard says thousands will march on 16 April in “the largest black community-led demonstration in years”. Jeremy Drinkall reports
G4S, formerly known as ‘Securicor’ has been awarded a contract to take over Birmingham Prison. The outsourcing security company has a terrible reputation for the security services it has run in the past and those it continues to run today. G4S’ American subsidiary, Wackenhut, runs several privatised prisons in the US where staff have been […]
The explosion that claimed the life of Omagh policeman Ronan Kerr does not further the struggle against British occupation in Ireland one jot, writes Bernie McAdam.
What caused the credit crunch? Some said lenders got “too greedy”. Others blamed the regulators. Yet more denied it was even happening. The Credit Crunch – A Marxist Analysis offers a radically different explanation. Charting how the events unfolded, and drawing on Karl Marx’s theory of crisis, Richard Brenner and Michael Pröbsting argue that the […]
From the Workers Power archive – April 1981. Mark Hoskisson explains the causes of the Brixton riots, poverty, alienation and systematic racist abuse from the police
Along with thousands of activists, all our readers will be striving to make the 26 March demonstration as big as possible. 500,000 jobs to go in the public sector. Another 500,000 to follow in the private sector. 34 per cent cuts in council spending leading to libraries, youth services, care for the elderly all being […]
Hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets of 200 Italian cities on 13 February calling for “dignity” and greater rights for women, Rebecca Anderson
Teachers and council workers from Tower Hamlets called on their leaders to organise general strike action today in a mass rally after 2,000 trade unionists, joined by the local community marched against cuts. Council workers in purple Unison jackets were joined by school banners, behind which marched school children, parents and lots of teachers carrying […]
It was a long time coming, but yesterday London was crammed full of people for one of the largest demonstrations in years. Trade unionists, families, pensioners, communities, youth and students took over central London in defence of jobs and services, and against the Con-Dem coalition. The march was so huge that some protesters took over […]
Demonstration live blog
The UN decision to intervene in Libya was not a humanitarian measure to “protect civilians”. It was, first of all, a carefully calculated policy to protect Western interests in the country. Secondly, however, it was a major step towards stabilising the entire region, stemming the tide of rebellion while ensuring the continued rule of Western […]
The rebellion against Gadaffi’s dictatorship deserves unconditional support and that is not altered by the UN decision. Those who oppose powerful states have the right to get hold of arms wherever they can and to take advantage of any weaknesses in their oppressors’ situation. That remains true even where the weaknesses are the result of […]
Demonstrate against police custody deaths, remember Smiley 16 April 2011, 12pm South Bank Gym, 124-130 Wandsworth Road (Vauxhall tube) SMILEY CULTURE, Britain’s first rap star, died on Tuesday 15 March with a single stab wound to the heart. His family, friends and the black community as a whole are in shock and demand answers. The […]
THE FORTHCOMING marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April is being paraded as a “feel good” moment for the whole country. Yet it has already cost £20 million for security while the rest of us have to put up with swingeing cuts. The wall to wall coverage of the Royal wedding has […]
SOME PEOPLE would have you believe that young people today are lazy and that they don’t care about education. Adverts tell young people how terrible their life will be without the right shoes, deodorant or iPhone. Teachers and celebrities tell us that there is a world full of opportunities and it’s our own fault if […]
This October will be the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan. It will probably not be celebrated anywhere in the world, least of all in Afghanistan itself. This has been the most unpopular of wars – second only to the war in Iraq. A poll in December 2010 found 57 per cent opposed to […]
How will the emerging Arab revolutions affect the struggle of the Palestinian people? Will it help their long battle for national liberation? This question is on the minds of millions throughout the Middle East, where solidarity with the Palestinians remains a key component of popular aspirations. There is no sign yet that the revolutions will […]
YOU MAY not have heard of him, but the man to watch in China is Xi Jinping. Two years ago he organised the Beijing Olympics. By this time next year, he will be President of China. In the capitalist dictatorship that still calls itself the ‘People’s Republic’, the question of government is not left to chance, […]