Brexit: myths and realities
Paul Atkin responds to Tom Wood’s recent article on Labour Hub. In “Conceptualising Brexit”, Tom Wood argues in a rather abstract way that withdrawal from the EU makes “Socialism” more possible in the UK; this begs a number of questions. Why did a section of the ruling class want Brexit and what are they trying to do with it? The ruling class in the UK was split over Brexit. Significant sections, especially in manufacturing, wanted to stay in. The largest donation to either campaign was to Remain from Sainsburys. The next four largest donations all went to Leave and all…
Latin America
Chile: another good-sized nail in neoliberalism’s coffin
Men [and women] make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living. – Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. A few days ago, when neofascist candidate José Antonio Kast was winning the first round of the country’s presidential elections, Chile’s 2019 rebellion aimed at burying neoliberalism appeared to be at an end. However, it has been greatly reinvigorated with the…
COP26: why advanced countries must proportionately make the biggest cuts in carbon emissions
A briefing by Paul Atkin: As climate change and nuclear war are the two issues which can overturn the present basis of human civilisation, the COP26 conference will profoundly affect every person on our planet. It should therefore be an arena for strictly objective international scientific discussion and international cooperation, and strictly objective scientific evidence on climate change has been published in the run up to the conference. Regrettably, however, COP26 has also become a site for geopolitical propaganda, primarily carried out by the United States; which attempts to present the advanced countries, and in particular itself, as playing the…
Help The World – a new organisation in Oxford
Ayesha Abbasi writes about setting up her new organisation Help The World Oxford. Asalamu alaikum and hello!
In honour of Mikis Theodorakis
Heinz Bierbaum, President of the European Left writes: It is with regret that we write these lines, bidding farewell to one of contemporary Greece’s biggest personalities. Through his music and life, Mikis Theodorakis, the incomparable composer, everlasting fighter, partisan, communist and activist brought new meaning to freedom and political awareness. Theodorakis remains a symbol of the fight for freedom, democracy and social justice as well as a vibrant reminder of the battle against oppression and despair, as well as resistance. The first time Theodorakis was imprisoned and tortured for his ideals he was only 18 years old, as a resistance…
Heathcote Williams
Steve Ashley
A Free Man in Belmarsh
James Graham writes: I’m surrounded by books. I grab the one off the top of the pile and play a game of open sesame. Here goes: “They must feel that they are weak. How could this very establishment in the United Kingdom, which has been in power for hundreds of years, feel threatened? It’s quite sophisticated after all. It has many different components: the intelligence services, the banks, the landed gentry, the oligarchs from Russia, the commercial media, …the BBC which is the big propaganda organism that helps keep the country cohesive… How could they feel threatened by a wild…
