The Uighurs and the Palestinians

This article compares  the treatment  of the Uighurs in Xinjiang (Eastern Turkestan) by the Chinese imperialist state with the treatment of Palestinians by the  racist, apartheid Israeli state backed by western imperialism – US, UK and the leading  EU powers. The author is a Chinese student with a partial Uighur background. This article was first…

The cultural is political: Gig for Gaza and the rebirth of Irish cultural activism

Padraig Mac Oscair wrote this article for Rupture, the ecosocialist quarterly of RISE – Revolutionary, Socialist, Internationalist and Environment. He reviews  the recent ‘Gig for Gaza Fundraiser’ in the 3Arena, as well as highlighting the clear link between the cultural and the political in expressions of solidarity from Ireland. THE CULTURAL IS POLITICAL – GIG…

This van provides a lifeline service to Ukrainians. Could it be under threat?

This article by Kataryna Farbar was first posted by openDemocracy. Kataryna argues that Ukraine’s mobile postal service braves shelling to deliver packages and pensions. But privatisation could be afoot. THIS VAN PROVIDES A LIFELINE SERVICE TO UKRAINIANS. COULD IT BE UNDER THREAT?   As soon as the Ukrposhta van stops in the centre of Kryva…

Silent Singing and John Maclean

 George Gun has written this article first posted on bella caledonia.  It commemorates the 100th anniversary of John Maclean’s death on November 30th 1923.  It argues against Maclean’s death being viewed mainly as a historical commemoration for academic historians, but that his politics in the last year’s of his life are highly relevant to the…

Grangemouth no more

The following article by Mike Small was first posted by bella caledonia. It highlights the failure of either the UK government (the main culprit) or the Scottish government (despite paper commitments) to follow a policy of Just Transition in the face of climate breakdown. It also points to further Unionist attempts to break the SNP/Green…

Uday, One Day

The following poem was written by Jim Aitken and first posted by Culture Matters. Any extra comment by the editors of this blog is superfluous in the face of such a heart-rending killing. Uday, One Day by Jim Aitken In memory of Uday Abu Mohsen who lived only one day after being killed during the…

November 11th Palestinian protests

We are posting two articles. The first is from The Canary and describes the imaginative Extinction Rebellion shoe protest in Trafalgar Square. The second by Mike Small first posted by bella caledonia looks at the right wing media offensive to demonise the massive, and overwhelmingly peaceful Palestinian demo in London and equate it with  the…

EL&SD Coverage – Looking at the world through non-campist lenses

Many on the Left still view the world through lenses dating from when the US was the all-dominant global power. Countering this was the USSR, which assisted many national liberation struggles (although some could abandoned if it better fitted USSR state needs).  The USSR  was viewed to be superior to the USA because of its…

Why Ukrainians should support Palestinians

The following article by Dara Saburova was first posted by openDemocracy. It argues against those Campists  who try to align movements for self-determination with one imperialist power or another. What is required is an internationalism from below approach which supports the peoples of Palestine and Ukraine, willing both to challenge imperialist attempts to subordinate these…

The UK establishment is using war to attack protest at home

The following article written by Benny Hunter was first posted by openDemocracy. It argues that the war in the Middle East has led British political actors to try and redefine what is ‘acceptable speech’ THE UK ESTABLISHMENT IS USING THE WAR TO ATTACK PROTEST AT HOME As a humanitarian crisis unfolds in the Middle East,…