This article. written by Maria Elena Carpintero Torres-Quevedo, was first posted on bella caledonia. It provides an account to the Edinburgh solidarity demo, held on May 1st, to protest against the Tory government’s proposed new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. This International Workers Day, protestors in Edinburgh took part in one of many protests across…
A crisis of decay – Night of the long knives for Irish Unionism
This article from Socialist Democracy (Ireland) looks at the political significance of the ousting of Arlene Forster as DUP leader. The ousting of Arlene Foster and the first ever leadership contest in the Democratic Unionist Party marks a serious split in the party and a further fragmentation of unionism just as the partitioned Irish state…
The Alba Party and the Left in Scotland
The following article by Allan Armstrong (RCF) provides an analysis of the Alba Party and the response of the Left in Scotland. THE ALBA PARTY AND THE LEFT IN SCOTLAND Introduction The public emergence of the Alba Party on 26th March has led to considerable political confusion on the Left as to its political significance…
After the funeral – Loyalists stage a show, but the real drama is offstage
This is a follow up article from Socialist Democracy (Ireland) outlining further developments in Northern Ireland in the Unionist camp As promised, loyalist groups in the north of Ireland returned to the streets following the funeral of the British consort, Prince Philip. The demonstrations confirmed the earlier analysis presented by Socialist Democracy, that there was…
Democrats who support killer cops are taking credit for locking up Chauvin
This article by Julia Wallace of Left Voices (USA) highlights the real movement, Black Lives Matter, which contributed to George Floyd’s killer, Derek Chauvin of the Democratic Party controlled Milwaukee city police force being found guilty of murder. The Democratic Party watches police murder people like George Floyd and remains silent, but when we rise…
Defending Kobane is not a crime – an invitation to show solidarity with the Kurdish Peoples Party (HDP)
This appeal for solidarity with the Kurdish Peoples Party subjected to Turkish state repression was first posted by Sarah Glynn on bella caledonia In what dystopian world could support for Kobanê as it withstood siege by ISIS be considered a crime? The answer, it seems, is in Turkey. On 26 April, 108 leading members of the…
Brexit Britain – a new police state?
The following article on the slide of Brexit Britain to an authoritarian state was was first published by Socialist Democracy (Ireland). The Tory government’s proposed anti-crime Bill has seen a number of mobilisations across Britain. Covid rules and fierce police enforcement have limited street demonstrations, but that has started to break down. Protest is seen…
No Evictions Network – Campaigning for asylum seekers’ housing rights
This article outlines the No Evictions Network’s campaign to promote solidarity and organisation in the face of social and state hostility. It is written by Maria Torres-Quevedo and first appeared in bella caledonia. Savan came to the UK seeking asylum; initially, he was “fighting against this social injustice and these kinds of policies alone”. He started engaging…
The opportunist prince
This article, written by Eddie Ford, first appeared in Weekly Worker. It examines the role of prince Philip a typical European aristocrat and his and his family’s attempts to negotiate the threatened dynastic politics after the revolutionary and clashing imperial challenges they faced after the First World War. Ford argues that Philip Mountbatten-Windsor was a typical European…
Pimlico Academy students destroy Tory myths on racism
Recent events in England at Clapham Bandstand and Bristol have shown a growing resistance to the attempts to resist the post-Brexit strengthening of the UK state. Unlike Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, where constitutional nationalist parties have tried to head off wider opposition to the UK state, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has meekly bowed…