Israel: solidarity and links, not boycott

Editorial in the latest issue of Solidarity (very slightly adapted by JD): Some of the student protest encampments, and the opening of the Eurovision song contest (7-11 May), have stirred new demands to “boycott Israel” and “BDS”. Solidarity backs the Palestinians and their claim to an independent state alongside Israel and to equal rights. We oppose …

Beethoven’s Ninth symphony at 200: Revolutionary work of art has spawned two centuries of joy, goodwill and propaganda

From The Conversation: Symphony No. 9 was the pinnacle of Beethoven’s remarkable career. Boston Public Library/Flickr, CC BY By Ted Olson, East Tennessee State University In early 1824, 30 members of Vienna’s music community sent a letter to Ludwig van Beethoven petitioning the great composer to reconsider his plans to premiere his latest work in …

Local elections: Galloway’s Rochdale flop

By David Axon George Galloway’s "grand anti-Labour alliance" made a small dent in Rochdale’s Labour council in the local elections on 2 May. The Workers’ Party won two seats from Labour but none of the other Galloway-backed candidates – Liberal Democrats and Middleton Independents - were elected. The campaign was the opportunity for promotion of …

Message to Western pro-Palestine activists: “Use your Western privilege to actually help the Palestinian people”

https://www.youtube.com/embed/1hk0IRqEECQ Ahmed talks about himself, his background and his view of the Palestinians' stuggle I first came across the name of Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib in an article by Jonathan Freedland (itself well worth reading) in last Friday's Guardian. Freedland notes that there is a large constituency of US Jews "with the potential to be a …

Portugal: the Carnation Revolution of 1974-5

Above: crowds in Lisbon, April 1974 (Wikimedia Commons) Portugal’s revolution began on 25 April 1974, set in motion by a military coup against the country’s nearly-50-year-old fascist regime. It was effectively ended by another coup on 25 November 1975. Portugal started 1974 as a backward, isolated colonial power run by an authoritarian regime, and began …

SNP in crisis – but Scottish Labour offers no radical alternative

Above: Humza Yousaf [Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images] By Ann Field (written before Humza Yousaf unilaterally ended the power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens): According to coverage by the Associated Press news agency, the Daily Record, The National and STV, just 2,000 people turned up to the 20 April pro-Scottish-independence march in Glasgow. The Alba Party of Alex Salmond …

Using ‘Falter’s faltering narrative’ to deny antisemitism

https://youtu.be/Iupfxe38Wj0 Judge for yourself: Sky News's 13-minute video of what happened Those of us who know a bit about Gideon Falter and his Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) have had little doubt that his widely publicised confrontation with the police at a pro-Palestine march was no accident. Now that Sky News has released a 13-minute video …

Galloway’s reactionary “grand alliance”

Above: two of a kind By David Axon George Galloway’s Rochdale "grand alliance" to oppose Labour in the May local government elections is proving neither grand nor even very allied. But it is a threat. “This is for Gaza” he announced in his by-election victory speech. But for five years he said "this is for …

Watching the real world – not chasing “left of Labour” fantasies

Above: speakers at the No Ceasefire No Vote conference on 13 April By Rhodri Evans On Saturday some of us were walking from a Workers’ Liberty meeting in York to the rail station. At one junction we couldn’t remember whether to turn left or right. We looked at Google Maps on our phones. Before we …

Beinart on Israel and Iran coming to the brink of war

Above: video grab from AFPTV taken on April 14, 2024 shows explosions lighting up the sky in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during an Iranian attack on Israel. We don't always agree with the US 'anti-Zionist' commentator Peter Beinart, but on this we think he's pretty much spot-on (transcript of his latest video): Hi. …