Pilger: from inspiring truth-teller to genocide denier and apologist for dictators

Above: Pilger standing beside the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum in Vietnam in the late 1970s. Photo: Hulton Deutsch/Corbis/Getty Images The death, on 30 December, of John Pilger brought very mixed feelings as far as I'm concerned. And, except in very extreme cases I am reluctant to speak ill of the dead - hence the delay …

Brand’s motley band of far right and fake-“left” supporters rally round with their pathetic excuses

Above: Andrew Pierce (no left-winger) denounces Beverley Turner’s hero-worship of Russell Brand As Bob From Brockley (https://x.com/bobfrombrockley/status/1703191546516869326?s=20) notes, "all the worst people are defending Russell Brand: ... plus some craven elements who don't have the guts to come out and openly support him, but use the wretched "argument" that he should be considered "innocent until …

UCU turns its back on Ukranians

https://twitter.com/i/status/1662435109109215233 Above: Putin's little helpers at the UCU conference By Dale Street Little over a decade ago the UCU trade union (which represents staff in Further and Higher Education) was hit by a wave of resignations by Jewish members. They no longer found the union to be habitable for Jews. Their resignations followed decisions by …

Solidarity not saviour complex

Above: cartoon published in the Morning Star (in 2017) celebrating Putin and Assad-supporting conspiracy theorists by Hein Htet Kyaw In the last few months, I’ve encountered a slew of campist leftists, mostly from the West, on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other issues. The majority of them are purposefully equating the Ukrainian resistance to Nazism …

Nicaragua: the Morning Star dares to mention it again – and resumes spreading lies

Riot police patrol the streets during a 2018 protest against the Ortega regime. Photograph: Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters Until last Saturday (22 April) the Morning Star has had little to say about Nicaragua for several years. The last significant coverage was 23-24 November 2019 when it published a hagiographic article and fawning interview with “the much loved” President …

Scottish TUC: Stand by Ukraine! Reject the fake ‘peace’ composite!

From the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign: By Ann Field The half dozen templated motions on Ukraine submitted to this year’s STUC congress, (17th-19th April, Dundee) have been amalgamated into a single composite , to be discussed on the Wednesday morning of the congress. Masquerading as pseudo-pacifist ‘peace proposals’, the composite is riddled with factual inaccuracies, political misrepresentations and empty …

Against the “progressive” betrayal of Ukraine

The Nation occasionally runs a piece to “balance” the pro-Putin propaganda they overwhelmingly run—to create the impression that support for and opposition to aggressive war are equally legitimate positions by Bill Weinberg. Transcript from CounterVortex podcast of March 13; also published at Oakland Socialist: We just passed the one-year anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war, Putin’s massive invasion of Ukraine. Which was noted …

Roger Waters at the UN: evil old man or just a useful idiot?

Vladimir Putin drafted in an ageing rocker to speak at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday. Russia asked Roger Waters to address the 15-member Security Council following an interview with a German newspaper, in which he praised Putin. The 79-year-old musician, who appeared by video with his dog, slightly modified his previous stance, by describing the …

Morning Star goes “red-brown” – in Germany, at least

Sahra Wagenknecht on the cover of Compact magazine. Photograph: Kate Connolly/The Guardian The editor of the Morning Star, Ben Chacko, has been at the so-called ‘Rosa Luxemburg Conference’ in Berlin and hob-nobbing with the (for now) Die Linke (“The Left”) Bundestag member Sevim Dagdelen, whom he interviewed for the paper’s 20 Jan edition. Dagdelen rages against …

Now, “left” Putin-appeasers invoke … Kissinger!

The Morning Star, Britian's daily paper of "Peace and Socialism" has always opposed Ukraine's right to defend itself from Russian aggression. It claims to also oppose Putin's invasion, but having stated that formal position, it then goes on to blame Nato and sympathise with virtually all of Putin's arguments justifying the invasion. In trade union …