Bolshy

George's not so gorgeous

The myth and the reality These are exciting times for the Left. George Galloway, the Robert Kilroy-Silk of anti-imperialism, fresh from his glorious election victory over pro-war Blairite MP Oona King in Bethnal Green, has crossed the pond to the US of A to take the war to the lickspittle Republicans...or so goes the tale. Galloway said nothing in the Senate hearing that any halfway clued-up anti-war activist couldn't have said. He denied everything and accused the Americans of having invaded Iraq, which they can scarcely dodge out of. It just proves that people who live in glass houses - or...

Review: The Edukators

The Edukators are Jan (Daniel Bruhl) and Peter (Stipe Erceg), anti-capitalists with their own ideas for how to build for socialist revolution. With the handy skill of being able to disarm an alarm, they break in to rich people’s houses, go in, and rearrange the furniture. They leave them with the unnerving message “Your days of plenty are numbered”. Directed by Hans Weingartner, his second feature since 2001’s The White Noise, he explains in an interview that, this generation no longer “know how to fight against the system”. His offering to this conundrum has received him nomination for the...

Bolshy Talks to Tatchell

Peter Tatchell is a human rights activist who is a member of the Green Party and the gay rights group OutRage! He is particularly well-known for his criticism of homophobic reggae artists and the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe, who he has twice tried to Citizen's Arrest. ON GETTING INVOLVED: **What was it that first made you decide to become politically active? My first campaign involved opposition to the death penalty in my home city of Melbourne, Australia. It was in 1965, I was aged 13 and I read a newspaper report about a prisoner who had escaped from prison and allegedly shot a warder dead...

Hijacked by the Greens

The Green Party has really increased its profile in recent years, particularly among Britain's youth. This has led to a progression in the number of Greens and environmentalists at all sorts of demos, and they've managed to make their anti-war sentiment well known. Beyond this, their stances on issues such as gay and lesbian rights, top-up fees and multinationals have meant that they've been able to attract a number of young people, disaffected by the mainstream parties, looking for a group which can voice their anger at the problems in our society. The fact that the traditional Left, most...

No Sweat News - the latest from the campaign

www.nosweat.org.uk NO SWEAT DISCUSSION What does Fair Trade mean? Monday 13 June, 7.30pm Old Crown, 33 New Oxford St. (Tubes: Holborn, Tottenham Ct Rd) Speakers: Carmen Barrada (From the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign) and a No Sweat speaker Plus: A review of the No Sweat Make Poverty History / G8 Mobilisation - Edinburgh 1 July - 8 July More info: Karen Johnson 07906 384592 AMP FUNDRAISER FOR NO SWEAT The funky people at ArtMusicPolitics (check ‘em out at www.artmusicpolitic.com) have organised a benefit gig for No Sweat. It’ll feature Tallulah (soulful singer/songwriter backed by a Patti...

The importance of…. Getting rid of the monarchy

The Queen’s a harmless old bag, isn’t she?  She may well be, but the monarchy is representative of class rule, inequality and the historic privilege of the aristocracy. A socialist society would have to abolish it and its out-of-date values. But the Queen doesn’t have any power anyway, does she?  The Queen doesn’t only give power to the House of Commons - the monarchy gives authority to unelected institutions such as the Lords and the Privy Council.  The Prime Minister has a power called “the Royal Prerogative”, which allows him to go to war without consulting Parliament, but with the Queen...

Fight Back Against Blair

In the Queen’s Speech, the grey-haired racist billionaire announced, on behalf of Blair’s government, that the society constructed in Labour’s third term would be based on “respect.” No, not the dodgy communalist lash-up that managed to get some self-obsessed demagogue elected in East London (see elsewhere on this website), but that fluffy universal value that everyone from Ali G to Tony himself are advocates and exponents of. And what’s the way to get to a society based on “respect,” folks? Is it, perhaps, to attack capitalism – the socio-economic system that pits human against human in a...

No to the Islamists!

The war in Iraq was an event that sparked mass protest when over 1 million people marched on the 15th February 2003 in London. Despite this, as we all know, the USA and UK troops continue to occupy Iraq and bomb its civilians and destroy its infrastructure. The result was the devastation of the work and livelihoods of huge numbers of Iraqis. The occupying forces still have done little to rebuild this as the capitalist oil corporations carved up Iraq for oil profits without even caring about the Iraqi people all. This was no war of liberation, but a war for capitalist profit! The media has...

The European Social Forum

With the second European Social Forum meeting in Paris this November, "social forums" are suddenly all the rage on the left. But what exactly are they? To understand the social forum movement, you need to know a bit about its history... World Social Forum The first World Social Forum was called in January 2001 to coincide with the World Economic Forum - an annual meeting where some of the key players in global capitalism sit down to discuss how to best run the world in their own interests. The idea of the WSF was to counterpose "social" values of equality, democracy and solidarity to the...

Strike Against Bush!

A Texan ape, strategically shaven and placed in a suit is coming to Britain to celebrate his war in of Iraq in partnership with his best chum, Tony 'smash the unions' Blair. Bush has started a war for the US oil industry (well represented in his government) in Iraq, but in the US itself he has handed out billions in tax cuts to the super-rich which cutting welfare spending for the poor. Tens of millions in the US - the richest place on the planet -have no health insurance. Two million people are in jail, over three thousand on death row. The US continues to be a paradise for the rich and a...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.