Trump ratchets up attack on immigrant children
While the plight of children of asylum seekers separated from their parents fades from the news, hundreds remain incarcerated and still not reunited. Of these, some 400 are children of parents already deported. There is little chance these families will be reunited soon. Possibly they neve...CONTINUE READING
Right on the march in Germany
Mass demonstrations and riots by the far right in the German city of Chemnitz in August have sent shockwaves around the world. Scenes of thousands of protesters, many giving Nazi salutes, marching through the historic city attacking people of colour and clashing with counter protesters hav...CONTINUE READING
The fight for marriage equality in Taiwan
When gay activist Chi Chia-Wei stepped into the Taipei District Court in 1986 demanding the notarisation of his marriage licence, he was thrown out and not long after imprisoned for several months on a trumped-up burglary charge. Even before this, Chia-Wei had done the truly unthinkable. H...CONTINUE READING
US prisoners strike against slave labour
Prisoners in many states in the US began a national strike on 21 August, the anniversary of the murder of Black Panther member George Jackson by guards in 1971 at San Quentin prison, California. The strike will end on 9 September, the anniversary of the great prison uprising at Attica, New...CONTINUE READING
John McCain was a warmonger
Out they rolled, one after the other, gushing obituaries for John McCain, six-term US senator for Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who died from cancer on 25 August. Former president George W. Bush described McCain as “a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the...CONTINUE READING
In Palestine, two heroes of the resistance are finally freed
After eight months in an Israeli prison, 17-year-old Palestinian Ahed Tamimi and her mother Nariman Tamimi were released on 29 July. The Tamimis were arrested in December, after Israeli television screened a video, shot by Nariman, of Ahed and her cousin Nour confronting a heavily armed Is...CONTINUE READING
New revelations about children separated from parents
It is now abundantly clear that the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy towards parents with children seeking asylum in the US aimed to separate the children from their parents, keep the children in the US and deport the parents. Early on, White House chief of staff John Kelly s...CONTINUE READING
The far right is ascendant, but don’t weep for the old liberal order
The long established liberal world order is under sustained assault. The political and institutional framework that has regulated and stabilised capitalism since the end of World War Two is facing concerted challenges that threaten to tear it apart. Vicious far right parties have swept int...CONTINUE READING
Socialism is back, with good reason
The spectre of socialism is again haunting world politics. Until recently, the word “socialism” was uttered in mainstream politics only as a slur that right wing fanatics hurled at their neoliberal-centrist rivals. It seems like an eternity since former US president Barack Obama and former...CONTINUE READING