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The decision to jail eight members of the Catalan government, and to issue an arrest warrant for the Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, along with a further four members of his government, is an unprecedented and very serious violation of basic democratic rights. But, as Jorge Martin reports, this attack by the Spanish state has revived the Catalan independence movement.
As Brexit negotiations grind to a halt, big business is entering panic mode. A no deal, “train-crash” Brexit – the one scenario that capitalism wants to avoid at all costs – looms large. And caught on the tracks is Ireland, the only country that shares a land border with the UK. Ben Curry looks at the the chaotic perspective facing Ireland, in the North and the South, as a result of Brexit and the global capitalist crisis.
The fate of three separate housing estates in London serves to reveal the growing scandal of the housing crisis in the capital, with working class people being pushed out of their homes to service the demands for profit on a massive scale. Dan Langley looks at how regeneration projects are being used as a fig leaf to turn working class estates into speculative vehicles for the rich.
Recent data published by the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory has revealed the real extent of London’s growing air pollution crisis. Ed Swanepoel of the Reading Marxists discusses how privatisation and a lack of planning have led to increased congestion on London’s roads and rising pollution levels in the air.
Whilst the representatives of the rich – the modern “robber barons” – brag and boast of a “second Gilded Age”, the rest of us are consigned to worse prospects than previous generations. Steve Jones reports on the latest eye-watering inequality statistics, which show that things are clearly not getting better for the 99%.
The fragility of Theresa May’s premiership was once again revealed this month, as Tory whip Chris Heaton-Harris came under fire for requesting that all UK universities provide a list of academic staff currently teaching courses relating to Brexit. Ollie Brotherton looks at the increasingly desperate and reactionary measures that the Tories are resorting to as they head towards a train-crash Brexit.
The Financial Times, a serious mouthpiece for the interests of big business, recently published the views of a collection of bosses and captains of industry about the state of capitalism. Their comments make very interesting reading for socialists. Rob Sewell looks at the damning condemnations against the capitalist system being uttered by none other than the capitalists themselves.
After a week of about turns, indecision and last minute attempts to find a negotiated way out, the Catalan Republic was proclaimed on Friday 27th October. Tens of thousands celebrated in the streets of Barcelona and other Catalan towns and cities. But the newly born Republic was short-lived, with the Catalan leaders failing to mount any real resistance to the Spanish state’s repression.
With his latest film, the Death of Stalin, British director and comic writer Armando Iannucci continues with his recurring motif of the cynicism and self-interest of the professional political class. This time, however, the incompetent politicians being lambasted are not those of the Western establishment, but of the Stalinist bureaucracy.
Amidst all of the Brexit chaos and Tory disarray, the Office for Budget Responsibility has sent a shockwave through British political and business circles with its latest economic forecasts – and, in particular, its sobering analysis about the persistent problem of low productivity in the UK. Josh Holroyd looks at the interminable problems facing British capitalism and its Tory representatives.
Young Marx is a new comedic play at the Bridge Theatre, set in Soho London, revolving around Karl Marx’s struggle to provide for his family, and fend off spies, creditors, political enemies, and the police, all whilst completing his economic magnum opus, Das Kapital. We publish here a review by members of the Marxist Student Federation, who recently attended one of the first performances.
Over the last 15 years, 30,000 men, women and children have lost their lives drowning while attempting to reach European shores. And each year the number of victims is rising. This is the equivalent of a silent, unilateral war against hundreds of thousands of unarmed people – a war waged by capitalism and imperialism against innocent migrants and refugees.