2011 – the year that shook that world.

The Russian revolutionary Lenin said there were “decades where nothing happens; and there were weeks when decades happen”. If there was a time that saw decades of political conservatism, stagnancy, and immobility swept away in mere weeks, it was 2011. Last year began with the resignation of the Tunisian despot Zine El Abedine Ben Ali [...]

You can shove your rubber bullets…

Wednesday of this week marked exactly a year since the glorious day in November 2010 when thousands of students charged into and smashed up the Conservative Party headquarters at Millbank. A year on – and 11 months since Parliament voted through the £9k tuition fee rise – the student movement was out to prove that [...]

Glasgow anti-cuts activist gets 18 months… for throwing a kids toy

An anti-cuts activist from Glasgow was sentenced to eighteen months in HMP Wandsworth at a London court on Friday, following his arrest at the March 26th TUC anti-cuts demonstration in London. His crime? Throwing a spent joke shop smoke bomb, picked up from the street, in the direction of a branch of Topshop – apparently enough to [...]

ETA declare permanent ceasefire – time for Spain to free the Basque country.

Amidst the worldwide media coverage of Gaddafi’s death, a historic development in another conflict went largely unnoticed – after over 40 years of a military campaign against the Spanish state, the Basque armed group ETA announced a permanent end to it’s use of violence in the struggle for an independent and socialist Basque state. This [...]

The early days of a better nation? – an account of the current situation in Scotland

Turning out to the annual STUC march – held yesterday in Glasgow – I witnessed thousands of people marching in the pouring rain (and it really was monsoon level) for over three hours, and rallying at the end of it. Watching everyone come into the park at the end, and then watching them keep coming [...]

State wins the day in Edinburgh SDL stalemate

There was a definite sense of deja vu in Edinburgh today as the far-right Scottish Defence League attempted to hold their latest ‘demonstration’, with hundreds of anti-fascists gathering to oppose them. But, unlike last time around, the script could’ve been written well in advance for the way in which events would play out today. And [...]

The SDL must be confronted this Saturday

The story is all too familiar. Once again this Saturday, the rump group of semi-organised racists that make up the “Scottish Defence League” will take to the streets of a Scottish city. Having been denied their proposed march route by Edinburgh City Council last month, the group are now claiming to be holding a “static [...]

This is Britain, and everything's alright. It's FINE.

All conflict dies in the brotherhood of flags After last weeks multiple days of consecutive rioting, there’s a chance now for some calm, measured discussion on the upheaval that saw the capital and several English cities burn, high streets looted and alleged gangster Mark Duggan shot dead – with three others killed defending their property. [...]

J30: Support the Strikes!

Next Thursday will see up to 750,000 public sector workers walking out on strike over pension cuts, in perhaps the largest direct confrontation with the government’s austerity agenda seen yet. Nearly 300,000 civil servants who’re members of the PCS will be joined by education workers in the NUT, UCU and ATL unions. It comes at the [...]

Cops run riot at Strathclyde

Another day, another demo, another series of spectacular fuck ups by Strathclyde Police. In an approach to public order policing fast becoming customary for the force, Thursday’s otherwise completely peaceful demonstration against course closures and job losses at Strathclyde University saw a lengthy stand-off between protesters and the police, following the audacious arrest of a [...]

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