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British governments have a long history of repressing protest, but protests continue
With Gove, Lord Walney and others seeking to restrict our freedom of dissent, KEITH FLETT reminds us that such state repression is not new and it can be overcome
A photograph of the Great Chartist Meeting on Kennington Common, London, 1848
Trump’s economic adviser has exposed the actual strategy: forcing other countries to provide financial support for US world hegemony
Activist Angie Zelter has been arrested more than a hundred times. She’s not stopping now, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
Natalia Marques looks at last week's ruling that Khalil can be deported and its implications
We are not here to advocate for the arms industry or its CEOs, writes STEVE HANDFORD, and that means we must take a stand against the government’s spending on war
Educators must fight for an inclusive, creative system that values all children
Although our sector is hearing better things from the current government, the recognition that what we do is education in its own right, rather than just childcare, is still not reflected in policy, writes LUCY COLEMAN
THE huge wave of demonstrations since October 2023 in support of Palestinians and demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza has got the government rattled. It’s not just the hundreds of thousands who have marched peacefully week after week in central London but a range of protests across Britain.
The former Labour MP Lord Walney, appointed to the Lords by Boris Johnson, was meant to have produced a report on political violence in 2021. It never appeared, but recently Walney has been demanding restrictions and bans on protests he doesn’t agree with. The Tories’ “counter-extremism tsar” Robin Simcox has also weighed in with calls for bans. He was appointed by Priti Patel and was formerly a cheerleader for Donald Trump.
Finally Michael Gove has taken it upon himself to produce a little list of organisations he thinks are extremist. The list has a couple of fascist groups which are certainly extreme but also tiny, and several Muslim organisations because Gove, in reaction to Palestinian protest, is determined to promote Islamophobia.
More from this author
From bemoaning London’s ‘cockneys’ invading seaside towns to negotiating holiday rents, the founders of scientific socialism maintained a wry detachment from Victorian Easter customs while using the break for health and politics, writes KEITH FLETT
Facing economic turmoil, Jim Callaghan’s government rejected Tony Benn’s alternative economic strategy in favour of cuts that paved the way for Thatcherism — and the cuts-loving Labour of the present era, writes KEITH FLETT
Starmer’s slash-and-burn approach to disability benefits represents a fundamental break with Labour’s founding mission to challenge the idle rich rather than punish the vulnerable poor, argues KEITH FLETT
The formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 marked the beginning of interconnected and contested strategies — parliamentary and industrial — seeking ways to advance working-class interests, writes KEITH FLETT
