Both Conservative and Labour administrations have now refused to release research showing PIP payments are vital for disabled people’s survival, exposing the ideological nature of planned welfare ‘reforms,’ writes Dr DYLAN MURPHY
China’s democracy: how the National People’s Congress works
Western media dismisses the National People’s Congress while ignoring its extensive consultation processes, massive public participation mechanisms, and a tiered structure involving millions of deputies, explains JENNY CLEGG
Despite caring for vulnerable children and often covering classes, support staff remain undervalued, with some earning less than supermarket workers — but GMB’s campaigning offers new hope, argues DONNA SPICER
NICK WRIGHT examines how Farage’s party has attracted five distinct voter tribes with incompatible views on economics, immigration and state intervention — presenting both a challenge and opportunity for left organising
Man-made canals like Panama and Suez face unprecedented challenges from extreme weather patterns and geopolitical tensions that reveal the fragility of our global trade networks, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
As climate change makes vast mineral deposits accessible, the island’s 56,000 residents face unprecedented pressure from Trump’s territorial ambitions while struggling to maintain their traditional way of life, writes JOHN GREEN
Student Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and threatened deportation are terrifying — but the moribund Democrats are still failing to mount any meaningful resistance against the slide toward autocracy, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
From golf and football to Formula One, the kingdom uses unprecedented investments in global sport to divert attention from its persecution of journalists, dissidents and women, write BELLA KATZ and ROGER McKENZIE
CHINA’S nearly 3,000-member National People’s Congress (NPC) has just gathered for its annual meeting in Beijing. Western mainstream media continually disparages China’s main legislature as a “rubber stamp parliament” — mindlessly repeating the phrase to numb readers’ minds to any thought other than that China must be a dictatorship.
That there are other forms of democracy — the idea of democratic centralism, deliberative democracy, has been around for over 100 years — the mainstream media cannot comprehend.
True, the NPC only meets for two weeks a year and never seems to reject any piece of legislation put before it. However, the reason why laws are passed unanimously is that they undergo a prior long and arduous process of deliberation, consultation and revision to ensure disagreements and differences are addressed and ultimately consensus is reached.
More from this author
JENNY CLEGG sets out and then responds to eight key doubts about the Brics+ alliance in light of the developments at Kazan, arguing it represents a significant challenge to US hegemony and provides a path towards a multipolar world
JENNY CLEGG pays tribute to a remarkable woman who was a pioneer in bringing about greater understanding between China and the West
The US does not have a plan for peace in the Middle East — nor is it in their interests. China does have a plan — and it is in the interests of the rest of the world that it is listened to and supported, explains JENNY CLEGG
We must disregard smears that it is siding with or even arming Russia, and genuinely engage with its role as a peacemaker — of all the great powers, a just and lasting political settlement is most in China's interests, writes JENNY CLEGG
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Despite relentless hostility, the People’s Republic of China has lifted millions out of poverty, and become a global leader in innovation and climate action, while pursuing peaceful development in a multipolar world, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ
