Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
Latest editorial
How the pandemic is intensifying alienation
With increased surveillance monitoring of those working from home, greater job insecurity, and a lack of human contact in restructured roles, mental health problems are likely to rise among workers, says JOHN GREEN
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
THE other day I read a riposte on Facebook in response to a pro-socialist comment: “Why, if capitalism is so bad are so many people clamouring to be let into the USA, UK and other developed capitalist countries?”
A comment that cannot be easily brushed aside. Of course, the tragic irony is that most of those thousands of would-be immigrants are fleeing areas that have been devastated by precisely those “super-capitalist” countries to which they are attempting to flee.
The overwhelming majority of those are, ironically, fleeing countries with capitalist systems but where the elites behave more ruthlessly and are not restrained by traditional democratic or legal structures.
Similar stories
From summit to summit, imperialist companies and governments cut, delay or water down their commitments, warn the Communist Parties of Britain, France, Portugal and Spain and the Workers Party of Belgium in a joint statement on Cop30
BILL GREENSHIELDS urges an intensification of the information offensive against the impact of the spurious discourse peddled by Reform UK
MEHDI ACHOUCHE explores the constant fascination of cinema with Marxist alienation from Fritz Lang and Chaplin to Bong Joon Ho
Research reveals stress kills three times the number of people than physical accidents at work