Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Lines in memory of Irish Chartist James Bronterre O’Brien … and Blair Peach
BERNARD REGAN gave this year’s Abney Park Trust Bronterre O’Brien commemorative address cautioning against allowing the ruling class to rewrite our radical history. The Star prints here an edited version of his speech
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
I WANT to dedicate these words to a friend of mine, Blair Peach, who was murdered by the police 40 years ago.
Blair lived in Hackney — he too, like Bronterre O’Brien, came to this country from abroad — from New Zealand — and became politically active here.
He was an educationalist dedicated to the education of working-class children in Tower Hamlets where we worked together and he was a passionate campaigner against racism and social injustice — a revolutionary.
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