Economists estimate extreme poverty could be drastically reduced for a fraction of global defence spending, yet military budgets continue to expand year on year, says JON TRICKETT MP, ahead of the Stop the War International Conference on Saturday
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Red-red-green coalition wins in Bremen, Germany’s poorest state
JOHN WOJCIK reports on promising developments that have seen the left, far left, and greens holding back the far-right tide
As Unison launches its Year of Women Workers, ANNIE COGAN-THOMAS argues that stronger organisation and collective bargaining are essential to winning equality
Trade unions, trades councils and community organisations must work together to build lasting solidarity and resistance to the far right, argues DREW GILCHRIST
Recent violence in Belfast was not spontaneous — it was built on years of failure and political neglect, argues STIOFAN O NUALLAIN
As delegates meet in Brighton this week, Unison faces pressing questions about pay, organising, workers’ rights and political representation, explains ANDY CHAFFER
Andy Burnham’s growing stature has fuelled hopes of a Labour revival – but ALAN SIMPSON warns that Britain’s crisis runs far deeper than just its leadership and traces its roots to decades of financialised capitalism
IN AN election last week in Bremen, Germany’s poorest state, the voters put into power the first red-red-green coalition ever elected in a state that was part of the old West German Federal Republic of Germany.
The victory for the left there is satisfying not just because it contrasts with recent gains in some parts of Germany for the extreme right but because of the way it happened. The Social Democrats (SPD), defying the example of their party on a national level, decided to hook up with Die Linke (the Left Party), rather than the Christian Democrats with whom the federal SPD is allied in what is called a “Grand Coalition.”
The Green Party in Bremen is also notoriously to the left of the Green Party nationally, which has lately been allying itself with a number of the nation’s largest corporations. In Bremen, the Green Party has often sided with trade unions and with Die Linke on a range of issues, including the fights for affordable housing and improved education.
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