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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Policing Bill: picketing in the crosshairs
As well as cracking down on protest generally, the right to picket a workplace effectively during a strike is clearly targetted by this new draconian legislation, explains LORD JOHN HENDY QC
The right to picket to peacefully persuade people not to work in an industrial dispute has been a statutory right since 1875 — the Bill will cut down that right
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
AS READERS will know this dreadful Bill is back in the House of Lords today. Most of its 290 pages have been debated. Few improvements have so far been achieved. Today, it is the attack on the freedom to protest which is up for debate.
This obviously concerns everyone who believes that freedom to protest peacefully is a fundamental aspect of democracy. I want to draw the attention of trade unionists to the vicious attack in the Bill directed at them.
Let’s leave aside the introduction of a new statutory offence of public nuisance with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. And ignore the new offence of “attaching” oneself (by glue, by clasping hands? — the word is undefined). Let’s not mention the new police right to stop and search someone without having any reason. Let’s focus on the right to picket.
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