From Amazon’s monitored warehouse hell to delivery workers being paid per package, exploitative work destroys collaborative relationships young people need — more screen time and 12 new AI ‘friends’ will only make things worse, writes ALAN SIMPSON
The political economy of trade: a crucial issue for the left
Global South governments’ sovereignty and ability to decide future economic policy are severely compromised by signing free trade agreements, whose terms are heavily weighted in favour of the already wealthy countries of the global North, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG
A rally demanding changes to the Trump administration’s revised North American Free Trade Agreement at the House Triangle in Washington DC, 2017
[Sally King/Public Citizen/Creative Commons] 
The Tatar rebel argued that Western workers could be bought off, so instead a ‘colonial international’ must form a dictatorship over Europe and the US, ideas that led to his expulsion from the Bolsheviks and eventual execution, writes EDMUND GRIFFITHS
HEATHER WOOD reports back from another packed annual Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival, where Palestinian flags flew high and solidarity with Birmingham’s striking refuse workers was central
Robinson successfully defended his school from closure, fought for the unification of the teaching unions, mentored future trade union leaders and transformed teaching at the Marx Memorial Library, writes JOHN FOSTER
A judge in a German court ruled that the ban activity imposed on renowned Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR
ON NOVEMBER 26, the Morning Star editorial suggested that we should follow the century-old nostrum of German economist, Rudolf Hilferding in avoiding the “bourgeois dilemma” of protectionism or free trade and concentrate instead on building a socialist society.
Whether or not they knew anything of Hilferding’s writings, the Zapatista Liberation Army in the Mexican state of Chiapas had different ideas when they launched an armed insurrection on January 1 1994 to coincide with the commencement of Nafta, the North American Free Trade Agreement, promulgated between the governments of the US, Canada and Mexico.
The Zapatistas predicted that a tri-country agreement completely liberalising trade in goods and services spelt disaster for them and the rural working class, and they were not wrong. Mexican farmers had no hope of competing with subsidised products from north of the border and 1.3 million agricultural jobs were lost. In a country where corn (maize) is not merely a crop, but a deep cultural symbol tied to daily life, the effect of Nafta was catastrophic.
More from this author
We must remember Morocco’s land grab of the Sahrawi people’s territory continues with French and British support, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG, looking into the origins of the annexation
Cristina Kirchner’s imprisonment follows a familiar pattern across Latin America, where courts silence popular leaders — but massive street protests in her support might make this move an Establishment own goal, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG
With turnout plummeting and faith in Parliament collapsing, BERT SCHOUWENBURG explains how radical local government reform — including devolved taxation and removal of party politics from town halls — could restore power to communities currently ignored by profit-obsessed MPs
After brutal police crackdowns on pensioners and the forced approval of secret IMF deals, trade unions are finally responding to grassroots pressure and fighting back against savage neoliberal reforms, reports BERT SCHOUWENBURG
