High pressures squeeze and crush, but low pressures damage too. Losing the atom-level buzz that keeps us held safe in the balance of internal and external pressure releases dangerous storms, disorientation and pain, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
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The African genocide on the Middle Passage
ROGER McKENZIE reflects on the enslavement, endurance and rebellion of Africans trafficked across the Atlantic and the untold sufferings of unknown ancestors
BRUTAL: Slaves above and below deck aboard the Albanoz, a captured Spanish slave ship in 1846, so the people shown had in fact been liberated though not yet landed and released.
[National Maritime Museum/Creative Commons] 
EDMUND GRIFFITHS makes a robust defence of sortition, the chosen method of picking attendees for the new left party’s inaugural conference from the membership at random, but sounds the alarm on the eye-watering number of suggested delegates
The NEU kept children and teachers safe during the pandemic, yet we are disgracefully slandered by the politicians who have truly failed our children by not funding a proper education recovery programme — here’s what is needed, explains KEVIN COURTNEY
The appalling bigotry and bias of London’s police force has been obvious for years – and the police leadership does not appear inclined to do anything about it, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
As Holyrood elections approach, BRIAN LEISHMAN MP argues that Labour’s time has come — to open a new chapter which puts an end to the years of managed decline
ASSAF TALGAM talks to an Israeli Communist lawmaker about the need to use every tool of democratic and non-violent struggle; how Israeli society has changed since October 7 2023; and the persecution of the left in the parliamentary arena
THE recent memorials to the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany as well as the way the Palestinians of Gaza have resisted attempts to wipe them out has made me think about the centuries-old attempts to eliminate Africans.
No! I do not think this is exaggerating what has happened to people of African descent during centuries of humiliation and exploitation. What happened was mass murder, torture on a mega-industrial scale and centuries of expecting people of African descent to be grateful for what we have.
Significant among the genocidal attacks on Africans was, of the course, the transatlantic slave trade which ran from the 15th to the 19th century.
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