Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
Venezuela and Black liberation
FIONA SIM sees the Venezuelan anti-fascist and anti-imperialist initiatives as offering hope to the rest of the world
BY POPULAR ACCLAIM: Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro arrives at the
Teresa Carreno Theatre in
Caracas to deliver his annual
address, January 15
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
IN EARLY January 2025, over 2,000 international delegates gathered in Caracas, Venezuela for the first ever World Anti-fascist Festival. The festival was one of the major directives of the first International Antifascist Congresses held just months prior.
Guests included government ministers and leaders of the Cuban and South African communist parties. The platform was an opportunity for Venezuela’s re-elected president, Nicolas Maduro, to place the country’s Bolivarian revolution in the context of the global fight against fascism, racism and imperialism.
The leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution have correctly identified fascism as the next great battle to win and have mobilised key activists and influencers in the joint struggles against imperialism, colonialism, and fascism from Africa, Asia, Latin America and even Europe.
In bringing these groups together in Venezuela against all the odds of sanctions, it is an act of defiance against the northern hegemon of the US.
Similar stories
BEN CHACKO appreciates the largest Adelante! conference yet, and how much there was to learn about decolonisation and defiance across Latin America and beyond
Peace and solidarity campaigner DAVID PEAT reports from the World International Anti-Fascist Festival held earlier this month with the support of the Maduro government in socialist Venezuela
FIONA SIM of the Black Liberation Alliance reports on a whirlwind week in Caracas, including President Maduro’s inauguration
