Both Conservative and Labour administrations have now refused to release research showing PIP payments are vital for disabled people’s survival, exposing the ideological nature of planned welfare ‘reforms,’ writes Dr DYLAN MURPHY
Life as a ‘Lady Insurrectionist’
LYNNE WALSH reports from the recent ‘Chartism Day’ conference at Reading University, where sisters of the 19th century Chartist struggle emerged from the pages of history
Western media dismisses the National People’s Congress while ignoring its extensive consultation processes, massive public participation mechanisms, and a tiered structure involving millions of deputies, explains JENNY CLEGG
Despite caring for vulnerable children and often covering classes, support staff remain undervalued, with some earning less than supermarket workers — but GMB’s campaigning offers new hope, argues DONNA SPICER
NICK WRIGHT examines how Farage’s party has attracted five distinct voter tribes with incompatible views on economics, immigration and state intervention — presenting both a challenge and opportunity for left organising
Man-made canals like Panama and Suez face unprecedented challenges from extreme weather patterns and geopolitical tensions that reveal the fragility of our global trade networks, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
As climate change makes vast mineral deposits accessible, the island’s 56,000 residents face unprecedented pressure from Trump’s territorial ambitions while struggling to maintain their traditional way of life, writes JOHN GREEN
Student Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and threatened deportation are terrifying — but the moribund Democrats are still failing to mount any meaningful resistance against the slide toward autocracy, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
THE role of women in the Chartist movement has often been neglected, even though they ruffled the Establishment’s feathers in their work as Hen Chartists and Lady Insurrectionists.
This year’s Chartism Day conference, at the University of Reading, succeeded in shining a spotlight on key figures including Helen MacFarlane, Frances Wright, Susanna Fearnley, Mary Grassby, Elizabeth Hanson, Mary Ann Walker and Sarah Theobald.
The event, staged by the Society for the Study of Labour History (SSLH), platformed 16 speakers, although only two were women. The voices of long-dead female Chartists filled the room, thanks mainly to Dr Judy Cox, whose work has uncovered the tub-thumping speeches and excoriating quotes from the Hen Chartists, as they were dubbed by the press.
More from this author
With most of recorded history dominated by the voices of men, LYNNE WALSH encourages sisters to read the memoirs of women – and to write their own too
LYNNE WALSH attempts to unravel the latest advice from local authorities on tackling violence against women and girls
Anti-fascists from around the world will soon be travelling to Spain to commemorate the International Brigades and walk in the footsteps of the bravest of their generation, writes LYNNE WALSH
From prostitution to surrogacy, access to women’s bodies can be bought for a fee. LYNNE WALSH reports from a conference exploring the mounting crisis in which women are increasingly seen as products to be consumed
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