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
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Only class solidarity will defeat racism
ROGER McKENZIE warns against accepting the lip service offered by politicians to the struggle against racism
LOUD AND CLEAR: Anti-racism march in central London orgainised by Stand Up To Racism and trade unions on March 16 2024
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
WITH organised lying and hypocrisy existing on an industrial scale in politics how can the black community, or anyone else, trust politicians to tackle the current surge of racism?
The simple answer is that we can’t. The solution is in our own hands.
Too many politicians feel the urge to drape themselves in a flag of phoney patriotism. They portray this as a sign that they can be trusted and believed even when the evidence is crystal clear that they are lying through their teeth.
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ROZ FOYER explains the significance and tradition of today’s St Andrew’s Day March and Rally
As Starmer flies to Albania seeking deportation camps while praising Giorgia Meloni, KEVIN OVENDEN warns that without massive campaigns rejecting this new overt government xenophobia, Britain faces a soaring hard right and emboldened fascist thugs on the streets
Today’s far-right demo called by ‘Tommy Robinson’ from prison to ‘free the political prisoners’ is a dark sign of today’s politics. We need a class-based fightback now, argues TONY CONWAY
