Gaza’s collective sumud has proven more powerful than one of the world’s best-equipped militaries, but the change in international attitudes isn’t happening fast enough to save a starving population from Western-backed genocide, argues RAMZY BAROUD
Betty Sinclair, hero of the Irish working class
Following a ceremony held by comrades of the legendary communist activist, LYNDA WALKER summarises a life that saw time in Armagh jail, study in the Lenin School in Moscow and a founding role in the Irish civil rights movement
Family and comrades of Betty Sinclair gather to unveil a new headstone to the legendary communist activist at Carnmoney Cemetery in Belfast, December 3 2022
Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT
JOHN PERRY, BECCA RENK and ROGER D HARRIS offer a corrective to the idea that Latin America still lags far behind the West on women’s rights by looking at the region’s significant feminist gains now stretching back decades
Danni Perry’s flag display at the Royal Opera House sparked 182 performers to sign a solidarity letter that cancelled the Tel Aviv Tosca production, while Leonardo DiCaprio invests in Tel Aviv hotels, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The summer saw the co-founders of modern communism travelling from Ramsgate to Neuenahr to Scotland in search of good weather, good health and good newspapers in the reading rooms, writes KEITH FLETT
STEPHEN ARNELL casts a critical eye over the sudden rash of challenges to the two-party system on both sides of the Atlantic, noting that today’s performative populist politics sadly lacks Roosevelt’s progressive ‘Bull Moose’ vision of the early 20th century
BETTY SINCLAIR was born into a Church of Ireland, working-class family in Hooker Street, the Ardoyne area of Belfast. Her father was a worker in the Harland and Wolff shipyard and a “Walkerist” (pro-unionist) socialist; her mother was a reeler in Ewart’s mill.
The 1911 census shows that Betty lived with her mother Margaret, her father Joe and brothers William, Thomas and Joseph and her younger sister Ellen. It is thought that perhaps Joseph died at an early age as little is known about him.
As a young girl she lived for a short period with her aunt in Leeds, she described this as being a happy period in her life and found living in Leeds an improvement to Belfast.
More from this author
Peaceful protesters are facing increasingly authoritarian clampdowns, including two recent arrests for putting a sticker on a Barclays ATM. LYNDA WALKER reports
From confronting Nato to defending Irish neutrality, Clare Daly’s principled stance embodies the often-forgotten peace tradition at the heart of IWD — we are proud to welcome her to our Belfast event, writes LYNDA WALKER
LYNDA WALKER writes about Bohemian FC, who are set to welcome the Palestinian Women’s National team for their first ever match in Europe
LYNDA WALKER pays tribute to a trailblazing black actor who championed progressive causes, leading to a close relationship with struggles for justice in Ireland
