Skip to main content
A history of jingoism shows the importance of anti-war protest
KEITH FLETT sees some unpleasant echoes of the past in today’s drumbeats for war
A mob loots suspected German shops in east London, 1915

OFCOM has taken the decision to withdraw the licence of Russia Today to broadcast in Britain. 

The regulator’s view is that it is a conduit for pro-Putin propaganda in respect of Ukraine, but it can be argued that the BBC functions at least partly as a pro-Nato broadcaster. 

Between the two there is little space for those who oppose imperialist wars, whether launched and organised by East or West.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
PROTEST PIONEERS: The assault of the Chartists on the Westgate Hotel, where some of their comrades were held prisoner, Newport, 1839
Features / 24 October 2025
24 October 2025

It’s not just the Starmer regime: the workers of Britain have always faced legal affronts on their right to assemble and dissent, and the Labour Party especially has meddled with our freedoms from its earliest days, writes KEITH FLETT

President Donald Trump meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House, August 18, 2025, in Washington
Features / 22 August 2025
22 August 2025

Washington plays innocent bystander while pouring weapons and intelligence into Ukraine, just as it enables the Gaza genocide — but every US escalation leaves Ukraine weaker than the neutrality deal rejected in 2022, argue MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICOLAS JS DAVIES

Ramsgate beach 1899
History / 14 August 2025
14 August 2025

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

Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomes American President George W Bush to the first meeting of the G8 Summit at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, July 7, 2005
Features / 26 June 2025
26 June 2025

While Hardie, MacDonald and Wilson faced down war pressure from their own Establishment, today’s leadership appears to have forgotten that opposing imperial adventures has historically defined Labour’s moral authority, writes KEITH FLETT