MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Albert Camus, Covid-19 and what it says about modern Britain
The existentialist philosopher foresaw the makings of our present crisis, where the wealth and prosperity of the West led us to an apathetic refusal to accept the dread realities of the pandemic, writes JOHN WIGHT
“The furious revolt of the first weeks had given place to a vast despondency, not to be taken for resignation, though it was no less a sort of passive and provisional acquiescence” — Albert Camus, The Plague
President Maduro mobilises the 4.5 million-strong Bolivarian National Militia in response to US ‘threats’, vowing to defend the country’s sovereignty and independence, DEVIN B MARTINEZ reports
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
For those in the West, hunger is often just the familiar feeling of a growling stomach between meals — in Gaza, it has become a strategic weapon of slow, systematic and deadly destruction, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
After almost two decades of rule by the Movement Toward Socialism, once led by Evo Morales, right-wing parties have emerged in the lead after the first round of elections on August 17 and are now in control of the legislature, reports PABLO MERIGUET
DAVID MATTHEWS looks at what a collective future for welfare might have in store for us
AS only he can, Albert Camus in his classic 1947 novel, The Plague, mines the human condition in the midst of a crisis in which solidarity, selflessness and mutuality are the means of survival and in which individualism, selfishness and self-regard are death itself.
Camus: “This whole thing is not about heroism. It’s about decency. It may seem a ridiculous idea, but the only way to fight the plague is with decency.”
The personal and social struggle of a public-health emergency such as we are now experiencing is both unprecedented in its human toll and revelatory in what it has told us about our common humanity. And when we trace the trajectory of the pandemic we cannot but avoid the harsh truth that Covid-19 denialism began, here in Britain, at the level of government, a society nailed to the cross of free-market dogma and underpinned by rampant individualism.
More from this author
In recently published book Baddest Man, Mark Kriegel revisits the Faustian pact at the heart of Mike Tyson’s rise and the emotional fallout that followed, writes JOHN WIGHT
As we mark the anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, JOHN WIGHT reflects on the enormity of the US decision to drop the atom bombs
From humble beginnings to becoming the undisputed super lightweight champion of the world, Josh Taylor’s career was marked by fire, ferocity, and national pride, writes JOHN WIGHT
Mary Kom’s fists made history in the boxing world. Malak Mesleh’s never got the chance. One story ends in glory, the other in grief — but both highlight the defiance of women who dare to fight, writes JOHN WIGHT
