From London’s holly-sellers to Engels’s flaming Christmas centrepiece, the plum pudding was more than festive fare in Victorian Britain, says KEITH FLETT
US ramps up pressure on Venezuela amid coronavirus pandemic
Instead of offering help, Trump has threatened to increase sanctions on the country unless Maduro resigns, reports KEN LIVINGSTONE
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
From a lockdown digital project to a vital tool for class solidarity, ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER reflect on half-a-decade of struggle
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
AS STATES around the world struggle to tackle to coronavirus pandemic, Venezuela’s efforts to protect its population are being severely jeopardised by Trump’s aggressive tactics which have been ramped up over the past few weeks.
Trump’s strengthening of illegal US sanctions against Venezuela since 2017 — creating an economic blockade of the type employed against Cuba since the 1960s — have undoubtedly weakened its health infrastructure by cutting deeply into its oil revenues and its capacity to import key medical supplies and equipment.
Inevitably, this is affecting Venezuela’s capacity to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, but unlike Bolsonaro in Brazil the government has taken swift action to contain its spread.
Similar stories
The global left must be unwavering in it is support for Venezuela as Washington increases its aggression, and clear-eyed about the West’s cynical motives for targeting it, says CLAUDIA WEBBE
Two months into Donald Trump’s second run as president, what can we glean about his policies towards Latin America so far, asks TIM YOUNG, ahead of this Saturday’s Socialism or Barbarism day school in London
BEN CHACKO appreciates the largest Adelante! conference yet, and how much there was to learn about decolonisation and defiance across Latin America and beyond
FIONA SIM sees the Venezuelan anti-fascist and anti-imperialist initiatives as offering hope to the rest of the world