As Colombia approaches presidential elections next year, the US decision to decertify the country in the war on drugs plays into the hands of its allies on the political right, writes NICK MacWILLIAM
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The day Britain surrendered ‘to Red violence and Jewish corruption’
So ranted Oswald Mosley: 82 years on DAVID ROSENBERG relays how the peoples' victory over fascism at Cable Street took place in an era of astonishing racism towards Jews
Leftists celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street in front of the famous mural
The move against alleged PKK members that sparked outrage as a community centre in north London was raided last year has now come to trial, writes TONY BURKE, but in the meantime, the peace process abroad has changed the situation almost entirely
A new report points a way to overcome complacent framing of climate issues, ‘by sparking a wider public reckoning with climate realities,’ and reconnecting with working-class people. IAN SINCLAIR reports
We cannot understand today’s world without understanding the rise of China – and we cannot understand China without understanding how it was shaped by the second world war, writes JENNY CLEGG
NICK WRIGHT reports from Italy, where 80 cities saw Gaza strikes as unions paralysed transport and massive crowds clashed with police in Milan — but France is also kicking off, and Westminster, in a very different way, is facing a crisis of legitimacy too
Escalating anti-China rhetoric from the West has a clear purpose – to manufacture consent for the new cold war, and potentially a hot one, argues CARLOS MARTINEZ
October 1934: The British Union of Fascists celebrated the launch of their first branch in London’s East End. Oswald Mosley, writing in The Blackshirt could barely contain his excitement.
“Thursday October 4 … The Blackshirts marched in procession from Bow Branch premises … into Stepney Green, where a large crowd … had gathered which later increased to well over 1,500. The Blackshirts had a very noisy reception as the larger part of the audience were aliens who resented British people holding a meeting in what they considered to be their own territory … October 4 will go down in Blackshirt history as a memorable day.”
But October 4 became our memorable day. Two years later, it fell on a Sunday. By then the British Union of Fascists (BUF) had four well-organised branches in the East End, with Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Limehouse augmenting its Bow branch.
More from this author
DAVID ROSENBERG assesses the far-right threat in the wake of the summer's Islamophobic pogroms and asks what lessons we can learn from the 1930s
DAVID ROSENBERG takes a look back to the days when the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism stood against against the thugs of the National Front, and sees some important differences to the anti-racism battles of today, which call for fresh thinking rather than transplanting the tactics of the ’70s
The large demonstrations against the war in Gaza saw a participation of progressive young Jews. DAVID ROSENBERG welcomes the renewed interest in the traditions of Jewish socialist internationalism
DAVID ROSENBERG recalls the Islington North MP’s record as an ever-present fighter against division, xenophobia and hate
