Olive oil remains a vital foundation of food, agriculture and society, storing power in the bonds of solidarity. Though Palestinians are under attack, they continue to press forward write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
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‘Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things’
Socialist historian KEITH FLETT introduces a rediscovered 1811 Shelley poem dedicated to a persecuted radical journalist
The Peterloo Massacre
VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention
JOE ATTARD explains why trade unionists are rallying in solidarity against the recent arrest of political activists in Gilgit-Baltistan, the northernmost region of Kashmir, administered by Pakistan
by Roger D Harris and John Perry
Why not pay a visit to Feile an Phobail, a people’s festival of community arts with roots in the days of internment without trial, and where the spirit of solidarity remains undimmed, says LYNDA WALKER
VINCE MILLS says Scottish Labour has adopted better positions than its Westminster counterpart — but unless it starts to fight for them that will count for nothing
THIS year has been the 200th anniversary of Peterloo and with it Shelley’s poem the Masque of Anarchy has received fresh publicity.
It was read by actor Maxine Peake in the historic John Rylands library in Manchester as part of the anniversary activities.
The Masque of Anarchy was not freely available until some years after Peterloo, but the first poem Shelley wrote of political note, while still a student at Oxford in 1811, a Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things, was published at the time.
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KEITH FLETT looks at the long history of coercion in British employment laws
The government cracking down on something it can’t comprehend and doesn’t want to engage with is a repeating pattern of history, says KEITH FLETT
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
10 years ago this month, Corbyn saved Labour from its right-wing problem, and then the party machine turned on him. But all is not lost yet for the left, says KEITH FLETT
