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
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Fighting for the substance of feminism
LYNNE WALSH reports from the Radfem Collective’s annual conference
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
Alba party leader KENNY MacASKILL makes some suggestions on how to save our pubs and reduce irresponsible drinking
The catastrophe unfolding in Gaza – where Palestinians are freezing to death in tents – is not a natural disaster but a calculated outcome of Israel’s ongoing blockade, aid restrictions and continued violence, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Opinion polls point to electoral collapse, parliamentary rebellion and a looming leadership challenge as Starmer’s Labour haemorrhages working-class support and the far right exploits the vacuum left by a hollowed-out party, says NICK WRIGHT
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
IT’S tough to bring a roomful of activists to complete silence, but one speaker at the annual Radfem Collective conference managed it, with a powerful story of rage and grief transformed into action and social change.
Gemma Aitchison told the 70 delegates the story behind her setting up the Yes Matters group, campaigning for compulsory sex education. Her sister Sasha Marsden, then aged 16, was brutally murdered in 2013. Her stabbing was sexually motivated, and her sister set up the community group that year, getting consent onto the sex education curriculum. The community group teaches young people about gender stereotypes and “how damaging and limiting they are.
“Sexual objectification culture is in the air that we breathe, practically. The idea that objectification is ‘empowering’ doesn’t make sense. An object serves the need of the subject. There’s no need for a chair to consent before you sit on it,” she told the conference.
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