There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Filipino movements fear greater repression as ruling class debates ‘red tagging’
Despite critical statements by officials in the current and incoming presidencies on red tagging, land defenders and activists have raised concerns about the possibility of greater state repression in the coming days, reports PEOPLES DISPATCH
Crowds protest the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 2016 — but this year voters elected ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, his son
Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
DR DYLAN MURPHY looks at a Big Brother Watch report which exposes the government as an enabler of DWP secret spying on benefit claimants
The EU faces a critical choice: will it remain in the shadow of an increasingly unreliable US ally, or will it forge its own path in a multilateral world where co-operation with China is essential, asks MARC VANDEPITTE as leaders meet for the EU-China Summit
A lot of discussion about how the left should currently organise – including debate on whether the Green Party is a useful vehicle for advance – runs the risk of refusing to engage with or learn from the reasons the left was defeated previously, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
For Egypt trade trumps the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but how long can the country’s ‘misleaders’ – and others in the region – continue their indifference against the popular will of their own people, asks ROGER McKENZIE
JUST WEEKS ahead of the inauguration of president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr, or Bongbong Marcos, red tagging has re-emerged as a national debate in the Philippines. In what is being seen as a possible shift in attitudes within the ruling dispensation, Menardo Guevarra, Justice Secretary in the outgoing Rodrigo Duterte administration, called the practice of red tagging dangerous.
Speaking at an online news forum, Guevarra said that the practice only endangers people who are “vocal about their own political views.” Red tagging is a controversial practice employed by the state security apparatus and anti-insurgency agencies of labelling individuals or groups as affiliated to the banned Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) or its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).
The practice often leads to harassment and even violent attacks by government bodies and vigilantes, often without substantial evidence. Numerous killings of activists, trade unionists, indigenous leaders and local journalists by the security forces or armed vigilantes have been attributed to unsubstantiated accusations of communist affiliations made by state agencies.
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