The crew of the Freedom Flotilla boat, Handala, warned Israel to obey international law but are now in captivity, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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May Day traditions – not just marches and rallies
The Chartists marked May Day long before it became a labour movement occasion. KEITH FLETT explains
IDEALISM: A map showing plans for a Chartist land settlement in Hertfordshire, named O’Connorville after the Chartist leader Feargus O’Connor
A Chilean court ruled that funds were illegally taken by the dictator to accumulate family wealth that is now disputed among his heirs, writes PABLO MERIGUET
DAVID HORSLEY remembers communist seaman Bill Bailey, the ‘Kid from Hoboken,’ whose heroics in tearing down a swastika flag from a ship’s mast inspired early anti-fascist resistance
Our Foreign Secretary now condemns Israel in the Commons, yet Britain still supplies weapons and intelligence for its bombing campaigns — as the horror reaches perhaps the final stage, action must finally replace words, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
I went to bed planning for university, but woke to bombs falling on Gaza, losing my home, best friend, and nearly my hand — yet I am unbroken, and still dream of writing to carry Palestinian voices worldwide, writes EMAN GHASSAN ABUZAYED
The shock suspension of socialist MPs and Diane Abbott’s re-suspension reveals a leadership intent on crushing internal debate — but MERCEDES VILLALBA MSP warns against surrendering party democracy without a fight
MAY DAY is, worldwide, a labour and socialist festival. It has been marked in Britain since the first London May Day demonstrations in the 1890s.
As Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger wrote, traditions are invented. In Britain at the moment there is an official May Day public holiday held on the first Monday after the actual date, which often sees marches and rallies.
We have Michael Foot and the 1974-79 Labour government to thank for that, although Margaret Thatcher recorded in her papers that she also enjoyed a day off, despite disapproving of its stated purpose.
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