Robinson successfully defended his school from closure, fought for the unification of the teaching unions, mentored future trade union leaders and transformed teaching at the Marx Memorial Library, writes JOHN FOSTER
No empire dies quietly: the violent twilight of US dominance
With trade wars backfiring, allies resisting military demands, and approval ratings plummeting, Trump’s dangerous pursuit of colonial ambitions threatens to end the ‘American century’ with catastrophic conflict, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
DEFIANT: Mexican
President Claudia
Sheinbaum
A judge in a German court ruled that the ban activity imposed on renowned Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR
From Gaza protest bans to proscribing Palestine Action, political elites are showing a crisis of confidence as they abandon Roy Jenkins’s apologetic approach for Suella Braverman’s aggressive ‘hate march’ rhetoric, writes PAUL DONOVAN
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the legal case behind this weekend’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival and the lessons for today
Ben Chacko talks to RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY about how the key to fixing broken Britain lies in collective sectoral bargaining, restoring unions’ ability to take solidarity strike action and bringing about the much-vaunted ‘wave of insourcing’
The summer of 1950 saw Labour abandon further nationalisation while escalating Korean War spending from £2.3m to £4.7m, as the government meekly accepted capitalism’s licence and became Washington’s yes-man, writes JOHN ELLISON
ALMOST 15 years ago, historian Alfred McCoy wrote predicting that “the demise of the US as the global superpower could come … in 2025.” He was probably a little early in his prediction, though there is still time for him to be proven correct.
McCoy envisaged a world in which China, India, Iran and Russia would all “provocatively challenge” the dominion of the “fading superpower” and that the US would be riven with “violent clashes and divisive debates” and run by a “far-right patriot” president threatening military and economic punishment for anyone who dared challenge US hegemony.
So prescient was his prediction that McCoy revisited his analysis in The Nation last November and found little cause for changing his forecast.
However, in one key aspect, I suspect he may be wrong. McCoy expects that the “American century ends in silence,” with the world paying little attention despite the threats and belligerence of Trump and his cohort, but the signs are that the US empire will not die quietly.
So far, the reaction of most Western nations and China to Trump’s economic threats has been fairly resolute: Canada responded to his 25 per cent duty on most Canadian imports in a reciprocal manner and is negotiating a new market with the EU for its energy in the face of the 10 per cent tariff imposed on that.
China has imposed retaliatory tariffs on US goods, Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum faced down Trump, threatening tit-for-tat tariffs and warning that her country would simply sell its products elsewhere.
More from this author
The New York mayoral candidate has electrified the US public with policies of social justice and his refusal to be cowed. We can follow his example here, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Israel’s monopolisation of ‘aid’ to slaughter Palestinians means there is no other option: direct international intervention now, says CLAUDIA WEBBE
With missiles penetrating the air defences to strike Haifa and Tel Aviv, Netanyahu’s transparent appeal to Trump demonstrates the Israeli underestimation of Iranian retaliation, and they are desperate to drag their allies in, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Starmer should not need to wait for the High Court’s decision on F-35 parts in order to do the right thing, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
