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
EUROPEAN governments have either given up trying to save lives in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, in the Channel, at the borders between Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, Spain and Morocco, and along the bloc’s eastern borders, leaving people to drown, starve or freeze to death — or they have actively made their borders deadlier.
At the same time, European states have also deliberately hindered and even tried to criminalise the activities of the activists and civil society organisations that have stepped in where they left off.
About 1,500 people drowned in the central Mediterranean this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration’s latest estimates. And over 31,400 people were returned to Libya.
We are experiencing a wave of organised, often deadly violence targeting migrants from other parts of Africa — but the poorest South Africans reject this hatred, staying true to the spirit of Ubuntu and Pan-African unity, reports NIGEL BRANKEN
RON JACOBS welcomes a book that tells the story of the far right in Greece from the perspective of migrants
These are vivid accounts of people’s experiences of far-right violence along with documentation of popular resistance, says MARJORIE MAYO



