Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Amnesty’s dangerous wishful thinking on prostitution
ANNA FISHER points out the confluence of the vested interests of Amnesty International with those of the multibillion-dollar sexual exploitation industry
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
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NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
AT the recent Unison Women’s Conference, I ran a stall for Nordic Model Now! which campaigns for the Nordic model, or the sex buyer law, as it’s sometimes called.
We got a great reception and many women stopped to find out more, or to tell us how happy they were to see us there.
Several women told us that they encounter women in prostitution through their work in rape crisis, domestic violence, addiction or children’s services, and how the devastating effects are self-evident: bruises, chronic abdominal pain, anxiety disorders, addictions developed as a way of enduring the unendurable, the fear of the pimps, who sometimes could be seen waiting outside.
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The legacy of socialist feminists such as Alexandra Kollontai challenges us today to confront an uncomfortable truth: framing prostitution as empowerment lets the abusers of the Epstein class off the hook, warns HELEN O’CONNOR
AMANDA J QUICK warns about the ever-expanding influence of the sex industry – and the harm it unleashes on both the women involved and society collectively, especially the young
Susan Galloway talks to ASH REGAN MSP about her “Unbuyable” Bill, seeking to tackle the commercial sexual exploitation of women in Scotland