In the wake of his recent humanitarian visit to Cuba, RICHARD BURGON points to the now urgent need to defend the island’s political sovereignty and its right to self-determination
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Cuba’s new Family Code: made possible by socialism
Rather than simply ‘legalising gay marriage’ the new laws in Cuba addressed everything from domestic work to children's rights, engaging half of the entire population in a uniquely socialist process, explain MARY DAVIS and ANGUS REID
Thousands of jobs are at risk across higher education, yet government funding appears only when universities can be linked to military objectives, says JO GRADY, in the run-up to the Stop the War International Conference this Saturday
The Wye, Usk, Arrow and Lugg were once treasured for their clean waters – today, pollution and corporate excess are fuelling demands for a return to public ownership, says MARK SEDDON
The new Employment Rights Act is a step forward, but restoring collective bargaining and union power remains essential to tackling insecurity, outsourcing and low pay, says PAUL WHITEHOUSE
Rising support for Farage’s party reflects Labour’s failure to defend working-class living standards or offer a credible alternative to neoliberal decline, says JOSEPH MILLS
Trade unionists are mobilising to support Cuban workers and public services, amid escalating US pressure on the socialist island. RONAN OGILVY explains
THE result of the referendum on the new Family Code in Cuba, held on September 25, is a landmark victory for socialism, a major advance and a signal of the virtue of a genuine people’s democracy.
At stake was an entirely new social settlement that recognises in law a redefinition of the family. And that family can be, simply, any combination of adults of any ages, whether gay, lesbian or straight. Every couple now has the right to marry, and to adopt. There is no specific law for LGBTQ+ people because they are simply accepted as people. As equals.
It also recognises the family as a place of labour — the labour of bringing up children, and caring for the elderly and disabled — and it rewards that labour, whoever does it. Only socialists think like this.
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