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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Big oil companies across the world have failed to learn the lessons of Piper Alpha
Troy Carter lays a wreath in memory of those who died in the Piper Alpha disaster
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
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
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
THE nightmare of July 6 1988 is etched into minds across all of Aberdeen. The explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform took the lives of 167 offshore workers and rescue servicemen.
But when Australian oil worker Troy Carter visited the memorial to the dead earlier this month, he was warning that it could still take more. Because, he argued, big oil companies across the world have failed to learn the lessons of the Scottish tragedy.
Carter’s story is extraordinary. He has now spent almost 500 days on strike in a David and Goliath struggle with one of the world’s largest oil firms.
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