A 1936 confrontation with Mosley’s BUF became part of a wider international struggle, with local activists later joining the fight against fascism in the Spanish civil war. TONY FOX tells the story ahead of a 90th anniversary commemoration event
Christmas is cancelled: Now it’s time for action, time for sanctions
HUGH LANNING on why our new year task and resolution must be to turn the massive public support and sympathy for Palestine into a veritable political tsunami to shift Western politics
Trade unionists and protesters form a blockade outside weapons manufacturer BAE Systems in Rochester, Kent, in protest over the Israel-Gaza conflict and calling for an immediate ceasefire
Voters have delivered a stay of execution for Labour and exposed limits to Reform’s advance. But will Burnham offer a political alternative rather than just a different face at the top, asks ANDREW MURRAY
SEVIM DAGDELEN warns that Germany’s military resurgence and revival of old hostilities towards Russia have dangerous implications for Europe and beyond
MATT KERR takes stock of a night of by-elections, where the long repeated warnings for Labour and the political class remain stubbornly unheeded
Trump Is Building a Legal and Military Architecture to Invade Latin America. SARA VIVACQUA reports
Despite forming most of Britain’s trade union membership, women continue to endure harassment, inequality and minimal support for their sex-based rights, warns VALERIE COULTAS
CHRISTMAS is cancelled. The Bethlehem municipality confirmed last month that all festivities have been scrapped ahead of December 25.
“The reason is the general situation in Palestine; people are not really into any celebration, they are sad, angry and upset; our people in Gaza are being massacred in cold blood,” a spokesperson said.
I was in Bethlehem one Christmas Eve and phoned my mother — a good Catholic. She said: “How lovely dear.” I first had to explain that it was Orthodox Christmas Eve — January 5 or Twelfth Night — and the reality of Bethlehem today, rather than the Bethlehem of myth and religion. Walled in and walled off from Jerusalem, shops and hotels closed down — the only tourists were Americans bussed in to the “manger” and out by Israeli tourist companies with commentaries from Israeli guides.
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