IAN LAVERY MP says an immediate focus on raising wages and reducing costs must be part of a strategy to show Labour can deliver for workers again
Havana Biennial: Cuban culture defies the US empire
From intimate venues to grand stages, Scottish singer-songwriter CALUM BAIRD finds Cuba’s cultural heart still beats strong while power cuts and sanctions fail to silence artistic expression.
Scottish singer Calum Baird on the Malecon
Friedrich Merz’s call for a new Plaza Accord ignores how Washington’s 1985 currency ambush destroyed Japan without fixing US deficits — China, a sovereign socialist state with 1.4 billion consumers, cannot be bullied the same way, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ
World Peace Council president PALLAB SENGUPTA assesses the challenges facing the international peace movement and sends greetings to the Liberation AGM
KIERA MARSHALL says there is a gulf between the privileged circles in which most politicians move and the lives of working-class youth in left-behind estates – and as a newly elected Senedd member she’s determined to do something about it
ANGUS REID and ANDREW JOHNSTONE report on an initiative that we must take this summer
At last weekend’s International Conference Against War, LINDA PENTZ GUNTER talks to the Palestinian physician and politician about the struggles ahead to achieve a truly free Palestine
TRAVELLING from Edinburgh to London, London to Madrid, Madrid to Havana, I was full of anticipation. Once I stepped off the plane and was reunited with my guitar, that anticipation ratcheted up all the more.
Supported by Unison Scotland, FBU Scotland, Unite Hospitality Scotland, BFAWU, PCS Scotland and the Peace and Justice Project, I travelled to Havana from November 19-29 as the only Scottish musician taking part in the 40th edition of the Havana Biennial.
I dived headfirst into the vibrant cultural scenery of the Biennial — literally, three hours after leaving the airport, I was on stage in El Antonia in the heart of Old Havana. I was part of a delegation that included artists and musicians from Ecuador, France and Switzerland — including German rock and blues band Keimzeit.
Similar stories
Trade unionists are mobilising to support Cuban workers and public services, amid escalating US pressure on the socialist island. RONAN OGILVY explains
Cuba continues to embody a vision of internationalism that imperialism has never forgiven, argues ZOLTAN ZIGEDY
A teaching delegation to Cuba offered IAN DUCKETT a powerful glimpse into a schooling system defined by care, creativity and the legacy of the island’s remarkable 1961 literacy campaign
While ordinary Americans were suffering in the wake of 2005’s deadly hurricane, the Bush administration was more concerned with maintaining its anti-Cuba stance than with saving lives, writes MANOLO DE LOS SANTOS