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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The women who stood up for their pit community
Bernadette Hyland talks to DEBBIE MATHEWS, who was one of the women involved in campaigning to save Houghton Main coalmine in South Yorkshire, about a new book documenting their experiences
The women of Houghton Main
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
AS Debbie Mathews walked up the steps of Sheffield Town Hall recently and saw crowds of children campaigning for action on climate change she was inspired by their confidence.
Children were central to the women’s pit camps that Debbie and many other women set up in 1992 after the Tory government announced the closure of 31 of the remaining coalmines.
Debbie — together with three other women, Caroline, Flis, and Marilyn — has co-edited and published a book, You Can’t Kill the Spirit, telling the story of the Houghton Main Women’s Pit Camp (1992-3).
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