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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Iran – a theocratic regime in existential crisis
Since the stage-managed and farcical presidential election in Iran on June 18, the dictatorial regime has lurched ever deeper into an ongoing crisis of epic proportions. JANE GREEN assesses the current situation
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks on his proposed ministers at the parliament, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, August 21, 2021
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
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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 Iranian regime’s crisis of legitimacy has been consolidated with the confirmation in presidential office of Ebrahim Raisi, a notorious figure centrally involved in the 1988 mass murder of thousands of political prisoners in Iran.
Raisi came to office following elections where even official figures placed the turnout at just 42 per cent — the lowest by a long margin in Iran’s contemporary history. More than 6 per cent of those who voted spoilt their ballots.
The widespread contempt towards the theocratic regime among the vast majority of the Iranian population has been further underscored by a significant wave of industrial unrest in recent months.
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With attacks on industry, healthcare and education intensifying, JAMSHID AHMADI warns of a deliberate drive to cripple Iran and calls for urgent global action
Payam Solhtalab talks to GAWAIN LITTLE, general secretary of Codir, about the connection between the struggle for peace, against banking and economic sanctions, and the threat of a further military attack by the US/Israel axis on Iran
The Islamic Republic is attempting to deflect from its own failures with a scapegoating campaign against vulnerable and impoverished migrants, writes JAMSHID AHMADI
In the second of two articles, STEVE BISHOP looks at how the 1979 revolution’s aims are obfuscated to create a picture where the monarchists are the opposition to the theocracy, not the burgeoning workers’ and women’s movement on the streets of Iran