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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‘Those involved in progressive politics need to commit to ensuring women’s voices are heard’
HELEN STEEL talks to Jo Bartosch about the violence and threats she’s received from supposed leftwingers for attempting to discuss the issues of sex and gender
Spycops and McLibel campaigner Helen Steel
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 word “heathen” was originally reserved for those with views so unpalatable they were cast out onto the heathland, excluded from civilised society.
This etymology came into my mind when I heard about the case of Helen Steel, a seasoned campaigner, who was forced to walk across the moors after being excluded from a protest camp organised by the Land Justice Network (LJN).
Steel is a formidable woman who has more than earned her activist stripes by pressing for environmental, feminist and social justice causes since her teens.
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Half a century after transformative laws reshaped Britain, women’s rights are again contested. This International Women’s Day is a call to remember how change was won, and to organise to defend it, says KATE RAMSDEN
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ROS SITWELL reports from the Morning Star conference on ‘Race, Sex and Class Liberation’ last weekend