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 working-class case for the freedom of movement
Free movement across borders is a right that needs to be won and defended at all costs by working people and the trade unions, writes DON FLYNN
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 idea of a right to free movement is cursed by its association with the European treaties which have as their objective the creation of an unfettered market in which all goods, services and persons circulate as commodities.
As the crisis of the free market system has become more obvious, and as its impact is felt more sharply by working-class people, a head of steam is building up which wants to end what many see as the thing most symbolising the failings of global capitalism.
The clamour to end the right to freedom of movement is reaching fever point and is drawing in a swathe of the Labour Party, like its Brexit spokesperson Sir Keir Starmer and its candidate for mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham.
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