Category: activism
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Are you independent enough to stand up for Hastings?

I was a member of the Green Party once. I was an enthusiastic Labour Party officer for a while. I am out of patience with party politics altogether just now – and you know, my opinions haven’t changed much. What is the point of going on supporting an organization because it once had policies you…
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Israelism: film review and three take-aways

I’m sitting in front of a big screen, crammed with 40 or more others in the back room of a pub. The film starts, and we’re watching one of those brain-melting Trump-style mass rallies, all flashing lights, reverberating electronic drums and streaming flags. Bright-eyed crowds are standing waving their arms, screaming in excitement – but…
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Resolutions for 2024: What the “United Nations” can’t do, we must

I put my head out of the door in the morning on Boxing Day, and the world seemed quite quiet – fresh, and undisturbed. I stepped outside and found my street a little damp, a little scruffy, but still there. I walked down to the local shops which were not only still there but lit…
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From Blairites to sex workers

*** Long Read*** [It’s taken me a few weeks to get around to writing this. It’s one of the articles I drafted out when I was thinking about dropping my FB account. There was absolutely no doubt it was giving me problems but, as the horror that is the Israel / Palestine story dominated even…
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What every women’s rights campaigner wants for Christmas

The glorious wave of new feminist books published in this decade has been one of the joys of the women’s rights campaign. For a while, my favourite was Julie Bindel’s Feminism for Women… Oh hang on, before that there was Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women… A lot of people swear by Helen Joyce’s TRANS, but…
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From Assange to AI

You forget the year, you forget the order of events, some names escape you but certain experiences stay with you, hard and bright and real, and inform everything you do for the rest of your life. Like being a part of a gathering after dark in Parliament Square, a gathering called ‘Occupy Democracy’ – hearing…
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I’d like to apply for the Helen Thomas Award, please

I don’t mind if people think it’s a bit off. I think they should rename it the Emperor’s New Clothes Award. (If you’re of a sensitive nature, you should probably read the last bit first, the bit headed ‘naturally’ and work your way up to reading the whole thing.) Why isn’t anti-Palestinianism a thing people…
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What do we do about Them?

Every step of the way we’re shocked, horrified, looking around wildly for ways to stop it. Aching for the children of Gaza, we want to say we can’t believe humans could do this to other humans but, as we’re constantly reminded, the Holocaust happened. Other extensive mass killings have happened since. Humans wound up sufficiently…
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Discord, doubt and division

I started a thread on my Facebook page the other day to grab the attention of anyone I’ve still not made alternative links with. I said I’ve had enough of being messed about by social media. After a few exchanges and various emails, it was clear that most of my friends thought I should swap…
