Picture the scene. It’s 1994 at the headquarters of the World Bank. A couple of Christian Aid lobbyists are, if not exactly being muscled out of the building, very much being asked to leave.
The past fortnight has been a very significant one for the radical left in Europe. The most obvious reason for this is the defeat of the European consitution in France.
Following a disastrous defeat for the governing SPD, the equivalent of Britain’s Labour Party, in its North Rhine and Westphalia heartland, it has called for early elections in a desperate move to ward off rebellion in its ranks.
There are only a handful of leading women activists associated with the trade union rank and file Minority Movement in the 1920s. None of these is as well known or documented as AJ Cook, JT Murphy or Tom Mann. Why was this?
BBC workers, who struck and took many programmes off the air on Monday of last week, have forced management to offer concessions to its plans to slash 3,800 jobs.
Marxist economics has an image problem. In recent years a new movement has challenged the idea that there is no alternative to the neo-liberal capitalism espoused by the multinationals, governments and global bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and G8.
The anti-war movement scored a big victory in Scotland last week. It overturned a decision by Scottish police to ban a Stop the War Coalition rally set to take place after the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh on 2 July.
The G8 Alternatives summit will take place in various venues in Edinburgh on Sunday 3 July. From 10am to 9pm speakers from all over the world will present a serious ideological challenge to the corrupt and bankrupt policies of the G8 in eight plenary sessions and over 30 workshops.
The former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, has added his voice to those supporting the right to march past Gleneagles Hotel when the G8 summit opens on 6 July.
