In June 1916 thousands of Arabs rose up against the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled over the region for four centuries. They fought with the backing of the British and French governments, not realising they were being used as a weapon in the First World War, writes Simon Guy.
No truly democratic institution could have passed Third Energy’s application to frack at Kirby Misperton in North Yorkshire last month. The 4,375 objections gave the County Council a 99.2 percent mandate to vote against. There was almost a day and a half of speeches against. The Tory-controlled planning committee received barristers’ letters and scientific papers...
The election of Davao City “warlord” and gangster Rodrigo Duterte as president of the Philippines last month raises many questions. The man has a history of human rights abuses in ordering the extra-judicial killings of thousands of petty criminals. Some of those were children. His death squads were made up of police, hired gunmen and...
Whatever way you look at it, the Scottish National Party have won another crushing victory in the Scottish parliamentary election. Due to the bizarre maths of the list system, designed to prevent an overall majority, the SNP won more constituency seats than last time but won less list seats and so do not have an...
Both sides in the official EU referendum debate were excelling themselves in their hideousness as Socialist Review went to press. In late May, Vote Leave launched a racist poster with the headline “Turkey (population 76 million) is Joining the EU” and a picture of a British passport. The Stay campaign hit back with another dodgy...
Hollywood’s latest tearjerker, Me Before You, which stars Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones, has sparked international outrage from disabled campaigners opposed to the film’s central message, which is essentially that it’s better to be dead than disabled. Protesters including members of Disabled People Against Cuts took these objections to the European premiere of the...
The creeping marketisation of higher education has had major implications for staff contracts. Xanthe Rose explains the extent of casualised work in the sector.
The junior doctors' dispute has combined with teachers’ anger and the Tory crisis to present new opportunities
As we go to press the Labour left is coming under attack from a coalition of the Tories and the Labour right throwing accusations of anti-Semitism. Jeremy Corbyn has come under increasing pressure to suspend members, including ex London mayor Ken Livingstone. While it is crucial that the Labour Party takes any claim of anti-Semitism...
With the referendum campaign on Britain’s membership of the EU now underway, left forces have officially launched a campaign for a left wing British exit. The organisations backing #Lexit — the Left Leave Campaign include the RMT rail workers’ union, the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers Party, Counterfire, the Indian Workers Association, the Bangladeshi Workers...
Last month’s first round presidential election in Austria showed a dangerous shift to the right. Norbert Hofer of the fascist Freedom Party came top with 36 percent of the vote. In second place was the Green Party candidate with 20 percent. There will be a run-off election between the two to decide the presidency on...
The success of the far right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) in regional elections in March sent shockwaves across Germany, as we reported last month. Socialists and anti-racists organised an emergency national conference in Frankfurt-am-Main on 23-24 April to discuss their response to the growth of the right. It was a real success, with around...
