By Paul Feldman “We can’t return to normal, because the normal that we had was precisely the problem”. That was the graffiti written on a road tunnel wall by Hong Kong democracy campaigners at the end of last year, before the global coronavirus pandemic struck. Six months and hundreds of thousands of deaths later, their […]
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Tag: democratic revolution
Virus just one part of a deadly cocktail
Take one rampant market economy directed by an authoritarian state more concerned with suppressing dissent than public health, add in debt-driven globalisation, throw in extreme weather patterns and broken political systems and you have a deadly cocktail. That’s how the coronavirus pandemic originating in China, the stock market collapse, climate change and the slow death […]
Why Long-Bailey’s call for a ‘democratic
Rebecca Long-Bailey’s call for a “democratic revolution” in the wake of Labour’s election debacle is welcome. In doing so, she raises crucial questions about where power is located, the nature of the state and removing the Tories sooner rather than later. Clearly, Labour cannot simply rely on harvesting the votes of traditional supporters at the […]
A democratic revolution is the way to ou...
We are, as historian Simon Schama told BBC’s Newsnight, “living in a weird British revolutionary moment”. Different parts of the political system are at war with each other. The old constitutional arrangements have broken down and the crisis of representative democracy is a turning point in UK history. MPs have responded to Boris Johnson’s coup […]
Constitution is broken – let the people
Such is the fragility of the political system in Britain that it only takes a few words in the shape of an indicative ruling by the Speaker of the House of Commons to spark off what the government’s Solicitor General has described as a “major constitutional crisis”. Leaving aside what a minor crisis would look […]
South Shields takes on fight against neo...
A hugely successful ‘Make 2019 the year Corbyn becomes PM’ meeting in South Shields agreed a programme of action to take the fight against neoliberalism and for real democracy into other parts of the North East. Jointly organised by Momentum South Tyneside and the Real Democracy Movement, the event at the South Shields Museum and […]
A democratic revolution can unite for an...
Is the alternative to Brexit simply the UK remaining a member state of the European Union? Or is there a case for a more imaginative and democratic option that could appeal to both leavers and remainers? It’s worth asking these questions because Brexit is clearly a multi-layered challenge that will dominate politics for the foreseeable […]
Achieving Catalonia’s right to self-dete
Catalan political leaders and activists remain locked up in jail in Madrid, awaiting trial on sedition, rebellion and misuse of funds. Carles Puigdemont, the president of Catalonia, is in Belgium fighting extradition. Catalonia’s Parliament remains closed and the region’s ministries and police are under the control of officials despatched by Madrid. This is the reaction […]
Not really Impressionism – how France’s
If only the curators had given Impressionists in London a different name: “How some artists crossed the channel to escape from war-torn Paris with some sculptures and stunning riverscapes by Monet and Derain thrown in at the end”. If only they had focused more closely on the deeper significance of that traumatic, rich and fascinating time […]
Remake democracy to end Toryism
The unpredictable political and constitutional crisis sweeping the UK is a sure sign that we have to remake our democracy from top to bottom. Building on the social movement that all but toppled the Tories on June 8 can provide the momentum to change the UK in a deep-seated way. The entire system is unstable […]
Stop May’s plan for rule by decree by vo
Tomorrow we face a crisis election The Tories want a massive majority to impose a Brexit fashioned to suit the corporations and the financial markets – a low wage, flexible labour force to compete with India, China and Pacific Rim economies. To achieve this they need to silence dissent and opposition to their policies. May […]
Get ready to defend a Corbyn government ...
If Labour wins next week’s general election, a Jeremy Corbyn government would come under immediate assault from the political establishment, the secret state and the financial markets to name just a few enemies of the people. We need to plan the resistance now. Corbyn’s manifesto may not overtly challenge capitalism – in fact the word […]
Real Democracy as an ideal whose time ha...
A critique of the system of representative democracy that has dominated the major capitalist economies and states over the last 150 years is not difficult to assemble. Much more of a challenge is coming forward with some outline proposals about where we go from here. That’s what confronted a group of activists when we set […]
Election 2017: Let’s campaign for REAL d
The June 8 General Election is aimed at giving the Tories an absolute grip on power as they struggle with the dramatic economic, political and constitutional consequences of last year’s vote to leave the European Union. As the old politics breaks up, ruling elites everywhere are moving towards autocracy and even dictatorship. May is following […]
The power and the potential of the socia...
As voting gets under way in the contest for the Labour leadership, which is almost certainly going to result in the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn, it’s worth reflecting on the astonishing changes that have swept the party since the 2015 general election. Together with the huge rallies Corbyn has been holding – 5,000 turned out […]