The Forgotten Feminism of Amber Films
The subversive and sensitive output of the North East feminist film collective sought to document glamour and grace in working-class life. So why is their work absent from conventional histories?
4380 Articles by:
Miriam Pensack
Miriam Pensack is a writer, editor, and doctoral candidate in Latin American history at New York University.
VE Day at 80: Antifascism Is Ours
As we mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism in Europe, the radical antifascist legacy of the Second World War is in danger of being forgotten. For the sake of survival, we can’t let that happen.
A Murky Clarity
Politicians’ pronouncements that last month’s Supreme Court judgement ‘clarifies’ sex and gender feeds into a wider right-wing narrative that the Left is in denial about the truth of human nature — and that hostility to minorities is the only way to deal with reality.
Not Just Where, But How We Live
In the year of the Renters’ Rights Bill, how should the tenants movement respond to changing ideas around how the current housing crisis is exacerbated by patriarchal and capitalist notions?
Finding Solace in Organising
In January, workers at Tower Hamlets’ primary independent domestic violence service were threatened with redundancies. By unionising, they not only saved their jobs — they also defended the survivors who rely on their support.
Reform Rising: On the Labour Collapse in Durham
Reform’s devastating electoral success in places like County Durham this week shows that British politics is approaching a tipping point – will Labour respond with watered-down jingoism, or rediscover its soul?
Kneecap: Artists Say No to Censorship
As the British authorities attempt to persecute Kneecap this week, over 100 artists and musicians sign an open letter to ‘register opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom’.
Britain and the Making of Hồ Chí Minh
Britain’s history in Vietnam has been one of collusion with French colonialism and US war crimes. But there is another story of workers protesting, raising medical funds and flying the flag of the Viet Cong.
Museum Without Objects
The ‘universal museum’ is a product of Enlightenment thinking, with museums such as the Louvre cast in an increasingly ludicrous position as guardians of global heritage. Is there another way?
Dreaming the Socialist Tripadvisor
As British cities are increasingly hollowed out by property developers, a tradition on the Italian left has seen the creation of ‘social centres’, where radical ways of being and thinking can take root. Can we replicate their success?
The Unjust Transition
If Labour carries on with its baffling refusal to save Grangemouth oil refinery, hundreds of workers will lose jobs, Scotland could face fuel shortages, and – once again in British history – an entire community could face collapse.
The Tariff Test
Trump’s tariffs look set to dismantle whatever remains of the ‘rules-based international order’. Rather than bowing down, Britain should take the opportunity to do away with the hypocrisy of that system and build a different kind of world economy.
To the Lifehouse
A new book rediscovers lessons from Black Panther survival programmes, solidarity networks of crisis-era Greece and the Occupy Sandy disaster relief efforts — and asks whether impending climate catastrophe means we should stop waiting and start doing.
As Good as It Gets
A ‘filthy leftist’ in the eyes of his opponents, Pope Francis, who has died aged 88, brought radical energy to the papacy – but his reformism had limits, and now his successor seems likely to push the Catholic Church firmly rightwards.
Bring Back British Steel
The Labour government can’t delude itself that the whims of the free market can support our country’s steelworkers — we need a plan for the industry to be brought under public control.
Your Worth Is Not Your Productivity
Labour’s swingeing cuts to benefits continue a long tradition of equating human worth with participation in paid employment — an unnecessary, immoral, counterproductive way to run a society.
Lennon, Ono, and the Leftists
Kevin MacDonald’s excellent new documentary shows John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the maelstrom of the early 1970s American counterculture in Nixon’s America.
In With the In Crowd
The Left tends to celebrate the crowd only in limited and conditional ways. A new book by Dan Hancox aims to reclaim the mass gathering for the 2020s.
The Government Is Failing Hillsborough Families Again
Last year, Keir Starmer pledged that the Hillsborough Law would be passed by the disaster’s 36th anniversary, which is today. Its delay is further evidence of his government’s priorities: protecting powerful interests against the threat of justice.
Radical Gaming
A new left-wing board game puts players in the role of maniacal plutocrats trying to take over the world. Its creator explains how it responds to the wider phenomenon of ‘gamified capitalism’.