Wednesday, 15 September 2010 12:37
Cafes are full in Athens, and droves of tourists still visit the Parthenon and go island-hopping in the fabled Aegean. But beneath the summery surface, there is confusion, anger, and despair as this country is plunged into its worst economic crisis in decades.
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It is two years today since Lehman Brothers became the biggest bankruptcy in US history. A $600bn corporate monster, the world’s third largest bank, disappeared overnight.
The moment Eric Pickles dumped reams of spreadsheets showing spending by the Department for Communities and Local Government, I fired off a Freedom of Information request to get the bill for a £1,999.49 dinner shown in the accounts.
Pope Benedict XVI begins his costly state visit to the UK today. Activists will be using this opportunity to make their voices heard about LGBT equality, abortion rights, child abuse within the church and the Vatican's powerful and inaccurate stance on condoms.
On 27th August 2010 President Mwai Kibaki signed Kenya’s new constitution in a ceremony in Nairobi. I watched the signing of the constitution in a small cafe in Tsavo, Kenya on the only working television in the village.
The Stitched Up series looks at the real price of fast fashion - who pays for it, who is to blame for exploitation and what can be done about it?
Anthony Lawson's video investigation into The BBC Panorama programme Death in the Med showing it to be a biased and often untruthful treatment of Israel's worst atrocity since Operation Cast Lead.
Neil Faulkner looks at the origins of the Ch'in Empire - short-lived, created by conquest and terror and characterised by extreme centralisation, military-style exploitation, and murderous repression.
There are two left-wing candidates and two right-wing candidates in the election for general secretary of Unite, Britain's biggest trade union. One of the right-wingers - the one, in fact, who stands a chance of winning - is Les Bayliss.
The social weight of organized, mobilized workers is beginning to consolidate in South Africa. The recent public sector strike was a shining example, writes Trevor Ngwane.
If the Coalition government are able to inflict their swingeing cuts it will devastate the lives of millions of women.
The Lacuna is an intelligent and engaging piece of historical fiction, and deserves all the praise it has got from the mainstream. But scarcely acknowledged is how far Kingsolver goes in her critique of the hypocrisy of western political culture and her corresponding sympathy for revolutionaries.
As Britain commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain Neil Faulkner looks at the hidden history of the Second World War and finds a war shaped by class struggle and anti-fascism.
The coalition government's communications chief Andy Coulson presided over a regime of phone hacking whilst editor of the News of The World. Journalist Brendan Montague was one victim
So what happens to fashion when the biggest financial crisis of a generation comes along? Things look bad enough to change our way of life forever - will fashion change too?
Neil Faulkner looks at the growth of the Mauryan Empire which at its zenith encompassed almost the whole of what is today India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Published just over a year after Israel’s 2008 attack on Gaza and drawing on a wealth of evidence Finkelstein's book is first and foremost a stunning indictment of that attack.
Lindsey German celebrates the re-release of The Leopard, the classic film about the conflict between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie during the creation of Italy.
Neil Faulkner looks at the centuries following 1000 BCE when the scale of civilisation and empire exploded as the productivity of iron tools boosted the surpluses available to Iron Age empire-builders.
In the first part of a new series, Tansy Hoskins examines who shapes what we wear, tracking the power of the fashion industry.
31 May - 1 June 2013
an international festival
In the parks, halls and public spaces around Kings Cross
With:
David Harvey, Tariq Ali, Tony Benn, Owen Jones, Nina Power, Sanum Ghafoor, Andrew Murray, Laurie Penny, Lindsey German, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Paul Le Blanc, Terry Eagleton, Paul Gilroy and more...
Saturday 22 June 2013
9:30am – 5pm
Central Hall Westminster
Events
Books
How a Century of War Changed the Lives of Women
By Lindsey German
A Marxist History of the World
From Neanderthals to Neoliberals
By Neil Faulkner
The People V Tony Blair
Politics, the Media and the Anti-War Movement
By Chris Nineham
Timelines
A Political History of the Modern World
By John Rees
A People's History of London
By Lindsey German and John Rees
Counterfire Books
The People Demand: A short history of the Arab revolutions
By John Rees and Joseph Daher
Strategy and tactics: how the left can organise to transform society
By John Rees
Capitalism and Class Consciousness: the ideas of Georg Lukacs
By Chris Nineham
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Send images to our Flickr Account via MMS, add this email to your mobile phone's address book: side29doe@photos.flickr.comYouTube
Send videos to our YouTube channel from your mobile, add this email to your mobile phone's address book: rq03qna6q0wa@m.youtube.comTwitpic
Send images via our Twitpic Account via MMS, add this email to your mobile phone's address book: counterfireorg.5808@twitpic.com