Opinion

This Year’s the World Transformed Is the Perfect Opportunity for the Left to Rebuild Itself

by Mark Montegriffo and Adele Walton

After election defeats, the decimation of the Labour party and a devastating global pandemic, this year's The World Transformed festival offers a much-needed opportunity for the left to come together to build a strategy to win back power.

A graduation photograph of Sabina Nessa wearing a cap and gown and holding a degree

We Must Stop Comparing Sabina Nessa’s Murder With Sarah Everard’s

by Aviah Day

'Why no protests for Sabina?' many have asked in the wake of her killing. The answer is more complex than white privilege, writes Aviah Day.

Marsha de Cordova MP and local councillor Aydin Dikerdem pose for a photograph in front of the new Nine Elms Tube station

I Have Mixed Feelings About South London’s New Tube Stations

by Aydin Dikerdem

The shiny new development was paid for with money meant for affordable housing, writes local Labour councillor Aydin Dikerdem.

An image of Boris Johnson dressed as a clown graffitied onto a brick wall

This Isn’t Just About Universal Credit – Our Entire Benefits System Is a Joke

by Andrew Fisher

While the campaign to cancel the £20 cut to Universal Credit is welcome, we risk atomising our struggle against a broken system, argues Andrew Fisher.

Judith Butler’s Censorship by the Guardian Shows Who’s Really Being Silenced in the Fight for Trans Rights

by Moya Lothian-McLean

Despite ‘gender critical’ feminists' cries that they are being censored, the Guardian cutting a sizeable chunk of its interview with gender theorist Judith Butler shows which side is really being subjected to the violence of silence in the battle for trans liberation.

David Graeber’s Archive Should Continue to Uphold the Ideas He Championed in Life

by Nika Dubrovsky

When he died, David Graeber left behind an enormous archive. His wife, Nika Dubrovsky, considers how to deal with it in a way that continues the collaborative spirit he enacted and upheld throughout his life.

Boris Johnson paints the words 'social care' on a cup in a care home

An Ageing Society is As Big an Issue As Climate Change

by Aaron Bastani

Societal ageing poses a profound challenge to our economic model, writes Aaron Bastani. Raising national insurance contributions won't scratch the surface of a social care crisis that has only just begun.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer laughs with deputy party leader Angela Rayner whilst on the election campaign trail in Birmingham.

The National Insurance Hike is Class Warfare. Why Won’t Labour Say So?

by James Meadway

This mask-off moment is an opportunity for Labour to dispel the myth of the Tories as the party of workers. Instead all we're getting are mealy-mouthed, half-hearted critiques, argues James Meadway.

Afghan women's rights defenders and civil activists protest to call on the Taliban for the preservation of their achievements and education, in front of the presidential palace in Kabul

Afghan Women Are Doing What They’ve Always Done: Resist

by Rawi, Madina Wardak, Sonita Alizada

Throughout Afghanistan's history of foreign occupation and fundamentalist rule, one thing has been constant: women’s resistance. Sophie K Rosa spoke to three Afghan feminists about their fight for liberation.

Workplace Struggles and Plans for Government Must Go Hand in Hand

Unite’s new general secretary Sharon Graham has promised to prioritise industrial struggle over internal Labour politics. This is a good thing, argues James Meadway – but the post-Corbyn left shouldn't altogether turn its back on aspirations of running the country.

On Losing Perspective, Or, Why I Don’t Give a Fuck About Geronimo the Alpaca and nor Should You

by Rachel Connolly

From blaming everything on capitalism to calling everyone "toxic", it's time we collectively got a grip, argues Rachel Connolly.

David Graeber’s Real Contribution to Occupy Wall Street Wasn’t a Phrase – It Was a Process

by Marisa Holmes

Far more significant than his co-creation of the phrase "We are the 99%", David Graeber gave Occupy Wall Street the very democratic values that underpinned it.

How Christopher Hitchens Helped the Right Justify Its Colonial Wars

by Kojo Koram

Perhaps the 21st century’s most famous atheist, Christopher Hitchens has become an almost-saintly figure in today’s culture wars. But his legacy can help us make sense of how the right frames western intervention as a spiritual and god-given mission.

Liberating Trans People Means Liberating Everyone

by Shon Faye

It is only through solidarity, compassion and radical reimagining that we can build a more just and joyful world, not just for trans people, but for all of us.

Sex Work Is Not a Bullshit Job

by Marin Scarlett

When so many jobs exist solely to rationalise capitalism – as the late David Graeber’s thesis argues – sex workers respond to a real demand. Simply trying to end that demand is flawed, writes Marin Scarlett in our series exploring the life and ideas of Graeber on the first anniversary of his death.

Labour’s Universal Credit Revamp Is a Step Backwards, Not Forwards

by Will Stronge

Instead of fiddling with the technical details of the current universal credit system, the Labour party must embrace the opportunity to set out a new vision for a genuinely progressive welfare settlement.

A woman in a hijab holding an automatic rifle

Afghan Women Don’t Need White Feminism

by Shahed Ezaydi

As the US withdraws from Afghanistan, brown women are once again being used to justify white violence, writes Shahed Ezaydi.

Apsana Begum domestic violence Labour leftwing purge

Labour’s Silence on Apsana Begum Shows How Morally Bankrupt the Party Has Become

by Joshua Kelly and Sam Green

Labour’s near-total silence on Apsana Begum's case suggests the party cares more about its factional alignments than supporting a young survivor of domestic abuse.