Opinion

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

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

James Meadway

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

People wait outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul

After Afghanistan, We Need a New Kind of Foreign Policy

Aaron Bastani

Afghanistan has shown that America isn't always right. Amid the wreckage of the failed war on terror, Britain must do away with the comforting fantasy of a benevolent USA and develop a different kind of foreign policy.

Incels Aren’t a Punchline. It’s High Time We Took Them Seriously

Moya Lothian-McLean

Jake Davison’s Plymouth shooting rampage is a horrific wake-up call for Britain to finally start treating incel culture like the urgent problem it is.

The North Has Always Been at the Cutting Edge of Culture

Kojo Koram

Forget the stereotypes, red wall voters aren’t inherently culturally conservative. The north has always pioneered culture.

Fire fighters watch a forest burn in California.

Are Any Politicians Actually Serious About Climate Change?

Aaron Bastani

We know that the Tories offer virtually nothing on climate change. But the grim truth is Britain’s centre-left parties are offering little more than a slight delay to inevitable calamity, writes Aaron Bastani.

The IPCC Can’t Predict How We Fight Back

Sam Knights

The IPCC’s sixth report on the climate crisis makes for grim reading. But there’s one thing the report doesn’t model, and that’s the impact of organised resistance, writes Sam Knights.

A crowd carries a white coffin covered with red roses. A placard nearby reads 'Black Lives Matter'

We Can’t Dismantle Capitalism Without Antiracist Solidarity

Sonali Bhattacharyya

With antiracist solidarity largely a thing of the past, it is vital the left reclaim it as a way of organising in order to successfully resist racial capitalism.

The Government’s New Disability Strategy Proves It Doesn’t Give a Shit About Disabled People

Ellen Clifford

The government’s newly published National Disability Strategy is little more than a distraction from its plans to cut social security and further immiserate disabled people, writes Ellen Clifford.

Back on the Hard Road: How Stuart Hall Can Help Us Navigate Our Moment

David Wearing

The British left is still reeling and disoriented from the election defeat of December 2019. But by comparing our current moment to Stuart Hall’s analysis of the long 1980s, we can learn some important lessons, writes David Wearing.