The ongoing political battle for leadership of the UK's Labour party is highlighting some important tensions, not just within the left, but the political climate across the nation. With Members of Parliament in revolt over fresh welfare cuts and the unashamed leftist Jeremy Corbyn now set to win the leadership of the Labour party, we are without a doubt headed for dramatic times in British politics.
From the events of the very first night of the inaugural Movement for Black Lives Convergence, I could see that this conference would be different than any other I had been to. The organizers had intended to create a space where, in their words, Black people could “reflect on our histories of struggle, build a sense of fellowship that transcends geographical boundaries and begin to heal from the many traumas we face.”
At every level of government, campaigns against dissent have tended to focus disproportionately on the activities of the left. The surveillance, harassment, infiltration, arrests, sabotage, slander, disruption, and petty bullshit endured by the left is only rarely matched by a similar level of police action against the right.
Now we can’t tell if we are God’s masterpiece or the devil’s bad joke. We puny humans: exterminators of everything, hunters of our own, creators of the atom bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and the neutron bomb, which is the healthiest of all bombs since it vaporizes people and leaves objects intact...
While there is real joy that Obama is visiting Kenya, this moment should provide another platform for progressives to push for the demilitarization of the relations with Africa. This calls for the dismantling of the US Africa Command, the withdrawal of the Special Forces from Somalia and the end of drone strikes.
A new film describes the fight for democracy and socio-economic justice in the tiny sub-Saharan country, located in the continent’s southeast, through the eyes of Bheki Dlamini, a young activist and leading member of Swaziland’s largest banned political party.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019