In the United States it is coming up to the midterm elections. Tis the season we register to vote! Miserable canvassers surround my daily trips to run errands, asking me to register with a fake enthusiastic tone. Everyday I register to vote. Today, I am a member of the “Libertarian party” whatever that means. Yesterday I
Month: October 2014
The Militarisation of Israeli Society
In the second blog from Nikki Ray in our series about life under Israeli occupation, Nikki dicusses the many ways in which Israeli society has become militarised, and how this affects both the occupied and the occupiers. Only 2 countries in the world have compulsory military service for both men and women[1]. Israel is one of
The Free Market Fraud
Despite the world-wide recession the success of the free market fraud continues. Its latest manifestation is the attack on the NHS. This is claimed to be opening up the NHS to competition, which is supposed to increase efficiency but in reality is just siphoning public money to the private sector. We have already seen this
Knit for Freedom!!
Inequality… in a road network?
Nikki Ray, from London, has been serving as a human rights monitor in the West Bank for the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. She has been writing about her first hand experiences and how Palestinians are affected every day by the Israeli occupation Palestine. Freedom is glad to be collaborating with Nikki to
Notes From the US: October/ September
Education No-one ever got taller by being measured. In schools, the only tests that help are the ones that offer guidance on what’s next, not ‘summative’ ones that merely record children’s progress. Last month in Florida a kindergarten (5-year-old children) teacher took a stand by refusing to administer the state-mandated standardised test to her
Interview with The Restarts
Our Music editor Tim Forster brings us another great interview, this time with left-wing punk band The Restarts! Where would you place The Restarts politically? You started in the mid 1990s, has your politics changed over time? Restarts have always sat firmly left of centre, anti racist, non nationalist and pro equality. Basically anything that
Oliver Law & The Spanish Civil War
On July 19 1936, General Franco, with the backing of Hitler and Mussolini, led a coup against the democratically elected Government of Spain. It kick started the Spanish civil war which saw a viscous fight between right wing and left wing ideologies. Of the many like minded individuals who went to Spain to fight against
An Anarchist Perspective on UKIP
Like many on the Left I was very troubled and puzzled by the UK Independence Party’s (UKIP) strong showing in the Local and European elections, and then alarmed again by their doing so well in the 9-10-14 by-elections. Were these protest votes against the big three Parties, an anti (political) establishment message, an anti-EU or anti-immigration vote? UKIP’s policies in 2010 included