rs21 members
Cultural commodities that got us through 2020
From Netflix binges to a new theory of 'alternative hedonism', here are the shows, films, music, and books that kept us going in 2020.
Video: Rail workers strike over pay freeze
Rail maintenance workers went on strike against a pay freeze. rs21 interviewed RMT members and officials Conor Price, Clayton Clive, Michelle Rodgers and Daren Ireland at the Manchester Longsight picket line.
Video: Confronting the British state
Three activists speak on the Scottish independence movement, the Tory Party's right-wing populist strategy, and the political role of migrant solidarity.
‘We have a right to stop’: interview with a socialist nurse
Whereas the first wave of Covid-19 was an occasion for government-sponsored jingoism, the second wave is seeing health workers abandoned and left to manage the unmanageable.
Break the border
Socialists are fighting against borders around the world. East London rs21 recently held a meeting to discuss strategy for this struggle in the here and now. Watch recordings of the opening speeches here.
‘I can’t fathom how bad it’s going to get’
The Covid-19 pandemic is combining with further government attacks on the health service to push the NHS, and its workforce, into unprecedented crisis.
Video: Fighting back and building power during the Covid crisis
Three separate activists draw lessons from fights to defend working-class lives and livelihoods inside and outside the workplace.
Resist the crackdown on demonstrations
The lockdown has ended but the crackdown on protests goes on and on. We need to share skills and solidarity to resist police repression.
Cumbria: protests build before coal mine decision
ining developers are trying to force a new coal mine on Cumbria. Campaigners are fighting back
Thousands march in first move of NHS pay battle
A wave of actions by NHS workers opens the door for a major struggle against austerity and poverty pay
Latest articles
Cultural Marxism? A review of The Dialectics of Art
Ian Birchall reviews The Dialectics of Art, a new work by John Molyneux.
Combatting workplaces: an interview with Janet Newsham
Every workplace is a Covid frontline, as employers try to force workers into unsafe situations. We interviewed Janet Newsham of the Hazards Campaign, which is fighting back.
Next steps in the fight for safe schools
The government's retreat on school closures won't last forever. Education workers need to go on the offensive.
Let them starve – food and class in Tory Britain
The Tories and their cronies will let working-class children starve. We don't just need food for all – we need to take over the food system.
‘As cold as charity’: repression and the ‘speculator state’
The government's right-wing reform of public services continues apace – and NGOs and charities are being used as cover.
Agitating with Art: the Artivists at Work story so far
Artwork – not just 'great art' but cartoons and doodles – can add life and vibrancy to political messaging, and give people a mirror in which to recognise their own hopes and frustrations.
Highlights
Poland’s feminist uprising
Women in Poland are making their own cause for hope by taking the streets. rs21 spoke with several feminist activists in Polish union Inicjatywa Pracownicza about the recent wave of feminist strikes and protests.
What does abolition mean in modern Britain?
The Black Lives Matter movement has sown seeds of hope worldwide for the abolition of police. But policing in the UK goes far beyond the bodies of armed men in uniform.
Fortress Europe after Moria
After Moria burned to the ground, a new camp was quickly built to replace it. We interviewed Chloe Haralambous and Michalis Poulimas about events on the ground and what they mean for the EU border regime.
Global fever
The Covid-19 pandemic is a foretaste of the approaching climate catastrophe. Andreas Malm's electrifying new book looks at both these crises and asks what we'll need to do to face them down.
Interview: Organised and disorganised labour in the Belarus uprising
Siarhei Biareishyk speaks to rs21 about the uprising in Belarus following the falsified re-election of Aliaksandr Lukashenka on 9 August 2020.
Interview: Beirut blast exposed a global system
Rima Majed spoke to rs21 about the blast that devastated Beirut in the context of an existing political and economic crisis.