Issue 33 Spring 2019 - The Socialist Correspondent

Articles featured in Issue 33

Beyond Brexit - Tories destroy peoples' lives
Sunday, February 17, 2019

The Tories and the media are consumed with the unfolding Brexit crisis. However, beyond that they are still the party of the wealthy, wreaking destruction in every area of our public services, in peoples' lives and in the economy.
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Is Brexit over?
Saturday, February 16, 2019

The Tories handling of Brexit has been monumentally incompetent and the powers that be are still attempting to reverse the Leave vote. But they face big challenges as they do not wish to be seen to be completely undemocratic. Hence the reason for promoting a second referendum. Yet all that hangs in the balance, with no guarantee of the outcome of such a vote.
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US progressives buoyed by mid-terms, but big battles lie ahead
Friday, February 15, 2019

Hopes of ousting Donald Trump were buoyed by last November's mid-term elections in the US. The Democrats won sweeping gains and had their biggest margin of victory over the Republicans since Watergate. Encouragingly a number of new progressive Democrats associated with the Bernie Sanders campaign and the Democratic Socialists of America were elected. the fight is on to secure a progressive Democrat candidate for the presidential race in 2020.
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The financial crash 2008 - 2018, austerity, inequality and crisis
Thursday, February 14, 2019

Capitalism is still struggling to resolve the problems of the financial crash of 2008. Governments intervened to support the banks and the financial system which were close to collapse. however, it is not they but the peoples of the countries affected which have paid the price for this. Given the inability to deal with the failings of the system, it is a matter of when, not if, there is another crash.
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US trade war with China
Thursday, February 14, 2019

Throughout 2018 Donald Trump escalated a trade war with China by imposing steadily more tariffs and sanctions against goods and technology. It is a significant that the US is moving to curtail China's developing capabilities in high tech industries, with Huawei being a particular target.
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The EU - what's class got to do with it?
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

There are many myths about the EU, among them that it is an internationalist body of equal partners committed to human rights. In fact it is the reverse of this. It serves big capital and the economic interests of its dominant nations at the expense of smaller ones and of the peoples of Europe. Furthermore its structures are undemocratic meaning that it cannot be reformed in a progressive direction.
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Mental Health in Palestine and Israel - connection and disintegration
Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Psychotherapist, Rachel Young, reports on her visit to Israel-Palestine in 2018. She looks at how Palestinians are systematically dehumanised and traumatised by the Israeli government and armed forces. She found out the strategies they have developed to survive and considers the negative impact on Israelis of their involvement in this oppression and denial of Palestinian rights.
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Paul Robeson - voice of the oppressed
Monday, February 11, 2019

Paul Robeson was unquestionably the pre-eminent African-American figure of mid-20th century politics and culture. He consistently spoke for the oppressed, for peace and internationalism and suffered greatly for his his beliefs in the McCarthy witch hunts. His legacy lives on in his music, speeches and writing.
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Unhappy families
Monday, February 11, 2019

A review of two contrasting films about families, Happy End by Micheal Haneke and Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda, where both economics and values are central to the narrative. In Happy End a wealthy, conventional family is portrayed as a loveless hell motivated only by money. Whereas, Shoplifters draws a picture of a motley family group in which some individuals are related and some not. It is their attempt to survive poverty that binds them together as a more affectionate family.
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Adults in the room by Yanis Varoufakis
Sunday, February 10, 2019

Review of Adults in the Room by Yanis Varoufakis the Greek Finance Minister in 2015 when the newly elected Syriza Government was trying to find a negotiated outcome with the EU to save Greece from the problems caused by the financial crash. As members of the EU and the Eurozone Greece was unable to to implement its own remedies. However the EU proved an unwilling and untrustworthy partner.
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The Grenfell Tower Fire: Background to an atrocity - The Fire Brigades Union
Saturday, February 9, 2019

The Fire Brigades Union sets out how continued undermining of health and safety and building regulations set the scene for the horrendous tragedy of the Grenfell Tower. Over 70 people lost their lives in the fire.
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Conspiracy - a class act
Friday, February 8, 2019

The term "conspiracy theory" is designed to cast doubt on those who raise concerns about the truth of what we are being told. It is often only later that the facts emerge. From the Zinoviev letter, through the Kennedy assasination to alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the Novichock poisonings history shows that we have reasons to be skeptical.
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Programme for peace in Afghanistan
Friday, February 8, 2019

The NATO war in Afghanistan has been a disaster. An 18 point plan sets out an alternative path to a peaceful future for the country.
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