Issue 40 Spring 2021

CONTENTS:  British Capitalism's crisis, Frieda Park:  Brexit is done - or is it? Frieda Park:  Fishing sell-out serves big monopolies, Simon Korner:  Fortress Europe - the EU is killing refugees, Simon Korner:  Preparing for war, Pat Turnbull:  China's rise and how the USA got it wrong, Moshe Mella and Noah Tucker:  Spotlight on Chile, Dan Morgan:  The fight to free Assange goes on, Clare Bailey:  Deliveroo benefits in the pandemic, but not its workers, Alex Davidson:  W. E. B. Du Bois - Black American thinker and activist, Pat Turnbull:  Sylvia Pankhurst - suffragette, socialist and anti-imperialist, Phillipa Clark

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Articles featured in Issue 40

• British capitalism's crisis
  Saturday, February 13, 2021

  Brexit will leave British capital weaker and marks another significant step in Britain’s decline relative to other imperial powers over the last 100 years. Britain always had an uneasy relationship with the EU, with different allegiances and ambitions from France and Germany. Having said that the dominant sectors of British capital, whose interests were tied up with the EU, were not in favour of Brexit. However it did happen due to the continued tensions within the British ruling-class about its world role, the incompetence of its political representatives and alienation in communities which had suffered neglect over decades. The full impact of Brexit remains to be seen, but there is bound to be a hit on the financial sector which dominates the economy. There is also the prospect of the break-up of the UK with majority support currently for Scottish independence and the reshaping of Northern Ireland’s relationship to the UK and Ireland by the Brexit process. All this is happening against the backdrop of a long term decline in British capital’s share of the world economy, an increasingly parasitic domestic economy and the disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic by the UK government and the devolved administrations.
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• Brexit is done - or is it?
  Friday, February 12, 2021

  Britain has left the European Union and exited from the year-long transition period on 31st December 2020. This is four and a half years after the vote to Leave and it is not over yet. The agreement between the UK and the EU leaves many issues unresolved and constructs a web of committees which will keep them in permanent negotiating mode. Although the UK has gained some formal autonomy from the EU in this agreement, nevertheless it is founded on neo-liberal assumptions and keeping both parties in alignment, precluding progressive intervention in the economy.
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• China's rise and how the USA got it wrong
  Thursday, February 11, 2021

  One of the hallmarks of this increasingly dangerous world has been the growing hostility of the US towards China as it becomes more powerful and assertive. To understand this conflict it is necessary to also understand China's development since its revolution and the aspiration that the United States had to bring it into its orbit as a capitalist economy serving US economic interests. When it became clear that China would not follow the path prescribed for it by the US and was seeking to develop its own direction, including nurturing hi-tech industries, the US responded quickly to try to halt this. These moves began in earnest under President Obama and were continued by Donald Trump. President Biden will not depart from this path but will seek to collaborate more with US allies, alienated by Trump’s approach, to put pressure on China. The question is whether or not China can overcome attempts to isolate it and the barriers created by sanctions designed to strangle the development of its hi-tech industries.
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• Fishing sell-out serves big monopolies
  Wednesday, February 10, 2021

  The Brexit deal has exposed Boris Johnson’s false claim that Britain would gain total control of its fishing after Brexit. In fact, the deal has only given Britain an increased 25% share of the fish within its waters. It’s a far lower figure than the Tory promise of 80%. Over decades the UK government and the EU conspired to develop a market in fishing quotas which benefited big business at the expense of small fishermen. The Brexit agreement has done nothing to change that.
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• Fortress Europe - the EU is killing refugees
  Tuesday, February 9, 2021

  The EU’s image is not what it was – and not just because of internal tensions over a Covid bailout to the poorer European countries. But perhaps the starkest sign of the EU’s true nature is its racist treatment of refugees fleeing wars and poverty – in most cases caused by the very European countries now refusing them entry. More than 20,000 refugees have died trying to cross the Mediterranean and those who do mange to get to Europe face inhuman living conditions and the threat of deportation.
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• Fight to free Assange goes on
  Monday, February 8, 2021

  Despite the judge in charge of the case ruling against extradition to the United States, Julian Assange remains in prison without charge. He is being detained in conditions which amount to torture and his physical and mental health are at serious risk. Although not charged with any crime his offence has been to expose the misdeeds of the US war machine. His persecution a major threat to investigative journalism and free speech everywhere.
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• Deliveroo benefits in the pandemic, but not its workers
  Sunday, February 7, 2021

  One of the most notorious aspects of the development of neo-liberalism has been the huge growth in the gig economy. With venture capital having a big stake in it, Deliveroo was one of the pioneers in slashing workers’ rights and their terms and conditions of work. The use of workers with bogus self employed status has become a significant feature of how capitalism exploits workers in the 21st century.
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• Preparing for war
  Saturday, February 6, 2021

  Whilst big rivals confront each other in a new cold war, the tactics involved in this of sanctions, boycotts and bullying are also being underpinned by military might. This includes a concerning build up of nuclear weapons and the lowering of the threshold for their use by the USA and NATO. There are nuclear and other threatening manoeuvres directed at encircling Russia and China. Britain too is increasing its arms spending and exports, is developing a new National Cyber Force and is still set on renewing Trident nuclear weapons.
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• Spotlight on Chile
  Friday, February 5, 2021

  The people of Chile voted overwhelmingly for a new constitution which will free them from the constraints of General Pinochet's legacy. Now the fight is on for the left and social movements to ensure they secure delegates to the Constitutional Convention which will draft it. This is also a fight to address the inequalities rampant in Chilean life and brought to light by the coronavirus pandemic.
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• W. E. B. Du Bois - Black American thinker and activist
  Thursday, February 4, 2021

  W. E. B. Du Bois was an outstanding intellectual and activist. Born in 1868, the year that black people in the South were enfranchised he put his science, learning and life in the service of the struggle for equality for black people in America. He was an internationalist and fighter for peace which meant that like so many he became the subject of the US state witch hunts against progressives.
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• Sylvia Pankhurst - suffragette, socialist and anti-imperialist
  Wednesday, February 3, 2021

  Sylvia Pankhurst was sidelined from the official celebrations of 100 years some women getting the vote in Britain. This was not unconnected to her socialist politics. Unlike the other Pankhurst women she took a class position on fighting for women's rights and embraced anti-imperialist causes, especially opposing the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. The Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial committee are seeking to redress this shameful neglect by raising a statue to her in Clerkenwell Green.
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