Walking on the Far Left

In present political discourse, it is widely regarded that NATO is a military alliance that operates with the core intention to effectively preserve and maintain sovereignty and establish diplomatic ties between member nations, so as to provide additional security against potential international and geopolitical threats to their socioeconomic and political stability that could likely be prevalent. This has arguably always been their main role by which they were set up to fulfil in that they were developed in that they were founded to deter and protect against the threats posed by the Soviet Union when it was at its peak, as well as having been set about with the support from the UN Charter so as to effectively maintain this in relation to international law (this being led and heavily influenced by maintaining diplomatic relations with the US, thus further fostering any of the potential militarist and neo-colonial intentions that said nations may have). During the era after the Second W...

  Photo my comrade got of me after the festival. Che Rosenberg perhaps?! Whilst being an avid SWP member and a huge fan of the much awaited Marxism Festival and the many other smaller national events within the party, being on the Marxism team was not something I'd ever done before. In spite of the long hours (starting qt 9:30- long before festival goers arrived- and ending late into the evening) the making of sacrifices of not attending certain meetings, and the effort of stewarding and organising large groups, it was a really enjoyable experience for me and one I would like to have again. From the very beginning helping set up all the chairs in the venue to the final singing of the Internationale by all to close the festival, I immediately felt confident and proud to be representing a party I valued so much, and give something in return for all the many opportunities they had given me in developing my activist profile. I felt a huge sense of pride at being welcomed into such a fa...

With dramatic and unprecedented rises in temperature having been observed during the past few decades with the likelihood of the UK reaching temperatures peaking at 40 degrees having risen by times since 1960, and this week in South East England there having been red weather warnings put in place indicating significant danger to people's health and personally safety, one can now truly realise the extent of the major ongoing existential threat of climate change which controls our lives and damages our wellbeing. A threat that has largely been brought about due to human activity in the form of mass consumption, globalisation, westernisation, and the rising demand to expand nations' industries to keep up with the rapid economic growth that has been taking place globally. It is in light of this, that one must question, why are workplaces not taking enough action to support the wellbeing of their workers (as after all, computers overheating and stopping working in these temperatures...

Having been well understood as the centre left socially liberal party and the core opposition society had to their more neo-liberal anti-internationalist socially right-wing counterparts within the Conservative Party for much of the 20th century, the UK Labour Party has continually experienced significant evolution and dramatic changes in political stance over recent decades. It is through a greater understanding and reflection on the historic founding of the party and the principles it was founded upon, as well as the  shifting of narrative in response to evident societal change that had taken place throughout this period that one can further recognise and understand the ways in which centrism has been redefined, and draw conclusions as to whether it is the centre that has been shifted to account for the rising support of more extremist far right ideals, or whether this change has merely come down to a period of rising fear and desperation under a situation of crisis having been o...

While considerable advancements have been made in relation to the recognition of the needs of the trans population with their rights being considered a considerably more significant part of policy making, and featuring more frequently within political agenda, the causes and extent their struggle continues to remain hugely misunderstood and often overlooked in society. This can largely be attributed to the alienation of this community within society, and the conflict and debate as to how they should be regarded. This could perhaps have been seen to stem largely from the flaws in many of the well accepted theoretical and dialectical approaches by which the social constructs of gender and sex are examined and understood, this in particular concerning the "beyond the binaries" perspective. These can be regarded as taking a considerably more dogmatic and idealist stance on the matters, presenting them as appearing somewhat abstract concepts and with limited biological, physiologic...

 "But you see, it's not me, its not my family" While this lyric can be interpreted in many ways with it being ambiguous as to whether the Cranberries on writing Zombie were demonstrating anger at all violence, or whether they wrote the song specifically to oppose the actions of the IRA in particular, there does appear to remain a common recurrent theme of apathy and inability to engage with or initiate conflict apparent in much of the political discourse of the present day, in the same way as many misguidedly assume that involvement in war efforts benefits the economy and further preserve their influence. This can be reflected on when observing historic interregional cultural and religious conflicts evident within Ireland, and their relations with the UK and the EU. One can notice the clear contrasts between the attitudes of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland with regard to the willingness of the people to engage with these conflicts, as well as their comparatively iso...