Given the conservative stand of the Catholic Church on gays and lesbians, Pope Francis had a wonderful opportunity to extend his message of tolerance to both the religious and social realms.
Standing up for the little guy.
Reuters/Brian Snyder
Vast majorities of Americans espouse “socialist” views, which has helped propel Bernie Sanders in the polls. Yet our system of campaign finance makes it next to impossible for him to win.
South Africa is far from being the non-racial, classless society envisaged by 1970s activists.
Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi
The egalitarian society envisioned by political activists and thinkers Rick Turner and Steve Biko has not been realised. But, they continue to inspire critiques of post-apartheid South Africa.
The Global South is engineering new anti-poverty strategies, leaving traditional left analysts in a quandry.
Reuters/Nacho Doce
Could the surge of worker and popular resistance worldwide provide the global trade union movement with an opportunity to take the lead in developing a broad coalition of social forces?
The Marikana massacre of 2012 triggered strikes across South Africa and political realignment. But could this, and the formation of the United Front to rival the ANC, have long-term significance?
Given that retaining the socialist objective hasn’t prevented the ALP from developing pro-market policies, why is it still seen as such a significant issue?
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
What is up with Bernie Sanders? No chance that he would win the primary, much less the presidency. But there is a long history of outsider candidates who have impacted American politics.
The ‘Socialist Car of State’.
Photo made available courtesy of the BFI.
Syriza, now on the verge of a historic election victory in Greece, has risen dramatically as an electoral force on the back of a plan to write off debt and end austerity. However, talk of the party introducing…
Podemos is taking on the Spanish establishment.
EPA/Emilio Naranjo
The recent electoral performances of Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece suggest that left-wing politics is changing. Groups are emerging all over Europe that seek to move away from the left of the past…
Is Yes Scotland in socialist dreamland?
Danny Lawson
We are now barely two weeks away from Scotland’s referendum on independence. According to the latest polling, the No camp’s lead is disappearing fast. A Yes victory is becoming a realistic possibility…
Hugo Chavez was a problematic poster boy for the international left.
David Fernandez/EPA
So Hugo Chávez is dead. After rumour upon rumour swirling over past months, including a claim last week from the former ambassador of Panama that Chavez had actually died on 30 December, this morning Venezuelan…
Australian veterans of the Pacific theatre in WWII attend a VJ Day memorial.
AAP
Sometimes an historian will challenge one of the key ideological myths of Australian capitalism. Henry Reynolds does it in his work on the colonial treatment of Aborigines, a treatment some go so far as…