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TTIP and CETA – Myths Debunked
90,000 protesters in Hanover (Germany) expressed their displeasure and discomfort with the secret negotiations about TTIP and CETA, when Obama visited the city in April. 250,000 had preceded them last October in Berlin. Meanwhile more than 3.45 million people have signed the online petition Stop TTIP – I am one of them. On Monday, 2…
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An Immigrant Experience – or Something Like It
This is going to a bit of a different, more personal piece from me. A few months ago, for a variety of reasons, I decided that I would spend the summer in Berlin. I’ve now been here for two weeks, and turning up in a foreign country – not for a short trip but with…
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In Defence of Social Rights in Greece
Last weekend the Greek Parliament discussed and finally passed a bill on the new national insurance system. The bill which had been proposed by the government introduces further reductions of the higher pensions, a gradual elimination of the pensioners’ social solidarity allowance and the establishment of a national pension that amounts to 384€ per month.…
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Thoughts on Campaigning in Scotland: Door Knocking as a Tool in the Fight Against Right-Wing Attitudes
I have just returned home from 6 hours of leafleting. A few days ago I did four hours of canvassing for the Scottish Green Party for the upcoming Scottish elections. Last week I knocked on doors for four or five hours to promote and discuss a tenants organisation I am helping to form, Living Rent,…
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A Very Ugly Opposition: Anti-Semites Versus Islamophobes in British Politics
We all know that democratic politics is about building coalitions of different interest groups, bringing people together to hammer out a common position that serves the majority. The inverse of this tendency, equally if not more important, is carefully managing where the inevitable divisions caused by such coalitions fall. European history is replete with cases…
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A Pivotal Weekend in Britain’s EU Referendum Campaign?
President Barack Obama’s intervention in Britain’s EU referendum campaign on Friday 22th April undoubtedly marked the most significant moment in the battle over Britain’s EU membership to date. Obama, who is wildly popular in the UK (around nine months ago, Pew Research Center estimated he had an approval rating of 76% in Britain), announced during…
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The Birth of ‘Nuit Debout’: a French Spring Awakening
One night, after a demonstration against the ill-fated ‘El Khomri bill’, named after the French Minister of Labour and intended to reform the French labour market, groups of people decided to stay together on the highly symbolic Place de la République in Paris, in order to think, talk, debate and propose alternatives to current French…
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The Question of Free Speech Is Back on the Agenda
For our Swedish friends Blå Ögon (Blue Eyes) is probably old news, but the TV drama has just reached the UK’s Channel Four as the latest serving of ‘Scandi noir’ for British viewers. Set in a slightly reimagined version of present-day Sweden, the series follows an election campaign closely fought between the ruling Labour Party…
