Activism

Essay: Political organisation in transition January 2013
Hilary Wainwright opens the new year ambitiously! She discusses how to transform the state and why radical politicians find it so difficult to maintain their radical momentum once in parliament or the council chamber. How could this change?

If they can do it, we can too – cleaners get organised December 2012
Lorna Stephenson and Emma Hughes report on cleaners’ success organising against poverty pay

Workfare comes to the classroom December 2012
While academies have drawn the headlines, the government’s new ‘studio schools’ are making children work for corporate sponsors. Alex Diaz reports

Audio: Voices against austerity November 2012
Adam Quarshie talks with supporters of the TUC demonstration outside the Imperial War Museum last month

Rooted in the neighbourhood: what happened to Spain’s assemblies? October 2012
Oscar Reyes reports on the successes and setbacks of neighbourhood assemblies in Spain

The government’s attempt to eradicate the travelling way of life October 2012
As the anniversary of the Dale Farm eviction approaches, Elly Robson explores the deliberate criminalisation of the travelling way of life by the coalition government

Joining forces for another Europe October 2012
In November, European social movements will meet in Florence to plan continent-wide responses to austerity and the European crisis of democracy. Tommaso Fattori calls for us to make ‘Firenze 10+10’ a priority

A red dawn over Durham? July 2012
US labour activist Steve Early evaluates the significance of Miliband’s recent appearance at the Miners' Gala, the first from the Labour leadership in 23 years

Interview: The man expelled from Labour for opposing cuts May 2012
Brian Precious talks to Councillor George Barratt about his fight against the cuts in Barking and Dagenham

Broader horizons April 2012
Mike Marqusee asks: are the emerging forms of resistance up to the challenge?

An ‘excess of democracy’: what two generations of radicals can learn from each other February 2012
Hilary Wainwright examines the possibility of forging a new kind of political economy by learning from the best of both today's radical movements and those of the 60s and 70s

Organise! City cleaners fight for a living wage January 2012
Michael Pooler reports on the struggle of cleaners in the heart of London's financial district

Why now? What’s next? Naomi Klein on Occupy January 2012
Naomi Klein in discussion with Occupy Wall Street activist Yotam Marom

How I joined the 15 foot high club January 2012
Camilla Berens describes her most empowering experience of direct action

Occupy: A turning point in US politics? December 2011
Siobhan McGuirk visits the Occupy camp in Washington DC

Occupy London! Creating space for change December 2011
Occupy LSX activist Kelly Bornshlegel talks about the dynamic democracy of the camps

Occupy or self-manage? October 2011
Z-Net's Michael Albert asks what message is emerging from the global wave of occupations

Mind over matter August 2011
Human psychology, political values and action. By Tim Holmes

Feeling our way forward August 2011
Hilary Wainwright maps structures of feeling and resistance

Interview with Noam Chomsky May 2011
Frank Barat poses questions from artists, activists and journalists, on Egypt, corporate power, Palestine and more.

War on Want: Poverty is political March 2011
On the occasion of War on Want’s 60th anniversary, Sue Branford looks at the turbulent history of this uniquely left-wing charity

Activism 3.0 December 2010
Protests are increasingly appearing on the internet in real time in a myriad of ways. Adam Waldron takes a look at the smartphone applications that every activist needs

‘We don’t have a blueprint’ September 2010
Clifford Singer talks to Paul Mackney from the new 'Coalition of Resistance'

Media empowerment September 2010
Siobhan McGuirk talks to the Adbusters Media Foundation

Trapped waiting April 2010
Jerome Phelps exposes the secret indefinite detention of migrants

Rocking the system February 2010
A campaign is mounting over Northern Rock, the bank whose collapse heralded the financial crisis. Hilary Wainwright reports on the effort to create a community-owned bank serving wider social needs, not private profits

What would Rupert Murdoch say about that? February 2010
Saving local newspapers and developing new, democratic news outlets is not a matter of money but of political will, argues Jeremy Dear, who outlines where the money could come from

The future left: red, green and republican? February 2010
The abolition of the monarchy is only a minor part of modern republicanism. Stuart White, of Jesus College, Oxford, outlines the key values of republican democracy and argues that its commitment to an active, participatory citizenship has much in common with red and green politics. Is a fusion of these three strands in the radical tradition the way forward for a new, transnational progressive philosophy?

Determination in her heart, justice on her side January 2010
Stefan Simanowitz reports from Lanzarote on the remarkable victory of a solitary Western Saharan hunger-striker over a normally implacable Moroccan regime

How the unions and the left can save our public services January 2010
Time is running out for our public services. Already the Tories are beginning to dismantle local government, local democracy and public sector trade unionism. New Labour has no vision for the future of public services except ‘efficiencies’ and privatisation. Trade unions, service users, community organisations and the left must: Use popular, diverse and understandable ways [...]

Reinventing democracy December 2009
Marianne Maeckelbergh argues that one of the global justice movement's key innovations has been its approach to democratic decision-making

Equality of life December 2009
While it is commonplace for the left to argue that greater equality is desirable, it is less common to see a huge evidence base used to make the case. Matt Sellwood spoke to Richard Wilkinson, who has done just that in his book The Spirit Level

There is no environmental crisis: the crisis is democracy December 2009
A global climate change deal for the planet at Copenhagen needs to be about equality and freedom. Otherwise it's not a planet worth saving, says Paul Chatterton

Being Tamsin December 2009
Kevin Blowe reviews Rush! The Making of a Climate Activist by Tamsin Omond (Marion Boyars, 2009)

3 December December 2009
'We were sleeping peacefully that night. I got up to find the children vomiting all over. First I wondered whether it was something they had for dinner. Then I too started vomiting. Soon all of us, my husband and me carrying the children were running . . . My three year old daughter Nazma had swelled up so much like she would burst.'

Anti-capitalism: alive and well December 2009
Ten years ago, the global justice movement burst from the streets of Seattle onto the world's television screens. John Hilary examines the victories and challenges of the last decade

The other world November 2009
Vijay Prashad's The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World (The New Press), reviewed by Nick Dearden

5 November November 2009
Have you heard the one about Cap'n Bob, bob, bob?

A real green deal October 2009
35 years ago, workers at the Lucas Aerospace company formulated an 'alternative corporate plan' to convert military production to socially useful and environmentally desirable purposes. Hilary Wainwright and Andy Bowman consider what lessons it holds for the greening of the world economy today

Just say yes October 2009
As the anti-corporate pranksters the Yes Men launched their new film, {Red Pepper} dispatched Brendan Montague to meet them and get the lowdown on their unusual form of activism

Direct action not inaction October 2009
Andrew Beckett of Smash EDO says Milan Rai's criticism of direct action campaigns misses the point

Disarming the arms makers October 2009
Milan Rai looks at the growth of local campaigns against arms manufacturers

Tense days in Tegucigalpa September 2009
The International Accompaniment and Observation Delegation reports on the current situation in Honduras

Policing the police August 2009
The police are no more our servants than corporations or the media. Kevin Blowe examines how the government's increasingly authoritarian approach to crime and security has enabled the police to emerge from a series of scandals and controversies with their powers enhanced. He argues that campaigners need to radically rethink their approach to policing in Britain

Asylum watch: Losing the plot August 2009
The treatment of 12 students branded as terrorists despite no evidence being laid against them has aroused widespread anger. A campaign on their behalf is gaining momentum across the country, writes Frances Webber

Striking back August 2009
The collapse in votes for mainstream parties, coupled with increasing outbreaks of strike action - official and unofficial - signifies growing political unrest in Britain. But how far will the rebellion spread? Peter Lazenby reports

31 July July 2009
'They did such a fine job that the military dictatorship in Indonesia, to which the plane was to be delivered the next day, has demanded a completely new one.' John Pilger

13 July July 2009
'God save the sex pistols they're a bunch of wholesome blokes _ They just like wearing filthy clothes and swapping filthy jokes _ God save television keep the programmes pure _ God save William Grundy from falling in manure'

Essay response: Many paths June 2009
A revitalised left needs to consider what exactly it wants before it can determine how to achieve it, says Siobhan McGuirk

Essay response: A new vehicle June 2009
The old, failed internal combustion engine of politics is not the way forward, argues Alex Nunns

Occupations against the Occupation May 2009
Siobahn McGuirk reports from the student occupation at the University of Manchester, the longest in the wave of student militancy over Gaza

Not just a summer of rage March 2009
As the global movements for peace and social justice head back onto the streets, Ben Lear looks ahead to a year of protest

Beyond the usual fragments March 2009
Red Pepper has always been about more than radical journalism. Our origins lie in the extraordinary movement that converged across parties, movements, identities and geography to support the mining communities. The Chesterfield Socialist Conferences, and then the Socialist Movement, attempted to realise the potential of this convergence. As its limits became apparent, we created Red [...]

Taking back the streets March 2009
For generations the left has built campaigns by handing out literature on the streets and chatting with the public - but in Liverpool the police are trying to drive them from the city centre. Andy Bowman looks at the united response

My activist Second Life February 2009
'Virtual' activism and protest are not geeky or trivial, argues Neil Scott, but an important tool in modern communications and politics. The left has a lot to lose if it doesn't acknowledge their potential

Our friends in the South February 2009
As we face increasingly international and interconnected crises around food, finance and climate, we need to know more about our global allies in the South. James O'Nions looks beyond the familiar but limited NGOs that stand for North-South relations in the mainstream media

The revenge of life February 2009
As protesters continue to fill the squares of Athens, the two ministers targeted by the demonstrators have gone - but the young people who took to the streets after the police had killed one of them had a lot more in mind than a cabinet reshuffle. Two participant observers, Ilias Ziogas and Akis Gavrilidis, sent us interim interpretations of the intense resistance that is shaking Greek political institutions

What’s this place? September 2008
In towns and cities across the country, activists are reaching out to local communities with a new style of 'rooted' politics. Paul Chatterton reports on the UK's 'autonomous social centres'

Carroll in wonderland: how the Guardian misrepresents Venezuela September 2008
Samuel Grove takes apart the pro-US, anti-Chavez bias of the Guardian's Latin American correspondent Rory Carroll

Smoking the celestial dream July 2008
Steve Platt looks back at the role of cannabis in the 'counter culture' of the 1960s and 1970s and how people on both sides of the political and cultural divide believed that a hardy psychoactive plant could change the world. He wonders how it could ever have aroused such passions - both for and against its use - and asks why it's still illegal

Curb your catastrophism July 2008
How are we getting the message about climate change across? The use of apocalyptic language prophesying imminent ecological catastrophe and social meltdown is something that unites activists, journalists and, increasingly, politicians. But it is uncertain whether this generates action or defeatism among the public, argues Stefan Skrimshire

Another politics is possible July 2008
The mayoral elections were last month's London story but there's another kind of politics growing in the communities, schools and workplaces of the capital - one that's shown itself to have the power to achieve practical results from business and government alike. Deborah Littman reports

New limbs for the left June 2008
New Labour is dead. The New Tories are in the ascendancy. The left needs to look beyond its existing, inbred networks, writes Hilary Wainwright

NHS Whistleblower speaks out about the NHS May 2008
Senior mental health nurse Karen Reissmann was sacked last year after being found guilty of gross misconduct by Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust for speaking out against NHS cuts. Tom Haines-Doran catches up with her to ask about the latest in the campaign to have her reinstated

24 reasons for 24 weeks May 2008
MP Nadine Dorries unveiled 20 'reasons' for lowering the abortion limit to 20 weeks. Here Laurie Penny gives 24 reasons why it should remain at 24 weeks

1968 The mysterious chemistry of social change April 2008
The last thing the legacy of 1968 needs is nostalgic commemoration, writes Mike Marqusee. Even as it was happening, it was being packaged for consumption. Nor should we celebrate it in the name of some abstract spirit of resistance. It was a year of contradictions and confusions, many of which continue to confront anyone who wants to take part in a movement for radical change

Greens on trial April 2008
The Greens can justifiably claim to be the largest progressive party in the UK, but often meet with suspicion from the left. Are they given a fair hearing? Alex Nunns weighs the evidence

Convention of the Left debate 2008 March 2008
This bold venture comes as a result of people from different left and radical traditions - or none - getting together in greater Manchester to say that there IS an alternative to Labour's policies of war and privatisation

Asylum Watch: Mind your language March 2008
The cuts in teaching English for speakers of other languages (Esol) spell disaster for the poorest and most vulnerable members of settled immigrant communities, asylum seekers and refugees. Hazel Healy reports

School protesters five years on February 2008
Five years on from the invasion of Iraq, we sound out the views of some the school-age protesters that we interviewed at the time

Flight fight January 2008
With plans for a third runway at Heathrow currently under consultation and airports cross the UK looking to expand, David Matthews surveys the new coalitions linking local residents' opposition to environmental concerns about climate change

An extreme insult January 2008
Penny, from the campaigning group Backlash, says banning so called 'extreme porn' is an insult to female sexuality

Tax resistance December 2007
Joe Jenkins reports on the the Peace Tax Seven, a group of conscientious objectors seeking a judicial review of the war tax policies in Britain

The commons, the state and transformative politics December 2007
Hilary Wainwright examines how new technology and new forms of organisation are coming together to transform the left and labour movements, political representation and democracy

Globalisation is good for you December 2007
The nation state can no longer deliver the left’s global agenda, says Nigel Harris. Globalisation is our best hope of reducing world poverty, he says Robin Blackburn replies with some ideas for a new system of global welfare Join the debate on the Red Pepper forum Other Red Pepper debates

Does the Green Party need a leader? November 2007
As the Green Party balloted its members on whether to appoint a leader, in November 2007, Rupert Read and Shahrar Ali debated the pros and cons. Read the debate on the Red Pepper forum

Blogging a protest October 2007
After the first parliamentary meeting organised by bloggers from across the political spectrum, Chris White asks if 'open-source campaigning' could take off

Hypertext heroines October 2007
Feminism is back - and this time it's hypertextual. Laurie Penny reports on the new women's spaces on the web

The Short answer September 2007
Powerful historical forces are at work in the Middle East, the global economy and the climate that will unpick the status quo, writes Clare Short. Can the left reinvent itself to meet the challenge?

Much argument, many opinions September 2007
Welcome to the new-look Red Pepper magazine and website. Let me put it in context. By Hilary Wainwright

Punish the warmongers: vote Lib Dem September 2007
This article is one of a series on who to vote for. See this month's print magazine for Kierra Box on why 'The government always gets in' and former British ambassador Craig Murray on why 'A vote for Labour is a vote for torture'.

Tents on the runway July 2007
A rising tide of direct action on climate change is spreading across the UK. Tom Bailey records the spread of this movement, from last summer's Camp for Climate Action, which targeted the Drax power station, to this year's gathering near Heathrow Airport

Democracy’s last resort July 2007
The acquittal of two men who broke into the Fairford airbase to try to disable B52 bombers at the start of the Iraq war is a victory for democracy, writes Stuart Weir

Fool for you April 2007
Behind the April Fool's Day pranks lies an ancient subversive tradition, Martin Wainwright writes

Aiding the blockade February 2007
From academic seminars to birthday parties, there are no end of ways to blockade Faslane, writes Hilary Wainwright

Contact us January 2007
If you would like to keep us up to date on your community, union or organisation, or would like to sell the magazine or help out at the Red Pepper office, send us an email or contact the address/telephone number below.

Write for us January 2007
In contrast to the mainstream media, Red Pepper's content comes directly from an international network of writers based in the alternative movements for radical social and environmental change.

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Donate to Red Pepper January 2007
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Editorial Profile January 2007
Red Pepper is a magazine of political rebellion and dissent. Influenced by socialism, feminism and green politics, it is a resource for all those who imagine and work to create another world - a world based on equality, solidarity, and democracy.

In search of the good life November 2006
During the past year the pressure group Compass has undertaken a thoroughgoing attempt to rethink a democratic left politics of freedom, equality and solidarity. The first of three publications, The Good Society, was published in September 2006. Jonathan Rutherford, the chair of Compass's Good Society Working Group, argues that at its heart must be a new set of values and a new idea of the individual

The camp at the end of the world July 2006
As the impending climate crisis looms, Heidi Bachram takes a look at what direct action has to offer.

Article footer April 2006
If you would like to reuse an article from Red Pepper either in print or online, please contact us first. There are many options available, with free usage for non profit campaign groups and activist blogs – just tell us first!

Attacking the outside agitators September 2005
Throughout the 1960s, volunteers who joined the struggle for African-American civil rights in the US southland were denounced as 'outside agitators.' The white establishment accused them of stirring up the local blacks, who of course would otherwise have remained content with their lot.

Activist trauma June 2005
Dear Subcomandauntie, Although always a radical at heart, it was the Iraq war that finally prised me from my armchair and into a rapid upward spiral of political activism. Alas, my overwhelming experience throughout has been one of repression - mental and physical - from state, police, capital and those authoritarians within our own movement. Demoralised and depressed, the last thing I can face right now is the prospect of robocops running riot against me and fellow demonstrators in Scotland this July. But this cowardice racks me with guilt and I desperately don't want to feel this way. Can you help? Burned Out of Birmingham

Tesco targeted by EuroMayday flash mob May 2005
They were dancing in the isles at Tesco in Hackney on May Day, but it wasn't over half-price donuts. Up to 200 activists temporarily occupied the store as part of the EuroMayday 'precarity' actions, highlighting insecure working conditions and what protesters say is 'the tyranny of 24/7 constantly on-call work regimes'.

Nuisance neighbour laws used to silence protesters August 2004
Nine people were in court last month, facing charges brought in accordance with the Anti-Social Behaviour Act after they held a peaceful protest outside offices belonging to US bulldozer manufacturer Caterpillar.

Creative occupation August 2004
Protest doesn't have to be po-faced. Black-clad posturing and worthy hand-wringing are all well and good, but sometimes you just want to dance. "Creative occupation" is party as protest - be it dancing on the motorway or raving on the tube. It creates spaces for individual and communal expression in defiance of global McMonoculture. Everyone's invited

The illusion of choice August 2004
The trouble with staging a war of aggression is that in order to win public support, it must be dressed up as a war of defence. And to do that governments have to lie and invent threats that don't exist. But eventually the truth comes out.

Media Special: Introduction July 2004
We are probably all familiar with the notion that a lively, informative media is an essential, perhaps key, component in maintaining our democratic ideal of informed self-government. Equally likely, it seems, is a general awareness that the media often fails to live up to the standards we require of it. But what appears to be less well understood is that far from making well-intentioned mistakes, the mainstream media are inherently and systematically biased. Indeed, despite an increasing number of books and websites dedicated to analyzing the corporate/establishment structure of mass media, even activists still pay scant attention to a phenomenon that plays a crucial role in limiting any positive gains they might hope to achieve.

Ten tumultuous years May 2004
"Red Pepper, breaking a decade; New Labour, broken and decayed,' suggested a wit in the office. But now is not the moment for narrow triumphalism (beyond celebrating the larger font size and the monthly miracle performed in getting the magazine out at all).

Tony Blair, in the name of peace and democracy, go April 2003
Tam Dalyell tells us why he agrees with the Linlithgow Constituency Labour Party association motion recommending Tony Blair reconsider his position as leader of the party because of his support for a war against Iraq

Hearts, Minds and Radical Democracy June 1998
Dave Castle continues Red Pepper's interviews with theorists whose work contributes to a renewal of the left. This month he talks to Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe whose work on social movements and class offers a controversial theorisation of insights familiar to grassroots activists.