Striking back
Red Pepper #248 | SPRING 2026
Red Pepper returns with a new-look annual print edition to explore the 100 year legacy of the 1926 General Strike, radical approaches to migration justice, repression in Latin America and wars for oil in Nigeria and Iran. With culture, organising tools, book reviews and regular features.
Featuring Sara Ahmed, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Juliet Jacques, Zrinka Bralo, Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi and more
In this issue
General Strike
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Striking back: 1926-2026
One hundred years ago, workers downed tools in Britain’s first and only general strike. Red Pepper explores origins, memories and legacies of 1926
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Labour and the unions: a contentious alliance
David Howell traces union-Labour Party relations from the aftermath of the general strike, through shaping the 1945 government, tensions under Harold Wilson to Thatcher-era marginalisation
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Women’s day off: feminist strike action since 1975
Valgerður Pálmadóttir recalls the Icelandic women’s strike in 1975 and assesses its continuing relevance today
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General strike now?!
Matthew Lee asks what it would take to build a general strike today – and what impact the tactic might have
In this issue
Migration
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Migrant power: organising, dignity and justice
Siobhán McGuirk talks to Zrinka Bralo, founder and CEO of Migrants Organise, about the challenges and necessity of committed community organising in the fight for migration justice
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Rethinking racism
The left has forgotten our traditions of anti-racist analysis and organising. We must abandon liberal analyses, says Gargi Bhattacharyya, and see racism as an exercise of power
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The migrant genocide
Understanding the massacre of migrants making their way to the global north is a key moment of class struggle, argues Iker Suárez, and for halting Europe’s march towards fascism
In this issue
Global
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In pictures: West Bank lives
With global attention on Gaza, an already grave situation in the Palestinian West Bank has intensified. A Solidus Collective photographer documents two years of change
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From newsrooms to exile in Central America
Donald Trump has emboldened Salvadoran dictator Nayib Bukele in his onslaught against critical voices, including the independent press. Roman Gressier reports
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Iran ’53: The coup that changed the Middle East
When Iran’s elected prime minister, Mohammed Mossaddegh tried to nationalise oil, Britain and the US helped overthrow him. Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi traces how covert interventions continue to shape the region
In this issue
Books & Culture
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What happened to Local TV?
Local TV promised to platform grassroots politics and marginal voices, but weak regulation saw the sector thin out. Andy Brain surveys the survivors and asks: can communities reclaim the airways?
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Chloe Slater and the politics of young Britain
Political messaging, generational tensions and deepening class conflict are fuelling Chloe Slater’s popularity, argues John Newsham
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Jude awakening
Juliet Jaques celebrates the work of Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude, whose incisive social commentary prioritises laughter, substance and style
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Can’t complain? An interview with Sara Ahmed
Paula Lacey talks to feminist scholar Sara Ahmed about institutional violence, complaint activism and the power of saying ‘no’
