Statement on the London bombings from the League for the Fifth International

The terrorist attack on the London underground and bus services, which has resulted in the death of dozens of people and serious injuries to many others, is an horrific act aimed at innocent people - workers, students, tourists - and deserves the most unequivocal condemnation by all socialists and progressive people. Both the survivors and the families of the victims deserve our deepest sympathy. Read more...

“The ugliest face of capitalism”. Not the words of militant socialists but of Britain’s top bosses’ paper, the Financial Times. They were describing the betrayal of 6,000 Rover car workers by their asset stripping bosses.

The last remaining British-owned volume auto manufacturer, MG Rover, faces closure following the collapse of takeover talks with the Chinese government-owned manufacturer Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). The closure threatens the loss of 6,100 jobs at Rover’s plant in Longbridge, Birmingham, as well as an estimated ten to twenty thousand jobs at component suppliers. Read more...

Just when Tony Blair and Gordon Brown wished that the British electorate would forget about far-flung adventures and concentrate on bread-and-butter issues like £200 tax relief for pensioners, and more nutritious school meals – the anti-war movement made a comeback. Read more...

Rachel Hodgins reviews Playing with Fire by David Edgar, National Theatre to 21 October Read more...

The third European Social Forum took place in London during 15-17 October. Over the three days 20,000 people from nearly 70 countries took part in over 500 meetings, listening to over 250 speakers. Read more...

At this year’s European Social Forum on the Saturday afternoon of the three day event 200 young activists came together for 2 hours of debate and discussion on the way forward for the movement against war, racism and neo-liberalism. Read more...

The basic arrangements of European Social Forum are now well underway. The main speakers at 30 huge plenary rallies have been decided— all but the British ones. The over seven hundred smaller meetings (seminars) proposed by different organisations, trade unions, campaigns, NGOs and political organisations have been merged into between 150 and 170 sessions, each with simultaneous translation into various European languages. Read more...

The third European Social Forum will take place in London between 14 and 17 October. It could be an enormously important, even historic event, with tens of thousands of international activists attending. But it is also part of a process, a living part of the history of the anticapitalist movement. But a crisis of leadership is gripping the movement. Read more...