Society & Culture > Religion
Secularism is hostile to state religion, not religion
23 Feb 2012
Separation of church and state is a basic democratic demand bitterly resisted by the British establishment, writes Eddie Ford
First, they came for …
25 Jan 2024
The ban on Hizb ut-Tahrir demonstrates that our rulers have no effective way to control the Gaza narrative other than by legally silencing critics, argues Paul Demarty
Not a religious war
04 Jan 2024
Daniel Lazare lumps Hamas together with the Zionists, argues Tony Greenstein. But socialists should unconditionally support the oppressed
Their Tolkien and ours
14 Dec 2023
Neo-fascist interpretations of JRR Tolkien’s works are resurgent - and understandable. But can the left make room in its culture for hobbits? Paul Demarty revisits The lord of the rings
A world turned upside-down
14 Dec 2023
Festivals of wild disorder symbolically assert human solidarity. Mike Macnair explores the history, ancient and modern, of a constantly reproduced Golden Age
ABCs of Muslim Brothers
30 Nov 2023
Three typologies, three stages, three martyrs. In the second of three articles, Jack Conrad investigates a highly variegated history of the organisation in Egypt
A Jewish crisis
02 Nov 2023
Zionism ≠ Judaism. Daniel Lazare looks at the effect that Israel’s oppression of Palestine is having on American Jews - as more and more of them join protests against the threat of genocide in Gaza
What you need to know about Hamas
19 Oct 2023
Eddie Ford looks at the history and politics of what is a deeply reactionary organisation and how we could win the battle of ideas
A year of defiance
21 Sep 2023
Despite countless protest demonstrations and at least 500 deaths the Islamic regime still clings to power. Yassamine Mather calls upon the left to think seriously about strategy, mass organisation and a party
Double standards on show
27 Jul 2023
While the morality police are back on patrol, top figures in the regime are renowned for preaching one thing and doing another, writes Yassamine Mather
Veiled lessons
29 Jun 2023
Yassamine Mather spoke to Anne McShane at a Hands Off the People of Iran meeting. Given the recent wave of arrests in Iran and new legislation reinforcing the wearing of the hijab, the experience of the Soviet Union’s Zhenotdel in the 1920s is of particular relevance.
Heirs of Edmund Burke
25 May 2023
For all its incoherence, the National Conservatism conference in London is indicative of a worrying direction of travel for the global right, argues Paul Demarty
Part of the stream
11 May 2023
MS Kia Sliding into revolution: a doctor’s memories of life, love and revolution Lulu 2022, pp330, £14.96
Dragged over the coals
13 Apr 2023
Why on earth is the right going nuts over drag queens? Paul Demarty investigates the latest moral panic
Zhenotdel and its travails
30 Mar 2023
In light of the ongoing Women, Life, Freedom protests in Iran, Anne McShane discussed with Yassamine Mather the lessons that can be drawn from the fight for women’s emancipation in post-revolutionary Russia
Truth must be silenced
09 Feb 2023
BBC2’s documentary about the 2002 Gujarat pogrom has caused a storm. Modi’s government and its friends abroad have made accusations of insensitivity, racism and colonial attitudes, reports Bill Goodridge