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News, Campaigns & Events
Towards re-joining the European Union
Members of the Europe for Scotland campaign will be in Brussels on Tuesday 23rd of June, the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum. Though the scheduled sentencing of Peter Murrell is likely to dominate ‘Scottish news’ that day, the campaigners hope to promote reflection on transcending the constitutional crisis of the UK. They state that ‘before the next major Brexit anniversary Scotland, Wales might very well claim their independence and re-join the European family of n
Management push for yet more cuts - Dundee University
The strategy of those that manage Scotland’s higher education institutions appears to be to cut to the point of threatening institutional sustainability. With a few exceptions, strike action has been the forced response of university trades unions to the ongoing imposition of ‘strategies for recovery’ across the country. Glasgow Caledonian was the latest to see picket lines, and we recently reported on the situation at the University of Aberdeen. The University of Dundee (Uo
Remembering Cathie Lloyd, 1946-2026
Progressive politics in Scotland is left weaker by the loss of Cathie Lloyd, who died earlier this month at home in Edinburgh. Amongst her other commitments, Cathie was an active member of Democratic Left Scotland, contributing many considered and thoughtful pieces to this website, such as the one linked here. We are privileged to publish this personal in memoriam, written by her partner, Paddy. Cathie was born near Swindon in 1946. Her father was a primary school teacher fr
Perspectives & Views
“A dozen or so”: Your Party in Scotland has "dwindled into obscurity"
Niall Christie is a committed and experienced activist who took up Scotland’s ‘place’ on Your Party’s Central Executive Committee. Then, on the basis that the party has 'run out of road', he resigned. Now it’s time to learn the lessons of what’s gone wrong. Casting my vote this week was not how I had foreseen myself doing so just a month or two ago. Instead of again trudging to the ballot box to vote (in my case, Green in the constituency and SSP on the list), my hope was tha
News, views and directions from the European left
Doug Chalmers reports on this month’s Congress of the European Left Party, which he attended as a representative of Democratic Left Scotland. How to build a new democratic socialist society – feminist and ecologically sustainable, in a time of austerity and militarism? That was the background question to the 8th Congress of the Party of the European Left. Founded in 2004, the Party of the European Left consists of 22 member parties, ranging from the PCF, die Linke, Syri
Hopeful pointers for the Holyrood election from Dundee Pensioners’ Forum
Our members have been bravely prominent - amongst others - in opposing some very nasty street protests against asylum seekers housed in Dundee. Led by so-called Dundee Patriots, claiming to be protecting women and girls, these protestors have brought a new level of hostility and physical aggression to Dundee streets over the winter months. The Pensioners Forum had also noticed a different tone in the conduct of debate in the Scottish Parliament, sadly echoing the infantile y
Reviews and Reflections
Soundings from Scotland
The latest issue of Soundings, the thoughtful and radical journal of politics and culture, carries a couple of very substantial articles particularly focussed on Scotland. The guest editors (Dave Featherstone, Ewan Gibbs and Jenny Morrison) are all teachers at Glasgow University, and Democratic Left Scotland is very pleased to see this development – we know that Dave in particular has been looking for opportunities to foreground Scottish experience in the journal. The editors
Progressive perspectives
Scottish Left Review marks its 150th issue. The Educational Institute of Scotland has sponsored Scottish Left Review 's March / April issue, this support from a key component of our country's labour movement meaning that every delegate to the Scottish Trades Union Congress will receive a copy when it meets in Dundee (22 to 26 April). STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer contributes an agenda-setting piece to the issue. Foyer recovers the language of 'taking back control' for a
The feeling of a changing world
Harvey Duke writes on protest songs and the power of art, highlighting Bruce Springsteen's new protest song 'The Streets of Minneapolis' , which was the fastest trending song on YouTube in the United States on the day of its release. We’ve all heard the idea: the personal is political. There are moments in our lives when what had felt deeply personal also begins to feel deeply political. Even before we know much about politics, Art can sometimes help us feel connected to the
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