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"How progressive people in different parties can coalesce and do something positive..."
News, Campaigns & Events
Discuss the results: Online meeting, Monday evening
'A critical space for reflection on politics and society ... a chance for progressive people to collaborate intellectually - and in action - across the lines of our party affliliation' ... These are ways that our members have described Democratic Left Scotland, and it's why we've organised a post-election online discussion with opening perspectives from a Green, Labour and SNP perspective. Join by clicking the link. Monday 11th May 7:30 Zoom link - http://bit.ly/3RkXM1p The o
“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
Online discussion event: Results and prospects
Join this post-election online discussion, organised by Democratic Left Scotland, with contributions from a Green, Labour and SNP perspective. Monday 11th May 7:30 Zoom link - http://bit.ly/3RkXM1p Whatever the results, the Scottish election will have major implications for people, the economy and nature in Scotland. On the evening of Monday May 11th Democratic Left Scotland will be organising an online discussion to talk through the implications, and how the left should resp
Perspectives & Views
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
Divergent political cultures?
The latest email distributed to supporters - and to anyone interested - from our friends at Europe for Scotland includes some punchy analysis and comment, inclu ding the following observations on our country's politics - and democratic rights. Recent weeks have seen an extraordinary escalation in global crises, with the US-Israeli aggression on Iran and its dire economic repercussions. This was compounded by President Trump’s remarks that celebrated violence, threatened “ c
Reviews and Reflections
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
Burns Day: online poetry - and nuclear disarmament
The good people at Scottish CND have established a tradition of successful Burns events, gathering renowned poets based in Scotland for a programme of peace-themed poetry. As the organisers say, 'these events have been heartening antidotes to the often oppressive, militaristic discourse that is all too common in the national political conversation'. This year, the Scottish CND Burns Afternoon Event will take place online - it's on Sunday 25 of January between 3pm-5pm, and is
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