A new generation of right-wing politicians have shifted from promoting deregulation to championing anti-migrant politics warns SOLOMON HUGHES
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Vairamuttu Varadakumar: 1949-2019
PHIL MILLER salutes the life and work of the director of the Tamil Information Centre, a tireless campaigner for his people
by the Greater Manchester Workers’ and Tenants’ Association
The US relationship with Israel has evolved into a strategic liability, argues RAMZY BAROUD
A champion motorcyclist, trade union organiser and communist, Clem Beckett went from Britain’s speedway tracks to the battlefields of Spain, where he gave his life resisting Franco’s forces at Jarama. GEOFF BOTTOMS pays tribute to this remarkable anti-fascist
The greatest threat to democracy may no longer come from political parties but from unelected tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and his powerful Silicon Valley network, argues JOHN GREEN
Claiming to ease a fertiliser shortage, the Trump administration has suspended tariffs on Moroccan phosphate imports – deepening US support for the Morocco’s control over Sahrawi territory, writes LUKE ROTELLO
IT WAS one of the most iconic anti-deportation protests of the last century. A dozen Tamil men stood on the tarmac at Heathrow and stripped down to their underwear, as stunned police and journalists looked on.
The bold and defiant demonstration on February 17 1987 secured their struggle a slot on the evening news, and delayed the flight long enough to win a High Court injunction halting their deportation to Sri Lanka, where they had fled a British-backed genocide.
One of the planners behind this brave action was Vairamuttu Varadakumar, director of the Tamil Information Centre, who has recently passed away aged 69. Throughout his decades of distinguished service to the Tamil community he saved countless compatriots from deportation, often working closely with staff in Jeremy Corbyn’s office.
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