Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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‘It shouldn’t be civil society versus European governments’
SOS Mediterranee's DAVID STARKE tells the Star how EU member states have abandoned their commitments to international maritime and refugee laws when it comes to rescues carried out by the civil rescue fleet
COURAGE OF CONVICTION: Ocean Viking completes another sea rescue and (insert) David Starke
[Avra Fialas/SOS Mediterranee]
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
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NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
THE Ocean Viking, a refugee rescue ship operated jointly by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), saved the lives of 60 people from a watery grave in the Mediterranean last week.
The European Union — having ignored the refugees’ initial distress calls as they attempted to escape war-torn Libya in an unseaworthy boat on the evening of November 28 — refused to provide the Ocean Viking with a port of safety.
It wasn’t until Palermo mayor Leoluca Orlando called on Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte to end the five-day standoff on Twitter that the ship was allowed to dock.
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Looking for moral co-ordinates after a tough year for rational political thinking and shared human morality
Looking for moral co-ordinates after a tough year for rational political thinking and shared human morality
MARTYN GRAY asks TUC congress to endorse measures that would help stop the present exploitation of seafarers
This time it is joined by famed Amazon union organiser Chris Smalls and the new vessel, the Handala, will carry baby formula for Gaza’s starving children just weeks after Israeli forces abducted the Madleen’s crew in international waters, reports ANA VRACAR