Beinn Dubh

  [Loch Lomond]

The Rushdie affair: Exposing the left's double standards

The Saudi Arabian monarchy is no doubt one of the most repugnant regimes on the planet. Flagrant human rights abuses, political repression, and the relegation of women to chattel are arguments frequently deployed by the Kingdom's many critics. The barbarity of the regime is compounded further by its allegiance with the US and Western Europe, a point that particularly rankles leftists and liberals- and rightly so. We are locked in hideous embrace with a theocracy which purported the very fundamentalist ideology that we are meant to be fighting. A stance which undermines any ability to construct a moral foreign policy, free of the compromises of realpolitik. 

Steve Biko to Black Lives Matter: The evolution of black political movements

On the 49th anniversary of the formation of the Black Panther Party the revolutionary ideas of the Panthers seem more important than ever with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. After all there has been an increasing overlap between some sections of the Black Lives Matter movement in a broad sense and some rather unsavoury characters who claim the mantle of the Panthers, calling themselves the New Black Panthers. This association has been picked up on by a few right wing blogs and news outlets intent on denigrating the movement as a whole.

Why Corbyn can't win Scotland

An article I recently wrote for Darrow. You can read the original article here.

The SNP and the ANC: Radical Movements and Parliamentary politics

My piece on the ANC and the SNP for Scottish Left Project.

You can read the full piece here.

It would be fair to assume that the political culture of post-referendum Scotland and the transition to democracy in South Africa have few similarities. It is true that the unique nature of the apartheid state makes any comparison inevitable cumbersome; however, the parallels between the SNP and the ANC contain some an important lessons for the left in Scotland.

Tommy Sheridan and SNP entryism

An article I recently wrote for Darrow.

Whilst the media have been focusing on accusations of entryism in the recent Labour Party leadership race, convicted perjurer Tommy Sheridan’s Solidarity party has been quietly making inroads into SNP branches.

Corbyn the Reactionary?

As Jeremy Corbyn surges towards the leadership of the Labour Party his foreign policy has been put under increasing scrutiny. What has particularly drawn the media's attention is Corbyn's tendency to associate himself with ghoulish anti-Semites such as Dyab Abou Jahjah and Raed Salah. Now, of course, Jeremy Corbyn is no anti-Semite- he is the embodiment of an old fashioned humanitarian. So what drives such a vehement anti-racist into the the company of pond life like Abou Jahjah?