On 6 November 2021 a march for climate justice took place in Dublin. Photographer Karl Leonard was there and created this photo essay for Independent Left. March for Climate Justice These images are copyright Karl Leonard and not for reuse without contacting Independent Left first. Why we are against Climate Geo-engineering.
‘Primitive Communism’: Did it Ever Exist?
A review of The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow and an explanation of why the concept of primitive communism is mistaken. The way in which we imagine the first human societies is intimately connected to our current political beliefs. Conservatives believe in repression, the need for […]
Art and Politics: One Big Union
An interview between Johnny Flynn and Ciarán O Rourke, author of a new collection of essays on art and politics JOHNNY FLYNN: Will we start with that quote from your essay on Martín Chambi? You say that what most attracted you to artists in particular, and their techniques, is that they “draw on their chosen […]
The social impact of artificial intelligence
Novelists have been kind to artificial intelligence in recent times. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 book, Klara and the Sun, Klara is an AI designed to be a child’s companion and she is by far the most compassionate and self-sacrificing character in the book. In the rather darker Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (2019), the […]
THE SYRIAN REVOLUTION 2011
Socialists and the Syrian Revolution The Syrian revolution 2011 was a genuine people’s uprising: one that was crushed by the al-Assad regime; a corrupt neo-liberal clique backed by Russian imperialism; and Iranian clerico-military oligarchy. The intervention of the US and its Saudi and Gulf allies also undermined the revolution and bolstered reactionary fundamentalist forces. Socialists […]