July 2005 Archive 

Don’t hold your breath As protesters prepare to give the G8 a warm Scottish welcome, Melanie Jarman predicts little chance of any agreement on climate change, save perhaps recognition, finally, that it is actually taking place

The people’s President? Activism and party politics in a polarised Hungary

Non de gauche: the French Left after the referendum The French No vote in the 29 May referendum on the European constitution had immediate consequences, both for the fate of the treaty and for domestic politics. But this was no mere mid-term protest against an unpopular government, nor further evidence of France’s famed ‘ungovernability’, the fact that no government in the last thirty years has lasted more than one term in office. It actually marks an important staging post in the making of a new Left on the terrain of capitalist globalisation.

Hungary’s first ‘eco-president’ Recently the words ‘Another Politics is Possible’ took on a new meaning in Hungary when Dr László Sólyom, Hungary’s first ‘civil candidate’, was elected President of the Hungarian Republic in an unexpected success for grassroots politics

The UK/US Presidency of the EU

Uruguay: the left is watching you In his first 100 days, Uruguay’s President has devoted most of his time tiding up the mess left behind by 175 years of governments of the right and centre-right. His priorities have been a comprehensive emergency plan to alleviate extreme poverty and the search of bodies of the "disappeared" during the dirty war of the 1970s. Nevertheless, a part of the left has been left wondering about his policies on abortion, laicism and water services nationalisation

G8 Protests Lucky enough to get time off to head to the G8? Natasha Grzincic and Stuart Hodkinson bring you Red Pepper’s indispensable guide to resisting world leaders and staying alive in Scotland

They owe it all to their fans The power of celebrity politics is undeniable. The challenge for the left, argues Oscar Reyes, is to develop its own cultural strength in the interests of radical social change