Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Yvonne Ridley
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The brutal reality of being a Palestinian
Signing a petition demanding justice for the Palestinian people as a 13-year-old schoolgirl marked the start of what has become my lifetime commitment to their cause. From reading about the atrocities of Sabra and Shatila through to witnessing the aftermath of the Jenin Massacre and climbing on board a boat…
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Will Nicola Sturgeon silence windbag Trump?
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been asked to use her influence to ban US presidential hopeful Donald Trump from visiting Scotland. While other US candidates seeking nomination in the Republican and Democrat parties have been left reeling and helpless by the outpourings of racism, bigotry and xenophobia unleashed in…
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Are Zionists at the heart of the Tory bullying scandal?
A political scandal which has rocked the British government, forcing the resignation of a Conservative minister, also reveals the powerful influence of pro-Israel Zionists at play. Grant Shapps has already quit his post of international development minister after damning evidence emerged of bullying following the death of a young political…
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The meddling West offers the Arab world no solution
The Arab world is in chaos, so much so that artificial borders drawn carefully by Western imperialists a hundred years ago have today become meaningless. Colonial powers like Britain and France are now beginning to taste the unwelcome fruits of those ruler-straight lines mapped out in the dying days of…
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Is Palestine the answer?
In the aftermath of the 9/11 atrocities, the then US President George W Bush convinced his fellow Americans that revenge was the only way to respond, and so he unleashed his never-ending War on Terror. No one stopped to ask why the attacks in New York and Washington took place,…
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Criminalising medics who help Palestinians
Helping Palestinians in Gaza is not officially a crime; not yet, anyway, but the reaction of the British government and pro-Israel lobby towards those who use their medical skills to try and save Palestinian lives is disturbing. Earlier this week the government refused to give visas to a group of…
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To France’s motto of “liberty, equality, fraternity” must now be added “hypocrisy”
You could not make this up; the country that prides itself as a world leader in free speech has now basically banned one of the most powerful boycott movements launched by ordinary citizens. The cries of “liberty, equality, fraternity” are now beginning to ring hollow in France where the powerful…
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Blair has been exposed, but who will bring him down?
Thanks to an old memo, the world now knows that Tony Blair was preparing to go to war in Iraq a year before the actual invasion and long before any dodgy dossiers were spawned by his Downing Street propagandists. The emergence of the 2002 document penned by the then US…
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Netanyahu should know better than to minimise Hitler’s role in the Holocaust
In today’s incendiary social and political climate, where so-called hate preachers are arrested and speakers who incite hatred are roundly condemned, there would be universal outrage if anyone addressed a public meeting and declared, “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews…” Cries of “anti-Semitism” and “Holocaust denier” would ring around…
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Shaker Aamer: The Guantanamo detainee who knows too much
There was great excitement among journalists gathered inside the British parliament a few days ago as the new opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn prepared to face Prime Minister David Cameron in their first official exchange across the floor of the House of Commons. It turned out to be an unremarkable encounter…
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Trust and transparency are vital in a democracy
Although British Prime Minister David Cameron insists that he will not publish the legal advice that gave him the go ahead to end the lives of two British citizens fighting in Syria, if ever there was a time for transparency it is now. The British public is already frustrated by…
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Israel launches a culture war
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is determined to scupper the historic nuclear deal with Iran, his Culture and Sports Minister, Miri Regev, has opened up a second front by targeting a state-run European opera company. The Tel Aviv minister has become embroiled in a culture war to try to…
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Clinton emails reveal power of civil society direct action
It is always difficult to judge the impact of direct action by civil society, but a series of emails from Hillary Clinton when she was US Secretary of State reveal just how effective such resistance can be. Without realising that it was taking on the Goliath of the American political…
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Historic agreement for Tehran prompts hysterical reaction in Tel Aviv
It was 12 years in the making and frankly many of us never believed it would happen, but just a few hours ago Iran and six major world powers reached a nuclear deal which is worth a global Mexican Wave. The historic deal will mean an end to the cruel…
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Israeli firepower shot down by peace activists
The Israeli war machine and the $23 billion a year that keeps it going dwarfs all other military spending in the world today, with the exception of America’s. It appears, though, that the Zionist state’s military and those who supply it are being outgunned by something far more forceful than…
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Ramadan atrocities highlight double standards
Ramadan is being punctuated by some horrific events for the Muslim community, the vast majority of whom are law-abiding citizens appalled by what is being done in the name of their religion. The decapitation of a man at a gas plant near Grenoble in France and the mass killings at…
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The flip-flop farce that is Cameron’s foreign policy
When it comes to developing British foreign policy, David Cameron appears to be sinking in an embarrassing swamp of confusion and hypocrisy which could explain the United Kingdom’s diminishing influence on the world stage. Timing is critical in foreign affairs so it’s hardly surprising that eyebrows were raised when Cameron…
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US neocon influence in Westminster has been exposed for all to see
Millions of ordinary citizens across Europe marched against the impending invasion of Iraq in 2003, so convinced were they that the war was wrong. Tens of thousands had never taken part in a demonstration before but they saw through the tissue of lies being pedalled by apparatchiks in Washington, Paris,…
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The Beautiful Game does not belong to murderous killjoys like Netanyahu
Walking through some of the most miserable camps on earth where people have sought refuge after fleeing wars or natural disasters is always a humbling experience. However, it’s not usually the wretched and squalid conditions which catch my breath, it is the sound of children at play. Trails of dust…
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Do we really value stones and artefacts more than human flesh and blood?
There’s nothing like a bit of cultural vandalism to get people hot under the collar and a prime example came in the wake of David Cameron’s surprise victory in Britain’s general election. Those who feared that a Conservative government would create an even wider gap between rich and poor, more…
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Britain has to shed its ‘nasty’ reputation
In Victorian Britain the wealthy flocked to the South of France and the Mediterranean waters to escape the chill back home. Today it is a destination for hundreds of thousands of ordinary fun-seekers who view the azure blue seas as their own playground. With seaside destinations punctuated across France and…
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Christopher Columbus and the history of the Palestinian struggle
I was clearing out some rubbish the other day and came across a dog-eared history exercise book containing an essay I’d written about Christopher Columbus, “the explorer who discovered America in 1492”. Of course, it sounds ridiculous to say that out loud today but that is what our history teacher…
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Israel launches tartan charm offensive in ‘enemy territory’
Scotland might be one of the smallest nations in the world but its reputation for hospitality is matched only by its undiluted courage for standing up to bullies. As the Romans discovered when the invasion of “Britannia” began in 43AD, the people in what we now call Scotland were not…
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From Washington to Riyadh, Britain is on bended knee
Since Britain dropped the “Great” prefix from its name and its superpower status became nothing more than a reference point in some history books, it has struggled with its ratings on the world stage. One defining moment came in 2003 when the then Prime Minister Tony Blair was accused of…