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100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela KEN LIVINGSTONE writes on the fight to commemorate the revolutionary leader a short distance away from the British institutions that once ruled the African colonies.

THIS week would have been Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday, and here in London Nelson Mandela’s statue in Parliament Square stands as just one small testimony of the triumph of freedom and humanity over oppression that he led.

The unveiling of the statue, sculpted by the late Ian Walters, was one of my proudest moments as Mayor of London, and came after seven years of campaigning from myself, Lord Richard Attenborough, Wendy Woods (widow of anti-apartheid campaigner Donald Woods) and thousands of ordinary Londoners who supported the idea.
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We need to step up international solidarity campaigning for Lula’s freedom, and democracy and social progress in Brazil, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

As many Morning Star readers will know, Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been detained in jail since April 7.

This imprisonment has been widely condemned as politically motivated by the international labour and trade union movement, and this week Britain’s largest trade union Unite added its voice to those demanding Lula be freed.
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Progressive forces need to learn the lessons of history and stand strong against Trump’s intervention agenda in Latin America, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

THIS week marks the republication of a 2008 pamphlet by Richard Gott entitled The US War on Democracy in Latin America, which I have written the introduction for.

In three concise chapters Gott explains how United States intervention in Latin America has taken “many forms… appearing in different disguises… sometimes diplomatic persuasion… sometimes economic pressure… and on occasion military invasion.”

The clear intent of all these methods is to bring freely elected democratic governments to heel and ensure that any radical ambitions are curtailed.
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As you would have no doubt read by now, after much consideration, I have decided to resign from the Labour Party.

The ongoing issues around my suspension from the Labour Party have become a distraction from the key political issue of our time – which is to replace a Tory government overseeing falling living standards and spiralling poverty, while starving our schools and the NHS of the vital resources they need.
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KEN LIVINGSTONE writes on why the key political issue of our time is to end to the human catastrophe that is Tory austerity.

As Morning Star readers will no doubt have read, after much consideration I decided with great sadness to resign from the Labour Party this week.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Morning Star readers and thousands of others who have sent supportive messages and shared my social media posts this week to help ensure that hundreds of thousands of people have directly seen my reasons for taking this difficult decision.
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“After much consideration, I have decided to resign from the Labour Party.

The ongoing issues around my suspension from the Labour Party have become a distraction from the key political issue of our time – which is to replace a Tory government overseeing falling living standards and spiralling poverty, while starving our schools and the NHS of the vital resources they need.

We live in dangerous times and there are many issues I wish to speak up on and contribute my experience from running London to, from the need for real action to tackle climate change, to opposing Trump’s war-mongering, to the need to end austerity and invest in our future here in Britain.
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Trump’s July visit by the US president will be opposed by the majority of people in Britain, writes Ken Livingstone.

It was recently confirmed that President Donald Trump is coming to Britain in July on a ‘working visit’ prior to a NATO summit in Europe.

Our response to this visit must be widespread opposition to Trump’s divisive and reactionary agenda, and protests are already being planned.

Since becoming president Trump has scapegoated migrants, Muslims and refugees at home — providing a distraction from his Wall Street-dominated economic policies that are failing millions in the US — while pursuing an aggressive and provocative foreign policy.
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The Tories’ cuts are leading to support for the homeless being axed at the same time as rough sleeping increases, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

IT WAS revealed this week that the number of shelter beds for homeless people has dropped by almost a fifth under the Tories, with budget cuts meaning that England now has enough beds for less than half of those who need them.

With around 77,000 single people estimated to be homeless on any given night, it means that there are now only enough beds for less than half the homeless.
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Only public ownership can improve Britain’s railways, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

While it has not received the mainstream media attention it deserves, developments in recent weeks and months have further shown that the Tories have no strategy for improving Britain’s railways.

In fact, their obsession with further outsourcing and privatisation means that the mistakes of the past 20 plus years are likely to be repeated yet again.

Tory Transport Secretary Chris Grayling recently announced the West Coast Partnership – this lucrative contract extension on the West Coast was remarkably offered to Virgin and Stagecoach even though the Tories recently gifted them a £2 billion bailout from the taxpayer on the East Coast.
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Rolling out the red carpet for the Saudi Crown Prince shows the Tories have the wrong priorities, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

WHEN the government recently rolled out the red carpet to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it claimed that our “special relationship” with the Saudi dictatorship has made “both of our countries safer and more prosperous.”

Additionally, throughout his visit, the Tories continually insisted that the Crown Prince was a point of firm support for British policy in the world.
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