Post Chavismo

By Callum McCormick In the aftermath of his electoral success on Sunday night, the new President-Elect of Venezuela made what has to be one of the most downbeat victory speeches Continue reading →

Hard Money

By Callum McCormick Venezuela’s announcement on 8 February of an immediate currency devaluation was neither unprecedented nor unexpected. Despite government officials’ repeated insistence they were not considering it, most Venezuelans Continue reading →

Europe, the Left and Scottish Independence

By Emily Macintosh When discussing the EU in a Scottish independence context, the Yes campaign line is that a vote for independence is not insular or parochial, it is about Continue reading →

Memories of the Future – Boeung Kak Lake and The Cause of Progress

By Darran Anderson And the village was deserted, the huts gaped black, rotting, all askew within the fallen enclosures. A calamity had come to it, sure enough. The people had Continue reading →

We the People

By Susan Pettie. Susan runs So Say Scotland, a project inspired by Iceland’s grassroots national assemblies movement. The newly created and proposed Icelandic constitution, which we are hearing quite a Continue reading →

EU 2 Brutus?

So Cameron may walk into and flounce out of more EU meetings, he may renegotiate to his heart’s content, he may grandstand and bluster, he may shout loudly and wave a small stick, but all he can get out of it is what the other 27 states agree to…

Chav Culture

Chavismo after Chavez: what next for Venezuela?

Scotland in Europe

By Alyn Smith Scotland and the EU is the Brigadoon issue of Scottish politics: it appears, disappears, reappears, goes quiet, explodes onto the front pages again only to then recede Continue reading →

Noam Chomsky, Gilad Sharon and 10 Things You Need To Know About Gaza

A recent statement by Professor Noam Chomsky indicates a different take on Israeli aggression than he has had in the past.  His statement has been misquoted over the weekend, so, for Continue reading →

Radical Indy Conference 04: Where next for Quebec?

by Benoit Renaud, head of Québec solidaire’s co-ordinating committee The people of Québec, the only Canadian province where the majority of the population has French as their first language, have been struggling for Continue reading →

Calm Your Jets

by Michael Greenwell When Obama won 4 years ago, a number of people took the huff with me for mentioning these facts that I had found (via Andy Best)… So, Continue reading →

US Vote: Barry Graham’s Election Day Diary

Writing exclusively for Bella Caledonia another Scots author in exile Barry Graham gives a running commentary  from Portland, Oregon, as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney slug it out in a closely Continue reading →

Campaigning strategies: Obama v the SNP

By Pete Ramand The 45th President of the USA will be elected today. With little separating them in the polls, both Romney and Obama have been campaigning nearly twenty-four hours Continue reading →

Israeli ambassador meets the Scottish government

by Kevin Williamson A recent meeting at Bute House between Alex Salmond and the UK’s Israeli ambassador, Daniel Taub, has only just come to light. Given the controversial nature of Continue reading →

Scattered Sand: The Story of China’s Rural Migrants

Hsiao-Hung Pai, author of Scattered Sand: The Story of China’s Rural Migrants spoke at the 16th Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair on 27th October 2012. Here’s what she had to say: Until Continue reading →

The unfolding human catastrophe in Iran

Sanctions imposed on Iran’s banks and financial institutions could lead to a humanitarian crisis, write Muhammad Sahimi and Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi  THE UNFOLDING HUMAN CATASTROPHE IN IRAN Iran still imports a significant amount of Continue reading →

A Land of Possibility

By John McAllion Between now and the referendum scheduled for the autumn of 2014, the question of Scottish independence will take centre stage in British politics. For the next two Continue reading →

Taking Catalonia Forward

By Anna Arqué i Solsona In Catalonia 51 per cent would vote Yes for independence, by latest official polls, in front of a 24 per cent against, however, this ‘YES’ Continue reading →

Independence in the World

As Scotland’s greatest living polymath Alasdair Gray (Bella’s patron) changes his famous slogan to: ‘work as if you live in the early days of a better world’ we hear from Continue reading →

Zapatista Education

 

Forms of Protest 1

Part one of a new Bella series looking at innovation and forms of protest. Crowdsourcing ideas for the independence movement and exploring social media and social change. First up: Casseroles, Continue reading →

Sophie Cooke on Ukraine: Behind the facade of Euro 2012

‘Why don’t you visit Euro 2012 and protest for us?‘  Ukrainian novelist Yuriy Andrukhovych by Sophie Cooke The diamond-encrusted presidential toilet is perhaps the most appropriate symbol of Viktor Yanukovych’s Continue reading →

Why not learn from histories – for a change?

Why not learn from histories – for a change? A German-Scottish perspective by Svenja Meyerricks Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne, Der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu Continue reading →

Greek Independence

Interview with Liana Kanelli an independent MP elected under the flag of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) for the last twelve years in four consecutive elections.  Ms. Kanelli has been Continue reading →

Disaster Capitalism in Action in Europe

By Moira Dalgetty in Athens. Television images of demonstrators being teargassed by riot police in Athens on Sunday night followed the usual rules of media coverage of civil unrest – Continue reading →

Global Gathering

Defending Mary Ann Kennedy’s Global Gathering

Braveheart Buddhists

By Andrew Barr “Independence isn’t just history.” That was the message of leafleters outside Scottish cinema screenings in the 1990s as Wallace rode onto our screens ready to free the Continue reading →

Empire State of Mind

By Gerry Loose These are the territories and countries that could never make it without England’s support. They would fail. They would fail. American territories east of the Mississippi (in Continue reading →

Lilliput Nation

By Clare Galloway I awoke at 2am with my usual head-buzz about my house renovation, and the sustainability of my lifestyle at present… but rather than nodding off amongst ever-decreasing Continue reading →

Ailing Scottish Football Needs Alchemy

How do we create ‘Nue-Camp football’ in Scotland?