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Counterfire (group)

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Counterfire is a Marxist and revolutionary socialist organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2010, it runs a website and has published pamphlets under the Counterfire imprint.[1] It has its origins in the Trotskyist political tradition.

History

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Counterfire was launched on International Women’s Day in 2010, following a split from the Socialist Workers Party.[2] Counterfire has put emphasis on participation in social movements,[3] notably the Coalition of Resistance, the People’s Assembly Against Austerity and Stop the War Coalition.

A number of Counterfire members, including Lindsey German, John Rees and Chris Nineham, have played prominent roles in the Stop the War Coalition, both before and after the formation of Counterfire.[4] In 2010, Counterfire was instrumental in establishing a new campaigning organisation, Coalition of Resistance, to oppose the Conservative-led government’s austerity programme, following a call by Tony Benn.[5] In 2013, this was supplanted by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, which Counterfire has continued to actively promote.[6][7]

Political views and activity

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Counterfire was supportive of the Arab spring uprisings in 2011.[8] As part of the Stop the War Coalition, it opposed subsequent military interventions involving the UK in Libya[9] and Syria.[10]

Between 2012 and 2013, Counterfire ran a left-wing café in London called Firebox, where it hosted political events aimed at building socialist ideas.[11][12] It also organised political theory and organising events including citizen activism day schools.[13]

Counterfire was strongly supportive of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party (2015–19) but maintained an independent organisation and publications, rather than joining the Labour Party.[14] The organisation defended Corbyn against accusations of antisemitism and in 2018 opposed the Labour Party national executive’s adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, arguing that it was part of the weaponising of antisemitism for political ends.[15]

In 2014, Counterfire advocated voting Yes in the referendum on Scottish independence[16][17] and supported the left-wing Radical Independence Campaign.[18]

In 2016, the organisation argued for voting Leave in the referendum on UK membership of the European Union on a socialist, democratic and anti-racist basis.[19]

At the People’s Assembly Against Austerity protest outside the Conservative Party Conference in 2017,[20] Counterfire activist Shabbir Lakha confronted Jacob-Rees Mogg, who was then being touted as a potential next leader of the party, over his support for austerity.[21][22]

Counterfire members in the Stop the War Coalition and People’s Assembly Against Austerity played prominent roles in organising the demonstration against Donald Trump’s State Visit to the UK in 2019 where an estimated 250,000 people marched through London against the US President.[23][24][25]

Counterfire supported the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard in March 2021, where they interviewed Patsy Stevenson after she was aggressively arrested by the Metropolitan Police.[26][27][28]

Publications

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Counterfire publishes a free monthly newspaper as well as two weekly email bulletins: Lindsey German’s Weekly Briefing and News from the Frontline. Through its publishing imprint, Counterfire has produced several books:

  • Rees, John (2010). Strategy and Tactics: How the Left Can Organise to Transform Society. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899003.
  • Nineham, Chris (2010). Capitalism and Class Consciousness: The Ideas of Georg Lukacs. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899010.
  • Rees, John (2014). The ABC of Socialism. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899034.
  • German, Lindsey (2016). Class: Wealth and power in neoliberal Britain. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899058.
  • German, Lindsey; Nineham, Chris; Meadway, James; Connelly, Katherine (2015). Marx for Today. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899041.
  • Connelly, Katherine; Graham-Leigh, Elaine; Ismail, Feyzi; German, Lindsey (2016). Marxism and Women's Liberation. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899065.
  • Alexander, Dominic (2018). The Limits of Keynesianism. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899089.
  • Rees, John (2019). The Corbyn Project: Dreams and Dangers. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899096.
  • German, Lindsey (2020). As It Happened: Briefings from two years of turmoil 2017-2019. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899102.
  • Graham-Leigh, Elaine (2020). Marx and the Climate Crisis. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899119.
  • Alexander, Dominic (2020). Trotsky in the Bronze Age: Why technology alone does not change society. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899126.
  • Graham-Leigh, Elaine, ed. (2021). Socialist Explainers: Short answers to big questions. Counterfire. ISBN 978-1907899133.
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References

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  1. ^ "Counterfire Home Page - Counterfire". www.counterfire.org. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  2. ^ Unknown (2010-02-16). "Solomon's Mindfield: Why we are resigning from SWP: an open letter". Solomon's Mindfield. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  3. ^ "United front and trade union work". Counterfire. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  4. ^ "Stop the War Patrons, Officers and Steering Committee". Stop the War. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  5. ^ "The time to organise resistance is now | Tony Benn and 73 others". the Guardian. 2010-08-04. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  6. ^ Guardian Staff (2013-02-05). "Letters: People's Assembly Against Austerity". the Guardian. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  7. ^ "People's Assembly hears union leaders promise anti-cuts action". BBC News. 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  8. ^ "How the Egyptian Revolution unfolded: an eyewitness account". Counterfire. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  9. ^ Jeremy Corbyn - Emergency Protest - Stop the Bombing of Libya Now! - Stop the War Coalition 20.03.11, archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2021-10-27
  10. ^ Blundy, Rachel (2015-12-01). "Stop the War demonstrators protest against Syria air strikes". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  11. ^ "The return of leftwing cafe culture". the Guardian. 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  12. ^ Landin, Conrad (2013-03-21). "Baristas of the world unite". Prospect Magazine. Archived from the original on 2017-08-11. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  13. ^ "The class teaching young people to find their inner activist". the Guardian. 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  14. ^ "Corbyn is in the leadership race – don't just celebrate, organise!". Counterfire. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  15. ^ "Defend Jeremy Corbyn: time to fight back - Counterfire statement". Counterfire. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  16. ^ "No excuse for no". Counterfire. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  17. ^ "The English left should stay out of the Scottish independence debate". Politics.co.uk. 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  18. ^ "Radical Independence Campaign launches 'People's Vow'". BBC News. 2014-11-22. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  19. ^ Mohdin, Aamna (21 June 2016). "The loudest supporters of Brexit are on the right, but plenty on the left want to leave, too". Quartz. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  20. ^ Lister, Sam; Bloom, Dan (2017-10-01). "30,000 furious protesters just parked their tanks on Theresa May's lawn". mirror. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  21. ^ "Rees-Mogg takes on protesters at Tory event". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  22. ^ "Why I had to confront Jacob Rees-Mogg, and speak the truth about austerity | Shabbir Lakha". the Guardian. 2017-10-12. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  23. ^ Williams, Chloe Chaplain, Sophie (2018-07-13). "Nearly 250,000 activists take to London streets to protest Trump visit". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Lakha, Shabbir (2019-06-03). "I'm organising the anti-Trump protests as the UK is no place for his hate". Metro. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  25. ^ Freytas-Tamura, Kimiko de (2018-07-09). "Where Trump Goes in Britain, Protesters Will Follow". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  26. ^ O'Reilly, Luke (2021-03-14). "Woman arrested at Sarah Everard vigil hits out at 'disgraceful' police". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  27. ^ Karim, Fariha. "Sarah Everard vigil: I was arrested for standing there, says Patsy Stevenson". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  28. ^ "Woman pinned to ground at Clapham vigil says policing was 'disgraceful'". the Guardian. 2021-03-14. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
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