My parents brought me to a dingy Council building in Lanarkshire for my first assessment. I’ve been disabled since birth, but prior to turning 16, the questions were directed to my mum and dad as my primary caregivers. Now, as an ‘adult’, according to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), I had to endure a 90-minute interview where all aspects of my disability and life were interrogated as if I had committed a crime.

On the 4th of September 1976, the Sex Pistols made their television debut, performing Anarchy in the UK on a late-night music show. Before the first chords were even struck, a young Johnny Rotten, all nervous energy and bile, stared directly into the camera and screamed, 'GET OFF YOUR ARSE!" - an act unleashing a cultural shock-wave that still reverberates today. For thousands of youngsters watching TV that night, it was as if a bomb had detonated in their living rooms—a call to action that demanded an immediate response. 

On 7 September, 2024, fascists in Glasgow staged their most successful demonstration in decades, gathering a few hundred flag-waving and Hitler-saluting specimens of the 'Aryan race' under Union Jacks, St. Andrew's Crosses, Red Hands of Ulster, and even a single, lonely, Irish Tricolour. Fascism in Scotland has never been particularly successful as a movement compared to the rest of these isles, whether the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s, the subcultural "brown wave" of the 1980s-90s, or the present day. But is this demonstration a sign that things may be starting to change? And if so, what can be done about it?

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria in December 2024, the future of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, remains uncertain. While there is no shortage of geopolitical analysis about the situation, one crucial voice is often overlooked—the approximately five million civilian inhabitants of the region. Their voice could be crucial for the future of Rojava, an area that has established an administration based on a bottom-up, directly democratic system that aims to empower its citizens. However, evaluating this from afar is difficult, amongst media reports riddled with various biases. Some praise the mass civilian support for the administration near the strategic Tishreen Dam in the west of Rojava, while others accuse the administration of holding a nationalist and separatist agenda. 

Tyre, in Lebanon's south, is a city of ancient and recent ruins. Around every corner, you'll find new apartment blocks twisted inside out by bombs. Plushly decorated front rooms are exposed to the air, sometimes with pictures still on the wall, their inner columns leaning at drunken angles. Buildings bow to the road, ceilings kissing the ground some five floors below. The ruins are the result of an accumulation of airstrikes night after night, week after week, for months.

It's not very fashionable to talk about Covid-19. We'd rather blank out the whole episode. But, if we do, we forget some crucial lessons from the pandemic crisis.

How did you get involved in selling DOPE Magazine?

I got involved pretty much in the early stage, when it was the second edition. I was one of the first ones to promote DOPE Magazine. From me only doing it, now everyone’s doing it. I mean it done me wonders. What it did for me was, I was in a situation where I had no status. It was either that or crime. So I chose this – I might be getting humiliated all the time, a thousand ‘no’s – it wasn’t easy, but it really helped me in a massive way.

How did you get involved in selling DOPE Magazine?

So, basically, I seen people handing out this magazine and I wasn’t too sure what it was at first. I was in a dilemma because I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have any benefits and I was looking to turn to crime, which I had been doing. I was quite surprised when I said “what do you need?” and they said “nothing, you just go on a Friday to this place [Freedom Books, Whitechapel].” I thought it was a really good idea and I’ve not looked back since.

How did you get involved in selling
DOPE Magazine?

Well, I was going to Whitechapel Mission, which is the place where I have breakfast, because I don't have proper cooking facilities where I am. I was a bit pissed off with the inflated price of the Big Issue, so when I saw people selling a new mag,
I thought, yeah, I’ll give it a go. So I came to Freedom, got a whole bundle, and I was able to sell it –
I thought it was pretty good.