Red Pepper

Radical? Socialist? Green? Feminist? Red Pepper has been the voice of dissent spicing up politics for 20 years!

Defiant in its search for the truth, Red Pepper is a leading dissenting voice in British politics, independent of all political parties, debunking the myths that exist to protect powerful interests.

It seeks to be a space for debate, a resource for all movements for social justice, consistently internationalist and a home for anyone who wants a world based on equality, meaningful democracy and freedom.

Red Pepper is a non-profit magazine and exists because all those involved believe the left needs publications which are non-sectarian yet unafraid to take a stand, radical yet undogmatic, and thoughtful yet orientated on real-world activism.

The global economy is defined by debt. Record household borrowing sits alongside needless austerity and decimated public services. Vast swathes of the global south remain trapped in complex webs of debt to rich nations, international institutions and multinational corporations. For every debtor there is of course a creditor and as ordinary people suffer, the rich get richer.

In this issue, we investigate debt from various angles, with contributions from Jayati Ghosh, Ann Pettifor, Mohammed Tareq Hasan and others, as well as looking back at David Graeber's seminal 'Debt: The First 5,000 Years'.

Elsewhere in the issue we feature a conversation on the 'Definite Left' between Anthony Barnett and Kirill Kobrin, and an essay by Bal Sokhi-Bulley on the brutality of immigration gatekeeping in the UK.

Our culture section focuses on nostalgia and traditionalism, from the British obsession with a mythologised second world war to Hindu nationalism via saffronisation in film and tv.

Plus book reviews, previews and all our regular columns.