Guy Aitchison - openDemocracy

‘Barbaric system’: Australia’s offshore victims warn UK against Rwanda plan

The UK’s £120m offshore ‘processing’ deal borrows from the same semi-colonial playbook used by Australia

By Guy Aitchison

/ 23 May 2022

‘Barbaric system’: Australia’s offshore victims warn UK against Rwanda plan

Coronavirus and the crisis of globalisation: dangers and answers

“We must demonstrate the superiority of democratic governance over authoritarianism, bringing about a set of practical changes to greatly improve human wellbeing.”

By Guy Aitchison and Luke Cooper

/ 24 Jun 2020

Coronavirus and the crisis of globalisation: dangers and answers

This Tory manifesto is chilling - liberals must vote tactically to protect democracy

The Conservative manifesto contains hints of policies that could lead to despotic power. We need need an ‘anti-authoritarian alliance’.

By Guy Aitchison

/ 5 Dec 2019

This Tory manifesto is chilling - liberals must vote tactically to protect democracy

Borders, open borders, or no borders?

If freedom of movement is a human right, is Brexit good or bad? A Q&A.

By Guy Aitchison

/ 26 Sep 2017

Homelessness, freedom and why we should resist the social cleansing of Hackney

Hackney council is using new laws to try and cleanse homeless people from its more fashionable corners. Under the rubric of public “safety”, the lived reality of London, with its poverty and inequality, is being swept under the carpet.

By Guy Aitchison

/ 4 Jun 2015

In new gods do we trust?

Do you expect the machine to solve the problems? In this wide-ranging interview with the Director of the Open Rights Group we discuss bulk collection, state bureaucracies, the pre-crime era and trust.

By Guy Aitchison and Jim Killock

/ 23 Apr 2015

In new gods do we trust?

Do you expect the machine to solve the problems? In this wide-ranging interview with the Director of the Open Rights Group we discuss bulk collection, state bureaucracies, the pre-crime era and trust.

By Guy Aitchison and Jim Killock

/ 23 Apr 2015

Digital rights and freedoms: Part 2

More than rights, a set of guiding principles is needed to counterpose to the reigning ideals of ‘security’, ‘growth’ and ‘innovation’. Alternative ideals, perhaps, such as democracy, health and environmental sustainability? See Part 1.

By Guy Aitchison

/ 31 Mar 2015

Digital rights and freedoms: Part 1

Under the rubric of state security on the one hand and commercial openness on the other, we are being lulled into an online world of fear and control where our every move is monitored in order to more efficiently manage us. See Part 2.

By Guy Aitchison

/ 31 Mar 2015

How capitalism is turning the internet against democracy, and how to turn it back

As capitalist corporations have come to dominate the internet, is it possible to fulfil the genuine democratic potential of this technology within the context of the current economic crisis? A review of Robert McChesney’s new book Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against

By Guy Aitchison

/ 22 Apr 2013

Video, Up The Anti : Reclaiming the future - lessons of protest

A collection of speakers from an Up the anti conference discuss lessons to be learnt from the return of mass protest, and look at the challenges ahead in securing claims on the future.

By Guy Aitchison, James Butler, Aaron Bastani and Ragnhild Freng Dale

/ 13 Dec 2012

Reclaiming 'common sense': new pamphlet is a rallying cry to the 99%

"This year will either see us create a new, more plausible, basis for our shared life, or settle back into the old, dispiriting fictions." So says Dan Hind in a new e-pamphlet published by OurKingdom, invoking the spirit of Thom Paine and urging the 99% to reclaim the public realm. We interview th

By Guy Aitchison

/ 21 Mar 2012