PHOTO THREAD:
The rise and eventual fall of Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn contains lessons for Wales about how a violent street movement can combine with an electoral project to create a fascist political force, terrorising minorities & the left.
Images by Veronika Merkova 1 The threat posed to Wales from the far right and fascism goes beyond national borders.

On a recent Facebook group set up by the far right to coordinate anti-refugee actions in Penally, Pembrokeshire, members flooded in from Sweden, America and Australia. 2

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Who is UKIP MS Neil Hamilton & Why Do His Political Ambitions Alarm anti-Racists?

The Senedd member for the Mid and West Wales region likes to make out he’s not part of a corrupt political establishment, but he became a household name associated with sleaze. 1/13 In 1994, in what became known as the cash-for-questions affair, he took bribes in return for asking questions in parliament on behalf of wealthy clients and introduced a lobbying firm to a tobacco giant for a £6,000 “commission” fee. 2/13

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While Donald Trump has contracted Covid & given world class healthcare unavailable to ordinary Americans, it has been workers and working class communities the world over who have been most affected by this virus. This is how we’ve reported on these issues in Wales. 1/19 On Sunday, we published the final instalment of a diary of a food factory worker during Covid. A first hand account, it shows how working class people have been the most at risk of contracting Coronavirus and being made to pay for the economic fallout2/19
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This is the diary of worker during Covid which reveals the shocking truth about how some of the lowest paid workers were treated during the pandemic. 1/7 For months from the end of March, this person worked without proper PPE in the midst of a global pandemic. He was employed via an agency, meaning they could drop him at any point. 2/7

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The private company which has taken public money to manage the shambolic testing operation in Wales recorded a 53% rise in half-year trading profits, to £77.8 million, in August this year. The outsourcing giant Serco had its contract extended in August for test, track and trace. This was in spite of the fact that it had contacted less than half of the contacts of people who tested positive for Coronavirus, and costing over £900 for each person traced.

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17 years ago this week the Welsh scientist, weapons inspector and MoD employee, Dr David Kelly, was found dead. It was following interviews he had given to two BBC journalists that blew apart Tony Blair's false claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 1/15 One journalist that Kelly spoke to, Andrew Gilligan used the interview as the basis to say that Prime Minister Tony Blair had deliberately misled Parliament with the claim that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, meaning Britain had to invade. 2/15

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After one death from Coronavirus, Ireland has closed schools & large events. Scotland’s First Minister has called for the same to happen in the UK, where no similar action has yet been taken despite 10 deaths and 590 known cases. Wales host Scotland in the 6 Nations on Saturday. All available evidence shows that carrying on with large public events helps the virus spread. Playing the game will likely help spread the virus in Cardiff and Wales as a whole. Holding it is a big risk.

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Storm Dennis has devastated communities in the Valleys. Major flooding has ruined homes and left people uprooted with nowhere to go. Mudslides (pictured, via Facebook) have caused additional damage and the threat of more to come remains dangerously high. 1/13 These are some of the worst floods in living memory. The likelihood of extreme weather events like this is increasing. This graph (via Met Office) shows the prevalence of storms and flooding since 1980 has gone up significantly as human made global warming has increased. 2/13

THREAD: We have spent 2019 reporting from the front-line of austerity, poverty, racism, exploitation and worker’s struggle. We have also broken major stories which have exposed the super rich and the far right. We are extremely proud of the work we’ve done since we launched. 1/9 We have done this with no backers or funding and with a team of just four people. But we want to do far more and that’s why we’re asking for your help.

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