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The Epstein Files and Class Struggle

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Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale

One of the great class confrontations of our time is playing out in Washington DC right now – the Epstein files. We know that sounds like a really, really weird thing to say. But look at what’s happening in front of our eyes.

On September 3, 2025, roughly twenty working class women showed up to speak to the press in Washington and demand the release of the Epstein papers. Some were in their thirties, and some were in their early middle age. They were cold – winter was coming. They were survivors of Epstein’s abuse and exploitation. And they were terrified. Most did not speak, but they stood there beside those who spoke.

Julie K. Brown was the journalist hero first broke the Epstein story in the Miami Herald in 2018. Now she tweeted that she was speaking to many survivors, and they were all terrified. The obvious reason was what happened to Epstein. But also, of course, those women had known those powerful men up close and personal, their arrogance, cruelty and ruthlessness. As they took turns leaning into the microphone, shaking in their courage, they knew what they were doing.

On the other side were the legions of rich, powerful and influential men who had used them, and the greater legions of powerful men and women who had concealed and enabled the abuse. On that side stood two presidents of the United States, one former prime minister of Israel, the American architect of the Good Friday agreement in Ireland, rich and powerful lawyers, distinguished Harvard professors, the greatest linguist of his generation, the British ambassador to the United States, Bill Gates and other billionaires.

Those working class women confronted scores of men from the ruling class. That courage was in them because there were many of them, standing together. It was in them because their fight against Epstein had now lasted for years, and they had grown and changed as they stood by each other to rescue themselves.

They also found courage because they stood on the shoulders of giants. The global movement against the sexual violence of the rich and powerful has been growing for forty years. It began with women and men who had survived abuse as children.

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Trump is in Deep Trouble

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Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale

A 6 minute read

Trump is in deep trouble. Look at the photo. Those are the 800 generals and admirals Hegseth and Trump summoned from all over the world to meet together and be admonished. Look at their faces. They are angry.

Hegseth called them weak, unmanly and fat. He told them they would have compulsory physicals every six months and would be fired if they were overweight.

Trump spoke next. He arrived twenty minutes late and nobody clapped. He said it was the most silent room he had ever been in. He told them to applaud. No one applauded. Those senior officers sat and listened to the silence. No one applauded. They now all know where they stand.

No authoritarian right winger insults all their senior generals and admirals together. Pinochet did not do it. Putin doesn’t do it. Modi would not dream of it. Mussolini did not do it. Netanyahu hasn’t done it. Hitler never did it. It’s mad.

Trump cannot have a coup if all the generals and admirals have  learned that they all hate you. And with luck this means this road to a dictatorship is closed to Trump.

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The Epstein Files and Me-Too

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The photo is of the heroic journalist Julie K. Brown

NANCY LINDISFARNE and JONATHAN NEALE report:

This article says four important things about the Epstein files.

First, though all the talk is about conspiracy theories, this case is of a piece with the cover-ups of the abuse of gymnasts by Larry Nasser; the cover-ups of generations of abuse in residential schools for indigenous children in Canada, the consistent cover-ups by the Catholic Church; the cover-up of the Smythe case by the Archbishop of Canterbury; and hundreds and thousands of other cover-ups by institutions all over the world. This is not some bizarre conspiracy. It is what the rich and powerful do.

Second, this is not just about Donald Trump. This cover up started way before Trump, and it goes way beyond Trump. Third, the liberal and centre mainstream media are unable to talk sensibly about any of this because the Democratic Party has been part of the cover-up. Fourth, as with almost other every abuse and Me Too case, this one came to light because brave survivors fought back.

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Trump is cutting HIV drugs for 20 million people. He can be stopped.

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9 minute read by Jonathan Neale.

 Since 2003, a US government program (PEPFAR) has provided free drugs that are presently keeping 20.5 million people with HIV alive. All these people are in poorer countries, and most of them in Africa. And now, President Trump has suspended the PEPFAR program for 90 days, and it looks like the closure will be made permanent. This is a death sentence for millions of people. It seems Trump is happy to let these people die.

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Putin, Modi and Trump: Ukraine and Racist Right-Wing Populism

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Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale

The invasion of Ukraine is appalling. The resistance is heroic. The situation is moving fast, and each step is politically revealing. There remains a great deal of confusion about Putin and Ukraine in the United States and Britain. This long read aims to unpack some of that confusion and to explain Putin’s rise, how he fits into the global racist right, and his reasons for invading Ukraine.

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Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh and seven useful insights about sexual violence

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Protest in St Louis, 2 October 2018

Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale write: Last Thursday, Christine Blasey Ford testified before the judiciary committee of the US Senate. She said that Brett Kavanaugh, the nominee for the Supreme Court, had attempted to rape her when she was 15. He denied it. She told the truth and he was lying. Everyone in the room knew this, including all eleven Republican senators.

What happened next was something else. The Republican senators rallied to defend the right to rape. Sure, class also mattered, and abortion, and Trump, and the midterm elections. But centrally, they did not want Kavanaugh to pay a price for his sexual violence. An extraordinary moment of #metoo resistance had provoked that Republican backlash, and they closed ranks fast and hard.

When a system is working smoothly the mechanics of power are hidden. But when there is a breakdown, a ‘breach case’, we sometimes have an opportunity to see how the system works. And the links and deep loyalties that keep inequality in place become visible. The hearing has offered such an opportunity. It gives us a chance to formulate seven useful ideas about sexual violence. Continue reading →

The Rise of Socialism in the United States

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Tabitha Spence writes: The American electoral field is witnessing a leftward shift not seen in at least the past four decades. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 bid for president on the Democratic Party ticket sent shock waves throughout the country, as he openly identified as a (*gasp*) socialist, opening up possibilities for the American Left that had been hitherto foreclosed. Continue reading →

WTF? The morning after Trump’s victory

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wtf-1Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale write: Trump’s win this morning has left many of us in despair. To prepare ourselves for what is to come, here are some things we need to understand about class struggle, racism and climate change.

First, this vote is a victory for the far right and for racism on a global scale. Second, it is also partly a class revolt against the consequences of neoliberalism. Trump’s appeal to class anger through racism is a tragedy and an obscenity. Continue reading →