Huntington’s disease gene also enhances early brain development and intelligence

Gene mutation appears to confer early benefit despite later cost

University of Iowa Health Care

The genetic mutation that causes Huntington’s disease (HD) – a devastating brain disease that disrupts mobility and diminishes cognitive ability – may also enhance early brain development and play a role in promoting human intelligence.  

This revelation comes from more than 10 years of brain imaging and brain function data, including motor, cognitive, and behavioral assessments, collected from a unique population - children and young adults who carry the gene for HD. While an HD mutation will eventually cause fatal brain disease in adulthood, the study finds that early in life, children with the HD mutation have bigger brains and higher IQ than children without the mutation.   

“The finding suggests that early in life, the gene mutation is actually beneficial to brain development, but that early benefit later becomes a liability,” says Peg Nopoulos, MD, professor and head of psychiatry at the UI Carver College of Medicine, and senior author on the study published in The Annals of Neurology. 

The finding may also have implications for developing effective treatments for HD. If the gene’s early action is beneficial, then simply aiming to knock out the gene might result in loss of the developmental benefit, too. Creating therapies that can disrupt the gene’s activity later in the patient’s lifetime might be more useful. 

The new data about the gene’s positive effect on early brain development is also exciting to Nopoulos for another reason. 

“We are very interested in the fact that this appears to be a gene that drives IQ,” she says. “No previous study has found any gene of significant effect on IQ, even though we know intelligence is heritable.” 

HD gene linked to better brain development in early life 

Huntington’s disease is caused by a mutation in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. The protein produced by the HTT gene is necessary for normal development, but variations within a segment of the protein have a profound effect on the brain. 

The segment in question is a long repeat of one amino acid called glutamine. More repeats are associated with bigger, more complex brains. For example, species such as sea urchins or fish have no repeats, but these repeats start to appear higher up the evolutionary ladder. Rodents have a few repeats, while apes (our closest relatives) have even more repeats; and humans have the most. 

Most people have repeats in the range of 10-26, but if a person has 40 or more repeats, then they develop HD. Although the gene expansion is present before birth, HD symptoms do not appear until middle age. Nopoulos’s team at the University of Iowa has a long history of studying how the HTT gene expansion affects brain development in the decades before disease onset. 

“We know that the expanded gene causes a horrible degenerative disease later in life, but we also know it is a gene that is crucial for general development,” she says. “We were surprised to find that it does have a positive effect on brain development early in life. Those who have the gene expansion have an enhanced brain with larger volumes of the cerebrum and higher IQ compared to those who don’t.” 

In particular, the study found that decades before HD symptoms appeared, children with the HD gene expansion showed significantly better cognitive, behavioral, and motor scores compared to children with repeats within the normal range. Children with the expanded gene also had larger cerebral volumes and greater cortical surface area and folding. After this initial peak, a prolonged deterioration was seen in both brain function and structure. 

The study gathered this data by following almost 200 participants in the Kids-HD study, the only longitudinal study of children and young adults at risk for HD due to having a parent or grandparent with the disease. 

Evolutionary benefit comes at a cost 

Although surprising, the findings are in line with studies from evolutionary biologists who believe that genes like HTT may have been ‘positively selected’ for human brain evolution. This theory, known as antagonistic pleiotropy, suggests that certain genes can produce a beneficial effect early in life, but come at a cost later in life. 

The finding also challenges the idea that the protein produced by the HD gene is solely a toxic protein that causes brain degeneration. 

“Overall, our study suggests that we should rethink the notion of the toxic protein theory,” says Nopoulos who also is a member of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute. “Instead, we should consider the theory of antagonistic pleiotropy – a theory that suggests that genes like HTT build a better brain early in life, but the cost of the superior brain is that it isn’t built to last and may be prone to premature or accelerating aging. 

“This means that instead of knocking down the gene for therapy, drugs that slow the aging process may be more effective.” 

Next steps 

Nopoulos’s team is already making progress extending the research from the Kids-HD program. Using a major grant received in 2019, Nopoulos established the Children to Adult Neurodevelopment in Gene-Expanded Huntington’s Disease (ChANGE-HD), a multi-site study that aims to recruit hundreds of participants for a total of over 1,200 assessments to validate the key findings from the Kids-HD study and to enhance future research on HD. 

A primary area of focus will be understanding how an enlarged brain can later lead to degeneration. One hypothesis Nopoulos and her team will explore involves the idea that an enlarged cortex might produce excess glutamate (an important neurotransmitter), which is beneficial in early brain development, but later leads to neurotoxicity and brain degeneration.  

In addition to Nopoulos, the UI team included Mohit Neema, MD, UI research scientist and first author of the study; Jordan Schultz, PharmD; Douglas Langbehn, MD, PhD; Amy Conrad, PhD; Eric Epping, MD, PhD; and Vincent Magnotta PhD. 

The research was funded in part by grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the CHDI Foundation. 

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Journal

Annals of Neurology

DOI

10.1002/ana.27046 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Mutant Huntingtin Drives Development of an Advantageous Brain Early in Life: Evidence in Support of Antagonistic Pleiotropy

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The Last Oracle: A Sigma Force Novel - James Rollins

New York Times bestselling author James Rollins brings back Sigma Force to battle a group of rogue scientists who've unleashed a bioengineering project.

 

How to reduce social media stress by leaning in instead of logging off

University of British Columbia

Young people’s mental health may depend on how they use social media, rather than how much time they spend using it, according to a new study by University of B.C. researchers.

The research, led by psychology professor Dr. Amori Mikami (she/her) and published this week in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, examined the effects of quitting social media versus using it more intentionally.

The results showed that users who thoughtfully managed their online interactions, as well as those who abstained from social media entirely, saw mental health benefits—particularly in reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression and loneliness.

With social media use nearly universal among young adults, especially those ages 17-29, concerns over its impact on mental health have grown.

“There’s a lot of talk about how damaging social media can be, but our team wanted to see if this was really the full picture or if the way people engage with social media might make a difference,” said Dr. Mikami.

Instead of treating social media as an all-or-nothing choice, the study explored whether helping young adults learn “smarter” engagement techniques could enhance their well-being.

In the six-week study, 393 Canadian young adults with some mental health symptoms and concerns about social media’s impact on their mental health were split into three groups:

• a control group that continued their usual routines
• an abstinence group asked to stop using social media entirely
• a “tutorial” group that was coached in intentional usage

The tutorials guided participants on fostering meaningful online connections, limiting interactions that encouraged self-comparison, and carefully selecting who they followed.

Both the abstinence and tutorial groups reduced their social media use and experienced fewer social comparisons—a common trigger for anxiety and low self-esteem. While the tutorial group didn't cut back on social media as much as those who tried to abstain completely, they reported notable improvements in loneliness and fear of missing out (FOMO).

By comparison, those who abstained from social media altogether were more successful in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms, yet reported no improvement in loneliness.

“Cutting off social media might reduce some of the pressures young adults feel around presenting a curated image of themselves online. But, stopping social media might also deprive young adults of social connections with friends and family, leading to feelings of isolation,” said Dr. Mikami.

Dr. Mikami, along with graduate students Adri Khalis and Vasileia Karasavva, used an approach with the tutorial group that emphasized quality over quantity in social media interactions. By muting or unfollowing accounts that triggered envy or negative self-comparisons and prioritizing close friendships, tutorial participants built a healthier online environment. Rather than passively scrolling, they were encouraged to actively engage with friends by commenting or sending direct messages—a behaviour that tends to deepen meaningful connections while helping users feel more socially supported.

For Dr. Mikami, this balanced approach may be a realistic alternative to complete abstinence, which may not be feasible for many young adults.

“Social media is here to stay,” she said. “And for many people, quitting isn’t a realistic option. But with the right guidance, young adults can curate a more positive experience, using social media to support their mental health instead of detracting from it.”

Dr. Mikami believes the findings can offer valuable insights for mental health programs and schools. She envisions future workshops and educational sessions where young adults learn to use social media as a tool to strengthen their relationships rather than as a source of comparison and stress. This approach, she suggests, could break the cycle of quitting social media only to return later, sometimes with worse effects.

The research emphasizes that young people’s well-being is closely tied to how they engage. By offering alternative ways to interact online, Dr. Mikami’s team has shown that positive mental health outcomes are possible without sacrificing the social connectivity that platforms provide. As she put it: “For many young people, it’s not about logging off. It’s about leaning in—in the right way.”

Interview language(s): English

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Journal

Journal of Experimental Psychology General

DOI

10.1037/xge0001668 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Logging Out or Leaning In? Social Media Strategies for Enhancing Well-Being

Article Publication Date

8-Nov-2024

UN official slams Starmer—‘human rights lawyers shouldn’t be genocide deniers’

Francesca Albanese spoke to Arthur Townend about Israel's genocide and the West's failure to act

Francesca Albanese

By Arthur Townend
Wednesday 13 November 2024  

SOCIALIST WORKER Issue

United Nations (UN) special rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese has demanded the Labour government stop all arms sales to Israel—and slammed Keir Starmer as a “genocide denier”.

Albanese told Socialist Worker that Britain “has a clear obligation under international law, not to aid or assist the unlawfulness of the occupation or Israel’s connected endeavour”.

She argued that the Labour government “needs to stop trading weapons with Israel, transferring or buying arms and other harmful services”.

Britain “must also suspend its trade with Israel because there is, at least, a plausible risk of genocide, and human rights lawyers holding positions of power should not be genocide deniers”, added Albanese.

She has been speaking at various universities in Britain to detail the destruction Israel is waging on Palestine and help build the student Palestine movement.

At Queen Mary’s university in London, Albanese said that her mandate in the UN is unique because it’s the “first mandate that somewhat confronts the Western system”.

“The reason why Palestine epitomises injustice in such a massive way is because the political wheel does not allow Palestine into international law.”

Albanese said that it’s important to recognise that Israel’s actions before 7 October play a critical role in facilitating Israel’s ongoing genocide.

“The reason why we did not see the genocide coming has much to do with our ignorance, and our lack of understanding about what genocide is. There is agreement that there are stages that lead to genocide as physical and biological destruction of a group,” she said.

“Violence has always been there, but it was very disproportionate and it was state lead by Israel. Of course there has been violence against the Israelis, because their occupation was an oppressive system that generated violence in response.”

But despite many reports prior to 7 October detailing Israel’s atrocious, destructive and murderous actions in Palestine, none confronted the issue of self-determination.

“Even the most progressive reports, like that of Amnesty International, were missing the point that for the Palestinians self-determination is not something that can wait for negotiations.

“Self-determination is what enables people to negotiate, to have a voice, because it’s the right to exist, freely, as a people on a land.”

But how does Israel constrain the self-determination of Palestinians? For Albanese, “People in the West do not understand that Palestinians are framed as a security threat.

“Mass incarceration works through a draconian system, the criminalisation of basic freedoms and no access to justice. This is physical—Palestinians are segregated in their land. There are gates, fences and checkpoints.”

She added that Palestinians are “the most surveyed people on earth because they are guinea pigs for the system. Israel trains weapons and surveillance systems on them and then Israel sells it abroad.”

“So this is all the work Israel has been doing before the genocide. Israel enforced an apartheid system to push through its settler colonial project, which laid the foundations for its current genocide.”

Albanese also unpacked the report she published in March this year on Israel’s first five months of genocide, “which had been destructive beyond belief”.

The report analyses Israel’s use of violence. “Since the beginning, everything has been considered destroyable—anything that is necessary to live.

“The main conclusion of my first report was ‘humanitarian camouflage’—Israel is not denying what it is doing, but it is justifying its actions by capsizing the protection that international law affords and transforming Gaza into a place without civilians.”

“This is what is happening to Lebanon, you see the same script. In March, I said that if this is not stopped, it will become the new way to do wars.”

Israel’s violent and murderous warmongering in Lebanon shows how it is expanding its strategy in Palestine to wage further destruction in the Middle East.

In October, Albanese submitted another report to the UN’s human rights council. It argued that Israel’s direct intention to genocide the Palestinians “could not be more evident from Israeli conduct when viewed in its totality”, and that Israel’s “genocidal intent” has been “rationalised as self-defence”.

The report details how “systematic attacks on Gaza food sovereignty indicate an intent to destroy its population through starvation” and that Israel is targeting health facilities to target Palestinians.

The report concluded, “It is the entire state apparatus that has engineered, articulated and executed genocidal violence, through acts which in their totality may lead to the destruction of the Palestinian people. This must stop.

“This ongoing genocide is doubtlessly the consequence of the exceptional status and protracted impunity that has been afforded to Israel.”

Read the full report here.

East London sixth form strikes over pay

Plus: teachers vow to fight performance related pay

On the picket line in Hackney, east London

By Two NEU union members in Hackney
Wednesday 13 November 2024  

 SOCIALIST WORKER Issue

School workers at BSix Sixth Form College in Hackney, east London, struck on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. NEU education union members are in a pay battle against a new management.

New City College, a corporation of multiple further education colleges across east London, took over the college this year.

Union members were anxious about the takeover and the former principal resigned within three weeks of the start of the year, back in September.

Since then, there has been a rapid change to roles and the working day, during what was supposed to be a transition year. Management has added additional tasks with little notice, students are dealt with disdain.


Inside the east London fight to save Hackney’s schools
Read More

Part of the dispute is over the 5.5 percent pay rise. The government gave it to all sixth form colleges that are part of a school or have been academised. But it didn’t give it to workers in 40 independent sixth form colleges. Staff regard themselves as a sixth form and also demand the 5.5 percent pay rise.

There are also issues of keeping the same contract for all new staff and not having a two-tier pay system. Graded learning walks is another issue being contested.

But the really jolting aspect is the sudden change in culture and values. Everything seems to be about profit and money. The new management does not want to negotiate.

Instead, they stood on the college grounds this morning, taking pictures of the picket line and writing down names of teachers.

It was good to see local Labour MP Diane Abbott joining our picket line. She has been a fantastic supporter of our college. She walked in to speak to the CEO and told him exactly what she thought.

The strike continues next week and staff are hoping that negotiations restart. This strike is fundamentally about fighting the corporatisation of education, which has no place in teaching young people.Send messages of support to: David.Davies@neu.org.uk

Teachers vow to fight performance related pay

Over 200 people attended a meeting of Educators Say—a grassroots network of NEU activists—on Tuesday night.

The meeting agreed a strategy of industrial action to get rid of performance-related pay for teachers.

Chris Denson, a member of the NEU national executive, told Socialist Worker, that performance-related pay won’t go “unless we fight for it”.

The meeting was about “turning from being reactive to thinking about how we can go on the front foot,” he said.

“Instead of looking at it locally, the Educators Say meeting was trying to coordinate across branches. We had 60-70 branches all supporting this meeting. If we all follow a similar strategy we can build to make a national difference,” he said.

“We want this fight coordinated branch by branch—dozens and dozens pressing for strike ballots.”

“In Coventry where I work every union rep sent a letter at the same time saying you have to get rid of this or we are balloting.”

“It’s not just about getting rid of performance-related pay. Once we get people coordinated across branches, we can roll it out to other campaigns. There were branches across the country at the meeting saying yes, we are going to take this on.”

Unified action “gives people confidence,” Chris argued. “It is a way branches can work together to find a way forward.”

Thomas Foster

Ford Dagenham strikers say they’re ‘having a huge impact’

Workers at Ford plants in east London and Liverpool struck this week

Unite union members on the picket line in Dagenham during the Ford strike 

(Picture: Guy Smallman)

By Arthur Townend
Thursday 14 November 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER Issue

Over 1,000 workers at Ford car plants in Dagenham in east London and Speke in Liverpool are fighting over pay and contracts. The Unite union members were set to round off a five day strike on Friday.

There were high spirits among maintenance and operations workers on the picket line at Ford Dagenham on Thursday.

Kerry, the Unite rep, said that the “initial trigger was contract negotiations”. “But that turned out not to be a negotiation—it was an ultimatum. We had to accept their diminished terms, or we get nothing at all,” she told Socialist Worker.

“Ford wants to link our pay to performance, which is unacceptable. Whatever the pay rise is supposed to be, we might not get it because of things that aren’t in our control that affects performance.

“We’ve seen that pay linked to performance doesn’t work with teachers, and we’ve tried to tell Ford this.”

Bosses have offered many office workers a one-off payment for this year and performance related pay for all workers from next year. Striker Dave said, “It’s basically a bonus—but with a lump sum, we’re always going to be behind. Even if we just get a 1 percent pay rise, that’s consolidated year on year.

“Ford is just trying to swing it, saying that it’s a 5 percent pay increase when it isn’t. And it’s all based on our managers’ judgement, so even if we meet our targets that doesn’t mean we get a pay rise.”

Another striker, Dan, said, “The union is trying to talk to Ford, but the company isn’t actually listening to what we’re saying. It just says, ‘We know you’re unhappy about pay’, but it’s not just that.

“It’s being framed as a pay dispute, and of course pay is part of the issue, but the terms and conditions are the main problem.

“There are three main things we’re unhappy about and pay is the least of it. Ford is trying to change our terms and conditions and putting in unfair process that mean we can never meet the targets to get the supposed pay rise.”

Kerry said an absence review process Ford is trying to implement will hit sick and disabled workers. “People on long term sick—through cancer or other serious illnesses—aren’t protected anymore,” she said.

“Ford could turn around and say that a person may be unfit for work, so that forces some workers into a precarious position.”

Strikers are confident that they’re having an impact. Kerry said, “It’s always a struggle to get people on a picket line, but workers here feel strongly about this. When we balloted, 70 percent voted for strikes.

“We’re hoping our impact will force Ford to come and talk to us. But Ford hasn’t seen anything yet.”

Kerry added that the Ford workers’ fight was part of a bigger one. “Today, we have zero hours contracts and huge job instability,” she said. “A good, stable job used to be an aspiration, but now we’re forced to feel greedy or privileged for wanting that kind of job, and struggling to get those conditions is seen as bad.

“In this world, which is not a functioning world, you have to rely on the government and food banks even when you have a job, and that’s just not right.

“We need to get back to a place of good working class jobs to get that stability, and strikes are an important tool to get that.”Some workers’ names are pseudonyms

Political prisoners in Russia and occupied Ukraine

HubMP201

Bill Bowring highlights an important upcoming meeting.

In her recent Second Report to the UN, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, reported that at least 1,372 human rights defenders, journalists and anti-war critics have been detained on politically motivated charges and sentenced in sham trials to lengthy imprisonment, often with treatment amounting to torture.

Widespread arbitrary detention, harsh sentencing and the deliberate use of torture and ill-treatment in detention, including frequent recourse to punitive solitary confinement for excessive periods, are commonly utilized against those who dare criticize the war against Ukraine. The continued imprisonment of political prisoners and denial of necessary treatment to those in a critical health condition, such as Alexei Gorinov, Igor Baryshnikov and Evgeny Bestuzhev, amount to torture and put them at risk of death in custody.

Age and contributions to society offer no protection against state-driven persecution.  Yuri Dmitriev, a 67-year-old historian of the Gulag and former head of the Karelian branch of Russian human rights organisation Memorial, imprisoned for exposing Stalinist-era crimes, repeatedly suffers prolonged punitive solitary confinement. Detained paediatrician Nadezhda Buyanova, 68 years old, faces five and a half years’ imprisonment in a penal colony, accused by the widow of a serviceman of expressing opposition to the war against Ukraine during the medical check-up of her child.

At least 53 anti-war activists are currently being punished by forced psychiatric detention that can be indefinite.

On Monday 18th November, from 6pm to 8pm, at the Montague Lecture Centre, Graduate Centre, Queen Mary University of London, 327 Mile End Road, London, leading Russian and UK experts will explore these issues. Book here.

Speakers include UK experts on the Russian legal and penal system (Profs Judith Pallott, Oxford and Helsinki; and Bill Bowring, Birkbeck), alongside campaigners for prisoners’ rights in Russia (speakers from the Russian human rights organisation, Memorial, in exile), and in the territories of Ukraine, temporarily occupied by Russia (Yevgeniy Zakharov, director of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group).

Bill Bowring, Colchester CLP, teaches international law and human rights at Birkbeck College. He has travelled regularly to Russia since 1983, and to Ukraine since 1992, including work with Russian prisons. He has twice been arrested and deported from Russia. The Russian translation of his book The Degradation of the International Legal Order? The rehabilitation of law, and the possibility of politics (NLO Publishers, 2021), is no longer available in Russia. He contributed two chapters, on Russian approaches to international law and to human rights, to The Foundations of Russian Law (ed Marianna Mutavyeva, Bloomsbury 2023).

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%98%D0%9A-5.jpg View of the maximum security penal colony FKU IK-5, Kokhma, Ivanovo region, Russia. Author: Avtoloer, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

UK

Big energy profits lead to new calls for warmer homes, a social tariff, public ownership

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

Energy giant SSE has declared a big pretax profit rise of 26 percent, climbing to £714.5m, up from £565.2m in the same period last year.

The announcement has outraged fuel poverty campaigners. Warm This Winter spokesperson Caroline Simpson asked: “How is it fair that energy companies keep raking in millions in profits? We know SSE made over  £7 billion since the start of the energy crisis whilst there are 6.5 million in fuel poverty and all of us are paying 60 percent more on our energy bills than we did three years ago. 

“The public knows the only way the UK will bring down bills in the long-term is by harnessing our renewable energy sources and properly investing in home insulation to free us from volatile fossil fuels for good.

“And they are angry that the industry continues to make obscene sums whilst so many people are scared to switch the heating on. That’s why three quarters support a social tariff for older and disabled people,  funded by the wider energy industry because let’s face it, they are the ones that can afford it.”

Last May, SSE announced a colossal profit of £2 billion over the last year. Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said at the time: “SSE’s outrageous profits today show that profiteering is absolutely rampant in the UK economy when working people are still struggling to pay the mortgage and put food on the table.

“Unite’s latest profiteering report calls out this disgraceful practice for all to see and shows how utility companies are siphoning money away from workers and straight into the pockets of shareholders and directors.

“It is about time energy production was brought back into public ownership so that costs can be kept down for British manufacturers and costumers ensuring a fair deal for all.”

National Grid

Last week, National Grid posted a 14 percent increase in first-half underlying profits. Sharon Graham again called for public ownership: “The profits raked in by the National Grid lay bare Britain’s broken energy system. Energy profiteers like National Grid are extracting cash for overseas’ shareholders through ever more expensive bills. It is time our energy infrastructure was brought back into public ownership so that the British people and economy benefit rather than foreign wealth funds.”

Warm This Winter spokesperson Caroline Simpson said: “Everyone is fed up with being ripped off by the energy sector and yet again we see another arm of this profiteering industry reporting massive profits.  

“Bill payers have spoken, they want to see our leaky homes upgraded and they want us freed from being held to ransom by volatile oil and gas prices by switching to renewable energy which would ultimately bring down bills for good. 

“People also want to see greedy companies, which include National Grid, that have made over £450 billion in profits since the start of the energy crisis foot the bill for a social tariff, helping older and disabled people with their energy bills this winter.” 

Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented: “National Grid is one of the private monopolies that add to our standing charges through their role in the energy system. We need reform of these charges so that we are no longer bankrolling companies to make excess profits while people shiver in cold damp homes.

“As well as immediate reforms to our bills, we also need to see this couple with long term investment by the Government in a comprehensive Warm Homes Plan to bring down our energy consumption in a safe and managed way.”

A huge majority of the public back the Government providing more support to vulnerable households with their energy bills, according to an online survey conducted earlier last month by Opinium. Following the Chancellor’s removal of the Winter Fuel Payment from most pensioners, three quarters of the public now back the Government bringing in a social tariff to provide a discount on energy bills to those in greatest need of help.

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cj_collective/6992454230 climatejusticecollective Licence: Attribution 2.0 Generic Deed CC BY 2.0

Cuba Perseveres Amidst Hurricanes, Blackouts, and US Hostility

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13th November 2024Leave a Commenton Cuba Perseveres Amidst Hurricanes, Blackouts, and US Hostility

“The US sanctions are doing exactly what they are intended to do: cause pain and misery for the Cuban people. This economic blockade is nothing short of genocidal, affecting the elderly, the young, and the infirm the most.”

Despite facing a barrage of challenges – from devastating hurricanes to crippling US sanctions – the Cuban people persist in their revolutionary spirit and socialist principles. As the National Education Union’s Robert Poole witnessed first-hand, Cuba’s achievements in healthcare, education, and international solidarity are a testament to their resilience in the face of relentless imperialist aggression.

Cuba has not been having an easy time of it these past few years. First, a series of devastating hurricanes battered the island. Then came the large-scale blackouts that plunged much of the country into darkness. And now, the election of Donald Trump in the United States has ushered in a new era of hostility between the two nations.

Under President Obama, relations between the US and Cuba had begun to thaw. But with Trump’s victory, that progress quickly unravelled. In his first term, Trump designated Cuba as a “state sponsor of terror” – a dubious designation related to Cuba’s role in the peace process in Colombia. He also piled on over 200 additional economic sanctions, further tightening the screws on the Cuban people.

It’s important to note that the situation has remained icy even under the Biden administration. None of the Trump-era sanctions have been lifted, and the two countries’ relations have continued to fester.

The US sanctions are doing exactly what they are intended to do: cause pain and misery for the Cuban people. This economic blockade is nothing short of genocidal, affecting the elderly, the young, and the infirm the most. US officials have been startlingly candid about the purpose – to create civil unrest in the hope of toppling Cuba’s socialist government and allowing American businesses to resume their exploitation of the island.

Prostitution, gambling, and the virtual slavery of the working classes would be allowed to recommence. The gangster playground would reopen, elections would be bought and sold, and Cuba would once again become the property of the US government.

Yet despite all of these immense hardships, Cuba clings to its socialist principles and revolutionary spirit. The country has achieved remarkable successes, prioritising healthcare, education, sports, and the arts – the very things the British government has decimated over the past decade and a half.

Not only do the Cuban people survive under these harsh conditions, but they also use what they have to support other countries. The Cuban president recently led a march in solidarity with the people of Palestine, another victim of imperialism. The government has even provided 250 scholarships for Palestinian students to study medicine in Cuba.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba was one of the only countries to take in sick passengers from cruise ships. And they sent their renowned medical brigades around the world to support doctors in places like Italy.

Basic supplies are desperately needed in Cuba – food, medical equipment, educational resources. That’s why the National Education Union (NEU) sends a delegation of its members to the island each year, in collaboration with the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. This year, I was honoured to be part of that delegation.

Twenty-seven NEU members arrived in Cuba with suitcases packed full of material aid – 17 braille typewriters, 15 violins, power banks, pens, paper, art supplies, and more. The gratitude from Cuban educators was palpable. The principal of a school for children with special needs in Pinar del Rio explained that the steady stream of braille typewriters from successive NEU delegations now means visually impaired students can attend school two years earlier.

On the NEU Delegation to Cuba, Robert Poole meets Cuban students in the classroom.

The delegation’s second purpose was to learn from Cuba’s exceptional education system. Literacy rates in Cuba stand at 99% – a stunning achievement compared to the 61% rate in neighbouring Haiti, a country that has never been able to throw off the yoke of imperialism.

A teacher with a class of students in Cuba during the NEU delegation.

This literacy campaign can trace its roots back to the Cuban “Year of Education,” when Che Guevara and Fidel Castro sent out literacy brigades into the rural areas. Before this, education had largely been the preserve of the middle and upper classes, concentrated in the cities and run by the church.

We visited the National Museum of the Literacy Campaign in Havana, which holds artefacts and archives of the numerous brigades of students, teachers, and workers who volunteered to take part. The youngest teacher was just 8 years old, and many educators were tragically murdered by CIA-backed terrorists.

The Cuban people’s resilience in the face of such immense adversity is truly inspiring. As they continue to defy the US empire and uphold their socialist ideals, it is our duty to stand in solidarity with our comrades in Cuba. Only through unwavering international support can they overcome the devastating impact of the US blockade and chart their own path forward.

The struggle of the Cuban people is our struggle. By supporting the Cuba Viva appeal and joining the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, we can all play a part in breaking the chains of this illegal blockade and building a better future for our Cuban brothers and sisters. Their fight for self-determination is a fight for us all. ¡Venceremos!

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• Robert Poole is a teacher, union rep, assistant district secretary for Bolton NEU and editor of the journal Education for Tomorrow.
• Robert will be speaking at the Bolton Socialist Club on Friday, November 29 at 7:30 pm. Entry is free, but donations towards the medical aid appeal are welcome.
• You can follow the Cuba Solidarity Campaign on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
  

Cuba Education Under the Blockade Flyer

 UK

Young Voices to Rally Against Tuition Fees and Build Call for Free Education

13th November 2024Leave a Commenton Young Voices to Rally Against Tuition Fees and Build Call for Free Education

“Labour’s fee increase announcement this week will further alienate young people and voters who had wanted to believe in the manifesto language of ‘change’… it commits the country’s university sector to continue down a road of US-style graduate debt.”

University students and young trades unionists will join former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell this week at a rally hosted by Arise Festival, to oppose a new rise in university tuition fees and to set out a vision of free education. 

The ‘No Tuition Fees rise – Rally for Free Education!‘ was called in response to the announcement on 4th November, when the Labour Government’s Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced an increase in university tuition fees. 

The move was just the latest in a long line of pledges made by Keir Starmer to secure the votes of party members to become Leader in 2020, when he promised to ‘support the abolition of tuition fees’. 

The policy had been in Labour’s manifesto under Starmer he maintained it in 2020 as he sought Labour members’ votes but in 2023 said “We are likely to move on from that commitment because we do find ourselves in a different financial situation.”

The fee increase by £285 to a total of £9535 per year from next October 2025 was characterised by Phillipson as a move to ‘fix the foundations’ of the sector’s funding after years of falling real budgets for universities. Universities UK have identified a £5bn gap between the cost of doing research and how much funding universities get to do it.

Phillipson’s statement to the Commons however loaded the responsibility on students to fill the funding gap, when she identified the freezing of tuition fee levels over seven years of Conservative Government as the cause of underfunding – and not Conservative austerity and falling grants to institutions – as the cause of the gap. 

The announcement is the latest in a long history of Labour Government’s being responsible for the introduction and increase in tuition fees. It was the Blair government in 1997 who introduced the first tuition fee of £1000 per year. The same government increased that through the introduction of top-up fees in 2004, proposed as a range of fees from £1125 to £3000 which ultimately saw almost all courses offered at the highest rate. The introduction of top-up fees, within a year of the Iraq war, contributed to New Labour’s growing unpopularity. It was the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition who increased fees to £9000 a year in 2012 which – alongside the establishment of the coalition – contributed to the Lib Dem loss of support as a progressive alternative to New Labour.

Labour’s fee increase announcement this week will further alienate young people and voters who had wanted to believe in the manifesto language of ‘change’. Instead, it commits the country’s university sector to continue down a road of US-style graduate debt which no other European country operates.

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said, “I opposed tuition fees from the start because it was inevitable they would be ratcheted up. If we had a fair taxation system we could scrap tuition fees and lift this burden from young people.”

Responding to the announcement, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said, “Universities should not be dependent just on student income to survive. Should we not be moving in the direction of lowering fees, or indeed removing them altogether, in order to make higher and further education genuinely open to all in our society?”

UCU leader Jo Grady said, “The proposed hike to tuition fees is both economically and morally wrong. Taking more money from debt ridden students and handing it to overpaid underperforming vice-chancellors is ill conceived and won’t come close to addressing the sector’s core issues.”

In her statement, Phillipson also said, “In the months ahead, we will publish our proposals, because in universities, as across our public services, investment can come only with the promise of major reform.”  

It is vital the left now sets out the case for public investment and free education. 

The Arise rally will hear from young voices including Mads Wainman, Disabled Students’ Officer, Warwick SU; Elliot Briffa, University of Manchester SU City & Community Officer; Niamh Iliff, youth rep on Labour’s Policy Forum; Hasan Patel, student campaigner; Fraser McGuire, Unite & TUC Young Members Forum and Coll McCail, Glasgow student.

They’ll also be joined by John McDonnell MP; Gawain Little, GFTU General Secretary; Anya Wilkinson, Young Socialist Educational Association and Myriam Kane, Black Liberation Alliance.

No to Tuition Fee Rises Online Rally hosted by Arise Festival at 6.30PM Thursday, 14 November.

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• “No tuition fees rise – rally for free education!” takes place online at 6.30pm Thursday 14th November. Register your place here.
• The rally is hosted by Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas. You can follow Arise Festival on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X; and listen to the Arise Festival podcast on Spotify.
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