Josh Hollands

Playwright Tony Kushner is having a resurgence in London, and there could not be a better time for it.

Last autumn his play, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, astounded audiences at the Hampstead Theatre. Now comes a stunning, star-studded production of his seven and a half hour magnum opus Angels in America at the National Theatre.

Our Revolution is essentially a lengthy version of the stump speech that self-proclaimed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders perfected at rallies across the country during his campaign. He provides an autobiography of his childhood as the son of working class parents in Brooklyn, his college days in Chicago as a civil rights activist, and his political life in Vermont as the independent mayor of Burlington to the state’s senator today.

The victims of the mass shooting at Pulse were overwhelmingly young, LGBT+ and Latino.

That the assailant, Omar Mateen, claimed to support Isis in a phone call to the police has allowed politicians and the mainstream media to produce a narrative that scapegoats Muslims for this tragedy.

Before the Stonewall riots, gay liberation movements and recent campaigns for marriage equality, Der Kreis (The Circle) was a radical proposition. A bi-monthly magazine, it included homoerotic images, essays, articles, and a letters page written for and by gay men. An underground gay movement crystallised around the publication. Elaborate balls were organised around the magazine’s subscribers and promoted in each issue. These secretive gatherings were the only places most gay men could be open about their sexuality within the secretive and coded post-war Swiss society.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for jobs and civil rights. Until recently it seemed as though one of its most important organisers would remain largely forgotten.

Bayard Rustin was a key strategist of the civil rights movement, as well as an adviser and mentor to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Historians have noted that it was Rustin who guided King to mass non-violent action to challenge the racist Jim Crow system.

Although it is now over 35 years since Harvey Milk was elected as the first openly gay public official in the United States, winning a Supervisor (city council) seat in San Francisco, his life and politics still inspire many young LGBT people to come out and fight for equal rights.

Milk's early politics were certainly not that radical. He was an analyst at a high-powered financial institution, supported the Vietnam War and campaigned for the Republican candidate, Barry Goldwater, in the 1964 presidential election.

As we've seen this year, mass strikes, demonstrations and occupations have the ability to transform the consciousness of workers in a tremendous way. Workers can begin to use the energy that was once wasted on generating profit to build a new society, one where resources are harnessed to fulfil people's needs. In a revolutionary situation workers can develop new ideas at an amazing pace. Lenin noted that "months of revolution sometimes educate citizens more quickly and fully than decades of political stagnation".

A few months ago Westminster council passed a bylaw that made it illegal to hand out free food, in an effort to shut down soup kitchens for the homeless - who were apparently an embarrassment for the Tory-controlled borough. It is now illegal to be homeless and hungry in Westminster.

Treacle Jr opens with a man called Tom running away from his comfortable life in the Midlands to live on the streets of London. Along the way he meets Aidan, who clearly suffers from learning difficulties. Aidan follows Tom from the hospital where they first meet.

"Not everyone likes the same kind of fit. Not everyone likes who they're supposed to like."

Since the Tories introduced the Section 28 legislation in 1988 there have been huge drives to break down the prejudice caused by the vile law which banned teachers from talking about homosexuality in a positive way.