Badrul Alam from the Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist-Leninist) spoke to Solidarity [Britain] about the murder on the streets of Dhaka of the US writer of Bangladeshi background, Avijit Roy.
Quebec City: Huge march raises temperature
15 April 2015, byIn a wide swath of red, thousands upon thousands of people hit the streets in quiet Quebec City last Saturday with a cacophony of chants, drums and quiet conversations snaking through the tiny ancient streets of the old city emerging into a park. There organizers distributed large, square red construction paper. As one, we raised our voices and our red squares forming a giant thermometer as seen from the sky.
Fundamental rifts: power, wealth and inequality in the Arab world
15 April 2015, byOver four years since mass uprisings ousted sclerotic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt it can seem that the initial hopes represented by these movements lie in tatters. Libya, Syria, Yemen and Iraq remain mired in bloody armed conflicts that have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands and displaced millions more within and across borders. In the pivotal case of Egypt, military rule has returned through the violent crushing of protests, the arrests of an estimated 40,000 people and the rebuilding of the repressive structures of the Mubarak era. Elsewhere, autocratic governments look more secure in their rule today than they have for many years.
Protesting Rape Culture
14 April 2015, byA historical rally involving women men trans activists took place protesting the whole of rape culture and not just a few cases. The proposal for the demonstration grew out of an initiative originating in Maitree, a West Bengal based women’s right network incorporating Women’s organisations, NGOs, and individuals. Maitree observes International Women’s Day every year. Individual member organizations have their programmes, and Maitree has a collective programme. However, it was felt by many members early in 2015 that the scale of violence, especially sexual violence on women and LGBT persons, sex-workers and all marginals was going beyond anything seen in the past. This calls for response on a much more sustained and united level.
Eduardo Galeano – ¡Presente!
13 April 2015, byEduardo Galeano, the world-renowned leftist Uruguayan journalist and writer made famous with the publication in 1971 of his book The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, died today at the age of 74 in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he lived. Long admired as a journalist, with his three-volume Memory of Fire in 1982, Galeano also became known as a writer of non-fiction prose who might be compared to writers of fiction such as Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez, author of the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude or Isabel Allende who wrote House of the Spirits. Like their novels, his trilogy captures the real spirit of Latin America’s magical history.
Podemos: between populism and social movements
12 April 2015, by ,The ballots which Spanish voters will cast in the municipal and regional elections on the 24th of May, will be the litmus paper for the potential of the party to get to the highest positions in Government, as SYRIZA did. Meanwhile, Web-sites and social networks pages are filled with slogans such as “Podemos gañar Madrid”, “Podemos gañar Andalucia” (“We can win Madrid”, “We can gain Andalucia”). With 30% of support, and the thousands of people, which Podemos gathers for its demonstrations, this is far from unlikely.
Why should the Greek debt be audited?
9 April 2015, byThe President of the Greek Parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou, has set up a commission to audit the Greek debt and has asked me to play an active part in it. I have accepted to assume the scientific coordination. This commission was launched on 17th March 2015 in Athens.
“We have to prepare ourselves for upheavals“
8 April 2015, byThe Kurdish liberation movement can serve as a role model for the struggles in the region. This interview with Meral Cicek from Cologne, chairwoman of Kürt Kad?n ?li?kiler Merkezi, the Kurdish Centre for Women´s Affairs in Erbilto, was given to the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation´s Florian Wilde during the World Social Forum in Tunis.
Ciudadanos – the false change
8 April 2015, by“We need a kind of Podemos of the right, more geared to private initiative” said Josep Oliu, the president of the Spanish state’s fourth largest banking group, Banco Sabadell, on June 25, 2014, a month after the blazing irruption of Podemos in the European elections. Done and dusted. Here it is. Just in time. To avoid catastrophe. To either buttress bipartisanship or ensure that after its demise everything will stay (more or less) as now.
4 April 2015: a landmark in the search for the truth about the Greek debt
6 April 2015, byFor the first time in Europe a committee for an audit of the debt (with citizens’ participation) was set up under the auspices of a parliament. On Saturday 4 April the president of the Hellenic parliament Zoe Konstantopoulou opened the first official session creating a debt audit committee , also called committee for the truth about the debt.