More than thirty young revolutionaries have lost their lives as a result of a terrorist attack by the jihadist organization DAESH in the town of Suruc, on the border with Syria. We express our condolences to the families, friends and comrades of the victims.
Srebrenica 20 years after: From commemorations to interpretations
21 July 2015, byAll the diplomatic posturing surrounding the commemoration of the Srebrenica massacre (whether they are for or against the resolution proposed by London characterizing the massacre as genocide), fail to question the essence: what were the causes and authors of these crimes, in the area and on the ground where the conflicts took place and on the international level where they were “settled”? Homage to the victims of Srebrenica and the full respect of their memory means not mitigating the condemnation of what were certainly war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also giving them a political meaning.
The ECB destabilized the Greek economy to subject Greece to creditors’ demands
19 July 2015, byÉric Toussaint was interviewed by Rosa Moussaoui, special envoy in Athens for L’Humanité on July 17.
Same-Sex Marriage: An Ambiguous Victory
19 July 2015, byIn the summer of 1994, my partner and I happened to be on vacation in Stockholm for the Pride celebration, so we joined in. I remember it as a rather modest, subdued affair compared to the ebullient marches I remembered from New York and San Francisco. But what struck me most was the lesbian/gay federation’s emphasis on legal recognition for same-sex partnerships, at a time when Sweden banned sex in gay bathhouses. I thought these were upside-down priorities. Swedish same-sex couples would win in fact the right to register for partnership benefits in 1995, while the ban on bathhouse sex stayed on the books until 2004. What a curious country this is, I remember thinking.
The Greek test of strength and the urgency of a strategic debate on the left
18 July 2015, byThe temporary “solution” of the Greek crisis (in reality, a crisis of the European Union) by an attack of amazing ferocity against the workers, the plundering of their country and the putting under supervision of their institutions constitutes a major event. The fact that this “solution” was accepted by the executive team of Syriza around Alexis Tsipras, in spite of the massive vote against austerity that occurred one week earlier at the time of the referendum decided by this same government, brutally challenges all the left forces fighting for an alternative to neo-liberal austerity. By an impressive speeding up of the history, all this left – including in Greece: the left of Syriza is not giving up – is suddenly confronted with a strategic debate of the greatest importance: how to articulate social struggle and policy at the national and European level; what attitude to take to the Euro and the European Union; what political/institutional perspective to adopt? In this vital debate for the survival of the left, the LCR Belgium [1] puts the theses below forward for discussion.
Triumph for “Barcelona en Comú”
17 July 2015, byThe most obvious significance of the triumph of the candidacy of in Barcelona en Comú (Barcelona Together, BEC) and of Ada Colau is that yes, we can win because the working classes have a deep desire for change.
An alternative to capitulation
16 July 2015, byOn 5 July 2015, by a referendum initiated by the government of Alexis Tsipras and the Hellenic Parliament, the Greek people overwhelmingly rejected the austerity measures imposed by the institutions that were known as the Troika. It was a splendid victory for democracy.
Religious fundamentalism in Muslim countries
16 July 2015, byCountries with Muslim majority are in grip of religious fundamentalism in various forms and shapes. Some countries are more hit than others but this menace is spreading slowly but steadily in all countries. It has emerged as a great danger to the democratic gains that has been achieved by the great uprising of the masses of these countries.
The Struggle Continues
15 July 2015, by ,The latest agreement between the Syriza government and the creditors shocked many on the Left who have been following events in Greece. It seems to signal the end of a whole political cycle. In this interview with Jacobin contributing editor Sebastian Budgen, Stathis Kouvelakis, a leading member of the Left Platform in the party covers the latest sequence, to what extent expectations have been confirmed or disproved, and the next steps for the radical wing of the party.
Kouvelakis uses this opportunity to reflect more broadly on the balance sheet of the Left Platform’s strategy, whether things could have been done differently, and what the prospects are for a more general left recomposition. Jacobin
The Alternative to Austerity
14 July 2015There is an alternative to capitulation in Greece. Here is an abridged version of the statement submitted by the Left Platform at the plenary meeting of Syriza’s parliamentary group on July 10.
Footnotes
[1] LCR-SAP, Belgian section of the fourth International.