IV376 - March 2006

Download a pdf version of this month’s edition from here. - read article...

The year that has just ended has been rich in promises concerning the future of Africa. However, all this generosity seems to have no effect on reality. Sub-Saharan Africa remains subject to the ravaging mechanisms of neoliberal globalisation. - read article...

On Sunday December 18th, 2005, there was no demonstration of joy in the streets of La Paz, nor in its rebel suburb, El Alto, source of the popular uprisings that successively ended the terms of office of two presidents in two years. However, it really was a historic evening that Bolivians were living through. - read article...

I was in Bolivia when the presidential mandate was transferred to Evo Morales. I was invited by comrade Evo. An atmosphere of revolutionary process floated in the air and imbued the people. It could be seen by the numbers who assembled and by the revolutionary fervour of people on the occasion of the big rallies. - read article...

We publish here the statement of the February meeting of the FI’s international Committee on the Danish cartoon controversy, the statement by the Red-Green Alliance in Denmark, the statement of Socialist Resistance in Britain, authored by Piers Mostyn and an article by Tariq Ali. - read article...

According to Tariq Ali, "For socialists the task is clear: the Muslim communities must be defended against being made scapegoats, against repression, against the very widespread representation that terrorism is proper to Islam. All that must be energetically fought. But at the same time we must not close our eyes to the social conservatism which reigns in these communities, nor hide it. We have to try to win this people to our own ideas." - read article...

With the threats to bomb Iran, the victory of Hamas in Palestine and the ’low intensity’ civil war in Iraq, the Middle East is going through new turbulence and transformation. - read article...

“We are at a turning point, the moment of transition from one cycle to another” - read article...

After two years of procedure, and of trade union and social mobilizations, the European Parliament adopted in a first reading, on Thursday 16th February, the Bolkestein directive. But the battle is not over. - read article...

In a groundbreaking development on the Québec political scene, more than 1,000 activists turned out on the weekend of 4-5 February 2006 in Montréal to found Québec Solidaire, a left-wing political party backing a multi-ethnic, inclusive, sovereign Québec, feminism, ecology, participatory democracy, support for aboriginal struggles, social justice and a global-justice internationalist perspective. - read article...

A 20% plus increase in the prices of petroleum products, announced by the government in August 2005 after several weeks of intense media softening up of public opinion, has generated anger and popular mobilisations in Nigeria. These attacks haven led to resistance from the social movements and more particularly the trade unions. - read article...

How should Marxists approach the question of so-called ’natural’ disasters? How can these diverse events be analysed, and how can socialists approach the issue of practical solidarity and aid? - read article...

Since the beginning of this year Thailand has witnessed a growing mass movement demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. As we approach the elections that Thaksin has called for April 2nd in an attempt to shore up his position, this movement shows no sign of weakening. - read article...

Mass feminist demonstrations in Italy have returned to the streets and piazzas thirty years after their earlier wave - taking on Berlusconi and Benedict to defend abortion rights and fight social regression. - read article...

A week after it was decreed, the state of emergency in the Philippines was lifted. Nonetheless, democratic freedoms remain threatened. - read article...

Tariq Ali’s new short (100 pages) polemical book against New Labour is a must for every socialist. - read article...

Over the last six months, visits to internationalviewpoint.org have grown rapidly. We urgently need our readers to donate €2000 to fund more powerful computers to serve the growing demand. - read article...

Our articles on the floods in Pakistan have given details of how to send financial aid to the Labour Relief Fund. If it is more convenient for you, you can also send funds through the Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres account. - read article...

Pakistan is facing worst ever floods of its history. Torrential rains have unleashed flash floods in different parts of the country since last three weeks. Water levies broke leaving the people exposed to flood water. More than 12 million people have suffered due to these floods. More than 650,000 houses have collapsed, mainly in villages. Thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed due to flood water. Houses, live-stock such as cattle’s and goats, household goods, clothes, shoes and other items have been destroyed. Residents of villages are currently without drinkable water, food, shelter and in need of clothes. In particular, the situation is dire for children and women and they are in desperate need of food and clothing. Disease is spreading fast in the areas affected due to lack of drinkable water. In particular, flu, fever, diarrhea, cholera have been noted and are spreading. - read article...

An unexpected, unthinkable, yet - concerning current circumstances - quite expectable and natural thing has occurred yesterday night. Three public social activists that have always expressed a consistent antifascist attitude and shunned civil indifference have been detained. - read article...

We, the participants at the Istanbul ESF, affirming that we have a strong engagement aganist all war and occupation and that we are for a politial resolution of the Kurdish issue, have made the following resolution : - read article...

Under the impulse of the World Bank and international capitalist institutions, the Moroccan regime started a privatization process of the universities and attacks against the right to studiy. The announcement of the “Emergency plan” to the university at beginning of the academic year, i.e. of the brutal aggravation of these attacks, put a spark to the powder. The class-struggle trade unionists of fight, organised within the UNEM, are at the forefront of the mobilization against the “Emergency plan”. - read article...