IV510 - July 2017

This piece was written for the German monthly Sozialistische Zeitung (SOZ), and so its target audience are foreign readers not expected to know a great deal about the situation in France. It’s also my way of wading into the debate on the recent elections and the campaign waged by Jean-Luc Mélenchon on behalf of the La France Insoumise (“France Unbowed”) movement. The debate covers a range of important questions, especially around the notion of “populism”, and I hope it will continue.

The origin of Daesh or the so-called "Islamic State" can be traced to the creation of al-Qaeda following the US and British military invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Popular mobilisation in the Moroccan Rif continued through June 2017 and has spread to several of the country’s towns, despite repression by security forces and the regime’s attempts to discredit the movement. Meanwhile several thousand police officers have been sent to Al-Hoceima to stop the demonstrations.

The Saudi Arabia–UAE battle against Qatar is a struggle for regional power with no heroes to cheer for.

This statement was issued by the Socialist Forum in Lebanon on 16 July
2017.

By “China’s Ancient Labor Party” I am referring to Mozi and his group. Although his group disappeared entirely from history at the latest during the end of the Warring State period (475-221 BC), his book, also called Mozi, although largely forgotten was able to survive through millennia. He was an outstanding thinker and what is more a militant, grounded on a well-defined program, who fought on behalf of the toilers in ancient China. [1]

After the serious fire in Pedrógão Grande, which caused 64 deaths on the weekend of 17-18 June in Portugal, the population is trying to understand what happened. For João Camargo, a climate change specialist in Lisbon, we must put a stop to policies that have led to austerity and to the dismantling and liberalization of public forest.

The death of prominent French politician of the conservative right, Simone Veil, who nevertheless as Health Minister was responsible for introducing the legislation which legalized abortion in France in 1975, was an occasion to look back on the struggle for abortion rights in France and the situation today. Manu Bichindaritz of l’Anticapitaliste spoke to Suzy Rojtman, spokesperson for the Collectif national pour les droits des femmes [National Collective for Women’s Rights] on the current situation.

In June 2017 a referendum on Catalan independence was announced by the Government of Catalonia, formed by members of the Junts pel Sí coalition, supported by the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), for October 1 2017.

The Spanish state government opposes any regional self-determination referendum, maintaining that the Spanish Constitution does not allow for a vote on the independence of any Spanish region.

Veni, Vidi, Vici, a famous pre-Christ Latin (47BC) saying of Julius Caesar, which means “I came, I saw, I conquer” can still be very appropriate today when one refers to what has happened to Isnilon Hapilon the self-proclaimed ISIS Emir in Southeast Asia. But, as it has been already announced by the country’s security sector that he has escaped and left Marawi, one is tempted to add to Julius Caesar’s saying and that is “I vanish”.