IV513 - October 2017

In our previous articles on the impact of Hurricane Maria we talked about the lessons of the hurricane and some bases for reconstruction. Now we must summarize the ideas in a brief program for reconstruction, both the reconstruction posed by the passage of the hurricane, certainly, and the reconstruction that was already needed before the hurricane. As we have indicated, the hurricane has accentuated the triple crisis of debt, economy and energy that we already lived through before September 20-21, as well as highlighting serious problems of inequality (between classes and also between regions). Nothing guarantees that we achieve what we need, but how much we achieve will depend, to begin with, with a clear formulation of what we consider to be just and adequate. This program includes:

An unprecedented police crackdown has been launched against the LGBTQI community in Egypt since Sept. 22, 2017, after the concert of the Lebanese group Mashrou ‘Leila in Cairo, during which rainbow flags, a symbol of the LGBT community, were displayed by some people in the public.

Dear Friends:

By now you have surely heard about the catastrophic impact of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico, as well as the slow and still inadequate response by U.S. federal agencies, such as FEMA.

Disunity in the mass working class movement only ever has one beneficiary: management. As we can see in the split in Cosatu, that includes the neoliberal government.

On the occasion of the publication of his latest book, Que faire de 1917? Une contre-histoire de la revolution russe (“What is to be done about 1917? A counter-history of the Russian Revolution” a controversial history of the Russian Revolution, published by Autrement editions, we interviewed Olivier Besancenot, spokesperson of the NPA.

In April 2017 we saw the launch of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu). At inception, it became the second largest federation in South Africa, with 24 affiliates and about 700 000 members. Some people have seen the emergence of this new federation as signaling a new dawn for worker representation, control and democracy. Others have seen it as presenting a new political praxis, reaching out to informal workers and the vulnerable, unorganised workers who constitute 76% of the total workforce. In the words of its first general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, it is a “broad labour front” which takes seriously outsourced workers, those in the informal sector, the unemployed and students. It even goes as far as accommodating pensioners and retirees. [1].

This statement was adopted by the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International on 15 October 2017.

It’s difficult to convey the exhilaration felt by those present at Labour Party conference 2017; #Lab17. Some of the electric atmosphere seems to have reached those following through the media, but let’s see if I can illuminate the picture further.

This statement was issued by Anticapitalistes, the Fourth Internationalists in Catalonia, members of the Spanish-state-wide section Anticapitalistas on 14 October 2017. “Per un procés constituent popular a Catalunya”.

Antoine Larrache of l’Anticapitaliste (newspaper of the NPA, France) spoke to Catalan left activist Andreu Coll after the demonstration against Catalan independence on Sunday 8 October 2017 in Barcelona.