IV520 - May 2018

Last October we saw the collapse of the various projects for change put forward in Catalan society and politics since 2011 and 2012. Specifically this means the perspectives set out by the 15 May movement (Indignados) and its subsequent political currents, Catalunya en Comu and Podem or the pro-independence forces. A major reason for the success of both currents resided in their capacity to offer a project of rapid and easy change.

In the middle of his term, Argentinian president Macri cannot hide the monumental abyss between his promises and reality. The promise was of an influx of dollars to lower inflation, with high growth, job creation, an entrepreneurial boom and eradication of social assistance. A drastic reduction of the fiscal deficit and a flow of money for public works through the ending of corruption was also predicted. It was also proclaimed that the “return to the world” would be rewarded with huge productive financing and an expansion of exports.

Large swathes of Pakistan are in the stranglehold of caricatured feudalism. These feudal relations are increasingly penetrated by finance capital as it imposes itself on social relations, politics and the economy itself. It has made the lives of millions miserable, deepening and brutalizing class exploitation. Rampant inequality and poverty remain chronic issues as millions can still be considered bonded labour. Such a harrowing situation is revealed by the fact that only five per cent of agricultural households in Pakistan own nearly two thirds of the farmland.

The Nakba isn’t forgotten history, but the inspiration for the continued resistance of millions of Palestinians in Gaza and around the world.

Between 2002 and 2016, the Workers’ Party (PT, by its initials in Portuguese) held the presidency of Brazil for two terms under Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva and then under Dilma Rousseff before she was impeached on flimsy charges in August 2016 in what is widely considered a parliamentary coup.

Forests have been the cultural and livelihood lifeline for hundreds of millions of people in India, not to mention home for thousands of species of plants and animals. They have an exalted place in virtually every spiritual and religious tradition, in their civilisational history, mythology and folklore, scientific traditions, and even in its politics. So when any government announces a new National Forest Policy, there should be widespread dialogue around the most important question: will it safeguard the most crucial values of India’s forests? From an examination of the draft policy put out by the government on 14th March 2018, the answer is a resounding no.

Socialist Democracy urges all socialists and democrats who have a vote to cast that vote for repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution - an amendment that has embodied the merciless ideology of the Catholic Church, empowered by the grip of the Irish state, to deny the democratic rights of Irish woman.

In November 2016 candlelight vigils began to flare up in South Korea. Millions of people joined the movement and within a couple of months they succeeded in ousting the ultra-right wing Park Geun-hye administration. The advent of the Moon Jae-in liberal government created a new political environment in which gaining some reforms within the system seemed to be possible. This new milieu generated a concern among labor activists about how they had to carry out their revolutionary goals. Applying a theory about reform and revolution to reality in a concrete way is not an easy task, unless one simply believes that any action to obtain a reform is wrong and the labor movement thus must work only for a radical solution.

On 25 May, the long-awaited and campaigned-for referendum on changing Ireland’s very restrictive abortion law – encapsulated in the 8th amendment to the constitution – will finally be held. The very broad-based Trade Union Campaign to Repeal the 8th launched a tabloid campaign newspaper on 1 May. You can see the publication Yes Repeal here.

Below we reprint one of the articles, by Dr Fiona Bloomer, Ulster University, author of Abortion as a Trade Union Issue. This is the fourth article we have published during this campaogn. The others are on why abortion is a class issue here, on what horrors the current situation leads to here and why women are central to the campaign here.

Most African Americans support the right of young undocumented immigrants known as DACA (“Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival”) youth to stay in the country and become citizens. They reject the racism of Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric.