IV523 - August 2018

Nick Dearden looks at the theories of one of Africa’s greatest radical thinkers

Central America is considered by the US government as part of its own exclusive sphere of influence. The policies adopted by the World Bank in terms of granting loans to the countries of the region are directly influenced by the political choices of the US government. The case of Nicaragua and Guatemala during the 1950s makes this clear.

First off, some simple arithmetic about the July 25 general elections in Pakistan, the sixth most populace country in the world. In a house of 342, 272 members are directly elected. The rest of the seats are reserved for women and religious minorities allotted on the basis of the parliamentary representation every party achieves in the elections. In the polling conducted on the British pattern of first-past-the-post system, the Pakistan Justice Party (PTI) pocketed 115 out of 272 seats (up from 26 in 2013) and emerged as the largest party. For a simple majority, the PTI required 137 mandates. Hence, a coalition government has been constituted.

The crisis of the German government and the EU: an explosive farce
The day after the “agreement” between the two parties of the CDU-CSU union, the media speculated on the question: “Who has won?” Of course, the answer was given according to the preferences of the media but the general tenor was: neither of them. An opinion poll of the Forsa institute claimed: "29 per cent of the interviewees think that Merkel’s concept has prevailed; 25 per cent think that Seehofer has succeeded; 40 per cent cannot say who is victorious.

For many French people, the only images of Guiana they have are Devil’s Island and the Ariane launch site. What is sometimes added to this is a picture of people always holding i strikes for incomprehensible reasons while also being reliant on aid. Behind these media images lurks a colonial reality that fills the daily life of Guianese. Part of the “Old Colonies”, French Guiana has been occupied by France for more than three centuries.

The unfolding events in Nicaragua over the past three months pose two critical questions for socialists and antiwar activists. Where do we stand on the critical issue of U.S. imperialist intervention and where do we stand with regard to the dynamics of the still-unfolding confrontations?

Christopher Baum reports on the government’s ongoing and criminal negligence in violation of court orders that is keeping over 700 children separated from their families.

More than seven years after the beginning of the popular uprising in Syria, which increasingly turned into an international war, the causes of this eruption are often forgotten. When they are discussed, the vast majority of authors reduce the uprising to a struggle against authoritarianism while neglecting its socio-economic roots almost entirely. Yet the way in which the relations of production in contemporary Syria constitute a blockage to the development of the productive forces is in fact a key element in understanding the popular base of the Syrian uprising.

China’s economic reforms started exactly forty years ago. Labour scholars today are debating the extent to which labour relations and the labour movement in China have changed, and where they may be heading. Positions are polarized between pessimists who emphasise the structural power of the market and the authoritarian state, and optimists who envision the rise of a strong and independent labour movement in China. In this essay, Chris King-Chi Chan advocates for a different approach.

As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth topped $150 billion last week, making him the richest man in modern history, thousands of Amazon workers across Europe went on strike.