IVP609 - October 2025

Ukraine is still resisting heroically Russia’s imperialist war of annexation. Hopes had been placed on the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska for a ceasefire. But in the run-up to the summit and since , Russia escalated its attacks on Ukraine with more drones and missiles targeting civilian housing and infrastructure while making only limited progress on the ground. Russia has now also sent drones over Poland and Romania.

On China’s initiative, the Tianjin Summit was held on 31 August and 1 September 2025, within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). India was invited to attend. Sushovan Dhar, a political activist and trade unionist in Kolkata, analyses the summit’s proceedings and geopolitical implications in this interview. He also examines the nature of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime, the link between the climate, democratic and social crises plaguing the country, and the state of the parliamentary and radical left.

“Algeria is experiencing a situation where the regime has entered, since the Hirak, a repressive and authoritarian spiral that is intended to be “transitional”, hence the “suspension” of the parties that are considered as trouble-makers (notably the PST) and not the banning of them. But the regime does not emerge from its internal contractions: each negation opens onto another negation. It reacts with intermittent repression, like a sword of Damocles.”

Despite Israel’s strenuous attempts to commemorate the tragic events of 7 October 2023, and the overwhelming Western sympathy it received in the wake of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, what dominates the global conscience today – two years after the operation – is primarily the far greater tragedy that the Zionist state has since inflicted on the people of Gaza and Palestine.

Portugal is experiencing a significant shift to the right, particularly visible in the results of the last parliamentary elections. These difficulties are caused by the effects of the global crisis on the country.

The current debate in much of American society is about whether or not President Donald Trump is preparing a coup. It’s everywhere, from popular TV talk shows to sophisticated political journals.

The youth movement in Morocco continues to defend its main demands for a decent health and education system, for dignity, freedom, social justice, the right to work and against corruption. Young people showed remarkable resistance for three consecutive days, 27-29 September 2025, in the face of the repression and arrests that affected hundreds of people in different cities. The state is preparing to take many of them to court.

“What was new was that on 20 September violent far-right activists—fascists, that is—not only reacted but chose the moment themselves and did so under their own flag. This marks the increased self-confidence of these people.”

A second general strike in solidarity with Palestine has been called in Italy for 3 October, we publish the assessment by Sinistra Anticapitalista of the first one on 22 September.

The Global Sumud Flotilla set out in the vital attempt to break the Gaza blockade, the Israel navy has now intercepted almost all the boats as they neared Gaza. This has provoked worldwide protests. Jennifer Debs interviewed Nico Calabrese who joined the flotilla.