News from around the world

For three days since the presidential elections in Belarus, the streets of all major cities of the country have become the arena of heavy clashes between protesters and police. Despite the fact that by all independent exit polls and evidence of observers, the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya gained a convincing victory, authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko announced his re-election. Faced with the opposition of the majority of the population, today he has to rely only on the police and secret services, who have been given carte blanche for the most brutal suppression of protests. Thousands of detainees, hundreds of injured and at least one killed - that’s the price Lukashenko has already paid to preserve his regime. However, the resistance continues - not only in the form of street protests, but also in the political strikes that have already started at several big enterprises. We express our solidarity with workers and youth of Belarus in their struggle for a better future. We also demand for release of Belarussian left activists, such as Pavel Katarzhevski and Yury Glushakov, who were illegally arrested during these days. Below we publish the statement of the Russian Socialist Movement about the presidential elections in Belarus.

This statement was issued by the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA) following the 4 August explosion in Beirut and the visit of French president Emmanuel Macron.

Reclaim the right to health started this petition to President of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government.

The Fourth International condemns the repression and violence committed on June 8 in central Colombo during a protest organized by the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). People had wanted to gather in front of the US embassy to protest the killing of George Floyd and show solidarity with the anti-racist protests. They were brutally attacked and dozens were arrested. Among the arrested were 53 activists of the Frontline Socialist Party as well as dozens of others. When people protested this repression, dozens more were arrested. The police attacked with brutal violence and several persons were hospitalized.

On 6 May we launched an appeal for 10 000 euros to strengthen and extend our online presence - something that has been and continues to be particularly necessary in this lockdown period.

Since late April, Dmitriy Tsarenko (aka Morozov), one of the leaders of the Russian Socialist Movement’s branch in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, has been under increasing pressure from the state apparatus—in particular, from the Interior Ministry’s “Center for Combating Extremism,” often wielded by the authorities against political opponents. On May 15th, the police attempted to charge him with an arson attack on the office of Russia’s ruling United Russia party, and on May 18th, Dmitriy was officially charged with on the ridiculous offense of “justifying terrorism” in connection with a speech he gave at a protest in March. There, Morozov demanded that antifascists jailed as part of the Network Case, which was fabricated by the secret police, be freed. Breaking this article of the Russian Criminal Code can carry a sentence of up to three years.

In support of Anthony Smith, laid off for asking a company to introduce preventive measures in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic, 1052 officials of the Ministry of Labour reaffirm the importance of their public service mission. They demand the withdrawal of the disciplinary procedure and that their independence is respected: “We will not allow the labour inspectorate to be destroyed”.

Radical Socialist is greatly alarmed at the death of 11 people, including a six-year-old girl, and more than a thousand people affected after styrene monomer gas leaked from a chemical plant belonging to LG Polymers at RR Venkatapuram in Visakhapatnam on May 7, 2020. Around 350 people are hospitalised till now. This gas leak has directly affected an area over a radius of about three kilometres. At least five villages within this radius have been severely affected. According to experts, styrene is a neuro-toxin and inhalation leads to immobilisation and eventual death in ten minutes.

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Two years after the assassination of Marielle Franco and with the approach of the Brazilian municipal elections, we learn with great sadness of the execution of Raimundo Gonçalves de Lima Neto in the city of Jundaís (RN). A small entrepreneur in the field of urban cleaning, he was a pre-candidate for the prefecture of the city for the PSOL and dreamed of improving the quality of life of the population.