International Viewpoint, the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International, is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.
This week sees the 50th anniversary of the Portuguese “Carnation” Revolution that erupted in 1974 and was finally tamed in 1976 with the election of a government led by Soares from the Socialist Party(SP). The moderate SP consolidated many reforms won in the previous two years but also restored the capitalist order.
read article...The controversy surrounding a historian’s attempt to give a minute’s monologue on the meaning of Italy’s National Liberation Day, 25 April.
read article...“They accused Switzerland, with evidence to back up their accusations, of failing to take care of their health and well-being in the face of increasingly worrying heatwaves, and of failing to take steps to achieve the target set for 2030 by the Paris Agreement in 2015.”
read article...“Until now, the South has been a bastion of bosses, of non-union open shops, where workers had no vote and no voice in their workplaces. If this victory leads to others, as it is expected to, it will change completely the balance of forces between the corporations and the working class in America.”
read article...In an interview with Jacobin, Leonidas Iza, president of Ecuador’s CONAIE (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador - Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), the country’s main indigenous movement, discusses the government’s repressive policy, militarization, and the expansion of drug trafficking while criticizing neoliberal policies and examining political debates within the indigenous movement and the left. The interview was conducted by Martín Mosquera and Iain Bruce.
read article...The Arab revolution continued with the fall of the third hated dictator, Saleh in Yemen, after months of bloody repression. In Bahrain and Syria, the regimes continue their efforts to stifle the popular resistance in blood. In Tunisia and Egypt, the ruling elites attempt to impose a “normalization” of their state and the exploitative system. The rebellion against the Gaddafi regime, which was until recently completely pro-Western, took a particularly tragic turn. The revolt itself was justified from the beginning and backed by the same layers — the laboring classes and youth — as in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries. Therefore the international labor movement and especially the internationalist left had to side with the insurgents despite the heterogeneity of the political forces involved and the relative weakness of the independent labor movement in Libya. The rebels managed to control Benghazi and the eastern part of the country, while Gaddafi prevailed in Tripoli and in western Libya. His troops proved clearly superior to the rebels in March, even threatening to invade Benghazi itself. Only the military intervention of the U.S., France, and Great Britain stopped the advance of the regime’s forces and prevented the military defeat of the insurgents.
For socialists and for antiwar forces, the events in Libya have presented — and continue to present — agonizing political and ethical choices. It is entirely logical and inevitable that thoughtful activists find themselves in disagreement among each other, and indeed in internal conflict within themselves, over questions raised by the Libyan popular uprising and by the military intervention of the western powers. Recognizing the difficulties of the situation is the essential first step for the international left to work through them.
It has been over a month since the NATO-led coalition started its military intervention in Libya, after the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted on March 17 its resolution 1973 authorizing the implementation of a no-fly zone over the country as well as "all necessary measures" in order "to protect civilians and civilian populated areas."
Secularism, as a concept, appears to be in danger from both the left and the right. Among feminists, it tends to be only some minority women scrambling for the soul of secularism. It is time for all feminists to muck in, says Rahila Gupta
“This is the culmination of a campaign by the German government that has been going on for months to prevent any solidarity with the people of Palestine and criticism of the German government’s military and political support for Israel.”
- read article...Also published at https://freeboris.info/. Signatories who wish to be contacted by the campaign should sign on at this site
- read article...“This is a condemnation of all of us who organize politically in defense of democratic rights, equality, and freedom. The arrests of the Zaragoza 6 reflect the political decision to systematically criminalize protest, seeking to punish them to instill fear. It reinforces the political power of the police and judicial apparatuses, over and above the democratic rights won through centuries of struggle.”
- read article...In her election night statement, Mariana Mortágua emphasized that despite the turn to the right in the electoral results, the Bloco managed to resist, maintaining its mandates and with more votes than in 2022.
- read article...International Viewpoint is published under the responsibility of the Bureau of the Fourth International. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect editorial policy. Articles can be reprinted with acknowledgement, and a live link if possible.
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