Greg Benton on Livio Maitan (1 April 1923-16 September 2004) “The Inventor of Big Things: A Tribute to Livio Maitan”. Peter Solenberger reviews two books on Venezuela “Venezuela’s Process & Fall: The Legacy of Hugo Chávez”.
International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine
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.
- 16 September – Remembering Livio Maitan, Venezuela after Maduro
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Democratic Republic of Congo
Constitutional tampering in DRC
16 September, byOfficially, the second and final term of Félix Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ends at the end of 2028. But the latter, in several of his statements, has said he is ready to run for a third term if “the people want it”. The opposition is calling for a large demonstration on 15 September 2026 against a third term for Tshisekedi, who is retaliating with a tailor-made national dialogue.
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Turkey
‘My family is safe’: the Turkish regime’s crackdown on LGBTI+ people
15 September, byA new milestone was reached in the Erdoğan regime’s homophobic crackdown on Sunday 13 September. Police forces launched a large-scale operation against LGBTI+ organisations and activists, as well as organisations campaigning against HIV/AIDS. Raids were carried out in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, amongst other places. The Ministry of Justice states that the operation, dubbed “My family is safe”, involves a total of 162 people, nine organisations and thirteen premises across fifteen provinces.
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New Zealand/Aotearoa
Beyond the Labour Machine: Aotearoa, the Alliance, and the Question of Working Class Independence
14 September, byOn October 23, 2025, more than 100,000 workers walked off the job in Aotearoa (the Māori-language name for New Zealand): 60,000 teachers, 30,000 nurses, 5,000 doctors, 20,000 allied health workers, firefighters, and public servants. It was the largest day of industrial action since the 1979 general strike—a forty-six year interregnum finally broken. 56 percent of New Zealanders told pollsters they backed the strikers.
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By the end of the year, that energy had been buried. The Post Primary (…) -
Latin America
Latin America: Patterns and Pendulum
13 September, byRECENT ELECTIONS ACROSS across Latin America appear to have placed the hard right firmly back in power. While the landscape may appear to be dim for the left, other factors signal glimmers of hope.
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Situation in East Asia and Japanese Politics/Economy
Oppose the Takaichi Administration’s Military Expansion and Constitutional Revision
12 September, by“These struggles for anti-war peace, the defense of working people’s livelihoods, and the fight for climate justice in the face of a deepening climate crisis are unfolding in response to the multifaceted crises of the capitalist system. As these crises converge into a single unified front, our movements and struggles must likewise interconnect to form a powerful, single stream. The current situation demands nothing less.”
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Recently posted Features
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Livio Maitan
The Inventor of Big Things: A Tribute to Livio Maitan
16 September, byread article...The following tribute was delivered at the launch of Livio Maitan’s memoirs by Gregor Benton, the English translator. The launch was the 2019 Historical Materialism conference in London, Greg was speaking via video link from Borneo, where he was engaged in the documentation of a critically endangered indigenous language.
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France
“Fighting sexist and sexual violence means guaranteeing the place of women in the CGT”
11 September, by ,read article...Raphaëlle Manière is a railway worker in the Jura, where she works in the sales sector. She has a part-time trade union job. Since 2016, she has been in charge of the monitoring unit against sexist and sexual violence of the French trade union confederation, the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) . Former general secretary of the CGT Jura departmental union from 2010 to 2017, she also sat on the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) between 2015 and 2021, where she was (…)
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Turkey
’Nobody announces that democracy ends now’
7 September, by ,read article...Can Koçak of the Workers’ Party of Turkey talks to Ian Parker about creeping fascism, the trap of elections, and what the left has to stop doing to itself.
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Fourth International
Stalinism’s Failures Vindicate Trotsky’s Critique
3 September, byread article...On the anniversary of the founding of the Fourth International the publication for the first time in English of this text by Livio Maitan.
