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.
The mass movement for solidarity with the population of Gaza and of Palestine worldwide is labelled antisemitic and subject to repression both collectively by the banning of Palestine solidarity organizations (Palestine Action in Britain labelled as terrorist, threat of dissolution against Urgence Palestine in France for example) and against individuals including many academics sacked for denouncing the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
read article...The situation in Gaza is terrible, with massacres during the distribution of food aid, starvation imposed by Israel and the systematic destruction of the region. Impunity remains total, and those who speak out against this genocide are silenced.
read article...Trump’s tariffs bullied the whole world. Both Canada and China reacted strongly against them, most countries did not. This garnered a lot of international support for Beijing,. A global poll conducted by Morning Consult showed that in January last year, the U.S. in various countries scored more than 20 points while China scored negatively. However, by the end of May this year, after Trump’s “Liberation Day”, the perceptions reversed, with the U.S. at -1.5 and China at +8.8. Many see this as a reflection of people’s sympathy with China’s resistance to Trump. This comes with a heavy price, however. China’s exports have already slowed down since early 2025, and in May it plunged 34.5% year-on-year.
read article...Since Sunday night, a veritable game of cat and mouse has been played out on the streets of Belgrade between citizens and the police. The principle is simple and highly effective: erect improvised barricades, block a street or intersection, wait for the police to arrive, then disperse peacefully before starting again further on. In this ballet of non-violent resistance, each withdrawal is a new opening. While the police dismantle the roadblocks, sometimes violently, others form elsewhere. And this elusive movement is spreading throughout the country.
read article...“Everything is moving toward the eventual establishment of a new political regime in the country. Massive and sustained popular mobilisation is what can put a stop to this reactionary process, but this must not sideline the national midterm elections next October, which are also a decisive arena for struggle.”
read article...Mexico seems to exist between terror and horror, always camouflaged by lies, dissimulation and the stage-managed set-ups of the army and the police, as well as of government agencies, which should be responsible for security, investigation and prosecution. From the massacre on June 30 this year at Tlatlaya in the state of Mexico of twenty-two alleged offenders by the army, a massacre falsely presented as a reaction to resistance to the police, to the murder of six people and the forced disappearance of forty-three students of the Normal School perpetrated by officers of the municipality of Iguala in Guerrero during the night of September 26, there has obviously been the same logic at work: abuse of power, arbitrary actions, disregard for human life and the belief that they could do anything, covered by an impunity that is at the heart of the Mexican regime.
Carmen Castillo was born in Chile, and worked for the Allende government before entering the clandestine resistance together with her partner Miguel Enriquez after the Pinochet coup of 11 September 1973. Arrested and then expelled from her homeland (after an international campaign for her release), she recounted her tragic history in two books and then her 2007 film Calle Santa Fe.
The director continues to be haunted by a number of questions. How can we pass on the memory of the defeated without suffocating it with nostalgia or bitterness? What can we do today to keep loyal to the ideas of friends, loved ones and comrades who are no longer of this world – a world that they were so passionate about changing? How can we hope, now that we know that nothing is written in advance (as some of us used to believe)?
Castillo’s next film, We Are Alive, comes to French cinemas on 29 April. Making use of the thought of philosopher Daniel Bensaïd, Castillo portrays the daily struggles of all those across two continents who throw themselves into the ‘joyous passion’ of struggle – despite everything, and however ignored they are by the big media cartels.
One of main icons of the Left movement for over 6 decades, Tahira Mazhar Ali was a shining example to follow. She was active among workers, peasants and also among ordinary citizens to build a left movement.
When few dared to challenge the West Pakistan military atrocities in Bangladesh, she was among the few in Lahore who dared to come out in the streets saying no to the military operation.
She successfully built one of the great women’s organisations called “Women’s Democratic Association”. She was never an independent Left. She was always part of the process of party building. She was senior Vice President of the Workers’ Party before it merged to form the Awami Workers’ Party.
After her funeral, Baji Nasim Shahmim Malik, another long standing women activist, cried contonuously as she was one of the trusted comrades along Tahira Mazhar. Najma Sethi, a former chief minister of Punjab, and one time close associate of Tariq Ali, narrated several incidents about his association with her. As Imtiaz Alam, a radical journalist expressing his deep sorrow over sad demise of Tahira, said “a chapter of left activism is closed”.
Tahira Mazhar, a daughter of a former chief minister of Punjab rebelled against family tradition and married a revolutionary, Mazhar Ali Khan of View Point. Mother of three including Tariq Ali and Mahir Ali, she was always in the forefront of struggle.
I would usually receive an early morning call from her up to 2009, when she fell seriously ill. She would urge me to take up issues relating to the working class, although she was not from our party. However, her respect was beyond party boundaries. I always found her a great comrade and some one who was there to help the Left. She donated bundle of books to our library when it was established in 1998. She donated her clothes for flood victims and gave money for the donation.
We have lost one of the best women activists.
The siege of Kobani by the Islamic State (IS) and its tenacious defense by mostly Kurdish forces brought international attention to the Syrian Kurdish PYD (Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat, Democratic Union Party). The PYD is the leading Kurdish force in a large part of northern Syria where it has strong influence in three enclaves, or ’cantons’, of Kurdish-majority areas. In November 2013 it declared in these cantons the transitional administration of ’Rojava’ (Western Kurdistan).
While the skies over the Middle East are once again ablaze with smoke and flames, and the media are inundated with talk of ‘Israeli precision strikes’ and the ‘promise of token vengeance of the Islamic Republic’, what is once again left out is the fate of those who do not take decisions in command rooms or hide in underground bunkers.
- read article...The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, a member of the International Trade Union Solidarity and Struggle Network, is transmitting this text, signed with other independent organisations in Iran:
- read article...Radical Socialist endorses the statement of the Fourth International issued on 13th June on the current Israeli war of aggression against Iran. Hence, we are reproducing the statement below. At the same time, we want our readers, especially in India, to note strongly certain concerns, some briefly mentioned in the FI statement, others specific to the Indian context.
- read article...UPDATE - Paul has been released and passport returned.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy among a group detained by Egyptian authorities while travelling to Rafah. Contact embassy now.
“In response to the resistance of the Latinx-American community to this ICE terrorism, the Trump government has mobilized the California National Guard against the protesters, while Peter Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, has threatened to call in the Marines.”
- 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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