International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

• Anti-fascism
  

  Towards an international anti-fascist convergence

  24 March, by Éric Toussaint

  Uniting left-wing forces to counter the rise of the far right. That is the aim of the First International Anti-Fascist Conference, to be held in late March in Porto Alegre, Brazil

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• Italy
  

  Italy: The stakes of the March referendum on justice

  23 March, by Hélène Marra

  In Italy, prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s government is continuing its authoritarian offensive with a reform of the judiciary that threatens the independence of the judiciary. The referendum on 22 and 23 March is a central political issue. After the “security” decree, the reform of the judiciary is another important link in the authoritarian project promoted by Meloni’s government. By changing the methods of electing members of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary (CSM), the latter threatens the independence of this body and limits its ability to act as a counter-power to the political and economic systems. The victory of the “No” vote in the referendum on 22 and 23 March is an important opportunity to destabilise Meloni’s coalition and to solidify the political and social opposition camp.

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• Canada
  

  Out of the Impasse? The Avi Lewis Campaign and Left Strategy

  22 March, by Marcel Nelson, Nathan Rao

  Journalist and activist Avi Lewis is campaigning for the leadership of the NDP in the Canadian state, attracting much attention, dedication, and debate. Voting concludes on 28 March.

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• 

  Collateral Damage Comes Home: Lebanon, Palestine, Iran to Michigan

  21 March, by David Finkel

  The already unbearable horrors engulfing the peoples of the Middle East exploded into U.S. domestic news on March 12 with the attack in suburban Detroit at Temple Israel, the country’s largest Reform Jewish congregation.

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• 

  Iran: Imperialists escalate war

  20 March, by Babak Kia

  The imperialist war unleashed on 28 February 2026 by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu against the Islamic Republic of Iran is becoming more destructive every day.

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...and the rest of the current issue

• Philippines-Middle East

  On the Middle East crisis and the Philippines.

• Senegal

  Senegal: Debt fuels authoritarian drift

• Iran

  The Iranian nuclear bomb: a devastating boomerang

• USA

  The American People and the U.S.-Israeli War on Iran

• France

  “A united and militant movement can prevent the RN from winning”

Recently posted Features

• Series: Banks and the “Too big to jail” doctrine (Part 8)

  Complicity of Dexia in very serious Human Rights violations in the Israeli occupied territories

  1 September 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  In 2001, the Dexia Group (Dexia SA) took over the Israeli bank Otzar Hashilton Hamekomi. It has been disclosed that this subsidiary – now called Dexia Israel – finances Israeli colonies in the Palestinian territories [1]which means Dexia is involved in the occupation of Palestine. As the platform “Palestine occupée – Dexia impliquée( Occupied Palestine - Dexia Involved)” says, “financing these colonies contravenes international law, in particular article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention, which states, ’The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territory it occupies.’” [2]

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• Series: The banks and the “Too Big to Jail” doctrine (Part 7)

  The Big Banks Organise Massive Tax Evasion on an International Scale

  31 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  Another example of the “Too Big to Jail” doctrine: International tax evasion and fraud organised by UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank.
  UBS, which had to be saved from failure in October 2008 by massive injections of Swiss public money, was involved in the LIBOR manipulation scandal, the currency markets manipulation scandal (UBS is the subject of several inquiries by controlling authorities in Hong Kong, US, the UK, and in Switzerland) and the abusive sale of structured Mortgage-Backed (…)

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• Series : The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (Part 5)

  Big banks’ tampering with interest rates

  31 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  The extremely tolerant approach to the manipulation of interest rates by the governments of the main industrialised countries shows the extent to which the ’Too Big to Jail’ principle is applied. In 2010 the media revealed that a group of eighteen banks had been manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) from 2005 to 2010. LIBOR is a benchmark rate used for a market of $350 trillion, in assets and financial derivatives, which means it is the second most important benchmark rate in the world after the dollar exchange rate. The rate is based on information provided by eighteen banks about their funding costs in interbank markets. In 2012 evidence was provided of collusion among big banks such as UBS, Barclays, Rabobank, or Royal Bank of Scotland in order to manipulate LIBOR in their own interests.

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• Series : The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (Part 4)

  HSBC: the bank with a shameful past and scandalous present

  31 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  The British bank HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) employs 260, 000 people, has offices in 75 countries, and 54 million customers. [3]
  From its earliest days, it has been involved in the international narcotics trade. It was founded in the wake of the British victories in the Opium Wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860) against China. These two wars were very important to the strengthening of the British Empire and the century and a half waning of China. Through the Opium Wars, the British Empire forced China to accept opium importations coming from British India. China tried to oppose this commerce, but British arms, backed by Washington, proved stronger. London established a colony in Hong Kong in 1865, where HSBC was created by a Scottish merchant specializing in the opium trade— the basis of 70% of Hong Kong trade with the Indies.

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