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.
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’s DAY is June 1 in Ukraine, Russia, and 47 other countries. This Children’s Day, the Ukraine Solidarity Network (US) calls for the freedom and return of the tens of thousands of Ukrainian children whom Russia has kidnapped and for ending the mass starvation of millions of children in Palestine, Sudan, and other sites of widespread child hunger such as Haiti, South Sudan, and Mali.
read article...By just a few votes in both houses, the Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s 940-page “Big Beautiful Bill,” a $3.4 trillion package, cutting taxes for the rich and slashing social programs for the working class and the poor, while at the same time increasing the national debts by $3 trillion or more.
read article...“Nonetheless, the political ground has shifted. What once seemed impossible—the return of Marxist politics, the reorganization of underground parties, the convergence of student and worker struggles—is now a living process.”
read article...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...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]
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 (…)
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.
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.
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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