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.
“Faced with the militarisation of the world, we need a global anti-war movement. It’s easy to say, but hard to do. Can we rely on local cross-border solidarity (Ukraine-Russia, India-Pakistan) to achieve this? Or on the huge solidarity movement with Palestine? Or social forums like the one that has just taken place in Nepal?”
read article...“Two symbolic dates of struggle for the workers’ movement, 25 April, the anniversary of the defeat of fascism, and 1 May, are very close together. The perspective must be that of a new season of struggle, of a revival of the workers’ movement.”
read article...“If I were to give some general advice, I would recommend paying less attention to which abstract position is correct, and focusing more on practical action to help us climb out of the hole we are in.”
read article...Philippe Poutou, a former candidate in the French presidential elections and spokesperson for France’s Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste (NPA), will be in third place on the “Anticapitalistes” list put forward by Belgium’s “Gauche anticapitaliste” (Anti-Capitalist Left) organisation in the European parliamentary elections on 9 June 2024.
read article...Franco-Lebanese researcher Gilbert Achcar, professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, reviews the Israeli attack on April 1st against the consulate in Damascus and analyses the response of the Islamic Republic. He also examines the effects of this renewed tension on the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Gaza.
[French original published by L’Humanité]
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What was Israel seeking by striking the Iranian consulate in Damascus?
The (...)
The social revolution of the nineteenth century cannot take its poetry from the past but only from the future. It cannot begin with itself before it has stripped away all superstition about the past. The former revolutions required recollections of past world history in order to smother their own content. The revolution of the nineteenth century must let the dead bury their dead in order to arrive at its own content. There the phrase went beyond the content – here the content goes beyond the phrase.”
Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)
In a welcome sign, the recent revitalization of the socialist left, particularly the spectacular growth of Democratic Socialists of America, has revived debate about the road to socialism. Also, fortunately, the discussion, which has partially played out in the pages of Jacobin, has gone beyond a simple revisiting of the old “reform versus revolution” argument of early twentieth-century social democracy. Vivek Chibber “Our Road to Power,” Jacobin, 5 December 2017) and Eric Blanc (most recently in his debate with Charlie Post, “Which Way to Socialism,” Jacobin, 21 July 2019) have raised important problems with applying a revolutionary model from the Russian Revolution of 1917 to modern industrial countries with parliamentary systems. Blanc’s observation that “a government elected by universal suffrage has vastly more popular legitimacy than the tsarist autocracy” is particularly valid and important.
In 1941, at Hitler’s military apex, Bertolt Brecht wrote The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, wherein he reduces Hitler the politician and his lackeys to a vulgar band of bandits from 1930’s Chicago.
The Left Bloc was formed about twenty years ago in Portugal, by the fusion of forces from the anti-capitalist left and the social movement. Today, together with the Communist Party, it is the main formation of the combative left in the country. Based on the Bloc’s experience, Francisco Louçã gives an overview of the still problematic relationship between parliamentary opposition work and investment in social movements and mobilizations.
“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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