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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.

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  • Daniel Bensaïd

    We Are Alive: A film about the thought, activism and legacy of Daniel Bensaïd

    28 March 2015

    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.

    read article...
  • Pakistan

    “We have lost one of the best women activists”

    26 March 2015, by Farooq Tariq

    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.

    read article...
  • Kurdistan

    Stalinist caterpillar into libertarian butterfly? - The evolving ideology of the PKK

    11 March 2015, by Alex de Jong

    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).

    read article...
  • Syria

    We need to support forms of liberation struggle unconditionally

    10 March 2015, by Joseph Daher, Mattia Gallo

    This interview was conducted with the Syrian revolutionary Joseph Daher by Italian journalist and activist Mattia Gallo in October 2014.

    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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