International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

• Hong Kong

  Two Narratives on the Hong Kong Fire

  24 December, by Au Loong-Yu

  The 26 November 2025 Wang Fu Court fire has a lot of similarity with London’s 2017 Grenfell fire. In terms of scale, the former was much bigger – instead of just one building there were seven on fire, and instead of 72 deaths there have been 160 deaths as of now. However, the combustible materials used in renovating the outer walls were the direct cause of both.

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• Japan

  Takaichi Administration’s Two Months

  23 December, by Toshizo Omori

  While LDP-JIP coalition government has been trying to promote right-wing policies, how should the left forces fight against them?

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• Indonesia

  When past and present collide: Indonesia 1965-2025

  22 December, by Adam Novak, Pierre Rousset

  “At the time of the US escalation in Vietnam, Indonesia was the scene of one of the worst bloodbaths in modern history, committed under the auspices of Washington and London. Sixty years later, the archipelago is at the heart of youth revolts against the privileges of the oligarchy and corruption, in defence of a democracy dearly won back since 1998.”

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• USA-Venezuela

  Trump reveals the real reasons behind the war on Venezuela

  21 December, by Luís Bonilla-Molina

  Venezuela and its people are the first direct victims of the "Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine." This war, which has already been declared, is not against drug trafficking or the Maduro regime, but rather for oil and rare earth minerals, military bases, information, and misgovernment. All democratic, progressive, popular, and leftist forces must denounce and confront the US offensive against Venezuela, which in no way means defending the Maduro government.

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• Chile

  Kast: Chile’s “democratic route” back to Pinochetism

  20 December, by Karina Nohales, Pablo Abufom

  With José Antonio Kast’s victory, Pinochetism returns to power through electoral means, articulating neoliberal restoration, moral authoritarianism, and anti-communism as a response to Chile’s crisis.

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...and the rest of the current issue

• Mexico

  “Generation Z” and the advance of the far right in Mexico

• Portugal

  The general strike demonstrates that struggle can open up paths for the left

• Belgium

  After three days of strike, a vast social movement with no political alternative

• USA

  The US strategy, a threat to the peoples of the world

• USA

  Starbucks Workers Continue Strike for Union Contract

Recently posted Features

• Series: The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (Part 3)

  Drug and Bank Lords

  30 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  The British bank HSBC, which employs 260, 000 people worldwide, is present in 75 countries, and claims to have 54 million customers [1] is another example of the “Too Big to Jail” phenomenon. [2] Over the last ten years, HSBC has laundered $881 million [3] for Mexican and Columbian drug cartels that are responsible for tens of thousands of firearm related assassinations. These relations continue in spite of dozens of warnings from different US government agencies including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The profits from this business are so important that not only does HSBC continue, but it has also opened specialized services in its Mexico offices where drug dealers may simply hand in stocks of cash for cleaning. [4]

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• Series: The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (Part 2)

  Bank abuses in the real estate sector and illegal foreclosures in the United States

  30 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  From 2010 to 2013, US authorities made agreements with banks, not to prosecute them in the home mortgage and illegal foreclosures scandal. Instead, they merely had to pay a small fine. Since the outbreak of the crisis in 2006-2007, more than 14 million families have been evicted from their homes — at least 500,000 illegally. With help from social movements such as Strike Debt [5], many victims have become organized to resist the sheriffs and refuse these evictions. In addition, thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the banks.

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• Series: The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (Part 1)

  Banks and the New “Too Big to Jail” Doctrine

  30 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  We all know the saying, “Too big to fail”. The way governments have managed the crisis caused by the banks has given rise to, “Too big to jail,” [6] which is equally poetic! [7] Although the US government let Lehman Bros. go to the wall in September 2008, no other bank has been closed or broken-up, no directors have been condemned to prison [8]. The only exception in the western world is Iceland, where the courts have put three bank directors in prison. Larus Welding, the CEO of Glitnir, Iceland’s third biggest bank at the time, which went bankrupt in 2008, was condemned, in December 2012, to nine months in prison. Sigurdur Einarsson and Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, the two principal directors of Kaupthing [9] were condemned to five years and five and a half years in prison in December 2013. [10]

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• Sexual politics

  21st Century Socialist-Feminism: Part 2

  28 August 2014, by Johanna Brenner

  Looking back, we can see how the fate of socialist-feminism is closely tied to the fate of the broader institutions of working-class struggle. Socialist-feminists have always engaged in a two-sided effort: to bring an anti-racist, class-based feminist perspective into social movements and left political parties and a socialist perspective into feminist politics and women’s movements. Social-welfare feminism, social-democratic feminism, revolutionary socialist feminism, revolutionary women of color feminism, indigenous feminism, are some of the different currents within socialist-feminist politics. We can think of socialist feminism very broadly— to include all feminists (whether they would identify with the label or not) who see class as central but would not reduce relations of power and privilege organized around particular identities (e.g., gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, nationality) to class oppression. Revolutionary socialist feminism is distinguished from social welfare or social-democratic feminism in that, whether implicitly or explicitly, revolutionary socialist feminists are unwilling to allow capitalism to set the horizon for what can be envisioned or struggled for.

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