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.
The Niger Delta has been totally devastated by decades of oil exploitation in Nigeria by the major Western oil companies. Huge tracts of land and mangrove swamps have been totally contaminated by oil, destroying all living things. People’s livelihoods, such as fishing and farming, have been wiped out. There is no longer any drinking water, and the air is polluted by the dozens of flares that burn continuously.
read article...José Luis is an activist in the Fourth International and a member of the Mexican electricians’ union. He spoke to Fabrice Thomas while visiting Europe for the world congress of the Fourth International.
read article...Despite recurring environmental disasters and the dangers to the population, the government of Zambia continues its extractivist policy. The southern African country has once again been hit by major pollution. 50 million tonnes of acidic sludge were discharged into the watercourse running alongside the Chinese company Sino Metals in Chambishi, which processes copper ores.
read article...Since taking office 100 days ago, President Donald Trump has been engaged in destroying America’s liberal, democratic state and its social welfare systems, taking away citizens’ and non-citizens’ rights, and attacking the institutions of civil society such as universities and the media. Trump’s attack on our government and our society has shocked, disoriented, and disconcerted the American people. The resistance has been growing, but is still too divided, small, and weak to stop Trump
read article...After many months without a significant opposition movement to the government of President Javier Milei on the streets of Argentina, the 36-hour cross-industry strike of 9-10 April and the social reality of the country have brought the movement back to life.
read article...Since 2008, the Fed has granted unlimited credit to banks at an official rate of 0.25%. In fact, as the General Accounting Office (GAO) has revealed, the Fed has lent close to $16 trillion at an interest rate below 0.25%. [1] The report shows it has not followed its own prudential rules and has not notified Congress.
After the Second World War, in a growing number of Third World countries, policies diverged from those of the former colonial powers. This trend encountered firm opposition from the governments of the major industrialised capitalist countries whose influence held sway with the World Bank (WB) and the IMF. WB projects have a strong political content: to curtail the development of movements challenging the domination/rule of major capitalist powers. The prohibition against taking “political” and “non-economic” considerations into account in WB operations, one of the most important provisions of its charter, is systematically circumvented. The political bias of the Bretton Woods institutions is shown by their financial support to dictatorships ruling in Chile, Brazil, Nicaragua, Congo-Kinshasa and Romania.
The concept of the World as a huge bureaucracy, gradually freed from the influence of the US, is actually a far cry from reality. This mistaken conception is revealed in particular by the North American environmentalist Bruce Rich in his insightful book on the World Bank. [2] In real terms, the institution is firmly under the control of the US government which negotiates, with the governments of other major capitalist powers, the policies to be followed within the World Bank, and under its leadership. It has frequently failed to make the effort to reach a consensus with its principal partners (since the end of the 1950s, these are Japan, Germany, Great Britain and France) and it imposes its views directly on the Bank.
The eurozone banks have the monopoly of lending to the public sector. It is prohibited for the ECB and the eurozone’s central banks to grant loans to public authorities (see box on the ECB). The governments in the eurozone have the possibility of borrowing from publicly owned banks where they still exist, but they do not do so.
The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States framed the discussion at the second Congress of Democracia Socialista [section of the Fourth International in Puerto Rico].
- read article...Deputies and councillors from parties such as PT and PSOL call for respect for Ibama’s decision and demand an energy transition plan.
- read article...APPEAL to the ITUC, ETUC, Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, national trade unions on support of the Strategy of Ukraine on Peace and Security
- read article...At least 26 civilians, mostly tourists, have been brutally and callously killed by militants in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025. Radical Socialist mourns the death of every single civilian, and condemns this terrorist act perpetrated by The Resistance Front that has claimed responsibility for it. It is a senseless attack which is morally unjustifiable and is completely counterproductive politically because it can further stoke and strengthen existing currents of Islamophobia in Indian society and in state apparatuses.
- read article...Ten national unions and dozens of locals representing more than 3 million members have issued a joint statement demanding the release of immigrant workers recently snatched by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- 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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