For the anniversary (3 September 1938) we publish for the first time on International Viewpoint, Ernest Mandel on “The Reasons for Founding the Fourth International”.
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.
For the anniversary (3 September 1938) we publish for the first time on International Viewpoint, Ernest Mandel on “The Reasons for Founding the Fourth International”.
On the occasion of the agreement on the dissolution of the PKK, Uraz Aydin presents the history of this movement and the evolution of the protest against the Erdoğan regime.
read article...The large mobilization for the Global Sumud Flotilla is a barometer of the social climate. And it tells us that there is still room for humanity.
read article...What does the crisis in the coffee industry tell us about global warming? The links between climate, economy and the precarity of workers.
read article...The Nordic left is making great strides in its thinking on questions of popular defence and security in Europe. This reflection is nourished by its sustained and permanent commitment in favour of Ukraine. It actively supports Ukrainian trade unions and social movements as well as progressive anti-fascist fighters who combat Russian imperialism.
read article...After an inspiring four days on strike, Air Canada flight attendants are now voting on a tentative agreement (TA) that offers significant gains in pay. To get the TA, however, union officials also agreed to sacrifice the workers’ right to reject the whole deal and fight for more. Canadian socialist David Camfield explains the unusual circumstances of this struggle—and the unusual deal that ended it.
Flight attendants at Air Canada (AC) and Air Canada Rouge, around 10,500 workers, went on (…)
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. [1] 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.
Government aid is made up of guarantees, and injections of capital in order to recapitalize the banks. In the period from October 2008 to December 2011, €1,174 trillion (9.3% of EU GDP [2] ) worth of guarantees were underwritten by European Governments as a contingency measure. To these guarantees must be added €442 billion (3.5% of EU GDP) of public capital support to banks. During 2012 and 2013 the recapitalizations continued: about €40 billion in Spain in 2012 alone, more than €50 billion in Greece, about €20 billion in Cyprus, €4 billion more for Dexia bank in Belgium, €3.9 billion for Monte dei Paschi in Italy, €3.7 billion for the Dutch bank SNS, €4.2 billion in Portugal on top of the Portuguese bail-out of the Banco Esperito Santo in July 2014., not forgetting Ireland, Slovenia, Croatia This assistance was granted without any government supervision of the use made of the funds. [3]
We write from Ukraine with respect for your courage and in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Having lived through invasion, occupation, forced displacement, and separation from our loved ones, many of us know too well what these mean.
- read article...The Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail on 31 August heading for Gaza via Tunis in yet another attempt to break the blockade. Internationally-known figures such as Greta Thunberg, actor Susan Sarandon and Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, will be aboard. [1] As will Fourth Internationalist activists from Brazil and Ireland.
- read article...Oleksandr Demenko, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war who defended Mariupol and then spent 20 months in Russian captivity, has just been elected as the new president of the LGBTQ+ military union.
- read article...A unique event took place at the Kryvyi Rih branch of the Social Movement NGO — we had the honour of welcoming special guests: Senator Tanya Vyhovsky from Vermont, USA, and Nico Dix, representative of the French New Anti-Capitalist Party-l’Anticapitaliste (NPA-A). It was an inspiring meeting, filled with valuable experiences and sincere conversations!
- read article...Despite the war, despite the risks, people are taking to the streets. Because they have had enough. On 22 July, in the streets of Kyiv and most cities across Ukraine, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest against the adoption of Law 12414.
- 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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