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.
President Donald Trump has taken advantage of the current budget crisis, which has lasted more than a month, shutting down the federal government, to stop funding food programs that affect tens of million. Trump said the shutdown provided an opportunity to close “Democrat programs that we want to close up or we never wanted to happen.” By “Democrat programs” he means social welfare programs that provide food and education to low-income people.
read article...When more than 50 Indonesian labour unions gathered in Jakarta on 5 October 2021 to establish the Partai Buruh (Labour Party), it appeared to mark a historic moment: workers organising their own political vehicle to challenge an oligarchic system that had stripped away their rights. Yet from its inception, the party embodied a contradiction. Led by union bureaucrats with histories of elite collaboration, the Labour Party promised working-class independence whilst its president courted the very politicians who had passed anti-worker legislation. It claimed to represent the marginalised whilst maintaining "deafening silence" on human rights abuses and democratic backsliding.
read article...Since Venezuela’s disputed 2024 elections, Nicolás Maduro’s government has escalated its authoritarian turn. More than 2,000 people were detained in the days following the vote, and targeted persecution has widened to include journalists, trade unionists, academics, and human rights defenders. Human rights activist Marta Lía Grajales was disappeared for two days after denouncing the brutal beating of mothers demanding freedom for their imprisoned children. María Alejandra Díaz, a Chavista lawyer and former Constituent Assembly member, was stripped of her license and harassed after calling for transparency in the vote count. These cases illustrate a broader strategy of intimidation and criminalization.
read article...For a year now, young people in Serbia have been continuing their fight for a democratic society in the face of Aleksandar Vučić’s authoritarian regime. On both sides of Serbia, student marches are criss-crossing the country in the direction of Novi Sad to commemorate the collapse of the railway station, responsible for the deaths of 16 people on 1 November 2024. This tragic event triggered a political protest on an unprecedented scale.
read article...While diplomatic manoeuvres take centre stage, the Ukrainian people, in an increasingly difficult context, continue to resist, including in the occupied zones.
read article...“In this context, the debate on security, military and defence issues has gripped all the countries of Europe. Putin’s regime poses a real threat to Eastern Europe and to democratic and social rights across the continent, through its alliances with the far right. Similarly, Trump, Musk and Vance, like the far right in Europe and elsewhere, are showing their willingness to attack head-on any social and progressive policy, however minimal, such as environmental regulations, the fight against discrimination or workers’ social and trade union rights.”
The drums of war are already generating a deafening din. Governments, companies and the media are united in repeating in unison warmongering slogans reminiscent of the turbulent beginnings of the 20th century. Defend Europe, defend its values, boost the military industry and even bring back compulsory military service. Europe is in danger, it stands alone in a hostile world and must rearm. Dark and toxic winds are blowing, which will sweep away any prospect of emancipation.
With a madman in the White House, all pretences have fallen away and raw power again reigns supreme. Trade wars, huge aid cuts, explicit demands to annex Greenland and depopulate Gaza — every new day brings forth another crisis that throws into question internationally recognised collective and individual rights and undermines global institutions that supposedly exist to defend them. Is this genuinely the world we were hoping for when we criticised the hypocrisy of the West? Is the internationalist left simply going to accept this new state of affairs?
In its first decade in power and before the conflict, Bashar al-Assad’s regime adopted neoliberal-oriented economic policies, such as price liberalisation for many essential goods, market deregulation, and a significant extension of the private sector. This was accompanied by austerity measures without genuine institutional reform, which resulted in greater social injustice, decreased productivity, and widening income disparity.
On the night of October 13th to 14th, at 2 a.m., by order of the Dean of the National Technical University of Athens, heavily armed special police forces, unprovoked and provocatively, invaded the historic site of the Polytechnic and arrested 15 students.
- read article...Dear Sisters and Brothers,
The Russian Federation continues its brutal, full-scale war on Ukraine. Every day, Russia launches missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, destroying workplaces, homes, and entire communities, while imposing its criminal regime on the temporarily occupied territories.
- read article...On Saturday 11 October 2025, at the Buchenwald memorial and on the initiative of the association Les amis d’Arbeiter und Soldat, a tribute was paid to the internationalist communists deported to Buchenwald.
- read article...Lecornu 2 is a pure Macronist government, made up of technocrats, former Macron advisors, and also those under criminal investigation: Rachida Dati from the Culture Ministry soon to be tried for corruption and influence peddling; Vincent Jeanbrun, Minister of Housing, accused of favoritism in the allocation of housing to relatives.
- read article...Statement by the NPA on 6 October. After the extre 48 hours Macron gave Sébastien Lecornu there is still no government. Left forces are meeting but without a result so far. The NPA-l’Anticapitaliste has addressed the forces of the NFP calling for unity. This was the first statement on 6 October.
- 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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