International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

“This mobilization has awakened something in the youth”

Evelyne Wyns — 2026-07-19T10:11:10Z

This spring, French-speaking Belgium has seen a sudden acceleration of struggles in the education sector, which have turned into a general revolt of young people. In this interview, Evelyne Wyns discusses the conditions in which this movement emerged, the complex role of trade unions and self-organized collectives, and the politicization brought about by repression.

- IVP618 - July 2026 / Belgium, Youth and student movements, Public services

Many Fronts, One Struggle: A Report on the 7th International Ecosocialist Encounters

William van den Heuvel — 2026-07-07T19:18:45Z

“An opening debate on geopolitics drew the connection sharply: the Green Deal had been left largely to capital and had offered working people, and the poorest layers in particular, very little. It is precisely into that gap that the far right thrusts. It frames environmental policy as an assault on ordinary people and wins terrain the left has long vacated.”

- IVP618 - July 2026 / Belgium, Ecosocialism

The “chalk revolution”: when a society rises up to defend public education

Aphrodite Mara — 2026-06-12T15:52:09Z

The month of June 2026 could, in retrospect, appear to be a decisive moment in Belgium's contemporary social and political history. What is at stake there goes far beyond a simple sectoral reform. It is a profound confrontation between two irreconcilable visions of the school.

- IVP617 - June 2026 / Belgium, Trade unions/workplace organizing, Public services

Government brutalizes, the street protests in Belgium

Mateo Alaluf — 2026-05-30T06:10:23Z

Belgium has once again been paralysed by strikes. Tens of thousands of workers demonstrated in Brussels on Tuesday 12 May 2026, the day before the opening of the debates on the law and pension reform programme. Since the formation of the government, structured around the two major right-wing parties (the Flemish nationalists of the NVA and the “Trumpified” Francophone neoliberals of the MR- Mouvement réformateur), the trade union common front (Fédération générale du travail de Belgique-FGTB, Confédération des syndicats chrétiens-CSC and Confédération générale des syndicats libéraux-CGSLB) has been mobilising relentlessly and successfully. The conflict is primarily aimed at the federal government, but also at the federated entities, particularly with regard to education.

- IVP616 - May 2026 / Belgium, Protest movements

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

Mateo Alaluf — 2025-12-17T08:56:25Z

Belgium experienced a crescendo of strikes on Monday 24 November in public transport (trains, buses, trams, metros), Tuesday 25 November in all public services (including education and hospitals) and Wednesday 26 November, with the addition of the private sector, a day long interprofessional general strike that was widely followed in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels.

- IVP611 - December 2025 / Belgium, Trade unions/workplace organizing

Memories of Gilbert Leclercq

Daniel Tanuro, Gilbert Leclercq — 2025-12-11T11:56:20Z

“Gilbert's commitment was the antithesis of sectarianism. For several years, he had systematically drawn attention to the urgent need for unity in anti-capitalist action in the face of the danger of the far right exploiting social frustrations within the working class itself in order to recruit disaffected elements to the service of reaction. Denouncing electoral illusions, he tirelessly advocated a united front, "the only way to ensure the mobilization of all those called upon to fight if they wish to live with dignity, freedom, and protection from abject poverty." ”

- In Memoriam - Obituaries and appreciations / Belgium, Obituary, Fourth International

Fighting side by side from Kyiv to Panama: A look back at the 2025 International Youth Camp

Collective — 2025-08-12T10:56:09Z

“The last bus awaits in the camp's parking lot. Young people, most of whom didn't know each other a week before, exchange phone numbers, social media, and hugs. Here and there, tears flow, as if to prolong the downpours that punctuated the week.”

- IVP607 - August 2025 / Youth camp, Belgium, Fourth International

Fabian, 11-years-old, dead: this was no accident - this is the police

Elena Fernandez Fernandez — 2025-06-05T13:08:14Z

On Monday afternoon, 2 June, in Elisabeth Park in Ganshoren, an 11-year-old child was struck and killed by a police vehicle. Another one. Once again, a young person has lost their life in a police operation. Once again, run over by a police officer. And once again, the institutions react coldly, relaying a version of events that incriminates the victim, while those responsible hide behind complicit investigations that generally lead nowhere.

- IVP605 - June 2025 / Belgium

Hendrik “Pips” Patroons, comrade and friend

Alain Tondeur — 2025-04-29T09:24:09Z

Our comrade Hendrik Patroons, alias “Pips”, passed away in Ghent on April 17, 2025. He was active from an early age in SAP-Antikapitalisten (our organization in Flanders, then called Revolutionaire Arbeiders Liga) and the Fourth International. A convinced revolutionary right up to his last days, he and his companion Marijke Colle left a lasting mark on the organization. He took part in our last national congress in December 2024, and had volunteered to be part of the technical support team for the 18th World Congress of the Fourth International in February 2025, but was unable to do so due to illness. We publish below the tribute paid to him by Alain Tondeur at the funeral ceremony in Wondelgem, near Ghent, on April 25.

- In Memoriam - Obituaries and appreciations / Belgium, Obituary, Fourth International

For an anti-capitalist and internationalist security policy, against the Trump-Musk-Putin axis and neoliberal authoritarian European governments:

Gauche anticapitaliste/SAP Antikapitalisten — 2025-04-10T16:01:14Z

“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.”

- Rearming Europe / Europe, Belgium, War drive/Anti-war movements