International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

Empire's Island in a Sea of Struggle

Jeffery R Webber — 2007-01-27T20:37:35Z

Contemporary Colombia clearly ranks as one of the most difficult settings in which to wage resistance for social justice. At the same time, the abundance of injustice demands such resistance. Evil Hour in Colombia, the new book by Forrest Hylton, demonstrates a deep and penetrating understanding of the sociocultural, economic, and political post-Independence history of Colombia. It is a powerful indictment of the imperial practices of the US state.

- IV385 - January 2007 / Colombia, Reviews

Reproductive Rights Today

Dianne Feeley — 2007-01-27T18:53:52Z

One again reproductive rights are under attack in the US. Some states have already mofified their abortion laws, and in the last year more than 500 anti-abortion bills were introduced in state legislatures. Diane Feeley reviews the renewed offensive against women's rights.

- IV385 - January 2007 / United States (USA), Women

The Leadership Succession Bears the Mark of Continuity

Jean Castillo — 2007-01-27T18:40:35Z

Much attention is focussed on Cuba, given the illness of Fidel Castro and the widespread debate over what will happen on the island without him. As a result IV has decided to open a debate on Cuba, staring with a contribution from Jean Castillo, a member of the LCR in France.

- IV385 - January 2007 / Cuba

The Democrats' Domestic Agenda

David Finkel — 2007-01-24T18:17:51Z

The US Democrats won both houses of Congress in November of the back of disillusion with the war in Iraq. But what do the Democrats promise at home?

- IV385 - January 2007 / United States (USA)

The Iraqi Debacle

Gilbert Achcar — 2007-01-23T08:55:39Z

“The great majority of Iraqis see that the very presence of the (US and other) foreign troops is fueling the deterioration of the situation: it has fueled the growth of the insurgency for a long time, and now it is fueling the civil war itself.”

- IV385 - January 2007 / Iraq, War drive/Anti-war movements

The China Advantage

Au Loong-Yu — 2007-01-22T19:33:41Z

Well known global justice activist Au Loong-Yu explains the reasons for China's spectacular economic growth - and some of its deadly consequences for Chinese workers.

- IV385 - January 2007 / China

The Nairobi Social Forum

Jean Nanga — 2007-01-19T21:03:45Z

The arrogance of neoliberalism, although certainly challenged in some Latin American countries, seems to face a cooling of opposition everywhere else, as if there was an exhaustion of the “expansive wave” of the movement for global justice. What can we expect from the second World Social Forum to be held in Africa (following its polycentric version in 2006, held in Bamako, Caracas and Karachi), where all the evils of globalisation in its different phases are concentrated? Will it give a second breath to the movement, a greater and firmer radicalism in the area of alternatives?

- IV385 - January 2007 / Africa, Social Forum, Kenya

Sri Lanka: Stop support for this genocidal war

Yamuna Bandara — 2007-01-19T20:40:55Z

This is a story about a country where over 200,000 men women and children were displaced by war in a year; a country where 600,000 people from the minorities are confined and denied basic human requirements; a country where shelling and air raids are the only Christmas and New year fireworks for tens of thousands. In this country nearly 5000 have been killed within a year and nearly 2000 have been made to disappear within eight months.

- IV385 - January 2007 / Sri Lanka

Hugo Chavez: “For a new United Socialist Party of Venezuela”

Hugo Chavez — 2007-01-17T18:26:22Z

We reprint here passages from Hugo Chavez' speech on 15 December to representatives from grass-roots election campaign bodies: “We here are going to build Venezuelan socialism, the Venezuelan socialist model.”

- IV385 - January 2007 / Venezuela

After the elections: A new party for the Venezuelan revolution

Stuart Piper — 2007-01-17T18:02:46Z

As the size of his victory in the presidential elections became clear on the night of 3 December, Hugo Chavez joined his supporters from the balcony of the Miraflores palace. Under torrential rain, he sang with them the national anthem and shouted â€˜Long live socialism!' The task now, he said was to deepen the socialist revolution in Venezuela.

- IV385 - January 2007 / Venezuela