International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

PSOE gains from useful vote against the reactionary right

Jaime Pastor — 2019-04-30T17:27:17Z

With a turnout of more than 75%, the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero EspaÃ±ol – Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) was the main winner (28.70% of votes, with 123 seats, as against 2016 when it obtained 85) against the PP (Partido Popular – Popular Party), which has entered an irreversible crisis (it has gone from 137 seats to 66, with 16.70%, while it did not obtain representation for the first time in the Basque Country and only has one seat in Catalonia), Ciudadanos (which rose from 32 to 57 seats with 15.86%, but did not overtake the PP and fell back in its original fiefdom, Catalonia) and Vox (which enters parliament with 24 seats and 10.26%, but below the expectations it had generated with its discourse of the Reconquista).

- IV531 - April 2019 / Spanish state

Looking at the presidential duel

Pierre Rousset — 2019-04-30T04:02:01Z

Indonesia's incumbent president, Joko Widodo, won the country's general elections on 17 April 2019, beating his rival, Prabowo Subianto, who had a nefarious military past. A victory for democracy? It's not that simple…

- IV531 - April 2019 / Indonesia

Teachers on strike in Poland

Katarzyna Bieli?ska-Kowalewska — 2019-04-29T06:15:20Z

On 8 April 74% of schools and kindergardens in Poland went on strike. The strike's organizer is The Polish Teachers' Union (ZNP), close to the Social Democrats, but the strikers are also members of the pro-government Solidarno?? (Solidarity) union and non-union members. It is the biggest teachers' strike since 1993 and possibly the biggest in the history of Poland. There is impressive solidarity and grassroots mobilization of a mainly female occupational group. Inter-school strike committees are being launched as well.

- IV531 - April 2019 / Poland

Democracy, the constituent assembly and the challenge of transition

Nadir Djermoune — 2019-04-28T08:12:44Z

It is the political question that is now structuring the actions and debates in the popular protest movement known as “Hirak”. Since 22 February 2019, the date of the emergence of the movement that occupies the street and Algerian public space, the demand has quickly passed from its ethical dimension, the rejection of the candidacy of an old and sick president for his fifth term, towards the political issues that underpinned this candidacy and its corollaries relating to the organization and democratic exercise of Algerian government.

- IV531 - April 2019 / Algeria

Russia: The Protest Movement is Younger, Poorer, and More Left Wing

Ivan Ovsyannikov — 2019-04-27T08:01:23Z

As conspiracy theories about Trump-Russian “collusion” and fatuous claims about Putin's iron grip have dominated American headlines for the past two years, the politics of the Russian street have undergone a noticeable transformation. Despite the authorities' best efforts, mass street protests have become a fact of Russian life. The mass protests for fair elections in December 2011 aroused intellectuals' interest in opposition politics in the large cities. Seven years later, the aesthetics of protest have changed. Today's protests are more and more defined by youth from poor families from provincial cities. This is a welcomed development, proving once again, that politics in Russia is far more vibrant, especially among young people, than the American media would have us believe.

- IV531 - April 2019 / Russia

“President and Government should be held responsible for Easter Sunday carnage”

Vame Handa (Left Voice) — 2019-04-26T15:25:21Z

At least 253 people were killed and 500 were wounded due to the suicide attacks carried out by religious extremists on Easter Sunday on three churches and three luxury tourist hotels in Sri Lanka. The Left Voice, an organisation of socialist activists in the trade unions and peoples' struggles, unconditionally condemns this barbaric attack.

- IV531 - April 2019 / Sri Lanka

Defeat the BJP Strengthen the Working Class, Left and All Progressive Movements

Radical Socialist — 2019-04-26T07:10:02Z

The 2019 Indian general election is currently being held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. The counting of votes will be conducted on 23 May, and on the same day the results will be declared. [1] This statement by Radical Socialist was issued on 19 April 2019.

- IV531 - April 2019 / India

The Left Bloc 20 years on

Josu Egireun, Manuel Garí — 2019-04-25T03:38:34Z

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the foundation in Portugal of the Bloco de Esquerda (BE – Left Bloc), which was created as a unique political movement and not as a unified political party or as a coalition. Its constitution and evolution, for those of us who have closely followed this experience with interest and passion from other political contexts, is paradigmatic. A unique experience that is not free of paradoxes, challenges and risks. A revolutionary left that does not want to limit itself to a testimonial practice and self-affirmation has to reflect on these.

- IV531 - April 2019 / Portugal, New parties of the left

The killing of Lyra McKee

Barney Cassidy — 2019-04-24T06:59:12Z

On 18 April the twenty-nine year old journalist, trade unionist and lesbian activist Lyra McKee was shot while reporting on rioting in the Creggan area of Derry in the North of Ireland. This killing provoked widespread grief for a well-known journalist and activist and anger against the New IRA – a dissident group that broke with the Provisional IRA in 1998, rejecting the Good Friday agreement. – IVP

- IV531 - April 2019 / Ireland, LGBT

Ukrainian Elections: The Crisis of Representation and Reconfiguration of Oligarchic Power

Ukraine Solidarity — 2019-04-23T10:48:40Z

The elections in Ukraine have come a shock and will have an impact not only in Ukraine and East Europe but globally. What does this mean and how did it happen? In order to help understand these dramatic events Christopher Ford organiser of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign interviewed leading Ukraine specialist Yuliya Yurchenko author of Ukraine and the Empire of Capital (Pluto, 2017).

- IV531 - April 2019 / Ukraine