IV405 - October 2008

The files in the October 2008 issue of International Viewpoint can be downloaded in PDF format.

We appeal for your kind assistance to help meet the most urgent needs of the affected populations for food, medicines, potable water and containers, used clothing and books for children, sleeping mats and plastic sheets for temporary shelter.

On October 12, 2007, researchers of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) received the Nobel Peace Prize, applauded by all the (supposedly) important decision-makers in the world. One year later, the governments of the developed countries no longer conceal their intention of truncating and deforming the recommendations of the experts, in order to make them compatible with the interests of the North and the diktats of the multinationals. The so-called financial crisis can only strengthen this tendency in the future.

The proposed modification of the current European Working Time Directive, agreed in June by the Employment Ministers of the European Union (EU) and awaiting approval by the European Parliament, represents one step further in the process of greater flexibility of work relations and the erosion of the social guarantees of European workers.

Even though the level of participation in the European Social Forum in Malmö (Sweden) was limited, this framework remains irreplaceable in order to permit a sharing of experiences and to support the organization of mobilizations on a European scale.

The Fourth International was founded when it was “midnight in the century”. Fascism was on the rampage, the counter-revolution had triumphed in the USSR and Stalinism was suffocating the revolutionary workers’ movement all over the world. In contrast with the preceding Internationals, it was not carried forward by waves of workers’ struggles and a growth of the working-class movement.

First of all, I want to express my gratitude to all individuals and institutions that, once they heard about my arrest, demanded my liberty. Your support was very important. I want to specially thank our Canadian friends, whose support has made it possible for Lucha Indigena still to be published.

Is this the final crisis of capitalism? The end of the system as we know it? What are we to make of the current financial meltdown? Here, a Marxist view from inside the United States.

The debt crisis that hit the advanced industrial countries in 2007 could radically change the conditions of indebtedness in developing countries in the near future.

The decision to make public a presidential order of last July authorizing American strikes inside Pakistan without seeking the approval of the Pakistani government ends a long debate within, and on the periphery of, the Bush administration.