IV455 - December 2012

To complete our coverage of the debate concerning the Red-Green Alliance’s decision to vote for the national budget in Denmark we reproduce here the declaration of the Executive Committee of SAP of November 13, 2012.

IV455 December 2012 PDF available to download here

An interview with Mohand Sadek Akrour, outgoing mayor of Barbacha and candidate for the Parti Socialiste des Travailleurs (PST – Socialist Workers’ Party, Algerian section of the Fourth International) at the local elections of November 29, 2012. The interviewer was Farid Ikken

“The four biggest trade unions operating in Silesia - Solidarnosc, OPZZ, FZZ and ‘August 80’ - have set up a protest and strike committee. This means the beginning of the preparation of a general strike. If the trade unionists are unable to come to an agreement with the government, the protest could take place in February. (…) "Our goal is to obtain a change in the government’s socio-economic policy and if we cannot – a change of government"- said the leader of ‘August 80 ‘, Boguslaw Zietek, during the press conference.

With a turn-out of 48.9 per cent, the Icelandic electorate approved on October 20, 2012, by 66.3 per cent of the votes cast, the outline of the new draft constitution. This is an indication that the Icelandic Parliament, which must adopt the constitution, will have to take into account. In addition to this general question, voters had to decide on five additional questions in the debate around the project:

A deadly fire in Bangladesh has led to a revolt of textile workers and a wave of indignation around the world.

Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexico’s new president who took office on December 1, carried out a shrewd political maneuver the very next day, convincing the opposition parties to join him in signing a "Pact for Mexico," calling for the completion of the neoliberal transformation begun in the 1980s. Leaders of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) agreed to join with the president in carrying out "reforms" of telecommunications, education, and state and municipal finances.

This assessment of Doha was published by the Solidarity Ecosocialist Commission on 11 December 2012. The Ecosocialist Commission is a group of Solidarity members whose goal is to show why the struggles for socialism and for ecological justice are inseparable. It is is a place for education, discussion, and coordinating activism around the intersections between the socialist and ecological movements.

“Territorial integrity and sovereignty are not outmoded concepts, nor are they luxuries for the rich and powerful. Those who talk about partition of the Congo as a solution are offering a prescription for expanded and continued violence.”

This document was published on the 13 December 2012. It is translated from the Arabic by Luiza Toscane.