IV455 - December 2012

This article was published in “Front Line”, organ of the Revolutionary Left Current, October-November 2012 on 1 October, 2012.

This resolution was adopted by the national conference of the Socialistisk Arbejderparti, (SAP, Socialist Workers’ Party, Danish section of the Fourth International) on November 17-18, 2012. We are publishing it as a complement to the article in this issue by Michael Voss “A major mistake by the Red-Green Alliance”.

The state of health of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is such that it is possible new elections will have to take place following his victory in October 2012. International Viewpoint correspondent Franck Gaudichaud was in Venezuela in October and made this assessment of the outcome of that election.

We publish here an interview conducted by Franck Gaudichaud with the members of the National Coordination of Marea Socialista, a current in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV): Gonzalo Gómez (founder of the website Aporrea.org), Stalin Perez Borges (trade union leader), Juan García, and Zuleika Matamoros. The interview took place in Caracas on October 9, 2012.

One month ago, we, representatives of the Russian radical left, turned to you with a call for solidarity. We asked you, our comrades and fellow thinkers, all who treasure freedom and the just right of the people to protest, to go to the representatives of the Russian Federation in various countries in the world and express your attitude towards the unprecedented wave of political repression mounting in our country.

This interview with Nizar Amami, a trade unionist who works in the Post Office, was made by Dominique Lerouge for the French NPA newspaper TEAN in Tunis on 17 December 2012. Nizar Amani is the LGO Coordinator and one of the leaders of the Popular Front.

This article is intended, not so much to provide a report of all the debates of the congress, but rather to reflect on the strategic challenges that the members of the Left Bloc [1] have decided by their majority vote to take up. If I had to sum up in a phrase the meaning of what has been adopted, I would say that the Bloc has taken great risks in order to be up to meeting the challenges of the present situation. The idea that permeated the congress was expressed right from Francisco Louça’s opening speech: "The Bloc is here to win and to change". This idea was present in the interventions of Pedro Filipe Soares, Alda Sousa, Luis Fazenda, Jorge Costas, Marisa Matias, Joao Semedo, Catarina Martins and many others. In other words, it is a collective attitude, of a bloc, the Left Bloc.

Lee Sustar looks at the latest effort by Egypt’s president to roll back the revolution.

The merger of three left wing parties — Awami Party, Labour Party Pakistan, and Workers Party Pakistan — has generated a lot of discussion among the political intelligentsia and activists. While it has been hailed as a trend setting exercise by many in and outside Pakistan, there are quite a few asking the question: will it sustain itself? The merger undoubtedly has lifted many aspirations of those wanting a just and equitable society. It has been welcomed all over despite a few relating sarcastically and instinctively with some of the failed attempts of the Left to forge unity among organizations over the past 30 years.

Today December 10 the spread between the interest Italy pays on government bonds compared to Germany has gone up beyond 350 points (30 points more than last week) and the Milan stock market fell by 2.2 %. This follows the unexpected speed of Monti’s resignation after Berlusconi’s decision to pull PDL support from the Italian government and, in his words, to take to the field again. Today’s polls give Berlusconi only 11.9% three times less than Bersani and the PD and also less than Beppe Grillo’s movement. These events show the difficulties the ruling political class have in managing governments in times of austerity and crisis.