IV485 - June 2015

IVP 485 June 2015 PDF magazine

This statement was issued by the Secretariat of the Bureau of the Fourth International on 29 June 2015.

The turning point that we hoped for, and which we had started to doubt would come, has arrived. The disastrous parody of “negotiations”, the spiral of retreats and concessions has been stopped.

The outgoing governmental coalition, headed by Social Democracy, suffered a stinging defeat in the elections on June 18. But so did the leading party of the right opposition. The winners were four different parties outside the political mainstream.

Sergio Grez, professor of history at the University of Chile (Santiago) and Franck Gaudichaud, lecturer in Latin American Civilization at the University of Grenoble (and currently visiting researcher at the University of Chile), were interviewed on the political and social situation in Chile following the great student mobilization of 2011 by Giulia Willig for the Swiss journal SolidaritéS.

After yet another summit on the Greek debt on 22 June, there are signs of an “extend and pretend” deal until winter. There is vague talk of a “debt relief” in the future, although it is unclear how much of the debt the Eurozone governments are willing to write off. Most importantly what are the conditions they impose in return?

Hillary Clinton’s support for policies like welfare reform belie her claim to be a champion of children.

Manila – “Our struggle to assert our rights as Teduray to our identity and territory has started long before the MILF-GPH peace talks, and we have been very consistent about this,” says Jennevieve Cornelio, a Teduray woman leader of the Timuay Justice and Governance (TJG). “Kahit wala kaming armas.” (Even if we do not have arms.)

On the morning of September 30, 1965, a small group of army officers and Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) members attempted a coup against the Indonesian army leadership. Six army generals were killed, but the coup failed and was crushed by surviving army leaders in a few days. Together with other right-wing forces, the army, under the command of Gens. Suharto and Abdul Haris Nasution, retaliated.

We have heard of the death of our Belgian comrade François Vercammen on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 after a long illness. Aged 69, François was a pillar of the LCR (Belgian section of the Fourth International) but also one of the main leaders of the Fourth International. For years, thanks to his knowledge of several languages, he had regularly monitored the activities of its different sections and in particular of the French LCR.