IVP 512 September 2017 PDF magazine available to download
IVP 512 September 2017 PDF magazine available to download here
Decisive days in Catalonia
30 September 2017, byAs state repression and popular mobilization in Catalonia grows, Barcelona-based author and activist Josep MarÃa Antentas explains the potential for the October 1 independence referendum to detonate an institutional crisis across Spain. As this article was being prepared for publications, demonstrations in support of Catalonia’s right to self-determination were growing across Spain, and no one knows if conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will risk bloodshed to prohibit the vote; if the Catalan government will blink and postpone the referendum; or if the vote will proceed and trigger a political crisis for the both the Spanish state and the Europe-wide forces pushing austerity. The article was first published at Viento Sur and translated for SocialistWorker.org by Todd Chretien.
An introduction to the Chinese-Pakistan economic corridor
29 September 2017, byWhile initial plans for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) predate those of OBOR it has been given renewed impetus under it and has come to be described as a flagship OBOR project. Along with the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, the CPEC receives specific mention in the National Development and Reform Commision’s 2015 OBOR Vision and Action document. The corridor, which involves a series of infrastructure projects linking the two countries, runs for 3,000 kilometres from Kashgar in western China to the port of Gwadar in Pakistan. Along the corridor huge infrastructure projects, including roads, railways and power plants and an optical cable fibre network are either being built or planned to be built which are largely funded by Chinese capital and loans. The value of the corridor is currently estimated to be US$62 billion.
Against Macron, here come the "slackers”
28 September 2017, byConfrontation with Emmanuel Macron and his government has been inevitable since the French presidential and parliamentary elections of May and June 2017. Everyone knew his programme would include a rapid and profound challenge to employment law and social protection, combined with a policy of repression of the social movement and attacks on democratic rights.
Catalonia’s right to decide
27 September 2017, byWe are in the home stretch of a test of strength over the Catalan parliament’s convening of a 1 October independence referendum. No one knows what will happen when that day arrives, but a clash of legitimacies and legalities is inevitable.
The Rohingya, the Burmese regime and the geopolitical stakes
26 September 2017, byThe Burmese government is pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, who are being driven out of the country. Never has the persecution of this Muslim minority reached such a level of violence. The nature of the Burmese regime, the policy of land grabbing and the geopolitical stakes are largely responsible for the paroxysmal nature of this humanitarian crisis.
Elections in Germany: Breakthrough of the extreme right; Spectacular losses of CDU / CSU and SPD
25 September 2017, byOn September 24, 2017, the spectacular losses of the Christian-conservative CDU / CSU parties and the Social Democratic SPD forming up to now the governing grand coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), and the dramatic success of the AfD with a nationalist, racist, ultra-conservative and far-right profile, are the marking points of the results of the recent elections to the Bundestag. Indeed, the CDU / CSU with 33% of the votes loses 8.5 percentage points measured to 2013 and the SPD loses 5.2 arriving at 20.5% - it is the expression of an apparently irresistible erosion of the Social Democratic electorate since the implementation of anti-social counter-reforms of the SPD / Green government’s 2010 agenda under SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
The dilemma of Catalunya en Comú
25 September 2017, byThis article, dated 11 September, discusses the position of one of the major parties in Catalonia faced with the decision of the Catalonian government to call the referendum outlawed by the central Spanish state government. It does not deal with the most recent repression against the Catalonian institututions by the Madrid government.
No Trump, No War, No Way!
24 September 2017, byIf it weren’t frightening, it would be funny: “Big Twit Calls Out Rocket Man,” as Donald Trump ramps up his insults and threats of war against North Korea. Let’s look at some of the issues behind the antics and escalating rhetoric.
Activists in B.C gear up for ’the next Standing Rock’ with tiny house protest
23 September 2017An activist from the Neskonlith band of the Secwepemc people in British Columbia is preparing for what she believes is the next Standing Rock, with a unique project aiming to block the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline on Indigenous territory.