The World Economic Forum at Davos of capitalists, managers of capital, and rulers of the richest countries of the global north takes place at a time of accelerated attacks against mass standards of living, our unions, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and especially attacks against immigrants. It comes at a time when our planet is dangerously approaching the point where irreversible damage will threaten the earth and all human, animal and plant forms.
Put Labour at the head of the anti-Brexit movement
19 January 2019, byOn 15 January, after two-and-a-half years of negotiations, British Prime Minister Theresa May presented her proposed withdrawal agreement from the European Union to a vote in the Westminster parliament. It was resoundingly defeated as was inevitable given the balance of forces in the parliament - which has already shown itself to be for a "soft” Brexit if not "Remain”. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, immediately tabled a motion of no confidence in the government. If a motion of no confidence wins a simple majority a new government has to be formed and win a confidence vote within fourteen days, if not a general election is automatically called.
Québec solidaire reviews the election and maps campaign on climate crisis
18 January 2019, by ,Québec solidaire will make climate change the party’s main political campaign issue in the coming year, both in and outside the National Assembly. The campaign will build on the major proposals in the QS economic transition plan featured in the recent Quebec general election.
Here’s What a Real Strike Looks Like: 150 Million Say No to Despotism in India
17 January 2019, byIf a new trade union law goes into effect, India will essentially abandon any commitment to workplace democracy
Solidarity with the popular uprising in Sudan
16 January 2019, byWe the Alliance of Middle East Socialists support the ongoing uprising which erupted across Sudan starting December 19th, 2018. The protests were set off by the lifting of subsidies on bread, wheat, and electricity as well as spiking inflation. The United Nations Development Program has estimated that nearly half of the population, i.e. 20 million, live below the poverty line. However, their demands go much deeper and call for the downfall of the regime of Omar al-Bashir because of its decades of economic, political, and social repression. The dictator al-Bashir was also on the verge of obtaining constitutional amendments allowing him to run in the presidential election in 2020.
Order Prevails in the Arab World
15 January 2019, byThrough butchery and sectarianism, the autocracies of the Arab world have survived this round. But in the long run, any order dependent on murder and bloodshed is doomed to collapse.
Arrest of trade union leaders highlights continued repression
15 January 2019, byAlthough this article was published last November it is part of the current context. At least two people have been killed in protests over fuel price hikes, after the doubling of prices. President Mnangagwa isnt in the country - he is currently visiting Russia. This has been roundly criticised by the opposition. [IV]
Europe’s Political Turmoil — Part II
14 January 2019, byWe have already seen examples of the havoc that the far right in power could wreak — against immigrants and refugees, against civil liberties, against vulnerable populations even within the limits of constitutional rule. But given Europe’s history, the question inevitably arises: would the far right in power stay within constitutional limits? Could further advances for the far right ultimately lead once more to the establishment of fascist regimes in Europe?
Nationalism, Patriotism, Hate Crimes
13 January 2019, byFrench President Emmanuel Macron’s November 11, 2018 speech, during the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, called rising nationalism across Europe a “betrayal of patriotism” and warned against “old demons coming back to wreak chaos and death.”
Yellow Jackets and labour movement at a crossroads
12 January 2019, byA look back at the year 2018. The emergence of the Yellow Jackets was first and foremost an expression of the rejection of tax injustice, crystallized in the rejection of the new fuel tax, which everyone has since understood was intended only to finance the compensation in the 2019 budget for employer social security contribution exemptions.