This statement by the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International was adopted on 26 September 2020.
Johnson crashes Britain towards the abyss
29 September 2020, byLess than one year after its resounding electoral victory over the Labour Party, Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is in turmoil – and crashing the country towards a social, health and economic disaster of unprecedented proportions. Combining incompetence with neoliberal myopia, Johnson is allowing a second wave of Covid-19 to explode. The ensuing economic crash merges with the disastrous results of Britain’s departure from the European Union (Brexit) and threatens economic and social meltdown by Christmas. Politically, the hard right Conservatives are responding by trying to ramp up anti-migrant, anti-European xenophobia.
For the defence of democratic and trade-union rights in Algeria
28 September 2020, byFor the defence of democratic and trade-union freedoms! No to the referendum and the Tebboune constitution! For the election of a sovereign Constituent Assembly! This statement was issued by the Socialist Workers Party (PST) Algeria on 19 September 2020.
Belarus: the beginning of what end?
27 September 2020, byThe sixth re-election of Alexander Lukashenko as President of Belarus on 9 August, 2020 was preceded and followed by popular mobilizations fuelled by police brutality, against a background of fraud and increasing challenges to old social protections. The Belarusian autocrat, after multiple tensions with his Russian neighbour, is now asking Putin for his “help” in dealing with an unprecedented social protest.
Pandemic, Polarization, and Resistance in the US
26 September 2020, by ,Joseph Daher from SolidaritéS, Swtizerland, spoke to US longtime activist and DSA member Ashley Smith about the situation in the USA in a wide-ranging interview covering the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter, social movements of resistance to Trump, the aftermath of the Bernie Sanders’ movement and the prospects for the left in the USA.
Strengthening of normalization process of Israel after agreement with the UAE
25 September 2020, byOn 13 August the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel entered into a US-sponsored peace accord that further deepens the process of normalization of the colonial and racist apartheid state.
Democratic space reduced, Italian government given breathing space
24 September 2020, byAs expected the constitutional referendum to reduce the number of MPs in both houses by a third passed by 70 per cent to 30 per cent. This means an Italian MP will represent up to 150,000 voters, the highest in Europe and considerably more than here [United Kingdom]. Democratic space and access is severely reduced and it makes it even more difficult for new or smaller parties, particularly alternative left wing or ecological ones, to be represented.
US Postal Service in Crisis — Why?
23 September 2020, byTHE U.S. POSTAL Service, a publicly owned institution with a large (630,000) unionized workforce and a history dating to 1775, is facing a financial crisis that could present a real opportunity for the Trump administration to enact its program of privatization as well as weakening its employee unions.
Hong Kong in Revolt: A Conversation with Au Loong-Yu
22 September 2020, by ,For the past year and a half, Hong Kong has been in turmoil, with a new generation of young and politically active citizens mobilising to protest Beijing’s tightening grip over the city. In Hong Kong in Revolt: The Protest Movement and the Future of China (Pluto Books 2020), prominent Hong Kong leftist intellectual Au Loong-Yu retraces the development of the protest movement in his place of birth over the past two decades, setting them within the context of broader political trends in mainland China and beyond. Published after the Chinese authorities enacted a new draconian National Security Law that effectively signalled a new stage in the crackdown, this book provides a perfect opportunity to reflect on the events of the past months, dispel some myths, and, possibly, draw a few early lessons.
WikiLeaks: Defend Assange and Civil Liberties – History, Great Britain, and Julian Assange
21 September 2020, by , ,BELOW ARE THE comments Clifford D. Conner made at a September 8th press conference in front of the British consulate in New York City. Conner is an historian and author of Jean Paul Marat: Tribune of the French Revolution and The Tragedy of American Science: From Truman to Trump. The court in Britain is holding hearings on the Trump administration’s request to have Julian Assange, the Australian editor, publisher and founder of WikiLeaks, extradited. Assange would be tried in a Virginia court on 17 counts of espionage and one count of conspiracy to commit a computer crime. If convicted, he could face up to 175 years in prison.