IV291 - July 1997

The contemporary movement for lesbian/gay liberation was born out of the ferment of the New Left. Its leftist roots were openly acknowledged. Times have changed, nowadays lesbian/gay spokespeople and theorists are less likely to identify with the anti-capitalist left than they used to be.

Thirty years later, Che Guevara’s message is still a glowing beacon to those who know that a better world is possible.

An internationalist, European but anti-EU left has exploded onto the political scene of the continent.

The Marches against Unemployment, jobs security and marginalisation set off on 14 April, and converged in Amsterdam two months later.

Fidel Velazquez Sanchez, head of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) died on June 21, at the age of 97.

On 25 May Ecuadorians voted in a 14 question referendum.

The military, and the public opinion, have forced the fundamentalist-nationalist coalition government to resign. Conservative opposition leader Mesut Yilmaz has been invited to form the next government, which will probably be a ’non-clerical’ coalition with the social democratic opposition.

Over 35,000 people attended a rally in Istanbul on 26 May, opposing both the fundamentalist-conservative block and the growing military threat. This event was organised by the Liberty and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), a regroupment party which includes most currents of the 1970s far left, including the Fourth International current, Yeniyol.

The June 2nd general election results were good news from a capitalist class war perspective. The northern horizon shows no major threat to rapid economic restructuring or government austerity budgets. But the escalation of tensions around the Quebec national question points to storm clouds ahead.

Support for the Bloc Quebecois fell from 49 to 38%, half a million less than last time. As a result, pro-federal parties won a majority of votes in 64 of Quebec’s 75 constituencies This decline is the direct result of the anti-social policies of the Parti Quebecois government.