The results of the European parliamentary elections in Spain were characterized in the first place by the highest rate of abstention registered in our country since 1977 (55.8%), reflecting thus the tendency, common in the majority of EU countries, towards a growing distance of the public from the Parliament and the European institutions.
Everybody but the bourgeoisie loses
1 October 2004, byThe European Parliament elections in Sweden have once again shown the mistrust the Swedish working class has for the European Union project. The highest abstention rate in Swedish history and the breakthrough of a new party symbolize an election of protest towards the ruling classes and their parties in Sweden.
European Left Party founded
1 October 2004, byFifteen parties from the Communist tradition from eleven different countries held a congress in Rome, on May 8-9, 2004, to found the European Left Party or ELP.
Interview with Marwan Othman
1 October 2004, byMarwan Othman, aged 45, identifies himself as a Trotskyist and is one of the leaders of Yekiti, the second most influential party among Syrian Kurds.
An interview with Gilbert Achcar
1 October 2004, byWe reproduce here an interview Gilbert Achcar gave on May 5, 2004 to Jean-François Marquis which was published in the new Swiss monthly “La Brèche” (June 2004). We have completed it with four further questions to which he replied on June 28, 2004.
Is the Empire being defeated?
1 October 2004, byDespite all the media attention, the true scale of the Iraq conflict is concealed from the public in the West. What is happening is an utterly brutal all-out urban guerrilla war, with savage atrocities being committed by both sides. The scale of this is concealed with reports of “attacks” and “bombings”, apparently by disparate bands of desperadoes. Only occasionally, as with the turning-point battle of Falluja in April, does anything like the real scale of the fighting and the extent of American casualties get fully reported in the press and on TV.