USA: TikTok and Trump – National Security for Which Class? China’s recent economic growth constitutes a major challenge to the dominance of US capitalism. As a result, hostility to China is now a bipartisan priority for the US ruling class. In addition to increasing military tensions and the imperialist contest over countries in Africa and elsewhere, this has recently been expressed in the relationship between the US and Chinese tech sectors, supported by their...
USA: Black Lives Matter–Jacob Blake Shooting Reignites the Simmering Anger Another unarmed black man has been shot by police, this time in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The now-viral video of the shooting begins with Jacob Blake walking around his car to open the driver’s side door to get in, tailed immediately by two cops. One of the police grabs the back of Blake’s shirt, pulling him backwards to prevent him from getting into his vehicle, and almost immediately begins shooting at close range, firing seven shots into Blake’s back. Not shown in the video were Blake’s young children sitting in the backseat. Blake was admitted to the hospital, and his father says he is now paralyzed from the waist...
Venezuela Supreme Court backs coup inside Patria Para Todos party On August 21, the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) ruled to depose the current leadership within the Patria Para Todos (PPT), giving them legal control of the party to a minority faction. This is yet another scandalous case of state intervention in the affairs of left wing organisations, which can only be interpreted as a response to the formation of the People's Revolutionary Alternative, which will stand in the December National Assembly election.
[Video] Villa, Zapata, and the Mexican Revolution Watch this livestream by our US comrades at Socialist Revolution about about Villa, Zapata, and the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920! 100 years since the end of the revolution, what are its legacy and lessons for today? Presentation by John Peterson, editor of Socialist Revolution.
Canadian economy: when will the **** hit the fan? On 8 July, federal finance minister Bill Morneau announced that the deficit had ballooned to an astronomical $343 billion. The total government debt load is predicted to surpass $1 trillion for the first time in Canadian history, reaching $1.2 trillion sometime next year. This unprecedented level of government spending begs the question: When will the shit hit the fan?
Canada: COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on women The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all parts of society and has thrown hundreds of millions out of work globally. However, a closer look reveals that women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Women workers play a key role in health care, child care, elder care, and teaching while experiencing low wages, insecure employment, and domestic and sexual violence—all of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Venezuela: the Peoples’ Revolutionary Alternative is born. Let’s rebuild hope! After years of arduous and heated discussions, tactical rearrangements, and adjustments in the political activity of the organisations, the Alternativa Popular Revolucionaria (Peoples’ Revolutionary Alternative) has finally been born in Venezuela. It is an alliance of leftist parties and movements that are determined to mark a decisive break from the anti-worker policies of the national government and to offer the country a new working class, peasant, and peoples’ point of reference for a revolutionary solution to the crisis of capitalism.
Haiti: tremors herald the collapse of the Jovenel Moïse regime! We received this article from ELAPRE, a group of revolutionary youth in Haiti. Haiti has experienced the same intensification of the class struggle we have seen in many countries around the world. In recent years, the masses in Haiti have fought to change society and could have overthrown the Moïse government many times. But his government is saved by the ruling class and the reformist leadership of popular movements. Seeing no way forward on this basis, ELAPRE was formed to study the ideas of Marxism, learn the lessons of the past, and to build a revolutionary organisation capable of leading the struggle for socialism.
USA: the Portland protests and Trump’s “gestapo” For weeks on end, the George Floyd protests against racism and police violence shook America. Support for the movement overflowed all demographic boundaries as an estimated 10% of all American adults—some 25 million people—participated in at least one protest. However, although mass gatherings have continued unabated in some cities, in most of the country the torrential river has inevitably receded into its banks as it was deprived of a revolutionary outlet—for now.
“Give us our 10 percent or end the private pensions system!” Chile on track for a second uprising A debate on a bill to withdraw 10 percent of pensions in Chile comes at a time when most of the working population is being affected by COVID-19 and the early stages of a capitalist crisis. The abysmal handling of the pandemic has led to the death of at least 7,000 people and the collapse of the healthcare system. A new wave of protest shows that the spirit of 2019 is still alive for the Chilean workers and youth.
Venezuela: on the arrest of Luis Zapata – another example of the judicialisation of popular struggles The leader of the Jóvenes Por Patria (Youth For Fatherland) JPP movement, a member of the Patria Para Todos Fatherland for All (PPT) party and close collaborator of the IMT in Venezuela, Luis Zapata, was arrested on Sunday 12 July at 4:00 PM, by officials of the Bolivarian National Police, near the town of Ospino, Portuguesa State. After 10:00 PM, and after the show of solidarity from a large number of leftist political organisations, the release of the comrade by the Attorney General of the Republic was announced.
COVID-19 exacerbates Canada’s opioid crisis Since the spread of COVID-19 began in Canada, there has been a huge surge in opioid-related overdoses across the country. This spike in overdoses is directly connected to the scaling back of resources for those struggling with opioid addiction. This is just another example of how COVID-19 has taken all the problems of capitalist society and exacerbated them, affecting the most downtrodden layers the hardest.
Mexico: Ayotzinapa – as “historical truth” collapses, we insist it was the state! The battered “historical truth” about the disappearance of the student teachers from Ayotzinapa, an account constructed by the Enrique Peña Nieto government based on torture and grotesque distortions, has completely fallen apart. On 7 July, the Attorney General's Office confirmed the identification of Christian Alfonso Rodríguez Telumbre, one of the 43 student teachers. His remains were not found in the Cocula dump, or in the San Juan River, but in a place 800 meters from where Peña’s version of the “truth” was built.
Canadian capitalism kills migrant workers The recent deaths of three migrant workers in Canada from COVID-19 have once again shed light on the horrific abuse and exploitation of workers under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Packed like sardines into overcrowded bunkhouses and workplaces with little regard for their health and no rights or protections, migrant workers have contracted COVID-19 at a far higher rate than the rest of the population. Far from being a new phenomenon, the situation is part of the long saga of Canadian capitalism killing migrant workers for the sake...
Venezuela: open letter to the PCV and PPT The following letter is addressed by the leadership of our Venezuelan comrades to the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) and Fatherland for All (PPT) party, calling on them to establish a revolutionary alternative to the PSUV in the upcoming parliamentary elections, given the latter’s policies of privatisation, concessions to the capitalists and repression of workers’ and peasant struggle.