An international call for solidarity in support of the workers at the Garrahan Hospital Following the declarations of the Minister of Health, Gines Gonzalez Garcia, where the ancilliary workers were accused of being “public health criminals practising terrorism”, various social and political organisations have begun to mobilise in support of the workers. This call is a way of showing solidarity. We ask you to send it to those that you know in our country, Argentina, and abroad.
Solidarity with the workers of Garrahan, a hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina Last Thursday we published material in Spanish about the struggle of the Garrahan hospital workers in Argentina. We are publishing some of that material today in English.
Canada: The Telus workers declare they’ve had enough! - The Telecommunications Workers Union members hit the picket line across BC and Alberta Telus workers across BC and Alberta have been on the picket lines since Thursday July 21st, making it clear that they will not roll over and take the offer that the company is trying to impose. In five years without a contract, the members of the Telecommunications Workers Union have put up with Telus stalling, conniving, and repeatedly bargaining in bad faith, in a blatant attempt to break the union.
Canada: Victory for the Telecommunications Workers! Re-nationalize telecommunications! Fightback calls for the nationalization of telecommunications under democratic workers’ control, as the only solution to the problems of poor management at Telus.
Picket in solidarity with Cipla/Interfibra workers in Vienna On Thursday, July 14, a group of Young Socialists and representatives of the Editorial Board of Der Funke organised a picket in front of the Brazilian embassy to protest against the threatened repression of the Cipla and Interfibra workers who have occupied their factories to defend their jobs.
Chavez announces expropriation of closed factories – Venezuela debates socialism In his weekly Alo Presidente TV programme, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced that some 136 closed factories are being surveyed with the aim of expropriating them. Within the workers’ movement this has been enthusiastically received. The main discussion now is what is meant by socialism, how to apply “co-management” and what the role of the workers is in the revolutionary process and in the economy.
Editorial from the American Socialist Appeal The recent terrorist attacks in London only confirm the volatile position the world finds itself in at the beginning of the 21st century. Bush and Blair’s war on terror and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have done nothing but further destabilize the situation. In the United States, the mood is finally turning against the war. This is the editorial of the latest issue of the American Socialist Appeal.
The Bush Tax Cuts & Class Division in America Titanic sums of money - the taxes paid in mostly by the working class - have been spent by the Bush Administration primarily on two things: the continuing slaughter in Iraq and the further enrichment of the top 10 percent of Americans. Millions of working people in the United States continue to worry about whether or not they will have a job two months from now or even next week. And how does the ‘compassionate conservative’ in the White House soothe the nation’s anxiety? By handing out billions of dollars to the modern-day robber barons of Capital.
War, Occupation, Torture, Apologies U.S. Senator Dick Durbin's atypically frank condemnation of the treatment of U.S. prisoners around the world cause a storm of criticism. The bulk of the critics purposely skewed Durbin’s apt comparison, ignoring the widespread tactics used in the war on terror which without question include torture. The ugly truth is that prisons in Iraq are merely a reflection of the prison system here in the U.S.
USA: The Fight for a Living Wage: For a Class-Independent Mass Party of Labor Every victory by working people in the struggle to improve their lives is a step forward that must be applauded. Working people have power when they organize. But it is not enough to petition the bosses and their cronies in government to throw a few crumbs to those at the bottom. From the latest issue of the American Socialist Appeal.
The Iraq Quagmire Deepens After Bush’s reelection, many around the world thought the end of the world had come. According to them, the American “sheeple” had been duped once and for all, and Bush would effortlessly ram through his ultra-reactionary policies at home and abroad. However, Bush’s honeymoon period disappeared in a flash. Now, seemingly overnight, the mood of the American people has finally turned against the war in Iraq.
New book by Alan Woods: Marxism and the U.S.A. In his new book, Alan Woods examines the broad sweep of American history from a Marxist perspective. Many Americans view the ideas of socialism and Marxism with suspicion and distrust. In Marxism and the U.S.A., the author shows that these ideas are not at all foreign to the history and traditions of the American people. The book can be ordered from Wellred USA for $15 within the U.S. and for $20 for International orders.
Introduction to Marxism and the U.S.A. Marxism and the USA is an updated and greatly expanded version of an essay on this question originally written in 2002. We produce here Alan Woods’ introduction to give our readers an idea of what the book is about.
“The survival of the Cuban Revolution depends on the impulse of Latin America” [An interview with Celia Hart published in La Jornada, Wednesday, June 29, 2005. See also the original Spanish text]
Colombia: To organize and fight means death Ramon Samblas interviewed Juan Carlos Galvis from SINALTRAINAL, the Colombian food processing and beverages trade union. Juan Carlos spoke today at one of the recent G8 Alternative meetings.
