London May Day protests: Hypocrisy of the capitalist press and politicians The violent flair up in London on May Day which resulted in damage to a McDonald's restaurant and other property has caused outrage in the capitalist press and amongst bourgeois politicians of every stripe.
Letter to Serbian Socialists The break up of the former Yugoslav federation has been a disaster for all its peoples. There is nothing progressive about it whatsoever. In all the states that have been created from the break up, reactionary governments have come to power. Tudjman in Croatia and Milosevic in Serbia do not defend the interests of the Croat or the Serb workers. The same is true of Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Slovenia.
First strike against the war in Italy On 3rd April 100,000 people marched in a demonstration in Rome against the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. A week later another demonstration of over 50,000 took place. There is a lot of opposition to the NATO bombing among the workers and youth in Italy in spite of the government's support.
Massive education strike in Spain On Tuesday, November 7, more than 3 million school and university students went out on strike in Spain. The strike also had a 90% following amongst university teachers and non-teaching staff at universities. More than 200,000 students, teachers and university workers participated in demonstrations all over the country with 50.000 in Madrid, 20.000 in Seville, 15.000 in Santiago, 10.000 in Barcelona, 15.000 in Valladolid, 5.000 in Oviedo, 5.000 in the Canary Islands, … with a total of more than 70 demonstrations all over the country.
300,000 students, teachers and workers march in Madrid on December 1st Millions of Spanish students against the education reforms of the Popular Party The PP government is facing a mass students' movement which has the support of the majority of the population. The clearest indication of the importance of this struggle were the editorials of the two main bourgeois papers in Spain on November 15. Both El Pais and El Mundo were warning the government of the danger of the situation and asking them to negotiate. However, President Aznar and the leaders of the PP so far have taken the route of prepotence and repression.
Conditions and struggle of women in Italy IntroductionThe two articles published below were written for the Italian Marxist journal, FalceMartello. The first one was published in September of last year, round the time when the 'Year 2000 women's march against poverty and violence' was about to reach Rome on a world-wide route that ended in New York in October. The second was published just after International Women's Day (March 8th) 2000.
Mass demonstration in Barcelona against the capitalist system Some 50,000 youth and workers showed their opposition to the capitalist system at the demonstration against the World Bank in Barcelona on Sunday, June 24th.
Leading Irish Officials suspended by Transport and General Workers' Union - An attack against trade union democracy Late on the afternoon of Tuesday 26 June, the Irish Regional secretary and regional organiser of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union were suspended from office by Bill Morris, general secretary of the TGWU.
A Marxist Approach to the Problem of Cyprus Cyprus is one of several countries that is to be admitted into the European Union in 2004. But there remains the problem of the unresolved national question on the island. Turkey's continued hold over the northern part of the island has become a major obstacle to Turkey being accepted as an EU member. The debate among the ruling elite in Turkey has swiftly turned into a blunt choice of "whether to abandon Cyprus or to annex it". This article by Zeynep Günes, a Turkish Marxist, presents a socialist perspective on the question of Cyprus.
Britain: sects in a mess - Split in the Socialist Alliance conference A report of the Socialist Alliance Conference on December 1st which started with words of unity and ended up with the Socialist Party splitting off.
Ireland: Class struggle on the agenda The situation in Ireland is changing very fast. After almost 10 years of economic boom (the "Celtic Tiger") the whole of the economy is in recession. In October unemployment rose by 5, 000. Aer Lingus has sacked 2, 000 workers, Nortel 265, RTE 160, Irish Times 250, FLS Aerospace 200, AFL 300, Tara Mines 700. The list is endless, and that is just in the third month of the recession. The Department of Trade and Enterprise has announced a 42% increase in redundancies for the year so far (the biggest increase since the beginning of the "Celtic Tiger" myth). Some analysts reckon that 20,000 jobs in the construction industry and 20,000 in tourism will be lost in the next 12 months.
Spanish Students' Union calls day of action: 2.5 million on strike On Wednesday, November 28, the Marxist-led Spanish Students' Union (SE) called a general strike to protest against the reactionary education law of the right-wing Aznar government.
Anti-war demonstration in London: One step forward, two steps back Report of the demonstration against the war in Afghanistan held in Trafalgar Square on Sunday Novemeber 18.
New Law Attacks Civil Rights In the aftermath of September 11, governments around the world have been attempting to rush through legislation which undermines democratic rights, in the name of fighting terrorism. In the UK, Blair is trying to introduce a new law which will allow among other things indefinite imprisonment without trial of foreign nationals.
Collapse of Belgian airline underlines bankruptcy of privatisation policy and of union strategy Only superlatives and historical comparisons can help us to understand the scope of the sudden collapse of the Sabena airline and the new commotion it has provoked in Belgium. As one trade union leader put it: "Our society is going from one shock to the other." In just one day 12,000 workers have lost their jobs and 36,000 jobs in service-providing companies are now in jeopardy. This amounts to the biggest single bankruptcy since the second world war.
