After much delay due to COVID-19 restrictions, Julian Assange’s extradition hearing resumed on 7 September in the Old Bailey, London. Assange has remained in solitary confinement in the high security Belmarsh Prison since he was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy on 11 April 2019.

We are living through a decisive turning point in history. At such times, it is natural to look for reference points or historical parallels. But nothing seems to really fit what we are experiencing.

Swathes of the USA have been hit with devastating wildfires: a tragic consequence of climate change and capitalist negligence. With people on the West Coast having already faced COVID-19, multiple disasters are being piled one on top of another.

50 years ago, the Allende government was elected in Chile. It carried out a host of radical reforms. But capitalism was not abolished. The tragic conclusion was the coup of 11 Sept 1973. We must remember this important episode from history.

This weekend marks the fifth anniversary since Jeremy Corbyn was first elected Labour leader. This marked an enormous turning point for the Left in Britain. Now, at another crossroads, we must learn from the experience of the Corbyn era.

While the real economy has fallen off a cliff in recent months, stock prices have reached record highs. Capitalism is nothing but a casino. In place of this speculation and gambling, we need a rational socialist economic plan.

Environmental crises are causing death, destruction and deprivation on a colossal scale in India. The capitalist system is directly to blame for this catastrophe, which dwarfs even the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Worker activist Rodney Álvarez has been in jail since 2011 for a crime he did not commit. He is a victim of the corrupt justice system. Our Venezuelan comrades demand his immediate release!

There are no parallels to the current chaos wreaking havoc on society. This is no normal capitalist crisis. Revolutionary developments are exploding to the surface across the world. We need a leadership that is up to the task.

Esquerda Marxista, the Brazilian section of the International Marxist Tendency, honored and paid tribute to comrade Roque Ferreira at his funeral on 5 September in Bauru. Because of the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the burial at Jardim Ypê cemetery was restricted to 15 family members. Roque passed away on 4 September after complications during his hospitalisation after testing positive for COVID-19. However, like everything in Roque’s life, his funeral was filled with not just displays of affection, but also a deep revolutionary spirit.

The Tory government is lurching from one disaster to another. The rate of infections is rising. And as the economy reopens and students return to school, a second wave is all but certain. We need a militant opposition to this government of chaos.

On 4 August, the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia was filled with hope for the thousands of families awaiting justice for the crimes for which the former president and, until recently, senator Álvaro Uribe has been indicted. The court issued a sentence of house arrest based on the charges of possible witness tampering, procedural fraud and bribery. Those would be the least-serious crimes Uribe has committed.

Since late August, protests in Inner Mongolia, a province under the state of the People’s Republic of China, have been reported in multiple cities, including Tongliao, Hulunbuir, Provincial Capital Hohhot, and many prefectures and smaller towns. These protests erupted in response to a new language education policy that the Provisional Government has announced over the summer, which would lower the proportion of instructions in the Mongolian and Korean languages in favour of Mandarin Chinese to a level that many ethnic Mongols view as unacceptable.

Alan Woods, editor of marxist.com, offers tribute to comrade Roque Ferreira, a leading member of our Brazilian section who tragically died yesterday from COVID-19.

It is with great sadness that we have to report that Comrade Roque Ferreira, member of the Central Committee of Esquerda Marxista (Marxist Left) and of the National Coordination of the Black Socialist Movement, died yesterday afternoon (4 September), a victim of COVID-19.