Since December, when the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept to power in Damascus, European diplomats and Arab leaders have been meeting the now besuited ex-ISIS, ex-Al Qaeda commander al-Jolani in order to launder the new regime’s image, with the help of the press. Now we see the real face of their friends in Damascus. Since Friday, fighters loyal to the al-Jolani regime have swept through coastal villages, towns and cities, carrying out a pogrom that has left over 1,200 Alawite civilians dead so far; men, women and children killed for being Alawites.

The world capitalist system is beset on all sides by crisis. Debt is sky-high, economies are stagnating and society is more polarised than ever. To add to this mess, the tapestry of world relations – the ‘rules-based order’ – is unravelling. Tit-for-tat tariffs that seek to export the crisis threaten to turn into trade wars that will tear up world trade.

Starmer and the establishment are on a crusade of flag-waving jingoism: puffing out their chests on the world stage, and using the cover of militarism to prepare for attacks on workers at home. We say: down with these deluded warmongers!

Three months after the scandalous cancellation of the presidential election results, the Romanian establishment remains mired in political turmoil.

The Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point in the Second World War, but it was with the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 that Germany's fate was definitively sealed. However, the fact that the war was effectively lost did not prevent the Nazi leadership from continuing to fight until the end, and the end took almost two years to arrive.

Students at Jadavpur University have faced attacks by state-affiliated thugs as part of a continued crackdown on political organising on campuses. On 1 March, a left-wing student was hospitalised after he was run over by a government minister’s convoy following a peaceful protest. The Revolutionary Communists of India unequivocally condemn these outrageous attacks on freedom of assembly and offer our solidarity to the furious protest movement that has erupted in response.

We publish below a joint statement by the US, Canadian and Mexican sections of the Revolutionary Communist International, explaining the need for internationalism and workers’ unity in response to the Trump administration's recent tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

Most of the world’s women today are very far from achieving equality, let alone liberation. The wage gap between men and women is one thing, but inequality and oppression are about so much more than that. From the fear of leaving our drinks unattended when we are on a night out; to the anxiety of walking home alone, having to put up with constant sexist comments and stares; to doing the majority of housework; to doctors not taking ‘women’s diseases’ seriously and generally being treated as of lesser worth, the list goes on and on…

After the recent failure of coalition talks between Austria’s conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) and demagogic right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), the ÖVP again approached the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the liberal Neos to revive talks of a three-way coalition, which had initially failed in early January after the elections late September. This coalition – which has aptly been formed just in time for Austria’s Carnival celebrations – has now been sworn in, with the ÖVP's Christian Stocker becoming the new Chancellor.

This week's row in the Oval Office between Trump and Zelensky served to dramatically underscore the fact that we are passing a seismic shift in world history. The old alliances and institutions are breaking down, and a realignment, reflecting the changed balance of forces, is taking place for all to see.

The burgeoning U.S.-Canada trade war has become the central question in Canadian politics. Whichever way this situation plays out, the relationship between the two countries is irreparably changed. This will have far reaching consequences for the economy, politics and the class struggle.

Today, Netflix has released a new series, The Leopard, based on the 1958 book of the same name by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which follows the last days of a dying Sicilian prince in the time of Italian reunification. We publish below a review of that 1958 classic by Stan Laight. [Note: the following review contains spoilers.]

Once again, the students have put themselves at the forefront of a movement against the government’s attacks on the people. On 17 February, tens of thousands of university students across Indonesia took to the streets to protest the government’s recent austerity measures. A series of demonstrations followed over the next few days, spreading from one city to another. The movement culminated in a national day of action on 20 February.

The Chinese have an old saying: the greatest misfortune that can befall a man is to live in interesting times. The truth of that ancient wisdom has now suddenly dawned on the rulers of the western world. 

We publish below the initial political assessment by the Revolutionary Communist Organisation, Greek section of the RCI, of the historic mass rallies that took place on Friday 28 February, on the second anniversary of the Tempi rail crash that killed 57 people.