Following their recent victory in the Unison NEC elections, the left have won control of the union’s presidency. This is a major step forward in the struggle to transform Unison – and the whole of the labour movement.

For over two months now, the Turkish state and president Erdogan's regime have faced attacks from a seemingly unlikely source. Sedat Peker, a notorious mafia boss in exile, with a long record of criminal activity and of intriguingly short jail sentences, has released a video almost every Sunday for the past two months in which he claims to expose the details of connections between important AKP officials, the Turkish state, and organised crime.

We publish here an edited transcript of a lead-off by Jorge Martín (from the International Marxist Tendency) to the Latin American political education school on 28 May 2021. He analyses the situation in Latin America, which is mired in the COVID-19 pandemic and the capitalist crisis, with the masses erupting in social explosions in response. In his talk, he analyses

Recent revelations surrounding the murder of British private investigator Daniel Morgan have shone a spotlight on the sordid links between the police, media, and politicians. The whole capitalist establishment is in crisis. It must be overthrown.

An activist of the national Italian logistics union has been killed in Novara, after a truck was deliberately rammed into a picket line. Comrades organised in the CGIL have written the following statement (original here) demanding action in the face of this outrageous act of murder. 

The freeing of the American slaves was accomplished by the mass action and heroism of the slaves themselves, hundreds of thousands of whom risked their lives by fleeing to join the Union Army, sabotage the Southern economy, and radicalise public opinion in the North in favour of abolition. The fourth episode of our US comrades' series on the American Civil War will deal with the Emancipation Proclamation up to the end of the conflict. 

In the past few months, discontent among Chinese youth is increasingly bursting to the surface, both online and on campuses, in defiance of state censorship and repression. A widespread proliferation of anti-capitalist memes and open dissent against the regime online speak to a general undercurrent of rage and resentment, which has also seen university students launching struggles across two provinces.

The recent meeting of the G7 nations was heralded as being a comeback for America and its allies, with the aim of stifling the rise of China. But instead, the summit only confirmed the decline and disunity of Western imperialism.

The 12 June parliamentary election was meant to give the Algerian regime a degree of legitimacy and put an end to two years of revolutionary hirak (movement). Instead, the call for boycott was overwhelmingly observed, despite a widespread clampdown in the run up to the polls.

On Sunday, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) elected a new government with a narrow majority of 60 against 59 – ending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12 year-long hold on power. His rule was characterised by right-wing policies and the brutal oppression of the Palestinians, based on the personal standing of Netanyahu as Israel’s strong man. The final example of this was the recent bloody bombardment of Gaza. What will the new government bring? And why did Netanyahu lose his grip on power?

It has been four years since the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire in Britain, in which 72 people lost their lives due to the criminal negligence of the bosses and bourgeois politicians. The ongoing public inquiry has exposed how capitalism puts profits before lives. But only the organised working class can bring the criminals responsible to justice.

The upcoming 18 June presidential elections in Iran are turning into an even greater farce than usual. In the past, the regime would have at least projected the appearance of competition, approving competing candidates from its various factions. This year, however, it has only approved seven candidates: all from the hardline, conservative faction. This move comes from a position of weakness, exposing the crisis of the regime.

Capitalism has set yet another bleak record in 2020. There are now more than 55 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) around the world. That is, people who have been forced to flee their homes while remaining in their own country. This is twice as many as the already terribly high number of international refugees (26 million). The total number of displaced persons exceeds the population of France. The COVID-19 pandemic is one cause of the ballooning numbers, although it is far from being the only one.

Left-wing candidates have won a clear majority in the Unison NEC elections. This is an incredible result, which could set in motion the transformation of Britain’s largest union – and of the entire labour movement in Britain.

Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour is heading for disaster. The party is in a deep crisis. Yet the right wing are attacking the left more than the Tories. But grassroots members are fighting back, saying: Starmer out! Fight for socialism!