Category: International

U.S. imperialism’s Syria strategy

By JEFF MACKLER  U.S. Major General Michael Nagata was unceremoniously removed some two months ago after his $500 million Syrian assignment to train by the end of the year a projected 5400 Syrian infantrymen to supposedly fight ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) “languished in complications,” according to U.S. News and World Report. This … Continue reading U.S. imperialism’s Syria strategy →

U.S. & Europe clamp down on refugees

By LISA LUINENBURG  A huge number of refugees have been flowing across European borders in the last year, and this great migration crisis has had reverberations in the United States as well, where over 100,000 migrants fleeing violence in Central America arrived in 2015. As of Dec. 21, more than a million refugees have crossed … Continue reading U.S. & Europe clamp down on refugees →

Venezuela must learn from Indonesia

By BARRY WEISLEDER The 50th anniversary of one of the biggest political massacres of the 20th century passed in the West almost without notice. In 1965, a military coup in Indonesia, backed by the United States, unleashed a slaughter that consumed over one million lives. The aim of the insurgent generals was annihilation of the … Continue reading Venezuela must learn from Indonesia →

Grassroots environment struggles in China

By RENA LAU Just in the last month there have been two cases of environmental protests occurring in China. Around one thousand people protested on the streets of Yangjiang city, in Guangdong province, against the construction of an incinerator. And ten thousand people protested against a chemical factory in Shangrao city, Jianxi province. The protesters … Continue reading Grassroots environment struggles in China →

Paris attack leads to crackdown on rights

By MICHAEL SCHREIBER In the space of less than two weeks, the world recently witnessed three massacres outside the home base of the Islamic State (ISIS) for which the jihadist group took credit. On Oct. 31, a homemade bomb brought down a Russian airliner over the Sinai, killing all 224 people on board. On Nov. … Continue reading Paris attack leads to crackdown on rights →

Real climate action demanded in Paris

By CHRISTINE FRANK On the eve of the UN Climate Summit in Paris, some 785,000 people marched and rallied in 2300 locations around the world to demand concrete action to phase out fossil fuels and implement clean, renewable energy to prevent catastrophic warming of Earth's atmosphere with a binding agreement to achieve that. Despite the … Continue reading Real climate action demanded in Paris →

LCR-SAP denounces lockdown in Belgium

The Ligue communiste révolutionnaire-Socialistische Arberjderspartij (LCR-SAP), the Belgian section of the Fourth International, issued the following statement on the third day of the "Brussels lockdown," as the government’s "level 4” alert was known. BRUSSELS— The LCR/SAP has sounded the alarm over the anti-democratic procedures that have been introduced in the name of the fight against terrorism. … Continue reading LCR-SAP denounces lockdown in Belgium →

S. African students win first big victory

By PATRICK BOND — DURBAN — An historic victory over South African neoliberalism was won on Oct. 23, after the most intense three-week burst of activist mobilization here since liberation from apartheid in 1994. University students have been furious, as their cry “Fees must fall!” rang out on campuses and sites of political power across … Continue reading S. African students win first big victory →

Canada: Tories yield to Liberal deceivers

By BARRY WEISLEDER It was a shift from dark, overtly reactionary ideas to a deceptively sunny version of the prevailing corporate agenda. That’s what voters across Canada got on Oct. 19. Many people were spooked by the autocratic, racist wedge politics of the Stephen Harper Conservative regime. Desperate for “change,” they opted for the major … Continue reading Canada: Tories yield to Liberal deceivers →

Labor Briefing

By BILL ONASCH > Socialist Action members in Minneapolis write: “On Saturday, Oct. 10, over 400 enthusiastic participants joined a rally and march on U.S. bank in Northeast Minneapolis. U.S. Bank has actively lobbied against fair wages and treatment for workers and simultaneously financed dirty industries. The concurrent exploitation of workers and the earth is … Continue reading Labor Briefing →

‘Tsipras is saving Greek capitalism’

The following interview is with Kostas Skordoulis, a leading member of OKDE-Spartakos. The OKDE is Socialist Action’s sister party and the Greek section of the Fourth International. The interview was conducted by Josefina L. Martinez; it first appeared in English in the on-line journal Left Voice (October 2015), associated with the Trotskyist Faction-Fourth International. Socialist … Continue reading ‘Tsipras is saving Greek capitalism’ →

China’s slide exposes world capitalist crisis

By GARY BILLS and JEFF MACKLER Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen announced in mid-September that interest rates charged to U.S. banks would once again remain unchanged—close to zero. She also expressed concerns about the still “weak U.S. recovery” since the disastrous collapse beginning in 2008 that shook financial markets and caused unprecedented harm to working … Continue reading China’s slide exposes world capitalist crisis →

Greece: Syriza splits after sell-out to banks

By MARTY GOODMAN Since being elected in January, Greece’s Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) was for a time the most followed movement on the international left and the hope of millions of long suffering Greek workers. But those wishful sentiments were buried in July with the most brutal “loan” and austerity package yet, finalized … Continue reading Greece: Syriza splits after sell-out to banks →

U.S. imperialism imposes Iran nuke pact

By JEFF MACKLER  The U.S. credo with regard to Iran today might well read, “Only civilized nations and their leaders should have nuclear weapons!” Included in this U.S.-allied circle of civilized nuclear-weapons nations is India. But we hear no U.S. complaints regarding India’s racist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who essentially praised the communal murders of … Continue reading U.S. imperialism imposes Iran nuke pact →

Behind the Mass Exodus

By BARRY WEISLEDER  Unprecedented numbers of people are desperate to migrate. Stories fill the media about the many who drown in the Mediterranean or die in desserts in a failed bid to escape horrible conditions. Stunning figures released on June 18 by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees quantify the extent of the global … Continue reading Behind the Mass Exodus →

Greece 2015: Lessons of the defeat

By JEFF MACKLER The classic definition of Greek tragedy from the times of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides 2500 years ago applies with a vengeance today. The Greek working masses have suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of Europe’s imperial economic and political powers—tragically, with the full complicity of the reformist, that is, pro-capitalist, Syriza … Continue reading Greece 2015: Lessons of the defeat →

Racist attacks on Muslims in Myanmar

By MARTY GOODMAN The military regime and fascist monks within the Buddhist clergy in Myanmar (Burma) have been waging an ethnic war against the Rohingya, a mostly Black Muslim minority living in the southwest of the country. Violence against the Rohingya erupted in 2012, leaving villages torched, up to 300 dead, and 140,000 fleeing their homes … Continue reading Racist attacks on Muslims in Myanmar →

Dominican gov’t expels Haitians

By MARTY GOODMAN In a clear attempt at ethnic cleansing, hundreds of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent have been rendered stateless under Dominican law. A series of racist court rulings on immigration in 2004, 2010, and 2013 paved the way for a dragnet based on race that might result in mass expulsions. A 2013 … Continue reading Dominican gov’t expels Haitians →