International Viewpoint

The controversy surrounding a historian's attempt to give a minute's monologue on the meaning of Italy's National Liberation Day, 25 April.

“They accused Switzerland, with evidence to back up their accusations, of failing to take care of their health and well-being in the face of increasingly worrying heatwaves, and of failing to take steps to achieve the target set for 2030 by the Paris Agreement in 2015.”

“Until now, the South has been a bastion of bosses, of non-union open shops, where workers had no vote and no voice in their workplaces. If this victory leads to others, as it is expected to, it will change completely the balance of forces between the corporations and the working class in America.”

In an interview with Jacobin, Leonidas Iza, president of Ecuador's CONAIE (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador - Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), the country's main indigenous movement, discusses the government's repressive policy, militarization, and the expansion of drug trafficking while criticizing neoliberal policies and examining political debates within the indigenous movement and the left. The interview was conducted by Martín Mosquera and Iain Bruce.

“Faced with the militarisation of the world, we need a global anti-war movement. It's easy to say, but hard to do. Can we rely on local cross-border solidarity (Ukraine-Russia, India-Pakistan) to achieve this? Or on the huge solidarity movement with Palestine? Or social forums like the one that has just taken place in Nepal?”

“Two symbolic dates of struggle for the workers' movement, 25 April, the anniversary of the defeat of fascism, and 1 May, are very close together. The perspective must be that of a new season of struggle, of a revival of the workers' movement.”

“If I were to give some general advice, I would recommend paying less attention to which abstract position is correct, and focusing more on practical action to help us climb out of the hole we are in.”

Philippe Poutou, a former candidate in the French presidential elections and spokesperson for France's Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste (NPA), will be in third place on the “Anticapitalistes” list put forward by Belgium's “Gauche anticapitaliste” (Anti-Capitalist Left) organisation in the European parliamentary elections on 9 June 2024.

Franco-Lebanese researcher Gilbert Achcar, professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, reviews the Israeli attack on April 1st against the consulate in Damascus and analyses the response of the Islamic Republic. He also examines the effects of this renewed tension on the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Gaza.
[French original published by L'Humanité]
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What was Israel seeking by striking the Iranian consulate in Damascus?
The (...)

“This is the culmination of a campaign by the German government that has been going on for months to prevent any solidarity with the people of Palestine and criticism of the German government's military and political support for Israel.”

“The Republican politicians attack on women's reproductive rights, driven by the party's white Evangelical Christian base, has led to a strong political reaction by Democrats, independent voters, and even some Republicans. ”

“The European elections should be an opportunity to strengthen a radical left anchored in social, feminist, anti-racist and ecological struggles, in popular neighbourhoods, capable of stopping the rise of the far right.” For a number of political and intellectual figures, struggles must not only be a defensive reaction, but also build “a new political force, stronger and more popular than what organizations and struggles represent today.”

Switching from a presidential to a parliamentary system is Faure Gnassingbé's latest brainwave to ensure that, like his father, he remains President for life.

“People in positions of power at German universities are in clear violation of widely held academic — and, frankly, constitutional — norms about political freedom and freedom of speech.”

The violent police occupation of the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador on Friday 5th April, attacks two basic principles of diplomacy and civilized coexistence between nations: the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic headquarters and the right to asylum for any person persecuted for their way of thinking.
The ultra-right-wing and neoliberal president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa Azín, presented two pretexts for his unacceptable action: that he acted to execute an arrest warrant against (...)

“Ethnic and religious intolerance is a routine matter and cases are reported now and then.”

The victory of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the fruit of popular mobilization, has created a new political situation enabling the radical left to push for a real break with the past.

In the northern Kurdistan region of Iraq, known as Bashur to the Kurds, close to the border with Turkey, war has been raging for several years now, and has intensified in recent months.

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“The Israeli attack on WCK has inflamed the opposition to Biden on the left, which in the primaries voted “uncommitted” rather than vote for the president.”