The rising of Mexico’s maquiladora workers
A major strike wave has broken out in the maquiladoras of Matamoros, an industrial city in the state of Tamaulipas, across the US border from Brownsville, Texas. The strikes, which have taken on both the bosses and fake charro union leaders, were prompted in part by the raised expectations...CONTINUE READING
Why the rich are to blame for climate crisis
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who inspired the global “school strike for climate” movement, was invited to speak at January’s annual World Economic Forum, a meeting of business leaders and celebrities held in Davos, Switzerland. She didn’t mince words: “Some peop...CONTINUE READING
Up to two million workers shut down Kolkata
In the lead-up to the Left Front’s electoral launch on 3 February, I was warned by comrades and taxi drivers alike that traffic would be bedlam. Working class people from all over West Bengal, India’s fourth most populous state, were descending on Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground in a show...CONTINUE READING
Reckoning is due after Afghanistan endgame
The war in Afghanistan is approaching its end – and no-one in Australia seems to much care. Last week, Washington’s chief negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, announced a framework for peace, based upon a supposed Taliban commitment to prevent terrorist groups using the country as a base. That’s...CONTINUE READING
The battle for Venezuela
National Assembly speaker Juan Guaidó swore himself in as Venezuela’s interim president on 23 January and was duly recognised by all and sundry right wing governments in South America. Jair Bolsonaro and Iván Duque, who head two of the most reactionary governments, in Brazil and Colombia,...CONTINUE READING
Understanding the political crisis in Britain
The British political establishment is in its biggest crisis for more than a century. The country that has for many decades been a lynchpin of Western political stability, a pillar of Western imperialism, is now the source of instability that threatens to precipitate a broader political cr...CONTINUE READING
Macron, Yellow Vests and the class struggle in France
As the Yellow Vest movement in France continues its novel and inspiring revolt, president Emmanuel Macron could not help expressing his class disdain for ordinary people: at a gala speech on 11 January, he declared: “Too many French people don’t know the meaning of the word ‘effort’. That’...CONTINUE READING
The wrong kind of unity against Trump
As the New Year dawned, Donald Trump’s regime appeared to be coming apart at the seams. The billionaire’s tariffs against China and threats to fire the head of the Federal Reserve Bank sent the stock market into a panic. Trump then shut down the government over his demand for a racist bord...CONTINUE READING
Global political turmoil and its echo in Australia
The turmoil in the Liberal Party highlighted by the downfall of Malcolm Turnbull has been the most important development in Australian politics over the last year. It reflects that politics here is catching up with international developments (the rise of Trump, the surge in support for the...CONTINUE READING