International

Tobias Abse reveals the reactionary nature of Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement and the tragic fragmentation of the Italian Left The Italian general election of 24-25 February 2013 has been a political earthquake or, to adopt Beppe Grillo’s own vocabulary, a political tsunami. We can all agree that it represented a massive popular rejection of […] Read more »

At a massive rally in Lisbon today, the crowd sang Grandola, Vila Morena, the anthem of the country’s carnation revolution in the 1970s which overthrew the fascist regime. Grandola, Vila Morena tells of the solidarity amongst the people of Grandola, and was played at a concert in Lisbon on the 24 March 1974 by José […] Read more »

Polish socialist Szymon Martys reports on preparations for a general strike in Silesia The Silesia region in the South-West of Poland is preparing for a general strike. This will be the first such strike in Poland for 32 years. It is being organised by all the major trade unions – NSZZ “Solidarnosc” (“Solidarity”),  Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Zwiazków Zawodowych […] Read more »

 Gilbert Mercier comments on French intervention in Mali In late December 2012, the  United Nations Security Council approved the dispatch of an “African-led intervention force” to Mali’s to help the army reconquer the north of the country from Tuareg separatists and their allied Islamist militants. But in recent days, it is not the African-led troops […] Read more »

Video preparing for the days of action during the EU spring summit in March 2013 Read more »

 Panagiotis Sotiris, Vice-president of the University of the Aegean Teachers’ Union, explores the problems of Higher Education in Greece    First of all, I would like to express my deepest feelings of solidarity to Egitim Sen regarding the recent wave of arrests. Governments all over the world want to get rid of trade union resistances […] Read more »

Thomas Kachel from Die Linke, the German Left Party, spoke recently at Stop the War’s ‘Ten Years On’ conference. He brought greetings from the party’s grass roots working group on peace and international affairs – the link between the party and the peace movement in Germany. “The greetings from my side are all the more […] Read more »

Last week Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boiko Borisov, resigned after several weeks of street protests against austerity, writes Gilbert Mercier Borisov announced his resignation in front of Bulgaria’s parliament after a night of violent clashes between protesters and police. More than 30 people had to be treated at hospitals due to police brutality. Ironically, Borisov justified […] Read more »

A report and a number of protesters’ own photos from across Spain: Saturday 23 February Today hundreds of thousands of people protested across Spain against their government’s austerity measures. They were opposing the harsh cuts they are facing but also the financial corruption of the political elite. Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and many other towns and […] Read more »

One of the leaders of France’s Front de Gauche, Jean-Luc Mélenchon recently visited London and gave a major speech at UCL  in which he discussed the ‘historic failure’ of social democracy and its inability to shape a European Union based on solidarity and social justice. His speech is available below, with English subtitles. Read more »