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When you reject class-based politics
If you reject from the outset the idea of uniting a majority based on shared economic interests, then pretty much all you’ve got left is the “thoughtful and humane co-optation” of racism and xenophobia.
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The prospect of change
A limited partial breach has been made in the neoliberal edifice, through the demonstration by Corbyn, McDonnell and their allies that a programme and leadership that challenges these orthodoxies and proposes alternatives to them can do better electorally than those which conform to it.
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Politics of a parade
In a modern-day manifestation of the old colonial divide-and-rule tactic, corporations and New York City politicians, including the mayor, were recently caught trying to engage in backdoor deals to divide the city’s Puerto Rican community over a pro-Puerto Rican independence activist’s participation in the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
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Britain’s Katrina moment could put radical left into power
After this week’s high-rise fire in West London—the most deadly British disaster in a generation—officials still have no idea exactly how many people were crammed into the dangerous, outdated public-housing block that stands in London’s richest borough.
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The need for a new U.S. foreign policy toward North Korea
USA-North Korean relations remain very tense even though the threat of a new Korean War has receded. Yet the U.S. government remains determined to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea and continues to plan for a military strike aimed at destroying the country’s nuclear infrastructure.
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Standoff in Venezuela
Venezuela has been rocked in recent weeks by almost daily protests and counter-protests, as right-wing opponents of socialist President Nicolas Maduro seek to bring down his government.
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E.P. Thompson: A Giant Remembered
It is surely difficult now to grasp, for young people in the UK let alone the US and elsewhere, that thirty years or so ago, radical historian-activist Edward Thompson was by opinion polls intermittently the second or third most popular Englishman or Englishwoman, shortly after the Queen Mother. After all, the British establishment, to say nothing of American Cold Warriors (liberal or conservative) had slandered him for decades and why not?
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Bears and Musical Chairs
Those who, like me, grew up with the writings of A. A. Milne may recall not just Winnie the Pooh but two other little bears and how “one of them was Bad and the other was Good” and kept getting better. In a way, that recalls German politics. The goodie in next September’s elections, it […]
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The Lawyers’ Job Now — History and Strategy
Donald Trump and his allies have announced their agenda. It includes torture, denial of basic human rights, military action that violates the laws of war, racial injustice, misogyny, and xenophobia. What role and responsibility do we have? I am a lawyer, teacher, and writer. So I speak to those in my profession and those preparing […]
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Strike at the Helm
On October 7th, 2012, after hearing of his victory as the nation’s candidate with 56 percent of the vote, President Hugo Chávez Frias announced from a balcony in his hometown that a new cycle was beginning the very next day, October 8th.… Only a few days later, on October 20th, he headed the first meeting calling together the ministers of this new cycle, the Comandante called for a series of critiques and self-criticisms in order to expand efficiency, strengthen communal power, and further develop the National System of Public Media, among other themes regarding the construction of socialism.… This document synthesizes his words, as a tool for a debate in which we should all participate. -
The European Union’s Anti-People Strategy, with a Special Focus on Greece
. . . So, our party [Communist Party of Greece, KKE] was very clear — for many years now — that the European Union is a union of capital and an anti-people hornet’s nest. The parties of the plutocracy in Greece as well as other countries lied to the peoples, fostered illusions that they […]
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Debating Climate Change Exit Strategies: James Hansen’s Program Is More Than a Carbon Tax
In “A Left ‘Exit Strategy’ from Fossil Fuel Capitalism?” published in Climate & Capitalism last week, Norwegian socialist Anders Ekeland urges ecosocialists to support the climate change program proposed by one of the world’s most-respected climate scientists, James Hansen, in many essays and speeches and in his book, Storms of My Grandchildren. In support of […]
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The Epochal Crisis, Unequal Ecological Exchange, and Exit Strategies
John Bellamy Foster: My talk is called “The Epochal Crisis.” The term “epochal crisis” was introduced by Jason Moore to deal with periods in which economic and ecological crises intersect or merge. We are certainly in the greatest epochal crisis in the history of the world. . . . Now, we can also talk about […]
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Report from Havana: Talking With the FARC-EP’s Peace Commission
If there has ever been any question that the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) is essentially a political organization — one that took up arms guided by a political vision and will abandon them when a new political strategy leads them to do so — that question may be forever laid to rest by […]
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Can Labor Help Shape an Effective Climate Crisis Strategy? Yes.Canada’s Largest Energy Union Says No to the Keystone XL Pipeline
The speech below was delivered by the President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), Dave Coles, to the labor breakfast titled “Confronting the Climate Crisis: Can Labor Help Shape an Effective Strategy?” held at the City University of New York on 17 January 2013. The obvious answer to the question […]
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What Iran Will Do With US RQ-170 Sentinel Drone
Sajjad Jafari is an Iranian cartoonist. This cartoon was first published by Fars News, reproduced here for non-profit entertainment purposes. Cf. “The number of [scientific] publications from Iran has grown from just 736 in 1996 to 13,238 in 2008 — making it the fastest growing country in terms of numbers of scientific publications in the […]
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How to Achieve Peace in Syria
Press Conference, Moscow, 10 April 2012 Sergey Lavrov is Russia’s Foreign Minister and Walid al-Moallem is Syria’s Foreign Minister. Pavel Andreev is Executive Director of RIA Novosti and of the Valdai Club Foundation. James Longman is a BBC producer. Nathalie Novikova and Peter Oliver are RT correspondents. Reema is a Syrian tweep. Wael Yousef […]
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Tunisia: The Powers of the New President
President Moncef Marzouki, Leader of the Congress for the Republic: “See, I’ve taken the oath. What power do I have now?”
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The Committee to Protect Journalists Is Mistaken About Turkey
According to the tally of the American Committee to Protect Journalists, there are only eight journalists in jail in Turkey. We, as members of the Freedom for Journalists Platform, comprised of 94 national and local media associations, would like to point out that this is a grave error, unless of course it is deliberate […]
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A Conference for Security and Cooperation for the Middle East? Interview with Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Ali Fathollah-Nejad from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London is a member of the initiative for a civil-society Conference for Security and Cooperation in the Middle East (CSCME). One of its key aims is the creation of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction.