While the future of the tendency animated by former militants of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), of which Olivier Besancenot is a member, is uncertain, François Sabado, historical leader of the LCR, who had seen the NPA as a broader formation that could envelope the LCR (he was a member of its leadership until 2015), looks back on this crisis.
Despite the impact on the British public at a time of year when the health system is under extraordinary pressure, Britons are still firmly behind striking nurses. Two-thirds of the public support the strike action, a poll Tuesday from YouGov indicated.
Historically, students have been at the forefront of resistance to Communist Party rule. During the 1989 uprising, they played a leading role in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, which acted as the social detonator for a nationwide strike movement. But after the movement was defeated, university campuses became tightly monitored and increasingly repressive.
Ballistic missile launches by North Korea (which is developing a programto miniaturize nuclear weapons), the resumption of major joint military maneuvers between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo… Northeast Asia is once again a hotbed of tension in a region where all the major powers confront each other.
Faced with the invasion of Ukraine by the regime of Vladimir Putin, the antiwar movement has seen the development of very contrasting positions. They all have in common that they all claim peace, a word behind which very diverse, even opposing attitudes can be placed.
“Politicians are happy to voice platitudes and heap praise upon us for our heroism throughout the pandemic,” said one rail leader. “Yet when the steel hits the rail, they back the powerful and wealthy Class 1 rail carriers every time.”
Having written extensively on protests in China, I can attest that protests in China are not at all uncommon – but that doesn’t make what is happening now any less significant.
