In one of the most volatile political years in a generation, the stability and even predictability of the presidential election has stood out. On March 8, a few days after the Super Tuesday Democratic primary and before the full national weight of the COVID-19 pandemic asserted itself, former Vice President […]
Analysis
Colombia: a nationwide uprising against police brutality
Colombia is engulfed in a nationwide uprising against police violence and government assassination of social movement leaders. The uprising erupted after September 9 when police detained and murdered lawyer Javier Ordoñez by repeated Taser shocks to his head. Police claimed they had to subdue Ordoñez after they were called to […]
Five years after SYRIZA’s rise: How did we arrive here?
In January 2015, SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) won the Greek general election and its leader, Alex Tsipras, became president on an anti-austerity platform. Almost immediately, and to the alarm of many left organizations in SYRIZA, Tsipras began backtracking, betraying all the hopes placed upon him by the millions […]
Slavery in the United States
The following is the first chapter of Ahmed Shawki’s Black Liberation and Socialism (2005). Footnotes have been removed. Other chapters of this book will be posted in the coming weeks. “Direct slavery is as much the pivot upon which our present day industrialism turns as are machinery, credit, etc. […]
“The two governing parties are presiding over a failed state”
Interview with Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins The Green Party, at a virtual convention completed on July 11, nominated the ticket of Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker to run in the U.S. presidential election in November. To find out more about the candidates and their platform, visit their campaign […]
The Democrats: Defenders of Empire
The following is chapter six of Lance Selfa’s The Democrats: A Critical History. The footnote references have been removed. One of the enduring truisms of American politics since the 1960s is the notion that Republicans are “strong on national defense” while Democrats are “weak.” In 2004, largely on this […]
A tribute to comrade Lal Khan
The following, written by FK, is taken from a pamphlet, Dr. Lal Khan (1956–2020): What a Heart Has Ceased to Beat!, published by the Asian Marxist Review as its Spring 2020 special edition. Lal Khan, who died in February 2020, was one of the founders of The Struggle, a Marxist […]
Supreme Court’s Abortion decision: a small victory amid a string of defeats
A movement is needed more than ever to defend a woman’s right to choose The United States Supreme Court, in another sharply divided abortion rights decision, struck down a Louisiana statute that would have required doctors performing abortions in that state to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. The requirement […]
Fighting for reproductive rights in the age of Trump
The Black Lives Matter movement has shaken US society to its core in 2020—and accomplished more in a matter of weeks of struggle than decades of waiting for Democrats to take action. The US Supreme Court is now preparing to rule on the most draconian anti-abortion legislation since the 1973 […]
The Left debate in Brazil over how to topple Bolsonaro
Second only to the U.S., Brazil has emerged as the main “hot spot” for the coronavirus outbreak in the world. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the presidents of both countries are corrupt, far-right politicians who have made racism and climate (and now virus) denialism central to their appeal. The government […]
Without struggle, there is no progress
On May 25, George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department. Like so many times before, at least since the attack on Rodney King in 1992, the police were caught on camera. What’s different now is that George Floyd’s murder has sparked a rebellion larger, broader, […]
The struggle has moved far “Beyond Bernie”
Bernie Sanders ended his second presidential bid in April—endorsing Joe Biden and urging his supporters to vote for him. Since then, the political climate in the U.S. has been transformed. The Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing economic crisis and large scale unemployment, followed suddenly by the mass uprisings triggered by the […]
The Language of the unheard
“Can you hear us now?” Those were the words spray painted on the boarded-up windows of Minneapolis’ East Lake Clinic—near the 3rd Precinct police station that protesters burned down on the night of May 28th. The whole world has now watched four Minneapolis cops murder George Floyd. Yet it took […]
“The Negro struggle has a vitality and a validity of its own”: C. L. R. James on Black Liberation in the United States
The uprising that spread across the United States in the wake of the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd on Memorial Day was a powerful reminder of the central role that racism has always played in U.S. history. But was also a reminder of another key point that the Trinidadian-born […]
Covid crisis: Adding fuel to the fire in South America
Latin America is becoming the new epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. The arrival of the coronavirus in the region’s slums threatens to exacerbate pre-existing political, economic and social problems. With nuances specific to each country, the health crisis could soon create a reality as unstable as it is explosive, Buenos […]