It is a political “moment” where everyone—both the ones above and the ones from below—understands that the status quo is not sustainable, and they must prepare for drastic changes.
World
German election: Unsteady as she goes
The SPD has won (narrowly) because it gained the votes of many on the left. These voters will expect some changes: more and better public services; taxes on the rich; higher wages.
China and common prosperity
Xi’s crackdown on the billionaires and his call for reduced inequality is yet another zig in the zig-zag policy direction of the Chinese bureaucratic elite…
Brazil: Fascist apotheosis
Bolsonaro is making it clear for the fraction of the ruling class that has gone over to the opposition in the last forty days that he will not accept the result of the elections if he loses. He will not respect the rules of the liberal-democratic regime…
The empire has no clothes
The U.S.’ longest war in history—spanning four presidential terms, two Republican and two Democratic—finally ended on August 30th, having accomplished none of its goals and leaving Afghanistan’s population of nearly 40 million people, if anything, worse off than when it began.
Greece after the wildfires
The account of this disastrous August, when temperatures and drought reached record-high levels even for a warm and dry country like Greece, is literally tragic…
‘Disgusting’: Outrage as J&J exports tens of millions of vaccine doses from Africa to EU
The J&J vaccine was supposed to be one of Africa’s most important weapons against Covid. Instead, at least 32 million doses have been shipped out of South Africa to the E.U. as millions suffer and die.
Debacle in Afghanistan
The fact is that over twenty years, the US has failed to build anything that might redeem its mission. The brilliantly lit Green Zone was always surrounded by a darkness that the Zoners could not fathom.
Petulance as foreign policy: Bomber Biden sends in B-52 bombers in a tantrum over Taliban advance
If Biden were correct in saying the US war objective in Afghanistan had been met, there would be no justification (nor is there) for bombing the Taliban as they retake power in the country.
Why Cubans protested on July 11?
While the criminal blockade has been very real and seriously damaging, it has been relatively less important in creating economic havoc than what lies at the very heart of the Cuban economic system: the bureaucratic, inefficient and irrational control and management of the economy by the Cuban government.
South Africa: “The masses are not protected”— post-apartheid symptoms of morbidity
Ordinary people see the rich and powerful looting and stealing all around them. They see them talking about it on TV. Meanwhile, ordinary working-class life is a life of crisis. Everything is a crisis: jobs, housing, services, education, income, food, healthcare, security.
To DSA and the US socialist left: To be in solidarity with the Venezuelan people, there’s no need to support the Maduro government
We agree that it is crucial for the US left to oppose economic sanctions and the interference of US imperialism against countries that go out of its orbit, as in the case of Venezuela. But, at the same time, we warn that in order to do this there’s no need to support the Venezuelan government…
Cuba: A cry from below
Cubans need to regain hope and to have a possible image of their future. If hope is lost, the meaning of any humanist social project is lost. And hope is not recovered by force.
Capitalism: Has the leopard changed its spots?
“Let me be clear: capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation.”, US President Biden tweeted when signing an executive order to expand competition across the economy and crack down on monopolistic practices…
Nicaragua: Why Ortega does not want to let go. The non-negotiable interests of the regime…
We reprint, in translation, the noted radical Uruguayan journalist Raúl Zibechi, who discusses how Ortega and the FSLN, once the focal point of a generation on the left in Latin America and the world, have become corrupt authoritarians.
