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 […]
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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 […]
A Marxist view of America: an activist’s reading list
The tsunami of demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd has awakened an interest in revolutionary ideas and strategy. Militants are confronting sharply posed issues such as what type of society could actually “defund the police” and can the Democratic Party take us even one inch of the way towards […]
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 […]
The Assassination of Arif Wazir: The Struggle Will Continue!
This article first appeared in the Asian Marxist Review. On Friday, May 1, Arif Wazir, a leader of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was shot three times by unknown assailants near his home in Wanna, Waziristan. He was critically injured and rushed to a local hospital. He was then shifted to […]
Self-Extinction of Neoliberalism? Don’t Bet on It.
This article was first published in New Politics . For the second time since the turn of the century, governments in North America and Europe are intervening massively with public funds and in conjunction with central banks to bail out entire sectors of the economy and prevent a general economic […]
Rest in Power: Pete Gillard (1949-2020), lifelong fighter for revolutionary socialism
Earlier this week, we received the terrible news that Pete Gillard, a long-standing comrade, passed away on April 21. It appears that Covid-19 ultimately cost him his life—after he fought and survived cancer surgery, sepsis, other health problems after weeks in intensive care. Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century (rs21), […]
Sanders backs Biden: Whither the Left?
In what was likely the most predictable event in the Democratic Party primary season, Sen. Bernie Sanders on April 13 endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee to go up against President Trump in November. No one should have been surprised that the Sanders campaign ended this […]
“I hope public health can win out over capitalism”
Buenos Aires-based Claudio Katz, author of many books and articles on political economy, gave this interview on March 30 to El Círculo Rojo, the radio program affiliated with the online socialist news site La Izquierda Diario. Lance Selfa translated the interview with permission from the author. How would you characterize […]
The essential and the expendable: Class, race, and xenophobia during the pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic stretching across multiple continents. It is therefore a worldwide public health crisis. For this reason, the only effective way to combat the Covid-19 pandemic is through global coordination aimed at advancing a collective international strategy. Yet, the capitalist world order has done precisely the opposite, […]
Socialist tasks during the pandemic
Many excellent articles have appeared analyzing the COVID 19 pandemic from a socialist and Marxist perspective. In this piece, we will look at just one question: what should socialists do during the pandemic? The main components of the answer are supporting essential workers fighting for safety protections, defending workers demanding […]
Coronavirus and the global economic crisis: A crisis triggered by greed for profit
The global economic crisis is deteriorating at a rate as dizzying as the pandemic is. The reduction in economic growth and the sudden halt in China’s production system are now behind us. Now the price of oil has collapsed, stock markets have plummeted and panic in the financial world has […]