Archive for the Category 'International'
50 years after the revolution – where is Cuba going?
50 years ago, in the night before January 1, 1959, the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the country. The next morning, rebel troops under the young lawyer Fidel Castro entered the city of Santiago de Cuba. However, the Cuban Revolution was not only the work of a few thousand guerrillas. The students whose protests against Batista had closed down the country’s universities and especially the workers’ movement whose general strike had paralyzed the capital also played an important role in forcing the dictator to flee. »»»»
read comments (0)
Solidarity with the youth protests in Greece!
For the last several days, the news has been filled with reports of what is happening in Greece. Left-wing youth have started the biggest riots in 25 years and according to different sources, Athens’ left-alternative neighborhood Exarchia is completely cop-free. How did this happen?
The reports differ a lot. The Greek police claim that a ricochet bullet hit the fifteen-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in the chest, after “30 autonomists” had attacked a police car. Two of the three bullets fired were aimed at the ground, one of which hit the young man in the chest. This story is dubious. »»»»
During the night of Thursday, 27 November, Richard Gallardo, Luis Hernández and Carlos Requena were murdered in Cagua in the Venezuelan state of Aragua. The three trade unionists had been supporting a struggle of the 400 workers at the Alpina dairy products factory. The workers had occupied the factory, owned by a Colombian multinational, to protest against management threats to close the plant. Earlier in the day, they had been attacked and evicted by the police, but with the support of the three activists from the trade union they were able to re-take the factory. »»»»
Less than one day after Barack Obama was declared the winner of the US presidential elections, a new episode of South Park appeared which captured the mood perfectly. Randy Marsh stays out all night drinking in the streets to celebrate Obama’s victory and the upcoming “change”. In the course of the night he punches his boss in the face, because “everything’s changed”. But the next morning, he wakes up with his pants missing, his TV stolen, and the news that he’s lost his job. “But Obama said things would be different! That son of a bitch lied to us!” »»»»
A revolution took place here.
What? Here? Next to the supermarket where workers slave away for low wages? In front of the school where more than 30 pupils in each class remain well-behaved for the teacher? Behind the apartment building where Nazis attack people who they see as different?
Red flags waved here? Armed workers marched by this spot and chanted “All power to the councils”? Revolutions take place in Latin America, maybe also in France. But here? »»»»
The international campaign against the firing of Venezuelan trade union leader Orlando Chirino has been successful!
Below is a translation of the statement by the class-struggle tendency of the Venezuelan trade union movement:
On November 18 at 10 am, Venezuelan trade union leader Orlando Chirino received a directive issued by the Ministry of Labor which orders that he be reinstated at the job he occupied at the state oil company PDVSA until he was illegally fired in late 2007. »»»»
100,000 school students across Germany went on strike on Wednesday, November 12. In more than 40 cities there were rallies and demonstrations instead of classes. In many places, university students and teachers expressed solidarity. The walkout was directed against overcrowded classrooms, the lack of teachers and the reform of the “abitur” program (the high school degree which qualifies for university), shortening it from nine to eight years. The strike was also against Germany’s three-tiered school system, which leads to education levels in Germany being more closely tied to social status than in any other developed country. »»»»
On October 29 there were protests in front of the bank UBS
Despite the financial crisis, despite the massive drain of deposits and the losses from speculative trading, UBS announced that it would pay millions in bonuses to its cadre. To protest against this, the youth party of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, the JUSO, called for rallies across the country on October 29 in front of the branches of the largest bank in Switzerland. »»»»
Interview with an activist at an American university about the situation before the elections
Scott is an activist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (USA). He spoke with REVOLUTION about the political situation at the universities a few weeks before the elections. We don’t necessarily agree with all his points (for example, the support for Cynthia McKinney), but we think this interview is an important contribution to the debate. »»»»
On October 4, there will be a mass demonstration in Bilbo (Bilbao) against the wave of repression which is hitting the left-wing independence movement in the Basque Country. In the last weeks, the Spanish state has banned two Basque political parties: the EHAK (Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista, Communist Party of the Basque Territories) and the EAE (Eusko Abertzale Ekintza, Basque Patriotic Action). »»»»
An open letter to the Trotskyist left of Venezuela (USI, LTS, UST), and not to the “Trotskochavista” left (Marea, Militante etc.), from the independent youth organization REVOLUTION
Dear comrades,
We are writing because you are the political groups that have refused to capitulate to Chavismo and its new state party, the PSUV. You have have made a brave stand for the class independence of the workers in Venezuela. »»»»