As India moves to the general elections of 2014, we are facing an apparently unstoppable march to the extreme Right. The bourgeoisie has clearly made up its mind to push the BJP led NDA to power, with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, so that they can provide a “stable government” with “good governance” in accordance with the Gujarat Model. And so, they are busy predicting and insisting that the triumph of the BJP is a foregone conclusion.
The Most Important Social Conflicts of 2013
14 April 2014, byWhile there was social struggle and conflict over a variety of issues in the United States in 2013, including an ascending movement in one region, the overall picture was one of diverse and diffuse social movements that had plateaued at a low level. The exceptions were the growing Moral Monday movement in North Carolina, which gained in numbers of participants throughout the year, and the movements of fast food and Walmart workers.
Climate refugees: new social movements, new responsibilities of solidarity
13 April 2014, bySome elements of reflection based on the Asian experience and presented to the International Committee of the Fourth International on February 23, 2014.
The Significance of Taiwan’s Anti-Service Trade Agreement Movement
12 April 2014, byOn Thursday, Taiwan’s anti service trade agreement movement will leave the Legislative Yuan and the occupation will come to an end. Some of its participants think that the movement has not achieved its aims and do not want to leave. As outsiders it is difficult for us to judge.
2011-2014: Egypt’s Revolution at Three
10 April 2014, byON JANUARY 14 and 15, Egypt held a referendum on a new constitution, drafted following the ouster of president Morsi on July 3rd of last year. The constitution will replace the one promulgated previously, in 2012.
Egyptian Women and the Revolution
10 April 2014, byTHE spectacular and significant presence of Egyptian women among the rank and file as well as the leadership of the revolutionary movement since 2011 is a fact. This is in spite of the horrific and often gender-specific forms of repression, including harassment, assault and defamation hurled against them by all agents of the counterrevolution. Just a partial roster of female organizers and spokespeople, let alone participants includes Leila Soueif, Aida Seif al-Dawla, Mona Seif, Nawara Nigm, Mona Mina, Nazli Hussein, Mahinour El-Badrawi…
On the Syrian Revolution and the Kurdish Issue
8 April 2014, byShiar Nayo is a Syrian journalist and activist of Kurdish descent who has lived in exile for around a decade. In this interview, Shiar talks to us about the relationship between Syrian-Kurdish forces and other Syrian opposition groups, both before and after the revolution; about the thorny relationship between Kurdish activists and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other pressing Kurdish questions that have become more urgent that ever.
A look back at the 1994 genocide
7 April 2014, byStarting on 7 April 1994, in less than three months, nearly one million Rwandans – the exact figure has not yet been determined - were exterminated because they were (or supposed to be) Tutsis. Tens of thousands of moderate Hutus were also slaughtered. This was indeed a genocide, that is, the deliberate destruction of an entire community through mass murder in the aim of preventing their biological and social reproduction.
"Bitter victories, but real ones"
6 April 2014, byA former president of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), Ahlem Belhadj is also a child psychiatrist, a member of the National Union of University Hospital Physicians, affiliated to the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) and is a longtime activist of the Fourth International in Tunisia. Three years after the outbreak of the Tunisian revolt in December 2010, Belhadj still sees an effervescence and a dynamism in Tunisian social struggles that give cause for hope. "The revolutionary process is still ongoing.” But there remain only very few of the political perspectives that were opened up by the formation of the Popular Front in October 2012.
The Debate Today is How to Stop The Violent Offensive of the Neoliberal Right-Wing
3 April 2014, byVenezuela is torn between the destabilising attempts of the right-wing, the limits of the Bolivarian process and the possibility the working class and the popular movements will advance the [revolutionary] project, [but] not without tensions and contradictions. Valeria Ianni is an Argentinian historian, and member of the collective “Hombre Nuevo”. She interviewed Franck Gaudichaud, member of the editorial team of Rebelión.org,