This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Ethiopian Revolution, which began as an uprising against the semi-feudal despotism of Emperor Haile Selassie but would go much further, culminating in the abolition of capitalism in the country. In this article, Ben Curry, gives an account of these dramatic events, and explains the complex processes that shaped the revolution’s course.

The unbearable cost of living has sparked furious protests across Nigeria, with thousands taking to the streets shouting the slogan “We are hungry!” The masses have been forced to temporarily retreat under a deadly police crackdown, but we have been given a foretaste of greater battles to come. 

The war in the Congo has intensified. With millions already at the point of starvation and forced from their homes, this horrifying conflagration now threatens to escalate and drag the whole region into war, with nightmarish implications for the entire continent.

Three decades ago, between April and July 1994, the Rwandan government organised the extermination of almost 1 million people belonging to the Tutsi ethnic group. This genocide was aided and abetted by the French government, which both financed and armed those responsible, often referred to as ‘génocidaires’. But still, to this day, the French ruling class has not fully and openly recognised its responsibility for one of the most monstrous crimes of French imperialism.

The storming of the Kenyan parliament building by revolutionary youth last week stunned the world and left Kenyan politicians and the ruling class in a state of panic and disarray. Brute force could not clear the masses off the streets. The regime has been forced to resort to new methods: a sly combination of deception, manoeuvres and provocations.

In an address delivered today, Kenya’s president, William Ruto, announced that he will not sign into law the Finance Bill, which was passed in parliament yesterday, in the face of an insurrectionary movement of the Kenyan masses.

Today, the hated Finance Bill 2024, which sparked an unprecedented movement of Kenyan youth last week, was brought before parliament for its third and final reading. Before the session began, enormous throngs were descending on Nairobi Central Business District, heading for the parliament building. At 2.15pm, MPs passed the bill by 195 votes to 106. Within 40 minutes, the insurrectionary masses had stormed parliament and MPs were fleeing in panic.

Big events are rocking Kenya. The government of William Ruto – faithful servant of Washington, the IMF and the World Bank – is attempting to shove punitive taxes down the throats of the masses. And his government has reaped an explosion of the youth, which has spontaneously flooded the streets of every major town and city. There are revolutionary elements in the situation, and many are talking of Sri Lanka coming to Kenya.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) was dealt an historic blow in last week’s general election, losing its majority for the first time since South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

Issue 45 of In Defence of Marxism magazine, the quarterly theoretical journal of the International Marxist Tendency, is available to order now! This issue focuses on the revolutionary struggles of the people of the African continent, the crimes of imperialism, and the lessons of the anti-colonial struggles of the postwar period.

UPDATE (26/01/24): In an order delivered today, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided by a large majority that it is “at least plausible” that Israel is committing genocidal acts in Gaza. The decision is a blow to Israel’s indignant propaganda that it is fighting to defend ‘democracy’ against Hamas. It also represents an embarrassment for Israel’s allies in the West, which have backed its invasion to the hilt. But it must be recognised that the measures ordered are little more than a slap on the wrist for Israel, and a reminder that it should keep its genocidal intentions out of the public eye.

There are many earnest people in the west who look to the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions) campaign as a ‘practical’ way to show solidarity with Palestine. BDS calls for Israel’s economic and cultural isolation in order to hit the Zionists in their wallets. Its activists often point to the example of the racist Apartheid regime in South Africa, which, they say, was brought down in large part through sanctions and pressure from the ‘international community’. But is this really the case?

Throughout the self-proclaimed ‘civilised’ western world, the ruling classes have banded together to denounce Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October and have rallied around Israel’s ‘right of self-defence’ as it bombs Gaza to smithereens. But this is not the first time we have been told to accept a bloody war against an oppressed people in the name of the oppressor nation’s ‘self-defence’.

This article, marking 60 years since the end of the Algerian war of national liberation, appeared in Révolution, the paper of the French section of the International Marxist Tendency, in March 2022.

“In Derna, death is everywhere. The people here told us Derna was the most beautiful city in Libya. Today, you walk through it and see nothing but mud, silt, and demolished houses. The smell of corpses is everywhere, the smell of death from the sea, where thousands of decomposed corpses have been swept away.” These were the words of Raed Qazmouz, head of a Palestinian rescue team, to Al Jazeera.