Americas

Following on the successful anti-war demonstration, Portland's labor and Latin America solidarity activists gathered at Carpenters Local 247 to hear Luis Primo speak on the Venezuelan National Union of Workers (UNT), trade union democracy, and the need to build a trade union movement integrated tightly with the community and society as a whole.

The proposed new anti-immigration law HR4437 in the USA – "The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act"   is a continuation of a vicious cycle of lies and misery. It is a reactionary battery of additions and amendments to existing immigration legislation which effectively declares open war on undocumented workers.

A new flyer from the WIL. Print these out and spread the word about the SoS' campaign of genuine class-wide solidarity against the attacks faced by us all.

"The Iraq War disaster, in which thousands upon housands of Iraqis and Americans have been killed, wounded, tortured, and maimed will continue without end until we, the American working class stop it. After all, foreign policy is the continuation of domestic policy: the “War on Terror” is nothing but a war on workers and the poor at home and abroad. We are the only force on the planet that can end this madness once and for all." A Workers' International League pamphlet.

As the auto workers' struggle with the Big Three U.S. auto makers continues, the business pages of the nation's newspapers have been hit with troubling news about the state of the world's largest auto manufacturer, General Motors. While GM's parts subsidiary, Delphi has filed for bankruptcy, GM itself has seen a huge loss in profitability, sales and its stock tumble to the floor.

The Campbell government is planning a major offensive on the rights of working people. Over the past five years, each attack of the government has been met with stiff resistance. Each battle has taken on an increasingly militant character. With most public sector contracts ending this month, the stage is set for a decisive battle.

The stakes are higher than ever. It's becoming increasingly clear to millions of workers that even in the "best of times", capitalism simply doesn't work anymore. The corruption, greed, and mismanagement of the system has reached unheard of proportions.

Almost one year has passed since Lucio Gutierrez was ousted from power, overthrown by the rising of big sectors of the Ecuadorian population. His replacement, the former vice-president Alfredo Palacio, has not managed to solve any of the fundamental problems that led to the April 2005 rising. Great contradictions are accumulating and will sooner or later explode in new revolutionary events.

The heroic mobilisation of the petrol workers of Las Heras (Argentina) lasted for two weeks and has unleashed the fury of the ruling class and its agents in the government, the judiciary, the media and the police. Here we launch a petition for the support committee of these workers in order to collect signatures and solidarity messages in support of their demands. We have also issued a financial appeal for the workers’ strike fund, to help them in their struggle.

Now that the Havana Book Fair is over we can give a general overview of the event. Over half a million people attended, and for the second year running we, the Spanish Frederick Engels Foundation, were there with our publications. Again there was keen interest in Trotsky’s works. The Cuban edition of Reason in Revolt is selling very well, and there are plans for a Cuban edition of Alan Woods’ book on Venezuela.

The last leg of Alan Woods’ speaking tour of Cuba was in Santiago de Cuba. He spoke at two meetings at the Universidad de Oriente. There was keen interest and people noted the difference between genuine Marxism and the stale old Soviet manuals. A large part of the discussion was dedicated to the situation in Venezuela. Alan insisted that the revolution in Venezuela “will not be completed until a radical expropriation of the capitalist class takes place”.

In the face of mass demonstrations against the fraud in Haiti’s elections the Provisional Electoral Council of Haiti has been forced to declare René Préval the winner and the next president of Haiti. The masses have come out onto the streets in celebration, justifiably jubilant and euphoric at their victory. However, these elections have solved none of the problems the Haitian masses face, and the reactionary opposition has not been completely defeated. What is needed now is determination and vigilance against the forces of counter-revolution.