Brazil: a militant funeral – an inspiring tribute to comrade Roque Esquerda Marxista, the Brazilian section of the International Marxist Tendency, honored and paid tribute to comrade Roque Ferreira at his funeral on 5 September in Bauru. Because of the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the burial at Jardim Ypê cemetery was restricted to 15 family members. Roque passed away on 4 September after complications during his hospitalisation after testing positive for COVID-19. However, like everything in Roque’s life, his funeral was filled with not just displays of affection, but also a deep revolutionary spirit.
Colombia: Uribe – Supreme Court puts “the chainsaw man” under house arrest On 4 August, the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia was filled with hope for the thousands of families awaiting justice for the crimes for which the former president and, until recently, senator Álvaro Uribe has been indicted. The court issued a sentence of house arrest based on the charges of possible witness tampering, procedural fraud and bribery. Those would be the least-serious crimes Uribe has committed.
In memory of comrade Roque Ferreira: a personal tribute by Alan Woods Alan Woods, editor of marxist.com, offers tribute to comrade Roque Ferreira, a leading member of our Brazilian section who tragically died yesterday from COVID-19.
Brazil: Comrade Roque Ferreira, present! It is with great sadness that we have to report that Comrade Roque Ferreira, member of the Central Committee of Esquerda Marxista (Marxist Left) and of the National Coordination of the Black Socialist Movement, died yesterday afternoon (4 September), a victim of COVID-19.
United States: Election 2020 – The Socialist Case Against “Lesser-Evil” Politics 2020 has been a momentous year—a petri dish of capitalist chaos and instability not seen in generations. Tens of millions of American workers have been pushed off the cliff of a devastating economic meltdown and subjected to a criminally mishandled global pandemic. Sociopathic cops have been unleashed against ...
United States: School Teachers – Strike for Our Lives Against Disaster Capitalism! Despite record-breaking highs of COVID-19 new cases this summer, Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have pushed hard for schools to reopen in person this fall.
Social media purges of left-wing groups intensify The censorship of social media accounts of left-wing groups has continued, with Facebook recently removing and restricting US anarchist and antifascist pages. This is part of a pattern, which has seen similar moves by other social media platforms. These purges demonstrate whose side these huge corporations stand on, and why we must fight for public control and ownership of social media.
USA: TikTok and Trump – National Security for Which Class? China’s recent economic growth constitutes a major challenge to the dominance of US capitalism. As a result, hostility to China is now a bipartisan priority for the US ruling class. In addition to increasing military tensions and the imperialist contest over countries in Africa and elsewhere, this has recently been expressed in the relationship between the US and Chinese tech sectors, supported by their...
USA: Black Lives Matter–Jacob Blake Shooting Reignites the Simmering Anger Another unarmed black man has been shot by police, this time in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The now-viral video of the shooting begins with Jacob Blake walking around his car to open the driver’s side door to get in, tailed immediately by two cops. One of the police grabs the back of Blake’s shirt, pulling him backwards to prevent him from getting into his vehicle, and almost immediately begins shooting at close range, firing seven shots into Blake’s back. Not shown in the video were Blake’s young children sitting in the backseat. Blake was admitted to the hospital, and his father says he is now paralyzed from the waist...
Venezuela Supreme Court backs coup inside Patria Para Todos party On August 21, the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) ruled to depose the current leadership within the Patria Para Todos (PPT), giving them legal control of the party to a minority faction. This is yet another scandalous case of state intervention in the affairs of left wing organisations, which can only be interpreted as a response to the formation of the People's Revolutionary Alternative, which will stand in the December National Assembly election.
[Video] Villa, Zapata, and the Mexican Revolution Watch this livestream by our US comrades at Socialist Revolution about about Villa, Zapata, and the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920! 100 years since the end of the revolution, what are its legacy and lessons for today? Presentation by John Peterson, editor of Socialist Revolution.
Canadian economy: when will the **** hit the fan? On 8 July, federal finance minister Bill Morneau announced that the deficit had ballooned to an astronomical $343 billion. The total government debt load is predicted to surpass $1 trillion for the first time in Canadian history, reaching $1.2 trillion sometime next year. This unprecedented level of government spending begs the question: When will the shit hit the fan?
Canada: COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on women The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all parts of society and has thrown hundreds of millions out of work globally. However, a closer look reveals that women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Women workers play a key role in health care, child care, elder care, and teaching while experiencing low wages, insecure employment, and domestic and sexual violence—all of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Venezuela: the Peoples’ Revolutionary Alternative is born. Let’s rebuild hope! After years of arduous and heated discussions, tactical rearrangements, and adjustments in the political activity of the organisations, the Alternativa Popular Revolucionaria (Peoples’ Revolutionary Alternative) has finally been born in Venezuela. It is an alliance of leftist parties and movements that are determined to mark a decisive break from the anti-worker policies of the national government and to offer the country a new working class, peasant, and peoples’ point of reference for a revolutionary solution to the crisis of capitalism.
Haiti: tremors herald the collapse of the Jovenel Moïse regime! We received this article from ELAPRE, a group of revolutionary youth in Haiti. Haiti has experienced the same intensification of the class struggle we have seen in many countries around the world. In recent years, the masses in Haiti have fought to change society and could have overthrown the Moïse government many times. But his government is saved by the ruling class and the reformist leadership of popular movements. Seeing no way forward on this basis, ELAPRE was formed to study the ideas of Marxism, learn the lessons of the past, and to build a revolutionary organisation capable of leading the struggle for socialism.