About 15,000 Dutch students demonstrated last Friday in The Hague against the cuts in higher education. This was the first big protest against Mark Rutte’s new right-wing government, and the biggest student demonstration since 1988.

Amid scenes of confusion embattled Taoiseach Brian Cowen has finally hauled up the white flag and announced an election for March 11^th.

School students took to the streets of London against coalition education reforms again yesterday, this time to demonstrate against the abolition of a grant, the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), a weekly payment for 16- to 18-year-olds whose household income is under £30,800 to encourage them to stay in education. Students travelled from as far away as Sunderland and Cornwall to protest against the scrapping of the EMA. The allowance had already been closed to new applicants.

The events of the past two months represent an important shift in the consciousness of British students. Having grown up knowing only economic boom, previously labelled as “apathetic” by the media, stood up and made their voices heard. Their message is simple and has found an echo across many layers of society: “We will not be forced to pay for a crisis we did not cause!” This wave of protests and occupations has swept even the most deeply entrenched prejudices of the last period from the political landscape, leaving many (both on the right and the left) trailing in its wake.

In response to the 10th November demonstration, students across the country decided to go into occupation. Before Christmas there were 30 of such occupations. Coupled with the increasingly militant demonstrations against the Government’s attacks on education, these university occupations are hugely significant in so far as they have radicalised not only students at the occupied universities but also school students and even people outside of education.

Tens of thousands of left-wing activists and socialists from all over Germany came to Berlin last Sunday to commemorate the 92nd anniversary of the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, the most famous representatives of German Marxism in the early 20th century and founders of the German Communist Party (KPD) in 1918.

The deepest crisis since the Great Depression, with its accompanying financial, banking and sovereign debt crises, has opened up splits and arguments not seen for generations. Where do they go from here? Savage austerity, which threatens the weak recovery, or possibly pump-prime the economy and risk market turmoil? That is their choice as the crisis moves into its next dangerous phase. Under the topsy-turvy logic of capitalism they are both right and both wrong. Whatever they do they will not be able to cure this unsolvable and protracted crisis of the system.

The collapse of the former Yugoslavia, and with it the old planned economy was a painful process for the workers. What happened at the famous Zastava car factory in Kragujevac during the past two decades of transition is a prime example. How was it privatized and sold off to FIAT? What is seldom heard in the Serbian media and why? Searching for answers to these questions, a member of the “Crvena Kritika” editorial board interviewed Zoran Mihajlović, the secretary of the Independent Union of Serbia at FAS (FIAT Automobiles Serbia).

Yesterday, December 15, Greece was shaken by yet another powerful general strike, which saw at least 80,000 workers march through the streets of Athens, with many more demonstrating in other cities against the latest round of austerity measures introduced by the government. A very angry mood is developing among workers and youth, which will inevitably lead to a major confrontation between workers and the capitalist class.

In October we witnessed a massive mobilisation of the French workers and youth against Sarkozy's attacks on pensions. All the potential was there for the government to be defeated. The overwhelming majority of the population supported the protests. So what was missing? We are publishing an a analysis by the French Marxists of La Riposte to explain what happened and why it happened.

Around noon yesterday students gathered in various parts of London to march towards the centre of the city. All over London the students had made a conscious effort to bring out school students in the morning and the days before with leaflets. At least half of the protesters were school students   probably more. Many were working class kids from poor areas. Even The Financial Times admitted that some 20-30,000 students participated.

The media made a big fuss about the wildcat strike of Spanish air traffic controllers over the weekend. What they failed to explain was what was really behind the spontaneous walkout. Here we publish an explanation by a Spanish Marxist.

The title of The Economist article said it all: “Europe: More pain, little gain”. All over Europe, governments are struggling to bring huge deficits under control. In order to do this, they pass the bill to the working class and the middle class. Gradually the truth is beginning to dawn on the workers. They are faced with a whole period of cuts and attacks on living standards. And they are reacting.

Who gains from the cut in the minimum wage proposed in the four year plan? Well, according to Brian Cowen it’s the very people who are on the minimum wage just now. As usual with Cowen, it is a question of denying what is abundantly clear to everyone else.

On November 24, the working class paralysed Portugal in a general strike against the latest austerity plan of the Socialist Party government.