Eric Fretz breaks down the first 100 days of the Biden administration, arguing that while certain reforms might appear dramatic, his presidency’s overall goal is to bolster profits and capitalist stability—and offer working people just enough to quell our discontent.
Ten years since the Arab revolutions: Middle Eastern voices reflect on a rebellious decade
Anne Alexander interviews activists from across the Middle East and North Africa about their rebellious decade. (This article appeared originally in the International Socialism journal on April 6th 2021) Over the past decade, the Middle East and North Africa have experienced waves of popular uprisings that have turned the region into fertile ground for experiments… Continue reading Ten years since the Arab revolutions: Middle Eastern voices reflect on a rebellious decade
How the Syrian revolution was lost
A decade on from the beginning of mass protests in Syria, Nick Clark investigates how murderous state repression and Western imperialism drowned resistance Syrians protesting in Daraa in April 2012 (Pic: Freedom House/flickr) If Egypt’s Tahrir Square is the lasting image of the excitement of the Arab Spring, the devastated streets of Syria’s suburbs are… Continue reading How the Syrian revolution was lost
Fighting Biden’s border controls and detention centers
Victor Fernandez and Clare Lemlich look at Biden’s new immigration policy overhaul, arguing that it has all the markings of previous comprehensive immigration reforms, and that the movement must now prepare to fight Biden’s enforcement measures as hard as it did Trump’s concentration camps for children.
We Must Stop “Vaccine Apartheid” to Defeat COVID-19 Globally.
Baba Aye, Editor-in-Chief of Nigeria’s Socialist Worker and Co-Chair of the Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2) spoke to Dimitris Daskalakis for the newspaper Workers Solidarity in Greece. The Coronavirus public health emergency became considered a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The pandemic has highlighted and worsened global health and social inequalities. Poor working-class people have… Continue reading We Must Stop “Vaccine Apartheid” to Defeat COVID-19 Globally.
Reading and Discussion Group: Fascism and Fighting the Far Right Today.
The growth of the far right is a real threat in the United States and internationally, but it is not inevitable. In this reading group, starting Feb. 14th, we will briefly look back at the nature of classic fascism, before examining both disastrous and successful strategies to fight fascism, how it has transformed, and discussing the far-right in the United States under Trump and after. More, for reading list and links...
Coronavirus, global capitalism, and the state
Sean Cumming explores how governments have responded to the pandemic, explaining how states’ strategies reflect their place in the global capitalist system of production, and argues that keeping people safe from pandemics like Covid-19 can only be prioritized in a system that puts people and our environment before profit.
Over 1,400 Workers Win Strike at Hunts Point for Wages and Respect
After a militant one-week struggle, workers at New York City’s Hunts Point market have won a victory that should inspire other essential workers everywhere. Brett Wallace reports from the picket line...
Antonio Gramsci: 130 years since his birth
When we saw Joseph Biden calling for unity at his inauguration, we immediately thought of Gramsci’s line, "The historical unity of the ruling classes is realized in the state." Antonio Gramsci, born 130 years ago, on January 22nd, 1891, lived his life as a revolutionary, from daily agitation in the Turin workers struggles at the end of WWI, through the rise of fascism and his death in Mussolini’s prison. In between, he made fundamental contributions to Marxist theory of strategy and the revolutionary party as elaborated by Karl Marx, Rosa Luxembourg, and V.I. Lenin. In American academia, Gramsci’s important concept of hegemony has often been confusingly used to reject working class activity and concentrate on the articulation of counter hegemony within the domain of culture. Certainly, Gramsci’s intelligent and dialectical cultural writings are useful and enjoyable to read. But, as Leandros Bolaris emphasizes below (translated by Iannis Delatolas), Gramsci’s Marxism was always the "philosophy of action", the theory of the liberation struggle of the working class. When we consider issues like the rise of a new brand of fascism today, the use of social media in spreading false consciousness, or the relation of working class action to the revolutionary party, Gramsci remains a brilliant and useful part of the Marxist tradition.
On the Anniversary of Roe v Wade, Continue the Fight that Won Legal Abortion
We cannot depend on Biden and Congress to defend abortion rights today from an increasingly anti-abortion Supreme Court. Four years ago, a massive Women’s March kicked off opposition to Trump. Those numbers, and a revival of the movements that won abortion rights in the first place, can not only secure those rights, but fight on for much more.
