International Viewpoint, the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International, is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.
The controversy surrounding a historian’s attempt to give a minute’s monologue on the meaning of Italy’s National Liberation Day, 25 April.
read article...“They accused Switzerland, with evidence to back up their accusations, of failing to take care of their health and well-being in the face of increasingly worrying heatwaves, and of failing to take steps to achieve the target set for 2030 by the Paris Agreement in 2015.”
read article...“Until now, the South has been a bastion of bosses, of non-union open shops, where workers had no vote and no voice in their workplaces. If this victory leads to others, as it is expected to, it will change completely the balance of forces between the corporations and the working class in America.”
read article...In an interview with Jacobin, Leonidas Iza, president of Ecuador’s CONAIE (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador - Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), the country’s main indigenous movement, discusses the government’s repressive policy, militarization, and the expansion of drug trafficking while criticizing neoliberal policies and examining political debates within the indigenous movement and the left. The interview was conducted by Martín Mosquera and Iain Bruce.
read article...“Faced with the militarisation of the world, we need a global anti-war movement. It’s easy to say, but hard to do. Can we rely on local cross-border solidarity (Ukraine-Russia, India-Pakistan) to achieve this? Or on the huge solidarity movement with Palestine? Or social forums like the one that has just taken place in Nepal?”
read article...The protesters that started gathering on Kyiv’s main square (‘maidan’) almost ten months ago were driven by a certain kind of ‘occidentalism’ (if I may introduce this term by analogy with orientalism). Europe, which stood as an epitome of Occident for them, presented a generalized image of Ukraine relieved from all evils: corruption, poverty, economic backwardness. However, this vacuous image formed by the desires of the protesting masses, was filled by the content provided by political passions of groups, organizations and parties that struggled to dominate the protest. For liberals it was the Europe of bourgeois democracy, free trade and developed financial markets, for national democrats it was the Europe of elusive ‘European values’ opposed to ‘the Asian horde’, for the far right it was the ‘Fortress of Europe’ and for the few left-wing groups it was the Europe of social struggle. While the brightest dreams of the Maidan coalesced in the image of Europe, the worst nightmares were projected towards Ukraine’s East: Ukraine’s own eastern regions, the stronghold of the then ruling elite, and its eastern neighbor, Russia. [1]
Most accounts of the conflict in Ukraine reproduce the familiar Cold War binary. For the Russian government-controlled TV channels, Maidan (Ukraine’s revolution of the winter 2013–2014) was a fascist coup that overthrew the legitimate government with the US imperialist support. For the liberal media in the West, Ukraine, and Russia, Maidan was a popular democratic uprising against an authoritarian regime that was rooted in the Soviet past. Both these accounts claim to draw on real facts and each obscures much in the real situation.
The following statement on Ukraine was agreed by the International Committee of the Fourth International in Amsterdam in February 2015.
Below is a short note on the first results of the parliamentary elections of 26 October.
There then follows an article by Alexandr Volodarsky, a Ukrainian anarchist who is a native of Luhansk, a city which is at present occupied city by militias armed by Russia, and who took part in the battles of the Maidan. This article dates from the beginning of July. I have accompanied it by notes, either to update or to add elements of reflection or information. These notes naturally reflect my point of view and not necessarily that of the author.
V.P.
“This is the culmination of a campaign by the German government that has been going on for months to prevent any solidarity with the people of Palestine and criticism of the German government’s military and political support for Israel.”
- read article...Also published at https://freeboris.info/. Signatories who wish to be contacted by the campaign should sign on at this site
- read article...“This is a condemnation of all of us who organize politically in defense of democratic rights, equality, and freedom. The arrests of the Zaragoza 6 reflect the political decision to systematically criminalize protest, seeking to punish them to instill fear. It reinforces the political power of the police and judicial apparatuses, over and above the democratic rights won through centuries of struggle.”
- read article...In her election night statement, Mariana Mortágua emphasized that despite the turn to the right in the electoral results, the Bloco managed to resist, maintaining its mandates and with more votes than in 2022.
- read article...International Viewpoint is published under the responsibility of the Bureau of the Fourth International. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect editorial policy. Articles can be reprinted with acknowledgement, and a live link if possible.
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