One year after a massive explosion and fire at the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, California, there was a demonstration of thousands directed against the oil giant on August 3. A significant aspect of the action was that it brought together environmentalists from the Bay Area and nationally, and activists from the Richmond community. From the environmentalists’ side, the demonstration was part of a wave of “Summer Heat” actions organized by 350.org. (“350” refers to the estimate of 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that scientists say is the upper limit to avoid severe greenhouse heating.)
Obama’s spy methods exposed by Snowden
12 August 2013, byPresident Obama’s well-publicized May 23 speech to the nation was aimed at moderating the present U.S. dictum that the country is and should remain in a never-ending state of war—that is, the undeclared, undefined “war on terror.”
Peace policy and the reconstruction of politics
10 August 2013, by ,Land is at the centre of the peace negotiations in Havana between Colombia’s Santos government and the FARC guerrilla movement. It is no accident that the first point on the agenda is recognizing the centrality of the land to the Colombian conflict. It should not be forgotten that the FARC arose in the form of the Frente Nacional as a means of peasant self-defence in answer to the despoliation of the land by the big estate owners and against the military offensive of an authoritarian regime that repressed the demands of the peasant masses and which in later decades adapted the institutional system to the demands of international capitalism and neoliberal globalization around the binomial: latifundio - “state terror”. Although the subject of land does not alone explain the armed conflict, it expresses in every way the form in which the type of prevailing political regime in Colombia was constituted, and is central to understanding the history and configuration of political domination.
Draft statement for consideration from the Reclaim the Net conference
9 August 2013, byDraft statement for consideration from the Reclaim the Net conference organised by the Dei Lenk (Left Party) of Luxembourg with the participation of members or supporters of Parti de Gauche (France), Die Linke (Germany) and Left Unity (Britain). 28th/29th June 2013 at a Conference supported by the European Left Group in the European Parliament.
Luxembourg conference on the Left’s engagement with the Internet
9 August 2013, bySeven rather austere-looking middle aged men looked down on us as we discussed the way the Internet was raising new issues for the left. They were the former presidents of the transport union in Luxembourg. These men were brought up in the world of electricity, railways, giant factories and great industrial battles for decent working conditions and pay. They straddled the tremendous rise and relative decline of working class organisation as the industrial revolution transformed Europe and then devastated whole areas as globalisation and digitalisation destroyed, relocated and remodelled the working class.
The emergency economic tasks of a government of national salvation - Plan for a national financial mobilization
9 August 2013, byIn order to address the present economic and social conditions, it is necessary to combat the factors causing the financial hemorrhage of the state and to increase state resources, in order to make it possible for a government of national salvation to implement its programme, basing itself essentially on our own national capacities, and to reduce excessive dependence on global capital.
"Justice for Trayvon" Protests and the March on Washington: A New Chance
7 August 2013, byThe coincidence of the “Justice for Trayvon” protests all over the country and the 50th anniversary of the March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom presents the African American people and all of those concerned with social justice a real opportunity to revive the black freedom and equality movement in the United States. Hundreds of marches and demonstrations have taken place in cities and towns throughout the nation in the last few weeks in a call not only for justice for Travyon Martin but also for an end to racial profiling and to “stand your ground” laws.