On 8 November 2015 António Costa, leader of the Socialist Party, announced his government programme and listed some of the measures agreed with Left Bloc and the Communist Party.
Nationalism and War Mongering Won the Election
9 November 2015, byThe mood was tense as the election results came in to the local office of the progressive People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in the town of Erzurum in eastern Turkey. This is a very conservative region on the invisible border between nationalist Turkish Anatolia and the Kurdish region. The HDP’s office was filled with leaflets and banners that party activists did not dare to distribute due to fear of reprisals and violence. The party lost its single deputy from the area and saw a small nationwide decrease in votes. But after a nerve wracking evening of vote counting, it was clear that the party had just got above the ten percent threshold required to enter the Turkish parliament.
Why We Need Open Borders
4 November 2015, byThe magnitude of the refugee crisis in Europe only strengthens the case against immigration controls.It is magnificent that so many in Germany, France, Britain, and other countries have been stirred at last into compassion for those fleeing to Europe. They are embracing refugees, raising money for them, offering accommodation, making gifts of food, clothes, and shelter, and recognizing that they are human beings who need help.
Political resolution of the national leadership of the Left Bloc
3 November 2015, byThis resolution was adopted unanimously by the National Leadership of the Left Bloc in Lisbon on October 18, 2015 following the elections on Sunday 4 October
These elections gave a parliamentary majority to parties defining themselves as on the left: the Socialist Party, the Communist Party and the Left Bloc. Since then while these parties have been discussing the possibilites of an agreement to allow a government expressing this parliamentary majority to be formed, the Portuguese president has declared that it is would be impossible to allow parties that do not accept the EU rules to be close to the government in Portugal, and has invited the rightwing coalition which has the biggest single group of MPs to form a government.
The fate of this government will be decided in a vote of confidence on 10 November.
The Momentum is with Corbyn
3 November 2015, byJeremy Corbyn’s triumph in the contest to become leader of the Labour Party on September 12 was a red letter day. The scale of his success and the thousands of people – especially young people – involved in the campaign were both extraordinary.
The global refugee crisis and the crisis of the European Union
2 November 2015, byNever, since the Second World War, have forced population displacements occurred on so great and deadly a scale – so risky and dangerous, forcing so many refugees to endure such inhumane conditions of existence, such appalling suffering. This is a genuine tragedy which lays bare the truth of the new international order installed by capitalist globalization. The evidence is there in the scale and number migratory flows.