The Bernie Sanders campaign represented a breakthrough on the U.S. left—not because the insurgency within the Democratic Party offered a new opportunity to transform the graveyard of social movements, but primarily because the campaign surfaced a growing desire of millions for a left program and opened a much larger space to talk about socialism, while also exposing the limitation of the Democratic Party.
When France moves, all of Europe shakes
10 June 2016, byMassive strikes and protests are rocking France, with the threat of greater shocks to come as a hated labor law "counterreform" comes to the French Senate for discussion on June 14.
Byelection postponed due to mass support for jailed socialist
9 June 2016, byThe voice from prison of Baba Jan, social activist and president of the Awami Workers Party (AWP) Gilgit-Baltistan, appears to be so frightening to the Pakistan Muslim League/Nawaz (PMLN) government of Pakistan that it is using state machinery against Baba Jan’s latest election bid from prison. On May 25, the appellate Supreme Court of Gilgit-Baltistan postponed a by-election, which was supposed to be held three days later, by three weeks
Temer’s Black Thumb
9 June 2016, byBrazil’s right-wing interim government will set the country on a path of wholesale environmental destruction. Recently published transcripts of conversations between former Brazilian government planning minister Romero Jucá and former oil executive Sergio Machado prove that Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s recently deposed president, was right to insist that her impeachment was a parliamentary coup.
United against state violence in Canada
8 June 2016, by ,First Nations, Idle No More and Black Lives Matter activists in Toronto held a nine-day occupation in April of the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada office in order to shine a light on a sharp increase of attempted suicides in Attawapiskat and First Nation communities.
Agreement between Podemos and Izquierda Unida for the elections of 26 June
7 June 2016, byThe agreement between Izquierda Unida and Podemos to form a coalition for the elections on 26 June is very good news, as it could cause a real shift in the political situation.
A new beginning in France?
7 June 2016, by ,France is being rocked by massive protests and strikes against the Socialist Party government of President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls and its plans to change longstanding labor rules that favor workers. Now targeting legislation known as the El Khomri law, the demonstrations have grown from their first stage—the Nuit Debout (Up All Night) protests that began with nightly gatherings in the Place de la République in Paris and spread to more public squares.
Fear and dissent in Okara
6 June 2016, byThe widespread use of exceptional legal and administrative measures to intervene in social conflicts, particularly in the aftermath of the National Action Plan [1], is radically altering legal and political conceptions of citizenship in Pakistan. While many have considered the legal aspects of this seemingly permanent state of emergency, there is a need to debate how this environment is (re)defining acceptable political dissent and notions of a legitimate political community.
Spontaneous strikes open a second round in the fight against right-wing government
5 June 2016, byA new trial of strength has begun in Belgium between the rightist government and the trade union movement. On 24 May, 80,000 people demonstrated in Brussels following a call by the common TU front consisting of the FGTB-CSC-CGSLB [2]. On 31 May, public services were paralyzed by a nationwide strike; the FGTB called for a 24-hour strike on 24 June and were supported by the National Confederation of Employees (the main organisation of the CSC Christian union in the French speaking part of the country); a new mass demonstration and a further day of strikes are planned for after the summer holidays.
? ‘I Just Wanted to Be Free’: The Radical Reverberations of Muhammad Ali
4 June 2016, byAli was shaped by his times. But his death should remind us that he also shaped them. [Muhammad Ali, champion boxer and black rights activist, 17 January 1942-3 June 2016.]