Following the referendum over constitutional amendments which allowed Turkey’s President Erdogan to obtain increased powers, the latter has declared victory
French presidential elections: should Philippe Poutou stand down?
21 April 2017, byThese are just a few personal words on a political situation in France that is simultaneously full of danger and hope, and extremely complex.
Politics and Propaganda in Lebanon and Syria
21 April 2017, byThis interview of Joseph Daher with Chuck Mertz for This is Hell! Radio (Chicago) on the 18 February 2017 was transcribed and printed with permission by antidotezine and edited for space and readability
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Assessing the Pink Tide
20 April 2017, byAssessing the Pink Tide
Pink Tide governments delivered much-needed reforms. But they also defanged the movements that brought them to power.
Japan and South Korea’s latest row could have deeper consequences
18 April 2017, byJapan and South Korea have reopened an old spat over wartime sexual slavery, or so-called Comfort Women. The latest flare-up began when a bronze statue of a girl representing former comfort women was installed in front of the Japanese consulate in the South Korean city of Busan. It’s triggered an unnecessary, unwanted fiasco that shows no sign of going away.
The First Strike
16 April 2017, by ,On March 8, International Women’s Day, formerly known as International Working Women’s Day, there was a global strike in the name of feminism. The combination of the strike and an explicitly left feminist agenda drew some criticism from Hillary-style Democrats, and even some people further to the left. It would be too small, too radical, too adventurous to make any kind of political difference.
But March 8 showed that, despite such criticisms, women in the United States were drawn to the political project signaled by the women’s strike. The “Day Without a Woman” saw three school districts close and protests across the country.
Yet the action’s organizers aren’t stopping there; instead, they are already mobilizing for May Day. [Jacobin]
Vote Poutou – and prepare for confrontation
15 April 2017, byPhilippe Poutou and activists in the Nouveau parti anticapitaliste (NPA) continue to receive messages of sympathy and support, directly or on social media, for what Philippe said and did on the panel of the “Grand Débat” of April 4, 2017 (the televised debate among candidates for the French presidency, where Poutou tore into the Front National leader, Marine Le Pen and the main right wing candidate, François Fillon, for corruption).
What happened on 26 March? Russia’s movement against corruption and perspectives for the Left
14 April 2017, byOn March 26th, people in many Russian cities participated in rallies connected to the recent anti-corruption investigation by Alexey Navalny’s Anti-corruption Foundation. One could say that these were the most numerous street protests of the past few years. In contrast to the Bolotnaya protests of 2012, which focused on demanding fair and open elections, the main issues these rallies addressed were the unjust distribution of resources and the Russian oligarchical system.
What About Racism?
13 April 2017, byFor more than a year, the Black Lives Matter movement has gripped the United States. The movement’s central slogan is a simple, declarative recognition of black humanity in a society that is wracked by economic and social inequality disproportionately experienced by African Americans.
What South Korean president Park’s political demise means for the region’s geopolitics
12 April 2017, bySouth Korea’s former president, Park Geun-hye , has been arrested on charges including extortion, bribery and abuse of power over an influence-peddling scandal that led to her impeachment by the National Assembly in December 2016. That decision was upheld by the Constitutional Court in March.