South Africa: Centenary of the 1913 Land Act
By Colin Bundy
Britain: The 1970s and the movement for workers’ control
[Click for more discussion of workers' control, cooperatives and "green jobs".]
By Andrew Coates
Trade unions have historically bargained for better terms for the sale of labour power; they have not been able to challenge the existence of the labour market itself. Today, however, the relation between "political" and "economic" struggle have changed.” -- Perry Anderson. "The Limits and Possibilities", in The Incompatibles: Trade Union Militancy and the Consensus,1967.
Behind the crisis: US tightens chokehold on North Korea
US and South Korean soldiers take part in joint military exercises in Pohang, South Korea.
By David Whitehouse
April 22, 2013 -- Socialist Worker (USA) -- In the 60 years since the end of the Korean War, US policy toward North Korea has fluctuated between the options of "containment" and "rollback".
Sometimes, the policy has shifted in the course of one presidency. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both started out as advocates of rollback -- regime change, either by military force or by provoking an internal collapse -- but ended as caretakers of containment.
Barack Obama -- who campaigned for the White House in 2008 on a promise to conduct direct talks with North Korea, in contrast to the belligerent rhetoric of the Bush years -- seems to have followed an opposite trajectory since his first months in office. Though you wouldn't know it to judge from the US media, this aggressive posture in Washington is a driving factor in the escalating tensions that have landed the Korean conflict on the front pages in recent weeks.
Venezuela: Imperialism prepares fascist movement to defeat revolution
A PSUV office in Anzoategui torched on March 15, part of a coordinated campaign of violence, murder and arson.
Hugo Chávez: Tribune of world’s dispossessed/Tribuna de los desposeídos del mundo
April 15, 2013 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/America XXI -- Hugo Chávez was not only a great Bolivarian patriot; he was a tribune of the world’s dispossessed.
At an anti-imperialist conference in Cairo in 2007, I heard Chávez hailed for his solidarity with Palestinians as “a better Arab than the Arabs”; “closer to us than the Arabs that impose injustice”.
Chávez, the first Latin American president to declare himself of African descent, proclaimed in 2005, “Every day we are much more aware of the roots we have in Africa.”
Britain's days of hope -- Ken Loach's 'The Spirit of ’45' reviewed
Ken Loach discusses The Spirit of '45.
‘There are no recipes for socialism’: interview with Hugo Moldiz, Bolivian Marxist
Hugo Moldiz interviewed by Coral Wynter and Jim McIlroy
North America: Ecosocialist Conference shows potential for a united green left
Introduction by Ian Angus
April 23, 2013 -- Climate & Capitalism, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with permission -- I was unable to attend the Ecosocialist Conference in New York City on April 20, 2013, and it is clear from all reports that I missed an important and inspiring event. The meeting was organised by the Ecosocialist Contingent, the alliance that participated as a united anti-capitalist voice in the demonstration against the Keystone XL Pipeline in Washington on February 17.
Initiated by members of Solidarity and the International Socialist Organization, the Ecosocialist Contingent quickly expanded to include the broadest range of left organisations and individuals yet seen in the US environmental movement.
See the list of conference endorsers, which includes Climate & Capitalism, here.
Adam Hanieh: A strategic overview of the struggles in the Middle East (video)
April 21, 2013 – SocResVideo – Adam Hanieh addressed the 2013 Ap
El estado de la izquierda y los movimientos sociales en Rusia
[English at http://links.org.au/node/3280.]
Por Boris Kagarlitsky
21/04/2013 -- Sinpermiso -- En Rusia, las dos primeras semanas de enero suelen ser una época en la que nada ocurre. Los integrantes de los estratos más adinerados, los burócratas, los políticos y la burguesía abandonan el país con el fin de pasar sus vacaciones en el extranjero, distribuyéndose por los diversos lugares vacacionales según sus medios, gustos y vanidad. Sus destinos abarcan desde hoteles relativamente baratos en Egipto hasta estaciones de esquí en Francia, Austria o Suiza.
Aquellos que no pueden permitirse tales lujos simplemente beben y liberan su estrés ante el televisor, en sus dachas en el campo o en la sauna.
South Africa: Pro-government faction attacks COSATU's Zwelinzima Vavi
Zwelinzima Vavi is under attack for being too critical and independent of the ANC government.
By Benjamin Fogel