Marxism: More relevant than ever

by John Bachtell

People’s World | May 25, 2018

Still relevant: Brochures with a portrait of Karl Marx at the exhibition ‘Dystopia – For the 200th birthday of Karl Marx’ in the art collection of the town museum in Jena, Germany, Friday, May 4. | Jens Meyer / AP

Communist Party USA leader John Bachtell will address the international conference “Marxism of the 21st Century and the Future of World Socialism,” sponsored by the Communist Party of China on May 28 in Shenzhen. This is the text of his remarks, as prepared for presentation.

We enthusiastically join in celebrating Karl Marx on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birth and express deep appreciation to the International Department of the Communist Party of China for hosting this event.

Resist-occupy-produce

What can anarchists and syndicalists learn from factory take-overs and worker cooperatives in Argentina?

by Leroy Maisiri and Lucien van der Walt

Pambazuka News | May 24, 2018

Inter Press Service

The authors use the example of the working class in Argentina to demonstrate how social movements and working people can create alternative models of production that serve the interests of people and not of those of capitalism.

Introduction

The remarkable “recovered factories” (fábricas recuperadas) movement saw hundreds of closed factories reopened by the workers, run democratically, creating jobs and helping working class and poor communities. It showed that there is only so much protesting can accomplish – at some point you have to create something new. But it also shows it is essential that such alternative sites of production form alliances with, and become embedded, in other movements of the working class, poor and peasantry, including unions and unemployed movements. This assists them in building larger struggles, and provides them with some protection from the capitalist market and the state.

How can the resistance of the Venezuelan people and Nicolás Maduro’s government be explained?

by Dayron Rodríguez Rosales

Granma | May 28, 2018

Nicolás Maduro has always remained close to his people, both in moments of celebration and in more difficult times. Photo: AVN

Economic war, sabotage, low oil prices, international sanctions, and political violence. Any president prior to the arrival of Hugo Chávez to the Miraflores Presidential Palace would have succumbed in just a few days faced with an attack such as that experienced by the government of Nicolás Maduro.

However, the Venezuelan people are still standing and supporting the leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution. How can this heroic resistance be explained?

Ten attempts to destabilize the recently re-elected Venezuelan government

by  Iramsy Peraza Forte

Granma | May 23, 2018

Maduro received three-times as many votes as his closest rival for the presidency, Henri Falcón. Photo: El Confidencial

While thousands of people gathered around Miraflores Presidential Palace to greet the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, opposition sectors, the United States, the European Union and the Latin American right launched a predictable destabilization plan against the most recent democratic electoral process undertaken on Sunday, May 20, in Venezuela.

The Venezuelan people offered the world a lesson

Granma | May 25, 2018

Photo: minci.gob.ve

CARACAS.— During almost two decades of the Bolivarian Revolution, there have been no elections or referendums in which the Venezuelan right wing and its international allies have accepted the results when Chavista forces won.

One third of protected areas highly degraded by humans, study finds

by Olivia Rosane

EcoWatch| May 18, 2018

White-banded swallows in Yasuni National Park, one of the places that has largely escaped human pressures. | Geoff Gallice/Flickr (CC)

A study published in Science Friday presents what authors call a sobering “reality check” on global efforts to protect biodiversity—one third of all conservation areas set aside as wildlife sanctuaries or national parks are “highly degraded” by human activities.

France: Tens of thousands protest in France against Macron’s reforms

by Pavan Kulkarni

The Dawn News | May 28, 2018

Tens of thousands of people – including railway workers, nurses, public sector employees, students and retirees – once again took to the streets in 160 different locations in France on Saturday, May 26, to protest against the reforms proposed by President Emmanuel Macron.

South Africa: Shack Dwellers’ Movement in South Africa Continue Their Fight for Better Life Despite Threats

The Dawn | May 30, 2018

On 22 May 2018, S’fiso Ngcobo, the chairperson of the local branch of Abahlali baseMjondolo was assassinated by unidentified armed men.

India: An Unusual Journey–Tale of a Rebel

by Arup Majumder

Frontier | Vol. 50, No.46, May 20 – 26, 2018

I joined the naxalite movement like thousands of students in my school life itself. It was a wave. So I can’t assure you that I was consciously got involved in the movement. Like many other novices I was also got arrested and just by chance my life was saved. Then after experiencing the famous treatment of Runu GuhaNeyogi in Lalbazar lock-up, I was detained in Presidency jail with many co-travellers. Finally the court considered the best possible justice can be given to me and many others were to be detained in MISA.

From there itself my true political life starts. I came across many leaders of varying viewpoint and different political background. At that time we were told in jail that our liberation army was marching in the villages. Though Charu Majumdar declared that India will be liberated within 1975, but we were believing that People’s Liberation Army may reach Presidency jail much before that, they will liberate us. Masses will gather outside the jail and there will be a grand reception for us.

How my book united the Left and Right-wing media

by Julian Samboma

Pambazuka News | May 16, 2018

I never thought that getting my new book reviewed would prove as hard as it has turned out to be.  Don’t get me wrong; I was not expecting the ranks of the corporate media to descend en masse chez moi, begging for review copies and interviews with yours truly.

Certainly not!  My book – The Dialectic & the Detective: The Arab Spring and Regime Change in Libya – is not only anti-establishment and anti-imperialist; it is also a scathing indictment of bourgeois media in their role as outriders for naked imperialist aggression.