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The Left

Europe’s Shift To The Right Must Be Countered With Mass Mobilization

June 12, 2024 Giuliano Granato, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
The composition of the new European Parliament will more or less trace the outgoing one. Much ado about nothing? Not really. It’s not just a question of how many votes and seats you get—the conservative European People’s Party (EPP) increased their share by 10 seats, and the ultra-right parties Identity and Democracy and European Conservatives and Reformists by 13—but also where and how. The ultra-right is the leading force in two key countries such as France and Italy, where it won around 30% of votes (40% if we add the votes of Zemmours Reconquuête in France and Salvinis Lega in Italy).

The Question Of Hamas And The Left

June 6, 2024 Abdaljawad Omar, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , , , ,
Recently, a rash of articles has surfaced criticizing the Western left for “celebrating” Hamas. Most of these critiques say that reducing support for Palestinian resistance to supporting Hamas is a disservice to Palestinians because Palestinians represent a multiplicity of voices with different political dispositions. Instead, these arguments call on the Western left to reckon with the complexity and diversity of Palestinian politics. Bashir Abu Menneh’s article in Jacobin, “The Palestinian Resistance Isn’t a Monolith,” chastises what he claims is the left’s celebration of a “socially regressive” movement such as Hamas in an article that reads more like a hidden critique of armed resistance itself than of Hamas.

The Nonsensical ‘Right And Left Need To Unite To Take On Elites’ Take

August 17, 2023 Adam Johnson, The Real News Network. , , ,
Every few months—sometimes for sinister and ideological reasons, sometimes for just plain ahistorical and dimwitted reasons—a pundit comes along who thinks they’ve cracked the DaVinci code of class politics. “What if,” they ask us (as if the question has not been asked countless times before), “left and right unite to take on the elites”? The phrasing of the question can vary, but it’s invariably some version of the same claptrap. This take has a particular superficial appeal: What if the right and left could set aside their seemingly insurmountable differences and unite to take on these mysterious “elites,” or “those in power”? What if, indeed!

The Anti-NATO Movement Is The Most Conscious Element Of The People

May 10, 2023 Rainer Shea, Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
Lenin wrote that “The younger the socialist movement in any given country…the more resolutely the workers must be warned against the bad counsellors who shout against ‘overrating the conscious element.’” Even though the USA’s socialist movement is technically quite old, it might as well be as young as it was in Lenin’s time. Because the American communist movement got virtually destroyed by McCarthyism, then by the war against the Panthers. It’s now trying to rebuild itself, and regain the mainstream status it used to have. And the fact that the Democratic Party gained a vast amount of influence over the movement after the USSR’s fall, effectively turning the parts under its control into wings of the party, has made those same actors Lenin warned against into significant threats to this rebuilding effort.

The Right Wing Is Organizing In Canada; Can The Left Stop Them?

February 27, 2023 Aminah Sheikh, The Real News Network. , , ,
Since the start of COVID-19, workers have coupled innovative new organizing models with traditional “ground game” to gain incredible wins at worksites around the world. These have ranged from Amazon to Trader Joe’s in the United States, Indigo Chapters Bookstores  to Second City (AICE Union) in Canada, and  of course the historic farmers strike in India. Each of these campaigns amplified their voices through the use of social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and, YouTube. These workers also had something else on their side—a captive audience.

Behind The Decline Of The US Left

November 29, 2022 Stansfield Smith, Chicago ALBA Solidarity. , , ,
The left has not become marginalized because of exhaustion or infighting. Its decline was caused by the US government’s more than century long police state operations, purging the left from its historic home in the working class movement, so that it now has only tenuous connection with the organized working class. The national security state – the actual US government – has constantly worked to neutralize anti-imperialist and class conscious working class voices, and instead promoted a “compatible left” in their long-term strategy to divide and control the left. The working class, particularly the sector in industrial production, had significance for the left not because workers are progressive in their thinking, but because they possess the power no other social forces have: they can vanquish the rule of capital by halting production, shutting off the capitalists’ ability to generate surplus value, life blood of their system.

The ‘Leftism’ Of The Americas Collapses At The Door Of Haitian Sovereignty

September 30, 2022 Jemima Pierre, Resumen English. , ,
It is an exhilarating time for the “leftists” of the Americas. This past week, at the 77th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, leader after Latin American leader made grand statements against U.S. and Western imperialism, the hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy, the violations of human rights, and the West’s assault on the sovereignty of smaller nations. Colombia’s brand-new president, Gustavo Petro, made an impassioned plea against the genocidal “War on Drugs.” Cuba’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla, rejected the attacks on the sovereignty of China and Russia. Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Faría railed against the Western sanctions against Nicaragua, Cuba, Iran, and Russia. 

In Defence Of Iran

September 25, 2022 Adele Cain Sweden, International Magz. , , ,
Iran is an anti-imperialist state and the recipient of long-term, deep-seated hostility from Washington and its allies. Iran has good relations with China, Cuba, Venezuela, Algeria, and Russia. The Islamic Republic is also known for its unremitting solidarity with the people of Palestine. Domestically, too, the country has seen great progress since its 1979 revolution, with considerable achievements in poverty reduction and welfare provision and improvements in health and education. Iran has a mixed economy with a large state sector. These achievements have been maintained despite constant imperialist destabilisation attempts, including sanctions, and its own growing internal dissenters drawn almost exclusively from the urban Bourgeoisie. It is our duty to defend Iran against imperialist attempts to launch a rightwing counterrevolution which would no doubt see the selling of its economic assets to Western businesses.

The Sickness Of The American Left And The Path To Recovery

September 16, 2022 Danny Haiphong, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
The U.S. has entered a dark period. Economic crisis wracks its capitalist system. Military instability and chaos reign supreme over its imperialist ventures. Political illegitimacy worsens by the year, at times by the month. These conditions sound favorable to the growth of revolutionary possibilities within the citadel of imperialism. But such is not the case at the moment. Discipline and organization are at perhaps their weakest point in generations. Young people are moving toward socialist politics. However, a similar number of people have embraced the politics of a U.S.-led New Cold War against Russia and China which seek to destroy any alternative to imperialism. Little clarity has been developed on the question of what socialism would look like in the United States, an obvious indication that a century of Red Scare politics has made a decisive impact on the political direction of the so-called Left.

The Sickness Of The American Left And The Path To Recovery

September 5, 2022 Danny Haiphong, Chronicles Of Haiphong. , , ,
The U.S. has entered a dark period. Economic crisis wracks its capitalist system. Military instability and chaos reign supreme over its imperialist ventures. Political illegitimacy worsens by the year, at times by the month. These conditions sound favorable to the growth of revolutionary possibilities within the citadel of imperialism. But such is not the case at the moment. Discipline and organization are at perhaps their weakest point in generations. Young people are moving toward socialist politics. However, a similar number of people have embraced the politics of a U.S.-led New Cold War against Russia and China which seek to destroy any alternative to imperialism.

NATO, The Left, And The Path To Peace

July 13, 2022 Alan Freeman, Valdai Club. , , , ,
Let’s think about the left’s place in the current events, and hope to shed light on what being ‘on the left’ actually means today, and why it is relevant to peace. I’ll start with the trillion-dollar question: if NATO won, if the DPR and LPR forces surrendered, and if the Russian Army was driven back to the border, would the world be a better or a worse place? This is a practical question. It can’t be resolved with abstract ideals or theories such as whether Ukraine has a sacred right to rule over the Russian speakers of the Donbass, or whether Russia is imperialist, any more than Palestinian rights can be settled by referring to the historical origins of the People of the Book. The lives of millions, perhaps billions, are at stake. If the Russian army leaves Ukraine, they will all suffer and many will die.

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Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

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Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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