Libya: the struggle intensifies
TUESDAY: Twenty four
hours ago, the streets of Tripoli were full of the sounds of rejoicing.
Now they are filled with the sounds of gunfire. The real battle for
Tripoli has commenced.
International
Crisis in Africa: capitalism is to blame
In the Horn of Africa, a famine is raging that has claimed the lives of
tens of thousands of people. For the first time in 30 years, the UN has
officially declared a famine. The drought in East Africa has resulted in
a food crisis across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya that has affected over
12 million people; hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia have
fled to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, where unsanitary and crowded
conditions await, leading to thousands more deaths. But this seems to go
almost unreported in the media, which is dominated by stories of
rioting, phone hacking and the economic crisis.
After the fall of Tripoli: The way forward for the Libyan Revolution
The end came suddenly and without warning. In the moment of truth the Gaddafi regime fell like a house of cards.
Last
night the streets of Tripoli were filled with wild rejoicing as rebel
forces occupied Green Square in Tripoli. Libyan rebels waved opposition
flags and fired shots into the air in jubilation after reaching the
central square of the capital in the early hours of Monday. Until now
the vast square was reserved for carefully orchestrated rallies praising
Moammar Gaddafi. Now it erupted in celebration after rebel troops
pushed into the centre of the Libyan capital.
The ruling class policy toward its soldiers – Use Once and Throw Away
One recent evening, whilst fumbling through a collection of
documentaries by acclaimed journalist and film maker John Pilger, I came
across ‘Heroes’. This short film, produced in 1981, shone a spotlight
on the treatment of Vietnam veterans in the aftermath of the conflict by
an administration that had sent them to war.
Norway: Tears and candle-lights cannot stop the fascists! Time to face hard with hard!
The recent
brutal and outrageous attack in Norway on the Scandinavian and
international workers’ movement was a huge shock, not only for those
members of the Norwegian Labour Party Youth (AUF) who were at the summer
cap at the island of Utøya, but also for the whole population of
Scandinavia.
USA: What Does the Bi-Partisan Debt-Ceiling “Compromise” Mean for Workers?
A deal to
raise the debt ceiling has now been reached, after weeks of incredible
fear-mongering on the part of both bosses’ parties and Wall Street, and
will reach the President’s desk by the deadline on August 2nd. The
contents of the final agreement remain rather vague, but the broad
outline is enough to make clear what it means for workers in the U.S.
The political crisis and the crisis of capitalism
As the
earthquake of economic crisis sweeps across the globe, the political
establishment in country after country is being shaken to the core.
“Strong” governments have been exposed as, in fact, being extremely
weak, both at the ballot box and on the streets. The ruling class is
beginning to lose its political grip on society and people are beginning
to question the traditional pillars that society has rested upon for
centuries.
Norwegian massacre: “This is an attack on the Labour Movement”
The world has been shocked by the
news of the bloody massacre in Norway. At least 91 people have been
killed, including 84 members of the Labour Youth Organization (AUF) in a
summer camp.
Norway Attack
Socialist Appeal joins others in the British Labour and trade union movement in sending condolences and solidarity to the friends and families of those killed and injured in the horrific attack in Norway yesterday. In particular we mourn the loss of so many young members of the Labour youth group and wish a speedy and full recovery to those injured or otherwise affected.
The role played by the state in the development of capitalism in Japan
The
classical view of how capitalism develops is that within feudal society a
class emerges made up of merchants, bankers, early industrialists, i.e.
the bourgeoisie, and that for this class to be able to develop its full
potential a bourgeois revolution is required to break the limits
imposed by the landed feudal aristocracy. That is how things developed,
more or less, in countries like France and England, but not in Japan.
IRELAND: Labour minister attacks unemployed youth.
Last weekend in Ireland, a Labour minister used the Sunday press to launch an attack on unemployed youth. Readers here will recognise the same arguements she makes as those which have been made over the years by assorted Tories and Blairites in our own movement. They must be opposed. Fightback, the Irish Marxist voice, reports on this disgraceful attack.
USA: “Death by a Thousand (Budget) Cuts”
As ratings
agency Moody’s considers the possibility of cutting the US AAA debt
rating, concerned that the US could default on its debt obligations, we
publish a recent editorial statement of the US Socialist Appeal on the
forthcoming wave of massive cuts in public spending in the United
States. As the article points out, “the capitalists must impose a new
normality on the U.S. working class. The crisis of their system means
that small cuts or adjustments are no longer enough. The hatchet is out
now…”