International

Panic! The world’s
stock markets had their sharpest fall since 9/11 on Monday 21 January. Stock markets have had their worst start in the UK since records began! The UK is the most dependent of all the big seven
economies on finance, property and professional services rather than
productive sectors like manufacturing and transport.. So this world
downturn will hit it hardest of all.

In Bangladesh politics revolves round
the prices of staple foods. The price of rice in Bangladesh has a correlation with
poverty, economic and political stability. In 2000, a wage labourer could buy
6-7 kg of rice with his daily income (Taka 60 per day, about 43 p). Now, less
than half of that can be bought, even though the income has risen over time. Rising food prices stand out as a problem that, if left
unresolved, could derail all political predictions and spell disaster for the
country in 2008.

As the New Year begins Alan Woods comments on the state of world
affairs, highlighting the impasse facing humanity, a direct consequence of
capitalism in its phase of senile decay. At the root of the present world
turmoil is private property of the means of production, a system based on greed
for profit. In the next period the workers of the world are faced with the task
of removing the system.

We have just received this extremely important report from
the comrades in Pakistan. It indicates that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
has had the effect of a catalyst that is impelling the masses onto the
revolutionary road. The situation is now beginning to resemble that of tsarist
Russia after Bloody Sunday in 1905. The Pakistan Marxists of The Struggle
are playing a leading role in the mass movement, as this report clearly shows.

The Writers Guild of America strike continues in the US, winning
an important victory with the cancellation of the Golden Globe awards show through union solidarity. The strike shows that it is not only industrial workers who are able to organise effectively. How this strike unfolds will have implications for unions throughout the US.

The murder of Benazir Bhutto has led to an explosion of popular anger. Pakistan is convulsed by rioting and mass protests. Society has been stirred up to the depths. Raw human emotion has spilled over onto the streets of every city, town and village. The army and police are powerless to halt the tide of indignation. The government is shaken to the core.

The following leaflet of the Pakistani comrades of The Struggle was distributed on a grand scale in which they demand an end of the cruel capitalist system, its cruel institutions, imperialist hegemony, and religious terrorism.

Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a suicide bomb attack. The leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had just addressed a rally of PPP supporters in the town of Rawalpindi when the attack took place. First reports talked of at least 100 killed in the attack, but more recent news put the figure at 20. This murderous onslaught on the PPP came in the middle of an election campaign where, after years of military dictatorship, the masses were striving for a change.

Today’s cold-blooded assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi has once again thrown Pakistan into political turmoil, less than two weeks before national elections. Thirty more people have died and 40 injured in the bomb blast after the assassin blew himself up. Millions of supporters of the Pakistan Peoples Party are in a state of shock, disbelief and grief. But they are also angered by this murderous act by the forces of black counter-revolution.

On the evening
of December 18 two comrades putting up posters and canvassing in Karachi were threatened by
10 armed activists of the MQM organization. They attempted to abduct one of the
comrades but failed to do so thanks to the intervention of local people. All
comrades must be put on alert for any immediate mobilization of support that
may be requested.