On Thursday pickets were
organised outside Mexican embassies around the world, calling for the release
of Adan
Mejia (an APPO activist and supporter of the Marxist Tendency Militante) and of
all the other political prisoners presently being held in Mexican jails. The
campaign will continue until everyone is released and all charges are dropped.
Last year’s war in Lebanon ended in defeat for Israel, but it also
shook up Lebanese society. The general strike that took place shortly
afterwards is testimony to this fact. Luke Wilson interviewed a student
activist in Beirut on how he sees the situation now.
Today the death of nearly 3000 people during the September 11 attacks will
be officially commemorated once again. But will anyone at those commemorations
mention how those deaths were cynically exploited by the Bush administration to
carry out a plan hatched by the US oil lobby for its own greedy interests?
From July 29 until August 3 the International
Marxist Tendency held its World School in Barcelona. Present were 300 comrades
from 26 countries, including Russia, Pakistan, Venezuela, Brazil,
El Salvador, Mexico, Argentina and most European countries. Over half of the 40-strong British delegation
was youth, most attending for the first time.
Hands Off Venezuela has produced a new podcast that will be available
monthly, containing news from Venezuela as well as the campaign’s
activities around the world. Our first
show contains news on socialist cities, an interview with one of the
film makers of No Volveran, a new documentary on the Venezuelan revolution, along with news from HoV Finland and Brussels, plus
Venezuelan music and lots more.
The commemoration meeting in memory of Leon
Trotsky was an outstanding success. 300 people gathered in the Jose Felix Rivas
hall of the Teresa Carreño Theatre in Caracas to hear the first ever public
event organised by a government ministry on the life of Leon Trotsky.
Authorities in Venezuela have organised a public
meeting to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the assassination of Leon
Trotsky. For the first time since that date, Trotsky’s death is being
commemorated officially by a government institution. Estaban Volkov, Celia
Hart, and Ricardo Napurí are participating in events around the commemoration,
which also include television and radio appearances, where the ideas and life
of Trotsky are discussed.
Showing tonight on ITV1 is The War on Democracy , John Pilgers documentary that analyses the relationship between Latin America and the US, focusing on Washingtons attitude to
countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger pays special attention to the developing situation in Venezuela, including an interview with President Hugo Chavez.
After the successful demonstration to the
presidential palace on August 8th, the campaign for the release of the student
activists from the CLEP-CEDEP and the
MENA arrested on August 6th while demanding
more university places continued with more demonstrations and actions.
We
call on workers throughout the world to protest against the capitalist
government of Iran and for the unconditional release of Mansour Osanloo
and Mahmoud Salehi and all other imprisoned labour activists in Iran.
After the recent resurgence of the mass
movement in Oaxaca
the authorities have responded by launching a wave of brutal repression. Many
activists have been arrested. Among these is APPO activist and comrade of our sister organisation the Militante Marxist
Tendency. Workers and youth in all countries should protest strongly!
One year after the
revolutionary events in Oaxaca, Mexico, the movement has erupted again. The
Mexican ruling class thought they had put an end to the movement with a wave of
repression, but they were wrong. The underlying problems that provoked the
movement have not gone again. See also in Spanish.