The rich are getting even richer and the poor are getting even poorer. This is the conclusion of a new report on inequality produced by Oxfam, which confirms that the richest 1% of the world’s population, based on current trends, will soon own over half the world’s wealth – that is, more than the other 99% of us have put together.

The vicious cycle of state and individual terror continues unabated. Now France has been pulled violently into the maelstrom. The Marxists have long explained that imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism are two aspects of the same reactionary phenomenon—the decay and decline of capitalism—which threatens to take the whole of humanity down with it.

Over the weekend several million people took part in demonstrations in Paris and many provincial cities of France to show solidarity with the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack. The magnitude of the protests is an indication of the profound malaise which for years has been developing below the surface of French society.