Contrary to the statements of François Hollande and his government, the intervention of the French army in Mali has nothing to do with the stated “French values”, “human rights” or any other humanitarian preoccupations. It is an Imperialist intervention aiming to protect the interest of French multinationals in the region.  La Riposte, the paper and website of the French Marxists, reports on the situation in Mali.

On January 23, Caracas was once again the scene of a huge mass mobilization in defence of the revolution. January 23 is a national day of struggle in Venezuela. It was the day that the infamous Marcos Pérez Jímenez dictatorship fell in 1958, overthrown by the mass movement from below. The opposition tried to cynically take advantage of Chávez illness and called for a demonstration to protest against “the unconstitutional situation”, i.e. against the postponement of the swearing in of Chávez. The PSUV leaders responded by calling on the masses to take the streets on the same day.

Once again Irish workers, faced with redundancy have been forced to take action to fight for what is due to them. HMV staff in Limerick, Cork and Dublin occupied their workplaces in an effort to ensure that they receive pay owed to them by the company. These are but the latest example of workers with their backs to the wall taking sit in action. After discussions with the Administrators the occupations in Limerick have now ended and the workers will receive their back pay. Why? Because they disobeyed their master’s voice.