Since being elected, Macron – the poster-boy of European liberalism – has seen his popularity steadily decline as his facade of respectability crumbles away. A majority of French voters are now “dissatisfied” with the President’s performance, with approval ratings lower than for any incoming president, after four months, since 1995.
Yesterday, on 6th September, nurses descended upon Parliament Square in their thousands for a demonstration organised by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to demand the pay that they deserve. Dan Langley, a leading grassroots nurse activist, reports on the mood amongst nurses in the fight against Tory-imposed austerity.
Despite Labour riding high in the polls, Corbyn’s critics are desperate to appease big business and the banks by remaining in the European Union and maintaining the status quo. As a result of vocal outrage from the right-wing of the party, Labour have made a U-turn on the question of Brexit. Corbyn and the Left should be fighting for a socialist alternative.
Today sees the “Scrap the Cap” protest in Parliament Square, with thousands of nurses demonstrating against the 1% pay cap that is currently imposed on those working in the public sector as a result of the Tories’ austerity programme. Dan Langley, a leading nurse activist, discusses the steps needed in the campaign against the cap.
This year has seen a ratcheting up of tensions between the US administration and North Korean regimes, with sabre-rattling and bellicose rhetoric on both sides. It is clear, however, that Donald Trump’s words and actions are intended not as help for the Korean masses, but as a desperate attempt to display a veneer of strength.
A bitter struggle is back on the cards after Birmingham City Council shockingly announced, on 31st August, that it is to backtrack on previous assurances that over 120 refuse workers would not be made redundant. This surprise turnaround by the City Council comes after two months of industrial action by the refuse workers.
Like Katrina and Sandy before it, Hurricane Harvey in the USA has once again revealed the rotten results of capitalism’s prioritisation of profits over people. What Harvey shows is that the system cannot effectively deal with catastrophe. In fact, capitalism itself is the catastrophe.
Strike action is taking place today in two workplaces in the UK, also coordinated with international action in the USA, where McDonald’s workers have been fighting for better pay for the last few years. We publish here reports from the picket lines in Cambridge and Crayford, where fast-food workers are out on strike.
So-called “pragmatists” often say that it is unrealistic to struggle for socialism. Even if we had a successful revolution in Britain, for example, it is clear that an island of socialism could not survive in a sea of capitalism. But is it realistic to expect revolution to spread internationally?
Next week, on 4th September, workers at two McDonald’s restaurants in the UK will go on strike, in an action intended to co-ordinate with the struggles of fast-food workers internationally. Bosses at McDonald’s and other exploitative corporations: take heed! Downtrodden workers are organising and fighting back!
20 years ago today, on 31st August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash in Paris. In the following weeks, a spontaneous mass outburst of grief swept across the country, catching the whole Establishment by surprise. We republish here an article written by Alan Woods analysing this unprecedented phenomenon.
The chaotic process of Brexit reflects the long-term decline and decay of British capitalism. But this turbulence, in turn, is not confined to the UK. The whole of European capitalism is equally crisis-ridden. As Josh Holroyd discusses, the future for both the UK and EU under capitalism is one of stagnation, slump, and austerity.