11 January 2016

US flies B-52 strategic bomber close to Korean border

By Peter Symonds, 11 January 2016

Washington has seized on the latest North Korean nuclear test to accelerate its military build-up in the region against China as part of the US “pivot to Asia.”

US, South Korea discuss deploying “strategic weapons”

German media and politicians demand increased state powers in response to Cologne assaults

By Dietmar Henning, 11 January 2016

Alleged sexual assaults by refugees in Cologne are being used as a pretense for pumping out racist agitation and cracking down on refugees.

The assaults in Cologne and the call for a strong state

The refugee tragedy and the European Union: The balance sheet for 2015

By Martin Kreickenbaum, 11 January 2016

The mistreatment of refugees fleeing to Europe has assumed proportions that would have been unthinkable twelve months ago.

German government party steps up its anti-refugee agitation

More on the refugee crisis »

German government votes to expand military interventions in Mali and Iraq

By Gustav Kemper and Johannes Stern, 11 January 2016

A glance at the foreign ministry’s web site leaves no doubt about the economic interests being pursued by German imperialism.

No to German intervention in Syria!

“Our livelihood is at stake”
Teacher sickouts spread in Detroit

By Nancy Hanover and Debra Watson, 11 January 2016

Teachers expressing their opposition to continuous attacks on public education and increasing threats to privatize the Detroit school district.

State officials, Wall Street target Detroit schools for bankruptcy restructuring

Behind the Detroit Public School’s debt numbers
How banks, privatizers and politicians bankrupted the schools

Boston: Museum of Fine Arts victimizes veteran worker

By Kate Randall, 11 January 2016

John Powhida was fired after the museum refused his request for a four-day unpaid leave.

Walter Energy bankruptcy threatens thousands of workers and retirees

By Shelley Connor, 11 January 2016

The Birmingham, Alabama-based firm was one of five coal companies to file for bankruptcy in 2015, and one amongst more than three dozen to file for bankruptcy since 2012.

US jobs report: Employment numbers obscure deeper social crisis

Mentally ill man arraigned for shooting Philadelphia police officer

By Sandy English, 11 January 2016

Government authorities and the media have emphasized the fact that Edward Archer is Muslim and have attempted to tie him to the Islamic State.

Federal prosecutors claim two US Palestinians are linked to terrorism

UK military returns to Afghanistan

By Harvey Thompson, 11 January 2015

Prime Minister David Cameron is following the lead of President Obama, who last October reneged on his pledge to withdraw virtually all US troops from Afghanistan before the end of his administration.

Podemos considers forming government with Spanish social democrats

By James Lerner and Alejandro López, 11 January 2016

The purpose of such a government, like Syriza in Greece, would be to enforce more unpopular austerity measures on working people and the entire population.

Thirty-eight percent of Australia’s large companies paid no tax in 2013-14

By John Roberts, 11 January 2016

Tax office data reveals that the country’s major firms pay little or no company tax, while demanding an increased goods and services tax and the slashing of government spending.

Tamil National Alliance backs austerity, pro-investor policies in Sri Lanka

By K. Nesan, 11 January 2016

The Tamil nationalist organizations in Sri Lanka are escalating their support for austerity and the use of Sri Lankan workers as cheap labor for international capital.

New in French

Les agressions de Cologne et l'appel à un Etat fort

Par Dietmar Henning et Peter Schwarz, 11 janvier 2016

Les récents événements de Cologne ont beaucoup à voir avec la crise sociale dans les grandes villes allemandes et rien à voir du tout avec l'afflux de près d'un million de réfugiés au cours de l'année écoulée.

La chute des marchés se poursuit dans le monde

Par Nick Beams, 11 janvier 2016

L’impact des événements en Chine souligne l’aggravation de la situation pour les grandes sociétés occidentales.

Other Languages

Perspective

Bowing to Trump’s racist agitation
Obama rejects pleas to halt deportations

11 January 2016

The White House has rebuffed pleas to call a halt to the summary deportations of women and children fleeing violence in Central America.

Earlier Perspectives »

Featured Commentary

On the threshold of the New Year

By Joseph Kishore and David North, 31 December 2015

It is characteristic of a period of crisis that more and more the essential nature of capitalism—a system of exploitation, inequality, war and repression—comes into alignment with the everyday experiences of broad masses of people.

Commentary

One year of Sri Lankan President Sirisena’s rule: Propaganda and reality

By Pani Wijesiriwardena, 11 January 2015

The government is both intensifying the offensive against the working class and tying the country to the war plans of the United States.

The lottery and social despair in America

By Andre Damon, 9 January 2016

Lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan

By James Brewer and Jerry White, 8 January 2016

More on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan »

Obama seeks Silicon Valley aid to spy on social media

By Thomas Gaist, 9 January 2016

Global markets continue to fall

By Nick Beams, 9 January 2016

The New Year stock sell-off

Survey finds a majority of Americans unable to pay for major unexpected expenses

By Nick Barrickman, 9 January 2016

Florida carries out first US execution of 2016

By Kate Randall, 9 January 2016

Chicago police accused of threatening witnesses of Laquan Mcdonald shooting and falsifying accounts

By George Gallanis, 9 January 2016

More on police violence in America »

Canada: Liberals repackage Harper’s aggressive foreign policy

By Roger Jordan, 9 January 2016

NHS Fightback

Thousands of student nurses, midwives and junior doctors demonstrate in London

By Ajanta Silva, 11 January 2016

The Conservative government has announced plans to scrap bursaries and introduce student fees.

UK: Oppose introduction of student nurse tuition fees and scrapping of bursaries

More on NHS fightback »

This week in history: January 11-17

25 years ago: US begins carpet-bombing of Iraq

On January 17, 1991, one day after a UN-imposed deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, “Operation Desert Storm,” an all-out air war against Iraqi forces began.

More »

50 years ago: US B-52 crash drops four hydrogen bombs on Spain

On January 17, 1966, four hydrogen bombs fell on Spain without igniting, when a US Air Force B-52G bomber crashed above the fishing village of Palmores, on the country’s southeastern Mediterranean coast.

More »

75 years ago: Defense strikes in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois

On January 13, 1941, in Saginaw, Michigan, hundreds of striking members of the United Auto Workers clashed with police and shut down production at an Eaton Manufacturing plant, which was being operated by scabs represented by the rival United Auto Workers-AFL.

More »

 

100 years ago: Karl Liebknecht expelled from German SPD

On January 13, 1916, Karl Liebknecht, the well-known revolutionary leader and internationalist opponent of World War I, was expelled from the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) and its parliamentary group on the grounds of “continuous gross infractions of party discipline.”

More »

International Youth and Students for Social Equality

Third election meeting of IYSSE at Humboldt University
Jörg Baberowski’s appeal for dictatorship and war

By our correspondents, 9 January 2016

Autoworkers Struggles

Worker killed in Ohio Honda plant

By David Brown, 8 January 2016

UAW local publishes blacklist of workers who opt out of dues payment

By Eric London, 5 January 2016

Walter Reuther and the rise and fall of the UAW

By Tom Mackaman, 23 December 2015

More on autoworkers struggles »

History

Twenty five years of the World Wide Web

By Bryan Dyne, 8 January 2016

Arts Review

Carol and The Danish Girl: Real problems, but the danger of exclusivism

By Joanne Laurier, 8 January 2016

Racism and revenge: Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight

Obituary

Conductor and avant-garde composer Pierre Boulez (1925–2016)

By Alex Lantier, 7 January 2016

As a conductor who worked and recorded extensively with leading orchestras and opera companies, Boulez elicited powerful, precise, unpretentious and always tasteful performances, though they sometimes had a touch of coldness.

The 2016 US Elections

Bernie Sanders poses as an opponent of Wall Street in New York speech

By Tom Hall, 6 January 2016

Socialist Alternative forms group to support Sanders campaign

Is Bernie Sanders a socialist?

Trump pushes racist attack on immigrants, Muslims

By Patrick Martin, 5 January 2016

Obama, Trump and the working class

The New York Times, fascism and Donald Trump

More on the 2016 US elections »

Socialist Equality Party

SEP (Sri Lanka) holds public meeting on 75th anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s assassination

By our correspondents, 30 December 2015

Public meetings in Australia mark 75th anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s murder

By our correspondents, 23 December 2015

Workers and youth speak on Trotsky’s life and death

Mehring Books

Pamphlet on Syriza’s betrayal in Greece now available from Mehring Books

21 December 2015

The betrayal of the anti-austerity struggles of the Greek working class by the Syriza government is a strategic experience for the working class not only in Greece, but internationally.

75 Years Since The Assassination Of Leon Trotsky

Security and the Fourth International, the Gelfand Case and the deposition of Mark Zborowski
An open letter from David North to Susan Weissman

10 November 2015

Seventy-five years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky

Meetings in Germany mark the 75th anniversary of the death of Leon Trotsky