Blogs

Grenfell Tower – the smoke & the mirrors

There is an ever-growing stream of media commentary on the Grenfell fire, increasing daily as the public enquiry unfolds. There are some elements in the media with the goal of obscuring or excusing the plain facts as part of a pre-emptive defence manoeuvre to protect those most implicated in what caused the fire and the 72 deaths. That they feel the need to use such distortions to defend the Grenfell landlords and those who ordered and oversaw the Grenfell refurbishment that fitted the lethal cladding only increases the suggestion of a general doubt on all sides about their innocence.

Living The Dream with the Anti-Nuclear Movement in Japan

In this episode of Living The Dream we look at the anti-nuclear movement in Japan and its connection to the past and ongoing struggles, ideas and movements. From The Word From Struggle Street

Founding of the Comintern - Then and Now

A century ago, from 2nd — 6th March 1919, 52 delegates, more than 40 from various political organisations outside Russia, met in Moscow.

"Textbooks are becoming obsolete" says Bill Gates

Textbooks obsolete

A quick response to an item I just saw in the 2019 annual letter from Bill and Melinda Gates.

International Solidarity with the Wildcat Strikes of the Mexican Maquiladoras

Since the 2008 economic crisis, the ballooning global debt has increased from $20 trillion to over $240 trillion. With this exponential growth of indebtedness and an unresolvable crisis of accumulation, capitalism is losing its grip. The effects of this crisis are felt no more clearly than within the maquiladora sweatshops on the northern border of Mexico. Here sub-assemblies are pieced together for the struggling US automobile industry north of the Rio Grande.

Bonzo goes to Oslo: Christian fundamentalists and the far-right strike a new pose

A look at recent attempts by religious fundamentalist reactionaries and conspiracy theorists to build coalitions with "gender critical" feminists.

Self-Management

Introduction to the theory and practice of self-management.

Socialism is not Statism

A spectre haunts the world today. It is the spectre of “socialism”. Commentators of left and right, of reactionary or reformist inclination, agree that “after three decades in the wilderness, socialism is back.”

Mexican workers take matters into their own hands

Workers walk out of a plant in Matamoros. Source: WSWS.org

Largest North American strike wave in decades grows. Rebellion exposes union betrayal, is met with repression from “left-wing” government and a near total media blackout.

Class struggle frontiers in Hinterland

Hinterland cover

Comrade Motopu provides an overview of Phil Neel’s book and attempts to place it in the ongoing debates over the centrality of labor movements vs. surplus populations and riots vs. strikes.

Caribbean: The "Isla" oil refinery as a microcosm of a collapsing capitalism

On the Caribbean Island of Curacao refinery workers strike against the closure of their enterprise under influence of the economic, political and human tragedy in Venezuela and the danger of inter-imperialist war.

Living The Dream reads On Fairness by Sally McManus

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus recently published a book entitled On Fairness. In the episode of Living The Dream we look at how the argument McManus makes points us in the wrong direction. From The Word From Struggle Street

Humanitarian Aid... for War

War or no war, one thing is certain, and that is the bourgeoisie — Chavista or oppositionist — cannot take society anywhere. There is no viable solution based on the nation and certainly not a capitalist one.

Anarcho-syndicalism and Anarchist Communism: Different, But Conjoined

outlining the difference and common causes of Anarcho-syndicalism and Anarchist Communism

Right-Wing Propaganda At Its Least Subtle

Tearing down a stupid Fox News article

The Venezuelan Crisis

Recent political events in Venezuela have once again brought to the fore its devastating economic situation. The struggle for power between Maduro and Guaidò, or between a fraudulently re-elected president and an opposition candidate who has proclaimed himself president, besides giving Venezuela a grotesque image, hides the real scenario of an economic and political human tragedy.

5 times Sabate proved he was Franco’s Public Enemy No. 1

Francesc Sabaté Llopart, aka ‘El Quico’.

The life of Francesc Sabaté Llopart, aka ‘El Quico’, reads like the story of an anarchist action film: participating in the Spanish Civil War, the anti-Nazi resistance in France and armed struggle against Franco, Sabaté carried out assassinations of fascists, illegal border crossings across the Pyrenees and armed robberies to fund the resistance.

Mexico's Turmoil Continues: The Maquiladora Strikes

The article below has been provided by a CWO sympathiser. It gives a brief sketch of a continuing struggle where we again see workers organising themselves against their bosses and against the bosses' props, the Labor Unions. At this point the outcome of the struggle is not yet determined but even now it is clear that the struggle is part of our class's resistance against the capitalists' crisis-driven onslaught.

2006 - CPE Struggle and the Myth of May 68

40 reasons why Tariq Ramadan is a reactionary bigot (2005)