Liberté et démocratie pour les peuples d’Ukraine

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Pour réagir à l’agression de la Russie poutinienne contre l’Ukraine, les éditions Syllepse (Paris), Page 2 (Lausanne) et M Éditeur (Montréal), les revues New Politics (New York), Les Utopiques (Paris) et ContreTemps (Paris), les sites À l’encontre (Lausanne) et Europe solidaire sans frontières, le blog Entre les lignes entre les mots (Paris) et le Réseau syndical international de solidarité et de luttes se sont associés pour coéditer Liberté et démocratie pour les peuples d’Ukraine.

Αντι-ιμπεριαλιστική αλληλεγγύη με τον ουκρανικό λαό

Συνέντευξη με τον Ζιλμπέρ Ασκάρ

Julia Steinberger
(Lead Author for the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report):
Universal well-being within planetary boundaries

Professor Julia Steinberger researches and teaches in the interdisciplinary areas of Ecological Economics and Industrial Ecology. Her research examines the connections between resource use (energy and materials, greenhouse gas emissions) and societal performance (economic activity and human wellbeing). She is interested in quantifying the current and historical linkages between resource use and socioeconomic parameters, and identifying alternative development pathways to guide the necessary transition to a low carbon society. She is the recipient of a Leverhulme Research Leadership Award for her research project ‘Living Well Within Limits’ investigating how universal human well-being might be achieved within planetary boundaries.

Europe: The rulers of the great powers are playing with fire

by ACHCAR Gilbert

It is not an exaggeration to say that what is currently happening in the heart of the European continent is the most dangerous moment in contemporary history and the closest to a Third World war since the Soviet missile crisis in Cuba in 1962.

True, neither Moscow nor Washington has hinted at the use of nuclear weapons so far, although there can be no doubt that the two countries did put their nuclear arsenals on standby in the face of the current circumstances. It is also true that the level of military alert in America has not yet reached the level it reached in 1962. But Russian military build-up at the borders of Ukraine exceeds the levels of troop concentration at a European border witnessed in the warmest moments of the “Cold War,” while Western verbal escalation against Russia has reached a dangerous level accompanied by military gestures and preparations that create a real possibility of a conflagration.

Chili, Irlande, France : Hommage à Helena - « Nous nous sommes connus, Helena et moi... »

par Norman

Nous nous sommes connus, Helena et moi, fonctionnaires du Service national de la santé au Chili, et nous étions aussi des syndicalistes. L’action syndicale fut sa première expérience, dans la voie d’une prise de conscience aigüe sur les inégalités qui divisent la population des sociétés capitalistes et de la nécessité de se battre pour y mettre fin.

Forty Years Later, Reds Is Still One of the Best Films Ever Made About Revolutionary Politics

By Jim Poe (Jacobin magazine)

In 1981, Warren Beatty directed Reds, a retelling of John Reed’s classic firsthand account of the Russian Revolution. The film still stands up today as one of the greatest and most faithful depictions of revolutionary politics.

Reds is a grand-scale historical drama based around the life and career of John Reed, a North American journalist who traveled to Russia to chronicle the Revolution. Based on his firsthand observations, Reed wrote Ten Days That Shook the World, his 1919 classic account of the events of the Revolution which took place two years prior.

A success for CADTM: the world assembly of the network, held in Dakar from 13-16 November, 2021

The Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM) network held its conventional World Assembly from 13-16 November 2021, at Dakar, Senegal. This was the third World Assembly after the first in Morocco (May 2013) and the second in Tunisia (April 2016), all held on the African soil. This major event was held for 4 days, simultaneously in person (with 37 delegates, 19 women and 18 men) and online (34 participants), with a large women’s representation.

A Survey of Comintern Auxiliary Organizations – Part 8: 

The Red Sports International (1921–1937)
Harnessing Recreation to the Revolution

by RIDDELL John

On 23 June 1921, a gathering of about 20 Communists in Moscow founded an international association to unify “revolutionary proletarian sports and gymnastics organizations … into support centers for the proletariat in its class struggle.”[1]

Merging sports and class struggle on a global scale? A tall order, to be sure. But the 1921 Moscow initiative rested on two solid pillars: the traditions of the prewar Second International and the achievements of the young Soviet republic.

The Moscow consultation on sports brought together delegates from eight countries who happened to be attending the Third World Congress of the Communist International then in session. However, the initiative came not from the Comintern but from Nikolai Podvoisky, head of the Soviet Council for Physical Culture, an agency charged with preparing Soviet youth for military conscription.[2]

Socialist strategy and the party

by Gilbert Achcar

Below is the transcript of a talk titled “Marxism, socialist strategy, and the party” by Gilbert Achcar, which was delivered to the South African initiative, Dialogues for an Anti-capitalist Future. Here, Achcar traces conceptions of the party from Marx to the present and its implications for socialist strategy today. This transcript has been revised, edited and completed by Gilbert Achcar. The original video recording of the talk can be found here.

Thank you for inviting me to address this meeting. It’s a great opportunity for me to discuss these issues with comrades from Africa, the continent where I was born and raised as a native of Senegal.

Michel Husson: an activist in the economy and an economist who inspired politics

22 July by Eric Toussaint

Michel Husson’s decease will leave many comrades all over the world with a deep sense of loss and bereavement.

Michel Husson (1949-2021), who had a solid training as an economist, was a keen observer of the capitalist system and its evolution in order to contribute to its overthrow and to social emancipation.

Pandemics and the capitalist destruction of nature

by Daniel Tanuro

The pandemic we’re coping with is a zoonosis. Zoonoses are infectious diseases caused by pathogens jumping species from animals to humans. The pathogen may be a virus, a bacterium or a prion.

So far as we know, zoonoses have been present throughout human history. Scientists estimate they’ve caused about 50% of all human disease, and they’re becoming more frequent. For the past thirty years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 60% of emerging infectious diseases have been zoonoses – even 70%, according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) special report on pandemics – and three quarters of all new pathogens present in humans come from animal species. AIDS, Zika, Chikungunya, Ebola, H1N1, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, H5N1, SARS, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other diseases of the last few decades were zoonoses.

The Republican Party's Delusional Attachment to
Trump Sets the Stage for the Acceleration
of Neoliberal Proto-Fascism

by  C.J. Polychroniou

The strategic objective of the Republican Party is not simply to engage in obstructionism, but to continue dividing the nation and radicalizing the American public against the democratic system.

Liz Cheney’s removal from House GOP leadership over her rejection of Trump’s election lies and Republican senators' blocking of a bipartisan proposal to create an independent panel that would investigate the Capitol siege reveal in stark terms at least two things: (a) that Republicans have built a cult of personality around Trump, and (b) that they are now at the mercy of the proto-fascist mob that their Dear Leader energized and nurtured during his four-year tenure in the White House.

Either way, the fact of the matter is that, for purposes of political expediency, the GOP has opted to become a dark political force, relying almost entirely on lies and deception—while at the same time waging a coordinated onslaught on voting rights—as its governing techniques. As such, it represents a real threat to the stability of the republic.

La Commune de Paris: un saut de tigre dans le passé

Par Michael Lowy

Toute révolution est, comme l’écrivait Walter Benjamin, « un saut de tigre dans le passé » : ce fut le cas de la Commune de Paris de 1871, qui avait, dans la Commune parisienne de 1793-94 une de ses principales références ; et le même vaut, comme nous verrons plus loin, pour la Révolution russe, par rapport à la Commune de 1871.

La Commune de Paris : un saut de tigre dans le passé

Pour le 150e anniversaire de la Commune

Dans le 18 Brumaire, Marx affirmait que les révolutions prolétariennes, au contraire des bourgeoises, ne tirent par leur poésie du passé, mais de l’avenir. Il avait sans doute raison : les révolutions sociales sont toujours inespérées et innovatrices, elles inventent des nouvelles formes d’organisation et de lutte. Mais en même temps je pense que Marx se trompe : toute révolution tire aussi son inspiration, sa poésie, des révolutions antérieures. Toute révolution est, comme l’écrivait Walter Benjamin, “un saut de tigre dans le passé” : ce fut le cas de la Commune de Paris de 1871, qui avait, dans la Commune parisienne de 1793-94 une de ses principales références; et le même vaut, comme nous verrons plus loin, pour la Révolution russe, par rapport à la Commune de 1871.

CHAOUAT Gérard (Vingtras, Vallès)

Né le 6 mai 1944 à Alger (Algérie), mort le 23 avril 2021 à Paris (XXe arr.) ; militant de l’UEC et du PC, du FUA et de la JCR, de l’International Marxist Group 1974, de la LC/LCR jusqu’en 1980 ; pendant ses études de médecine, militant syndical à l’AGEMP-UNEF, un des dirigeants de la « Mino Médecine » ; chercheur au CNRS, militant du SNCS-FSU, du SNESUP, de la FSU et de l’École Émancipée ; militant du NPA à sa création en 2009, puis Gauche anticapitaliste, Ensemble ; directeur de recherches au CNRS, spécialiste de l’immunologie de l’implantation.

Gérard Chaouat naquit à Alger dans une famille séfarade. Son grand-père paternel, médecin, juif et franc maçon, fut président de la Ligue des Droits de l’Homme à Alger. Engagé à l’extrême gauche, en 1936 il encouragea les occupations d’usines puis milita de manière occulte en faveur du PC à Hussein-Dey. Interné au début de la guerre, il décéda au camp d’internement de Djenien-bou-Rezg (Sud-Oranais). Son grand-père maternel, ingénieur, participa à la construction de barrages en Algérie et à la modernisation du port d’Alger. Il est mort Grand Officier de la Légion d’Honneur. Il était l’ami de Ferhat Abbas et d’Abderrhamane Farès, ancien président de l’Assemblée algérienne. Un jour, en 1962, à Paris, au retour d’une manifestation de l’UNEF contre les attentats de l’OAS, Gérard Chaouat eut la surprise de trouver Ferhat Abbas dans le salon de l’appartement familial. Son père, médecin rhumatologue finit sa carrière comme Médecin chef de la Fondation Rothschild, rue Manin (XIXe arr.). Sa mère fut empêchée de passer son agrégation de Lettres classiques du fait de l’abrogation du décret Crémieux en Algérie par le gouvernement de Vichy. Son frère Didier, aujourd’hui décédé, était lui aussi médecin rhumatologue.

Latin America has once again entered a period of strong social and political turbulence

Interview with Franck Gaudichaud

Franck Gaudichaud recently wrote and coordinated two collective works drawing a critical assessment of “progressive” political attempts to challenge neoliberal hegemony in Latin America. In this interview, he considers the social and political dynamics of the recent period, and also current issues in the region. The interview was conducted by Rosa Moussaoui, journalist and senior reporter for the newspaper L’Humanité.

What is the common political thread to what you call the “progressive experiences” of the early twenty-first century in Latin America?

This characterization is admittedly vague. If we employ it, it is because the people concerned use it themselves, from the Kirchners in Argentina to Alvaro Garcia Linera in Bolivia. These actors, in their diversity, have built a common political space which they have chosen to call “progressive”. This category therefore appears legitimate to us, even if these progressive “left” governments have had very different experiences. On the one hand, there are “national popular” experiences, more or less “radical” in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. And on the other, experiences more oriented towards the centre left, including forms of social-liberalism, like the Frente Amplio in Uruguay (among others, under the terms of office of José “Pepe” Mujica), the Brazil of Lula then of Dilma Rousseff. But beyond the category, there are many points in common during the “golden age” of progresismo: a return of the state, criticism of neoliberalism, developmentalist aims. With very heterogeneous political practices.

Équateur : De Rafael Correa à Guillermo Lasso en passant par Lenin Moreno

par Eric Toussaint

Le 11 avril 2021, lors du deuxième tour des élections présidentielles, Guillermo Lasso (52,4 %), le candidat de la droite, a devancé Andres Arauz (47,6 %), le candidat soutenu par Rafael Correa et une partie de la gauche. Lasso a été élu grâce à la division de la gauche car une partie importante de celle-ci, qui a perdu toute confiance dans Rafael Correa, a appelé à voter nul. Les voix du camp populaire, qui était clairement majoritaire au premier tour des élections de février 2021, se sont divisées et cela a permis à un ancien banquier d’être élu président. La situation est grave car une occasion de rompre avec la politique néo libérale brutale de Lenin Moreno a été perdue. L’ex-banquier Lasso, quoique critique par pur électoralisme des positions de Lenin Moreno, va poursuivre le même type d’orientation néfaste : l’approfondissement de politiques néolibérales, la soumission aux intérêts privés du Grand capital, en particulier du puissant secteur bancaire équatorien, du secteur importateur-exportateur et la soumission à la superpuissance nord-américaine. Comment est-il possible qu’une partie importante des voix du camp populaire ne se soit pas reportée sur Andres Arauz pour éviter l’élection de Guillermo Lasso ? Cela s’explique par le rejet qu’a suscité dans une partie de la gauche, notamment dans la CONAIE, la Confédération des nations indigènes de l’Équateur, la politique de Rafael Correa en particulier à partir de 2011.

The Paris Commune of 1871, banks and debt

by Eric Toussaint

On the occasion of the 150^th anniversary of the extraordinary experience of the Paris Commune, it is fundamental to draw a number of lessons from it. The measures a government takes regarding its Central Bank, the debts of working class people, public debt and private banks are decisive. If a popular government does not implement radical financial measures, it will be responsible for ending in failure, with possibly tragic consequences for the population. The Commune, an extraordinary and dramatic experiment, exemplifies this, and must thus be analyzed from this point of view.

En mémoire de Patrice Lumumba assassiné
le 17 janvier 1961

par Eric Toussaint

Ce 17 janvier 2021, nous commémorons le 60^e anniversaire de l’assassinat de Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961).

Suite à une victoire éclatante aux premières véritables élections auxquelles les Congolais ont participé, Patrice Lumumba est devenu premier ministre du Congo du 24 juin 1960 jusqu’à son renversement et son emprisonnement le 14 septembre de la même année par le militaire Joseph-Désiré Mobutu et ses soutiens. Ce dernier a ensuite dirigé le pays, d’abord en sous-main, puis de manière directe à partir de 1965 jusqu’à son renversement en 1997.

What Trump's Doing Is Crazy and Dangerous—and It Ain't Over Yet

Trump still threatens us, and discussing the election in the past tense is stupid.

by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Ever since November 7, when the election was more or less authoritatively “called” by all major media, a wide range of pundits have spoken as if the election was decided. Some of these pundits have explained away Trump’s consistent and angry refusal of the results as a sign of his narcissism and immaturity; some have focused on the ineptitude of the Rudy Giuliani/Jenna Ellis legal team; and some have focused on the important fact that so many judges and state election officials, even Republican ones, have refused to comply with Trump’s efforts to subvert the election. Most recently, attention has focused on the December 8 “Safe Harbor” date prescribed by federal law. The point: the results have now been certified, and Biden obviously must be selected next week by the Electoral College, and Trump’s latest efforts are beside the point.

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

The Rolling Constitutional-Fascist Coup in the World's Most Dangerous Nation

by Paul Street

“We Want to Get Rid of the Ballots”

We are in the middle of a rolling authoritarian and even fascist coup that is working with and through the United States Constitution to no small degree. To be sure, Trump is doing everything in his considerable power to undermine a “normal” bourgeois-constitutional election. He’s working to sabotage mail delivery in an election that will depend on mail-in ballots thanks to the pandemic Trump has fanned. He’s deploying armed right-wing “poll watchers” to intimidate minority and other Biden voters. He’s encouraging terrorist street actions and intimidation by white “tough guys” (bikers, militia members, cops, and soldiers) before, during, and after the election. His party will mess with voting sites and access in majority Democratic jurisdictions.