Rightwing Backlash: Reactionary Tide in Latin America
by LOWY Michael
SINCE THE BEGINNING of the 21st century, the Left has won elections in most Latin American countries, in a powerful wave of popular rejection of the disastrous neoliberal policies of the previous regimes. One must however distinguish between two quite different sorts of left governments:
1) Social-liberal coalitions, which do not break with the fundamental “Washington Consensus” but implement several progressive social measures. The basic principle of this sort of government is to do what is possible to improve the situation of the poor — on the condition not to touch the privileges of the rich. The left, or center-left governments of Brazil, Uruguay and Chile are the most obvious examples.
2) Anti-oligarchic, anti-neoliberal and anti-imperialist governments, who set as their historical horizon “Socialism of the 21th Century.” Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador belong to this category.
Five days after the coup attempt on 15th of July, the NSC and Council of Ministers declared a state of emergency in the country. This step shows the coup attempt might have been blocked, but the desire to rule the country with coup-like, authoritative mentality is not.
A 15 anni dal G8 di Genova e nell’anno del Giubileo della misericordia ci siamo dati appuntamento per condividere una delle questioni globali più urgenti: il progressivo indebitamento dei popoli dell’intero pianeta. Su questo tema abbiamo deciso di confrontarci con pensatori laici e credenti impegnati da anni su questo tema.
An authoritarian president has been saved by a peoples’ faith in democracy. But he is unlikely to credit them.
“Jeremy Corbyn has touched parts of the electorate Labour hasn’t reached in a long time” writes Andy Stowe. That was the judgement of Laura Kuenssberg, the Tory propagandist who delivers most of the BBC’s political coverage, reporting on the decision by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) to allow the party’s leader appear on the ballot paper in the upcoming leadership election. And it goes a long way to explaining why he’s now going to be in a contest with former Pfizer lobbyist Owen Smith [1] and Angela Eagle who romped into fourth place with a stonking 17.9% of the vote when she stood for the deputy leadership last year. It can’t be repeated too often that Corbyn won 59.5% of the vote when he was elected last year.
I am writing you today to express my deep pride in the movement – the political revolution – you and I have created together over the last 15 months. When we began this historic campaign, we were considered fringe players by the political, economic and media establishment. Well, we proved them wrong.
Left Unity congratulates Jeremy Corbyn on his victory in the first battle against the coup plotters. Attempts to win a decision by the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to effectively bar Jeremy Corbyn from the leadership campaign – by wilfully misinterpreting completely straightforward party election rules – were a complete disgrace. The plotters were defeated and the NEC agreed that the incumbent shall automatically appear on the ballot paper. Nevertheless this whole shameful episode is one of the most underhand and undemocratic political acts of modern times.
As the Chilcot Inquiry report is released to the public, those MPs attempting to depose Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn—their leading lights inescapably sullied by having supported the war—are suing for peace. Over a week of high-profile resignations, statements, demands, pleas and threats have seemingly done little but consolidate Corbyn’s position. In record time, it has gone from being a coup to a #chickencoup to a #headlesschickencoup. 
After a bitter and deeply reactionary campaign, Britain voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48% on June 23. The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader, Nigel Farage, is celebrating his victory together with his chums on the hard-right Eurosceptic wing of the Tory Party. His far right friends across Europe, from Marine le Pen in France, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and similar people in Germany, Austria, Italy - and places beyond – are rubbing their hands in glee while working out how best to capitalize on this triumph. Conservative Prime David Cameron has resigned with effect from the autumn and it will be his successor – almost certainly prominent “Brexiter” Boris Johnson – that will lead divorce negotiations with the EU. Those that are now in the ascendancy in the Conservative Party are even further to the right that the defeated leadership of Cameron.
Sin duda, esperábamos una noche mejor. Del sorPPasso a la sorPPresa, las elecciones del 26J marcan definitivamente el final de la primera etapa del ciclo político abierto con la irrupción de Podemos en las elecciones europeas del 25 de Mayo de 2014 que, a su vez, es producto, no mecánico, de la sacudida de Mayo del 2011. Los resultados de Unidos Podemos son en términos retrospectivos inauditos, pero han quedado claramente debajo de las expectativas y las posibilidades. ¿Por qué no fue posible el tan deseado sorpasso al PSOE? El fiasco nos coge a propios y extraños por sorpresa. No se trata de dar lecciones a toro pasado explicando un fracaso que nadie vio venir, pero si al menos intentar entender por qué aconteció. Algunas reflexiones, pues, aún apresuradas y sin disponer todavía de los análisis detallados del comportamiento electoral, se imponen:
The UK referendum vote to leave the European Union has upended politics from one end of the continent to the other—nowhere more so, of course, than Britain, where Conservative Party Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his resignation, and a scheme to unseat left-wing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is in the making. SW is publishing views from the left on the meaning of the vote and next steps. The latest contribution comes from Charlie Hore, a member of revolutionary socialism in the 21st century.
Sì, questa volta possiamo dirlo, le votazioni ai ballottaggi comunali del 19 giugno sono state proprio una severa lezione per il PD. La travolgente vittoria di Virginia Raggi e del M5S a Roma (che Renzi cerca affannosamente di giustificare con le conseguenze dell’ “avventura Marino”), ma ancora di più quella di Chiara Appendino a Torino, dove il PD sperava di capitalizzare il netto sostegno di tutti i poteri forti cittadini per il suo sindaco uscente Fassino, sono la prova della decisa impasse in cui si trova il Partito democratico.
La préfecture de police vient d'interdire la manifestation du 23 juin, à Paris, contre la loi Travail, appelée par sept organisations syndicales.
Le gouvernement a donc confirmé l’interdiction de la manifestation de jeudi 23 juin. Cette interdiction d’une manifestation syndicale est une première depuis… la guerre d’Algérie. L’état d’urgence, le 49-3, l’interdiction de manifester, le gouvernement utilise donc toute la panoplie des mesures les plus antidémocratiques de la Ve République, des mesures de guerre sociale.
Following the election and Cameron’s pledge to the right, there will be an in out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU at least by the end of 2017, and possibly in 2016. This article will examine the role and character of the EU, the implications of the referendum itself, and consider how the left should vote.
Cuando entramos en la última semana de campaña electoral, parece ya innegable que, pese a los esfuerzos de la mayor parte de las candidaturas por hablar poco de las “líneas rojas” que quiere seguir imponiendo la troika (recortes de más de 8.000 millones de euros y multa por incumplimiento del déficit), el referéndum del 23J en Gran Bretaña ha puesto la cuestión del futuro de la Unión en el centro de la agenda política. En efecto, sea cual sea su resultado y más allá de las consecuencias económicas que vaya a tener, no es difícil prever que el proyecto de “más Europa” va a pasar a mejor vida confirmando definitivamente el parón. Con él, también la tendencia a una geometría cada vez más variable en la UE buscando al mismo tiempo la preservación de la unidad de la eurozona: la primera, limitándose a ser un bloque comercial (justamente en momentos de negociación del TTIP con EE UU) y la segunda, tratando de asegurar una mayor cohesión interna a través de nuevos pasos (en medio de crecientes tensiones entre países del Norte y del Sur y entre Bruselas, Frankfurt y Berlín), hacia un federalismo autoritario.
La manifestation du 14 juin a été un succès vécu par tous ceux et celles qui y ont participé. Massivement, les salarié-es particulièrement mobilisés dans le privé ont fait le déplacement et ont participé ensemble à cette démonstration de force et de détermination.
Now that the media craze surrounding the Paris Agreement has died down, it’s time to step back and ask ourselves what are the main reasons for the failure of these successive summits. Many of the problems are well known, particularly in activist circles, such as our leaders’ absolute belief of in unsustainable economic growth, as well as the way large multinationals and other lobbies insinuate into the hidden complexities of these negotiations.