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ALGERIA-MOROCCO Views from both sides of the border

2021-09-22

The escalation of declarations between the Kingdom of Morocco (encouraged by the State of Israel) and the Algerian regime led the latter, on 24 August, to break diplomatic relations between the two countries. But the workers and peoples of the Maghreb have nothing good to expect from a confrontation between the two countries. This is what is expressed in the documents sent to us by our correspondents in Algeria and Morocco (which we are publishing excerpts from). « Khawa, khawa! » (Brothers!)… In a Moroccan football stadium, in July 2019 MOROCCO « Only fraternity and peace can help build the unity of the peoples of the Maghreb » Again, the two brother peoples, the Algerian and the Moroccan people, are now filled with concern and worry. On 24 August, the Algerian government decided to break off diplomatic relations with Morocco, which was accused of carrying out hostile actions against Algeria, particularly in the recent fires that broke out in the North of Algeria, in [...]

PALESTINE Three months after the ceasefire, nothing has changed in Gaza

2021-09-22

Photo by Mehrad Vosoughi on Pexels.com A correspondent living in the Gaza Strip reports (extracts) « Three months after the end of the last Israeli military attack (10 to 21 May 2021) on the Gaza Strip*, which has been under an Israeli blockade for more than fourteen years, nothing has changed, despite the mobilisation of people in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, and despite international promises of reconstruction. Nothing has changed: we – 2 million Palestinians in Gaza – are still locked in by an inhuman blockade that continues to claim many victims, while the pandemic continues to rage. “Despite the ruins, the grief, the anxiety and the pain, life is slowly returning: we will never accept the subjugation of our people by an Israeli colonial regime. Our memory is marked by the fire of the bombing, the ruins, the blood and tears, but the day will come when Palestine will be liberated. “Today, of the 9,000 inhabitants who [...]

UNITED STATES Open Forum Labor and Antiwar Activists Speak Out on Afghanistan War and Its Outcome

2021-09-08

In October 2001, in the name of the so-called « war on terror, » the United States and an international coalition bombed Afghanistan, drove out the Taliban, and installed a puppet regime that survived only thanks to U.S./NATO occupation troops. At the height of the war, 120,000 U.S. troops were deployed in Afghanistan, with heavy reliance on mercenaries from Blackwater and other private contractor firms. What was the result? The longest-ever foreign military intervention by the United States left more than 241,000 Afghan civilians dead, 2,442 U.S. troops dead (and 20,666 wounded), and more than 2 million internal and external Afghan refugees. The total cost of the war to the United States is estimated at $2.3 trillion. (source: Brown University, Watson Institute’s Cost of War Project) Today, the very same Taliban who were driven from power in 2001 have been returned to power by the U.S. government following an agreement signed on February 29, 2020 in Qatar by the [...]

AFGHANISTAN A letter from our correspondents in Kabul Second round of domination of the Taliban in Afghanistan

2021-09-04

Criminal Taliban returned to political power in Afghanistan with the support of the capitalist states. During last few years, especially the agreement between the United States and the Taliban, which was nothing but engineering and shaping the « Islamic Emirate », itself showed the engagement of the world bourgeoisie from the project of democratization-imperialism in Afghanistan. With the rapid and unbelievable collapse of the ousted government led by Ashraf Ghani in just a few days, in which the United States and its allies undoubtedly played a major role, with the undisputed return of the Taliban to political power, the scenario of the establishment of the « Islamic Emirate » was realized in Afghanistan. In capitalist relations, the replacement of beads in proportion to its needs and interests and the replacement of one with the elimination of the other, which, despite differences in the form of a single theme, has not been and is not unprecedented. At present, [...]

PAKISTAN End of US Invasion in Afghanistan

2021-08-24

We publish as a document, this contribution from the Pakistani section of the Fourth International (CORQI) on the situation in Afghanistan. [...]

FRANCE Macron declares war on workers and the youth He must go, his 12 July plan and his government with him — Statement by the Steering Committee of the POID

2021-08-20

The measures announced by Macron on 12 July constitute a genuine declaration of class war: The counter-reform of the pension system, aiming at the destruction of the various specific systems and extending the average age of retirement by two years; Application on 1 October of the counter-reform of unemployment insurance, depriving hundreds of thousands of unemployed of a large part of their benefits; A ban on the exercise of their profession and loss of wages for all hospital and healthcare workers, whether or not they have been vaccinated by 15 September, regardless of their place of work; A ban on access to most public areas, and on long-distance travel by plane and train for anyone who does not have a valid “health pass »… These announcements have provoked anger and indignation among workers and the youth. Particularly revolting is the attack on health care workers: yesterday hailed as heroes, they are now designated as responsible for the [...]

CHINA Killing the Hong Kong Teachers’ Union

2021-08-20

Union press conference, August 10 / photo Candice Chau Hkfp On 30 July, The People’s Daily, organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), called the Hong Kong Teachers’ Union (HKPTU) a « malignant tumour » that should be « eliminated ». The very next day, the Hong Kong government’s Education Bureau declared that it no longer recognised the HKPTU, accusing it of spreading political propaganda. This 95,000-member union, affiliated to HKCTU, the independent trade union confederation of this Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, organises 90 % of the city’s teachers. Earlier this year, the Hong Kong government, which takes orders from the Beijing regime, had the president of the HKCTU, Carol Ng, arrested and imprisoned, followed by the general secretary Lee Cheukyan, for their participation in the huge demonstrations against the law of extradition law and against police violence in 2019 and 2020. After the adoption of [...]

UNITED STATES 800 nurses have been on strike for 122 days !

2021-07-17

In the United States, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in the state of Massachusetts (whose capital is Boston), nurses have been on a massive strike for 122 days to get the powerful Tenet company, which owns the hospital, to respond positively to their demands, a strike carried out with the support and participation of the trade union organisation. Thanks to the American labour activists who publish the newspaper The Organizer, and who are affiliated to the International Workers’ Committee, we can provide information on how this conflict unfolded and what it means for the entire American labour movement. The article below is based on excerpts from an article by Sandy Eaton, a former leader of a health care workers’ union, and an article by Rand Wilson and Mark Dudzic, president of the Universal Social Security Association. Now Tenet is seeking to break the strike by any means necessary, including replacing strikers with permanently hired workers. In the face of this [...]

HAITI The Assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse: A Bloody Settling of Accounts Within the Ruling Class

2021-07-17

Huge demonstration in Port-au-Prince in February 2021 On the night of July 6 to 7, around one o’clock in the morning, the private residence of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was attacked by an armed commando. A few hours later, the Prime Minister reported that the president had been assassinated. In the days that followed, it was announced that the commando was composed of two U.S. citizens of Haitian origin and 26 Colombian mercenaries. Moïse, a banana businessman, had been elec ted president of Haiti in 2016 in an election in which less than 21% of voters participated. He was a close associate of former President Michel Martelly. Like his predecessor, he had been nothing more than a puppet of the big powers, starting with the United States, which for decades had been pulling the strings of political life of the island, especially since its occupation in 2004 by United Nations troops. In recent months, the masses have held numerous demonstrations against [...]

PUERTO RICO ¡Apoyo a los trabajadores de servicios públicos del sindicato UTIER en Puerto Rico!

2021-07-04

Artículo publicado originalmente en el n°30 de la Carta semanal The Organizer de los Estados Unidos, firmado por Carol Wheeler. Al momento en que la Unión de Trabajadores Eléctricos y de la Irri- gación de Puerto Rico (UTIER), sindicato que festeja su 79o aniver- sario, sus miembros libran una feroz batalla para salvar la red eléctrica de Puerto Rico de los efectos devasta- dores de la privatización. El 22 de junio de 2020, los diri- gentes de la empresa de servicios públicos – Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) – firma- ron un contrato con LUMA Energy Corp., un conglomerado privado estadounidense-canadiense, para ope- rar y mantener el sistema de trans- misión y distribución de energía. La PREPA era una empresa de servicios públicos desde hacía más de 80 años. Las deudas masivas, el deterioro de la infraestructura y, en última instancia, la devastación causada por el huracán María en 2017 le dieron al gobierno de Estados Unidos y a las [...]