In mid-October, a nongovernmental organization in Iran called the House of Latin America, or HOLA, invited several anti-imperialist organizations from North America to Tehran with the goal of building the movement against war and sanctions against Iran.  Among those who attended were representatives of the International Action Center, ANSWER Coalition, Toronto Coalition Against the War, [...]

“This extreme right becomes prominent when the ideology of capitalism is in trouble, when its performance fails, and when the system is seen as what it is more clearly by more people.  This is the time to build a broad left, of which we will be a very small but not unimportant part.” by William [...]

One of the key elements of the current new movement against the retirement reform is the unity of trade unions, which has so far survived.  This unity of trade union leadership is perceived by a large section of workers, as well as by the population in general, as an asset, a fulcrum of the movement.  [...]

France’s Senate passed a contentious pension law tonight, after the Sarkozy government’s battle with protesters intensified today in an attempt to restore oil supplies. The law, which would raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 in a bid to rein in massive deficits, has sparked two months of public anger. It has also set [...]

For many weeks now, the historic social change sweeping across France has drawn increasing attention globally.  It should.  A genuine, mass democratic upsurge has surprised all those who thought, hoped, or feared that such things could no longer happen in countries like France or the US. by Rick Wolff Millions of French people — in [...]

“Two hundred auto workers picketed October 16 outside the locked gates of their union’s headquarters in Detroit, protesting an agreement to let General Motors pay half wages at a suburban assembly plant.  The ‘Tier 2′ workers, who make up 40 percent of employees at the plant, will make roughly $14.50.  They’ll be working alongside Tier [...]

The political issues are of worldwide importance. As happens when the French public are really angry, university students and older school pupils have joined in, thereby continuing a national tradition in political education. Infuriated by Sarkozy’s implementation of neoliberal solutions to problems caused by neoliberalism, the people are making France the first major industrial country [...]

No Need to Raise Retirement Age The demonstrations that have rocked France this past week highlight some of its differences from the United States.  This photo for example, shows the difference between rioting in baseball-playing versus soccer-playing countries.  In the U.S., we would pick up the tear gas canister and THROW it — rather than [...]

The stand-off between striking workers and students and the government has taken a far more alarming turn. And day after day people are coming out in droves to protest against a reform they feel is fundamentally unjust as it penalises women and some of the poorer sections of the population, especially unskilled and semi-skilled manual [...]

Is the United States at long last getting serious about global imbalances, or are we risking currency wars that can end in unmitigated disaster for all? By Korkut Ertürk October 13, 2010 CREDIT: Prashant Zi (CC). Is the United States at long last getting serious about global imbalances, or are we risking currency wars that [...]