In the middle of the night of the 31st of May, 64 km off the coast, Israeli commandos rappelled down from helicopters onto the 6 ship flotilla. Activists say they boarded the ships firing. The Israeli government decided to use deadly force to maintain their blockade of the Gaza strip, provoking waves of protest. These events have exposed the policy of Israeli imperialism to the masses everywhere: Gaza is a ghetto, kept in starvation conditions, and no one may interfere. This will have effects across the world, even in Israel itself.

Merida, May 16th, 2010 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Yesterday president Hugo Chavez swore in a range of directors of state owned companies that comprise the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (CVG). The directors were chosen by workers’ working groups and ratified by the president. Chavez also announced a range of measures to further implement the Plan Socialist Guayana, including some nationalisations and eliminating outsourcing.

Despite critics’ exaggerated outcries and accusations in the international media alleging Internet censorship, President Chavez announced a new government-sponsored program to promote Internet usage and cyber communication throughout Venezuela.

Caracas, March 19, 2010 (venezuelanalysis.com) – In a nationally televised address Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced a massive expansion of the government’s subsidised food system, Mercal, on Thursday. He also argued that it is necessary to establish a socialist system of distribution and consumption of products, to replace the capitalist market.

The Canadian minister responsible for the Americas recently made a short stop in Venezuela. While there, Peter Kent took the opportunity to express the Canadian government’s concerns over the “shrinking democratic space” in Venezuela.

Eva Golinger breaks down the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community to show how President Obama's administration now formally views Venezuela as a threat in the same class as Al Qa’ida.

At the First Extraordinary Congress of the PSUV, which began in November last year and finishes this April, one can clearly sense a growing anger of the delegates and members against the reformists and bureaucrats in the party, as well as a thirst for the ideas of marxism. We publish here an interview with comrade Katy Jaimes, delegate to the Congress for the Chacao municipality of Miranda State, who lays heavy stress upon the need to organise a left in the party.

Recently we saw many important events happening in Venezuela, like the devaluation of the bolívar or the nationalisations in the banking sector, which needs to be analysed carefully. The movement of occupied factories made important steps forward last year, but still faces sabotage by counter-revolutionary managers and workers are still struggling for nationalisation under workers' control. In order to defend the conquests already made, the revolution must put the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy on the agenda. Only this can destroy capitalism and provide the necessary prerequisites for a socialist planned economy.

The nation of Haiti was hit with a devastating earthquake. The governments of Cuba and Venezuela responded within hours with medical brigades, firefighters, fuel and supplies, and there has been massive sympathy, generosity and volunteerism from workers around the world. What a difference compared to the response from the the United States. The U.S. government has pledged assistance in the way of one hundred million dollars – less than is spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in just two days.

There is a manmade element to the catastrophe confronting Haitians. The country doesn’t just happen to be poor; it has been made poor and kept poor. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, with the worst infrastructure and a people most vulnerable to disaster and disease, because of the machinations of imperialism. Although the earthquake could not be avoided, the scale of death and destruction clearly could have been avoided.

Venezuelan Vice President and Defense Minister Ramón Alonso Carrizales stated that his nation's government held objective proof of the violation by a U.S. military aircraft of Venezuelan air space.

The government of the Netherlands recently granted the US military use of its islands in the Caribbean, with the excuse that this is to help in the “war against drugs”. In reality, this is a direct threat to the Chavez government in Venezuela.

Mérida, December 23rd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – On Wednesday, the Venezuelan government launched its latest social mission. Called Mission Baby Jesus, the program aims to provide better attention to women giving birth by improving hospital infrastructure, increasing the availability of medicine, providing health education for pregnant women and young children, and by building prenatal care houses.

The Colombian government, which recently announced that it will build a new military base near the Venezuelan border, is planning to simulate the existence of an encampment of Colombian guerrilla insurgents in Venezuela in order to justify an attack on Venezuelan territory, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on Monday.

Evo Morales and the Movement Towards Socialism party (MAS) got a resounding victory in the December 6th election in Bolivia. The crowds in the capital La Paz received Morales’ victory speech with shouts of “socialismo, socialismo”.

Nov. 16 2009 – Alan Woods represents the hard line wing of the revolution. It is not a question of building new structures on the old base as the reformists ideologists propose. For Woods, the revolution requires a new base, a clean break with the old rule of the oligarchy. Regular visitor to Venezuela since Hugo Chávez came to power, Woods talked to Últimas Noticias about the current situation of the Bolivarian process.

Eighty days since the coup in Honduras there are no signs of the resistance being weakened. On the contrary it is growing and becoming more militant. The conditions exist for the coup regime to be overthrown, but this requires decisive action in the form of a total, all-out general strike.

Thursday, 10 September 2009. Written by Benjamin Dangl. It was a winter day in the Argentine city of Bariloche when 12 South American presidents gathered there on August 28. It was so cold that Hugo Chavez wore a red scarf and Evo Morales put on a sweater. The presidents arrived at the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) meeting to discuss a US plan to establish seven new military bases in Colombia. Though officials in Colombia and the US say the bases would be aimed at combating terrorism and the drug trade, US military and air force documents point to other objectives.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009. VHeadline Venezuela News reports: Writing in today's editions Canadian Financial Post, columnist Diane Francis takes Venezuela to task in an article headlined "Venezuela: a banana kleptocracy" which will be sure to set Venezuela-Canadian trade relations back several leagues considering the insulting tone of phrase and "imperialist" superiority of her thrust, combined with a total lack of understanding of the throes that Venezuela is going through after more than 40 years of domination and theft by the North American empire.

(Dan Read, July 10 2009) In March 2005, three trade unionists were snatched from the shanty towns of Bogotá, Colombia, by soldiers of the High Mountain Battalions. Taken to the outskirts of the city, the three were beaten, castrated and then shot. Their bodies were then dressed in the uniform of the Revolution Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in order to disguise their murder as part of routine combat operations.

(Camilo Cahis, July 10 2009, www.marxist.com) Canada has stood almost alone on the international stage, going so far as to say that Zelaya should not return back to Honduras. This should not come as a huge shock for Canadians as the Canadian state has been pursuing an increasingly interventionist role in Latin American affairs for a while now.

The Second Latin American Meeting of Worker-Recovered Factories took place on June 25-27. Over two hundred workers gathered at the National Library in Caracas to discuss perspectives for the occupied factories movement internationally. Worker representatives were present from all over the world, including Paraguay, Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Turkey, Iraq and Canada.

Many youths in Iran have voted for Mousavi in order to change society. Mousavi himself, however, is a man of the regime and merely wishes to patch up the Islamic Republic and not bring about fundamental change in Iranian society. Here we publish an open letter from Maziar Razi of the Iranian Revolutionary Marxists' Tendency.

Some on the left are questioning whether the movement in Iran is a progressive one. They have been taken in by propaganda that states that the movement is all an “imperialist plot” to overthrow the Islamic regime. This ignores the very essence of what is happening in Iran, which is the beginning of a revolution. What is required to move everything forward now is decisive action by the working class.

Monday, 27 April 2009.  Written by Mejda Joya and Jennie Ernewein. Over the past month, the labour movement in Ontario has been heating things up to protect workers’ severance packages, pensions, and jobs. The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) has been playing a leading role in organizing a variety of rallies and demonstrations. Here is a report of two rallies that Fightback has attended.

A new film on the Venezuelan Revolution. Produced by Vive TV in Venezuela, this new documentary on FRETECO explores the movement of occupied factories and workers' control in Venezuela. From the Mitsubishi auto plant to the Inveval valve plant; from the Gotcha T-Shirt factory to the INAF hardware factory, workers young and old, male and female, tell their stories and explain why they came to the realization that demanding nationalization under workers' control is the only way forward. With examples explaining how factory and workers' councils function, the role of the communal councils, and the movement for "trade unionism of a new type," this video provides a living, breathing look at a crucial aspect of the Venezuelan Revolutionary process. Spanish with English subtitles by U.S. HOV.

April 3, 2009. Documents obtained by The Dominion show Canada's involvement in democracy promotion in Venezuela.

(In Defence of Marxism, Fred Weston, March 12th 2009) On Sunday the depth of the crisis and the level of social discontent in Madagascar directly affected a group of soldiers of the Army Corps of Personnel and Administrative and Technical Services who had been ordered to move against protestors on the streets. The soldiers refused to obey orders to fire on the people and repress anti-government demonstrators. Following this, they then declared they would not obey government orders either.

March 10. 2009. Bolivian President Evo Morales is on his way to Vienna, but he can’t bring coca leaves to chew for comfort on the plane - not even a bit of coca shampoo to shower with at the hotel. He might have his last chance to change that, once he sets foot at the 52nd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Austria’s capital city this March 11th. The CND is the policy-making body at the United Nations that deals with illicit drugs – and the medicinal coca leaf, native to Bolivia, is considered to be one of them.      According to the UN website, ministers and top anti-drug officials from the CND Member States will be meeting to discuss issues ranging from preventing drug abuse to adopting a plan of action to “counter the world drug problem.” But for former coca farmer Morales and other coca leaf activists, the problem lies with the UN’s decisions – particularly the one that put the coca leaf on the UN’s list of the most strongly controlled illicit substances.

(18 February 2009) However, despite this process of Stalinisation, the Cuban revolution was not dead, and her vitality and roots amongst the masses came back to the surface at the end of the 1980s with the collapse of the USSR. For nearly two decades, the Cuban economy, blockaded by the US, had become completely linked to that of the USSR and the Eastern European countries. It could even be discussed whether this integration did not take place in a distorted manner, stalling the development of an industrial base in Cuba, something which Che had defended. What is clear is that the impact of the collapse of Stalinism was catastrophic from the economic point of view.

(By In Defence of Marxism. Feb 13 2009) In the afternoon of Thursday, February 12, a car in which three workers of the Mitsubishi (MMC) factory in Barcelona, Anzoategui State, were travelling was shot at with live ammunition. The workers were Luís López, Luís Guaregua and Alexander Rojas. The car received seven gunshots when it was on its way from Bolivar Street towards the "March 29" neighbourhood in central Barcelona. None of the workers were injured.

(By Jay Parkash in Hyderabad. Feb 13 2009) The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign organized a protest in front of the Hyderabad Press Club on 11th February against the brutality of the local administration and mill officials for firing on innocent workers of the Badin Army Sugar Mill.

(By In Defence of Marxism. February 10 2009) On Monday, February 2, the workers at PT Timur Selatan wood processing company, that produces furniture and wood products, occupied their factory. The workers took over the factory in response to the closure that the management had put into effect on February 1. Refusing to pay the regional minimum wage of Rp.825,000 per month (US$72 per month) that the workers have been demanding, management decided to close down the factory, citing the global economic crisis as the reason.

(January 12 2009, Socialist Appeal Editorial Board) Now that the electoral dust has settled, many are already disappointed with Obama and his cabinet picks. Nonetheless, he enjoys astonishing approval ratings of over 80 percent. But this only means that the reaction to the inevitable disappointment will be that much more explosive.

January 12th 2009, by Anna Pelegri - Middle East Online

NEARLY SEVENTY YEARS ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town's inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands.

(Tue, Jan 6 2009) In a surprise attack last week, Israel's air force infiltrated the Gaza Strip and started blasting away. On Saturday, the air force was accompanied by blasting from the navy and infiltration of tanks and foot soldiers into the Strip causing death and destruction in horrifying dimensions. Up to this time, the death toll for Palestinians stands at 526 people, with 2500 injured. Israeli officials, in particular Defense Minister Ehud Barak, keep reminding us that "this is just the beginning". Israeli media is overjoyed in stressing the claim that the "majority" of the victims are Hamas soldiers. We do not exactly know how they define a "Hamas soldier", but the fact that 107 of the murdered victims were children, makes it very hard for us to believe such claims. This attack is overwhelming in nature. It has been reported that since the 1967 war Israel had never used such a massive air attack.

Over 150,000 people demonstrated yesterday (Saturday, January 3, 2009) in Israel against Operation Cast Lead: in the northern Arab town of Sakhnin and in Tel-Aviv. The demonstration in Sakhnin was, by far, the biggest such protest in Israel. According to organizers, it was the largest protest held by the Arab-Palestinian in Israel in many years.

(David May & Paul Poposky) On Thursday morning, December 11th, the 250 workers occupying the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago had something to be proud of: they had fought back against one of the biggest banks in the U.S. and had won all of the severance pay owed to them. The workers unanimously agreed Wednesday evening to approve a deal reached between negotiators from their union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, and Republic's creditor, Bank of America, prompting an end to the six day occupation.

(By Issa Al-Jaza'iri, Dec 11 2008) The elections held in Québec, on Monday December 8th, finally returned Liberal Premier Jean Charest to majority government - though without the stability he was hoping for. The sovereigntist Parti Québécois (PQ), which had been reduced to third party in the last election, is once again second-place. The partial victory for the right is tempered by the destruction of the right-wing Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), and the historic election of the first deputy for the left party, Québec solidaire (QS). This vindicates our analysis that the ADQ’s massive jump in 2007 was a symptom of the working masses’ desperate search for an alternative, and not a general turn to the right, as that party and some on the left claimed. This chauvinist party has now been reduced to a mere 7 seats, losing their status as an official party. The crater in the pavement left by right-populist ADQ leader Mario Dumont, along with the resounding victory of QS’s Amir Khadir, are two important wins for the working class, despite Jean Charest’s success in gaining a thin majority.

NEW YORK, NY - In an open letter to the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch, over 100 experts on Latin America criticized the organization’s recent report on Venezuela, A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela, saying that it “does not meet even the most minimal standards of scholarship, impartiality, accuracy, or credibility.” The signers include leading academic specialists from universities in the United States, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and a number of state universities, and academic institutions in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, México, the U.K., Venezuela and other countries. The letter cites Jose Miguel Vivanco, lead author of the report, saying “We did the report because we wanted to demonstrate to the world that Venezuela is not a model for anyone…” , as evidence of its political agenda. The letter also criticizes the report for making unsubstantiated allegations, and that some of the sources that Human Rights Watch relied on in the report are not credible.

The crisis is unfolding relentlessly and with gathering speed. In November the USA shed jobs at the fastest pace in 34 years. World GDP has registered a sharp fall. The recession was preceded by a financial crisis (the so-called credit crunch). However, this was merely a prelude to the real crisis. As always, the bourgeois economists draw the conclusion that the cause of the crisis is a lack of credit. In reality, the lack of credit is caused by the crisis.

On Monday 1st December, just before 5pm, Dion, Layton and Duceppe presented their agreement for a Liberal-NDP coalition government backed by the Bloc Quebecois.

On Thursday, November 25, in the evening, three trade union leaders were assassinated in Aragua, Venezuela. Richard Gallardo, chair of the Aragua Region of the UNT, Luis Hernandez, chair of the union of Pepsi-Cola workers, and Carlos Requena, were having something to eat at La Encrucijada, and when they returned to their vehicle they were killed by a gunman who arrived in a motorbike. The three trade union leaders had spent the whole day giving support to the struggle of 400 workers at the Colombian-owned Alpina diary processing plant.

November 24th, 2008. Just past midnight on November 24, the Venezuelan CNE, National Electoral Commission, announced the first results of the elections for local mayors and state governors. From these figures it emerges that the forces of the revolution lost the elections in some important states. However, it is important to note, that 5.6 million people voted for the PSUV. This is an increase of more than one million votes on the December 2007 constitutional referendum result. On the other hand, only around 4 million voted for the opposition candidates. This means that the right-wing opposition actually lost more than 300,000 votes. This reveals the real balance of forces.

(By Alan Woods, Nov 21 2008, In Defence of Marxism) On Sunday November 23, 2008 Venezuela faces one of the most decisive elections in its history. These elections will determine who controls the governors and the key municipal positions throughout the country. What happens on Sunday will have a profound impact on the future of the Bolivarian Revolution.

November 11, 2008. The Southern Ocean may be 30 years closer to a tipping point for ocean acidification than previously believed, putting sea life at risk, according to research published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

(Nov 5 2008, By John Peterson, Socialist Appeal USA) The U.S. has elected a new president. On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Along with the dramatic turn in the economic situation, this marks a definite turning point in the history of the country and of the world. On the streets across the U.S., you can feel a collective sigh of relief. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of people are on the streets of New York, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco, many of them dancing and even crying with joy. Young people drive by or ride their bikes through the streets yelling "Obama!" at passersby. Some have likened the celebration to New Year's Eve, and people's faces - especially young people and African-Americans - are glowing. These scenes have been repeated around the world, as frustration against Bush's policies is unleashed. The world has not been a very pleasant place for the last 8 years.

Monday, 27 October 2008. On Monday, October 20th, tens of thousands of people, peasants, workers, students, women and men, young and old, arrived in the Bolivian capital La Paz, having marched for nearly ten days, from Caracollo, Oruro, 200 kms away. The march had been called by the National Coordination for Change (Conalcam) and the COB trade union confederation to demand that the new Political Constitution of the State (CPE) be put to a referendum for approval.

MNN.  Who brought in the Aboriginal goons to do Canada’s dirty work in Tyendinaga? Does the fact that they’re “aboriginal” from Walpole Island and Moraviantown make them legitimate?  No.  Some of the goons on the “aboriginal” police force are non-native!  Who are they?  JTF2 and RCMP in disguise?

28 Oct. 2008. By Federico Fuentes. LA PAZ: After three months of intense class struggle, there can be no doubt that the US-backed right-wing opposition to the government of President Evo Morales has suffered three important defeats. The right's offensive to topple Morales, which climaxed with the September 11-12 "civic coup" attempt, has been decisively rolled back by the combined action of the government and social movements.

Once again, the Bloc Québécois has taken a majority of Quebec's seats in the House of Commons — 50 out of 75, one less than in 2006, although down by three percentage points.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008. (http://democracyctr.org/blog/). Just before 1pm – before a crowd 100,000 strong, that packed Plaza Murillo so tightly that even elbow room was scarce – President Evo Morales signed into law a measure setting a January vote on his party's embattled proposal for a new constitution.

Oct. 19th 2008. The collapse of the capitalist financial system, now sweeping the planet, is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The deep-rooted financial crisis heralds harder times and greater suffering for working people the world over.

Part I 

On Thursday, 23 November 2006, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organised a festival of solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution called “Festival of the Popular Front in Solidarity with Venezuela and its revolutionary leader Chavez” at the cultural centre of Almishal, in Gaza. During the activity comrade Ghazi Surani made a very important speech and statement.

      Kangamba is one of the most serious and dramatic films I have ever seen. I watched it on a small television screen but perhaps my judgment is influenced by cherished memories. Hundreds of thousands of Cuban compatriots will have the privilege of watching it on the big screen of movie theaters.       The Cuban artists’ performance was great. For a moment I thought that the production had required the cooperation of dozens of Angolans. There are scenes that from the humane point of view tear to pieces the contemptuous and racist way in which the imperialists have traditionally approached African culture and habits. There are really unforgettable images of houses in flames after being hit by the rockets with which the South African rulers armed an African ethnic group to fight their Angolan brothers.

I did not want to write a third consecutive reflection, but I can not leave that for Monday.

Correa said a majority of voters support his proposed reforms [AFP

Around 35,000 Cuban health specialists provide free or paid-for services in the world.  Furthermore, some young doctors from countries such as Haiti and others among the poorest of the Third World are working in their homelands thanks to the assistance provided by Cuba.  In Latin America, our main contribution has been the ophthalmologic surgeries that will help to preserve the eyesight of millions of people.  Besides, we are assisting in the training of tens of thousands of young medical students from other nations, both in and outside Cuba.     Nevertheless, this is not anything that is ruining our people, who were able to survive thanks to the internationalism that the USSR pursued with Cuba, which helps us to pay our own debt to humankind.

Yesterday we were talking about the Financial Ike that is driving the empire mad. America can't find a way of reconciling consumerism with unjust wars, defence spending and the massive investments in the arms industry, which kill peoples, rather than feeding them or otherwise satisfying their most basic needs.

En juillet dernier, le Conseil des droits de l’homme (CDH) de l’Organisation des Nations unies (ONU) a désigné trois experts chargés d’enquêter sur le raid meurtrier mené par des commandos israéliens contre une flottille humanitaire internationale, le 31 mai. Transportant des centaines de défenseurs des droits des Palestiniens, celle-ci s’apprêtait à contourner le blocus illégal de la bande de Gaza pour y livrer de l’aide humanitaire. Indignant l’opinion internationale et provoquant une grave crise entre Israël et la Turquie, l’abordage et l’emploi de la force s’étaient soldés par la mort de neuf passagers turcs et par des dizaines de blessés.