The internationalists

To give him his due, even the President seemed stunned by the Nobel Committee’s award of the 2009 Peace Prize. We have got used to spin but the notion that the President of the greatest imperialist power on the planet is worth a peace prize after only 11 days (1) in office takes us back to the “Newspeak” of George Orwell’s 1984.

Since 14 September the workers of Spx (Tecnostest) in Sala Baganza (Parma - Italy) have been fighting a hard struggle, with courage and intelligence. They were left with no choice after the firm had pushed their backs against the wall. · The Sala plant - belonging to a multinational, with a head office in the USA - produces and repairs diagnostic equipment for cars.

Amidst bombings, intimidation and voterigging the first round of the election has ended. And all under the iron military grip of US Imperialism · It has all gone according to the script. The way the media put it, in these elections which the USA wanted and supported so much, and against which the Taliban have tried to impose an electoral boycott (partially successful in the south), the...

Since last April’s election South Africa has been engulfed in a tide of class struggle which has been the most widespread and bitter since the ANC (African National Congress) came to power 15 years ago. There have been strikes by construction workers bringing work on power stations, railways and football stadiums to a standstill; by miners bringing coal and gold production to a halt; by...

(From Prometeo 1, series VII, July 2009) · Whether or not the danger has been averted, whether there really is a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel: in short, whether there are solid grounds for the stubbornly optimistic view of many capitalists that the crisis is almost over or whether this is simply a way of taking “people’s” minds off things, only time can tell.