We enter 2011 in a situation marked by both continuity and—in Britain, at least—dramatic discontinuity. The element of continuity is represented, of course, by the global economic and financial crisis. Change comes in the form of the sudden emergence of… Continue Reading
“Trotsky is the one for whom there is no room either in pre-1990 Really Existing Socialism or in post-1990 Really Existing Capitalism, in which even those who are nostalgic for Communism do not know what to do with Trotsky’s permanent… Continue Reading
Michelangelo stands at the very summit of human fame, or celebrity as we now call it. His position is secure among that very small band of individuals—Aristotle, Shakespeare, Goethe, Mozart, da Vinci and so on—who seem to tower over history,… Continue Reading
Editor’s introduction “A spectre is haunting South Asia—the spectre of Maoism,” the Financial Times rather melodramatically announced in April 2006, reporting that the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had described Maoist guerrillas as “the single greatest threat to Indian national… Continue Reading
Despite the virtual implosion of some economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)—plunging living standards in parts of the region, protests and social unrest—little attention has been paid to the crisis and recession in the ten post-Communist countries that joined… Continue Reading
“It is clear that since September 2008 we have been facing the most difficult situation since the Second World War—perhaps even since the First World War. We have experienced—and are experiencing—truly dramatic times… A number of markets were no longer… Continue Reading
The Israeli commando raid on the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara, part of the international “Freedom Flotilla” on a mission to break the blockade of Gaza, seemed to cross a boundary not broken even in the 2006 war against Lebanon… Continue Reading
Israel faces a new challenge—one the country’s leading strategists consider increasingly effective. This does not come mainly from the towns and refugee camps of the West Bank or Gaza, but from an energetic global movement of solidarity with the Palestinians.… Continue Reading
Greece has been at the heart of the struggle over austerity in Europe. Panos Garganas is editor of the weekly paper Workers’ Solidarity and a leading member of the Sosialistiko Ergatiko Komma (SEK, Socialist Workers Party), Greek sister organisation of… Continue Reading
On Sunday 19 September 2010 engineers finally sealed the Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, which had exploded five months earlier and caused the “the world’s largest accidental offshore oil spill”.1 The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil… Continue Reading