“Since 1965 I have never lived through a presidential election like this. There are no more axes, no more rules”, says Socialist Party, PS, first secretary, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis. “Nothing is stable anymore. It is a great chamboule-tout (coconut shy),” adds PS MP Jean-Marie Le Guen. Indeed, nothing has been going according to expectations for the […]

Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, ex deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and ex IRA leader, has died. He played a hugely influential role in the long armed struggle against the Unionist and British state and in negotiating the subsequent 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended the war.  For the former the British media and politicians […]

In a blatant attack on trade unionism, a court in India has sentenced 13 workers, including all 12 members of the Executive Committee of the Maruti-Suzuki Workers’ Union, to life imprisonment. The ferocity of the company management’s legal onslaught can be seen from the prosecution’s demand for the death penalty, even though the evidence presented […]

Normally, American Jewish leaders would expect to feel quite positive about a new US President apparently more friendly to Israel than his immediate predecessor. But Donald Trump’s actions since his inauguration seem to have thrown many of them into a panic. This is not entirely attributable to his antisemitic provocations, like his statement on Holocaust […]

By Katie Pelikanou On February 28 representatives from the European Union, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund arrived in Athens to discuss terms for a fourth bailout package for the Greek government. These negotiations had initially stalled, with the IMF dubious about Greece’s ability to achieve a ‘sustainable’ fiscal surplus, givent that the […]

Donald Trump’s presidency has galvanised opposition. But turning resistance into victories will not be easy. Republicans control both houses of Congress, the Presidency and hardline conservatives will undoubtedly soon control the Supreme Court. At a state level they hold power in 32 state legislatures plus 33 governorships, covering 61 per cent of the U.S. population. […]

Brexit will have enormous political and economic ramifications on both Northern Ireland and the Republic. Since the EU referendum, for example, Irish food and drink exports to the UK have fallen by €570 million, according to the Republic of Ireland’s Bord Bia. Food and drink account for 41% of Ireland’s exports to the UK, while […]

ANYONE WHO doubted that Donald Trump’s arrival as 45th president of the United States heralded a major change in both the country’s internal and external relationships must surely have been forced to think again by his inaugural address and the barrage of executive orders issued in his first week. Many political commentators and leader writers who put their […]

By Marcus Halaby THE SIEGE of Aleppo has entered its final hours. A cold-blooded and methodical massacre awaits the defenders and civilians who could not or would not escape. With the fall of Aleppo, a similar fate is being prepared for the remaining areas of the country not yet subjugated by the regime’s militias. Moscow and Damascus are […]

WHEN PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump selects one of the most notorious climate sceptics, Scott Pruit, to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) you know the planet is in trouble. Pruitt, is part of the team waging a legal action by 28 states against the EPA to halt Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, an attempt to […]

DONALD TRUMP’S election on 8 November was welcomed in Moscow and Damascus. It was taken as the green light to wipe out what remains of the resistance to the rule of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A final, unremitting offensive was launched on the remaining rebel-held eastern portion of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. As before, this […]

ON 8 NOVEMBER Donald Trump rode a wave of anti-establishment anger to become the 45th president of the United States in the bitterest campaign of modern times. Trump used blatant distortions and outright lies to convince voters that only he was telling things as they are, only he recognised the sufferings of ordinary Americans, only […]

By Marc Lassalle, originally published in our international magazine fifthinternational.org Italian voters have rejected premier Matteo Renzi’s proposed amendments to the constitution with an impressive 59 percent in the referendum sponsored by his government. Last night, a small spontaneous demo by the Cobas teachers’ union formed outside the PM’s official residence, Palazzo Chigi, cheering the […]

Republished from our international magazine fifthinternational.org By Dave Stockton FIDEL CASTRO, one of the leaders of the Cuban revolution, has died aged 90. He will be mourned by millions especially in the majority of the world still exploited by US and European imperialism with its banks, monopolies, wars and occupations. His death will be celebrated […]

Red Flag supports this solidarity statement published by the communist youth group, REVOLUTION. Also available in Portuguese. The members of REVOLUTION, an international communist youth organisation, express our full solidarity with the school and university students  protesting against the austerity policy of the Brazilian government. The occupation of over 1000 schools and some 100 universities is […]

This article from a socialist activist in Brazil is republished from www.fifthinternational.org By Eloy Nogueira After the initiation of the impeachment process against President Dilma Roussef of the Workers’ Party, PT, by the House of Representatives on 17 April 2016 and its confirmation by the Senate, which then suspended the President for 180 days, the […]

BRITAIN’S DEFENCE Secretary Michael Fallon recently said that NATO “is waking up to the challenge of Kremlin aggression and could confront Vladimir Putin’s forces in a showdown” within two years. Fallon assured MPs that former general Sir Richard Sherriff’s prediction of war with Russia in 2017 was “too extreme”. So that’s alright then. These comments […]

AFTER TEN months of political wrangling and two inconclusive elections, Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party (PP) has secured the support of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) to form a minority government. In a warning to PSOE MPs whose abstentions broke the deadlock, Rajoy said his government would be one “that can govern, not a government that […]

ON 8 OCTOBER, two bombs dropped by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen hit a funeral hall in the capital Sana’a while it was packed with mourners, killing more than 140 people and wounding about 500 more. Saudi officials at first denied that the airstrike ever took place, only later accepting responsibility while claiming it was […]

SOUTH AFRICA’S student movement has closed down many of the country’s universities for nearly a month now in their campaign to abolish fees. In one of the world’s most unequal societies, the battle encapsulates the frustrations and anger of the vast majority of black people, who still face poverty, unemployment and exclusion, despite the fall […]

By Svenja S At least a dozen Kurdish officials, including senior members of the opposition HDP party have been arrested in midnight raids on the pretext of supporting Kurdish insurgents. The arrests mark an escalation in a crackdown on democratic rights pursued by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) over the last 14 […]