Artikelen van International Viewpoint

Weaponising Gender: How gender became the perfect scapegoat for far-right and authoritarian actors

1 month ago

Anti-gender mobilisation has become a defining feature of far-right movements since around 2015; and is now a tactic widely adopted by authoritarian governments across the political spectrum. From overturning abortion rights in the United States (US) to rescinding protection against domestic violence in Türkiye, institutions that defend women's rights are being systematically dismantled. These patterns align with a global decline in democracy, with over 75% of the world's population now living under restricted freedom. The correlation is not coincidental. As democratic institutions weaken, attacks on gender-based rights accelerate the decline and provide a roadmap for it.

- Sexual politics / Women, Far Right, Sexual politics, Features
Aminah Jasho, Esme Abbott, Julisa Tambunan

Mobilization on 21 March against colonialism

1 month 1 week ago

For several months, the French government has been trying to impose on Kanaky an exit from the framework of the Nouméa Accords, by calling into question the decolonization process, even though it is recognized by the UN. The so-called “Bougival Agreement”, imposed in July 2025 against the advice of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), provides for the creation of a “state” of Kanaky-New Caledonia integrated into the French republic. A formula that in no way corresponds to independence.

- IVP614 - March 2026 / France, Kanaky
An Gwesped

Cesar Chavez, Civil Rights and Labor icon, raped girls and women

1 month 1 week ago

Cesar Chavez, who in the 1960s led the struggles of Mexican Americans for civil rights and of farmworkers for labor unions, was accused in a carefully researched New York Times article of having raped women and sexually abused girls as young as 13. Among those women was Dolores Huerta, herself a founder and leader of the union, who confirmed that he forced himself on her and fathered two of her children, secretly raised by others. Debra Rojas reported that Chavez had had intercourse with her when she was 15, which is rape under state law because she was too young to give legal consent.

- IVP614 - March 2026 / United States (USA)
Dan La Botz

Italy: The stakes of the March referendum on justice

1 month 1 week ago

In Italy, prime minister Giorgia Meloni's government is continuing its authoritarian offensive with a reform of the judiciary that threatens the independence of the judiciary. The referendum on 22 and 23 March is a central political issue. After the “security” decree, the reform of the judiciary is another important link in the authoritarian project promoted by Meloni's government. By changing the methods of electing members of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary (CSM), the latter threatens the independence of this body and limits its ability to act as a counter-power to the political and economic systems. The victory of the “No” vote in the referendum on 22 and 23 March is an important opportunity to destabilise Meloni's coalition and to solidify the political and social opposition camp.

- IVP614 - March 2026 / Italy
Hélène Marra

The Iranian nuclear bomb: a devastating boomerang

1 month 2 weeks ago

In the aftermath of January 2026's crackdown, voices within and close to the Islamic Republic renewed calls for Iran to complete a nuclear deterrent, claiming the bomb would have prevented the current existential crisis. Houshang Sepehr, exiled Iranian Marxist and editor of Solidarité Socialiste avec les Travailleurs en Iran, challenges this on structural grounds. Drawing on the cases of India, Pakistan, and North Korea, he argues that nuclear deterrence only functions within security architectures backed by a great power patron --- a guarantee Iran never had. Neither Russia nor China was willing to absorb the risks of a nuclearised Islamic Republic contesting US hegemony. The bomb, he concludes, would have deepened Iran's isolation rather than protecting it.

- IVP614 - March 2026 / Iran
Houshang Sepehr

The American People and the U.S.-Israeli War on Iran

1 month 2 weeks ago

As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran goes into its third week, the people of the United States are still figuring out what they think about the conflict. Since the war began, most polls show a majority of Americans disapprove of the war, something unseen in modern American history. A majority of Americans approved of World War II, the Korean War, and initially of the Vietnam War. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2000—the American government, anxious for revenge—was backed by huge majorities when it made war on Afghanistan in 2001. When in 2003 the George W. Bush administration wanted to make war on Iraq, it fabricated false evidence that Saddam Hussein had nuclear and biological weapons of mass destruction, and, bamboozled by Bush, nearly three-quarters of the American people supported the war.

- IVP614 - March 2026 / United States (USA)
Dan La Botz

“A united and militant movement can prevent the RN from winning”

1 month 2 weeks ago

The first round of the French local elections will take place on Sunday 15 March, the second on 22 March. There is a real possibility that the “traditional” right, which is increasingly radicalizing in a far right direction, will win in Paris, under Socialist Party government since 1995, and that the Rassemblement National could win in France's second, and very multi-racial, city, Marseilles.

- IVP614 - March 2026 / France, Far Right
Ugo Palheta
Gecontroleerd
1 hour 18 minutes ago
International Viewpoint
International Viewpoint, the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International, is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.
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