International Viewpoint

While some economists claim that the world economy is heading towards long-term stagnation, others claim that what we are seeing is a short cycle. Analysts of the world economy are divided between those who foresee a recession and those who think it is just a question of controlling a slowdown. There is a another, underlying, debate: are we seeing long-term stagnation or are the conditions of a new wave of expansion already foreshadowed?

Dear comrades, we regret to report on the passing away on June 3, of comrade Maria José Maranhão. Brazilian anti-fascist, internationalist, trotskyist, revolutionary socialist, she was also a feminist, a social and labor activist, a geographer, university teacher and academic. "Zé" Maranhão graduated in Geography in the University of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1970.

China's rapid rise as a new center of capital accumulation has increasingly brought it into conflict with the United States. The ISR's Ashley Smith interviewed activist and scholar Au Loong Yu about the nature of China's emergence as a new imperial power and what it means for the world system.

Even if the European Union has managed to contain the banking crisis for the moment and maintains an annual growth rate of 2%, this has been achieved at the cost of maintaining a high overall debt level of 86%, which serves as a basis for structural adjustment plans in several countries. These policies which attack social protection systems and labour regulations have further widened the gap in wages and living conditions across the Union for the working classes. Many countries in the South and East of the EU have seen a real exodus of their youth over the past 10 years.

The fight to define Europe's future is polarizing between the far right and the liberal center. But the Left can't win by taking sides in a culture war: it needs its own project to challenge the neoliberal consensus in Brussels.

Mahmoud Rechidi is the general secretary of the Parti socialiste des travailleurs (PST – Socialist Workers' Party, Algerian section of the Fourth International). He was interviewed on April 18, 2019 by Mohand Aziri and this interview was first published on May 4, 2019 [in the daily newspaper El Watan.

A general strike has brought Khartoum and all major cities and ports in Sudan to a standstill in response to a deadly rampage by pro-regime militias, the army and security forces, Sudanese trade unionists and community leaders in the UK told a press conference yesterday. The Transitional Military Council, which seized power after a popular uprising forced dictator Omar el Bashir to step down, sent troops to attack a peaceful sit-in outside the Army General Command on Monday 3 June, killing at least 35 people according to reports from Sudan.

Hocine Belalloufi is a journalist and a member of the Parti socialiste des travailleurs (PST – Socialist Workers' Party, Algerian section of the Fourth International). This interview with fellow journalist Kamel Lakhdar-Chaouche was published in the Algerian daily newspaper l'Expression on April 17, 2019.

Sudanese military and militia forces are attacking the sit-in outside the Army Command in Khartoum, where thousands of protesters have gathered since 6 April to demand a peaceful transition to civilian rule, the Sudanese Professionals Association said in a statement this morning, killing and injuring many and setting tents on fire.

We, as feminists who uphold the peaceful resolution of conflict, stand in solidarity with the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) in their struggle for fundamental rights. We condemn the violence that took place on May 26th in the Khar Qamar area of North Waziristan in which 13 civilians were allegedly killed and 46 were injured as a result of army firing. According to the testimonies of eyewitnesses and video footage released on social media, the protesters were unarmed and were peacefully protesting the illegal detention of local residents.

On its 13th Friday of mobilization, the popular movement that Algeria has been witnessing since February 22, 2019 confirmed its serene and peaceful demand for a fundamental and radical change in the system of political governance. This demand is accompanied by questions of a theoretical and methodological order, until now forgotten and repressed by the Algerian political and intellectual universe. These questions range from legal processes to economic mechanisms, from sociological logic to historical dynamics, which affect the past and the future of the country. These are questions that do not have a mere academic value. They structure thought but also political practice.

The great Sudanese revolution has arrived at the crossroads reached by every revolution in the modern era. Are the masses simply removing the head of the regime, or tearing it up by its roots?

Ali Wazeer, MP, is a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. He lives in a province bordering Afghanistan. His family was decimated by the Taliban. Today he is one of the main leaders of the PTM, the Pashtun Defense Movement.

Yesterday was an explosive day at the national parliament. Bilawal Bhutto, son of Benazhir Bhutto who heads the Pakistan Peoples Party had written a two-page letter addressed to the speaker of the Assembly to order for the production of Ali Wazeer, from jail to the National Parliament on Friday. This is a normal practice. Any parliamentarian in jail has a right to attend the Assembly session.

The recent uprisings in Sudan and Algeria show that the conditions that gave rise to the Arab Spring are not going away. But movements against authoritarianism and exploitation still face existential threats.

In the morning of Sunday, May 26, 2019, the Pakistani army openend fire on people protesting against its brutal operations in the region bordering Afghanistan. Videos show unarmed, peaceful protesters cheering and chanting slogans when their leaders, Pakistan National Assembly members Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, arrived at the sit-in. Suddenly, shots are fired.

On 26 May 2019 a peaceful procession in the Waziristan region led by Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, both Members of National Assembly (MNAs), was fired upon by army men, leaving at least 13 dead and over forty injured in Waziristan region.

It has been a rather horrific couple of weeks for women's reproductive rights in the US. Convinced that they finally have the means to overturn both Roe vs Wade and Doe vs Bolton (1973) due to numbers on the Supreme Court, several pieces of legislation designed to undermine women's right to abortion have been passed in several states (e.g., Ohio, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Tennessee) by Republican dominated legislatures. Knowing that these bills are unconstitutional, they are hoping to get them to the Supreme Court in the hope of being the state whose legislation led to the overturn of both Roe and Doe.

Arrested parliamentarian Ali Wazir has become the top trend on Twitter a day after his arrest on 28th May 2019. Tens of thousands participated in the Twitter thread #WhereisAliWazir?

So May, with her cabinet falling to pieces around her and the 1922 Committee pulling the rug from underneath her, has at last accepted the inevitable and announced her resignation. She chose to do this as the Commons goes into recess and in advance of the European EU election results on Sunday that are going to be devastating for the Tories.