Dr. Saibaba is a professor of English in Ram Lal Anand College of Delhi University and a democratic rights activist who has spoken for the rights of dalits, adivasis and oppressed masses for over twenty years and led a campaign against the state sponsored war codenamed Operation Green Hunt in Central India. He is also a man with 90% physical disability and moves in a wheelchair. Despite this, the Maharashtra Police has charged him under various sections of UAPA, declared him a “dreaded Maoist”, held him in the ‘anda’ cell of the Nagpur Central Prison for 14 months. During this time it has not been able to prove any of charges made against him. He was released on interim bail by the Bombay High Court in May 2015 on medical grounds as his health deteriorated rapidly inside jail, the … [read more]

1. After the 2013 Cyprus events, when the unanimous “no to the Memorandum” of the Cypriot parliament was turned to a “yes” into a week’s time under ECB’s threat of halting economic support, the violent reversal of the popular "no" at the referendum of July 5th into a "yes" by A. Tsipras comes as a confirmation that staying at the E/Z-EU directly counters democracy. The third memorandum signed by Syriza also demonstrates that even modest attempts to challenge austerity policy cannot stand in the E/Z-EU context. 2. The events on Cyprus and Greece are thus added to the long list of violations of the will of the peoples by Eurozone / EU and various governments. Characteristic instances in this respect are the bypassing of the rejection of the “euroconstitution” that the … [read more]

The basis of Popular Unity lies in the resistance of the Greek people, unprecedented in its persistence and numerical strength, particularly in the first two years of imposition of the memoranda. This struggle expressed generalized resistance to the strategic plan for imposing permanent austerity, the stripping of workers of every right, seizure of property, the dissolution of democracy, and the imposition of a regime of limited sovereignty. A mere month after the Greek people’s “oxi” in the referendum, the passage of the third memorandum has brought dramatic changes to the political landscape. The leadership group in the government that emerged from the elections of January 25 violated the very social contract that linked it to the popular majority, sowing disillusion and … [read more]

Ukraine launched a widespread campaign against dissidents. Leftists and communists are persecuted by the authorities and neo-Nazi militants. Thousands of people have already suffered from such repression. The regime is heating up the atmosphere of hatred and fear in the country, promoting denunciations and physical violence. Union Borotba calls on all concerned people to help spread information about the crimes of the Kiev regime, support the political prisoners, and demand that their governments end all support for the military action in Donbass and stop turning a blind eye to political repression in Ukraine. Please take a look at the attached .pdf file for detailed … [read more]

Since May of 2014, the Ukrainian authorities, as well as radical right-wing organizations, have repeatedly undertaken all manner of actions against the Vesti holding and its head Igor Igor Guzhva (the holding includes the newspaper, internet site and radio station of the same name, the magazine Reporter and the television channel UBR). On May 22, 2014, the activities of the editorial team of the Vesti newspaper (the largest daily newspaper in the country) were entirely locked down by personnel of the tax police on the pretext of a search being carried out. It should be noted that this happened two days before the presidential elections in Ukraine, despite the moratorium declared by the authorities on checks on the mass media. It was at this point that it became known that there was an … [read more]

A new statement and discussion document by the Revolutionary Socialists (RS) in Egypt has broken into the Egyptian mainstream media. This is highly unusual as critical voices challenging the official narrative of the “war on terror” rarely get a hearing. The statement and document call on the left opposed to the military dictatorship in Egypt to work alongside the young Islamist activists facing the brutal crackdown of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s military regime. They argue that seeing Islamist forces as “counter-revolutionary” is paralysing the left and playing into the hands of the regime. El-Sisi seized power in the coup of July 2013 in order to crush the revolutionary movement that began with the overthrow of dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011. El-Sisi has used … [read more]

We fully support the demand for the orderly disintegration of the eurozone. Also the reference to positions held in Germany against the bailouts with a tendency to social chauvinist undercurrents (which in difference to Fassina we believe do not prevail) is a correct democratic argument. "If you do not want us we are ready to go." The Euro establishment including dominant Berlin, however, will not accept this as they have no alternative to the eurozone. Eventually we do not want to preserve the EU (like Fassina does) as we believe that breaking with the Euro regimes going for a left Keynesian programme (which we see as the next step) will require the break with the EU altogether. We should not forget that the Maastricht treaty as the very foundation of the Euro regime is an outright … [read more]

See the respective report in the Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israel-Greece-sign-status-of-forces-agreement-409492 And Mondoweiss: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/07/greeces-syriza-military This hardly can be read as accidental: Although one could claim that Kammenos belongs to the small rightist coalition partner of Syriza, namely Anel, it is difficult to believe that such an important foreign policy decision could have been taken without the acknowledgement of the prime minister and the dominant coalition partner Syriza. This is all the more important as Syriza had vowed in its party programme to severe the relations with Israel. Also this promise together with Tsipras’s visits to Moscow seems to be part of the bluff which ended in the totally lost gamble. … [read more]

The tragic capitulation and decline of the Greek government, which is directly linked to the radical left, needs to generate alarms in all popular, democratic and left forces in Europe. A government that was elected to overturn austerity, agreed on the same or worse austerity measures, after 5 months of “negotiations”. A government that promised to return to the Greeks their dignity and lost popular sovereignty, accepted the ultimate humiliation, such as the dismissal of the Minister of Finance on the Eurogroup on 27/06/2015 and the international humiliation of the Prime Minister at the summit of the Eurozone countries ( 13/07/2015). The most humiliating part for the Greek people was the return of a much more severe and punitive version of the Juncker proposals, which had been … [read more]

The clear NO of 61% of Greek people against the blackmails of the Troika and especially the German government raised up hope of people all over Europe to stop the unsocial regime of cuts. The German „Left Party“ publicly supported the OXI on places and streets. The majority of our M.P.s will vote on Friday against a third loan-package and its neoliberal conditions. With her threats and financial terrorism Merkel speaks for the interests of banks and big companies, whom she wants to save with these credits, but not for the workers and unemployed, who have to pay the bills for it. The „Antikapitalistic Left“ supports your resistance against all attempts to reverse the results of the referendum or to bend the knees towards the blackmails of troika-institutions. We keep our … [read more]

Journalist [Mrs Xenakis]: Mr. Alavanos, you 'welcomed' the Brussels agreement with harsh characterizations. You spoke about “betrayal of the people. "Now, after some days, I would ask you if you insist in this very sharp thesis and why? Alavanos: In the referendum, the question was clear: Yes or No to the plan Juncker. And the message of the people was clear: a sweeping NO. A week after, the government signed the Tsipras Memorandum, which is much worse than the plan Juncker. Let's imagine something very similar: while, in the 1974 referendum, the people of Greece had voted against the king, a week after Konstantine returned not just as a constitutional king but as emperor. If this is not treason, then what is treason? J: Many say that what succeeded Mr. Tsipras was the best he … [read more]

In the 5th of July 2015 the huge majority of the Greek people (61%) rejected the insolent demands of the EU for the extension and deepening of the austerity and pro-capital restructuring policies in Greece. These demands were codified in the so-called Juncker Plan for Greece that set barbaric terms for the extension of the previous austerity program (the 2nd Economic Adjustment Program for Greece) in exchange for releasing much delayed tranches of the troika loans to Greece. These tranches were urgently needed for repaying instalments of previous loans by the troika. As I have argued in a previous note (‘The Greek referendum and the tasks of the Left’) SYRIZA was led unwillingly to call this referendum because of the failure of its unrealistic program for a ‘decent compromise’ … [read more]

But the shortcomings of Syriza’s leadership are obvious and endangering this possible popular victory. They have had nearly half a year to dissolve the widespread paradigm within the popular masses of being able to ending austerity while maintaining the Euro. All Greek attempts to pressurize Berlin into a “compromise with dignity” along the last months clearly taught that this is completely impossible. Instead of helping the people to understand the need of a rupture dissolving the impossible electoral mandate of January, instead of openly and convincingly preparing a plan B, Syriza keeps sticking to the contra factual idea that they can soften austerity within the Euro regime. They presented the referendum as nothing more than the last bargaining chip to threaten the troika into … [read more]

For six months, after its January 2015 election victory, the SYRIZA government began negotiations with the EU. In these negotiations SYRIZA was confronted with the stubborn and increasing intransigence of EU and its companion institutions (the ECB and the IMF). SYRIZA very soon accepted the logic and the structure of the troika program; that is the Economic Adjustment Program for Greece popularly called the Memorandum. It simply tried to modify it by making it less front-loaded (i.e. delaying the implementation of reductions in pensions and hidden wage cuts, reducing fiscal primary surplus targets and thus making fiscal policy less austere). It also asked for facilitating debt servicing (by rolling back debt, leveraging and ‘financial engineering’) and an increase in aid funds … [read more]

The NO vote will be a vote for confrontation with the EU and not for a renegotiation with it. The delegations and the participants of the Athens anti-EU Forum call for a massive popular NO to old and new memoranda, to unemployment, to austerity, to the infringement of social and political rights, to the abolition of national sovereignty, a NO to debt, to euro and the EU! They call for a common front of struggle of all the popular and democratic forces for a victory of the NO vote. The breakdown of the negotiations of Greece and the EU prove beyond doubt the true nature of the EU and its companion institutions (the ECB and the IMF): They represent the interests of capitalists and bankers. They impose neoliberal policies. They undermine democracy. They suppress popular and national … [read more]

1. Seven years since the outburst of the financial crisis, we see the European Union becoming even more reactionary, anti-popular and neoliberal. Austerity is the pan-european recipe, and no-one is allowed to question it. The most anti-popular policies are today inscribed in the EU flag and the euro-constitution. This is not just a coincidental direction. Neoliberalism, austerity, the cancellation of social rights, the degradation of the world of work are deeply inscribed in the nature of EU. European Union was at the center of the global crisis and it proved once again that it cannot change, be reformed or be improved. On the contrary, the member states of EU are imposing increasingly harsher policies for the social majority, and increasingly favorable policies for the banks, the large … [read more]

After the arrest, he was charged with assault on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, becoming another political prisoner. Alexander Bondarchuk had participated in the struggle against NATO, were protesting against the rehabilitation of Ukrainian supporters of Hitler, and that this activity was the main reason for his arrest. Alexander Bondarchuk also headed the All-Ukrainian Union of workers – the trade Union that fought for workers' rights in Ukraine. The arrest of Alexander Bondarchuk is a striking confirmation of the existence of political repression in Ukraine. Pavel Zotov, Leo. Informational bureau and the coordination council of the Union of political emigrants and political prisoners from Ukraine. Committee for Kharkov liberation (K-27) Odessa Committee for … [read more]

Tetiana Montian, lawyer from Kiev Oleksandr Smyekalin, unionist from Donetsk Alexej Klutschewsky, Russian social scientist residing in Vienna Presiding: Leo Gabriel, journalist and peace activist Organisers: Austrian Committee for Peace in Ukraine, Institute for Intercultural Research and … [read more]

Left and EU in Greece and an historic challenge From 2010, when Greece entered the Memorandum and the Troika surveillance, the historical problem of the Greek left has become obvious. The Greek Left had to encounter with a 40 years old option of the Greek bourgeois class. When the then Prime Minister Papandreou, who signed the country’s surrender to Troika ,raised the (real) question- memorandum or bankruptcy and leaving the euro, the Greek left gave misleading answers. The Communist Party declared that the true dilemma was whether the working class would socialize the monopolies. SYRIZA didn’t recognize the debt and supported that the problem was the redistribution of wealth and ANTARSYA called for demonstrations and protests against the unpopular measures. No one chose to … [read more]

1. It is quite clear that Greece moves quickly towards a third Memorandum agreement. It became clear through the joint statement of Juncker and Tsipras and it is constantly confirmed by the flow of the news. It makes no real difference if it will be called “Memorandum of Understanding” or some other name, the same way the rename of “Troika” to “Institutions” proved to be totally unimportant, except of an element of ridiculousness and deception that are being added to the whole process. 2. The main body of the Troika policy up to date is still being implemented by the government of SYRIZA-ANEL, on the basis of the already existing agreements of New Democracy and PASOK: a fiscal policy of strict discipline, surplus budgets, restrictions in social spending, austerity, a … [read more]