Americas

Over the last few years, the class struggle in Québec has passed several milestones that had not been approached in the previous 30 years. The Parti Québecois, camouflaging their programme in nationalist rhetoric, pursued austerity measures and anti-worker policies for years. Despite the claims of the bourgeois media, the defeat of the PQ in 2003 was a reaction to its attacks on the working class rather than a rejection of separatism, or a victory of federalist policies. The issues that brought down the PQ remained unaddressed by the Liberal administration under Charest, and a renewed wave of reactionary policies were savagely affected a few short months after its election. Without the

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Without any doubt, today will be an unforgettable day for the brand-new INVEVAL (ex-CNV) workers. It was a day that started very early when the workers and their guests gathered at the factory awaiting the buses which would take us to the Miraflores Palace. As we waited we joked and drank coffee.

More than 1.2 million people took to the streets of Mexico City on Sunday April 24 in the so-called “March of Silence” to protest against the politically motivated case against Mexico City’s mayor, Lopez Obrador. The attacks against him have backfired on Vincente Fox and the Mexican ruling class, and the balance of forces is now tipped heavily in favour of Lopez Obrador and the mass movement.

The continuing revelations of the Gomery inquiry have unearthed the corruption in Canada’s “democratic” system. Canadians are getting sick of stories of government money being used for kickbacks to the Federal Liberal party. However, the collapse in support for the Liberals has not resulted in any major enthusiasm for the opposition Conservatives. The common opinion is that all politicians are corrupt. This reflects the crowing crisis in the ability of the capitalist parties to rule. Such swindles are seen as a cost of doing business under the present political system. Canadian voters are wishing a plague on both the Liberal and Conservative Houses. If the NDP is going to avoid being

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Judicial authorities have issued threats to imprison the workers and militants occupying the Cipla and Interfibra factories in the city Joinville (state of Santa Catarina, in the south of Brazil). We publish below the press release that was issued by the Factory Council of Cipla/Interfibra, for the information of all labour organisations, as well as workers and labour activists.

Once again the masses in Ecuador have risen up. As we predicted, the President, Lucio Gutierrez, has been overthrown by mass opposition. Before him Bucaram and Noboa were chased out of power by revolutionary uprisings of the masses. The pressure of the masses is unstoppable and reflects the revolutionary developments unfolding across the whole of Latin America.

Québec is in crisis and has just witnessed the largest student strike in 30 years. What is needed now is an honest appraisal of the objective failures and successes of the strike, and a sober discussion of how to build from the current situation in preparation for future battles.

On the same day that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador officially announced his intention to run for the presidency in front of some 500,000 supporters, he was also stripped of his political immunity, and could face trial over charges for ignoring a court order to stop building a road to a hospital. If the case against him is not resolved before the middle of January 2006, he will be ineligible to run in the campaign next year.

We are making available an article by Ted Grant on the Argentine Revolution first published in July 1973. As he predicted back then, “The capitalists having clutched the straw of Peronism, will turn to the stick of the generals once again.” This unfortunately is what happened a few years later with another military coup. Today’s activists must study the mistakes of the movement in the past in order not to repeat them today. By Ted Grant (July 13, 1973)

The political situation in Mexico is heating up. The anger of the masses has been aroused by the political interference of the United States in the internal affairs of the country and that anger is threatening to boil over into an all out social explosion. The most popular candidate in all polls for next year’s presidential election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), has not even officially announced his intention to run as PRD candidate for the presidency, and US imperialism and Mexico ’s ruling class are already trying to block him from running for office.

Eight months into their minority government, the federal Liberals have tabled a budget that serves one main aim – survival. Their right-leaning budget aims to please everybody, or more accurately in typical Canadian fashion attempts to offend nobody, and in so doing shows the weakness of Canadian Liberalism.

Last year, the Toronto District School Board debated whether to start collecting data based on students’ race. Now, a professor is suggesting that Toronto experiment with “black focused” schools in order to halt “the problem of black youth disengagement from school.”

In presenting his Administration’s proposed budget, President Bush has shown the real face of his “compassionate conservatism” – guns before butter.

Once again the workers of Québec are pointing the way forward for the rest of Canada. From over 100,000 taking to the streets of Montréal on May Day to the occupation of an Alcan smelting plant north of Montréal, now Québec has become the first place in North America in which a Wal-Mart store has unionized.