President Alexander Lukashenko, “Europe’s last dictator,” has ruled Belarus for 26 years. His time may be up, as hundreds of thousands of protesters have filled the streets of the capital, Minsk.
Gerry Emmett
World in view: Beirut devastation
August 28, 2020A massive explosion at the port of Beirut, Lebanon, devastated the city. It turns out that everyone knew the danger but the people of Beirut.
World in View: World economy falls
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time on record all sections of the world economy are expected to contract in 2020.
World in View: Remembering ruth weiss (1928-2020)
One of the great originals, poet ruth weiss touched many bases, expressing the underlying humanism of a generation of great artists.
Editorial: Yemen: A voice that must be heard
The regional war devastating Yemen is a counter-revolution against its Arab Spring revolution and its humanism.
World in view, July-August 2020: COVID-19: U.S. nursing home genocide
July 1, 2020Residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities–0.6% of the population–have made up an estimated 43% of U.S. deaths from COVID-19. In any other situation these numbers would raise the specter of genocide.
World in view, July-August 2020: Syria’s problem is Assad, not sanctions
The lie of a Syrian “renaissance” has disappeared and discontent manifested even in regime-controlled areas. Assad blames U.S. sanctions, but the problem isn’t sanctions. It’s genocide.
World in view, July-August 2020: Asian brinksmanship
Two flashpoints in Asia between North and South Korea and between India and China erupted in threats and deadly clashes.
World in view, July-August 2020: Memmi’s century
The great Tunisian-Jewish French writer Albert Memmi passed away May 20. Memmi’s complex identity registered the tensions of his century.
El COVID-19 evidencia la crisis del capitalismo, muestra la urgencia de una nueva sociedad humana
March 24, 2020Más allá de la mayor o menor eficacia de la respuesta de uno u otro gobierno ante la pandemia, es el capitalismo en su conjunto el que muestra su incapacidad para darle solución a los problemas que amenazan la vida humana.
COVID-19 manifests the crisis of capitalism, shows the urgency of a new human society
Beyond the greater or lesser effectiveness of the response of one or the other government to the pandemic, it is capitalism as a whole that shows its inability to solve the problems that threaten human life.
Readers’ views, March-April 2020: Part one
March 17, 2020Readers’ views on climate struggles; labor struggles; racist politics; election contradictions; Modi’s Kristallnacht?; anti-abortion terror; rewriting history; and women and culture.
World in view: In Syria, righteous hours expose evil years
Free Syrians continue to fight the regime and Russia, and regime supporters keep pressing for genocide. They cannot coexist.
World in view: Notes on a pandemic
Every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic can be expected to highlight the class nature of society. The more important thing to remember is human solidarity.
World in view: France, Ireland, & ‘the idea of Europe’
March 11, 2020With Brexit, the rise of the far right, Macron’s vacuous French nationalism, and Sinn Fein’s victory in Irish elections, the “idea of Europe” is under great strain.
COVID-19: A world-historic threat
March 7, 2020Gerry Emmett analyzes the meaning of the current coronavirus pandemic from the point of view of what Karl Marx called humanity’s metabolism with nature, which formed the basis of his critique of capitalism.
World in view: South Africa cuts
March 6, 2020South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa plans to cut the wages of public sector workers. He has come to represent the contradictions of post-apartheid society.
World in View: Putin after Putin?
January 21, 2020Russian President Vladimir Putin is laying the groundwork for his own continued hold on state power.
World in View: Reactionary Brexit
The Dec. 12 general elections in Britain were a victory for world reaction, reinforcing the racist 2016 vote to leave the European Union.
World in View: Mass protest challenges India’s Modi
Massive protests in India met the Citizenship Amendment Act, which introduces religious qualifications for immigrants to become citizens and excludes Muslims.
World in View: Revolution and genocide in Idlib, Syria
If there are any two realities that absolutely compel human solidarity, it is the two that are manifest in Syria today—revolution, the human struggle for freedom against oppression—and genocide, the absolute negation of humanity.
Editorial: The death of counter-revolutionary Qassem Soleimani
The death of counter-revolutionary Qassem Soleimani, together with Donald Trump’s war moves, illuminate this changed world.
World in View: Trump doctrine for a changed world
November 4, 2019Trump’s Oct. 23 speech on Syria lays out his counter-revolutionary vision of a changed world including his intention to reorient the U.S.’s PYD allies in line with world capitalism.
World in view: Pacific trafficking
Gerry Emmett denounces the assassination of U.S. human rights lawyer Rachelle Bergeron and its connection with human trafficking from the Pacific to U.S.
Editorial: The Arab Spring is ongoing
Uprisings from Egypt to Iraq, Lebanon to Sudan, give the lie to the bourgeoisie’s illusions and reveal the widespread desire, shared across the region, for a new, human society.
World in view: Puerto Ricans stand up for dignity
September 2, 2019Gerry Emmett writes on the history leading to the recent uprising in Puerto Rico, which forced governor Ricardo Rosselló to resign.
World in View: Sudan and Syria test revolutionaries
Gerry Emmett writes on the crossroads reached by the Sudanese Revolution, with the accord between the revolutionary Forces for Freedom and Change and the genocidal Transitional Military Council signed on Aug. 4. He sees a parallel between the Left’s response to the Sudanese Revolution and the Syrian Revolution.
World in View: The many implications of Jeffrey Epstein
Gerry Emmett dives into the Jeffrey Epstein affair, and sees a larger story about the decadent state of capitalist society.
Protests in Russia
Report on the increase of large protests and mass unrest in Russia caused by economic conditions, reports of slave labor and the government’s refusal to allow opposition candidates on the ballot for Moscow city council elections.
Editorial: Kashmir in our changed world
August 31, 2019Statement against the abrogation of the limited autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir in India by the Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) government of Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party.
Readers’ Views, July-August 2019: Part 1
June 27, 2019Readers’ Views on rising threat of the Right; corruption of the criminal injustice system; abortion bans attack women; support Maâti Monjib!; nursing home blues; why read ‘N&L?’; and support Crimean Tatars!
All power to the Sudanese revolutionaries!
The Sudanese Revolution demonstrated its depth, maturity and resilience as masses once again took to the streets following the June 3 massacre of protesters in Khartoum.
World in View: A tale of two democracies in crisis
June 26, 2019Elections in India and the European Union show the deep crisis in bourgeois society.
Trump plays with fire in his ‘golden era’
Donald Trump’s threats to Iran analyzed in light of his use of capitalism’s lifeblood commodity, oil, and the continuity and discontinuity of U.S. imperialism.
Algerians in revolt
The creative presence of women, youth, workers and national minorities in the Algerian freedom movement promises much for the future.
World in View: Science in Venezuela
May 9, 2019Under the regime of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, scientific institutions are falling apart.
Readers’ Views: May-June 2019
May 6, 2019Readers’ Views on: Socialism and a philosophy of revolution; Sudan in revolt; Iran vs. Iranians; Flint, Mich., play captures voices; Notre-Dame and fracking on native land; gun control debate; labor strikes; debate on fascism; Trump and DeVos; and voices from behind bars.
World in View: Samir Flores murder
Thousands marched in Mexico City, Feb. 22, to protest the murder of journalist and environmental activist Samir Flores Soberanes. He had been shot twice, execution style, on Feb. 20, at his home.
World in View: The genius of the Sudanese revolution
The brilliant Sudanese revolution is another in a line of rebellions against reactionary rule.
World in View: East Africa unity?
May 3, 2019Exploitative Chinese capital investment is what the East African Community economic zone has in common–a betrayal of their anthem “Jumiya Yetu,” which speaks of community.
World in View: Fascist massacre in New Zealand
Fascist mass murderer and terrorist who murdered New Zealand worshippers embodies today’s very dangerous ideological confusion, calling for genocide while also calling for workers’ rights and environmentalism.
World in View: European Union elections: mixed signals
Elections to the European Parliament will be held in late May and will be a measure of the strength of the far right, racist anti-immigrant parties that have been gaining political power on the continent.
World in View: Rise of Far Right threatens ‘Europe’
March 13, 2019The Far Right threatens to make significant gains in the European Parliament elections this May. What inheres within the “idea of Europe” that can destroy fascism as idea and reality is the humanism that became its internal critique, Marx’s humanism.
World in View: Trump-Kim summit
The second summit meeting between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, in Hanoi on Feb. 27, ended without any new agreement. But it achieved what it aimed for as theater.
World in View: Haitians rise up against corruption
Haitians took to the streets Feb. 7 against a long-simmering background of anger at government corruption.
World in View: Netanyahu’s peril
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allied with the fascist Jewish Strength party, disciples of Meir Kahane. This alliance has crossed a line for many former supporters.
World in View: Prisoners of Rukban
In the Rukban camp along the Jordan/Syria border, at least 41,000 displaced Syrians, including women and children, are suffering the ravages of winter weather, hunger, lack of medicine, and the terror of being threatened by the forces of the genocidal Bashar al-Assad regime.
Readers’ Views: March-April 2019, Part 1
March 11, 2019Readers’ Views on: workers strike back, genocide and Facebook, Mauritius victory, Syrian Revolution under fire, “55 Steps,” debating yellow vests, women’s struggles, and why read News & Letters.
Essay: What is Socialism? Socialism and a philosophy of revolution
March 10, 2019What is socialism? From Left to Right, this question is becoming central to political discussion. For me, it raises another question, too: What is philosophy? This is where I will begin, with the young Karl Marx.
What Is Socialism? Socialism and Philosophy
March 3, 2019This is the first in a series of four presentations on “What is Socialism?” Shorter versions will be published in News & Letters. The second essay is “Socialism, labor and the Black dimension”; the third is “Socialism and ecology”; and the last is “Socialism and Women’s Liberation.”