5 November 2008

Collapse of US auto sales points to deep recession

By Jerry White, 5 November 2008

Sales of new vehicles in the US plummeted in October—falling 31.9 percent over a year ago—as consumers sharply reduced purchases of cars and trucks.

Spain: What the Garzon indictment states about the crimes of the Franco era

By Paul Mitchell, 5 November 2008

Judge Baltasar Garzon has launched an investigation into the thousands of mass graves of the victims of the Franco scattered across Spain. To date, not a single person has been prosecuted for the crimes committed under the dictatorship.

Three men convicted over 2002 Bali bombings set to be executed

By Patrick O’Connor, 5 November 2008

The imposition of the death penalty by the Indonesian government and judicial system is an act of state-sponsored murder that serves to promote backwardness and confusion and to obscure the real political issues involved in the Bali bombings.

Germany: SPD right wing sabotages change of government in Hesse

By Ulrich Rippert, 5 November 2008

A right-wing faction inside the SPD dashed the SPD state leader Andrea Ypsilanti's hopes of forming a new government the day before her planned election as Hesse prime minister.

The German Left Party in Hesse: open to the highest bidder

By Verena Nees, 5 November 2008

The Left Party has emerged as the firmest supporter of the Social Democratic Party in the German state of Hesse.

Thailand’s political crisis intensifies amid economic slowdown

By John Roberts, 5 November 2008

The political turmoil surrounding the Thai government is continuing unabated. Anti-government protesters remain entrenched at Government House in central Bangkok. Their leaders, backed by the country’s military chiefs and the monarchy, are demanding the resignation of the government.

Half of the Zimbabwe population faces starvation

By Barry Mason, 5 November 2008

Aid charities and the UN estimate that 5 million people in Zimbabwe face starvation.

New in German

US-Wahlen: Die Klassenfragen

Vom Politischen Komitee der Socialist Equality Party, 5. November 2008

Die wirkliche Grundlage der Politik der Vereinigten Staaten ist wie in jedem anderen Land nicht die Rasse oder Volkszugehörigkeit, sondern die Klasse.

New in French

Indications d’une récession profonde aux Etats-Unis, sur fond de licenciements s’étendant de la côte Ouest à la côte Est

Par Patrick O’Connor, 5 novembre 2008

Le patronat américain, tant dans le privé que le public, a annoncé des dizaines de licenciements de masse ces derniers jours. L’impact de la récession a commencé à s’étendre largement au-delà du secteur de l’implosion financière et des industries en difficulté telle l’automobile pour toucher l’économie en général.

L’opportunisme, ennemi du socialisme : Les leçons de deux réunions « de gauche » en Grande-Bretagne

Par Chris Marsden, 5 novembre 2008

Des conférences ayant eu lieu en Angleterre peuvent aider à comprendre les intérêts sociaux et la trajectoire politique droitière de formations similaires, telles la Ligue communiste révolutionnaire (LCR) en France et le Parti La Gauche en Allemagne.

Les origines et les implications de la crise financière : une analyse marxiste
Troisième partie

Par Bill Van Auken, 5 novembre 2008

Voici la troisième partie du discours qu’a prononcé mercredi dernier Bill Van Auken, le candidat vice-présidentiel du PES aux élections américaines, devant un auditoire de travailleurs et de jeunes à Montréal au Canada.

Perspective

The election of Barack Obama

5 November 2008

The election outcome is a massive repudiation of the Bush presidency, the Republican Party and nearly three decades of right-wing domination of American politics. It is a watershed election, one which reflects in the electoral framework the massive demographic, socio-economic and cultural shifts over the past quarter-century.

Earlier Perspectives »

Arts Review

Passchendaele: Politics by other means

By Lee Parsons, 5 November 2008

Paul Gross’s Passchendaele, distilled to its essence, is a glorification of military slaughter in the guise of honoring the fallen soldiers of the Canadian Corps in World War I.

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