It is now nearly a year since the election of the Albanese Labor government. When the election was held and Labor won easily on the night, an enormous sigh of relief swept across the working-class suburbs of Australia. The defeated Liberal/National Party government was seen as a malignant force that brutalised the unemployed and crushed workers’ rights and wages.
The conservative Liberals won their lowest proportion of seats since their formation in 1946. They were thrown out of many of their blue-ribbon seats by a wave of independent candidates and even lost their Deputy Prime Minister, Josh Frydenberg, in this massacre. With the Liberals on the ropes the question workers are asking is can Labor fix the cost of living crisis?
Hundreds and thousands of farmers and members from different supporting organisations from different part of India are marching towards Delhi to stage an indefinite sit-in strike. The march 'Delhi Chalo' started on 26 November 2020 towards Delhi. Their major demands include the repealing of three Farmers Bills passed by Modi's government. Currently, farmers blocked five entry points to Delhi and paralysed the highway traffic to the city. It is reported that farmers partially besieged the city. Police and paramilitary forces brutally attacked the marching farmers with baton charge, tear gas and water cannons due to which many farmers were severely injured.
Image: Rosa PinedaAlan Woods comments on the uprising in the USA, which was sparked by the police murder of George Floyd, and has become the catalyst for an explosion of anger by the downtrodden in America that has sent shockwaves throughout the world. What is the way forward?
Over the last two years, more black Americans were killed by police than Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan over the last 18 years. More black Americans were killed by police in the last three years than people were killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Combine this with a devastating economic crisis and pandemic, and it is easy to understand why a tipping point has been reached, as the accumulated rage and humiliation of centuries spills over onto the streets.
The following statement by the International Marxist Tendency explains how capitalism has utterly failed to deal with the coronavirus crisis, and is putting the lives of millions of people at risk. In such a situation, half measures and tinkering with the system are futile. Only drastic measures will suffice to avert the impending disaster.
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