Imperialism & War
Grounds for optimism
03 Feb 2011
Israeli socialist Moshé Machover talks to Mark Fischer about the implications of the uprising in Egypt for the whole region
No longer a US problem
02 Sep 2021
Undoubtedly the region’s powers see opportunities with the Americans gone, but mostly they see dangers. Yassamine Mather looks at the prospects now that the Taliban are back in Kabul
Surviving against all the odds
12 Aug 2021
Why are the leaders of the Islamic Republic still looking so confident? The answer lies in the dismal failures of the global hegemon, argues Yassamine Mather
Reasons for Afghan debacles
12 Aug 2021
Daniel Lazare reviews: Rodric Braithwaite ‘Afgantsy: the Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89’ Oxford University Press, 2011, pp448, £10.28; Artemy M Kalinovsky ‘A long goodbye: the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan’ Harvard University Press, 2011, pp290, £22.95; Bruce Riedel ‘What we won: America’s secret war in Afghanistan, 1979-89’ Brookings, 2014, pp189, £17
Centrality of class independence
12 Aug 2021
Khomeini and the clergy completely outmanoeuvred the left. But it need not have been that way. In his second and concluding article on the role of oil workers in the 1979 revolution, Peyman Jafari stresses the complex nature of ideology and class consciousness
Unnatural disaster
05 Aug 2021
A combination of scorching heat, greed and a warmongering government has resulted in widespread fires. Esen Uslu reports from Turkey
Through a feminist filter
05 Aug 2021
Gaby Rubin reviews 'Ethel Rosenberg: a cold war tragedy' by Anne Sebba
Tears and yet more tears
05 Aug 2021
The more they blubber, writes Daniel Lazare, the more evident it becomes they have nothing to say
The Imam, the strikers and the black, black oil
05 Aug 2021
There are rich lessons for today in the experiences of the oil strikes of 1978. In the first of two articles Peyman Jafari charts the incredibly difficult struggle for organisation, hegemony and strategy
Contradictions intensify
29 Jul 2021
As Trump lays the ground for another presidential run, Republicans impose further restrictions on voting rights. Daniel Lazare sees a looming constitutional crisis
Anger finds open expression
29 Jul 2021
From Isfahan to Tabriz, Karaj to Tehran, the slogans are clear: ‘Death to the dictator’, ‘Shame on Khamenei’, ‘Hands off Iran’. Yassamine Mather reports on the upsurge of protests
Leopard and its spots
22 Jul 2021
With or without monopolies, the basis of capitalist exploitation remains the same, argues Michael Roberts
Into the light of hope
22 Jul 2021
Biggest oil and gas strike. A rebellion against neoliberalism. Economic and political demands combine. Ruben Markarian, of the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran, sees a historic turning point. This article is based on his July 18 Online Communist Forum talk
Looking back over the ruins
15 Jul 2021
The final withdrawal of American troops must be put in the context of the April 1978 revolution and the subsequent reaction. The USA and Saudi Arabia armed, financed and promoted a counterrevolution, which included Osama bin Laden and al Qa’eda and ended in the triumph of the Taliban. This is an edited version of an article written by Jack Conrad and first published in June 2003. Its main target is Sean Matgamna, patriarch of the social-imperialist Alliance for Workers’ Liberty. Nowadays, the AWL describes the Taliban as “Islamo-fascist”; back then, though, they were “our kind of people”
Another forced scuttle
15 Jul 2021
There have been lies and lies and yet more lies. Daniel Lazare savages what has been a comprehensive failure, from the ‘light footprint’ military model to the final humiliating pull-out
Our strike is spreading fast
15 Jul 2021
This statement, translated from Persian, gives an insight into the many challenges faced by the Council for Organising Protests by Oil Contract Workers in standing up to employers and the government