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Created: Friday, 15 February 2019 16:22

Written by Toby Harbertson

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 268 February/March 2019

In November 2018, the US government announced it was considering designating the Ansar Allah coalition in Yemen – commonly known as the Houthis – as a terrorist group. Imperialist politicians and much of the bourgeois media uncritically follow this approach of seeking to present the Houthi-led opposition as the villains in the ongoing war in Yemen. Accusations that the Houthis are Iranian proxies and that they are being armed by Iran are parroted in line with the foreign policy objectives of the brutal Saudi-led coalition which has been making war on Yemen since 2015. However, the truth is that the Houthi-led movement is a broadly-backed resistance movement fighting for national sovereignty against attempts by Saudi Arabia and its regional and imperialist backers to loot, plunder and subdue Yemen.

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Created: Tuesday, 05 February 2019 17:25

Written by Tom Vickers

Resistance by low-paid and precarious workers has forced working conditions onto the political agenda – from couriers with Deliveroo and UberEats, to hospitality workers employed by McDonalds, Wetherspoons, and TGI Fridays, to private hire drivers with Uber, a series of high profile strikes have taken place in recent years. Forced to at least acknowledge the issue, in December 2018 the government published a Good Work Plan, claiming to ‘not only maintain workers’ rights as the UK leaves the EU, but enhance them’. Unsurprisingly, the Plan offers low-paid and precarious workers nothing of substance. Serious action to improve pay and condition would threaten the profits of companies that rely on super-exploited labour. For real solutions workers can only rely on their own independent action.

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Created: Thursday, 31 January 2019 16:41

Written by Sam Mcgill

The brazen attempt to overthrow Nicolas Maduro and the United Socialist Party in Venezuela intensifies. The US has now imposed an oil embargo, with the Treasury Department declaring all PDVSA assets under US jurisdiction blocked and US citizens and companies prohibited from engaging in transactions. Steve Mnuchin, Treasury secretary, indicated they will use all economic and diplomatic tools to support opposition leader Juan Guaido, who illegitimately swore himself in as president on 23 January.  National security advisor John Bolton coldly calculated the move would cost Venezuela $11bn in exports in addition to $7bn of frozen assets. The Bank of England has reiterated its refusal to release $1.3bn of Venezuelan gold to the PSUV government. Instead, Guaido has written to Theresa May requesting the gold to be released to him.

This is economic warfare, designed to suffocate the Bolivarian revolution, cutting off access to food, medicine and basic goods for the majority.  Despite such heavy blows, the Bolivarian revolutionaries refuse to accept defeat. The armed forces remain loyal to the legacy of Hugo Chavez, the Bolivarian militias have been mobilising to defend against civil war and foreign intervention whilst the Bolivar and Zamora revolutionary current promote popular defence brigades ‘as a contribution for the social territorial organisation in the defence against fascism and imperialism’.  

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Created: Friday, 30 November 2018 13:30

Written by David Yaffe

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 267 December 2018/January 2019

After months of negotiations, with further concessions having to be made by the British government, Prime Minister Theresa May was able, finally, to announce on 14 November 2018 that all aspects of the withdrawal (transitional) deal – including settling accounts, citizenship, and the Irish border – had now been finalised and agreed at negotiator level. This agreement is essential if the UK is to retain the benefits of the single market and customs union for a further 21 months after leaving the EU on 29 March 2019. The transitional period itself, however, depends on the withdrawal deal being agreed and ratified by both the UK and EU parliaments. The negotiators have also agreed on the outline of a political declaration on the future UK-EU relationship. DAVID YAFFE reports.

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