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On the Hideous Whiteness Of Brexit

First published on Versobooks’ blog, we have included here a part of Dr. Akwugo Emejulu’s contribution to the debate on Brexit. Despite vociferous claims to the contrary, Brexit really is about race—but not in ways we might expect. In this seemingly ‘post-race’ era, Brexit shows us how whiteness, as a power relation, operates in ways […]

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The European Left, Social Democracy, and the Way Ahead

When locating the key differences between the political left in the European West and the political Left[1] in the European East, an element of key importance appears to be something external to the Left itself. Namely, the politics and identities of the Western Left have long been shaped by a force external to it: Social […]

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Making sense of the Brexit tide of reaction and the reality of the racist vote

Source: Workers Solidarity Movement, Ireland Words: Andrew Flood Illustrative head image: Collage of photos posted by diamond geezer ‏@diamondgeezer and daniel watson ‏@DWxLW in the days after Brexit.         The Leave / Brexit vote in the referendum came in the end as a surprise, a narrow win for Remain was expected. This […]

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Spanish elections 2016: Has the Podemos-strategy run into it’s limitations?

1. Polls predicted that Unidos Podemos would finish ahead of the social democrats of PSOE, and that these two parties would muster a majority against the parties of the right. This did not happen, and Unidos Podemos in fact lost votes compared to the December 2015 results of the two parties that make up UP […]

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“An anti-capitalist perspective, […] requires a breach with the EU” – Interview with Kevin Ovenden

While at the Marx is’ Muss Congress 2016, Pavle Ilic and Anja Ilic (Marks21, Serbia) interviewed Kevin Ovenden, a British activist and publicist, active on both the British and the Greek political scenes. One of the most important voices of the British left, Kevin has recently written a book on Syriza, entitled “Syriza: Inside the […]

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Looking Back at 1917 from the Post-Soviet Period

Simon Pirani is a socialist writer and historian. His books include The Russian Revolution in Retreat 1920-24: Soviet workers and the new communist elite (Routledge 2008). This article is based on a paper he delivered at a conference on “Twenty Five Years After the USSR” at the German Historical Institute, Moscow, 10 June 2016.   […]

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The “Gypsies'” Tortuous Journey

This article appeared first in French, in La Révolution Permanente (parts I, II , and III), to be later translated by Thabitha Kotravaï for Left Voice. The New York Times reports that France has become one of the most hostile European countries for the Roma. In 2013, there were 19,000 forced removals of Roma people; […]

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We Are Not for Sale! (Communique from “Life is too Expensive” Movement)

On June 16th the Lithuanian parliament was supposed to vote for the so called New Social Model: a neo-liberal assault involving severe labor code liberalization, criminalization of single-motherhood (you will only receive child’s allowance if married), ‘income’ tax imposed on unemployment benefits, etc, etc. On June 15th a demonstration in opposition to the new legislation […]

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Their Security, Our Poverty: Militarization and the New Code of Labour in Lithuania

In the last months the Lithuanian media has been rife with debates about the new labour legislation proposed for parliamentary vote on the 23th of June. Not very different from the French reform proposals, and pushing for further deregularization of the labour market, the code has sparked a series of protests and actions throughout the […]

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“We were not trying to hide Marxism”: Interview with Bhaskar Sunkara, editor of Jacobin Magazine.

Prepared by Alona Liasheva, this interview was initially published in the journal “Commons”. Jacobin is one of the most successful radical left-wing publications in the contemporary world and, for sure, the most successful one in the United States. Though the project was only started in September 2010, their online audience has reached 700 000 visitors […]