(2 reports below) New death squads have arisen to replace Colombia's notorious right-wing paramilitary groups - and they are committing the same acts of terrorism against trade unionists as their predecessors, a prominent US-based rights organisation has warned. Under pressure from human rights groups and Washington, Bogota has overseen the... » read this article

Why Militant Struggle? In a January 28 UW Daily article, Keep violence out for fairer budget Rebecca Kuensting attacks the International Socialist Organization (a UW registered student organization) for proposing “militant struggle” to oppose budget cuts and tuition increases. She feels that militant struggle must mean violence, or at least... » read this article

Victory! Thousands of Oregon workers fought valiantly over the past weeks to ensure that corporations and the rich will see their taxes raised, so that social services, health care, and education could be saved. Massive phone banking operations, door-to-door canvassing, and rallies were used by union and community members to... » read this article

25 January 2010 In Spain’s worst recession for more than 50 years, official figures for the end of 2009 show nearly 4 million people out of work. The official unemployment figure of 19.4 percent marks an increase of nearly 25 percent in a year. The recession has hit young workers... » read this article

25 January 2010 On Thursday last week, General Motors in Europe announced its intention to close the Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The head of GM Europe, Nick Reilly, said production will cease in June or July of this year and the factory's remaining 2,600 workers will lose their jobs.... » read this article

The dramatic events that unfolded recently in the small southern Italian town of Rosarno highlight the terrible conditions that immigrant workers have to suffer in many parts of Europe. The bosses try and use the tactic of “divide and rule” to pit poor immigrant against poor Italian workers. It is... » read this article

Part One Part Two Part Three Cort Action See also "Guitars should be a means to liberation, not exploitation"... » read this article

Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Street Sweeper Social Club, alongside musician Serj Tankian, of alternative metal band System of a Down, joined representitives of Korean guitar workers in a protest against Cort Guitars on Jan. 13, at the Nanum Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Calif. The... » read this article

14 January 2010 For the first time in many years, Germany’s two biggest trade unions—the engineering union IG Metall and the Mines, Chemical and Energy union (IGBCE)—have agreed not to demand a wage increase in 2010. They justify their stance by claiming that due to the economic crisis, the protection... » read this article

12 January 2010 In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper at the end of last year, the president of the Federal Labour Court (BAG), Ingrid Schmidt, rejected public criticism about the immediate sacking of employees for minor infringements and sharply attacked the workers concerned, who are threatened by unemployment... » read this article

For more than four years, Margarita Estrada assembled and tested computers at a Foxconn factory in the central Mexican city of Guadalajara. Preparing 120 CPUs an hour for shipping was a “stressful” job, the young woman says. Part of Estrada’s duties involved training the large numbers of new workers. Despite... » read this article

Fearing that labor and progressive groups will soon shift much of their focus from health care reform to a bill that would expand union organizing rights, retailers across the country are stepping up their anti-union campaigns. A revised training video showing now at Target Corp. stores warns workers against the... » read this article

Fearing that labor and progressive groups will soon shift much of their focus from health care reform to a bill that would expand union organizing rights, retailers across the country are stepping up their anti-union campaigns. A revised training video showing now at Target Corp. stores warns workers against the... » read this article

We aim to replace the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a social order from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will be eliminated, in which economic planning will supersede unregulated private enterprise and competition, and in which genuine democratic self-government, based... » read this article

In its basic concept, capitalism should be about people making things for other people, and making a decent wage for doing so. Then the people for whom the goods are made sell them for more than it cost to make them. Some of those sales will be to the people... » read this article

Lately we've been paying more attention to where our food comes from, extolling the virtues of organic and local, but what's often left out of the discussion is who is growing our food.  And while getting to know your farmer at the market is an important part of creating a... » read this article

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OTTAWA- Mondragon Internacional (MCC), the world’s largest worker cooperative, has been the focus of a lot of media coverage in recent months, inciting discussion on how worker cooperatives have been affected by, and are responding to, the global economic crisis. On October 27, 2009 the United Steelworkers announced a framework... » read this article

26 November 2009 Repeated attempts by Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah leadership to restore their flagging authority amongst the Palestinian masses have only underscored the abject failure of Fatah’s perspective of securing a Palestinian state through an agreement with Israel and its sponsor, the United States. Abbas, whose presidential term... » read this article

Editor's Note: All those interested in the political, economic and social directions being taken by the people and governments of Latin American states will do well to invest time in reading this treatise by James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer. Those who think they understand the future of the left on... » read this article