Half a million public and private sector workers in Israel started an open ended general strike today, Wednesday February 8, in defence of the rights of contract workers. The strike was called by labour federation Histadrut, after last minute talks with the government failed to reach any agreement.

Following our recent analysis of the current situation in Hungary, we publish a translation of a blog entry from Egyenlítõ TV, a left wing Hungarian Facebook page, on what the average Hungarian can expect in his pay packet starting this month. In spite of its author displaying some illusions in the IMF or some confusion about pensioners, it is an excellent piece clearly demonstrating that Hungary is following governments the world over in making the working class – and especially its poorest section – pay for the crisis of capitalism and for the mess their own economic mismanagement and corruption have caused.

Greece's "technocratic" prime minister Papademos is desperately trying to make the three parties supporting his government (PASOK, ND and LAOS) agree to yet another round of brutal austerity cuts. The enormous pressure created by the relentless attacks on the working people of Greece is reaching breaking point. Health workers at a hospital in Kilkis have decide to take over their hospital and put it under workers' management. There is a new epidemic of homeslesness affecting people whose lives have been shattered by the crisis and the austerity measures. 

We received this short account from a Syrian left activist who recently visited the country. It provides an interesting insight into the situation in the country. The opinions are of the author and are not all shared by Marxist.com. We do not believe dialogue between the regime and the revolution is possible.

Weeks of protests against the National Transitional Council in Libya culminated on Saturday, January 21, with a crowd of thousands storming the offices of the NTC in Benghazi and forcing the resignation of its deputy Abdul Hafiz Ghoga.

On Monday, 14 November 2011 I happened to open the Evening Standard and saw a short item that was tucked away in the inner pages so that few people will have noticed it. It begins with the surprising affirmation: “Revolution is in the air at top Catholic independent school St Benedict’s, Ealing.”