Americas

Seven months ago, Ontario voters were promised the moon by the Liberal Party of Ontario. Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals vowed to end the attacks that marked nine years of Tory rule. Indeed, the entire Liberal campaign focused on the slogan of "Choose Change." Sadly, the Liberals' new budget shows that there has been no change in Ontario, and that McGunity and his cronies are intent on continuing the assault on Ontario's working class.

The 2004 Canadian federal election is looking to be the closest race since the 1970s. The Liberals hold a narrow lead over the Conservative Party, with the New Democrats looking to make gains and the Bloc Quebecois optimistic that it will retain much of the Quebec vote. For the first time in over a decade, the Liberals are in a position where they could fail to win a majority government.

Supporters of John Kerry and the Democratic party continue to call for "anybody but Bush" in 2004, while the majority of Americans are ready to resign themselves to accepting a "lesser evil" for president. Yet, Kerry's platform is set to be "more Bush than Bush"; and his intentions for dealing with the biggest issues facing Americans are "just as evil" as the methods of GW! John Peterson examines the three most important subjects of American foreign policy, and exposes the merging of Bush and Kerry's positions on them.

Interview with Diego Escobar, a Colombian Trade Unionist, a local representative of ASONAL-Judicial. Diego knows very well what it means to be persecuted by the vicious Colombian ruling class. We interviewed him while he was attending the UNISON Delegate Conference 2004.

Former US president Ronald Reagan passed away on June 5. The state funeral, which was little more than a crude exercise in propaganda on the part of the Bush administration, was held the following weekend. The historical revision at the ceremony was astonishing. The working class of the United States and the world must know and understand the real legacy and meaning of the Reagan years in order to understand the lessons of the past and lead the struggle against capitalism and imperialism today.

The myth of an American military mission to build a democracy and liberate an oppressed people has been shattered to pieces. The photographs from Abu Ghraib depict scenes of physical brutality, sadist sexual abuse, and monstrous acts by American soldiers. The Bush administration and the military command in Iraq continue to deny knowledge and involvement, even while a flood of information from eyewitnesses provides proof to the contrary. However, the calls demanding justice from a domestic or international court are misleading; history shows us that only the working-class can end the war and bring the guilty to justice.

In spite of the blatant fraud of the opposition, the decision has been taken to go ahead with the recall referendum in Venezuela. This has disappointed some layers of the Bolivarian movement and enraged others. Many have gone along with it out of their loyalty to Chavez. The decision is a serious mistake. Jorge Martin looks at the what the movement should do now.

Dear brothers and sisters,

The revolutionary process which is taking place in Venezuela is again under strong pressure from the reactionary opposition and imperialism. In December the opposition collected signatures in order to force a recall referendum. This is a democratic tool which was included in the new Bolivarian constitution which was discussed and approved in a referendum in 1999. The opposition claimed to have collected 3.6 million signatures (well over the 2.4 million needed). But when it came to deliver them to the National Electoral Commission, after much delay, they could only hand in 3.4 million. Of these, the National Electoral Commission, after careful scrutiny

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A diplomatic crisis has opened up between Mexico and Cuba. Mexico's Vicente Fox government has demanded the recall of the Mexican ambassador from Havana and ordered the Cuban diplomats to leave. The response of the masses was anything but favourable. Thousands demonstrated in Mexico, while a million marched through Havana. This has deepened the political crisis in Mexico and further undermined Fox and his right wing PAN government.

The Venezuelan revolution is at the crossroads. Having twice defeated the counterrevolution, the revolution is faced with a new and furious offensive on the part of the oligarchy and its imperialist backers. How can the revolution stop reaction? The only way is by completing the revolutionary process. The workers must take power.

From the beginning the privately owned media and the leaders of the right wing opposition have tried to minimise and ridicule the discovery and arrest of foreign paramilitaries in Venezuela, as did the US government. But the truth is that there are clear links between these groups of "irregulars" and the Venezuelan and Colombian oligarchies, with the helping hand of the US.

The "Hands off Venezuela" Italy campaign, after a very good start in Milan, on Friday, April 30, went to Pavia. There we had a meeting with 20 people organised by the Marxist magazine FalceMartello.

The developing revolution in Venezuela has brought into sharp relief what the correct Marxist approach should be to this phenomenon. Unfortunately many who claim to be Marxists have revealed that they really have no understanding of the reall essence of Marxism. Alan Woods looks at the traditions of the movement going right back to Marx himself.