The comrades of the Workers’ International League in the United States have been intervening in the #Occupy Wall Street movement since the very beginning. Here we publish several reports from comrades around the United States on the movement and their intervention within it.

The Canadian corporate media commentators were all united with a single opinion — the #Occupy movement would have no traction north of the border due to Canada’s “stable banks that never needed a bailout”. Despite the fact that this is a lie, (the federal government gifted $25-billion to the Canadian banks via the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), on Saturday 15^th October the people showed the press just how out of touch they are. Over 1,000 in Montreal, over 2,000 in Vancouver, over 5,000 in Toronto, and hundreds more in a dozen other cities, marched to join the international occupy movement.

Judging from last night’s Ontario election results, it would not appear that we are currently living in the most turbulent time in several generations.  The disappointing campaigns of the three political parties — the Liberals, Tories, and NDP — carried through into the election where, for the first time in Ontario history, less than half of eligible voters found a reason to cast a ballot.  The CBC was vindicated in their decision to give preference to the Leafs’ 2-0 shutout of the Habs and punting election coverage to CBC News Network.

A letter from a student at New York University (NYU), Cecillia Gingerich, who was a member of the University of London Marxist Society while studying in London in the spring of 2010. She is now a participant in Occupy Wall Street and in her letter gives a first hand account of her experience of the movement from the beginning.

Yesterday Wall Street was rocked by a mass demonstration of over 15,000 people protesting against “corporate greed.” The crowd jammed the square and stretched for blocks along Broadway. This unprecedented protest was a manifestation of the mood of anger, bitterness and frustration that has been accumulating for years in American society, which had already previously erupted in the big demonstrations and walkouts in Madison, Wisconsin, culminating in the occupation of the Capitol.

“Enough is enough! We are the 99%!” This is the sentiment being expressed by the brave youth now occupying Freedom Plaza in New York City, just a few feet away from Wall Street. This is the pent-up feeling of millions—no—billions of people around the world. Enough unemployment! Enough war! Enough poverty! Enough discrimination!

To the courageous protesters, facilitators and sympathizers of the #occupywallstreet movement! Your bold action, inspired by the movements in Egypt, Greece, and Wisconsin, is a great effort in trying to capture the imagination of millions  of workers and youth around the world who are dissatisfied with the status quo. It shows that there exists in this country a layer of committed left-wing activists who are ready to challenge the injustices of capitalist society. As allies of the movement, we would like to offer our perspective.

My visit to Venezuela at the end of June coincided with the speculation, rumours and finally announcements about the health of Hugo Chavez. This incident revealed a number of important questions about the Venezuelan revolution, the role that President Chavez plays in it and the character of the counter-revolutionary opposition.

According to a Harvard Medical Study published in 2009, nearly 45,000 people a year die in the United States  from preventable illnesses which go untreated due to lack of medical insurance. This represents approximately one person every 12 minutes, and serves as a huge counterexample to American claims of having “the best Healthcare system in the world.”

Youth in Canada and globally are being unjustly forced to bear the heavy burden of the capitalist crisis. While corporations worldwide continue to maximize profits, youth are suffering record unemployment rates that leave them susceptible to poverty, a lack of housing and education, and an increased risk of violence and conflict with the law.

On 22nd August, New Democrats woke to discover that we had lost our Party leader, Jack Layton. Now we are seeing a huge outpouring of emotion amongst party activists and the wider working class. This is because in these times of crisis and austerity, Jack Layton was seen to represent something different. He represented a path towards social justice and away from the race to the bottom. Hope and optimism were Jack’s watchwords and this is exactly what workers and youth are looking for right now. Fightback salutes the passing of a fighter who will be missed by millions.

The recently completed core services review has stripped Toronto mayor Rob Ford of his populist façade, and revealed the true extent of the austerity to come in Canada’s largest city. Almost every single aspect that makes capitalism semi-bearable for working-class people is about to be taken away.

While I was in Venezuela a number of comrades asked me about some manifesto against “Chavez's attacks on trade union rights” and also about the controversy over a letter Noam Chomsky had signed which the bourgeois media had used in their campaign in defence of “human rights” in Venezuela.

As part of my recent trip to Venezuela I was invited to speak about the world crisis of capitalism and the class struggle in Europe at two meetings of PDVSA oil workers in Monagas, in the east of the country. One of the meetings took place in Maturín, the capital of the state and where the PDVSA management for the Eastern Region is based, and the other one in the PDVSA installations in Punta de Mata, a city built around a massive oil field.

A deal to raise the debt ceiling has now been reached, after weeks of incredible fear-mongering on the part of both bosses’ parties and Wall Street, and will reach the President’s desk by the deadline on August 2nd.  The contents of the final agreement remain rather vague, but the broad outline is enough to make clear what it means for workers in the U.S.