Americas

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan take a toll out on workers both in the US and overseas. How much more can the world working class take?

This November, millions of American workers will go to the polls to exercise their democratic right to vote. But since in most cases this means selecting which of the two bosses' candidates will rule their district, millions of others will stay home, unable to stomach such "choices."

Governmental crises, general strikes, mass movements and revolutions have characterized the situation over the last six or seven years in Ecuador. Now national attention has been focused on the presidential elections where former Finance Minister Rafael Correa has emerged as self-proclaimed standard-bearer for the downtrodden masses.

On Thursday October 5, violent confrontations broke out in the mining city of Huanuni, Oruro, in Bolivia, which left 16 dead and scores of others injured. Clashes started as 4,000 "cooperativistas" tried to take over the main Huanuni mine, and the 1,100 miners who work there, organised in the powerful Bolivian Union Federation of Mine Workers, FSTMB, defended the mine.

The Bolivian revolution is at the crossroads. The government has moderated its policies and retreated on many fronts. The reaction manoeuvres against the government and any of the reforms its attempts to implement. There exists a mood of confusion and anger amongst the masses, which at any moment could explode into a fresh insurrectionary movement.

The first round in the Brazilian elections can only mean further instability for the largest country in Latin America. The Brazilian ruling class looks with fear at the developing revolutions in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Mexico. At any time, over any issue, the masses of Brazil could rise up

The Mexican Marxist Tendency Militante and Hands off Venezuela Mexico have written an open letter to President Chavez asking him to maintain his government's position of not recognising Calderon and asking him to recognise openly Lopez Obrador as the legitimate president of Mexico.

The solidarity campaign we launched against the electoral fraud in Mexico is getting a good response. The bourgeois press in Mexico covered the solidarity activities of our comrades in Pakistan(which you can see here (online) and here (pdf)). A comrade was interviewed by Co-op radio in Vancouver and we continue to receive messages of solidarity from around the world. We must continue the campaign! Keep the messages coming!

Since the betrayal of the Ontario Days of Action in 1996-97, the movement in Ontario has been at one of its lowest levels. This is in contrast to the rest of Canada where most provinces are seeing some of the most militant labour actions since the 1970s. In both British Columbia and Québec, we have seen a burgeoning general strike movement while Newfoundland recently saw the largest strike in the province’s history.

The Latin American Revolution is spreading like wildfire, posing a mortal threat to U.S. control over the region.  The masses in Venezuela and Bolivia continue to push the process forward, and now Mexico has joined the conflagration, threatening U.S. imperialism right in its own backyard.