Page 356 – Toward Freedom

“With friends like this, who needs enemies.” This must be what Washington policymakers muttered to themselves following the decision of London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin to join a new development bank proposed by Beijing.

The anger in Washington most likely mounted when its main Pacific allies, Japan, Australia, and South Korea, also gave strong indications that they would join the bandwagon. By the end of March, more than 35 countries are expected to be enlisted as founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). read more

Four reasons Quebec is on the streets fighting austerity

David Gray-Donald April 6, 2015 David Gray-Donald

Source: Rabble.ca

Night demonstrations — a fixture in the 2012 Quebec student movement — were held on Tuesday in Montreal and Quebec City, and again on Friday in Montreal, with thousands filling the streets as well as hundreds of armoured police.

The mobilization against austerity measures was met by strong police reaction. On Thursday of the same week, the Quebec Liberal government tabled a budget “balanced” by large cuts to education, health care and other social services spending. read more

Making a Better World: The 2015 World Social Forum in Tunis

Marc Becker April 6, 2015 Marc Becker

50,000 people gathered in Tunis, Tunisia the last week of March for the World Social Forum (WSF) to debate how to make a better world to serve the interests of humanity rather than corporations.

Netanyahu: The Message is Clear

Immanuel Wallerstein April 6, 2015 Immanuel Wallerstein

Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu won an impressive electoral victory in Israel on March 17. He did it by making two last-minute public statements. One was that there would be no Palestinian state while he is President.

Students, Solidarity Strikes and Shutting Down Austerity at the Point of Production: The Social Vision of the 2015 Quebec Student Strike

Jonathan Leavitt April 1, 2015 Jonathan Leavitt

On March 21st, the first day of spring, Quebec students went on strike over the Liberal Couillard government’s austerity policies; those numbers swelled to over 60,000 striking students by Monday the 23rd.

Bolivia’s Contested Process of Change: Views From a Regional Election

Benjamin Dangl March 31, 2015 Benjamin Dangl

Following defeats for Evo Morales’ MAS party in Bolivian regional elections, new checks and balances to MAS power from a variety of political positions may continue to open up spaces of dissent, debate and contestation that will deepen Bolivia’s wider process of change, a process that the MAS doesn’t, nor did it ever, completely control.