Global Left Midweek – May 10, 2023

Thunder on the labor front

Portside
Printer friendly  
A member of Federation of Korean Trade Unions holds up his sign during a May Day 2023 rally in Seoul. The signs read “Stop labor deterioration!” Credit , Ahn Young-joon - staff, AP
  1. Labor Offensive in South Korea
  2. Fighting for the Climate in the Global South
  3. Dossier: The Working Class Fights Back
  4. On Sudan
  5. France: Domination Without Hegemony
  6. 10 Strategies to Stop War in the Asian Pacific
  7. Red Surprise in Salzburg
  8. Colombian President Gustavo Petro Speaks
  9. Class, Russia, and the Ukraine War
  10. Amilcar Cabral’s Life and Work

 

__________
Labor Offensive in South Korea

Myungkyo Hong / Asian Labour Review (Hong Kong)

The recent government and construction companies’ attacks on the Korean Construction Workers Union should be understood in the context of growing union strength and worker power in the construction sector. Against such escalting repression, the labor movement in Korea is not backing down.

__________
Fighting for the Climate in the Global South

__________
Dossier: The Working Class Fights Back

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Berlin)

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

The cost-of-living crisis and spiralling inflation have sparked an uptick in labour militancy across Europe. Could the working class be gearing up to take the offensive? What kind of strategies will we need to win, and are the trade unions up to the challenge? 

__________
On Sudan

__________
France: Domination Without Hegemony

Filippo Ortona / il manifesto Global (Rome)

There is a deep crisis of the legitimacy of neoliberal policies, which has reached a climax during Macron’s term. His entire presidency has been marked by very strong mobilizations: the Yellow Vests, the 2019 strikes against the previous attempt at pension reform, the refineries, the hospitals, the anti-racist and feminist movements – and, today, this social movement of historic breadth.

__________
10 Strategies to Stop War in the Asian Pacific

Reihana Mohideen / Green Left (Sydney)

The Asia Pacific region has always been important for the US and the Global North imperialist bloc. The “pivot to Asia” strategy and Washington’s foreign policy today is aimed at curbing China’s rising economic weight and its increasing influence in the Asia-Pacific. Washington wants to regain strategic balance through direct competition with China, and worries about China’s new alliances, such as with Russia. 

__________
Red Surprise in Salzburg

Federico Fuentes and Christian Zeller / Green Left

Emerging from electoral insignificance, the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) stunned many with its historic vote in the generally conservative Austrian state of Salzburg. Running as KPÖ PLUS, Austria’s Communists obtained an unprecedented 11.7% of the vote in the April 23 state election, up from just 0.4% five years ago.

__________
Colombian President Gustavo Petro Speaks

Pepa Bueno / EL PAÍS (Madrid)

Being the first elected leftist president in Colombia, the spirit of resistance is high, and it comes from very privileged groups, especially because of public money. They have not yet found popular support, but they have received the support of the press [and] with parties trying to win a relative majority in Congress that will prevent the laws of change from being approved. 

__________
Class, Russia, and the Ukraine War

Volodymyr Ishchenko / Alameda Institute (London)

Putin is neither a power-hungry maniac, nor an ideological zealot (this kind of politics has been marginal in the whole post-Soviet space), nor a madman. By launching the war in Ukraine, he protects the rational collective interests of the Russian ruling class.

__________
Amilcar Cabral’s Life and Work

Chinedu Chukwudinma interviews António Tomás / Review of African Political Economy (London)

Tomás speaks about Cabral’s political development as well as his abilities as a teacher, revolutionary diplomat and leader. But he also discusses his insecurities, shortcomings and the myths surrounding national liberation in Guinea-Bissau.