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Reader Comments: Can Women End Korean War?; Countess vs. Communist-Battle to Become Madrid's Mayor; How the United States Strangled Puerto Rico; Obama's Human and Moral Challenge: Oscar López Rivera; The Press and Bernie Sanders; The Female Mathematician Who Changed the Course of Physics; Appeal by Dr. Kristin Neuhaus, successor to Dr. George Tiller; Cross Borders Concert at the Gaza Strip border; Today in History - Tiananmen Square Massacre; Angela Davis Acquitted

On May 24th, the two parties that have ruled Spain since the late 1970s were dealt yet another substantial blow, this time in regional and municipal elections. They were defeated in the main by independent political forces rooted in prominent local struggles and committed to developing a coalition between new or smaller Left parties and community organizations around a common platform; one developed through radical democratic and grassroots participation.

Charismatic and tough as nails, the two ideologically opposite women are leading the showdown for the job of mayor of Madrid, in one of the most closely watched electoral battles to emerge from the political and social transformation gripping Spain.

Exciting video with English captions from 15M Movement in Spain with lessons for USA activists.

The appearance of anti-protest laws in so many countries reveals a general trend in the way governments envision the future. As the state’s utter failure to assist those most hurt by the ongoing economic crisis becomes impossible to ignore and as even the recovery from crisis proves hollow for most people, protests and riots are spreading worldwide, with no sign of slowing down.

Reader Comments - Police Killings are Epidemic; Jewish Establishment Tries to Silence Critics; Yavon Kaplan - new Israeli refusknik; New Video - Feeling Good About Apartheid; Guatemalans Infected with STDs; US Cold War with Iran; Indiana; Islamic State - Cancer of Modern Capitalism; US Trains Neo-Nazis in Ukraine; Announcements - Worker Rights Conference; #BlackLivesMatter; 79th Annual ALBA Celebration; Today in History - Paul Robeson - Born 1898

Die Linke's Oskar Lafontaine on "anti-systemic" parties and how to forge a democratic Europe. His views on solidarity with Greece and Syriza, as well as developments in Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. His insight on a future socialism - recognizing that past socialist endeavors have failed because they were undemocratic and centralized. In this sense, another path has to be chosen. In my opinion, it is the path of employee-managed enterprises in which democracy flows

Reader Comments - Lessons from Syriza and Podemos; Kshama Sawant; 2016 elections; Prison Reform, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, Israeli elections; Venezuela, Greece, Ukraine; Measles; Culture - music, television, films; Franz Fanon; Roger Burbach - Presente! Announcements - Break the Cuba Blockade - Venceremos Brigade; WRL new "Pie Chart"; Mondragon and Workers Cooperatives; Fighting Inequality Conference

Syriza opened itself to the social movements that emerged to challenge austerity and has become their political voice. It did what parties are supposed to do. It's appropriate to be inspired. Podemos - the new left-wing party in Spain is shaking things up there. Spain's elections are in the fall. Spain has a much bigger economy than Greece, so the prospect of an anti-austerity, anti-oligarchs party in power there is an even deeper challenge to the economic status quo.