World

Prague Spring 50 years on: When Soviet tanks crushed democratic socialist hopes

Of the many world-shaking events that took place in 1968, high on the list was the movement for reform in Czechoslovakia to create a democratic socialist alternative to the Stalinist bureaucratic dictatorships that ruled the Soviet bloc. Chris Slee takes a look at the movement, which was dramatically ended by a Soviet Union-led invasion.

On the night of August 20/21, 1968, tanks from the armies of the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria rolled into Czechoslovakia. The aim of the invaders was to crush a movement for reform.

Venezuela Analysis responds to Facebook’s temporary shut down of its site

Venezuelanlaysis.com has been a widely acclaimed source of news and analysis of Venezuelan politics since 2003. It provides a critical look at the nation’s pro-poor Bolivarian Revolution and the mainstream media’s often highly distorted reporting of it. The site’s collective released slightly abridged the statement below about the temporary suspension of its Facebook page on August 16.

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Zimbabwe election story all too familiar — but with a dangerous new twist

Observing the aftermath of the July 30 elections in Zimbabwe is like watching the remake of a movie.

You know the ending, but watch to see how the new actors play their role and if there are any new twists.

The basic Zimbabwe storyline is that the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic front (ZANU-PF) has never lost an election since it took power after the liberation war ended in 1980.

In the 1980s and ’90s, ZANU-PF, led by Robert Mugabe, easily saw off various electoral challengers.

South Korea suffers ugly refugee-phobia

The historic candlelight movement of 2016-17 that brought down the corrupt government of president Park Geunhye finally turned South Korea from one of the most reactionary anti-communist regime into a normal democracy. However, the recent debate over Yemenis refugees has revealed the naked face of deep-seated racism of many Koreans, writes Youngsu Won.

Facebook suspends TeleSUR English’s page, solidarity gets it restored

For the second time this year, Facebook suspended TeleSUR English’s page on August 13, Common Dreams said the next day.

After supports of the left-wing Latin American site campaigned against the removal, Facebook restored it on August 15, TeleSUR English said that day.

Palestinian cause must not be pushed aside by the powerful

The latest campaign against British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn centres around the veteran anti-racist campaigner’s alleged anti-Semitism. Among the ongoing claims, Corbyn is denying allegations he laid a wreath at grave the killers of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

As well as the latest attack on Corbyn, it is clear the allegations are also aimed at demonising all solidarity with Palestine and support for a genuine peace based on justice.

The new coup against Corbyn

The increasingly strident charges of anti-Semitism within Labour, and the widening circle of targets, have by now departed from all reality.

UN report calls for probe into human rights in Kashmir

A United Nations report has called for an investigation of human rights violations in the divided South Asian territory of Kashmir.

In Gaza, Israel is normalising war crimes

Gaza’s fuel crisis remained unresolved a week after a United Nations humanitarian official warned on August 8 that hospitals and water sanitation facilities would soon shut down as a result.

Samir Amin – 1931-2018: A vital radical thinker who challenged dispossession

Egyptian-French Marxist academic Samir Amin passed away aged 86 on August 12. The man who introduced the concept of “Eurocentrism” was, writes Nick Dearden, one of the world’s greatest radical thinkers.