International
‘Independence March’ – The Unholy Alliance of the Polish Right
By Gavin Rae
The annual Independence march (Marsz Niepodległości) took place in Warsaw on 11 November. Over 60,000 people attended, some of them masked and setting off red smoke bombs. Banners were carried with slogans supporting things such as a ‘white’ Poland and Europe and against refugees and Muslims. Some demonstrators wore the Celtic cross or the pre-war fascist symbol (the falanga). Representatives of other far-right parties in Europe attended the march, with the former leader of the English Defence League, Tommy Robinson, boasting that he ‘had an amazing time with polish patriots marching against Islam’.
Trump’s tour of Asia: an emperor with no clothes
By Jude Woodward
Despite the razzamatazz of Trump’s visit to Asia, the verdict of the international news media was unanimous: the trip had simply served to underline the US’s declining influence in Asia; a decline that Trump is blamed for accelerating by ceding leadership to China on the crucial issues of contemporary geopolitics: trade, climate change, development and multilateral agreements.
The further adventures of Trump’s Saudi ally
By Sammy Barker
On 5 November the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, launched an ‘anti-corruption’ campaign involving the arrest of eleven princes, four serving ministers and ‘tens’ of former ministers. Along with these were some major business people, including Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal, the country’s wealthiest man, reportedly worth $30 billion, Mohammed Hussein Al-Amadi, the second richest man, reportedly worth $10.9 billion. Also arrested was Bakr bin Laden, the head of the biggest construction company in the country. Some Saudi sources put the number of arrests as high as 500, with double that questioned.
100 Years after the Balfour Declaration
Last Saturday (4 November) supporters of the Palestinians’ struggle demonstrated in London to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. This declaration, by the Foreign Secretary in 1917, stated that Britain would support the establishment of a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine. It represented the first expression of public support for Zionism by a major political power. The colonial project it supported developed into the state of Israel, resulting in the displacement of millions and death of countless tens of thousands of Palestinians. That displacement and loss of life continues to this day.
The article below by Dr. Ramzy Baroud, previously published on Counterpunch, explains how the Balfour Declaration helped destroy the Palestinian’s homeland, but has not succeeded in breaking the will of the Palestinian people.
Russia 1917: another world made possible
On 25 October 1917 (7 November in the Gregorian calendar) the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, organised an uprising that overthrew the weak and vacillating Provisional Government that had emerged from the overthrow of the Tsar earlier that year.
At 10am on the 25th the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies announced that the Provisional Government had been deposed and that state power had passed into the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee, pending the convocation of the All Russian Congress of the Soviets.
The articles below explore the significance of the October Revolution, the state it created and its contribution to the progress of humanity.