Socialism From Below

The International Socialist Tendency (IST) is a current of revolutionary socialist organisations, based in different countries, which share a political outlook and seek to help each other by exchanging experience and practical support.

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IST statement on coronavirus pandemic

Wednesday 1st April 2020

1. The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is generally presented as a “natural disaster”, an “external shock” to the normal functioning of the capitalist system. But this is quite untrue. There have been various novel coronavirus and influenza outbreaks (SARS, MERS, H5N1): epidemiologists warned posed the threat of a global pandemic.. The conditions for these outbreaks have been created, as the work of Marxist biologists such as Rob Wallace have shown, by the spread of intensive factory farming and the penetration by the market and capital of remote areas where new viruses develop among wild animal and bird populations.¹ It is a good example of what Marx called the “irreparable rift in the interdependent process between social metabolism and natural metabolism” created by capitalist agriculture – and, more broadly, of the destruction of nature driving climate change. This is a thoroughly capitalist pandemic that, if not combated, would take ...

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No to war and imperialism: The refugees are our brothers and sisters!

Monday 2nd March 2020

The refugees are being made to pay the price for the war in the Middle East. While the governments of Turkey and Greece are trying to benefit from the conflict between the imperialist blocks, they are both doing their best to get rid of the refugees within their borders and to block the entry of people fleeing the horrors of war.

Facing the Russian armed forces and the Assad regime in Idlib, Turkey declared that it would no longer prevent refugees from crossing the border into Europe. Upon hearing this, tens of thousands of refugees, sick and tired of the poverty, exploitation and racism they have been suffering in Turkey, began to make their way to the West in order to cross by sea or by land.

While thousands of refugees remain stuck along the Turkish border, the Greek security forces, in co-operation with the European Border and Coast ...

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Trump ve İran konusunda Uluslararası Sosyalist Akım açıklaması

Sunday 5th January 2020

• Donald Trump, Kasım Süleymani’nin ve diğer bazı İranlı ve Iraklı askeri liderlerin suikast yoluyla öldürülmesini emrederek, Ortadoğu’yu ateşe verebilecek bir savaş hareketinde bulundu.

• Trump açısından cinayetlerin arkasındaki motivasyon kuşkusuz kısa dönemli siyasal hesaplardı, ancak yine de bu cinayet bölgedeki ABD egemenliğinin krizinin son safhasıyla ilgili.

• Bu krizin izleri Irak’ın ABD ve Britanya tarafından 2003 yılındaki işgaline kadar uzanıyor. Saddam Hüseyin’in devrilmesi ve işgalin yenilgiye uğraması hem Ortadoğu ve Kuzey Afrika bölgesindeki İran, İsrail, Suudi Arabistan, Türkiye ve Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri gibi devletlerin hem de –başta Rusya olmak üzere– dış güçlerin istismar etmeye çalıştığı bir iktidar boşluğu yarattı. Bu devletlerin rekabeti Suriye’de, Yemen’de ve Libya’da bir dizi tehlikeli ve kanlı çatışmaya yol açtı. Yunanistan, Kıbrıs ve İsrail arasındaki ABD destekli boru hattı anlaşması, anlaşmanın imzacılarıyla Türkiye arasındaki gerilimi daha da arttırıyor.

• İran’daki İslam Cumhuriyeti rejimi, Ortadoğu’daki ABD gücünün gerilemesinden en çok faydalanan güçlerden biriydi. Süleymani, Irak’tan Suriye'ye ve Lübnan'a uzanan ...

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DECLARACIÓN INTERNACIONAL SOBRE TRUMP E IRÁN

Sunday 5th January 2020

1. Donald Trump, al ordenar el asesinato de Qassem Soleimani junto a otros líderes militares iraníes e iraquíes, ha cometido un acto de guerra que podría incendiar Oriente Medio.

2. Los asesinatos fueron motivados, sin duda, por cálculos políticos a corto plazo por parte de Trump, pero pertenecen a la fase más reciente de la crisis de dominación estadounidense de la región.

3. Esta crisis se remonta a la invasión estadounidense y británica de Irak en 2003. La destitución de Saddam Hussein y la derrota de la ocupación crearon un vacío de poder que muchos estados de la región de Oriente Medio y el Norte de África (MENA) —Irán, Israel, Arabia Saudita, Turquía y los Emiratos Árabes Unidos— y las potencias externas, sobre todo Rusia, han intentado explotar. Sus rivalidades han provocado una serie de conflictos peligrosos y sangrientos: en Siria, Yemen y Libia. El acuerdo sobre el gasoducto, respaldado por Estados ...

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