Tag: current affairs

This week on Against the Stream, Hamid Alizadeh and Jorge Martin from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sat down once again to discuss the implications of Trump’s victory on the class struggle in America, the Ukraine war, and the floods in Valencia, Spain, which have led to protests of hundreds of thousands of people against the regime.

Every week, members of the International secretariat pick a number of flashpoints in current affairs to discuss, using articles from the billionaire press as a starting point.

Contrary to the liberals, who respond to these events with hysteria and confusion, we, as Marxists, seek to explain and understand what is going on beneath the surface, and what is driving these events forward.

Tune in to Against the Stream every Thursday at 3pm (GMT). New episodes are streamed live to YouTube. We’d love to hear your feedback along with any articles or questions you want discussed on the podcast.

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Closely following our special episode with Alan Woods covering Trump’s victory in the US election, Against the Stream went live again this week for another discussion. This time, Hamid Alizadeh and Fred Weston from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International met to talk about the devastating floods in Spain and the resulting  rage of the masses against the ruling class, the abrupt collapse of the German government, and more on the implications of Trump’s victory.

Read the articles discussed by Hamid and Fred here:

Trump victory: a kick in the teeth for the establishment / https://marxist.com/trump-victory-2024.htm

How Trump Won the Economy-Is-Everything Election / https://www.wsj.com/economy/economy-election-trump-voters-c4c2e9a3

Germany’s coalition government falls apart — how it happened / https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-coalition-government-falls-apart-how-it-happened/a-70717066

Spain: monarchs pelted with mud as rage over avoidable deaths boils over in Valencia / https://marxist.com/spain-monarchs-pelted-with-mud-as-rage-over-avoidable-deaths-boils-over-in-valencia.htm

Feijóo and Sánchez take note of the social discontent and order to “calm down” the public battle / https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2024-11-05/feijoo-y-sanchez-toman-nota-hartazgo-social-ordenan-serenar-combate-publico_3997241/

The king surrounds himself with employers and unions with the message of avoiding the political battle after the altercation in Paiporta / https://www.eldiario.es/economia/rey-rodea-patronal-sindicatos-mensaje-evitar-batalla-politica-altercado-paiporta_1_11797536.html

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On 24 October, Fred Weston and Hamid Alizadeh from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sat down for another special podcast episode focusing on three flashpoints of world politics: Sinwar’s assassination, Zelensky’s peace plan, and the BRICS summit.

The comrades look behind the headlines, starting with what the capitalist media have been saying about the assassination of Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas. The killing was greeted by a wave of gloating from Israel and Saudi Arabia. But Israel – which released a video of his death on the frontline – has inadvertently turned Sinwar into a hero and has fueled defiance of Israel and its allies in the whole region.

The second article looks at Zelensky’s desperate ‘victory plan’, which pleads for admission to NATO and long-range missiles with which to strike Russia. But this is completely untenable. Ukraine is heading towards an inevitable, brutal defeat, and now the western imperialists who provoked this war in the first place are preparing to betray Ukraine and abandon it to its fate.

Finally, the comrades discussed the BRIC summit which is being held in Russia. Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, the West has sought to isolate Russia. But the summit shows that this has completely failed. Russia was not only joined by Iran and China, and other western rivals, but US allies like India, Saudi Arabia, as well as the secretary general of the UN. This is a reflection of the fact that, as the power of US imperialism enters relative decline, other countries are hedging their bets, and balancing between the different blocs in the world economy.

This episode was streamed live on Youtube. Once again, we’d appreciate any feedback on this new style of podcast.

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On the 16 October, Jorge Martín and Hamid Alizadeh from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sat down to talk about the genocide in Gaza, the war in Lebanon, and the crisis facing the European economy.

We once more dive into the pages of the billionaire press of the past week, in order to expose the truth behind the headlines, illuminate the processes driving the chaos on the world stage, and to explain how we as communists can pick out the truth.

Click here to listen on Twitter Spaces.

This week, they discussed: a New York Times exposé on the IDF’s barbaric practice of using Palestinian prisoners as human shields, a practice fully in keeping with Israel’s genocidal policy in Gaza which reflects the fact that no amount of lives or ‘international laws’ can stand in the way of the interests of imperialism; a Reuters article analysing the US’ role in aiding and abetting Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, an expression of the relative decline facing the world’s foremost imperialism power; and a Bloomberg summary of a paper written by Italian ex-PM Mario Draghi, which lays out the enormous crisis and stagnation facing European capitalism, which has been devastated by the repercussions of the Ukraine war.

After the enthusiastic feedback we received following the last instalment, we will be releasing episodes of this series weekly, alongside Spectre of Communism. We are still experimenting with this new style of podcast, so you can help us by sending your feedback on the format, as well as suggestions for articles to discuss in the future.

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