Articles by Robert Bechert, Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI)

Edwin Poots, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest party in N Ireland, resigned last night, just three weeks after he won the position. This is the latest twist in the ongoing […]

The eleven-day Israeli air bombardment of the Gaza Strip and retaliatory Hamas rockets fired into Israel, ended with a shaky ceasefire and both sides claiming victory. Although suffering large numbers of casualties, Hamas, the Islamist […]

In a recent landmark ruling, the Upper Tribunal – responsible for judicial reviews of the UK’s Home Office decisions – has proposed new ‘country guidance’ used for determining asylum cases of refugees from Sri Lanka. […]

US president Joe Biden’s first international meetings and visit to Europe as US president were certainly different from Donald Trump’s visits, but how much in substance has really changed? Internationally, Trump’s defeat was met with […]

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the gigantic struggle by Clydeside workers to defend their jobs and the communities that were reliant on the shipyards in that part of Scotland. In the summer of […]

The ongoing expansion of Jewish settlements and other Jewish-only infrastructure in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has been destroying Palestinian hopes of having their own state. The area that was designated to the Palestinians […]

Unlike many other aspects of US foreign policy, Biden’s election has not led to a fundamental change in direction when it comes to China. However, instead of Trump’s quixotic and inconsistent unilateral ramping up of […]

Thousands of people, especially the young, have taken to the streets across the world in opposition to the naked greed by the ruling elite and growing impoverishment of the mass of people. The chasm between […]

Since this article was written, the left candidate in the presidential elections in Peru, Pedro Castillo, has edged ahead in the election, winning 50.277% of the vote. The narrowness of the result and bitter opposition […]

After a month of mass mobilizations, protestors and strikers in Colombia continue to struggle against the murderous capitalist government of President Iván Duque Márquez. Widespread protests and strikes began in opposition to a now-withdrawn tax reform […]

It took a vote in Westminster in 2019, initiated by right-wing backbench Labour MP Stella Creasy and backed by virtually all the right-wing parties in that chamber, to vindicate the rights of women in Northern […]

For the first time since the horrific slaughter on June 4th, 1989 of unarmed protesters in Tiananmen Square, there will be no commemoration in any part of China, including Hong Kong and Macau. In Hong […]

US President Joe Biden has rightly described climate change as an “existential threat to humanity.” But tackling that threat will require more than just recognising it – rapid and far-reaching action is needed. Will his […]

When Sebastian Kurz of the conservative ‘People’s Party’ (ÖVP) won the 2017 elections he was voted in as Chancellor as someone who stood for “change”. He had revamped his party, virtually renamed it, changed its […]

Dramatic events a week ago (Sunday 23 May) saw a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania forced to land in Belarus. The military operation has been described as an unprecedented ‘hijacking’ and has seen European […]

There can be no doubt that May’s round of death and destruction in Israel-Palestine will have serious repercussions in the whole Middle East. All the questions relating to the conflict in Israel-Palestine have been thrust […]

Forty years ago, on 21 May 1981, the island of Jamaica came to a halt as the celebrated reggae musician and political activist Bob Marley was given a state funeral. What was the political backdrop […]

Recent days have seen more strikes and protests by workers in Iran, more signs of the general revival of the workers’ movement there since 2017. The May Day statement (below) issued by 15 Iranian workers, […]

6 May 2021 saw the election of a majority of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) committed to a second referendum on Scottish independence. Is an independent Scotland now inevitable? How will Boris Johnson and […]

When a ceasefire took hold after eleven days of the war on Gaza by the Israeli military, Gaza’s traumatised population re-emerged onto the streets to survey scenes of terrible devastation. This was the fourth war […]

The pandemic hasn’t just exposed the class divide here in the UK. It’s also brought many tensions and inequalities between nations in an already fractured world to the surface. If the rapid spread of the […]

“Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement with the European Union, which would “effectively leave Northern Ireland within the EU’s economic jurisdiction” following the UK’s exit, “will dangerously escalate sectarian tensions; spilling over into Britain too as in […]

“Working men’s Paris, with its Commune, will be forever celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society. Its martyrs are enshrined in the great heart of the working class. Its exterminators’ history has already […]

The turn to devastating bloodshed by the Israeli regime has followed weeks of brutal Israeli policing in and around Jerusalem’s old city, and a number of planned evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in […]

After a decade in opposition in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – Dravidian Progressive Party) captured power from the AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam- All India […]

An overpass carrying a subway train collapsed in Mexico City on 3 May, killing at least twenty-six people and injuring eighty. The train was travelling on an elevated portion of Line 12 when a section […]

For three decades, the traditional right and the parties of the ‘Concertación’ co-governed in Chile and were also the main ‘opposition’. Both conglomerates agreed to manage and deepen the economic and social model of neoliberal […]

Thursday, May 13 will go down in Glasgow history. Attempts by the Home Office to detain two Indian men – chef Sumit Sehdev and mechanic Lakhvir Singh – prior to deportation, provoked a massive community […]

“Every social movement, every real advance in England on behalf of the workers links itself on to the name of Robert Owen” (from ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’, 1880, by Frederick Engels) Today, 14 May 2021, […]

Almost every evening on the Norwegian National Television (NRK) there are reports of the small farmers and workers in revolt. They are seen blocking motorways and roads with their tractors or dumping manure on the […]

Weeks of repressive, brutal Israeli policing of Palestinian gatherings and protests in East Jerusalem have led to a new round of bloody conflict. Rather than just being confined to Jerusalem, this time the Israeli authorities […]

Weeks of repressive, brutal Israeli policing of Palestinian gatherings and protests in East Jerusalem have resulted in a new round of escalated conflict. In April, Israeli security forces erected barriers to prevent Palestinians from congregating […]

Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) in Northern Ireland work to make sure children from disadvantaged households or vulnerable backgrounds don’t lose out on getting an education through absenteeism. They also have a particular role in supporting […]

Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported on 8 May that the country’s largest sugarcane factory, Haft Tappeh, has been re-nationalised. The factory was privatised in 2015. Since then, the workers have been fighting for its […]

Following a highly polarised Scottish election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) will again form the new government at Holyrood. By winning 64 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) – one short of a majority – […]

The postponement of the 2020 elections meant that 6 May 2021 was a bumper election day, including more than 4,000 council seats, thirteen directly-elected mayors, the London assembly, plus the Scottish parliament and Welsh Senedd. […]

Nordic paper and wood products giant, Stora Enso, announced on 20 April that it plans to close two paper mills – the Vesiluoto mill in Kemi, Lapland, and the Kvarnsveden mill in Börlange, central Sweden. […]

Following a highly polarized and bitter election campaign, the right-wing party, Partido Popular (PP), has emerged victorious in the elections in Madrid. Led by the far-right figure, Isabel Ayuso, the PP emerged as the winners, […]

Socialism Revolucionario (Chile) and the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI/CIT) declares our support and solidarity with the social uprising of the workers and youth of Colombia. We condemn the government of Iván Duque that […]

The following English language translation of an interview with Siritunga Jayasuriya was conducted by Samantha Rajapaksa and published on the ‘Left Voice’ (Sri Lanka) website. socialistworld.net Siritunga Jayasuriya (Siri) is General Secretary of the United […]

On 12th and 13th June 2021, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) will reconvene the Working Class Summit (WCS). The WCS was first convened in 2018, in line with a resolution adopted at […]

“A carnival of reaction” Today, 3 May 2021, is officially marked as the hundredth anniversary of the creation of Northern Ireland. With sectarian tensions rising once again, the real history of the tumultuous decades leading […]

The Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) sends revolutionary May Day greetings to all workers, youth and the oppressed fighting against exploitation, injustice and capitalism. On May Day, we stand with all those fighting against […]

More than a year after the start of the pandemic, the government and the business political caste in Chile have proven to be completely incapable of offering a response to the immediate needs of the […]

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, made his ‘State of the Nation’ speech on 21st April as protest demonstrations were taking place across Russia. In April last year, his annual address had included an announcement about a […]

One hundred comrades from the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) attended an extended meeting of its International Executive Committee from Friday 9 April to Sunday 11th April. Due to coronavirus restrictions, the meeting was […]

An unmitigated public health disaster is gripping India. The daily number of people infected with Covid-19 has exceeded 350,000 for a week – the highest of any country since the pandemic began. Health services have […]

Capitalism is increasingly reminiscent of what is called a ‘Royal Rumble’ in professional wrestling. In this sport what is happening in the ring becomes more and more confusing due to the arrival of more and […]