Published bimonthly since 1986, Against the Current is a Solidarity sponsored analytical journal for the broad revolutionary left. The July/ August ATC begins with an editorial on the two Obamas--the one whose approach fills voters with expectations that U.S. policy can be different, and the centrist Democrat that Obama's record suggests he is. Jack Rasmus writes about the new phase of the economic crisis, Nomi Prins comments on the housing mess and Lesley Gill discusses implications on the transfer of the Colombian paramilitaries to U.S. custody. Jeffery Webber's review essay takes up the themes of Socialist Register 2008: empire, religion and liberation, particularly in Latin America and the Middle East.


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International Viewpoint is the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International. IV is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.

Protests against Pakistani government: Over 3000 activists and supporters of the Labour Party Pakistan took part in rally at Lahore June 6 against the ongoing neoliberal policies of the present Pakistan People’s Party government.
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A Historic Long March That Fell Short: Farooq Tariq reports on "Lawyers’ leadership on the road from resistance to reconciliation".
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Pakistan: Corruption in Privatization:There has been massive corruption during the eight years of the Pervez Musharraf-Shoukat Aziz period (1999-2007). While the regime has claimed the privatization process key to economic development, the reality is that it was a total disaster.
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Burmese Cyclone: Wave of Burmese solidarity forces regime to retreat on cyclone, by Marc Johnson



"Venezuela: the Referendum and the Revolution" collects four contributions reflect a partial cross-section of the rich and complex discussion taking place in the Venezuelan and international left just before and immediately after the narrow defeat of the Constitutional referendum in December 2007.

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Regroupment & Refoundation of a U.S. Left

As part of the preparation for our 2008 Convention, members of SOLIDARITY have begun a political document describing some perspectives for socialist renewal in the twenty-first century. We welcome responses to this initial draft of the document. Some of the themes here have also been developed in Solidarity's Founding Statement and our 1997 pamphlet, “Socialist Organization Today.”

New Pamphlet: Hell on Wheels

New from Solidarity! Long time transit worker activist Steve Downs has written a pamphlet charting the twenty year story of New Directions, a rank and file caucus in New York City's transit union that he helped build and develop - including the challenges of keeping the rank and file democracy movement alive after New Directions won control of the local.

Read a review and order your copy today!

In Memoriam: Elissa Jane Karg Chacker

Elissa Karg Chacker, a longtime member of Solidarity and previously the International Socialists (IS) in Detroit, died Sunday, May 11 from injuries suffered in an accident a week earlier. Riding her bicycle home after a Solidarity meeting, she was struck by a car and never regained consciousness.
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From Abortion Rights to Reproductive Justice

New from Solidarity's Feminist Commission, this leaflet responds to the right wing attack on reproductive freedom and argues that the movement must go beyond "pro-choice" to true reproductive justice. This socialist and anti-racist feminist agenda would take up issues such as access to health and child care, forced sterilization, and the division of "productive" and "reproductive" labor.
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Pop culture

Intersection of pop culture and radical aspirations

Vigilantism of the Few and the Many; the Darkness of Democracy in The Dark Knight

John B. Cannon's picture
Submitted by John B. Cannon on August 14, 2008 - 8:05am.

The Dark Knight is the pre-eminent summer action-superhero blockbuster of 2008, and will probably soon become the second grossing film of all time, behind

As Pop Culture Leans Left, Does it Really Matter?

mark's picture
Submitted by mark on December 20, 2007 - 6:26pm.

Writers on Strike in Boston
Jaime Paglia (creator of Eureka), Rob Kutner (writer for The Daily Show), and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) at the Writers Guild of America Rally in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass., on Friday, December 14th, 2007. Photo from Brad Searles

Last Friday there was a rally by striking writers in Boston. Joss Whedon, the Creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the big names at the event. A friend of mine asked me if I had ever seen the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Buffy gets pulled into a demonic sweatshop. Basically it goes like this -- runaway kids are kidnapped from Skid Row, dragged into this netherworld sweatshop, worked until they are nearly-dead, and then spit back onto the streets of Los Angeles. Ever Buffy, she busts the place up and frees all the captives. My friend mentioned it because he thought it was a great example of the left presence in pop culture, since in a key scene Buffy uses a hammer and sickle to kick the demon guards asses, striking a bad-ass Stakonovite pose in the middle of the fight sequence for good measure.



The Mainstream Media and Race Politics

Submitted by Ursula on November 15, 2007 - 7:38pm.

When I broach the subject of race with my college freshmen in their introduction to composition class, I often do so through the medium of sports. What does it mean, I ask, that NBA players are now required to wear suits and ties when they sit on the bench? And why is it that, when African-American youth Genarlow Wilson was released from prison after serving two years for having consensual oral sex with another teenager, it was ESPN that offered the most extensive, in-depth article in the mainstream press?


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Public Enemy off the Charts

Submitted by redstar504 on October 15, 2007 - 9:17am.


Public Enemy's newest album.
So, when I first heard plans for this Solidarity blog at our 2006 convention, I wanted to do a review of New Whirl Order (2005) and Rebirth of a Nation (2006,) and compare them to Flavor of Love. Since then, How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People who Sold Their Soul? (2007) has been released. Flavor of Love had a second season, and spinoffs I Love New York and Charmed School gained widespread attention.

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