The Zionist “National Security” Minister Ben-Gvir has already visited other activists kidnapped from flotillas last year; this is not the first time, and he always displays a sadistic pleasure in humiliating them. Some dare to shout “Free Palestine,” which costs them further physical and psychological abuse. That is what was seen just now against an Irish woman, whom Ben-Gvir himself shoved to force her to kneel. The scenes are truly bizarre: 428 people forced to kneel, with their heads on the ground and plastic zip ties tightened around their hands. As part of the torture, they were forced to listen to the Zionist anthem. “Welcome to Israel!” Ben-Gvir sneered. He was mimicking another minister, Transport Minister Miri Regev, who also posted a video on her social media with the image of the hostages from the flotilla in the background. The attempt to reverse the diplomatic crisis and global condemnation—with several countries such as France, Italy, Canada, and the Netherlands announcing they would recall Israeli ambassadors, a gesture of reprimand and a sign of diplomatic discontent—was to present Ben-Gvir as an “extremist,” an exception. Nothing could be further from the truth.

After ten days of being held captive and subjected to torture and abuse at the hands of the genocidal state of Israel, the coordinators of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek, were finally released this week and were able to return to Brazil and Spain, respectively. The crowd that greeted them highlighted the strength of the international mobilization and the relief felt, in Thiago’s words upon his arrival, at the “rectification of a violation.”

How can we defend unconditional support for the Palestinian liberation struggle—including the right to resistance—within the space of bourgeois democracy, especially when the government seeks precisely to suppress that support? The answer lies neither in adapting to the rules of the game nor in an abstract rejection of the legal arena. It is possible—and necessary—to use the very contradictions of bourgeois democracy against it. How can revolutionaries and those in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle use the formal freedoms of bourgeois democracy—freedom of speech, assembly, and the press; due process of law—to defend the right to self-determination, which includes, as the UN itself recognizes, “the struggle by all available means, including armed struggle”? This is the central contradiction we face. On the one hand, liberal democracies have been passing laws that equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, criminalizing BDS, banning slogans like “from the river to the sea,” and persecuting activists. On the other hand, we know that abandoning the legal arena means abandoning the working class and the youth to repression without defense.

Around the world, Zionist organizations have been leading a charge against free speech based on cynical, false charges of antisemitism.

May 20th marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Akın Reçber; the Fourth Red Rose (Turkish: Dördüncü Kızıl Gülü) of May Day 1996, who died on May 20, 1996 as a result of the brutal torture he endured in police custody. Despite the brutal torture, Akın Reçber resisted to the end, and for thirty years his courage and determination have continued to live on in our struggle.

Whether it’s taking jobs, pricing out utilities or polluting neighborhoods, capitalist AI is an obvious menace. The fightback it’s provoking also has immense potential

It has been less than 20 years since the Great Recession. The paltry reforms that Dodd-Frank introduced have failed to stop Wall Street from finding ways to gamble with the wealth of society.

This article is a synthesis that contains parts of articles published in Correo Internacional in 2017 and 2019, as well as articles published on the LIT-CI website in 2020. Within the polemics of the different left currents, they tend to discuss the policies towards Maduro’s administration, the Constituent Assembly, and/or imperialism. But, unfortunately, little is […]