Europe

The annulment decision targeting a CHP party congress and the attempts to reinstall former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu at the head of the party through the judiciary, acting on orders from Erdoğan's Palace like a court-appointed guardian, is proof that the institutions and constitutional order of the bourgeois regime in Türkiye have ceased to function even at a symbolic level. The Supreme Election Council (YSK), which since 1950 existed as the guarantor of electoral security within bourgeois democracy, has now become a direct apparatus of the Palace judiciary. What we face is not a legal process but a political coup; therefore, these decisions are illegitimate. Yet merely stating this does not solve the problem. The solution lies in organizing a broader and more radical united struggle rising from the streets.

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.

Well before Magyar took office, the LGBTQI+ rights and labor movements won significant victories against Orban. Securing those victories will require Hungarian workers to get ready to face the new boss

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.

Straight from the middle of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Mandi Coelho interviews Andriy Movchan, a Ukrainian left organizer, also sailing in the Flotilla, who organizes with the european network for solidarity with Ukraine, and who is a political dissident facing persecution by the right-wing.

On the night of April 12, in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, thousands of people jubilantly filled the streets to celebrate the political and electoral defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party, after 16 years of authoritarian government. A new historical stage had begun. Why did Orbán lose, and what does his […]

On 12 April, a new flotilla will set sail from Barcelona. Hundreds of activists are determined to break the blockade that Israel has imposed on Gaza, preventing any kind of humanitarian aid from entering. This is happening amid the inaction and complicity of European governments. This new flotilla aims to build on the mission of […]

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary last Sunday. The results left no room for doubt: a massive rejection at the polls brought an end to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s sixteen-year rule. Moreover, Orbán’s defeat deals a serious blow to both Putin and Trump at the same time. As the results came in, a sea of people flooded the streets of Budapest and other cities. The Hungarian masses categorically refuse to continue down Orbán’s path. It remains to be seen—beyond his campaign promises—what course his successor, Péter Magyar, will take.

Beril Saydam Shangun and Tahsin Mert Saygin speak on organizing at private schools in Istanbul, Turkiye as part of Historical Materialism Conference 2026

Half a million people marched in London on 28 March against the far right and for many other reasons. It was organised by Together Alliance, a coalition formed in 2020 to oppose racism and the far right, which brought together over 80 organisations from trade unions to community groups, anti-racist organizations, and environmental activists.

During March, Starmer declared that military action against Iran is “not our war”, but then allowed three B-52 nuclear-capable American bombers to use Diego Garcia’s UK base in the Indian Ocean for ‘defensive’ strikes against Iran. As we write, the UK government is working with the USA on a ‘viable’ plan to open the Strait of Hormuz, and HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, is en route, with several minesweepers available.

On March 22 and 23, with very high turnout, the Italian electorate voted against the Nordio-Meloni reform. The “No” vote won by a wide margin, beating the “Yes” vote by two million votes. This result is clearly the fruit of the massive mobilizations last fall—on September 22 and October 3 and 4—and of a new generation entering politics to oppose imperialist wars, the Meloni government’s complicity in the Zionist genocide in Palestine, imperialist rearmament, and Trump’s wars.

Ankara’s capitalist rationality identifies not Israel’s presence in the region, but rather Iran’s “game-changing” moves as the primary threat. The Turkish Bonapartist regime, confined in Syria to merely blocking the Kurdish corridor, is condemned to a similar “buffer” role in the Iran-Israel tension. This predicament—caught between protecting Iran’s gas flows (its economic lifeline) and serving as the West’s forward outpost (Kürecik, etc.)—highlights the vast gulf between the appetite for “sub-imperialist expansionism” and real power.

The fightback to block the rollout of Palantir’s FDP is well and truly on across England. Health workers have been spearheading the campaign with significant support from health justice groups and Palestine solidarity groups. Last year, the BMA (the doctor’s union) passed a motion rejecting the FDP and resolved to lobby relevant NHS bodies to terminate the contract. The union is currently developing guidance for members on when and how to refuse to use the FDP without compromising patient safety while at work. This is with the view to move ‘away from the platform entirely’ when a suitable alternative has been developed. 

Teachers state that there are serious disparities in wages and rights between them and the Italian teachers working at the same school. Despite performing the same work, Turkish teachers receive significantly lower pay, cannot benefit equally from social rights, and have suffered major economic losses in recent years. They also emphasize that they have not received any wage increases for the past three years, and that the proposed raise rates do not correspond to Turkey’s current economic realities.