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ICSS 20210516 Biden’s Foreign Policy – Hope or Horror? Sun., May 16, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm PDT Biden bellicosely proclaimed, “American is back,” in his major foreign policy priorities speech, reaffirming the bipartisan consensus of regime change, forever wars, and the NATO alliance. Republican neo-cons now shelter in the Democrat’s big tent, today’s party of war. Regardless of  the changing of the guard in Washington, the Biden’s policies will follow his predecessor, but will more effectively target official enemies such as Venezuela and Iran and will double down on Russia and China. The US empire is the main ...

ICSS20210523 The Significance of the Alabama Amazon Union Struggle: Building Solidarity in a Time of Transformation for the Working Class Judy Greenspan, a member of Workers World Party and the San Francisco Bay Area local organizing committee to support Alabama Amazon workers Our discussion of this important topic will be led by Judy Greenspan, a member of the Peace and Freedom Party, the Bay Area Chapter of Workers World Party, and the San Francisco Bay Area local organizing committee to support Alabama Amazon workers.Resources: Recommended background reading: WWP message on May Day 2020 is Organize! By Larry Holmeshttps://www.workers.org/2020/05/48257/ ...

The US/Israel are actively and overtly preparing for war on Iran. From their perspective current conditions may be favorable for an attack due to several strategic and geopolitical factors. Iran could be nearing weapons-grade uranium enrichment levels, but it does not yet have a nuclear deterrent capability. Additionally, regional instability—such as the weakening of Iran’s allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen—may reduce the risk of retaliation. Israel’s recent normalization of relations with several Arab states could also provide a buffer against diplomatic backlash. Domestically, political leaders both Washington and Tel Aviv may view military action as a way to ...

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What constitutes (1) Imperialism and Fascism in our time at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century? (2) How is imperialism different today than in 1916 when Lenin penned his famous booklet? (3) How is Fascism today different than in 1935 and before when Dimitrov, Palme Dutt & Trotsky wrote to define it. What to call the new forms of fascism? (4) How have the wrong interpretations of fascism developed and where has it led Marxism? (5) What do the phenomenon of MAGA on one hand and Identity Politics of Liberalism represent today? (6) How to identify ...

Christopher's talk will focus on the current situation in the international communist movement and the various emerging contradictions and issues. It will address ongoing issues within Solidnet, the various positions of communist parties on Russia’s ongoing Special Military Operation, and how communists should approach multipolarity. Christopher Helali is the International Secretary of the American Communist Party (ACP) and North American chair of the DPRK International Solidarity Group. He is an educator, independent investigative journalist, researcher, and geopolitical analyst. Chris has studied at Cornell Law School, Dartmouth College, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, ...

Modern war is a product of imperialism and cannot be eliminated without destroying imperialism. The most important thing is the policy that the parties that led to that war were pursuing and will pursue after the end of the war. We are not opposed to all wars. There are just and unjust wars. We support just wars like the war against imperialism by the oppressed nations, the wars of the bourgeoisie against feudalism, the wars of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie and the wars of socialist countries against imperialist countries. Revisionist distortions on the question of war and the role ...

 The ICSS has hosted a number of Marxist intellectuals addressing imperialism and how is it manifest in the Ukraine conflict. There is a broad consensus on the left against weapons for endless war and for diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine – a conflict that risks nuclear conflagration. Progressive groups like the Peace In Ukraine Coalition (https://www.peaceinukraine.org/) oppose spending for militarism and support funds for jobs, healthcare, and housing. InPeace Talks Essential as War Rages on in Ukraine (https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/09/05/peace-talks-essential-war-rages-ukraine), Benjamin and Davies write how the US and its allies sabotaged a possible peace agreement in the early stages of the conflict and argue that one is ...

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network International Coordinator Charlotte Kates was arrested and charged by the Vancouver Police Department for a speech she gave on April 26 expressing support for the Palestinian resistance and calling for the Palestinian and Arab resistance – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah – to be removed from so-called ‘terrorist lists’ in Canada and elsewhere. VPD officers arrested Kates while she was on the bus riding home after attending the establishment of the Palestine solidarity encampment at the University of British Columbia, and charged her with “public incitement ...

The Modi led BJP is in its 10th year governing India. India is 5th largest economy, has landed a mobile land rover on Moon's South pole, improved industrial infrastructure and has reduced absolute poverty. In 2023, India also surpassed China in population, but the per capita income remained low, with unemployment rising, and widened income and wealth disparity under the neoliberal economy. Social tensions have risen with its aggressive Hindutva ideology. India is in BRICS, SCO, and G20, of which it is the president in 2023. With its strong ties with the US cemented in his visit to Washington this ...

Speaker: Basudev Nag Chowdhury, People's Brigade Bangladesh has observed a students-led mass-upsurge to overthrow the Hasina government replacing it with an interim government led by Md. Yunus as the Chief Adviser, although unrest is still going on. In quick succession, Sri Lanka has experienced the electoral power capture by the communist party JVP. Pakistan is exhibiting similar unrest since the arrest of its ex-president Imran Khan. The Indian state is still managing the people’s grievances although unprecedented sparks of protests are being observed such as in Bengal. In the talk at ICSS, Com. BNC will try to explain the general characteristics ...

The Indian state has hitched the wagon of the country’s development to the engine of the nation’s big capital, perhaps like no other time in India’s history. Big private capital today not only occupies the commanding heights of the Indian economy, but also the imagination of  the ruling elite and even that of the popular classes. The pinnacle of this development is epitomized by the stupendous growth and reach of the Indian telecom sector. The ruling elite rests their case of claiming ultimate success by citing the ubiquitous presence of cell phones in almost every hand in India, which are ...

Michael Roberts will analyse the latest developments in the major economies as inflation rates reach 40-year highs and economic activity heads towards stagnation or worse.  What are the causes of this and what policies are needed to end this crisis? Our speaker, Michael Roberts, worked in the City of London as an economist for over 40 years. He has closely observed the machinations of global capitalism from within the dragon’s den. At the same time, he was a political activist in the labour movement for decades. Since retiring, he has written several books.  The Great Recession – a Marxist view(2009); The Long Depression (2016); Marx 200: ...

The Middle East is in another turmoil as borders, governments, and alliances change daily, sometimes even in hours.  Unable to solve its crisis, imperialism attacks all previously drawn borders, gobbling up even the most benign or harmless enclaves, marching to its targets: Iran, Russia, and ultimately, China.  While Turkey is trying to grapple with rising workers, women, and people's resistance to its traditional fascism and unprecedented corruption, an unyielding Kurdish challenge creates insurmountable cracks in its structure.  Changing policy and tactics daily, contradicting the position it held only a few hours ago, flip-flopping continuously, Turkey is trying to navigate uncharted ...

Since the election of the late president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, in 2021, Iran has adopted an active pro-east foreign policy and has become a key player, along with China and Russia, in the global struggle of the countries of the South for building a multipolar world. This active redirection of Iran’s foreign policy is considered by the U.S. imperialism as a serious obstacle to its continued domination of the unraveling unipolar world and an existential threat to its closest ally, Israel, in West Asia. With the tragic death of President Raisi and Iran’s foreign minister, Amir-Abdollahian, a new round ...

Violent demonstrations have rocked Iran in recent weeks, prompting Donald Trump to promise that "help is on the way" as a US Navy carrier strike group sails to the Middle East, preparing for an attack on Iran. According to the mainstream media and politicians, Iran is a "regime in crisis" that is murdering its citizens to put an end to a mass democratic uprising.  While Trump is making threats, the Democratic Party leadership is criticizing him for not reaching out to build bipartisan support for a military strike against Iran. What is going on in Iran?  Who is in the streets, what are ...