An interview with Paris Makrides, Xekinima (Greek CWI)

When Congress passed a budget in 2011 and raised the debt ceiling, they ducked the issue of what programs to cut until after the elections. This was a way for both parties to avoid responsibility for unpopular budget cuts. Now, unless Congress agrees otherwise, massive automatic across-the-board cuts are set to take place over the next ten years in both defense and non-defense spending, to take effect on December 31. These cuts will total an estimated $109 billion in 2013. Also, the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire.

Today the United States of America has become the leading society in world history to incarcerate its own population, standing shoulders above Iran, China, and even Stalin’s monstrous gulags in the Soviet Union, with 2.3 million men and women warehoused in prison cells and six million under criminal “justice” supervision.

The catalyst of international mobilizations, along with the extension of the misery of the capitalist crisis towards the core countries, opens the way for a general strike of the whole of Europe.

National Nurses United 2012 Convention passed its "Care Plan for Building a National RN Movement" which included an important amendment to challenge "the two parties of Wall Street and the 1%, Democratic and Republican, in local, state or national election[s]."

On November 6, voters in four states delivered a historic defeat to the right-wing agenda of legalized hate and discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) people.

This record-breaking vote for an independent working-class candidate has raised the confidence of workers, young people, and activists that it is possible to struggle against looming budget cuts from the “fiscal cliff,” attacks on public sector workers, education, and other social programs.

Last year's Occupy Wall Street movement made an impact on this election by bringing a discussion about economic inequality between “the 99% and the 1%” to the forefront. A brighter spotlight shone down on the record $6 billion spent on federal races, to the outrage of millions.

Socialist Alternative candidate, Kshama Sawant, speaks on election night after receiving a ground-breaking 27% of the vote against corporate Democrat and speaker of the Washington State House of Representatives, Frank Chopp. Also including speeches from Philip Locker of the Justice editorial board discussing the national election results and Stephan Koch reporting on the international significance of these elections.

Socialist Alternative candidate Kshama Sawant received over 20,000 votes for WA state house of representatives while running against Frank Chopp, the sitting speaker of the house and one of the most powerful politicians in Washington State. In this press release, we call for a united slate against Democrats in Seattle, and call for similar independent left-wing challenges nation-wide.

While both Obama and Romney avoid any mention of climate change, millions correctly see this hurricane as another dire warning. Violent and extreme weather is on the rise, and unless we overcome corporate resistance to transforming our energy economy, working people will pay an ever-growing price of death and destruction.

Among the working class in South Africa social discontent is growing. So are a rejection of the corrupt political and trade union leaders and demands for fundamental change. These are highlighted - not just by the unofficial miners’ strike - but by strikes of hundreds of thousands of other workers across all sectors of industry.

Though Election Day in the US isn't until 6 November, it is already abundantly clear who the winner of this year’s presidential election will be: Wall Street and big business! The 2012 election cycle is expected to be more awash in corporate cash than any previous election, with a projected $5.8 billion to be spent across all races. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected to the presidency amidst a whirlwind of enthusiasm for the "hope" and "change" he had promised America, but this sentiment is now long gone.

A hot autumn of deepening crisis and instability and a rising tide of struggle is well underway in the Spanish state. The last few weeks have witnessed an intense period of mobilizations, with numerous protests of tens of thousands, including a national trade union-led demonstration on 15 September of up to one million people, which we have previously reported on. This was quickly followed up by two tens of thousands-strong demonstrations surrounding parliament on 25 and 29 September, - which featured brutal police repression, provoking a massive public backlash – and a series of important sectorial strikes and struggle, in transport, education etc. An opinion poll this week showed that an astounding 77% of Spaniards “agreed with the motives” of those who protested around parliament, against the austerity policies of the government and the corruption of the political establishment.

On Saturday, October 6, approximately 1:30am, a young University of South Alabama student walked up to the campus police station and banged on the windows of the building. An officer, Trevis Austin, stepped out and found the student, 18-year old Gil Collar, naked and "behaving erratically". What is known is that Gil Collar was unarmed, and that the officer shot Collar in the chest at point blank range, killing him. Along with national news coverage, the killing also sparked public outrage. Members of the student body, along with students close to Collar, organized a protest outside the campus police office where Collar was killed the following Wednesday.