Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights general secretary GAWAIN LITTLE discusses the impact of the US-Israeli war on the Iranian people and economy
Latest editorial
Chokepoint canals: How climate and politics threaten global shipping
Man-made canals like Panama and Suez face unprecedented challenges from extreme weather patterns and geopolitical tensions that reveal the fragility of our global trade networks, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
MORE THAN A WATERWAY: The Agua Clara (Clear Water) locks on Gatun Lake, Panama Canal in September 2019
[Mariordo (Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz)/CC]
Capitalism has extracted itself from crisis before, argues PRABHAT PATNAIK – but through methods no longer available. So it is turning to authoritarianism, militarism and neocolonialism
The five young men killed in the A66 crash were responsible for a devastating tragedy — but the crash should force us to ask difficult questions about wider society, argues RENATA MEDEIROS MIRRA
Britain funds the policing of black culture 16 times better than the culture itself. The Diamond Jubilee is the moment to end that, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Despite Andy Burnham’s declaration defending the continued partition of the island, all major international and internal trends are converging to make Irish reunification inevitable
Humans are part of the ‘animal kingdom’ – and of nature in general – but also distinct from it and labour (work) is part of what makes us unique, declared Engels. His insights 150 years ago into how our species came to be and how we differ from the rest of nature, are as important today as they were then, says the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
IN today’s modern, globalised world, we often take for granted that many of the commodities we use in daily life begin as raw materials thousands of miles away. These raw materials require extraction, assembly and, crucially, transportation before they are placed on the consumer market to be sold.
Marx’s second volume of Capital emphasises the importance of circulation as an essential feature possessed by capital: “Capital as self-expanding value embraces not only class relations... It is a movement, a circulatory process going through various stages.”
Globalisation has meant that transportation of capital in the commodity-form is something that occurs on a worldwide scale. Key to the transport of commodities (everything from computers to clothes to petrol) are global shipping routes.
The Panama Canal is an artificial waterway created through the narrow strip of land in Central America that separates the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean Sea. It is an essential conduit for maritime trade, meaning that ships can circumvent the long and dangerous route around the southernmost tip of South America when travelling from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.
Similar stories
Extreme heat is now one of the defining public health challenges of a warming world, explains Prof IAN WILLIAMS
![BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE: Yanaocha mine in Cajamarca, Peru is the largest gold mine in South America operated by Newmont Corporation. It is considered the most profitable in the world [Pic: Elbuenminero/CC]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2025-09/extractive%20caoitakism%20webpic.jpg.webp?itok=lkf5b6oi)
JOE GILL appreciates a lucid demonstration of how capital today is an outgrowth of the colonial economy