Preferable to Starmer he may be, but there is scant sign of a sharp political break in Burnham’s policies so far — while left challenges aren’t making much of a running either, finds ANDREW MURRAY. How can socialism be put back on the map?
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) is poised to deny Venezuela over $5 billion of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to bolster its reserves on the grounds that the elected President Nicolas Maduro is not the undisputed legitimate leader of the country.
The overall SDR fund, worth $650 billion (£459bn), is to be allocated to help emerging and low-income nations deal with mounting debt and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The IMF’s reactionary refusal to allow Venezuela access to the $5bn (£3.5bn) pot maintains that “the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela has led to a lack of clarity in the international community … regarding official government recognition.”
The campaign against the Bank of England’s ongoing theft of Venezuelan gold is gaining support across the labour movement and beyond, writes MATT WILLGRESS
International solidarity can ensure that Trump and his machine cannot prevail without a level of political and economic cost that he will not want to pay, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
The global left must be unwavering in it is support for Venezuela as Washington increases its aggression, and clear-eyed about the West’s cynical motives for targeting it, says CLAUDIA WEBBE



