The question is not simply how much we spend on defence, but what we understand defence and security to mean, says SIMON BRIGNELL
The political economy of trade: a crucial issue for the left
Global South governments’ sovereignty and ability to decide future economic policy are severely compromised by signing free trade agreements, whose terms are heavily weighted in favour of the already wealthy countries of the global North, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG
A rally demanding changes to the Trump administration’s revised North American Free Trade Agreement at the House Triangle in Washington DC, 2017
[Sally King/Public Citizen/Creative Commons]
Given the recent rejection of peace proposals by Israel the world must provide an immediate and resolute response to force accountability on Gaza, argues RAMZY BAROUD
MARK SEDDON tries to cool off in the countryside to avoid the heatwaves but the greed and incompetence of the privatised water industry is now at boiling point
The disputed election of a far-right president, who is also a US citizen, signals further consolidation of Washington’s regional power and represents a threat to the country’s democracy and sovereignty, writes WT WHITNEY JNR
by Her Excellency Ismara Mercedes Vargas Walter, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to the United Kingdom
DR STEPHEN WILKINSON assesses the life and legacy of a revolutionary giant
ON NOVEMBER 26, the Morning Star editorial suggested that we should follow the century-old nostrum of German economist, Rudolf Hilferding in avoiding the “bourgeois dilemma” of protectionism or free trade and concentrate instead on building a socialist society.
Whether or not they knew anything of Hilferding’s writings, the Zapatista Liberation Army in the Mexican state of Chiapas had different ideas when they launched an armed insurrection on January 1 1994 to coincide with the commencement of Nafta, the North American Free Trade Agreement, promulgated between the governments of the US, Canada and Mexico.
The Zapatistas predicted that a tri-country agreement completely liberalising trade in goods and services spelt disaster for them and the rural working class, and they were not wrong. Mexican farmers had no hope of competing with subsidised products from north of the border and 1.3 million agricultural jobs were lost. In a country where corn (maize) is not merely a crop, but a deep cultural symbol tied to daily life, the effect of Nafta was catastrophic.
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From summit to summit, imperialist companies and governments cut, delay or water down their commitments, warn the Communist Parties of Britain, France, Portugal and Spain and the Workers Party of Belgium in a joint statement on Cop30
US tariffs have had Von der Leyen bowing in submission, while comments from the former European Central Bank leader call for more European political integration and less individual state sovereignty. All this adds up to more pain and austerity ahead, argues NICK WRIGHT