South Africa’s New Revolutionary Party Takes on a Corrupt System

By Asad Ismi When South Africans go to the polls in May, they will have a radical new choice on the ballot. The Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party (SRWP) of South Africa, which announced itself in December, will formally launch its election bid this March. Created by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), […]

Can the Left Look to Portugal for an Alternative to Austerity?

By Asad Ismi While social-democratic parties all over Europe have been losing power and popularity, the centre-left Portuguese government is being lauded even by the mainstream media for defying the European Union (EU) with its anti-austerity policy and thereby sparking an economic recovery in the country. The minority government led by the social-democratic Socialist Party […]

Careful What You Wish For

Canadian Business Wants a Notch in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. In Asia as in Canada, there are Domestic and Foreign Policy Risks to Consider. By Asad Ismi IN MID-JANUARY, AT a forum in Shanghai, the Chinese government presented the latest additions to its global economic strategy known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), […]

Colombia Peace Deal Inches Forward: Indigenous, Afro-Colombian Leaders Fear the State Has Not Shed its Violent Past

By Asad Ismi The peace accords signed in November 2016 by the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, Colombia’s largest guerrilla army) ended a half-century-long conflict that killed 260,000 people and displaced another six million. Under the terms of the deal, the FARC was supposed to hand over […]