South African Students Take on Neoliberalism and the ANC

South African students shut down almost all of the country’s universities this October during unprecedented nationwide protests against a planned 10% hike in tuition fees. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, and beat gathering students with truncheons, but were unable to suppress the movement. More than 10,000 people demonstrated in front of the nation’s […]

Syriza Holds On, But the Left is Weakened in Greece

By Asad Ismi The Greek tragedy of national economic collapse appeared to be turning into farce with the re-election of Syriza at the end of September. The leftist party had been first elected only seven months earlier on the promise to end the austerity measures forced on Greece by the troika of the European Union […]

Mexico’s Human Rights Crisis and Canada’s Silence

By Asad Ismi The 21st anniversary of NAFTA in September finds Mexico in the throes of a shocking human rights crisis that, since 2006, has seen more than 150,000 people killed and more than 27,000 disappeared. According to Amnesty International, torture in Mexico is “out of control,” and police and security forces have “blood on […]

Canadian Neocolonialism in Colombia

By Asad Ismi In May, the board of Pacific Rubiales, a Canadian firm and the biggest private oil producer in Colombia, announced its support for a takeover bid by the Mexican conglomerate Alfa and U.S.-based Harbour Energy. Pacific Rubiales operates Colombia’s biggest oil field, in the province of Meta, and during the past seven years […]