tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48906705898035122872024-03-17T23:04:13.889-04:00Life on the LeftNews articles, commentaries, reviews, translations on subjects of potential interest to progressive minded individuals and organizations, with a special emphasis on the Quebec national question, indigenous peoples, Latin American solidarity, and the socialist movement and its history.Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.comBlogger355125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-46657541086700027642024-02-29T13:12:00.001-05:002024-02-29T13:12:31.992-05:00Ukraine: Ceasefire… or capitulation?Last August, I published a critique of left responses in Canada to Russia’s assault on Ukraine: Canadian Left Responses to War in Ukraine – a Provisional Balance Sheet. I noted that progressive opinion in support of Ukraine’s defense of its territorial sovereignty and national self-determination tended to be stronger in Quebec than in English Canada. However, a notable exception was a broad Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-91927288624303188722024-02-26T10:08:00.001-05:002024-02-26T10:13:05.944-05:00Ukraine: Seven conclusions on the second anniversary of the warVitaliy Dudin, a labour rights lawyer, is a leader of Ukraine’s Social Movement (Sotsialnyi Rukh). For more on this movement, see “A Ukrainian Left under construction on several fronts.” Here is his assessment of the current situation in the war of resistance against Russia’s invasion, and the issues now looming within Ukraine. The article, based here on a French translation by Patrick Le Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-29849092724408619172024-02-22T16:24:00.001-05:002024-02-23T13:26:38.688-05:00Ukraine’s popular resistance needs our solidarity now more than everUkraine is now entering the third year of its resistance, both armed and unarmed, to Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in 2022. (Russia’s military aggression actually began 10 years ago when it seized Crimea in retaliation for Ukraine’s ousting of a pro-Russian president.) The statement below has been issued by the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine. I follow it with a recent Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-5259115382433795552024-02-04T16:49:00.001-05:002024-02-04T16:49:28.077-05:00Israel instrumentalizes ‘anti-Semitism’Thomas Suárez is a London-based historical researcher as well as a professional Juilliard-trained violinist and composer. A former West Bank resident, he devoted several years to researching poorly-tapped and newly-declassified historical archives to compile his latest book: Palestine Hijacked: How Zionism Forged an Apartheid State from River to Sea. His previous books include three landmark Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-10235803902269542302023-12-01T14:42:00.001-05:002023-12-01T14:42:19.724-05:00Mounting solidarity with the people of Palestine in face of Israel’s assaultAs I write, Israel has resumed its genocidal military assault on Gaza following a brief pause in the fighting. The scope of the Zionist state’s devastating onslaught on the Palestinian people is described by Gilbert Achcar in this post: https://gilbert-achcar.net/zionist-genocidal-war. Tens of thousands demonstrated in support of Palestine before Canada’s parliament in Ottawa on November 25.Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-75538741617403644332023-11-03T05:48:00.001-04:002023-11-03T07:49:45.416-04:00Ukrainian Letter of Solidarity with the Palestinian peopleRussia’s occupation of parts of Ukraine is not fully comparable in scale with Israel’s occupation of Palestine, although they involve similar tactics of violence, discrimination, and illegal settlement (Crimea, West Bank). And the Ukrainian government’s support of Israel’s war on Gaza grossly confuses the relationship of the occupier, Israel, with the occupied and nationally oppressed Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-38589031765367932322023-10-22T10:49:00.001-04:002023-10-22T10:49:53.232-04:00Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza (II)Palestinian Liberation and the MENA Revolutions By Joseph Daher October 22, 2023 The following article was originally published by Joseph Daher, a Syrian/Swiss academic and internationalist, in the journal Tempest on July 5, 2021. I republish it here believing it provides important background, particularly on Palestinian formations and their politics. – RF * * * Israel’s recent attacks Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-83188007194653984052023-10-22T10:32:00.001-04:002023-10-22T10:32:44.460-04:00Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza (I)Gaza: between a second chapter of the Nakba and the revival of the Oslo fiction BY GILBERT ACHCAR October 20, 2023 There are forecasts that one hopes will be belied by reality. What we forecasted on these pages a week ago (“The ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ Threatens to Sweep Gaza Away”, Al-Quds al-Arabi, 10 Oct. 2023) on the fourth day of the new Gaza war, is one such instance. Here is what we foresaw: Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-81566351279838098132023-09-21T14:22:00.001-04:002023-09-21T14:22:22.895-04:00The left and Ukraine: Anti-imperialism or alter-imperialism? Introduction At its annual convention on September 12, the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) adopted almost unanimously a strong resolution of solidarity with Ukraine. The debate may be viewed here. When I posted this information to a discussion list sponsored by Socialist Project, Sam Gindin was quick to point out that “the history of the Labour Party and the TUC have been proudly [pro] Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-48178742710345070342023-09-10T17:02:00.001-04:002023-09-10T17:44:11.696-04:00That other 9-11: The coup that ended Chile’s Popular Unity government By Richard Fidler This year, on September 11, we mark the 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile. The violent military overthrow of the Popular Unity government put an end to a turbulent experiment in the parliamentary road to socialism initiated with the presidential election of Salvador Allende just three years earlier. The coup government headed by General Augusto Pinochet launched massive Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-27866405907111067252023-08-16T12:45:00.001-04:002023-08-16T14:24:05.134-04:00Canadian Left Responses to War in Ukraine – a Provisional Balance SheetBy Richard Fidler February 24, 2022 marked the opening of a new phase in the developing reconfiguration of global capitalist and popular forces. Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine, the prompt mobilization of resistance by Ukrainians, and the quick shift toward public support for NATO in much of Europe, confronted the international Left and progressive forces with some major challenges. The Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-89109383777153463922023-08-13T16:26:00.001-04:002023-08-13T16:26:48.752-04:00The war in Ukraine: four reductions we must avoidBy Rafael Bernabe Rafael Bernabe is a Puerto Rican historian and sociologist who is currently an elected member of the Puerto Rico Senate representing the left-wing Citizens’ Victory Movement (Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana, or MVC). The following is a translation of his article La guerra en Ucrania: cuatro reducciones que debemos evitar. First published a year ago, it is all the more relevant Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-91815469569240309142023-08-08T09:36:00.001-04:002023-08-08T09:48:25.868-04:00Amid crisis, Putin’s Russia cracks down on anti-war dissentBy Federico Fuentes August 7, 2023 Asked about the arrest of renowned socialist intellectual Boris Kagarlitsky, Russian president Vladimir Putin said on July 29: “It's the year 2023, and Russia is engaged in an armed conflict with a neighbour. And I think that there should be a certain attitude towards people who harm us inside the country.” The “harm” Kagarlitsky is alleged to have caused Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-89020761433764472892023-07-31T12:03:00.001-04:002023-07-31T12:48:26.504-04:00Solidarity needed for Russian anti-war socialist Boris KagarlitskyBy Federico Fuentes Internationally renowned Marxist sociologist and anti-war socialist Boris Kagarlitsky is currently being held in a Russian pre-trial detention centre and faces the possibility of up to 7 years’ jail if found guilty of the trumped-up charge of “justifying terrorism”. The decision to detain him until his hearing in late September was made within a day of his arrest in MoscowRichard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-31500000759125730742023-07-21T10:32:00.001-04:002023-07-21T13:59:35.942-04:00James Connolly and Ukraine Well aware there would be socialists criticizing him for taking weapons from an imperial power, Connolly had this banner made: We Serve Neither King Nor Kaiser but Ireland The war in Ukraine has been hotly debated in Ireland, where many compare Ukraine’s resistance to Russian imperialism with Ireland’s historic opposition to British imperialism. In the following article, Conor Kostick, a Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-8573536772404443492023-07-12T12:26:00.001-04:002023-07-14T15:51:20.664-04:00How Ontario tenants fought for legal security of tenure, and wonBy Richard Fidler Nothing illustrates the post-pandemic austerity more clearly than the sharp inflation in housing costs as reflected in the escalating rates of mortgage interest[1] and residential rents. Most immediate are the rent increases. Average rents across Canada have risen by 20 percent since the onset of the pandemic, and by even more in major cities.[2] Not surprisingly, Ricardo Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-20709952397634142322023-04-04T14:26:00.001-04:002023-04-18T15:00:37.844-04:00Origins of the Ukrainian Crisis (Part II)The Maidan [Part I of Marko Bojcun’s text is here: https://lifeonleft.blogspot.com/2023/04/origins-of-ukrainian-crisis-part-i.html] By the time Yanukovych uttered these words, the protesters on Kyiv’s Maidan had grown to several thousand. No-one was paying attention to the very real shortcomings of the Agreements, or that the EU was not prepared to offer more than ten million euros to help the Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-62934881935670300682023-04-04T14:12:00.001-04:002023-04-18T14:58:16.238-04:00Origins of the Ukrainian Crisis (Part I)In a major article published in Critique in 2015 Marko Bojcun analyzed the origins of the crisis that erupted in Ukraine in 2013-2014, and which has shaped that country’s political, economic and social situation since then. The essay is republished in his book Towards a Political Economy of Ukraine: Selected Essays 1990-2015. This article by a leading Ukrainian Marxist historian addresses many ofRichard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-1384500720613407112023-04-03T11:54:00.001-04:002023-04-03T12:19:03.637-04:00Marko Bojcun (1951-2023): A life for socialism and Ukraine’s national rightsby Dick Nichols When Ukrainian writer, teacher and activist Marko Bojcun died in England on March 11 after a long fight against cancer, an important link snapped in the chain of struggle for the Ukrainian people’s social and national emancipation. Bojcun’s work is required reading for anyone who wants to understand Ukraine’s social, economic and political evolution — from the 1917 revolution Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-73633689914822632182023-03-16T13:01:00.001-04:002023-03-16T13:35:23.140-04:00A Ukrainian Socialist Lays Out the Aims and Struggles of Her Country’s LeftLeftists in Ukraine are simultaneously resisting Russian imperialism and the domestic imposition of neoliberalism. By Ashley Smith, Truthout On the anniversary of Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian left faces a dual challenge — resisting Russian military attacks while also fighting against their own government’s imposition of neoliberalism and austerity. Meanwhile, the Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-2646755584600116222023-03-02T14:14:00.001-05:002023-03-02T14:21:12.825-05:00The Left, Ukraine and RussiaThe current issue of the Quebec online weekly Presse-toi à gauche publishes this article by Marxist ecosocialist Daniel Tanuro and others, published first in the Belgian publication Le Vif.  My translation. -- Richard Fidler * * * What the war has revealed about the nature of Ukrainian and Russian societies Looking back on the year that has passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-66085169593298988132023-02-27T14:28:00.001-05:002023-02-27T16:17:49.815-05:00Ukraine: Some Issues and AnswersThe British website Labour Hub, which says it “shares a socialist vision of a radical, transformative Labour Government for the 21st Century,” promotes debate and information of interest to socialists in the Labour Party. It recently published a statement on the Ukraine war by John McDonnell, shadow Chancellor (foreign minister) under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the party. Labour Hub has now Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-37002062165010083332023-01-23T15:23:00.001-05:002023-01-23T15:23:13.873-05:00Our key antiwar target: the Kremlin, or NATO? A conversation with a friendOn January 11, I forwarded to the Socialist Project discussion list an interview with a Polish socialist Zofia Malisz: “Razem: Building a left alternative in Poland.” She explained that when Russia invaded Ukraine her movement, Razem, had “absolutely no doubts that this invasion represented an existential threat to Ukraine, that there could be no compromise, and that our party’s reaction was Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-84543309583390757762023-01-09T16:19:00.001-05:002023-01-09T16:27:56.375-05:00We need to talk about VolodymyrUkraine, Palestine: Même Combat! An excellent blog I follow by Irish socialist Tomás Ó Flatharta has published a guest post by Des Derwin, a supporter of Irish Left With Ukraine in Dublin. I think the comrade raises an important point that does indeed need to be addressed more explicitly by the international solidarity movement with Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion. I take the Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890670589803512287.post-703316533118842412022-12-29T15:57:00.001-05:002022-12-29T21:37:14.967-05:00Support Ukraine? – Why and HowThe left – in Canada and internationally – has not responded in a coherent way to Russia’s assault on Ukraine. The Social-Democratic left, such as Canada’s NDP, is sympathetic to Ukraine’s resistance but largely fails to dissociate itself from the government’s political support for the neoliberal Zelensky regime or Western imperialist designs. Further to the left, there is a range of positions.Richard Fidlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00804371150784778433noreply@blogger.com0