Socialist Equality Party exposes Aidan Beatty’s falsifications in Institute of Historical Research seminar

After Beatty delivered a lengthy diatribe, Barbara Slaughter, David North and Eric London exposed his slanderous allegations against Gerry Healy and the history of the Trotskyist movement.

Slander vs. biography: Aidan Beatty’s falsification of Gerry Healy’s family and childhood in a decade of rebellion and civil war

This essay is devoted to a detailed review of Gerry Healy’s family background and youth, based on research conducted in Ireland, including visits to the relevant archives in Dublin and in Galway where the Healy family lived.

Made in Ethiopia—or anywhere else in the world

Shot over four years before and during the pandemic, Made in Ethiopia shows the impact of this first industrial park that hosts 103 companies producing cement, ceramics, aluminium, and fast fashion and employs 20,000 people, at a time of profound crisis.

No Other Land, exposing Israeli settlers’ military criminality, wins awards at International Documentary Association ceremony in Los Angeles—but still no distributor in the US!

The film distribution network has refused to see to it that the work is actually shown to the public in the US.

Detroit Marathon strikers call for support as oil giant ceases healthcare coverage

On strike for more than three months, Marathon workers called for joint action to stop the cutoff of their insurance on December 13.

University of Michigan-Dearborn signals “unprecedented” cuts and layoffs

Over 150 faculty, staff and students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn (UM-D) campus gathered on Tuesday, December 3 to protest looming department cuts and staff layoffs in the upcoming winter semester.

Sri Lankan police attack protesting School Development Officers, detaining four

The Dissanayake government, which is committed to implement the IMF’s austerity agenda, has made clear that it will ruthlessly crush any opposition.

Sri Lankan JVP/NPP government prohibits “commemoration of war heroes” by Tamils

The SEP vehemently opposes government’s anti-democratic ban on commemorative events and demands the immediate release of the three Tamil youth arrested last Saturday.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board: A tripartite conspiracy against the working class

The Trudeau government has used the CIRB and a cooked-up “reinterpretation” of Section 107 of the Labour Code to break a series of strikes, and now threatens to use them against the 55,000 striking Canada Post workers.

Record number of homeless school students in New York City—1 in 8

Fifty-four percent of these children spent some time “doubled up,” or unavoidably sharing the housing of others, while another 41 percent are in families that sought space in city shelters, leaving over 7,000 children who may have spent some nights on the streets or the subway system.

Australian think tank urges social media campaigns to target youth for military propaganda

None of these conflicts have a popular mandate. There is significant concern in ruling circles that youth are increasingly hostile to war the associated attacks on democratic rights.

Media polls point to an accelerating political crisis in Australia

The fall in Labor’s primary vote over the past month, from 30 to 27 percent, represents Labor’s worst result since it barely scraped into office in May 2022.

More than 2,000 people hospitalised as UK faces “quad-demic” including COVID

National Health Service England's first report of the winter warned, “New weekly figures published today for the first time this year show the NHS is going into winter under more pressure than ever before”.

No deployment of German troops to Ukraine! Prevent a nuclear escalation!

The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) strongly condemns the government’s plans to send German soldiers to Ukraine. 83 years after the beginning of Nazi Germany’s war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, German troops are to go to war against Russia again.

Biden administration sets stage for ruthless escalation against Venezuela under Trump

The declaration of US-backed candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as “president-elect” of Venezuela by Secretary of State Antony Blinken paves the way for renewed sanctions and military operations to overthrow the Maduro administration.

Bolsonaro and top generals indicted for January 8 coup in Brazil

Sixty years after the US-backed 1964 military coup, revelations by the Federal Police have shown that Brazil was close to a new coup and the establishment of a dictatorship after Bolsonaro’s electoral defeat.

Democrats and Republicans express support for unelected billionaires’ plans to slash government and social spending

Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were welcomed to Washington by Republicans and some Democrats, who provided the unelected reactionaries a closed audience to discuss their shared plans to slash regulations and enact spending cuts, including to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Right-wing Supreme Court majority appears ready to approve state bans on gender-affirming care for adolescents

Based on Wednesday’s oral arguments, the reactionary majority on the United States Supreme Court appears poised to uphold Tennessee’s ban on transgender medical care for adolescents, calling into question equal protection more broadly.

Turkey leads regime change battle in Syria

The US and NATO-backed war for regime change in Syria, launched in 2011, has been revived. Turkey, Syria’s northern neighbour and occupying power since 2016, is playing a major role.

US-backed Islamist militias storm Aleppo, Syria

This represents a major escalation of the global war between NATO countries, on the one hand, and Russia, Iran and China on the other.

Tehran makes overtures to Trump, as he prepares to escalate Washington’s war on Iran

Tehran is signaling its readiness to bargain with Trump, even as he makes clear that he intends to deal with Iran even more ruthlessly than during his first term, and that he will do so working in the closest concert with Israel, which is already waging war against Iran in all but name.

Trudeau smears Montreal anti-NATO protest as “antisemitic”

The baseless accusation of antisemitism promoted by Trudeau and the political establishment is rich coming from a ruling class that is providing massive military and financial support to Ukraine’s government and state, which are rife with the political descendants of the Ukrainian fascist and Nazi accomplice Stepan Bandera.

Reflections on the death of Lt. Willam Calley Jr.: Imperialist atrocities, from My Lai to Gaza

Calley spent only three days in prison for his role in directing the mass murder of 504 Vietnamese men, women and children. He is now reported to have died April 28 at the age of 80.

80 years since the liberation of Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp: From Hitler’s war in the East to the Holocaust

The history of the Majdanek camp reveals the links between Nazi Germany’s war of aggression against the Soviet Union and the Holocaust, and the extermination of the Jewish population, which primarily affected Poland and Eastern Europe.

The spread of H5N1 bird flu among animals and the growing possibility of a pandemic

The developing avian influenza panzootic and the growing possibility of a pandemic bring to the fore the existential questions for humanity of climate change and the destruction of public health, both of which must be stopped in order to control the growing threats.

Mpox and H5N1 bird flu viruses continue on the march

Amidst a lackadaisical public health response, two viruses with pandemic potential continue to spread in the United States.

Mozambique bans demonstrations after weeks of protests following general elections

Protests against the ruling FRELIMO party continue as opposition candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who is linked to Trump and Portuguese fascist circles, appeals for support from imperialism.

South Africa’s ANC government employs police blockade to trap illegal gold miners underground

The police’s murderous tactics, dubbed “surrender or starve”, have caused outrage in South Africa where unemployment has soared to 42 percent and economic desperation is widespread in the world’s most unequal society.

European Central Bank chief’s interview points to shock of trade war threat

Lagarde said the strategy of the European Union to the Trump tariff threat should be negotiation not retaliation, but whether that is possible is another question.

Small disturbances can have big effects, US Fed warns

Financial vulnerabilities have not gone away, as risks remain elevated, and they are being added to by the increasing institutional embrace of crypto currencies.

Dubious “bomb scares” in UK, as de facto war is declared on Russia

This has all the hallmarks of a black propaganda campaign. Police and state forces are being mobilised with the explanation that there is an ongoing terror threat and that Russia is likely pulling the strings.

Pentagon “adjusts nuclear deterrence strategy” amid escalating war with Russia

The Department of Defense published a report on Thursday with details of changes to US arms strategy in an environment of multiple nuclear peer adversaries, especially Russia and China.

Current emission reduction pledges by governments internationally will result in disastrous global warming

A new United Nations report shows that the world is headed towards up to 3.1℃ of warming by the end of the century, with devastating consequences for billions of people worldwide.

New study warns of the dangers in “overshooting” climate targets

This research reinforces the scientific consensus that the only viable strategy to limit catastrophic climate change requires drastic and immediate emissions cuts.

Western Sydney University IYSSE Annual General Meeting elaborates socialist perspective against war and genocide

The meeting at the working-class university outlined a socialist perspective, based on the mobilisation of the working class against the Gaza genocide and imperialist war.

Australian IYSSE clubs hold anti-war Annual General Meetings in Melbourne and Newcastle

The meetings included lively political discussion on the IYSSE’s perspective of building a global anti-war movement in the working class against Israel’s assault against the people of Palestine and Lebanon, and broader eruption of imperialist war.

Australian spooks and their media mouthpieces bemoan Assange’s freedom

The complaints have a pathetic character to them, but also underscore the fact that the assault on democratic rights associated with the persecution of Assange persists and deepens.

The Australian Labor Party’s record in the Assange case

The Australian government's involvement in the plea deal arrangements was the result of mass popular pressure. It followed years of Labor actively assisting the persecution of Assange.

A reply to an anarchist’s falsification of the Leon Trotsky commemoration on Prinkipo

The event was covered by many national and local media outlets and widely discussed on social media before and after the event in Turkey. However, a former Maoist and current anarchist published an article on his website denouncing and misrepresenting David North’s remarks.

On the anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky

Eighty-four years ago today, on August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky was assassinated by an agent of the Stalinist secret police, the GPU, in his villa in Coyoacan, Mexico, where he spent the final three years of his life as a political exile.

UK Socialist Equality Party election rally advances socialist and internationalist opposition to war

The meeting’s platform featured many of the principal leaders of the party that the working class needs in the battles ahead—the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world party of socialist revolution founded by Leon Trotsky.

Attendees at UK general election rally speak: “The Socialist Equality Party is what I want to dedicate my efforts to building.”

WSWS reporters spoke to some of those in attendance on their response to the Socialist Equality Party (UK) general election rally held in London on Sunday.

Third Trump coup lawyer pleads guilty and agrees to testify in Georgia election case

Jenna Ellis is the third lawyer and fourth defendant to plead guilty in relation to the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Trump coup plot accomplice Chesebro pleads guilty in Georgia fake elector case

Kenneth Chesebro, attorney and close associate of Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Friday to one felony charge in exchange for his agreement to testify against the former-president and 16 other defendants in the fake elector scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Accomplices to social murder

The international pseudo-left and the lifting of Zero-COVID in China: Part 2

The pseudo-left’s hostility to public health and support for imperialism found its sharpest expression in their demand—echoing that of the Western corporate media and political establishment—that China abandon its Zero-COVID strategy.

Immunocompromised mother in Manhattan speaks to Global Workers’ Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic

Melanie, whose children attend public schools in New York City, spoke to the WSWS about the toll the “let it rip” policy toward the pandemic has taken on her and her family.

The Wuhan lab lie: “Weapons of mass destruction” redux

In an uncanny instance of history repeating itself, the lies used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq based on false claims about “weapons of mass destruction” are being used to promote the United States’ unprecedented military buildup around China.

A discredited conspiracy theory about the origins of COVID-19

The Wuhan Lab Leak slander being resurrected to bolster US war drive against China

The Wall Street Journal disclosed that the Department of Energy has shifted its opinion on the origin of the coronavirus to it being most likely a result of a lab leak. However, unnamed sources who have read the report indicate the evidence is of low confidence.

Oppose political censorship of antiwar views at Howard University!

We call on all students, faculty and staff members at Howard University to oppose this censorship and demand that the IYSSE be allowed to hold its planned meeting on campus.

Marcus Garvey and the reactionary logic of racialist politics

More than one hundred years after the formation of his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Marcus Garvey's legacy remains highly relevant in the struggle to overcome efforts to divide the working class along racial lines.

WSWS readers demand Facebook reverse ban on SEG in New Zealand

Readers have expressed outrage at the social media company’s anti-democratic censorship of the Trotskyist Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand.

Facebook blocks Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand from advertising

We call on readers to oppose Facebook’s blatant political censorship of the Trotskyist movement in New Zealand.

An interview with Harvard anthropology Professor John Comaroff—Part one

We spoke recently to South African-born John Comaroff, the Hugh K. Foster Professor of African and African-American studies and of Anthropology, and Oppenheimer Research Fellow in African Studies, Harvard University.

Harvard UAW, pseudo-left groups organize provocation against professor John Comaroff

The right-wing witch-hunt of John Comaroff at Harvard University continued Tuesday with a stage-managed protest during his first class of the semester.

TikTok bans video demanding Bogdan Syrotiuk’s freedom, branding it “hate speech”

The TikTok ban comes just days after the Zelensky regime issued an order banning access to the World Socialist Web Site across Ukraine. The order was issued by the Ukrainian State Special Communications Service, a wing of the country’s military-intelligence apparatus.

Australian government, opposition launch hysterical attacks on the Greens over Gaza genocide

The Greens are serving as something of a placeholder, with the real target the mass opposition to the genocide among workers and young people.

A comment on David North’s review: Biography as demonology: Aidan Beatty’s The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism

The following letter was sent by Steve Long, a former member of the Socialist Labour League/Workers Revolutionary Party who writes for the World Socialist Web Site as Stefan Steinberg.

Book Review

Biography as demonology: Aidan Beatty’s The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism

Aidan Beatty's new book is not a biography, but rather a political diatribe against Gerry Healy and Trotskyism.

Genocidal intent: Amnesty International exposes malice aforethought in the Gaza genocide

On Wednesday, Amnesty International published an exhaustive 296-page report proving that "Only an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza" can "explain the scale and scope" of the mass murder, forcible displacement, and deliberate starvation of the Palestinians in Gaza by Israel.

The fall of the French government and the bankruptcy of the New Popular Front

If it is far-right forces that are being strengthened by Barnier’s fall despite mass social anger against Macron, this is due to the bankruptcy of the NFP, which works to paralyze the workers.

Police locate more bodies in New Zealand’s Pike River mine

The police investigation into the 2010 disaster that killed 29 mineworkers has been dragged out until at least the end of 2023, with no guarantee that anyone will be charged over the avoidable deaths.

New Zealand police extend investigation into Pike River mine disaster until the end of 2023

Police are delaying their decision on whether to lay charges over the 2010 Pike River mine disaster that killed 29 people, until after the October election.