PRISM

Police block workers from marching to Indonesia’s national palace to demand higher wages during a major May Day 2019 protest action. Photo source: Donal Husni/NurPhoto via Getty Images via www.vox.com. Click here for more photos of the May Day 2019 commemoration across the globe.

Supporters of the Bolivarian revolution and the Maduro-led government in Venezuela march on the streets of Caracas to defend Chavismo and to condemn US intervention. Photo source: canaldenoticia.com

More than 120 Filipinos and their international friends in Europe gathered to celebrate 50 years of struggle for social and national liberation in the Philippines on 31 March 2019. Billed as a “Tapestry of Resistance,” the event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands resonated with many other gatherings in the Philippines and overseas that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the New People’s Army.

On 17 November 2018, 300,000 people of the working class and the middle class of France rose up in militant mass demonstrations to protest the fuel tax hike and rising fuel prices. Characteristically, they wore the yellow vest to signal their economic and social distress. Eighteen mass demonstrations, centered in Paris and carried out nationwide, broke out up to the most recent one of March 16, 2019 dubbed as “The Ultimatum”.

The year 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth and the 170th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto. It also marks the 125th birth anniversary of Mao. Throughout the world, many Marxist, socialist, Left labor and anti-imperialist parties and organizations are initiating or joining commemorative events in this regard. Click for more information.

Dec 13 -- Palestinian women chant slogans at a Gaza rally attended by thousands, marking the 30th anniversary of Hamas' founding. Hamas called for mass uprisings last week, after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. (Photo by Reuters)

The People's Liberation Front (JVP) Sri Lanka marks the October Revolution centenary at the Viharamahadevi park in Colombo on 27-28 October. Photos by Irina Malenko/JVP. Click here for photo album.

A cultural worker waves a red flag with the communist hammer-and-sickle symbol during the 100th year celebration of the Great October Socialist Revolution led by various progressive groups in Davao City, the Philippines, at the Holy Cross of Davao College Auditorium on Wednesday, October 25. (Photo: Medel V. Hernani / davaotoday.com)

The main participants to the October Revolution Centennial Conference in Amsterdam pose for a group photo upon its successful conclusion on 24 Sept 2017. The event drew 81 participants representing 27 organizations and 23 countries. (Click here for press statement)

Frank Chapman of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization shares some of the lessons in the U.S. struggle for socialism. Marxist-Leninist and other socialist groups from several American cities held an October Revolution Centennial Conference in NYC on 1 July 2017, followed the next day by a festival of progressive culture in the city's Chinatown district.

THIS WEEK’S MAIN STORY

Anatomy of the current crisis in Venezuela (Part 1)

As of April 2019, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela remains under serious threats of US military intervention which pursue the aim of ousting legitimately elected President Nicolas Maduro and replacing him with a puppet regime subservient to US interests.

A US-led imperialist cabal openly supported domestic reactionaries in their brazen attempt to forcibly replace Maduro with Juan Guaido, speaker of the National Assembly and leader of the extreme right-wing opposition. Right after Guaido declared himself interim president, US-imposed sanctions escalated, together with calls on the Venezuelan armed forces to “withdraw support” from Maduro (essentially urging a coup).

Despite this, Maduro remains in control. Guiado’s bid has fizzled out while the US “slow squeeze of sanctions” is apparently not working effectively as expected. The US continues to talk tough, even alluding to the option of direct military intervention, but international public opinion largely opposes that scenario and favors intra-Venezuela dialogue.

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