Third Camp Marxism

We have been sent the following statement by the Blacklist Support Group, which organises among construction workers.

See also the reports sent to socialist film-makers Reel News, who work with Blacklist Support, by construction workers from across the country here.

Anti-Chinese xenophobia has tainted some responses to the pandemic

Amidst the pandemic crisis, we have seen propaganda efforts by states, politicians and press to promote their own image and scapegoat others. The Chinese government and its press and supporters boast that they are leading the world against the virus. Other governments, especially in the UK and US, are deflecting blame for their own shortcomings onto China.

In these troubled and isolating times here’s a chance to have a bit of fun and demonstrate to all and sundry that you are a real smart-arse. Most of these questions are not that difficult, there are a few stinkers however. Try and resist the temptation to look everything up on Google. Use the quiz as you see fit. I hope some of the answers at least will prove interesting. The full answers will be posted in ten days from when they are made available online.

Photo by Fran Boloni on Unsplash

We reproduce the Ile-de-France union regions (URIF) communiqué of March 23, 2020; and the declaration issued by the national coordination of strikers of 28 March.

Document 1 (23 March)
A common position along these lines should be taken at the national level. Cross-union unity shouldn't be dissolved in the state of emergency
Communiqué of URIFS CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, UNEF, UNL

After agreeing with the government to "leave the controversies for later", Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the MPs of La France Insoumise have spoken. On a live LCI broadcast on Monday 30 March, the head of LFI opined that "the time has come to ban posted worker contracts, to repatriate posted workers by putting in the papers, or to keep them here and treat them properly", because "in France lorries are still coming in from a series of countries where there is no containment and which can therefore these lorries and be vectors for disseminating the virus".

Photo by Mike Henderson on Unsplash

Bernie Sanders explained his proposals on the pandemic in an interview with Bill Maher on 4 April 2020.

Click here to view

Click here for the proposals written out in full

Keir Starmer was supported in his leadership bid by many MPs and organisations on the hard-right of the Labour Party. Their support was at least partially based on the idea that he can be pressured to return the Labour Party to New Labour-type neoliberal policies.

However, Starmer could not have won the clear, indeed overwhelming, victory he did by getting only right-wing votes. He was undoubtedly supported by many who backed Jeremy Corbyn. He won their support in part by pledging to stick to a lot of the policies that the left won Labour to after 2015.

Photo by Florencia Viadana on Unsplash

The simple connection between socialism and science fiction is that sci-fi imagines alternatives to the status quo. Frequently, this involves implicitly critiquing our present society or projecting possible outcomes of existing social trends. More to the point, sci-fi tends to imagine change at the level of the entire human species, such as by envisaging how humanity will evolve socially through the application of scientific inventions and discoveries.

Pete Boggs interviewed Kaya Genç, a Turkish journalist and author, early in March 2020.

According to the mainstream Italian daily Corriere della Sera (30 March): “There is an increasing risk that a social powder keg will be created in the South [of Italy].

“In Campania, as in Sicily, episodes of night thefts or small assaults in supermarkets are multiplying...” Police have now been stationed outside supermarkets in some areas.

In Naples, an exhibition hall has been converted to a food aid centre. On 31 March the city of Palermo set up an online facility to register for food aid, and it was quickly flooded.