CADTM | In July 2024, the World Bank and the IMF will be 80 years old. 80 years of financial neo-colonialism and the imposition of austerity policies in the name of debt repayment. 80 years is enough! The Bretton Woods institutions must be abolished and replaced by democratic institutions serving an ecological, feminist and anti-racist bifurcation. To mark these 80 years, we are republishing a series of articles every Wednesday until July, looking in detail at the history and damage caused by these two institutions.

The Breach | Almost 90 per cent of opinion columns recently published by Canada’s major newspapers defended Israel’s war on Gaza

People's World | It’s the voters, not the corporate candidate Haley, that can kill the hopes of the criminal, fascist, and rapist ex-president.

The Trudeau government’s response to Ukraine was swift and comprehensive. Its approach to Gaza has been timid and hesitant

What does Lenin say to us in today’s post-Soviet world and what is his legacy, asks Vijay Prashad.

Tribune | There is no future for a country with no real approach to developing a green steel industry — Port Talbot’s treatment demonstrates the Tories’ lack of seriousness to this reality.

Tribune | Now thousands of steelworkers are facing an uncertain future in an area already devastated by decades of neglect, serious state intervention – and a real industrial strategy for steel communities – is desperately needed.

The Maple | A new report also finds that unionization’s advantages are greatest among workers who otherwise face disadvantages in the labour market.

On 11–12 January, the International Court of Justice held public hearings on whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The case was initiated by South Africa, which filed an 84-page complaint alleging that Israel violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention of 1948. Several Global South states have supported South Africa’s initiative, while the Global North’s political class has doubled down on its support for Israel. The world awaits the court’s verdict.

Jacobin | Newly elected Argentine president Javier Milei outlined his radical libertarian vision at Davos. During his speech, he made it clear that any opposition to his free-market utopia would be crushed by authoritarian means.

While the sanctions regime has hit Chinese companies, especially Huawei, hard and exposed weak links in China’s chip supply chain, the last year has seen significant progress by Chinese companies.

What did the WEF Risks Report conclude from its survey of Davos participants? “As we enter 2024, we highlight a predominantly negative outlook for the world over the next two years that is expected to worsen over the next decade. … The outlook is markedly more negative over the 10-year time horizon, with nearly two-thirds of respondents expecting a stormy or turbulent outlook.” Not good for capital and even worse for working people.

Jacobin | In Monfalcone, in northeastern Italy, the far-right mayor has banned public Muslim prayer. Home to Europe’s largest shipyard, the town is a crucible of Italy’s rising migrant workforce — and the racist backlash against it.

The Maple | In December, New Brunswick’s government rammed through legislation to end the defined benefit pension plans of roughly 16,000 workers.

CADTM | In the first 17 years of its existence, the projects supported by the World Bank focussed on improvement of communication infrastructures and the production of power. The money lent by the World Bank was to be spent essentially in industrialized countries. Projects approved by the Bank were designed to improve the South’s export capacities to the North, thereby meeting the needs of Northern countries and enriching a handful of transnational companies in the relevant sectors. During this period, no projects were undertaken in the areas of education, health, drinking water supply and waste water treatment.

People's World | The British Labour Party will recognize a Palestinian state when it gets permission from Israel to do so, party leader Sir Keir Starmer has announced in his latest abandonment of progressive international commitments.

The Israeli state is rightly concerned about the possibility of large-scale attacks from the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah. Much is made of the group’s links to Iran, Israel’s former ally and current Middle East competitor. In the subjective world of realpolitik, good and evil are defined by whether or not a given state supports the actions of another.

The fact that Canada has soldiers stationed overseas, in countries including Iraq and Niger, almost never comes up in domestic political discourse. It is rarely covered in Canadian media. It isn’t a topic at debates. No major political party runs on bringing Canadian soldiers home. As Owen Schalk argues, Canadians should start asking why that is.

There is something ironic about the National Post lecturing anyone about media bias, as it did recently with a front-page story titled “A more damaging media bias.” As Marc Edge shows, the opposite is true: the extreme level of ownership concentration in Canada has since resulted in a correspondingly extreme conservative media bias.

CADTM | In July 2024, the World Bank and the IMF will be 80 years old. 80 years of financial neo-colonialism and the imposition of austerity policies in the name of debt repayment. 80 years is enough! The Bretton Woods institutions must be abolished and replaced by democratic institutions serving an ecological, feminist and anti-racist bifurcation. To mark these 80 years, we are republishing a series of articles every Wednesday until July, looking in detail at the history and damage caused by these two institutions.