The Latest from Black Rose/Rosa Negra
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A Letter to Intellectuals Who Hide Behind the Word “Purity”
A commentary responding to the Monthly Review Online piece “A letter to intellectuals who deride revolutions in the name of purity” on the question of revolution and state power. By Patrick Berkman “I think we could really not just lose people but lose sight of our own goals if we get sucked into these purity…
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Colombia: All Out for the National Social Strike on November 21
Social movements in Colombia are filling the streets today, November 21, for a ‘paro nacional’ in protest of neoliberal attacks on education and pensions. Political tension has increased with calls for the resignation of right-wing president Iván Duque, while the State has enacted new repressive measures and former president Álvaro Uribe is implicating provocateurs and…
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Bolivia: The Extreme Right Takes Advantage of a Popular Uprising
In the following translated article by Raúl Zibechi, the long-time Uruguayan militant and analyst of social movements in Latin America, the author adopts the position that the resignation of Evo Morales was the outcome of his government marginalizing and repressing the very social movements that had formed the base of Morales’ Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS)…
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Bolivia: Commentary on the Coup Underway
With the situation in Bolivia in motion, we offer this brief commentary from a Black Rose/Rosa Negra comrade in Latin America on the current situation. By Romina Akemi I am not going to offer a hot take on the situation in Bolivia. But I can offer an opinion as a historian who has studied Bolivian…
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Social Movements Gave Rise to the “Teachers’ Revolt,” Not Bernie
With the 2020 election already on the horizon we republish this commentary responding to the deeply flawed narrative that Bernie Sanders’ campaign played a key role in the teacher strike wave rather than social movement organizing with much deeper roots. The authors are a West Virginia teacher active in the 2018 strike and an education…
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“This is Overdue”: Interview with a Striking GM Worker
As General Motors reaped $8.1 billion in profit and paid its CEO $22 million, nearly 50,000 GM workers have been on strike since Monday. While workers gave major concessions during the previous recession the company is digging in it’s heels over wages and has even cut off healthcare plans for workers. Marianne Garneau of Organizing…