Myanmar quake unleashes disaster as junta sends in the army, not aid

Vol. 89/No. 15 - April 21, 2025
Volunteers search for survivors in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, March 28. Thousands tried to save people using only their hands after gov’t officials refused to provide tools or equipment.

A huge earthquake in Myanmar March 28, which killed over 3,000 people and injured thousands more, is fueling growing anger among working people against the military junta there. The government sent troops to the hardest-hit areas, but they were tasked…


Free trade or protection, workers go to the wall

Vol. 89/No. 15 - April 21, 2025

As capitalism was displacing feudal rule, Karl Marx, the founder of the communist movement, delivered a “Speech on the Question of Free Trade” in Brussels in 1848. It’s invaluable for understanding why working people need to break from the capitalist…


Quebec gov’t mounts new attack on religious freedom

Vol. 89/No. 15 - April 21, 2025
Protest against Law 21 in Montreal, 2019. Placard reads, “Muslims, Jews, atheists and Christians are all citizens.” New Bill 94 expands earlier restrictions on wearing religious symbols at work for all school workers, violating freedoms under federal and Quebec human rights charters.

MONTREAL — A new Quebec government draft “secularization” law imposing an even more far-reaching and divisive dress code on teachers and other school workers “amounts to an attack on the fundamental rights of workers” and “reinforces discriminatory dress codes for…


Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power

Vol. 89/No. 15 - April 21, 2025

The following concluding section of the introduction to Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes, national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, was written Oct. 4, 2009. It was read by Mary-Alice Waters as…


Cane cutters fight for more pay, pensions in Dominican Republic

Vol. 89/No. 15 - April 21, 2025
Sugarcane cutters, many retired, discuss working conditions, fight for pensions, health care in Villa Hermosa, Dominican Republic, March 23. Bosses “treat us as if we are thieves,” said one.

VILLA HERMOSA, Dominican Republic — The owners of Central Romana, the largest single employer and landowner in the Dominican Republic, claim their workers are well-treated and well-paid. Although by their own admission — likely inflated — many workers make under…


Miners join ongoing protests against gov’t in Tbilisi

Vol. 89/No. 15 - April 21, 2025
Miners join ongoing protests against gov’t in Tbilisi

Tens of thousands rallied in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, March 31, the anniversary of the 1991 referendum for independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that passed by 99%. That vote capped growing protests and a brutal attack…


Huge protests in Turkey hit Erdogan gov’t, repression

Vol. 89/No. 14 - April 14, 2025
Huge protests in Turkey hit Erdogan gov’t, repression

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Istanbul March 29 after the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu arrested. Imamoglu was set to be Erdogan’s main opponent in the upcoming presidential…


25, 50, and 75 years ago

Vol. 89/No. 14 - April 14, 2025

April 10, 2000 Various fronts in labor battles point to the many ways unionists are finding to show their strength. From conferences of labor women to picket lines to mass rallies, many workers are charting a path of solidarity and…


Keen interest in Pathfinder books at Asian Studies conference

Vol. 89/No. 14 - April 14, 2025

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Association for Asian Studies conference here March 13-16 drew over 3,000 professors, librarians and students from China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the U.K. and the U.S., among other countries. Presentations covered topics like Asian immigration to…


Farmers in Isfahan, Iran, demand water, rights

Vol. 89/No. 14 - April 14, 2025
Farmers in Isfahan, Iran, demand water, rights

Hundreds of farmers in eastern Isfahan province in Iran have been protesting over the failure of government authorities to ensure their access to water for their crops. They’ve been fighting for over two decades for the government to release more…