Southern Europe
Spain’s “left populist” Podemos separates migrant children from their parents
By Alejandro López, 24 October 2020
A dozen children in the Canary Islands had been separated from their mothers or relatives for months, while DNA testing was carried out to verify they were related.
Pseudo-left promotes dangerous illusions following criminal conviction of Greek fascists
By Peter Schwarz, 16 October 2020
Greece’s supreme court ruled that the neo-fascist party Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) was a criminal organisation, and convicted 68 members on charges including violence, membership in a criminal organisation, grievous bodily harm, and illegal possession of weapons.
A reply to the OKDE-Spartakos party’s letter on Greek school occupations
By Alex Lantier, 13 October 2020
The WSWS replies to a denial by the Greek affiliates of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) that it is linked to the NPA’s support for austerity and herd immunity policies.
PSOE, Podemos propose herd immunity as COVID-19 rips through Madrid
By Alejandro López, 3 October 2020
This week, the Spanish government reached a deal with Madrid regional authorities on policies for the working class districts hardest hit by the virus.
Exposure of Trump’s lies on COVID-19 implicates Spain’s Podemos party
By Alejandro López, 15 September 2020
Though it had access to intelligence briefings on the deadly danger posed by the pandemic, Podemos adopted a criminally negligent policy.
Greece buys billions in French arms amid war tensions with Turkey
By Alex Lantier, 14 September 2020
The purchase of a squadron of fighter jets and four warships marks a major escalation in the military standoff between Greece, backed by France, and Turkey.
Thousands sleeping rough after the burning down of Moria refugee camp on Lesbos
By John Vassilopoulos, 12 September 2020
Shocking footage and pictures show refugees of all ages sleeping on roads and hillsides, surrounded by their meagre possessions.
No to a Greek-Turkish war in the eastern Mediterranean!
International Committee of the Fourth International, 12 September 2020
Amid the escalation of threats and naval maneuvers between Turkey and Greece, backed by France, Europe and the Middle East are teetering on the brink of war.
European countries force children back to school amid resurgence of COVID-19
By Alejandro López, 22 August 2020
The drive to reopen schools after the summer break continues unabated throughout Europe as the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates across the continent.
Spanish unions agree to shut down Barcelona Nissan plants
By Alice Summers, 22 August 2020
The deal adds a further year to the ticking time-bomb of mass firings, postponing the approximately 25,000 job losses from the end of 2020 to the end of 2021.
Over a million jobs lost in Spain amid coronavirus pandemic
By Alice Summers, 12 August 2020
Another 1 million workers are still furloughed in Spain, and will likely be cast onto unemployment rolls when this scheme comes to an end in the autumn.
YDSA develops ties with SYRIZA youth, Greek party of austerity and police repression
By Sam Wayne, 27 June 2020
Members of the Young Democratic Socialists of America have published a joint statement with the youth section of SYRIZA, the “Coalition of the Radical Left.”
Striking Spanish Nissan workers boo unions and Podemos mayor of Barcelona
By Alejandro López, 15 June 2020
This points to the explosive conflict emerging between the working class and the pseudo-left and the unions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and an upsurge of class struggle.
Nissan confirms job cuts as strike against Spanish plant closures continues
By Alejandro López, 6 June 2020
Thousands of Nissan workers, their families and sympathisers are striking, protesting and blocking roads to protest the automaker’s decision to shut down its Barcelona plant.
Strikes and workers’ protests mount against “back to work” campaign
By Shannon Jones, 9 May 2020
The incompetence and callous disregard for human life by the capitalist authorities in country after country is fueling an upsurge in the class struggle.
Greece comes out of lockdown and plans resumption of tourism
By John Vassilopoulos, 9 May 2020
The lifting of the measures, which will undo efforts that have lowered the spread and death rate from COVID-19, is of crucial importance to the Greek ruling elite.
Euro zone economy contracts at record pace
By Nick Beams, 2 May 2020
The European Central Bank has taken the same road as the US Fed, committing itself to pump still more money across the board into the financial markets.
Spain: Podemos Labour Ministry accepts that hundreds of thousands will die from COVID-19
By Alejandro López, 25 April 2020
Podemos bases its policy of forcing nonessential workers back to work in Spain on its willingness to accept millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Greek medical workers demand funds to combat coronavirus pandemic
By John Vassilopoulos, 15 April 2020
Greece only had 560 intensive care unit beds as the pandemic began, 6 per 1 million inhabitants compared to 29.2 in Germany.
European governments plot return to work in midst of pandemic
By Thomas Scripps, 11 April 2020
As plans were being hatched over how to impose a return to work, over 4,000 new pandemic deaths were reported in Europe on Friday, bringing the total for the continent to over 70,000.
Spanish government to force workers in non-essential industries back to work
By Alejandro López, 11 April 2020
Podemos and the Spanish social democrats are needlessly sacrificing thousands of workers’ lives in order to boost corporate profits amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pandemic death toll in Europe rises to 19,000 as savaged health care systems are overwhelmed
By Thomas Scripps and Alice Summers, 28 March 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is preying on Europe’s 500 million-plus population whose health care services have been decimated by years of government austerity and private sector looting.
Coronavirus in Europe: Overworked hospitals become death traps
By Gregor Link, 28 March 2020
The criminal inactivity of European governments has led to a murderous and vicious circle of overwork, infection and work absences in hospitals throughout the continent.
Over 620 deaths in Italy on Friday as coronavirus fatalities surge in Europe
By Robert Stevens, 21 March 2020
Italy, Spain, Belgium and the UK all recorded their largest single-day death tolls in the global coronavirus pandemic on Friday.
Coronavirus transforms Greek refugee camps into death camps
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 21 March 2020
The intolerable hygienic conditions in the internment camps prevent even the most basic protective measures from being adopted.
Italy quarantines multiple provinces as coronavirus death toll rises to 366
By Allison Smith, 9 March 2020
At least 16 million people are affected by state orders limiting public gatherings and events, as infighting spreads in ruling circles over how to halt the spread of the virus.
Greek police shoot at refugees using live ammunition
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 9 March 2020
More than 10,000 people are trapped in the Greek-Turkey border area, unable to move backward or forward.
Spain’s PSOE-Podemos government sends police to Greece to attack migrants
By Alejandro López, 9 March 2020
The pseudo-left is complicit in the dispatching of police to Greece, where far right thugs are attacking refugees with the complicity of the government.
Right wing whips up anti-refugee sentiment in Greek island protests
By John Vassilopoulos, 31 January 2020
Posters advertising the protests portrayed refugees as invaders and bore the slogan “We want our islands back… we want our life back!”
The significance of Italy’s Sardines movement
By Marc Wells, 25 January 2020
In less than two months, the Sardines movement, a social media initiative, has mobilized thousands of protesters against the right-wing former deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini.
Assange gives evidence in Spanish case against security contractor
By Thomas Scripps, 21 December 2019
David Morales, a former Spanish military officer, is accused of spying on Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy and was charged in October with privacy violation, bribery and money laundering.
Spanish pseudo-lefts try to block opposition to Podemos-PSOE regime
By Alejandro López and Alex Lantier, 23 November 2019
Middle-class parties in Spain are peddling illusions in factions of Podemos even after it has agreed to govern with the Socialist Party on a program of austerity and repression.
Fascistic Vox party surges in Spanish election as hung parliament emerges
By Alex Lantier, 11 November 2019
The rise of the fascistic right follows a reactionary election campaign oriented around all the major parties’ support for police crackdowns on mass protests in Catalonia.
Spain’s November 10 elections and the fight against authoritarian rule
By Alejandro Lopez, 9 November 2019
On Sunday, Spain will hold its fourth general elections in as many years, six months after the last elections this April.
Exhumation of Franco: Spain’s ruling class pays homage to a fascist dictator
By Alejandro López and Alex Lantier, 2 November 2019
Last week, the Spanish Socialist Party government exhumed the remains of fascist dictator General Francisco Franco from his vast “Valley of the Fallen” mausoleum.
Mass rally against jailing of Catalan nationalists in Barcelona
By Alejandro López, 28 October 2019
Two weeks before the November 10 general elections in Spain, hundreds of thousands marched in Barcelona Saturday afternoon.
Draconian verdict against Catalan politicians exposes bankruptcy of Podemos
By Alejandro López, 21 October 2019
This crisis is giving workers and youth internationally yet another bitter lesson in the reactionary role of affluent middle class, “post-Marxist” populist parties.
General strike paralyzes Catalonia as over half-a-million demonstrate in Barcelona
By Alejandro López, 19 October 2019
Broad sections of youth and workers mobilized to protest the police state that is emerging in Spain, and more broadly across Europe.
Ahead of ruling in Catalan show trials
Catalan nationalists, Spanish unions and pseudo-left demobilize opposition
By Alejandro López, 12 October 2019
The Catalan bourgeois nationalists are terrified of growing opposition in the working class to the austerity and police-state policies of the Spanish ruling class. Jordi Sànchez,
Spanish Supreme Court approves exhumation of fascist dictator Francisco Franco
By Alejandro López, 11 October 2019
Despite the legitimate hatred that millions of workers feel for Franco, the fascist dictator and mass murderer, the exhumation ruling is a dangerous political fraud.
Italy’s Five Star populists and social democrats try to form shaky coalition government
By Mike Head, 29 August 2019
The alliance is an attempt to prevent early elections and clear the way for an austerity budget to impose deeper cuts on the working class.
The political crisis in Italy
By Peter Schwarz, 21 August 2019
The problems and tasks facing the international working class as a whole are revealed in Italy as if under a microscope.
Greece’s New Democracy party seeks to overturn law protecting students from police repression
By George Gallanis, 30 July 2019
The Greek ruling class is preparing the grounds for a dictatorial state reminiscent of Greece’s 1967-1974 junta, from whose bloody legacy the law was born.
Podemos, Catalan nationalists cover up role of intelligence in Barcelona attack
By Alejandro López, 22 July 2019
The reactionary forces promoted in the bourgeois media as the “left” in Spain are downplaying or ignoring Spanish intelligence’s complicity in the 2017 attacks.
Outrage grows at Spanish media silence on state complicity in Barcelona attack
By Alejandro López, 22 July 2019
Readers are writing in to denounce the silence at explosive revelations of intelligence complicity in the 2017 Barcelona attacks in the online daily Público.
Publico reports Spanish intelligence facilitated 2017 Barcelona terror attack
By Alex Lantier, 20 July 2019
The report is prima facie evidence of criminal behavior by the Spanish state, abetted by other NATO powers, to create the climate to build a fascistic police-state regime.
Riot police attack Athens protest against Airbnb as housing costs soar
By John Vassilopoulos, 18 July 2019
The attack by riot police came one day after Draconian law-and-order plans were unveiled by the newly elected conservative New Democracy government.
Podemos calls internal vote to enter PSOE-led Spanish government
By Alejandro López, 15 July 2019
Aware that its falling electoral support reflects growing social opposition to the entire political establishment, Podemos is seeking to obtain as many posts as possible.
Syriza’s election defeat: A balance sheet of a political betrayal
By Alex Lantier, 9 July 2019
Hailed as a “radical” alternative to capitalism by the middle-class left, the Syriza-led government of Alexis Tsipras spent four years carrying out austerity measures on behalf of the EU.
Syriza poised to hand over power to New Democracy in Greece’s July 7 elections
By Alex Lantier, 6 July 2019
Syriza called early elections to hand power to fascistic, right-wing forces amid growing opposition among workers to its reactionary policies.
Madrid threatens migrant rescue ship with massive fines
By Alejandro López, 6 July 2019
Spain’s social-democratic government has warned it will impose hundreds of thousands of euros in fines on vessels for rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean.
After EU election, Podemos backs Spanish social democrats’ repressive policy
By Alejandro López, 3 June 2019
Podemos aims to join Spain’s social democratic government, which is preparing draconian attacks on social programs and new measures against Catalan political prisoners.
The European elections and the resurgence of the class struggle
By Alex Lantier, 30 May 2019
The EU elections revealed the deep discrediting of the political establishment and its imperviousness to growing demands from the working class for political change.
Financial Times hails four years of Syriza rule in Greece
By John Vassilopoulos, 25 May 2019
To be favourably featured in a leading mouthpiece of the global financial aristocracy is testament to the high regard in which Alexis Tsipras is held in ruling circles.
Fuel tanker drivers threaten new strike in Portugal
By Paul Mitchell, 4 May 2019
The fuel tankers dispute is the latest manifestation in Portugal of the eruption of the class struggle internationally.
Fascistic Vox party enters parliament in Spain elections, as social democrats gain
By Alex Lantier, 29 April 2019
Heavy voter turnout reflected, at least in part, significant numbers of people trying to cast a vote to prevent the far right from coming to power.
International finance backs Socialist Party in Spain’s April 28 elections
By Alejandro López, 26 April 2019
European Union sources are warning of prolonged political instability and looking to the PSOE and Podemos for an answer.
Spain: Podemos manifesto defends constitution, urges coalition with Socialist Party
By Alejandro López and Paul Mitchell, 22 April 2019
The concessions hailed by Podemos were included in the 1978 Constitution to legitimise the filthy compromise between the PSOE and the Communist Party (PCE) with the Francoites, to “forgive and forget” the crimes of fascism.
Spain seeks rebellion charges against Catalans for complaining of police violence
By Alejandro López, 13 April 2019
In the Orwellian atmosphere being stoked up by the ruling class in the run up to the April 28 general election, it is the victims of police brutality that are denounced as aggressors.
Fascists mount pogrom against Roma population in Italy
By Marianne Arens, 6 April 2019
The fascists, who feel emboldened by the Italian government, enjoy little support among the population.
Podemos could lose half its seats in Spain’s general election
By Alejandro López and Paul Mitchell, 2 April 2019
A major reason the party’s loss of support is mass abstention, particularly among the youth, who no longer identify Podemos as a radical alternative.
Special unit of the Maltese army storms refugee ship
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 30 March 2019
The case of the cargo ship El Hiblu 1 graphically demonstrates the inhumanity of the European Union’s merciless migration policy.
Twenty years since the US bombing of Yugoslavia
By Bill Van Auken, 23 March 2019
The imperialist crime was launched by the Clinton administration—with the backing of the pseudo-left—under the hypocritical banner of “human rights.”
Fiction and reality: The Italian Five-Star Movement’s citizen income scheme
By Marianne Arens, 22 March 2019
The “reddito di cittadinanza” (citizen income) is a vanity project of the co-governing Five-Star Movement that will not change Italy’s stark social inequality.
Spain holds political show trial of Catalan nationalist defendants
By Alejandro López and Alex Lantier, 4 March 2019
The Catalan nationalists’ prosecution on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for organising the 2017 independence referendum has no substance.
Spanish government falls amid Catalan crisis
By Alejandro López, 16 February 2019
The major parties are set to run the most right-wing election campaign in Spain since the 1978 Transition to parliamentary rule, under cover of opposing Catalan separatism.
Nationwide public sector strike hits Portugal
By Will Morrow, 16 February 2019
Leading union officials have issued warnings to the government that its actions could trigger “uncontrollable” struggles by workers that they cannot prevent.
Spanish Socialist Party government backs US-led coup in Venezuela
By Alejandro López, 4 February 2019
The Venezuelan coup is exposing the PSOE government and its pro-imperialist ally, the pseudo-left Podemos party.
Portugal’s strike wave intensifies
By Paul Mitchell, 2 February 2019
As the strike movement develops, the unions have sought to dissipate united opposition into regional and sectoral strikes directed at pleading with various ministers, parliament and the president to change course.
Spain: Podemos co-founder Íñigo Errejón splits from party
By Paul Mitchell, 26 January 2019
The rise of the far-right Vox party is a devastating indictment of Errejón and the “left populism” promoted by his mentor, Belgian academic Chantal Mouffe.
Spain’s far-right Vox party backs right-wing coalition government in Andalusia
By Alejandro López, 14 January 2019
This is the first time a far-right party promoting the legacy of fascist dictator Francisco Franco helped form a government since the Francoite dictatorship fell 40 years ago.
Protests in Portugal and Catalonia met with police repression amid rising wave of strikes
By Paul Mitchell, 22 December 2018
To stem rising social anger, the government in Portugal secured an agreement from Facebook to close down the Yellow Vest protest organisers’ website and drafted in 20,000 security police.
Spain: Rightist parties mull government role for fascist Vox in Andalusia
By Paul Mitchell, 10 December 2018
The Spanish bourgeoisie is raising the profile of Vox, leading up to the Andalusian elections, with the country's establishment newspapers posting multiple articles—at least one a day—on the fascist party.
Catalonia rocked by a week of strikes against austerity
By Alejandro López, 1 December 2018
For years the regional bourgeoisie has relentlessly promoted Catalan nationalism to bury the socio-economic concerns of workers and youth, both Spanish and Catalan.
Greek workers protest social attacks by Syriza government
By John Vassilopoulos, 27 November 2018
Strikes and protests in Greece are part of a wider upsurge of the class struggle throughout Europe.
Black Friday strikes hit Amazon in Europe
By our reporters, 24 November 2018
Amazon workers launched strikes and protests in Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, France and the UK.
Protests and strikes signal mounting hostility toward Italian government
By Allison Smith, 1 November 2018
A protest against deteriorating conditions in Rome followed on the heels of a 24-hour “Black Friday” general strike by public sector workers.
European Union and Rome fight over Italian budget
By Marianne Arens, 20 October 2018
In the conflict over the Italian budget, the EU Commission takes the side of the banks, stock exchanges and credit agencies, while the government pursues a course of militarism and attacks on immigrants and workers.
Italian Interior Minister Salvini orders removal of migrants from Riace
By Marianne Arens, 19 October 2018
The right-wing coalition government has ordered the removal of all migrants from the “village of hospitality” in southern Calabria.
Calls grow in Madrid to ban Catalan nationalist parties
By Alejandro López, 11 October 2018
Banning parties that collectively receive millions of votes would mark a major escalation in the drive of the Spanish and European bourgeoisie to establish a police state.
Brutal conditions at Greek refugee camps condemned
By John Vassilopoulos, 9 October 2018
The appalling conditions in Greece refugee camps are a direct consequence of the filthy deal cut between the European Union, Turkey and the Syriza government in 2016.
Campaign grows inside Podemos for alliance with Spanish right
By Alejandro López, 2 October 2018
After figures in the Podemos leadership praised Italy’s far-right government, a movement for nationalism and appeals to right-wing parties is growing inside Podemos.
Italy’s far-right interior minister charged with kidnapping
By Marianne Arens, 30 August 2018
The state attorney in Agrigento is investigating Italy’s interior minister and chairman of the Lega (League), Matteo Salvini, on charges of deprivation of liberty, illegal detention and abuse of office.
Spanish Socialist Party government’s progressive veneer cracks
By Paul Mitchell, 23 August 2018
The PSOE’s programme is austerity for the working class and militarism in the service of Spain’s geo-strategic ambitions.
As Greece exits bailout, EU demands further austerity
By Robert Stevens, 21 August 2018
The conclusion of the bailout is a vote of confidence from financial markets that the pseudo-left Syriza government will continue looting the people to pay off the banks.
At least 35 killed in Italy bridge collapse
By Allison Smith, 15 August 2018
The death toll has reached 35, with at least seven seriously injured and 440 forced to evacuate their homes following a gas leak.
Podemos backs state cover-up in Barcelona terror attack
By Alex Lantier, 9 August 2018
The pseudo-left party is demanding that the Spanish king be allowed to lead this year’s remembrance ceremony.
Portugal: Left Bloc leader resigns over property speculation fortune
By Paul Mitchell, 7 August 2018
The whole episode surrounding Robles reveals, once again, the hypocritical self-seeking nature of the upper middle class constituency that forms the social basis of the pseudo-left.
European Union reduces maritime rescue operations in the Mediterranean
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 26 July 2018
The halting of official rescue operations, like the sabotage of those conducted by private organisations, will lead to a massive rise in fatalities.
Pursuit of rapper Valtònyc reveals widespread censorship in Spain
By Alejandro López, 26 July 2018
The unrelenting pursuit of rapper Josep Miquel Beltrán (stage name Valtònyc) is further evidence of the growing assault on free speech in Spain and throughout Europe.
Josep Valtònyc: “What’s happening to me could happen to anyone.”
By Alejandro López, 26 July 2018
“They put me on trial for telling true, objective facts, and that is because what is happening is scary. People are not going to be able to say what they think about those who are stealing public money from us, money taken out of our wages every month. We have the right to speak out, to criticize, to get angry.”
Spain’s Socialist Party prepares new austerity budget, boosts military spending
By Alejandro López, 19 July 2018
The social democrats’ proposals to slow the pace of austerity reflect fear of a social rebellion by workers and youth amid a growing strike wave in Spain.
Italy strands rescue ship Lifeline as EU refugee summit collapses
By Alex Lantier, 25 June 2018
This is only one of the horrors taking place in Mediterranean waters between Italy and Libya, as the EU moves to block refugee flows.
Podemos: Midwife of Spain’s new PSOE government
By Alejandro López, 22 June 2018
Podemos is an indispensable prop of Spain’s new PSOE government, which is pledged to impose EU austerity on workers and hike military spending.
The anti-worker program of Italy’s new populist and neo-fascist government
By Marc Wells, 1 June 2018
The policies adopted in the new government's program reflect the neo-fascist character of Lega as well as the law-and-order approach of the Five Star Movement.
Italy: Most right-wing government since Mussolini
By Peter Schwarz, 23 May 2018
On Sunday, the protest Five Star Movement (M5S) and the right-wing extremist Lega agreed on a joint government programme.
Rome: Buses explode due to lack of maintenance
By Allison Smith, 15 May 2018
Last year, 22 buses were destroyed by fire in the Italian capital and 2018 is already on track to being far worse, with four bus fires in a single month.
No solution to Italian government crisis
By Marianne Arens, 8 May 2018
The second attempt to form a government failed on May 3 when the leadership of the Democratic Party rejected a coalition with the Five Star Movement.
Explosive social conditions in Spain behind moves toward police state
By Vicky Short, 3 April 2018
Behind the police-state measures being enacted in Spain lie economic, political and social tensions that are also now finding expression in a growing movement of the working class.
Interview with a teacher from Greece: “Teachers have the same problems worldwide”
By Marianne Arens, 2 April 2018
Evangelos, a teacher from Greece working in Germany, expressed his solidarity with teachers in the US and reported on the recent teachers’ strike in Greece.
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