Over the past week, thousands of multi-ethnic Iranians have demonstrated in response to Iran’s water crisis and power blackouts. These protests, in conjunction with massive oil strikes and strikes in other sectors, highlight the discontent of a large swath of the Iranian population that faces a sanctions-battered economy and a repressive bourgeois regime.

For almost a month, Iranian oil workers, along with workers in other industries, have organized demonstrations and wildcat strikes in response to a dire economic and health crisis accentuated by U.S. sanctions.

Yesterday, Joe Biden ordered airstrikes in Syria and Iraq against two Iranian-backed militias in the name of “national security.” This latest act of imperialist aggression in the Middle East serves to ramp up pressure against Iran in the midst of tense negotiations for a new nuclear agreement.

Today in Puerto Rico, workers and activists are calling for a national strike and mobilizations in response to the privatization of Puerto Rico’s electric grid under the U.S. and Canadian company LUMA Energy.

Israeli police injured hundreds of Palestinian protestors and worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque Friday night. The attack follows a week of protests against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions, the latest act of forced displacement of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, a political prisoner and former Black Panther member who has been imprisoned for almost four decades, underwent successful heart surgery after being diagnosed with Covid-19 and congestive heart failure last month. Political prisoners like Mumia highlight the rotten nature of the racist, capitalist state and should be released immediately.

Like his predecessors, Joe Biden is committed to a harsh line against China’s hegemonic ambitions. Recent military exercises in the Taiwan Strait show that imperialism is a bipartisan affair and that Taiwan could serve as a backdrop for the growing tensions between China and the United States.

The revolution that began 42 years ago offers lessons for how to beat imperialism and reactionary governments.

Fast-food workers in 15 cities, led by the Service Employees International Union, are planning work actions today demanding a $15 hourly federal minimum wage, union rights, and increased Covid-19 protections. These are important demands, but SEIU’s top-down, bureaucratic-led efforts are no way to build real workers’ power.  

On Friday Iranian media reported that Iranian scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated. Though the details surrounding the killing are still unknown, the latest imperialist attack on Iran polarizes the situation in the Middle East for the incoming Biden Administration, which seeks to restore the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Amid election week, hundreds of protestors in the West Village are protesting the undemocratic U.S. regime. Some of these demonstrators have been violently attacked, kettled, and arrested by NYPD cops in full riot gear.

The U.S. elections, which occur at the center of capital and imperialism, will undoubtedly have a global impact. The choice between Trump or Biden offers the working class around the world a lose-lose scenario and reaffirms the decline of the American Empire.

A political crisis in Kyrgyzstan has generated tumult in the former Soviet Republic. As tensions rise, Russia and China, who have geopolitical interests in the Central Asian country, confront growing regional volatility and global disorder. 

A large blast in the Lebanese capital of Beirut has just shook the city with reports of widespread destruction and a high number of injuries. Lebanon is currently in the midst of a social and economic crisis which has pushed Lebanese people to protest the deteriorating conditions in their country this past year.

With the recent passage of the $741 billion National Defense Authorization Act and even greater defense spending through the Senate Republicans’ proposed coronavirus relief package, the U.S. has unprecedented authority to attack the working class here and abroad instead of providing pandemic relief.

We are in the midst of widespread uprisings against racist state violence, led by a vanguard of Black youth. With more and more young people pushing forward and leading social movements, working class  youth must ensure  our movements don’t fall away or be co-opted by the Democratic Party. We need to create a political party of our own, one that has the youth united with the working class to take the fight directly to the capitalist system.

Syria is in an unprecedented state of economic turmoil after years of a devastating civil war. Now with a new set of U.S. sanctions and with limited support from allied powers and Lebanese capital, the regime is backed into a corner. In response to the crisis, widespread protests against the regime and a rapidly deteriorating economic situation have emerged. 

Democrats like New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, are trying to demonize protesters fighting against a racist state. By imposing a curfew and attempting to divide protesters, Cuomo shows his true face as a capitalist politician.

Tre Kwon, a nurse activist and member of Left Voice’s Editorial Board, joined other activists and workers to denounce the conditions faced by frontline workers. Listen to hear her discuss the demands that workers can raise to confront the for-profit healthcare system.

As completely avoidable frontline worker deaths grow, Harlem Hospital workers joined in solidarity with other frontline workers who have staged walk-outs and demonstrations demanding urgent access to PPE to protect themselves, their patients, and their families.

Sanctions are nothing new but in the midst of the coronavirus disaster they’ve unleashed a humanitarian crisis within sanctions-hit nations like Iran. Socialists in the US must vehemently denounce and demand that sanctions are lifted immediately.

Michael Bloomberg’s record-shattering campaign spending is allowing him to quickly move up in the polls. His campaign shows that elections can be virtually bought in the US.

The price of petrol was tripled in Iran virtually overnight on Friday. In response to this move by the government, Iranian masses took to the streets to protest a deepening economic crisis.

A doorman at President Bolsonaro’s gated community revealed that one of the suspected killers of Rio de Janeiro city council member Marielle Franco identified himself as a visitor of Bolsonaro’s residence before meeting with the other suspected killer on the day of Franco’s murder.

Thousands of young Iraqis continue to stage demonstrations that call for jobs, access to basic public services, and an end to corruption.

As the Bahamas experiences one of its worst humanitarian crises, Donald Trump is refusing to grant temporary protected status to people displaced by the hurricane and is barring Bahamians from entering the country. His denial of the extent of Hurricane Dorian’s destruction highlights the differences in how the ruling class and the working class will have to respond to impending climate disaster.

Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported a record total of 72,843 fires this year, an 80 percent increase compared to 2018. Almost 10,000 of those fires were spotted in the last week. These fires were set on purpose and Bolsonaro is to blame.

A DSA and AOC-backed candidate for district attorney in Queens is running on the promise to radically reform the DA’s office. However, a DA’s office cannot be reformed. Its entire purpose is to prosecute and imprison people on behalf of the capitalist state.

On May first, leftist groups around the world recognize May Day amidst the backdrop of an emboldened right-wing bent on exploiting and oppressing us in order to further enrich an insatiable minority. What are the militant origins of May Day (also referred to as or International Workers’ Day) and how should socialists carry on its legacy today?