Belgium

The Tories’ declared budget plans mean more and more cuts, and at an accelerating rate, in 2015-20. On top of the £25 billion cut from annual budgets between 2010-11 and 2014-5, they would cut another £48 billion from those budgets by 2018-9. The Financial Times estimated the numbers from official statistics and the Tories’ declared intention to have the government budget in overall surplus (current income covering both current and capital spending) by 2020. The Tories plan to do that by cuts, not by taxing the rich. They have offered tax cuts to the rich, on inheritance tax for example. They...

Actuellement, les revendications communautaires ne sont pas mises en avant sous la pression des masses, bien au contraire. Le terrain communautaire est la plaine de jeux par excellence des politiciens en accord sur la politique d’austérité néo-libérale à mener, mais qui veulent colorer cette politique de leur propre teinte régionale. Click here to read.

THE ECLIPSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL On 4 August, 1914, the Workers' International breathed its last, and that watchword of socialism "Death to militarism", which should have rung out clear and strong above the tumult of mobilisation and the clash of arms, was unheard by the peoples of the world. No doubt this cry of revolt from a workers' movement animated by a true solidarity of the exploited against their task masters would have been promptly stifled by the death-dealing implements of war, and by the weight of censorship and martial law, but ere its defeat it would have awakened the consciences...

Percée du PTB et bilan contrasté Analyser les résultats d’élections communales est toujours une gageure parce que, dans les choix des électeurs, se mêlent des motivations très diverses, allant des questions purement communales aux grands enjeux nationaux. Chercher à tirer des enseignements généraux à partir des résultats des scrutins à Durbuy et à Puurs n’a pas un grand sens. Par contre, les résultats dans les villes – et surtout les grandes villes – donnent des indications intéressantes. Et ce scrutin fournit au moins une indication claire : celle d’une polarisation grandissante tant en...

20,000 workers marched to protest job losses at a Ford plant in Genk, Belgium, on Sunday 11 November. 4,300 workers face losing their jobs, and workers at the plant had previously responded to the announcement by blockading the factory gates. Sunday’s demonstration saw the campaign turn out to the wider community, as well as mobilising Ford workers from plants in Germany. A delegation from Belgium had visited Ford’s European headquarters in Cologne, where they held a demonstration of around 100 workers. Although the demands of the union leaderships behind Sunday’s demonstration are timid, a...

In Belgium the home affairs committee of the Brussels federal government has voted unanimously to ban the partial or total covering of faces in public places. The parliament is likely to approve the ban and it will be in force by the summer. In France Sarkozy looks set to use emergency procedures to push through a complete ban on the burqa (full-length head, face and body covering) and niqab (detachable face veil) in public places by July. The Canadian province of Quebec last week introduced a ban on facial covering in public service employment. In the Netherlands the right-wing libertarian...