In the same week that Donald Trump is set to become the 45th president of the United States, a maverick of a different sort is threatening to destabilise the whole West African region.

The spectre of Lehman Brothers is haunting Europe.

"As in the entire third world, women, especially poor women workers of Pakistan, are suffering. Sometimes I feel that they need a socialist revolution more than anyone. It is the only way to freedom! "(Anam Patafi)

The grisly images on television and social media are unrelenting: car bombings, nightclub massacres, killer cops, and cop killers. It is what Lenin called capitalist “horror without end”—without end. Not only in “far away” Iraq, Afghanistan, and Mexico, but in some of the most prosperous cities in the richest country on earth. This is the gruesome face of the capitalist crisis, the crisis of a system that threatens to take the entire human species down with it.

Over the last few days the Southern African country of Zimbabwe have experienced escalating protests which shook the Mugabe regime to its core. Sporadic protests have broken out over the last few weeks because of a severe shortage of cash. But over the last few days these protests have increased in intensity.  Dramatic scenes have played themselves out as  workers, civil servants and small traders took to the streets to protest against the latest crisis. This culminated in a national stay away on 6 July by public sector workers who have not received their wages for June.

In this meeting of Socialist Appeal supporters in London, Alan Woods - editor of In Defence of Marxism - discusses the political earthquake of the Brexit vote, which has sent shockwaves across Britain, Europe, and the whole world.

Britain is in a state of turmoil. There is a political crisis, which will be followed by a constitutional crisis. Independence is again on the cards in Scotland. There is fear in European establishment that Brexit could spark a continent-wide revolt.

The fat is on the fire. A right-wing coup is under way to oust Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. This shabby coup, instigated by Labour's Tory Tendency, has been prepared a long time ago by those who never accepted his democratic election by an overwhelming majority. They are the Blairites: right-wing Tories who infiltrated the Labour Party to further their careers. They are indistinguishable from the Tories in their dress, manners, outlook and ideas.

The results are in from the final state primaries and the outcome is no real surprise. With the media, the Democratic Party machine, and big money behind her, Hillary Clinton has more pledged delegates than Bernie Sanders, and with the hundreds of superdelegates in her pocket, is all but the party’s nominee. Nonetheless, Bernie Sanders won primaries and caucuses in 22 states and more than 11 million votes. Sanders’ strong showing, including his latest victories in North Dakota and Montana, is proof that millions do not want to settle for Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump.

This thesis document was drafted, discussed, and approved by our members this past October 2015. Although it was written some months ago, it still remains valid. It reflects a correct understanding of the events that have taken place, and shows how our warnings were confirmed in the face of serious threats from the counterrevolution. We believe that the document serves as a tool in the debate that is developing within the ranks of the Chavista movement in general.

On Monday 30th May, a special tribunal in Dakar, Senegal, convicted former Chadian dictator, Hissène Habré on several criminal charges including crimes against humanity, committed during his brutal eight years in power. He was also convicted of war crimes, rape, sexual slavery, torture and kidnapping. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In a recent press release, Dr. Anne Schuchat, a senior Obama administration official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stated that “Everything we look at with this [Zika] virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought.” As of April 2016, there have been 700 confirmed cases related to the Zika Virus in the United States.