Following modern history’s only successful slave revolution, the U.S. government refused to recognize Haiti upon its 1804 declaration of independence. This reflects the intense hostility of the U.S. (and the other big powers) to the Haitian Revolution and the mortal fear of its revolt spreading to slaves in the U.S and throughout the Americas. the United States did not recognize Haiti’s independence until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War.

A month after the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, over 230,000 people are now estimated dead. Another 300,000 have been injured and 460,000 people are living in makeshift camps in Port-au-Prince. Food aid has been extremely slow to arrive, and desperate Haitians carry signs pleading for assistance: “Help us, we’re starving,” (Associated Press, 2/12/10). A million people are now estimated homeless.

Socialist Alternative is in political solidarity with the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). With sections in over 35 countries around the world, the CWI is a global socialist organization working to unite the working class and poor in a fight against global capitalism and for democratic socialism.

One thousand people demonstrated on Friday 19 February, in the Palestinian village Bil`in, in the occupied West Bank, marking 5 years of persistent struggle and weekly demonstrations by the village against the Israeli Separation Fence, which annexes 50% of their land (about 2 square kilometres) for the benefit of the adjacent large ultra-orthodox settlement, Modi`in-`ilit.

The economic crisis in Greece is sending shockwaves through Europe’s financial and political infrastructure. The threat of debt default has fuelled feverish speculation on bond markets. The only issue on which the EU and Greek political establishment agrees is that the working-class will have to pay through savage cutbacks. This, in turn, is sparking social upheaval. Lynn Walsh reports on the gravest challenge to the eurozone since the launch of the euro currency.

The recent earthquake has hit the poorest metropolitan area in the Americas and brought a new wave of devastation to a country that had already suffered the worst effects of capitalism, poverty and imperial meddling.

The humanitarian catastrophe that has befallen Haiti beggars belief. The powerful earthquake that struck on 12 January left many thousands dead, with estimates running to 200,000 and more. The flimsy slum dwellings in Port-au-Prince, the capital, collapsed, as did public buildings, including schools and hospitals. Many thousands are still missing and more are badly injured.

While desperate survivors in Haiti’s destroyed capital of Port-au-Prince tried to find food, water and shelter, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton breezed into the main airport for a photo opportunity, diverting aid relief flights which included a field hospital from the charity Médecins Sans Frontières.

Disaster has struck the impoverished people of Haiti once again; a powerful earthquake, on January 12, toppled buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince.

In the last months, a new sympathising section of the CWI has been formed in Quebec. Mouvement pour un Parti Socialiste (MPS) has also launched a website and begun to produce a paper, Le Socialiste.

The following Committee for a Workers International statement was adopted by the CWI International Executive Committee at its recent meeting in Belgium, December 2-9, 2009. This meeting brought together over 70 representatives from Europe and Russia, Asia, Central Asia, Latin and North America and Africa.

The climate demonstration in Copenhagen on December 12, with over 100,000 participants, was the biggest climate protest ever. It had a strong anti-capitalist character, with our socialist CWI contingent chanting, "Save the planet - smash the system - what we need is socialism." This is a report from Swedish socialist activists at the demonstration.

A resolution adopted at the congress of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna, the Swedish section of the Committee for a Workers International, in response to the Copenhagen Climate Summit, dealing with the failure of capitalist, market solutions to the environmental crisis and the need to fight for a socialist solution.

Barack Obama has decided to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 21,000 additional soldiers he ordered there earlier this year. Millions in the U.S. and around the globe are undoubtedly asking why Obama, who was elected with what many viewed as an anti-war mandate, has decided to escalate what is an increasingly unpopular and seemingly unwinnable war.

It’s certainly the first time that the first speaker at a meeting in which the CWI participated was a Russian orthodox priest in full robe speaking through video link from St Petersburg. It’s also the first time for eighty years that a leading Trotskyist has spoken on such an important platform in Moscow.