On Feb. 11, 1969, the Montreal police violently put down one of the largest student occupations in Canadian history. For two weeks, as many as 300 students had peacefully occupied the computer centre at Sir George Williams University to protest a racist professor’s treatment of Black students, and the administration’s complicity in defending him.

Issue 42 of In Defence of Marxism magazine is available to pre-order now! Alan Woods’ editorial, which we publish here, looks at the Marxist view of the state and the role of the individual in history.

On June 8, the New Brunswick government rolled back protections for trans students in public schools. This is an attack on the rights of trans people which will inevitably harm vulnerable children. 

The Lac-Mégantic tragedy, in which 47 people lost their lives following a train derailment, is 10 years old today. Quebec filmmaker Philippe Falardeau’s recent documentary, Mégantic: ceci n’est pas un accident (“Mégantic: this is not an accident”), revisits the events and sheds new light on this huge scandal.

On June 28, a knife-wielding man burst into a philosophy of gender class at the University of Waterloo, stabbing the professor and two students. This clearly hate-motivated attack comes after months of a delirious media campaign in which right-wing politicians and commentators have sought to foment hatred of trans people.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday against the legality of affirmative action admissions practices at colleges and universities. Ruling on two distinct cases, the court declared the admissions practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina to be unlawful.

Canada is currently experiencing its worst wildfire season of the 21st century, and scientific research undeniably points to the fact that this is linked to the climate crisis—undeniably, that is, if you actually care about finding the truth. But the right wing and the capitalist media do not, and they have been busy finding a million and one ways to lie about why Canada is burning. 

Canada has been experiencing a growing wave of transphobia. Mirroring events in the United States, a number of conservative politicians have begun attacking legal protections on gender identity and the far right has been pushing transphobic conspiracy theories with increasing vigor. 

The purpose of these attacks is clear: to distract working class people away from their economic conditions and redirect their anger towards trans people. All workers have an interest in rejecting this hysterical hate-mongering and in uniting together against the real enemy—the capitalists.

The latest news shows that the economy is once again taking a turn for the worse. The Eurozone is in recession. China is slowing down sharply. The US is teetering on the brink. Another economic crisis is on the way.

A bankruptcy crisis is looming over the world. The New York Times has called it “a debt crisis unlike anything we have seen”. This isn’t the threat of a handful of banking behemoths going under, however, but rather of entire national economies. Some 54 low and middle-income countries are today teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.