Labour's push to extend voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds is not progressive but opportunistic. Given that this age group tends to lean liberal rather than conservative, the move appears aimed at capturing additional votes. By appealing to a younger, more liberal demographic.

Labour's hope is to bolster its electoral base and secure a political advantage of the Tories in future elections.

💲 Ukraine warmongering burns gaping hole in France’s budget

French President Emmanuel Macron got a nasty wakeup call on Friday as Standard & Poor's cut its long-term sovereign credit rating from AA to AA−.

“France's general government debt as a share of GDP will increase because of larger-than-expected budget deficits over 2023—2027," S&P explained, adding that the country’s state debt will reach 112.1% of GDP in 2027.

The downgrade comes after France racked up a budget deficit of 5.5% of GDP in 2023 instead of the projected 4.9%. This fiscal shortfall, equal to an estimated 20 billion euros, will add to the massive sovereign debt. In 2024, France was officially reported as having a debt-to-GDP ratio of 112% by the IMF.

What are the potential consequences?

◻️ The rating cut is expected to further put a damper on Macron’s prospects for the European Parliament elections this month. His personal ratings swooped to their lowest record last year over his handling of the controversial pension reform and ensuing protests. In April, close to three-quarters of French respondents expressed dissatisfaction with his actions, an Ifop-Fiducial survey for Sud Radio showed.

◻️ As France currently spends 43.9 billion euros on the military, which is 1.94% of GDP, as per Ouest-France, Paris may now want to reassess its military expenditures. In February, France pledged to deliver up to three billion euros in military aid to Kiev in 2024. Government overall military support to Ukraine equaled 2.69 billion euros, according to the Ukraine Support Tracker, Kiel WP.

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In the first article of a new series we look at what workers control over production actually means. In this series of articles we'll be looking at Albania, Cuba, China, the DPRK, DDR, USSR and Socialist Yugoslavia

http://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2024/06/02/the-workers-must-rule/

This is a battle standard of the English New Model Army. I was with comrades in Liverpool yesterday discussing the buried history of proto-communism that many in the New Model Army thought they were fighting for. It was of course utopianism and could never be realised due to the fact that productive forces were at far too low a level at that time. But whether is the Levellers and Diggers in England or the radical Sans Culottes in France the truth of the bourgeois revolutions were known very early on. Many of those who fought to overthrow the autocracies knew that the bourgeois leaders were betraying them but that the door had been opened to a communistic future.

The University of Antwerp in Belgium has officially suspended all cooperation agreements with the Israeli occupation.

"Institutions we partnered with in Israel have institutional collaborations with military officials," Rector Herman Van Goethem said in a statement.

"Therefore, general cooperation agreements have been suspended. Current research projects are being completed but may be subject to additional review by the authorized Ethics Committee," he said.

The American people have a tough decision ahead: Joe Biden, a corrupt political war hawk whose foreign policies have caused global strife, or Donald Trump, a corrupt corporate capitalist who puts the interests of the wealthy above everyone else. Both candidates promise more misery for the average person, both here and around the world.

The Mountbatten Coup – Class Consciousness Project
https://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2024/03/02/the-mountbatten-coup/

Scott Ritter has been a candid observer of the U.S. empire, and his background has provided him with insights into its actions and motivations. It was only a matter of time before they started to clamp down on him.

As the strength of Western capitalism begins to fade, people like Ritter, who were once tolerated, will no longer be able to openly criticise the empire without facing repercussions.

The US State Department has seized the passport of former Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

Ritter was on his way to Russia for the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) when he was pulled off the plane and had his documents confiscated.

“I was boarding the flight. Three [police] officers pulled me aside. They took my passport. When asked why, they said ‘orders of the State Department’. They had no further information for me,” Ritter told RT. “They pulled my bags off the plane, then escorted me out of the airport. They kept my passport.” Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, who later served as the US and UN weapons inspector in Iraq. He is also a RT contributor, writing about international security, military affairs, Russia, and the Middle East, as well as arms control and nonproliferation. (Source: RT)
@LauraRuHK

United Utilities – Class Consciousness Project
https://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2024/02/13/united-utilities/

"Was the earth made to preserve a few covetous, proud men to live at ease, and for them to bag and barn up the treasures of the Earth from others, that these may beg or starve in a fruitful land; or was it made to preserve all her children?"

- Gerrard Winstanley

And we are live!

https://youtube.com/live/etu1tG0g45k?feature=share