Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

12/06/2026

Recent raids on trade union offices have renewed attention to the state of organized labour in Russia. They come at a time when the wartime economic boom is fading, workplace conflicts are increasing, and unions face growing challenges.

Our latest article explores the challenges facing Russia's trade union movement, the differences between established and independent unions, and the prospects for worker organizing in an increasingly restrictive political climate: https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/54826/russias-unions-under-pressure

11/06/2026

No sport has a more global reach than football.

When Canada, Mexico and the United States won the bid to host the 2026 World Cup, they promised a tournament built on unity, opportunity and a shared commitment to human rights. Less than a decade later, those promises seem to belong to another era.

As the tournament kicks off today in Mexico City, critics argue that the World Cup has become a showcase of FIFA's extractive business model. What is left of the World Cup when fans are priced out, pushed out and driven out?

Read the full article now: https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/54864/behold-the-joyless-world-cup

10/06/2026

Under the slogan "Albania Is Not for Sale," a local environmental struggle has become a nationwide movement. Protesters are demanding accountability, stronger protections for public land, and a different future for Albania. Read the full article now: https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/54893/understanding-albanias-flamingo-revolution

09/06/2026

Can the green transition succeed without repeating old patterns of extraction? Join us tomorrow in Berlin as Thea Riofrancos presents "Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism" and explores the environmental and social consequences of the global lithium boom.

LuXemburg Lecture by Thea Riofrancos

08/06/2026

Recent raids by security forces show that Russian trade unions, both official and independent, are facing growing pressure. How have the war in Ukraine and Russia's increasingly authoritarian political system transformed the country's trade union movement?

Russian trade unions have come into the crosshairs of the state. Can they survive in Putin’s Russia?

07/06/2026

Germany is embarking on its largest military buildup in decades. As defence spending reaches record levels and many expect conscription to return, tens of thousands of students have taken to the streets against militarization, austerity, and social cuts.
Why is a new anti-militarist youth movement emerging in Germany? Ruairí Casey examines the debate over rearmament, conscription, and who will bear the social and economic costs. https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/54827/resisting-the-draft-in-germany

05/06/2026

What is at stake in Colombia’s presidential runoff?

Four years after Gustavo Petro became Colombia’s first left-wing president, the country is facing a pivotal choice. Will Colombia continue along the path of social reform and peacebuilding, or turn toward a more conservative, security-focused agenda?

In the first round of voting, no candidate secured an outright majority. The presidential race will now be decided in a runoff on 21 June between right-wing lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and left-wing senator Iván Cepeda.

The result will determine whether Colombia continues Petro’s project of expanded social spending and negotiations with armed groups, or embarks on a different political course.

👉 Read the full analysis now: https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/54784/colombia-change-or-restoration

05/06/2026

On , it is worth asking who bears the costs of our built environment. Our new study examines the environmental impacts of cement and construction, particularly in the Global South, and explores sustainable alternatives.

Cement and construction's environmental impact - and how they could become ecologically viable

04/06/2026

, 90 years ago, the Popular Front took office in France.

The coalition of Socialists, Communists, and the Radical Party is often remembered as one of the most influential anti-fascist alliances in European history. Formed in the aftermath of the failed far-right coup attempt of February 1934, it emerged not only through negotiations between party leaders but also through grassroots pressure for left-wing unity against the growing fascist threat.

Following its electoral victory in 1936, the Popular Front government under Léon Blum introduced landmark reforms, including the 40-hour work week and paid holidays. Yet these achievements were not the product of parliamentary politics alone. They were driven by a massive wave of strikes and factory occupations involving up to 1.5 million workers.

But how did the Popular Front emerge? Why was it able to unite forces that had previously been bitter rivals? And what ultimately brought the experiment to an end?

In his short history of the Front populaire, Bernard Schmid revisits the political struggles, social movements, and historical lessons behind one of the defining left-wing governments of the twentieth century. 👉 https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/54830/a-short-history-of-the-popular-front

02/06/2026

Fifty years ago , former Bolivian president Juan José Torres was abducted and murdered in Buenos Aires as part of Operation Condor. Torres (1920–1976) was a Bolivian military officer and politician who served as president of Bolivia from 1970 to 1971. Born into a poor family in Cochabamba, he had roots in the Aymara, an Indigenous people of the Andean regions of Bolivia and Peru.

During the 1960s, Torres emerged as a leading ally of the reformist military leader Alfredo Ovando. Unlike most military rulers in Cold War Latin America, he was associated with the nationalist left and advocated social reform, national sovereignty, and a stronger political role for workers and popular movements.

In October 1970, Torres helped defeat a right-wing coup against Ovando and subsequently assumed the presidency. During his brief time in office, he expanded social programmes, increased state involvement in the economy, and established the Popular Assembly, giving trade unions and social movements a greater voice in politics.

His reforms alarmed conservative sectors at home and abroad. In August 1971, Torres was overthrown by a coup led by the right-wing dictator Hugo Banzer and forced into exile.

On 2 June 1976, he was murdered as part of Operation Condor, the US-backed campaign through which South American dictatorships coordinated the persecution, abduction, and killing of political opponents across borders.

Banzer's regime initially prevented the return of Torres' remains to Bolivia, fearing he could become a symbol of resistance. His body was returned only in 1983, after Bolivia's return to democracy.