Texts and Teaching Materials

Filter here all posts on L!NX with texts and educational materials that explain political issues simply and from a left-wing perspective.

Authoritarianism: What is That and who is Authoritarian?

Authoritarian and right-wing movements are gaining strength around the world and more authoritarian governments are coming into power. Examples include Donald Trump in the USA, Narendra Modi in India, Giorgia Meloni in Italy and Javier Milei in Argentina. Is it appropriate to speak of an awakening of authoritarianism? Is democracy in crisis? What is authoritarianism? In this article, we explore these questions as well as innovative resistance movements around the world.

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Climate Catastrophe, Inequality, Exploitation - I'm Having a Crisis

Why is the world the way it is? In the following you'll find an introduction to selected socio-ecological crises. It highlights the connections between the climate crisis, the ecological crisis, gender relations, abundance, privileges and unjust global power relations. You will learn about the connections between capitalism and historically evolved global structures of exploitation.

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Food Sovereignity: Good Food for All

Anyone who deals with the topic of agriculture and climate will realize that agriculture is both the cause and the victim of the climate crisis. However, agriculture cannot simply be abolished or replaced. But can it be made more climate-resistant and climate-friendly?

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Exiting the Crisis! - Understanding Crises and Paths to Global Justice

Climate breakdown, economic decline, global inequality and growing poverty - one crisis follows the next. To build a sustainable world where humans and nature can coexist in the long term, we need a socio-ecological transformation. We analyze the root causes of current crises and demonstrate how, together, we can win for a better world for all.

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What's the Connection Between Feminism and Hospital Strikes?

For more staff, better wages, and humane healthcare! In recent years, the hospital movement has striked extensively to improve the situation of patients and employees. Find out here what role feminism plays in the fight against cost pressure and profit orientation in hospitals.

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What's Going on in Colombia?

The conflict in Colombia has established itself as the longest and one of the most complex armed conflicts in the world. Since colonial times, the country's history has been marked by violence, a racist violence that has led to extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth. This inequality in Colombia persists to this day and is a central point in the numerous violent clashes.

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Workers against the Right

Authoritarian politics are on the rise worldwide. At the same time, humanity needs to fundamentally change the prevailing model of production and consumption (especially in the global North) to overcome inequality and exploitation and prevent ecological collapse. Using the examples of Colombia, the USA, Chile, India, France and Germany, we show how workers are opposing authoritarianism, racism and exploitation.

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France: Trade Unions, Social Movements and the Yellow Vests

With the neoliberal reforms that Macron has rapidly implemented, social dialogue between social movements, unions and the government has become more difficult and fragmented. The French trade union movement is split along political lines into several umbrella organizations, and the level of organization has stagnated. The yellow vests have not been able to decisively change Macron's course. But they have rearticulated positions critical of capitalism and class struggle, also taking migrant struggles into the equation.

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Federal Republic of Germany: Trade Unions and Antiracism

Labor struggles have a long tradition in Germany. Over time, they have not only focused on the demand for better working conditions, but have also been linked - albeit in a rather shy form at the beginning - to the anti-racist and anti-fascist struggle. Within the trade union political education programs, right-wing agitation was increasingly countered with a realistic picture of asylum and migration policy after the "Summer of Migration" in 2015.

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India: Strikes and Self-organization

Since 2014, a coalition led by the right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP, Party of the Indian People, has ruled under Narendra Modi. India competes as a location for manufacturing companies. To attract international private capital, layoffs and crackdowns on unions have been made easier, and state-owned enterprises (including railroads, telecommunications companies and airlines) are to be privatized. In this complex situation, not only traditional unions and federations are organizing, but informal and migrant workers are also becoming part of a movement facing a major socio-political challenge.

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USA: Working class against repression and racism

During the Trump presidency, U.S. unions initially opposed the rise of authoritarianism only symbolically. Over time, they acted more decisively. Where union members became active in the workplace, they succeeded in slowing the trend toward authoritarianism and sometimes achieved significant successes.

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Forced Marriage in Germany

Many women are forced into marriage against their will. According to 2014 figures from UNICEF, 700 million women worldwide have undergone forced marriage. But what is at stake here? What is the difference between a migrant woman forced into marriage and a native-born woman forced into marriage? This article takes a closer look at this and other questions.

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Format: Images and GraphicsReading time: 10

Feminicides in Germany

Feminicides are murders of women and people who are read as female by the perpetrators. These murders happen because the perpetrators devalue and hate everything feminine.

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Format: Images and GraphicsReading time: 20

Chile: "It's not 30 pesos, it's 30 years!"

In 2019, Chile was swept by the largest revolt in its history. The uprising fundamentally changed the political situation. The right-wing government under billionaire Sebastián Piñera responded with military repression. At the height of the protests, there was a massive general strike that paved the way for a constitutional referendum. After two years of work by the constitutional convention, the new draft constitution was rejected in a referendum.

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The Fight for Safe and Legal Abortion

Who owns our bodies? No struggle poses this question in such a radical way as the global fight for abortion rights.

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Format: Images and GraphicsReading time: 30

More and more expensive! - Questions and answers on inflation and the energy crisis

Prices are rising and rising. More and more people are asking themselves how they are going to survive the next few months in view of the high costs of energy and food. There is a lot of criticism of the government's measures, because the relief measures that have been decided are only a drop in the ocean for many. The political left protests for alternatives and demands redistribution. At the beginning of this discussion, there are many questions: what actually is inflation? How does the gas levy work? Are higher wages to blame for the increase in prices? Here you will find answers to these and other questions from the left perspective.

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Colombia: A Murderous "Democracy"

Colombia is considered the oldest democracy in Latin America. In fact, it is an authoritarian regime that has waged war against the population for over 100 years. How does the population resist? How do workers organize against injustice? Colombia: More than labor struggle!

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PolyluxMarx - Supplementary Material for a Reading Course on Das Kapital

Want to read Das Kapital, but not sure where to begin? Marx’s famous foundational theoretical text is still hugely relevant, especially in times of lasting crises. However, he did not make it easy to follow his thoughts. For that reason, PolyluxMarx provides educational material to support readers as they start Das Kapital. It is also a resource for those who want to organize a reading course on the text.

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The Uranium Atlas

Uranium mining mostly takes place on the land of indigenous peoples in the Global South and poses extreme risks to the environment and to people’s health. Nuclear power is extremely costly, and scientists are still unsure about how to store radioactive waste. The Uranium Atlas provides an overview of data and facts that are important to answer questions about Uranium.

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Atlas of the stateless

The reality of people without citizenship is dramatic and yet invisible. Their civil and human rights often go unrecognized, they have no access to a healthcare system, education system, or the job market. In this Atlas, you will find facts and figures about the situation of stateless people across the world and possible ways we can change this reality. Take a look!

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The Agrifood Atlas

The power of the food industry is distributed among fewer and fewer companies. This corporate atlas provides an overview of the main players and their business strategies, the various forms of corporate power and those who oppose and criticize this position of power.

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Atlas of Enslavement

The Atlas of Enslavement provides an overview of the many forms of coercion and exploitation in various branches of the global world economy. In doing so, it creates awareness of the invisible realities of modern slavery. Through vivid graphics and with detailed facts, the educational material sheds light on the situation in different regions of the world.

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