The mass killing operations of Israel are there for all to see but the military objectives of the Zionist onslaught have not been met. Even in the confined quarters of the Gaza enclave, a year of unrestrained criminality hasn’t subdued the armed resistance. Even if all out regional conflict takes place with direct US involvement, imperialism will reap what it sows.

We live in a world in which wealthy imperialist countries dominate and exploit the nations that are poor and oppressed. It is not surprising that this great international injustice involves the devaluing of human life. The conduct of political leaders in the West attests to this but it is also in evidence if you examine the track record of the corporate media.

Whether the hard right or the liberal centre holds power, working class communities are facing an implacable enemy. We can’t build the united movement the situation demands if we periodically put our struggles on hold to campaign for the more moderate representatives of the very agenda we need to defeat. We must remain sharply focused on building a socialist alternative for the years ahead.

Different approaches are needed to counter today’s containment strategies. Governments are less likely to be moved by displays of our potential power. Huge rallies and days of action are an essential part of building movements and campaigns, but this is a period when ongoing social action and indefinite strikes will be needed to turn back attacks and win our demands.

Peter Rosenthal was a brilliant movement lawyer who put his considerable skills at the service of people on the receiving end of the injustices this society dishes out. He defended those who resisted exploitation and oppression. His political opinions and his moral values put him on their side and he deployed his formidable talents to their advantage in case after case.

There have been deeply troubling developments in the implementation of the MAID program to date and the most alarming trends are discernible. If assisted dying is extended and thoroughly normalized, in the context of a deeply degraded social infrastructure, the right to choose may be transmogrified into an ugly way to reduce costs and dispose of those who have been abandoned.

The fight over the fate of 230 Sherbourne points to the desperate need to reverse the rampant commodification of housing that has caused so much damage in Canada and internationally. For that to happen, it will be necessary to build a movement among communities under attack that can challenge the power of the developers and confront their political enablers.

Those who promote right-wing solutions for societal ills have long argued for minimal state interference with the play of market forces. It has often been suggested that all attempts to constrain unbridled profit-making are just so many barriers to ambition, hard work and prosperity. The sexist term “nanny state” is often pressed into service to make the point.

Since the current genocidal assault on Gaza got underway, we are seeing a redoubling of efforts to take the McCarthyist process further still, with even moderate criticism of Israel now treated as anti-Jewish hatred. Those mounting the charge are extending their efforts into the realms of criminal law and the policing of public protests.

US hegemony is by no means as robust as it used to be, threatened as it is by the rising power of China. Though the global empire can rely on an unrivalled military power and a great capacity for economic coercion, a functioning Washington Consensus requires a minimum level of acquiescence and stability and this is being threatened by the present situation.