Interview

On 28 October 2024, an international delegation arrived in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for a week-long observation mission. Among them were lawyers, former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, Jaume Asens, a former Spanish MP who has since become an MEP, and Marc Botenga, his PVDA-PTB counterpart in the European Parliament. Solidaire met up with Botenga for a hard-hitting account of the few days he spent close to Israeli army fire.

Donald Trump has been re-elected as President of the United States and many people are wondering how we got here. And what should we do now? Peter Mertens, Secretary General of the PVDA-PTB, analyses the reasons for Trump's victory, the defeat of Kamala Harris and the Democrats, and gives a sign of hope in spite of everything.

"The PVDA-PTB's recent election result is a strong sign of hope for all the future struggles of the working class and young people. The PVDA-PTB has doubled its number of elected representatives in Flanders, made strong gains in Brussels and is the most resilient left-wing party in Wallonia," said Peter Mertens. In this interview, conducted two weeks after the elections, the PVDA-PTB General Secretary takes a detailed look at the election results and the lessons that can be drawn from them.

The Workers' Party of Belgium stands with Palestinians and supports the emancipation struggle of the Global South. A conversation with Peter Mertens By Nick Brauns, Brussels, junge Welt, 22.11.2023

With his media platform WikiLeaks, Julian Assange exposed war crimes committed by US and European armies against Iraq and Afghanistan. Once grounds for a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, today his journalistic work is rewarded with a witch-hunt and imprisonment. On the outside, his wife Stella is fighting for his freedom.

For 30 minutes, peace activist and long-time trade unionist Jeremy Corbyn waltzes us through his notebooks full of stories. Together with Peter Mertens, General Secretary of the PTB, they take us from soaring energy prices, through peace and war, to million-strong demonstrations in London's Hyde Park. From Chile and hope, to the red and white of Arsenal Football Club.

Set to win 18 seats in parliament, the Workers’ Party of Belgium is the fastest-growing force on the European left. Newly elected leader Raoul Hedebouw tells Jacobin how his comrades built an explicitly Marxist party with mass appeal.

Perhaps the division of Belgium by the nationalists by 2024 can be stopped? In what way is the solidarity movement for the flood victims a huge sign of hope? Why is the PTB flying Belgium’s black-yellow-red flag? We met David Pestieau, vice-president of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA), on the occasion of the release of his manifesto for the unity of Belgium. David Pestieau starts his book on the unity of the country with his feet in the mud of Liège: "On July 20, the national day of mourning, I am in Pepinster, one of the places most affected by the tragedy. Many people come from Ath, Ostend, Antwerp... with the SolidariTeams. Many of the people affected by the disaster could not believe the outpour of solidarity. That same evening, Bart De Wever said on a television channel that he would like a union between Flanders and the Netherlands and that he would rather die a "southern Dutchman" than a Belgian. The gap between the people and some of those in the Rue de la Loi (seat of the Belgian government, editor's note) could not be better illustrated."

Pensions remain a sensitive issue: the government wants to raise the pensionable age even further, while a majority of the population is calling for exactly the opposite. In order not to provoke resistance, the Minister for Pensions, Karine Lalieux (French-speaking Socialist Party), is quietly working on a new reform. Her plan is expected to be on the government's table in September. Kim De Witte, pension specialist of the PTB, explains the stakes of the new battle to come.

Do you know any MPs who spend two days a week working on a production line in a factory? Meet Francis Dagrin, Brussels deputy of the PTB.