Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

Today is .

The day honours the strength and resilience of people forced to flee war, conflict and persecution. By the end of 2025, 117.8 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced, according to UNHCR.

Yet while displacement continues to reach record levels, migration and asylum policies across Europe are becoming increasingly restrictive. Calls for the return of Syrian refugees are part of this wider trend. From tougher migration policies to expanded deportation plans, governments are placing growing emphasis on return rather than protection.

But what Syria are refugees expected to return to?

In our latest article, Joseph Daher examines the social and economic realities facing Syrians today: economic crisis, damaged infrastructure, austerity measures and growing social unrest. He argues that without reconstruction and economic recovery, mass returns risk deepening Syria's crisis rather than resolving it.

Read the full article:
https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/54903/forcing-refugees-to-return-to-syria-is-a-bad-idea

“Officially, it was about making Afrikaans a compulsory language in secondary schools. We felt disadvantaged compared to white students. Hardly any of us spoke it.”
— Oupa Moloto, participant in the 1976 protests

50 years ago, the Soweto Uprising began in the Black township of Soweto, south of Johannesburg, South Africa. Early that morning, thousands of students refused to attend classes and instead marched from school to school. The protest quickly grew to around 20,000 participants from more than 200 schools.

Students sang freedom songs and carried signs reading “We do not want Afrikaans”. The language of South Africa’s white ruling minority, Afrikaans had been imposed as a medium of instruction in Black schools, becoming a symbol of the apartheid regime’s attempt to control education and suppress Black identity.

The government reacted with force. Fearing a wider revolt, police deployed tear gas and attack dogs before opening fire on the demonstrators. When children were killed for protesting, anger spread far beyond Soweto.

For weeks, unrest swept across South Africa. In Soweto alone, around 250,000 people joined the uprising. Government buildings and public transport were attacked, and workers went on strike.

The uprising was eventually crushed. Nearly 600 people lost their lives, around 450 of them killed by police. Yet the government was forced to abandon its plans to impose Afrikaans in schools. Eighteen years later, apartheid itself would fall.

Denmark's new "four-leaf clover" government emerged from the country's longest-ever coalition negotiations. While the radical-left Enhedslisten secured major social reforms from outside government, key pillars of Danish politics remain largely unchanged.

From welfare expansion and cheaper food to tax cuts for high earners, the new coalition reflects the contradictions shaping Danish politics today. Is this social democracy or a form of "pragmatic conservatism"? Read the full article now: https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/54889

in 1894, José Carlos Mariátegui was born.

One of the most original Marxist thinkers of his time, Mariátegui argued that socialism in Latin America could not simply imitate European models. Instead, it had to emerge from the continent’s own social realities and struggles.

He emphasized the central role of workers, peasants, and Indigenous communities, seeing in Indigenous traditions and histories of resistance an important foundation for social transformation.

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

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

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

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.

Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung LuXemburg Lecture by Thea Riofrancos

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?

Russia's Unions Under Pressure - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Russian trade unions have come into the crosshairs of the state. Can they survive in Putin’s Russia?