Reasons to be cheerful. posted by Richard Seymour

Beyond the great Respect results, there's a bunch of other stuff happening across the world that should inspire and hearten the Left. Here are a few examples.

The Portuguese Left Bloc is doing very well, having got eight representatives elected to parliament. Meanwhile, Rifondazione Comunista, fresh from its own spectacular electoral performance in tandem with the United Left in Italy, has sent a congratulatory message to Respect. Meanwhile in Germany, Die Wahlalternative , "old Labour with a dash of Respect" according to The Guardian, looks set to perform strongly in its first election outing. This is in the context of a massive fight against Schroeder's attempts to cut back on welfare and make labour more 'flexible': "reviving leftwing ideological resistance is also a factor in Germany's shifting political calculus. Oskar Lafontaine, a former finance minister who broke with Mr Schröder in 1999, declared last week that the SPD had lost the people's confidence. 'We need different politics. It's about standing on the side of the weak,' Red Oskar, as he is known, told a rally." In fact, some might say that a movement is sweeping through Europe .

The Venezuelan government, gaining support across Latin America , has plans to introduce worker-management of industry , and workers in Alcasa have already begun organising themselves, electing their shop directors and so on. Chavez is using the country's oil revenues to finance rural workers' cooperatives and fund house-building to replace shanty towns. Still, Chavez is not making the investors happy - he wants to tax foreign oil as he claims they owe $2bn in back taxes. ( More ).

The apparent recrudescence in armed Islamism in Egypt is likely to prove short-lived, as mass protests push armed groups to the margins . The recent Cairo Conference saw the Nasserist democracy activists, the revolutionary Left and the more moderate Islamists unite in a bid to overthrow the Mubarak regime. The last time these three groups united was during Suez. ( More ).

Finally, the neo-imperialists at Harry's Place are calling for Syria to be bombed because of allegations that its government is allowing terrorists to enter Iraq. But America has been terrorising Cuba for decades, with the CIA sending in its agents to bomb airliners and hotels. Can Fidel bomb the Whitehouse, please?

More good news: China Mieville has won the Arthur C Clarke award again. Also, Johann Hari shockingly draws some fairly accurate conclusions from the recent elections. Respect, Johann. May dreams of Galloway, the fearless left-winger who - as you rightly note - represents the majority, escort you to the land of Nod...