(2022-02-05). Canadian workers need a socialist program to defeat the threat of far-right political violence, end the pandemic and oppose war. wsws.org With the support and encouragement of a significant faction of the ruling class, far-right thugs have besieged Canada's parliament for the past week to demand all COVID-19 public health measures be abolished. These extraordinary events underscore the urgent necessity of the independent political mobilization of the working class.
(2022-02-05). With Ôªøre-election of ÔªøMattarella, Italian government will seek to enforce "EU recovery plan" wsws.org The anti-working class offensive of the Draghi government and the rise of the Fratelli d'Italia make clear how urgently necessary an independent working class movement is, a party that resolutely leads the struggle against mass infection, social impoverishment and war.
(2022-02-05). No pause in health workers' struggles in Nigeria. peoplesdispatch.org As health workers' trade unions in Nigeria call their membership to continue strike action over bad working conditions and missed payments, attempts to limit the space for industrial action persist…
(2022-02-05). Join Socialist Workers Party, 'Militant' in campaigning. themilitant.com 
The international In California the fight for ballot status for SWP candidates Eleanor García for U.S. Senate and Joel Britton for governor is underway. García and Britton explain why working people need ou…
(2022-02-05). US-backed SINTTIA union wins representation as workers at Silao, Mexico GM plant vote out CTM. wsws.org The claim that the victory of SINTTIA in the vote by Silao workers represents at step forward is belied by the support it received from the corrupt, pro-management US union bureaucracy and the Biden administration.
(2022-02-05). Workers Struggles: Asia and Australia. wsws.org Indian power distribution workers protest nationally against privatisation; Pakistan: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government workers demand pay rise; New South Wales commuter rail workers resume limited industrial action…
(2022-02-05). Widespread contract violations at Mack Trucks in Pennsylvania. wsws.org Mack Trucks workers report that management has been using non-union contract workers to clear up a backlog in violation of the UAW contract.
(2022-02-05). Chilean and international capital praise Boric's cabinet picks. wsws.org Like SYRIZA in Greece and Podemos in Spain, the Chilean pseudo-left and Stalinist front has the task of dissipating seething opposition among workers and young people to capitalism.
(2022-02-05). Australian government in disarray as workers' anger grows over pandemic disaster. wsws.org While polls show collapsing popular support for Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government, the Labor Party has offered bipartisan backing throughout the pandemic.
(2022-02-05). Renaissance Woman Sylvia Pankhurst: Feminist, Artist, Council Communist, Anti-Imperialist. dissidentvoice.org 
Why Sylvia Matters How many of you about to read this have heard of Sylvia Pankhurst? Our guess is, not many. She seems to have fallen through the cracks of socialist and suffragette movement literature. Her mother, Emmeline Pankhurst and sister, Christabel Pankhurst are still looked up to as leaders in the suffragette movement. What …
(2022-02-05). Readings on Martial Law and Citizens in a Revolution. indybay.org Governments, law enforcement agencies and corporations all have vested interests in criminalizing, disrupting and suppressing survivalist and activist groups of all persuasions. Security is needed to ensure our continued success. We also have a basic right to protect your privacy and anonymity from unwarranted intrusion…
(2022-02-05). Sunday 2/27: Online Reading and discussion with Omar El Akkad, author of What Strange Paradise. indybay.org Revolution Books, 2444 Durant Ave. Berkeley CA 94704…
(2022-02-05). Chicago protest demands federal charges against killer cop Jason Van Dyke. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – A delegation of activists demanding Justice for Laquan McDonald met with an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago's Federal Building. They presented a letter signed by 38 organizations and unions, as well as five elected officials, demanding federal charges against killer cop Jason Van Dyke. | A statement released before the protest explained, "VanDyke was given a 'slap on the wrist' by the Cook County Criminal Court after being convicted of McDonald's murder and 16 counts of aggravated assault and is being released from prison after less than 3 1/2 years, when Black and brown and other working-class…
(2022-02-05). Oakland, California educators and students protest planned budget cuts and school closures. wsws.org Immediately following their agreement with the teachers union to maintain in-person instruction throughout the pandemic, Oakland Unified School District is pushing ahead with plans to close or merge 16 schools.
(2022-02-05). Aim of 5 February Rallies in US to Show Americans Do Not Seek War With Russia, Activist Says. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Ekaterina Chukaeva – The aim of the upcoming rallies which are scheduled across the US on Saturday is to inform the public that the majority of US people are not seeking a conflict with Russia, Dan Gilman, who is on the organizing team of Seattle Anti-War Coalition and a member and past president of Veterans For Peace, said.
(2022-02-05). [Perspectives] Xenophobia, prejudice, and blame in pandemic times. thelancet.com The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us time and time again, through deeply painful lessons, that epidemics of infectious diseases may be biological in origin but our collective understandings of them and their impacts are social. From US Supreme Court rulings on mask and vaccine mandates in December, 2020, and as recently as January, 2022, to xenophobia, racism, and the blaming of disease spread on those marginalised within society, COVID-19 has laid bare what historians of epidemics have long understood—that epidemics expose, reproduce, and harden existing prejudices and inequalities within societies.
(2022-02-05). [Perspectives] Ayoade Alakija: advancing equity in the COVID-19 response. thelancet.com Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija is running late for our video call because of back-to-back meetings in Geneva as the newly appointed WHO Special Envoy and Co-Chair of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator), a global collaboration to accelerate equitable access to COVID-19 health tools. Her Geneva visit will help her "join the dots to help move us from working in silos to working better collectively to overcome COVID-19", she tells me in between her last meeting and catching a flight back home to Abuja, Nigeria.
(2022-02-05). [Correspondence] Depression and anxiety during COVID-19. thelancet.com The COVID-19 Mental Disorders Collaborators conclude that, throughout 2020, the pandemic led to a 27 ∑6% increase in cases of major depressive disorders and 25 ∑6% increase in cases of anxiety disorders globally.1 However, we propose that these prevalence estimates are likely to be substantially inflated. Decades of trauma research has shown that, for most people, negative life events such as bereavement or disaster exposure are typically followed by resilience (minimal effect on symptoms of anxiety, or depression, or both) or recovery (initial short-term increase in symptoms of anxiety, or depression, or…
(2022-02-05). Virginia police officials accused of human sex trafficking, intimidation. wsws.org A civil rights lawsuit filed late last year alleges that Northern Virginia police officers collaborated with human sex traffickers in exchange for sexually assaulting the victims.
(2022-02-05). IT'S WAR! The Fight To Stop School Closures In Oakland As Hundreds Rally and March. indybay.org Hundreds of teachers, students and parents rallied and marched against the proposal to shut and merge many schools in the Flatlands in Oakland. These schools have large number of Black and Brown students and this is taking place as the state has a budget surplus of 45.7 billion dollars.
(2022-02-05). In New Zealand, rising inflation, inequality intensify social crisis. wsws.org The Labour-Green Party government's pro-business policies, imposed since it assumed office in 2017, have produced an unprecedented explosion in social inequality since the onset of COVID-19.
(2022-02-05). The Beijing Winter Olympics are a Symbol of Multipolarity and International Friendship. orinocotribune.com By Carlos Martinez — Feb 2, 2022 | With over 30 heads of state and government gathered in Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, in spite of the pandemic which is still raging in most parts of the world, the Games will prove to be a symbol of a deepening multipolarity and global solidarity. | A tiny handful of imperialist countries, led by the United States, tried and failed to coordinate a so-called "diplomatic boycott," based on absurd and debunked fabrications about the treatment of Xinjiang's Uygur population. | When Joe Biden announced a year ago that "diplomacy is back," mo…
(2022-02-05). Freedom Convoy 2022: The Rising of Unity and International Solidarity. globalresearch.ca These of the words of a duly elected head of government, who claims to represent Canadians: | "The small fringe minority who are on their way to Ottawa who are holding unacceptable views that they're expressing do not represent the views …
(2022-02-05). Indefinite "Political Quarantine" for Justin Trudeau: Freedom Convoy 2022. In Solidarity with the Truck Drivers. globalresearch.ca A mass movement against the Covid mandate is unfolding coast to coast across Canada in solidarity with cross-border truck drivers. Tens of thousands of people will be joining the truck drivers in Ottawa.
(2022-02-05). Morning Commute: 2-5-2022. anchor.fm In this episode I discussed the fascist origin of the United States of America as well as its colonial and imperial past, present, and fearful future. We are the ones who will stop the coming of the ongoing fascist and reactionary movement as well as its ability to further capture power. We must organize now!!
(2022-02-05). [Correspondence] A just memory. thelancet.com Richard Horton's Offline1 makes for thought-provoking reading but gives a cynical and unbalanced view of the enterprise of tropical medicine. To portray tropical medicine as merely a service to the White colonialists and therefore fundamentally racist, even in the early days of the British empire in Africa, is to ignore the selflessness of many of its practitioners. Many of the great figures of tropical medicine were motivated by a desire to solve the health problems of African people, not merely to provide health care for the governing elite.
(2022-02-05). Challenging Colonialism s01e03: Weapons of Mass Destruction (p.I). indybay.org Part I: Dams and Colonization | In part one of a four part episode, we examine the negative environmental and cultural impact of dams, and the Indigenous-led movement to remove them. These dams, deemed Weapons of Mass Destruction by Chief Caleen Sisk, have devastated Salmon populations and the communities whose histories have been in relationship with Salmon since time immemorial.
(2022-02-05). Another death in Los Angeles Harbor. wsws.org On Tuesday, January 18, Edgar Ruiz died on the job from what appears to have been an avoidable industrial accident at the Port of Los Angeles's Maersk Terminal.
(2022-02-05). An Inconvenient Truth: The Peasant Food Web Feeds the World. dissidentvoice.org In October 2020, CropLife International said that its new strategic partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) would contribute to sustainable food systems. It added that it was a first for the industry and the FAO and demonstrates the determination of the plant science sector to work constructively in a partnership where …
(2022-02-04). Book Review: 'Cancel This Book' Asks for a Return to Revolutionary Class Analysis. towardfreedom.org Academic and activist Dan Kovalik's new book, "Cancel This Book: The Progressive Case Against Cancel Culture," was written on the frontlines of the twin struggles of our time, the class struggle and the fight for Black liberation, writes Danny Shaw.
(2022-02-04). An open letter to workers in New Zealand: Join the fight to stop the pandemic and save lives in 2022! wsws.org The Labour Party-led government, backed by the trade unions, insists that schools and businesses must remain open, allowing Omicron to spread. The working class cannot accept this policy of mass infection and death.
(2022-02-04). Pandemic exposes U.S. health care crisis. workers.org 
In the book "The Great Influenza: The Deadliest Pandemic in History" by John Barry, written in 2005 about the so-called Spanish Flu of 1918, we learn that pandemic actually started in the U.S. The army barracks in the Midwest were the breeding ground for the deadly virus. World War I . . . |
(2022-02-04). Fast Food Sector Council advances in California, but CalCare health bill on hold. peoplesworld.org 
SACRAMENTO—Legislation to create a first-in-the-nation Fast Food Sector Council charged with regulating wages, working hours, and conditions affecting over half-a-million California fast food workers passed the state Assembly Jan. 31 and is on its way to the state Senate. The measure, Assembly Bill 257, the Fast Food Accountability and Standards (FAST) Recovery Act, by Assemblymember …
(2022-02-04). Landmark landslide win for independent union at big GM Mexico plant. peoplesworld.org 
SILAO, Mexico—The landmark landslide win for an independent union at the big General Motors plant in Silao, Mexico, may well be a precursor of the future of Mexican organized labor—a precursor that augurs well for their U.S. colleagues, too. That's because the 4,192-932 February 3 victory by SINTTIA, The National Independent Union for Workers in …
(2022-02-04). Mumia Abu-Jamal: Un Nuevo Movimiento por la Libertad ahora. workers.org 
El gran revolucionario caribeño Frantz Fanon escribió en su ya clásica obra, The Wretched of the Earth (Los condenados de la tierra), el siguiente llamado a acción: "Cada generación debe, desde la relativa oscuridad, descubrir su misión, cumplirla o traicionarla en relativa opacidad. Esa misión la tenemos nosotros." øCuál misión? . . . |
(2022-02-04). After Amazon Tragedy, Workers Come Together to Demand Safe Working Conditions. inequality.org
(2022-02-04). Connecticut's Essential Worker Relief Fund a model other governments should follow. peoplesworld.org 
Connecticut is leading the way in building back better. The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the lives of many working-class families, but some relief is in sight. Recently, the Connecticut General Assembly, with a strong push from organized labor, passed the Connecticut Essential Worker COVID-19 Relief Fund. It' a $34 million program which will allow essential …
(2022-02-04). Strong Job Growth in January as Omicron Leads to Cuts in Hours, Not Jobs. cepr.net Employers responded to omicron by cutting hours rather than workers. | The economy added 467,000 jobs in January, in spite of the spread of the omicron variant. Even pandemic sensitive sectors such as hotels and restaurants were big job gainers. It appears that employers' main response was to reduce hours, with the average workweek falling by 0.2 hours, a decline of 0.6 percent. The unemployment rate was little changed at 4.0 percent. |
(2022-02-04). Unite refuses to oppose Coventry Labour council strikebreaking against bin workers. wsws.org There could be no clearer proof that the dispute must be taken out of the hands of Unite than its willingness to sit down with strike-breaking organisers.
(2022-02-04). WorkWeek Police Attack On KPFA Journalist Frank Sterling & Texas Professor Fired For Tweets. indybay.org WorkWeek covers the attack on police attack on KPFA journalist Frank Sterling, the firing of a Texas professor for tweets and a solidarity rally for 5,000 striking Clover Dairy workers in South Africa.
(2022-02-04). Essential food workers strike in NSW, Victoria. greenleft.org.au Members of the United Workers Union employed across six essential workplace sites in New South Wales and Victoria are on strike. Jim McIlroy reports.
(2022-02-04). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Strikes across France by healthcare, transport and employment agency workers over staff shortages, workload and pay; protests by teachers across Iran against wages and conditions following protests of retirees demanding a rise in pensions; 5,000 South African food workers on indefinite strike against pay and job cuts for eleventh week…
(2022-02-04). US health care workers speak out as COVID-19 continues to fill ICUs and overwhelm hospitals. wsws.org When ICU beds are full it affects every aspect of the hospital system, causing ambulance diversion, supply limitations, staffing shortages, delays in care and overcrowding.
(2022-02-04). Update on Antifascists Facing Repression from Opposing the NSM in Newnan, Georgia. itsgoingdown.org Report and update from the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund on those facing charges stemming from protests in Newnan, GA against the NSM. Back in April 2018, full-on nazis from the National Socialist Movement held a rally in Newnan, GA. Anti-fascists showed up to defend the community from that threat and were attacked — by Georgia…
(2022-02-04). Recent Polls Show Venezuelans Expect Economic and Political Improvements. orinocotribune.com Caracas, February 4, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—According to the last Hinterlaces national survey, carried out this January, 29% of voters sympathize with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and 1% with other organizations that are grouped around the Great Simón Bolívar Patriotic Pole (GPP), which places partisan support for the government of President Nicolás Maduro at 30%. | Last May, 2021, Orinoco Tribune
(2022-02-04). University of Illinois students walk out to protest Jeff Sessions. liberationnews.org 
"Jeff Sessions and his class have put our society into crisis," said Reuben, "and we are here to show the community there is an alternative future and it is socialist."
(2022-02-04). Diosdado Cabello: Spirit of February 4 will Never Die. orinocotribune.com A few hours before the 30th anniversary of February 4, 1992—the day when Hugo Chavez and several other brave Venezuelan military officials shook Venezuela while trying to oust the neoliberal government of Democratic Action politician Carlos Andres Perez—the first vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, assured the nation that the spirit of that day will never die. | "February 4 (4F) was well worth it to liberate the homeland, that's why the spirit of February 4 will never die," he said during the inauguration ceremony of the 4F Plaza, at the General Command…
(2022-02-04). The struggle to decolonise the mind: Frantz Fanon and his Irish translator, Constance Farrington. mronline.org 
Last month marked 70 years since the passing of psychiatrist, political radical, Marxist and philosopher of the Algerian Revolution, Frantz Fanon, at the young age of 36.
(2022-02-04). Webinar Saturday February 12: Iran & Cuba Promoting Multipolarity. orinocotribune.com 
This webinar takes place on the 43rd Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, and celebrates the release of the Farsi Translation of Arnold August's Cuba-US Relations: Obama and Beyond. | The webinar will take place 12 February 2022 at 9: 00AM EST New York & Toronto time, 5: 30PM Tehran time, 10: 00PM Beijing time and 2: 00PM London time over Zoom and YouTube Live. | About this event | Every February 11-12 since the 1979 Islamic Revolution is a cause to celeb…
(2022-02-04). Chavez Ignited the Bolivarian Revolution with the 4F Rebellion. telesurenglish.net On Friday, Venezuelans remember the 30th anniversary of the anti-imperialist rebellion that Colonel Hugo Chavez led against President Carlos Perez (1989-1993), a corrupt politician who implemented neoliberal policies that worsened the people's living conditions. | RELATED: | On Feb. 4, 1992, five army units under Chavez's command moved into Caracas to seize key military and communications installations throughout…