(2022-02-06). Video: Remembering Samah Idriss: An Organic Intellectual and his Literary and Socio-Political Paths. samidoun.net On Saturday, 5 February, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement (Masar Badil) organized a webinar to remember the Lebanese revolutionary intellectual Samah Idriss. "Remembering Samah Idriss: An Organic Intellectual and his Subversive Literary and Socio-Political Paths" included analysis of his literary and political contributions, memories of his life in struggle, and visions for future organizing …
(2022-02-06). Taiwan and Ukraine: How United States foreign policy operates in the service of capitalism. greenleft.org.au The sabre rattling of the United States and its allies grows as capitalism's crisis sharpens, writes William Briggs.
(2022-02-06). 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.
(2022-02-06). Baltimore: Protest demands: 'No U.S., NATO war on Russia and Donbass'. fightbacknews.org Baltimore, MD — Dozens of protesters gathered on February 5 in downtown Baltimore to speak out against a possible U.S./NATO war on Russia and Donbass. Speakers called on the U.S. government to fight COVID and poverty instead of Russia. | Protesters chanted demands for money for social investments in healthcare, housing and jobs instead of the military budget and war. Cars honked their horns in solidarity as they drove by the picket. A caravan of protesters drove throughout the city after the initial picket, before meeting up with another group for a joint closing rally at a different intersection. | A coali…
(2022-02-06). 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). 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). 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). UPS Teamsters fight against wage cuts. fightbacknews.org Lansing, MI – As UPS moves out from its peak season, the company is ending market rate adjustments (MRAs) and bonus programs designed to attract workers and boost part-time employees' pay. The negotiated part-time pay rate for workers hired since August 1, 2018 is $15.33 per hour, with a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) included. Teamsters Local 623 reports that UPS paid its members $19 an hour as part of an MRA and the workers are taking a 27% pay cut as the adjustments expire. | While higher pay is a good thing, these MRAs and similar weekly attendance bonus programs have had a divisive effect on workers and ha…
(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). 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). 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). 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). 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). 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). 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). 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). 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). 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). 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). Young Communists in France mobilize for Georges Abdallah and a free Palestine. samidoun.net On Saturday, 22 January, the Jeunes Communistes 13 (Young Communists of Bouches-du-Rhone, France, with the central city of Marseille) organized a screening of "Fedayin: Georges Abdallah's Fight" with a presentation by a member of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Network that plays a leading role in organizing for the liberation …
(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). 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). Thomas Sankara spoke for the oppressed all over the world. themilitant.com Kwame Brathwaite"Freedom must be conquered in struggle," Thomas Sankara told the United Nations Oct. 4, 1984. Speaking for the Burkinabe people and also the "great disinherited people of the world," he explained this is "the reason for our revolt" and "special relations of solidarity." |
(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). 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). 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). 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 …