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2021-12-19: News Headlines

Common Dreams Staff (2021-12-19). US Air Wars Killed Thousands of Civilians, Including Children, NY Times Reports. truthout.org Thousands of previously hidden Pentagon documents show that the U.S. air wars in the Middle East have been marked by "deeply flawed intelligence" and have killed thousands of civilians, many of them children, The 5-year Times investigation received more than 1,300 reports examining airstrikes in Iraq an…

Common Dreams Staff (2021-12-19). Manchin Rejects Build Back Better Bill, Likely Killing Social and Climate Agenda. truthout.org "I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation," Mr. Manchin said on "Fox News Sunday, "I've tried everything humanly possible. I can't get there. This is a no." | The comments from Mr. Manchin dealt a fatal blow to the legislation that is central to President Joe Biden's agenda. | "I think he's gonna have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." | Sanders said Manchin "doesn't have the…

Ian Angus (2021-12-19). Dispossessed: Origins of the Working Class. mronline.org Deprived of land and common rights, the English poor were forced into wage-labor. CAPITAL VERSUS COMMONS, 4…

Bianca Tylek (2021-12-19). Corporate Exploitation of Prison Labor Reaches Deep into the Supply Chain. truthout.org This article is part of a five-part The exception clause allowed states, often in the South, to pass Black Codes, laws that specifically criminalized Black life and filled jails with Black people. States then used "convict leasing" to rent incarcerated people to private individuals and corporations looking for cheap labor, often plantations. By the late 1800s, states like Alab…

Hamilton Nolan (2021-12-19). Ten Predictions For the Year Ahead in Labor. zcomm.org Our infallible crystal ball reveals that 2022 will make workers want to holler…

Don Gross (2021-12-19). Senate approves Rahm Emanuel for ambassadorship despite opposition from Chicago progressives. liberationnews.org In addition to his role in the murder of Laquan McDonald, Rahm's policies while mayor of Chicago were devestating for the working class in the city, especially Black and Latino communites.

Tyler Walicek (2021-12-19). Kshama Sawant Emerges Victorious From Disingenuous Recall Attempt. zcomm.org The corporate-backed campaign to recall Seattle's socialist City Councilor Kshama Sawant, which stretched on for a contentious 16 months, has concluded with a victory for Sawant, who will remain in her seat as the lone leftist of the council…

In Defense of Liberation! (2021-12-19). Historical Development of Revolution. anchor.fm In this episode I give my best attempt to add a description of how it is that we must try to understand the development of a revolution. I try to explain how consciousness, active participation, struggle and organization are some of the most crucial parts of building a revolutionary movement. I also discussed the need to understand concrete conditions in a concrete fashion, and why it is that we must take into account all of the particularities and universalities of our system our situation and others. I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think! Email me at indefenseofliberation@gmail.com !

_____ (2021-12-19). U.S. Police Unions Starting to Ask: Why Does the ACLU 'Defend the Indefensible'? strategic-culture.org With the introduction of ACLU Watch, more people can better understand that a robust police presence is not the true source of America's crime problem, Robert Bridge writes. | Law enforcement officials have begun a watch beat of sorts against the American Civil Liberties Union, whose support of justice reform has translated into more criminals roaming the streets as police officers lose their jobs. | A number of liberal activists, armed with the most altruistic intentions, of course, are busy remaking America into a liberal bastion of utopian thinking, where the Cultural Marxists have put down the stakes on their…

Amjed Jaaved (2021-12-19). Pakistan-Bangladesh: Need to move forward. moderndiplomacy.eu History tells that countries, at daggers drawn for centuries, progressed by leaps and bounds once they buried the hatchet. Europe is a case in point. They first general agreement on trade and tariffs to to remove kinks and wobbles in free flow of goods and services. And , then joined the European Union. Thus they …

Liberation Staff (2021-12-19). Massive new union of student researchers at the U-Cal wins recognition. zcomm.org In a historic victory decades in the making, Student Researchers at the University of California have won union recognition and will soon begin bargaining…

teleSUR (2021-12-19). Israel Denies Freedom to Palestinian Prisoner on Hunger Strike. telesurenglish.net On Sunday, the Palestinian Society of Prisoners (SPP) informed that an Israeli court rejected a request to release Hisham Abu Hawash, a Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for 125 days demanding an end to his administrative detention. | RELATED: | The Israeli court rejected the request to transfer Hawash to a hospital after the serious deterioration of his health as a result of the hunger strike.

Thomas Klikauer (2021-12-19). Covid-19, Hospitals & The Curse of Capitalism. zcomm.org The idea that sickness must be profitable reaches deep into the ideological heart of neoliberalism…

Fight Back (2021-12-19). Filipino Communists: Mobilize the people in the wake of typhoon Odette's destruction. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Dec. 18 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines | The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) extends its sympathies to the millions of people who suffered the devastation wrought by supertyphoon Odette in Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao regions and in Palawan island. Thousands upon thousands of homes, agricultural fields, fishing boats, and other sources of livelihood were destroyed or severely damaged. | The toiling masses are the most grievously affected, especially the fisherfolk, the small peasants and fa…

_____ (2021-12-19). Wet'suwet'en Resistance And Solidarity: Evicting The Colonizers. popularresistance.org One month ago today, the RCMP violently raided unceded Gidimt'en territory (November 18-19, 2021), removing Indigenous people from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy's proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. The Wet'suwet'en enforced our standing eviction of CGL by closing roads into the territory November 14-17. Following the raids, arrestees received cruel and violent treatment in prison. The conditions set forth by the court are human rights violations to Indigenous peoples. We're still here. We're still throwing down. We are more determined than ever to protect our traditional territories for future gen…

NYC Anarchist Black Cross (2021-12-19). NYC: Noise Demo Against the Prison Industrial Complex, In Solidarity with PPs and POWs. itsgoingdown.org Call for noise demo in New York City on New Year's Eve from NYC Anarchist Black Cross. photo: Ash Agony On the noisiest night of the year in New York City, come help us remind folks locked up that they are not alone. NYC Anarchist Black Cross, in response to an international call for noise…

Staff (2021-12-19). Delegation visits Georges Abdallah in Lannemezan with greetings of international solidarity. samidoun.net A delegation from the Collectif Palestine Vaincra visited Georges Ibrahim Abdallah in Lannemezan Prison in December 2021. Georges Abdallah is a Lebanese Arab struggler for the Palestinian resistance who has been imprisoned in French jails for 37 years. His story and life in struggle is the subject of the film "Fedayin: Georges Abdallah's Fight," and […] | The article

WSWS (2021-12-19). Morenoites promote pseudo-left-Stalinist candidate in Chile's election. wsws.org The center-left parties that dominated the transition to civilian rule from Chile's military dictatorship three decades ago have all but collapsed.

F. William Engdahl (2021-12-19). The Green Agenda and the Plan to Collapse the Industrial World Economy. globalresearch.ca

Dean Baker (2021-12-19). Plans to Save the Local Newspaper. cepr.net As we all know, local newspapers have been dropping like flies over the last two decades. Even major regional papers like the Chicago Tribune and Cleveland Plain Dealer have fallen on hard times, sharply cutting back their staff and coverage. In many cases, hedge or private equity funds have done the downsizing or closures. They …

Lawrence Wittner (2021-12-19). Privileging the Privileged in Admission to Elite U.S. Colleges. warisacrime.org Although a major scandal erupted in 2019 over bribery and other fraudulent practices used by wealthy Americans to secure their children's admission to elite colleges, the affluent continue to benefit from other kinds of special admission policies that are perfectly legal. Consider the fact that, according to a recent study, only about 57 percent of …

Lawrence Wittner (2021-12-19). Special Privilege in Admission to Elite U.S. Colleges. zcomm.org Although a major scandal erupted in 2019 over bribery and other fraudulent practices used by wealthy Americans to secure their children's admission to elite colleges, the affluent continue to benefit from other kinds of special admission policies that are perfectly legal. Consider the fact that, according to a recent study, only about 57 percent of

M. K. Bhadrakumar (2021-12-18). A Sino-Russian military alliance is gratuitous (as of now). mronline.org To apply a western analogy, while the Sino-Russian partnership has great potential to model itself after the European Union, neither Moscow nor Beijing desires an Eurasian NATO to create synergy for it.

Rick Rozoff (2021-12-18). Kremlin still Beseeching NATO not to be NATO. Moscow's Security Proposals. globalresearch.ca As though a self-identified nuclear alliance which reserves the right to the first use of nuclear weapons, which has 70 members and partners (120 in all if the collective partnership with the African Union is factored in) on six continents, …

_____ (2021-12-18). True Colors: Red, White, Black And Blue. popularresistance.org With a bold and completely self-sabotaging diplomatic blunder, one which fails on every level including the least rigorous sanity test, this past Wednesday the U.S. was one of two nations to vote against a UN resolution designed to discourage the glorification and promotion of Nazi ideology. The other nation was Ukraine, which currently is overrun and effectively ruled by Jew-hating, Russia-hating, LGBT-hating neo-Nazis, who openly flaunt their allegiance to Stepan Bandera, a collaborator with the Third Reich during WWII. | The reason the U.S. supports such Jew-hating, Russia-hating thugs is obvious. It's an effe…

Eric Zuesse (2021-12-18). The Dangerous Ignorance of Germany's New Foreign Minister. moderndiplomacy.eu Germany's new Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock came into office on December 8th without her knowing that America's stationing missiles in Ukraine on Russia's border, and only a 7-minute flying distance away from Moscow, would be even more unacceptable to Moscow than, in 1962, would have been, to Washington, the Soviet Union's stationing missiles in Cuba, …

Editor (2021-12-18). Britain's legacy of brutal slavery in Barbados. mronline.org Yes, the British Empire is indeed one colony smaller as Barbados formally declared itself independent of its colonial rulers after 400 years yesterday in a big ole fancy ceremony attended by all kinds of dignitaries.

_____ (2021-12-18). Rising Food Prices Could Spark Famine, War, And Revolution In 2022. popularresistance.org Washington — Already dealing with the economic fallout from a protracted pandemic, the rapidly rising prices of food and other key commodities have many fearing that unprecedented political and social instability could be just around the corner next year. | With the clock ticking on student loan and rent debts, the price of a standard cart of food has jumped 6.4% in the past 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the cost of eating out in a restaurant similarly spiking, by 5.8% since November 2020. | The most notable change has been in the price of meat, with beef costing 26.2% more th…

WSWS (2021-12-18). Australian governments ramp up "reopening drive" amid record COVID-19 infections. wsws.org As Labor and Coalition governments alike scrap public health measures, to satisfy the demands of the corporate elite, there are signs of mounting public concern and hostility.

WSWS (2021-12-18). Democrats allow child tax credit to lapse as Omicron surges. wsws.org The elimination of the last social support measures implemented during the pandemic threaten destitution to working class families facing dislocation as a new, deadly wave of the virus gathers force.

WSWS (2021-12-18). Attacks on Brazilian scientists grow amid COVID-19 pandemic. wsws.org The Brazilian and international working class must oppose attacks on scientists whose work has helped educate the public and expose the criminal politics of the world's ruling elite during the greatest global health crisis in a century.

Princess Harmony (2021-12-18). WW Commentary: Drug users need unions, compassion clubs. workers.org Drug users and abusers, as a group of people, are among the most oppressed of our class. Because of this, we are in need of an organization or organizations that protect us and our human rights. We also need an organization that helps to combat the overdose epidemic, often caused . . . |

CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective (2021-12-18). Help CrimethInc. Recover from a Catastrophic Fire. itsgoingdown.org Call to support CrimethInc. as they recover from a massive fire which destroyed their mail order space. Donate here. On December 15, 2021, the mail-order space of the CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective was destroyed in a catastrophic fire that reduced three large buildings to burned-out shells in downtown Olympia, Washington. Thousands of our books, posters, and…

Jenny Pierson (2021-12-18). How a Group of Starbucks Workers Emerged Victorious in Their Union Fight. independentmediainstitute.org The iconic American coffee chain, Starbucks, employs hundreds of thousands of people in nearly 9,000 cafés nationwide. And yet, the news that a handful of Starbucks employees at one café in Buffalo, New York, recently voted to join Workers United—an affiliate of SEIU—made headlines nationally. The New York Times called it a "big symbolic win …

Ralph Nader (2021-12-18). Rare Unionizing Opportunity in Big Box and Retail Chains. dissidentvoice.org This is the most opportune time for millions of workers in Big Box retail stores and fast-food outlets to form unions. McDonald's, Walmart, Amazon, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, and other giant chains are having trouble finding enough workers. Some of these companies are even paying signing bonuses and upping low pay. Chalk it up …

WSWS (2021-12-18). "Workers around the world suffer the same conditions": A former Kellogg's worker in Australia sends a message of solidarity to US strikers. wsws.org Warwick Dove, a member of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) and former Kellogg's worker, has a message for striking Kellogg's workers in the United States on the eve of their vote on another concessions contract this weekend.

A Guest Author (2021-12-18). Nicaragua: la costa caribeña / Parte 3: Visión de un sandinista sobre la autonomía/ 'Unidad, diversidad, interculturalidad'. workers.org Por Johnny Hodgson La siguiente es la tercera parte de una presentación realizada por Johnny Hodgson, Secretario Político del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional para la Región Autónoma de la Costa del Caribe Sur (RACCS) el 6 de octubre en Managua, Nicaragua, a una delegación estadounidense compuesta por Coleen Littlejohn, . . . |

Tania Siddiqi (2021-12-18). Pakistan: Brutal lynching of Priyantha Kumara. workers.org Sialkot, Pakistan — Last week a mob tortured and then lit Priyantha Kumara on fire. Kumara, a Sri Lankan, was a factory manager in Pakistan and was murdered outside of the factory in which he worked. In the aftermath of this horrific lynching, mob participants informed media outlets that they . . . |

Stuckey (2021-12-18). Bessemer Amazon workers headed for new union election. zcomm.org The landscape is clearly shifting and Amazon has already shown how scared they really are…

WSWS (2021-12-18). Close schools and nonessential businesses! Workers must act to stop Omicron! wsws.org In just two weeks, all of the lies of the government and media have been exposed. Omicron is not "mild," and it is not "manageable." The irresponsible policies being carried out today will result in a wave of deaths in January and beyond.

WSWS (2021-12-18). PSOE-Podemos government arrests Cádiz workers as strikes spread in Spain. wsws.org The PSOE-Podemos government's arrests in Cádiz are a blatant attempt to intimidate workers to prevent them from exercising their right to strike and to protest.

Scott Klinger (2021-12-18). Congress Could Make the Holidays Happier for USPS with the Postal Reform Act. truthout.org Last year's holiday season was not exactly a merry one for the U.S. Postal Service. In the lead-up to Christmas, overwhelmed postal workers had to leave gifts sitting in sorting facilities for weeks. They delivered just

WSWS (2021-12-18). "The raises are insulting in this economy": Postal workers oppose union-brokered tentative agreement. wsws.org The agreement continues decades of attacks on workers by offering meager raises and expanding the second tier of lower-paid postal employees.

WSWS (2021-12-18). Teamsters union shuts down Southern California sanitation workers strike. wsws.org In coastal Orange County, south of Los Angeles, 400 sanitation workers went on strike December 9 against Republic Services, the second-largest waste management firm in the US. The strike was abruptly ended by the Teamsters after seven days.

WSWS (2021-12-18). Leaked email exposes union-management conspiracy to defeat Kellogg's strike as Sanders attempts to deflect anger towards Mexico. wsws.org The entire bargaining committee should be kicked out in light of this exposure, and a new bargaining committee elected consisting of the most trusted rank-and-file workers from the shop floor.

Sam Pizzigati (2021-12-18). Tornados can kill. So can Amazon's business model. nationofchange.org Will we continue to tolerate corporate executive 'risk taking' that puts only workers at real risk?>

Richard F Mollica, Gregory L Fricchione (2021-12-18). [Correspondence] Mental and physical exhaustion of health-care practitioners. thelancet.com Health-care workers are experiencing mental and physical exhaustion after coping with 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many dedicated staff members are retiring from the field and leaving their jobs. This occurrence is now widespread. A recent study by The Physicians Foundation found that doctors were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: 61% reported often experiencing feelings of burnout; 57% had experienced inappropriate feelings of anger, tearfulness, or anxiety; 46% had isolated themselves from others; and more than 55% know of a physician who has either considered, attempted, or died by suicide.

Tom Eccles (2021-12-18). Mental health workers speak out about pandemic challenges. greenleft.org.au Mental health workers Dr Nikola Leka and Sarah Ellyard spoke to Green Left about the mental health crisis exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paul von Blum (2021-12-18). Paul Buhle and the Rise of Socialist Comics. zcomm.org The historian has been at the forefront of telling the lost stories of U.S. radicalism—in comic book form—for nearly two decades…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-18). "Four Meals from Anarchy": Rising Food Prices Could Spark Famine, War, and Revolution in 2022. libya360.wordpress.com Alan Macleod WASHINGTON — Already dealing with the economic fallout from a protracted pandemic, the rapidly rising prices of food and other key commodities have many fearing that unprecedented political and social instability could be just around the corner next year. With the clock ticking on student loan and rent debts, the price of a…

2021-12-19 22:38 | 00:38 EST | jz | 52 | 0 | 28 | 22 | 0 ∧

2021-12-18: News Headlines

Andrew Smart (2021-12-18). Public health sacrificed for business as usual. greenleft.org.au The COVID-19 catastrophe presents a challenge of planetary proportions. You would expect it would elicit a response drawing on all our skills, compassion and collective resources. But, as Andrew Smart, argues, we are seeing the opposite.

Walker Bragman (2021-12-18). YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: The Sacklers Strike Out. dailyposter.com

WSWS (2021-12-18). Castillo government unleashes police against mining protest in Peru. wsws.org The peasant blockade of the giant Chinese-owned Las Bambas copper mine in Peru's southern Andes is creating a growing crisis for the Castillo government.

Filmon Zerai (2021-12-17). How the Left Can Get Ethiopia Right: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with #NoMore. towardfreedom.org In the last few months, the left media outlets from various camps, in their sincere attempts to demonstrate solidarity and spotlight conflict in the Horn of Africa and internal developments in Ethiopia, got it wrong. They have been uncritically centering active ideological players on two opposing camps, writes blogger Filmon Zerai.

G. Dunkel (2021-12-17). Ethiopia: U.S. sanctions create misery and division. workers.org Washington plans to impose sanctions on the central government in Ethiopia starting Jan. 1. The sanctions remove Ethiopia's Special Trade Status, which enables Ethiopian goods to be sold in the U.S. free of import duty. Ethiopia's government is involved in a civil war with forces based in Tigray that had . . . |

_____ (2021-12-17). Biden's Threat: Is Ethiopia Next? With Matt Ehret. strategic-culture.org Many westerners trying to make sense of the events in the "dark continent" of Africa have many barriers standing in the way of their minds and reality. This must be the case, for without such filters of spin proclaiming Africa's problems to be self-induced (or the consequence of Chinese debt slavery), we in the west, might actually feel horrified enough to demand systemic change. We might come to recognize that the plight of Africa has less to do with Africa and more to do with an intentional program of depopulation, and exploitation of vital resources.

_____ (2021-12-17). A Whistleblower And Constant Thorn In The Government's Side. popularresistance.org Joseph Carson, an Energy Department nuclear safety engineer originally from Brooklyn, NY, walked into the moral hazard of working for the U.S. government nearly as soon as his career started. The very first program he worked in during the Cold War led to the development of a nuclear weapon that could kill 20 million people in one fell swoop. The alarm bells immediately started ringing as the federal employee considered his work in the context of the engineering code of ethics he'd been educated in. What started as disclosures about the safety of federal workers in 1991—a report his manager immediately threw…

_____ (2021-12-17). Home Care Workers Protest 24-Hour Work Day In New York City. popularresistance.org Workers employed with the United Jewish Council (UJC) home care agency rallied to end the 24-hour work day and demand their stolen wages on the morning of December 16. While home care workers in New York are being forced to work 24-hour shifts for poverty wages, 11 hours worth of that pay is stolen by their employers. A coalition of worker's rights organizations including the Ain't I A Woman Campaign and the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS) have been organizing alongside home care workers for years against these unjust labor practices. | "I am traumatized from working 24-hour shifts," said Epifani…

Marie Kelly (2021-12-17). Yes Virginia, there is a labor movement. workers.org Workers in Virginia flexed their organizing muscle in two separate industries recently. First, hospitality workers at the tourist attraction, Colonial Williamsburg village, held a rally in front of various sites within the complex. The majority of the workers are Black. Their grievances include low wages and long hours. Colonial Williamsburg . . . |

Igor Derysh (2021-12-17). GOP Candidate JD Vance Accuses Walmart of "Slave Labor" But Invests in Its Stock. truthout.org Ohio Republican Senate candidate Vance, who made a fortune as a venture capitalist before writing the best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, submitted his persona…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-17). Democratic Production and Self-Organized Labor: How the Che Guevara Commune Confronts the Crisis. libya360.wordpress.com Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert Part I: Highland Resistance: How the Che Guevara Commune Confronts the Crisis First-hand accounts of the impact of the US sanctions on a coffee and cocoa growing commune in the Venezuelan Andes. The Che Guevara Commune lies on the fertile hillsides that rise up from the shores of Lake…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-17). Qatar jails migrant worker for speaking out on labor violations. peoplesdispatch.org Jordanian Abdullah Ibhais was sentenced to five years in prison in April this year. Human rights groups assert that the sentence is based on false and baseless charges completely lacking evidence…

Erica L. Green (2021-12-17). New Leader Pushes Teachers' Union to Take On Social Justice Role. zcomm.org Becky Pringle, the country's top Black labor leader, has plunged the National Education Association into the reckoning unfolding in public schools…

WSWS (2021-12-17). Both major parties in Australia plan accelerated pro-business university restructuring. wsws.org Regardless of whether the Coalition or Labor form the next government, the devastating attacks on jobs, conditions and the quality of education will accelerate.

Mark Gruenberg (2021-12-17). UAW members OK direct election of officers. peoplesworld.org

WSWS (2021-12-17). Only a COVID-19 elimination strategy can protect educators, students, and their families from the Omicron tsunami! wsws.org The nearly two years of the pandemic have conclusively demonstrated that a science-based strategy that prioritizes saving workers' lives over corporate profits and investor wealth will only be imposed through the independent intervention of the working class.

WSWS (2021-12-17). German Chancellor Scholz's first speech: Praising Merkel, threatening Russia and committing to mass infection. wsws.org The new Chancellor's remarks confirmed the assessment of the WSWS that the programme of the so-called traffic light coalition of SPD (red), Liberals (FDP, yellow) and Greens is a declaration of war on the working class.

_____ (2021-12-17). UC Recognizes Student Researchers United Union Of 17,000 Workers. popularresistance.org California – The university agreed Wednesday to recognize Student Researchers United, or SRU, a union representing 17,000 student researchers employed by the UC system. | The decision came after nearly 11,000 student researchers across the state voted Nov. 19 to authorize a strike. Out of the members who voted, 97.5% voted in favor of a strike, according to a press release from United Auto Workers, the parent union that SRU is joining. | "This is the single biggest new union filing in any industry, definitely this year if not this decade," said UC Berkeley student researcher Tanzil Chowdhury. "Seventeen thousand…

Liberation Staff (2021-12-17). Massive new union of student researchers at the University of California wins recognition. liberationnews.org In a historic victory decades in the making, Student Researchers at the University of California have won union recognition — the largest group of workers in the United States to form a union in over a decade.

ecns.cn (2021-12-17). 'Virus hunters' race against time in East China. ecns.cn Medical workers at Zhenhai District Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, have been devoted to the fight against COVID-19 since the first local case of a new surge was reported on Dec. 5, 2021.

Princess Harmony (2021-12-17). NYC opens first safe consumption sites. workers.org With fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses dramatically rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. needs a new strategy for countering this menace. In a number of cities, steps are underway to counteract this horrible loss of life. One is the foundation of safe consumption sites — places where addicted people . . . |

Brett Wilkins (2021-12-17). Unions Demand Covid-19 Safety Measures for Health Workers Be Made Permanent. zcomm.org "OSHA must act swiftly to extend lifesaving protections for health care workers and to create new Covid-19 safety rules for all workers."brett wil…

Sharon Zhang (2021-12-17). Kellogg Says It Has Tentative Deal With Union as It Faces Mounting Pressure. truthout.org With 1,400 cereal plant workers in the midst of their 11th week of striking, Kellogg Company says that it has reached a The Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union has not yet put out a statement about the agreement, and workers rejected a dea…

Fight Back (2021-12-17). Strikers at Battle Creek Kellogg's stand strong, Bernie Sanders to join Friday rally. fightbacknews.org Battle Creek, MI – Kellogg's workers are continuing the fight after a rejection of a proposed contract last week. At the Battle Creek headquarters, there is determination to hold the line despite the company's plan to permanently replace 1400 workers. | Jason Rose, a mechanic who has worked at Kellogg's for 15 years, said the company is going to have a difficult time filling all the positions. In Battle Creek, the plant's downward trend in working conditions is well known. "They had a hard enough time hiring people in the first place," said Rose. | The strikers are asking to abolish the two-tier system of hiring…

WSWS (2021-12-17). Six-week-long Maharashtra public transport workers strike endangered by unions' sabotage. wsws.org The trade unions and Stalinist parliamentary parties are systematically isolating the MSRTC workers as they courageously defy government threats and savage management reprisals.

WSWS (2021-12-17). Less than 24 hours before it announces sellout agreement, BCTGM tosses insulting $200 holiday "gift" to Kellogg's strikers. wsws.org The $200 "gift" expresses the contempt of the well-heeled union bureaucracy for the workers they claim to represent.

WSWS (2021-12-17). Volkswagen to cut around 900 temporary jobs in Germany. wsws.org Volkswagen is cutting the positions of around 900 temporary workers in the midst of the current coronavirus wave. VW General Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo and VW brand board member Ralf Brandstà§tter announced this just four weeks before Christmas in an online workforce meeting.

Chevy McBride (2021-12-17). Plasterboard workers demand CSR pays up. greenleft.org.au Plasterboard workers at CSR Gyprock in Yarraville who are continuing their campaign for a 4% pay rise are receiving a lot of union support. Chevy McBride reports.

WSWS (2021-12-17). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Continuing strike wave of French transport workers over pay and conditions joined by waste collection workers and extracurricular school staff; national one-day strike across Italy against government's budget joined by teachers demanding more resources; strike by teachers across 100 Iranian cities over pay and conditions attacked by police; municipal and health workers strike in Free State, South Africa over pay and conditions…

Ana Maria Garcia Horta (2021-12-17). Black Lives Matter: The Power Of Activism & Citizen Journalism. telesurenglish.net The year 2021 is drawing to a close, leaving untouched American structural racism, a legacy of the slave age that capitalism preserves to ensure the reproduction of social inequalities, which have been exacerbated by a pandemic that continues to hit workers in various ways. | RELATED: | In Minnesota, for example, the rate of coronavirus infection in citizens of African descent has remained between 25 and 30 percent…

WSWS (2021-12-17). Jon Donaire bakery workers in California continue strike against speed up, mandatory overtime and low wages. wsws.org The workers have been on strike since November 3 against mandatory overtime, long hours, relentless speedup, poor pay, lack of breaks and a punitive point system for attendance.

WSWS (2021-12-17). Vote NO on the tentative agreement at Kellogg's! Build rank-and-file committees to expand the strike! wsws.org The contract, announced abruptly Thursday night, is virtually identical to the one which workers rejected overwhelmingly two weeks ago.

Staff (2021-12-17). Headlines for December 17, 2021. democracynow.org Biden Warns of "Winter of Severe Illness and Death" for Unvaccinated Americans, CDC Recommends Moderna and Pfizer Vaccines Over Johnson & Johnson, Citing Rare Blood Clots, Thousands of ICE Prisoners Denied Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters, FDA Relaxes Restrictions on Access to Abortion Pills , Federal Judge Throws Out Opioid Settlement That Shielded Sackler Family from Lawsuits, Lucía Hiriart, Widow of Chilean Dictator Pinochet, Dies on Eve of Presidential Election, At Least Seven Die as Super Typhoon Rai Slams Philippines with 160 MPH Winds, Workers at Candle Factory Destroyed by Tornado Sue Company over "Fla…

WSWS (2021-12-17). B&Q distribution centre workers in Worksop, UK stage second week of strike action. wsws.org Workers have voted to escalate the dispute from alternating weeks of strike action followed by an overtime ban to continuous strike action from Christmas Eve.

Brittani Banks (2021-12-17). How Worker Solidarity Protects What's Left of the Middle Class. independentmediainstitute.org Patrick Stock, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 105, wasn't going to let anyone stop him from supporting the United Auto Workers' strike against Deere & Co. When a court issued an injunction limiting the number of picketers at a Deere facility in Davenport, Iowa, Stock gathered about 30 members of his local and other …

2021-12-18 22:28 | 18:28 EST | jz | 52 | 0 | 33 | 18 | 0 ∧

2021-12-17: News Headlines

WSWS (2021-12-17). Fred Meyer and QFC grocery workers in Portland set to strike Friday. wsws.org Workers are confronting a rapid increase in the cost of living as well as the added risk of being in a workplace with increased danger of daily exposure to the virus.

teleSUR (2021-12-17). Attack on The Electric System Prompts Blackout In Venezuela. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Public Infrastructure and Services Vice Minister Nestor Reverol denounced that the Guri electrical complex was attacked in the early hours of Friday. | RELATED: | "We are at the forefront of actions to restore service. We ask for support from the Venezuelan people to overcome this vile and criminal attack, "he said, adding that the experience of the workers of the National Electric System (SEN) will allow to recov…

Jonathan Strauss (2021-12-17). Pat O'Shane to stand in Leichhardt for the Socialist Alliance. greenleft.org.au Pat O'Shane, a Kuku Yalanji woman from Mossman, will run for the Socialist Alliance in the Far North Queensland lower house seat of Leichhardt in the federal election. Jonathan Strauss reports.

Newsroom (2021-12-17). WEF Develops Framework to Transition Colombia to Data-Driven Economy. moderndiplomacy.eu The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a multistakeholder community have developed a technology and governance framework for trustworthy and commercially sustainable public-private data exchanges in Colombia. This new public-private resource will give individuals greater control over how their data is used and serve as a means for responsible value creation. The multistakeholder community …

WSWS (2021-12-17). After working to the bone … German orchestra leader sacked following musicians' protest. wsws.org The response of the Social Democratic Party here, as in other areas of society, is typical. For many years the SPD has imposed austerity measures in cooperation with the trade unions while seeking to dissipate all opposition.

Peoples Health Dispatch (2021-12-17). Nurses protest in Tbilisi for better pay and working conditions. peoplesdispatch.org A group of nurses and trade union organizers staged a protest in front of Georgia's government headquarters in Tbilisi on December 10, calling for fairer pay and measures to ease the extreme workload they have faced for years. | "Nurses in Georgia are very low in the health system hierarchy, maybe just a bit ahead of orderlies," says Sopo Japaridze from Tbilisi-based trade union Solidarity Network. "Because of this, they don't really have a voice at work, few people consider them to be professionals like doctors are perceived to be professionals," she adds. | Although they do not enjoy the same position in the hi…

Max Haiven (2021-12-17). Our Age of Uprisings: We Are a World Remaking Itself. zcomm.org Amidst capitalist crises, social movements are telling new stories about what it means to be human, revealing our collective power to refuse and create…

Prof. Louis René Beres (2021-12-17). Existential Perils From Iran: Israel's Options in Law and Strategy. moderndiplomacy.eu Abstract: Eleventh-hour diplomacy notwithstanding, few tangible barriers remain in the way of an Iranian nuclear capability. If Israel should decide that it no longer maintains any reasonable self-defense alternative to launching selective military attacks against Iranian hard targets, those preemptive strikes would need to be justified in both strategic andlegal terms. In this article, Professor …

WSWS (2021-12-17). Omicron case identified in New Zealand. wsws.org The Labour Party-led government claims that it is "very well-prepared" to keep Omicron out of New Zealand, when in reality it has ditched its elimination strategy and is allowing the Delta variant to spread nationwide.

teleSUR (2021-12-17). Latin America Must Unite To Fight US Interference: Llorenti. telesurenglish.net In an interview to TeleSUR on Thursday, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) Secretary Sacha Llorenti pointed out that Latin American integration is essential to fight regional issues amid the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | "Only united, we will be able to fight recession, which has increased the capitalist system's social inequalities and the impact of the U…

Adolph Reed Jr. (2021-12-17). The limits of anti-racism. zcomm.org My point is that it's more effective politically to challenge the inequality and injustice directly and bypass the debate over whether it should be called "racism."

teleSUR (2021-12-16). Cuba Timely Isolates Four Imported Omicron Cases. telesurenglish.net On Thursday, Cuba's Tropical Medicine Institute Pedro Kouri (IPK) detected four Omicron COVID-19 strain cases in travelers who came from Africa and remain asymptomatic. | RELATED: | Two of the confirmed cases are Cubahidraulica Company workers who returned from South Africa and tested positive for COVID-19 while staying in mandatory quarantine. | The other cases correspond to an Ethiopian citizen and a Somalian to…

_____ (2021-12-16). How The Left Can Get Ethiopia Right. popularresistance.org In the last few months, the left media outlets from various camps, in their sincere attempts to demonstrate solidarity and spotlight conflict in the Horn of Africa and internal developments in Ethiopia, got it wrong. They have been uncritically centering active ideological players on two opposing camps. The significant focus on the TPLF attacks on Eritrea, its invasion of Afar and the Amhara region, and its existence as a willing proxy actor of Washington was correct. They got it wrong, however, in their uncritical framing of neoliberal Abiy. They have chosen to over-amplify the Abiy camp's reactionary narrative…

Amy Goodman (2021-12-16). More Than 100 Firms Across the World Can Make the mRNA Vaccine If Tech Is Shared. truthout.org Image Credit: Facebook: Global Justice Now | As the coronavirus variant Omicron spreads across the world at an unprecedented rate, a group of vaccine experts has just released a list of over 100 companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America with the potential to produce mRNA vaccine. They say it is the one of the most viable solutions to fight vaccine inequity around the world and combat the spread of coronavirus variants, including Omicron. We speak to Achal Prabhala, one of the vaccine exper…

_____ (2021-12-16). Labor Activists Want To Know Why Workers Were Left To Die. popularresistance.org In the aftermath of a rare string of December tornadoes last Friday night that left 80 people dead across six states, labor activists are questioning why employees at two large worksites in the path of destruction were left exposed to danger. | A candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky was totally destroyed after sustaining a direct tornado hit with 110 workers inside. At least eight people died and dozens more were severely injured. At the same time, an Amazon delivery station in Edwardsville, Illinois was also hit by a tornado during a shift change, causing the roof to fly off and part of an exterior wall to colla…

Michael Moore (2021-12-16). Report exposes dangerous conditions at Minnesota's Amazon warehouses. peoplesworld.org MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, Minn. (PAI)—Amazon workers this week echoed the findings of a new report that paints a troubling picture of labor conditions and inequities at the retailer's Minnesota warehouses, prompting one state lawmaker to pledge action in the coming legislative session. In analyzing data from six Amazon facilities, researchers from the National Employment Law Project …

WSWS (2021-12-16). US postal workers' union proposes tentative agreement with cuts to real wages, keeps two-tier system. wsws.org The deal, which contains a measly 1.3 percent wage increase and provides for the expansion of second-tier labor, keeps every prior concession intact while adding a few more.

teleSUR (2021-12-16). UN-Habitat To Collaborate in Building Green Homes in Kenya. telesurenglish.net Jeremiah Ougo, an officer in charge of national projects at the UN-Habitat, announced to journalists in Nairobi that the organization will guarantee that the principles of sustainable housing are incorporated into the real estate project. | RELATED: | "We will provide technical assistance to ensure water and energy efficiency, as well as public spaces, are mainstreamed into the project," Ougo stated on Thursday. | He noted that the land for the…

WSWS (2021-12-16). Omicron explodes in Australia as governments scrap nearly all safety measures. wsws.org As a result of truly criminal decisions taken by governments, Liberal-National and Labor Party alike, millions of people face infection within weeks.

Monica Cruz (2021-12-16). Home care workers protest 24-hour work day in NYC. peoplesdispatch.org Workers employed with the United Jewish Council (UJC) home care agency rallied to end the 24-hour work day and demand their stolen wages on the morning of December 16. While home care workers in New York are being forced to work 24-hour shifts for poverty wages, 11 hours worth of that pay is stolen by their employers. A coalition of worker's rights organizations including the Ain't I A Woman Campaign and the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS) have been organizing alongside home care workers for years against these unjust labor practices. | "I am traumatized from working 24-hour shifts," said Epifani…

People's World Editorial Board (2021-12-16). Uphold truth—by supporting People's World. peoplesworld.org Dear readers and friends, Our working class and people urgently need media that upholds the truth. People's World promotes solidarity. It gives voice to the heroic actions in defense of democracy, equality, and climate justice, that all of us, our fellow grassroots activists, neighbors, and co-workers are involved in. Please donate today to support the …

WSWS (2021-12-16). The issues in the Turkish health care workers national strike. wsws.org The Turkish Trotskyists support this strike movement and call on all workers and youth to draw the necessary lessons for the development of an independent political and social movement of the international working class.

_____ (2021-12-16). Going To Work Shouldn't Be A Death Sentence. popularresistance.org On Friday night, at a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, an alarm sounded with a tornado warning. One employee, Elijah Johnson, approached his manager. "I asked to leave and they told me I'd be fired." "'Even with the weather like this, you're still going to fire me?'" he asked the manager. The manager replied, "Yes." | Workers who took shelter in hallways and bathrooms were ordered back to work. The bosses took a roll call to see if anyone had left. Three hours after the warning sirens began — more than enough time to send all employees home to seek shelter — the building was leveled by a tornado…

Colin Todhunter (2021-12-16). Key Body Demands Complete Ban on Glyphosate in India. dissidentvoice.org In October 2020, Pesticide Action Network India and PAN Asia Pacific released the report 'State of Glyphosate Use in India'. It concluded that the use of the world's most widely used herbicide is rampant. Despite this, it noted that its disturbing effects on the environment and the health of farmworkers and the public are not …

Mark Gruenberg (2021-12-16). First Buffalo, now Boston: More Starbucks workers file for union recognition. peoplesworld.org BOSTON (PAI)—Energized by the unionization vote win in Buffalo, N.Y., workers at two Starbucks cafes in Boston filed on Dec. 13 for union representation elections. And even as the Buffalo ballots were mailed in November, Starbucks workers in Mesa, Ariz., filed, too. Workers United, the Service Employees sector that won recognition in Buffalo, filed all …

Jim McIlroy (2021-12-16). NSW bus, train drivers strike over pay, privatisation. greenleft.org.au The Rail, Tram and Bus Union is calling for a quota on Australian-built infrastructure to put commuter and workers' safety first. Jim McIlroy reports.

WSWS (2021-12-16). Video game workers spread strike against Activision Blizzard. wsws.org An "open-ended" strike wave at the video game company Activision Blizzard has spread among quality assurance workers within multiple divisions of the $46 billion corporation based on Santa Monica, California.

April Lanuza (2021-12-16). Amazon workers and families recover and mourn after deadly tornado. america.cgtn.com Families and friends have started to say their last goodbyes to their loved ones who died when a tornado tore through an Amazon warehouse in the U.S. state of Illinois last week. CGTN's Toni Waterman spoke to the mother of one of those victims — …

WSWS (2021-12-16). Minneapolis-St. Paul airport maintenance workers authorize strike action. wsws.org The workers are demanding increased compensation, under conditions of soaring inflation, and benefits that correspond to other MAC workers.

WSWS (2021-12-16). New Zealand rail union cancels strike, presents sellout deal. wsws.org After unilaterally cancelling a scheduled nationwide strike, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union presented KiwiRail workers with a proposed flat rate increase of $2.48 an hour, which does not keep pace with the cost of living.

Peoples Health Dispatch (2021-12-16). Health workers hang up their lab coats in protest. peoplesdispatch.org More than 300 health workers in Konjic in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to hang up their lab coats at the entrance of Konjic General Hospital on 15 December, in protest against a financial crisis that the town's health institutions have been struggling with for months on end. Nurses, doctors, and other health workers warned the authorities that this was their last warning before they quit en masse, a move that would cause the collapse of health services in the area. | The protest is the latest in a series of workers' actions since late November this year. Until now, workers have engaged in striking…

2021-12-17 16:53 | 12:53 EST | jz | 52 | 0 | 20 | 31 | 0 ∧

2021-12-16: News Headlines

_____ (2021-12-16). How the Left Can Get Ethiopia Right. popularresistance.org In the last few months, the left media outlets from various camps, in their sincere attempts to demonstrate solidarity and spotlight conflict in the Horn of Africa and internal developments in Ethiopia, got it wrong. They have been uncritically centering active ideological players on two opposing camps. The significant focus on the TPLF attacks on Eritrea, its invasion of Afar and the Amhara region, and its existence as a willing proxy actor of Washington was correct. They got it wrong, however, in their uncritical framing of neoliberal Abiy. They have chosen to over-amplify the Abiy camp's reactionary narrative…

Anonymous Contributor (2021-12-16). Presentation of the Little Autonomous Community School "Agua de Lluvia" in the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca. itsgoingdown.org In the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, in the pueblo of Agua de Lluvia, teachers, community members, and youth are building autonomous education through community organization. Dating back to the 2006 social revolt in Oaxaca, and a conflict between the radical section 22 of the CNTE (National Coordinator of Education Workers) and the right wing Section…

WSWS (2021-12-16). Indiana University grad student workers seek union certification. wsws.org Graduate student workers have not had a university-wide wage increase since 2014 while tuition fees and living expenses have continued to rise.

Robert L. Funk (2021-12-16). Gabriel Boric and the New Left's Old Problem. zcomm.org The Chilean candidate represents a class of Latin American politicians who appear more revolutionary than they really are…

Editor (2021-12-16). Ten Marxist classics for Xmas. mronline.org Lindsey German's Marxist holiday reading list…

WSWS (2021-12-16). West Coast hospitals severely stressed as winter surge begins. wsws.org The situation facing the health care system on the West Coast exposes the criminality of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which rammed through a contract at Kaiser Permanente earlier this month.

WSWS (2021-12-16). Australian transport union working to push through sell-out deal at FedEx. wsws.org The TWU claims the deal is a "huge win" for drivers, but it does little to address job security concerns or the large pay disparity between FedEx and its competitors.

MIT-GSU (2021-12-16). MIT graduate employees announce majority support for unionization. zcomm.org Will MIT commit to contract negotiations?>

Eric A. Gordon (2021-12-16). A small but mighty IATSE organizing drive pops up in Beverly Hills. peoplesworld.org BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A funny thing happened to me on the way to The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts the other night to see Love Actually, Live, the classic Christmas-season film with Hugh Grant done up as a combined film cum live spectacle extravaganza with a large cast of actors, dancers, singers, …

In Defense of Liberation! (2021-12-16). How Can We Expect Things to Change?>. anchor.fm In this episode I discuss the practical ways in which we can expect the world to change based on the ways in which it has historically changed; through people taking control of their circumstances and building a new tomorrow. However it comes, we know that a new tomorrow must come, but if we want that new tomorrow to lead us towards an actually better society, then we need socialism. So how do we get there? Well, let's discuss!

WSWS (2021-12-16). Time's person of the year Elon Musk: Worshipping the pandemic profiteer. wsws.org Time magazine is celebrating a billionaire who personifies the most noxious tendencies in contemporary capitalism.

Pete Dolack (2021-12-16). Envisioning a world with no bosses. zcomm.org Please Help ZNet Source: Systemic Disorder Many people, especially those with eyes open to the ravages of capitalism, know what they don't want. Fewer know what they do want. That is understandable, given that the task of building mass movements on so many fronts is daunting. But while

Editor2 (2021-12-16). 20th ALBA-TCP Summit Declaration. orinocotribune.com "17 years defending Latin American and Caribbean integration and peace" | The Heads of State and Government and the Heads of Delegations of the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America — Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), meet in Havana, Cuba, on December 14, 2021 to commemorate the 17th Anniversary of the Alliance. In signing this Declaration, we renew our commitment to strengthen this mechanism of political coordination based on the principles of solidarity, social justice, cooperation and economic complementarity, a result of the political will of its founders, the Commanders Fid…

Various Contributors (2021-12-16). "International solidarity once failed the people of Chile. It must not fail today." zcomm.org Parliamentarians and public figures from over 15 countries unite in defense of Chilean democracy ahead of 19 December elections.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-16). Colombia and Venezuela: Where is There a Dictatorship? libya360.wordpress.com María Fernanda Barreto Photo: Carlos García Rawlins / Reuters What is democracy in the 21st century? Where is there a true democracy? They say that all comparisons are odious, but at the same time they are inevitable. In the case of Colombia and Venezuela, the comparison between their political systems is constantly made by the…

WSWS (2021-12-16). Marighella, film on Brazil's urban guerrilla leader, screened after two-year delay. wsws.org A target of far-right attacks for centering on Brazil's foremost guerrilla leader in the late 1960s, the movie offers neither clarity on his life and times nor a perspective for those seeking to counter the current threat of dictatorship.

WSWS (2021-12-16). Marighella, film on Brazil's urban guerrilla leader screened after two-year delay. wsws.org A target of far-right attacks for centering on Brazil's foremost guerrilla leader in the late 1960s, the movie offers neither clarity on his life and times nor a perspective for those seeking to counter the current threat of dictatorship.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-16). Libya: Military Mobilization in Sebha and the Looming Threat of War. libya360.wordpress.com The head of the Supreme Council of Tribes and Cities of Fezzan, Ali Misbah Abu Sbeiha, confirmed the presence of intensive military mobilizations in a number of locations in the city of Sebha by the General Command of the Army and the 166th Brigade of the Presidential Council led by Masoud Gedo. Abu Sbeiha said …

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-16). Why Cuba Does Not Have an Anti-Vaccine Movement. libya360.wordpress.com Marc Vandepitte, Toon Danhieux Increasingly, large sectors of the European population, and in the US to a lesser extent, openly express their distrust towards their government's policies to combat COVID-19. The reaction of the traditional policy is one of panic and is characterized by paternalism and repression: general obligation to vaccinate and restricting freedom of…

Staff (2021-12-16). As Omicron Spreads, 100+ Firms in Africa, Asia & Latin America Can Make mRNA Vaccine If Tech Shared. democracynow.org As the coronavirus variant Omicron spreads across the world at an unprecedented rate, a group of vaccine experts has just released a list of over 100 companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America with the potential to produce mRNA vaccine. They say it is the one of the most viable solutions to fight vaccine inequity around the world and combat the spread of coronavirus variants, including Omicron. We speak to Achal Prabhala, one of the vaccine experts who compiled the list. If mRNA technology could be shared with the listed companies, "we could vaccinate the world in as close to six months from now," says Prabhala.

Chris Walker (2021-12-16). DeSantis Hypes His Anti-Critical Race Theory Bill by Quoting Martin Luther King. truthout.org On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) proposed new legislation that would allow parents to sue school districts if critical race theory or other lessons involving racial equity are taught in Florida classrooms. | In doing so, DeSantis absurdly suggested that his proposal would have been supported by the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. | DeSantis's bill is called the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act. In a press release announcing the legislation,

Brittani Banks (2021-12-16). A Critique of Obscene Wealth. independentmediainstitute.org Wherever and whenever obscenely rich people existed, they always protected their wealth and the privileges that come with it from the majority of non-wealthy people working for them and around them. Emperors, kings, czars as well as masters of huge slave plantations, lords of big feudal manors, and major shareholders and top executives of capitalist …

teleSUR (2021-12-15). UN Report Raises Concern Over Human Rights Crisis In Colombia. telesurenglish.net On Wednesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) published a report demonstrating that the Colombian State must urgently reform its way of handling protests so as to avoid massive human rights violations. | RELATED: | The report entitled "The 2021 National Strike: Lessons for the Exercise of the Right of Peaceful Assembly in Colombia" exhaustively analyzes the behavior of security…

Staff (2021-12-15). Saudi-led coalition launches airstrike on Sana'a. en.mehrnews.com Saudi coalition launched heavy airstrike on Yemeni capital of Sana'a on Wednesday.

Staff (2021-12-15). Cuba Hosts 20th ALBA-TCP Summit to Promote Regional Unity. orinocotribune.com The 20th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) was inaugurated this Tuesday in Havana, Cuba, on the occasion of its 17th anniversary, to reaffirm regional unity and solidarity, and reject US interference in regional affairs. | Among other topics to be discussed are the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the alliance's action program for the coming year. Its objective is to defend the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, approved in Havana in accordance with the 2nd Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbea…

Matthew J.L. Ehret (2021-12-15). Will Ethiopia Become Biden's Libya 2.0 or a Driver for an African Renaissance? dissidentvoice.org Many westerners trying to make sense of the events in the "dark continent" of Africa have many barriers standing in the way of their minds and reality. This must be the case, for without such filters of spin proclaiming Africa's problems to be self-induced (or the consequence of Chinese debt slavery), we in the west, …

WSWS (2021-12-15). SEP (Australia) Emergency Public Meeting: British court decision puts Assange's life in danger. Demand his immediate release! wsws.org The Socialist Equality Party (Australia) has called an online public meeting to fight for the immediate freedom of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, after the British High Court last week ordered his extradition to the US.

Timothy V. Johnson (2021-12-15). Frank Chapman, veteran activist, tackles Black Liberation and national question in book. peoplesworld.org Frank Chapman has a long and storied reputation as an activist-leader-theoretician in the anti-repression, labor, and left movements. His history makes it imperative that activists engage with his theoretical work, which is drawn from years of struggle in the mass movement. His latest book, Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism, traces the history of …

John Logan (2021-12-15). Union battles at Amazon and Starbucks are hot news. zcomm.org Which can only be good for the labor movement…

Mike Ludwig (2021-12-15). Not Just Billionaires — the Average Rich Person's Pay Has Risen During COVID. truthout.org Amid all the anxiety about inflation, the good news this year has been that many businesses increased wages in an effort to keep a reluctant workforce on the job and contend with a tight labor market. However, wages rose quickly for the ultra-rich even as the pandemic raged in 2020, and economists say gains made by workers in 2021 are not sustainable unless structural changes are made. | Wage growth in the United States has slowed since hitting an all-time high in April, when employers sought…

_____ (2021-12-15). Russia And Israel — A Double Standard In International Condemnation. popularresistance.org Over the past month, in a break from its usual focus on COVID-19, the Western mainstream media has dedicated a sizeable amount of coverage to unverified claims by unnamed US intelligence officials that the Russian Federation is planning an imminent military invasion of its western neighbour Ukraine — under the rule of the successive US-EU friendly governments of Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky since 2014, when the CIA-orchestrated Euromaidan colour revolution toppled the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych, following his November 2013 decision to suspend an EU trade deal in favour of pursuin…

Francisco Dominguez (2021-12-15). Honduras' Left-Wing Breakthrough. orinocotribune.com By Francisco Dominguez — Dec 10, 2021 | Since a US-backed coup toppled Mel Zelaya in 2009, Honduras has faced a clampdown on democracy and serious human rights abuses. But the election of socialist Xiomara Castro is a chance to break the cycle. | What appeared impossible has been achieved: the people of Honduras have broken the perpetuation, through electoral fraud and thuggish violence, of a brutal, illegal, illegitimate, and criminal regime.By means of sheer resistance, resilience, mobilisation, and organisation, they have managed to defeat Juan Orlando Hernandez's narco-dictatorship at the ballot box. Xio…

_____ (2021-12-15). Europe Finally Recognizes Platform Workers Aren't Self-Employed. popularresistance.org Sometimes change comes from the most unlikely of places. The European Commission—the unelected body of technocrats that designs European Union legislation—isn't exactly known as a friend of the worker. EU commissioners and their staff are more likely to be found having coffee with corporate lobbyists than rubbing shoulders with the working class. | Yet, last week, the EU Commission proposed what some are hailing as the most pro-worker reform to come out of the EU in years—a directive to regulate platform work. Often unfairly treated as self-employed, platform workers are now to be considered emp…

_____ (2021-12-15). Columbia Student Workers Defy University's Strikebreaking Threats. popularresistance.org Last week saw a sharp escalation of the strike by 3,000 student workers at Columbia University in New York City, which continues in the face of strikebreaking threats by the administration. In an effort to shut down the walkout before finals, the university warned striking student workers that it might replace them in the Spring semester if they remained on strike beyond Friday, December 10. | Columbia workers rejected this attempt at economic blackmail and held out on the picket line. A poll conducted by the Student Workers of Columbia union (SWC) bargaining committee found that 87 percent of union members and n…

_____ (2021-12-15). Kellogg's Strikers: We Want A Clear Path Out Of Two-Tier, Set In Stone. popularresistance.org In contract talks with its 1,400 workers this summer, Kellogg's proposed to remove the union logo from its cereal boxes. | It's an indication of the company's overall plan, said strikers on the Battle Creek, Michigan picket line this weekend. "Their long-term goal is to bust the union," said Michelle Fulcher, a warehouse crew leader at the company's flagship plant. | Kellogg's workers in four states have been on strike since October 5. Their top issue is the company's efforts to expand its two-tier system. | "Going into negotiations we had four things we were going to be hard-nosed on," Fulcher said: "Keep our pe…

Arjae Red (2021-12-15). Victory for Starbucks Workers United! workers.org Starbucks workers made history here Dec. 9 by winning the first union election at a corporate-owned Starbucks store in the United States. Starbucks Workers United gained a sweeping victory at the Elmwood Starbucks store with a greater than two-to-one margin (19 yes, 8 no). The win comes on the heels . . . |

Editor (2021-12-15). Keep your filthy SCOTUS hands off our bodies!!! workers.org In a just world, who would ever think that a known rapist would have the power to compel pregnant rape survivors, including minors, to carry their forced pregnancy to term? But that's exactly what happens in "the good old USA." Supreme Court of the U.S. "Justice" Brett Kavanaugh was part . . . |

Mark Gruenberg (2021-12-15). Biden backs Kellogg's workers; Sanders takes fight to cereal giant's doorstep. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—Democratic President Joe Biden is publicly and bluntly backing the 1,400 Kellogg's workers whom the cereal giant forced to strike weeks ago. And he opposes the firm's plan to permanently replace them. "Every employee has the right to collectively bargain. Full stop," Biden's first tweet on the months-old conflict declared. "I am deeply troubled by …

2021-12-16 22:35 | 18:35 EST | jz | 52 | 0 | 16 | 34 | 0 ∧

2021-12-15: News Headlines

Staff (2021-12-15). Saudi-led coalition launches airstrike on Sana'a. en.mehrnews.com Saudi coalition launched heavy airstrike on Yemeni capital of Sana'a on Wednesday.

John Logan (2021-12-15). Union battles at Amazon and Starbucks are hot news. zcomm.org Which can only be good for the labor movement…

Workers World Texas Bureau (2021-12-15). Activists 'march' to abolish Texas death penalty. workers.org By Workers World Houston bureau Houston, Texas Though virtual for a second year due to the pandemic, the 22nd Annual March and Rally to Abolish the Death Penalty on Dec. 4 in Texas kept the fighting spirit alive here in the killing capital of the U.S. Demonstrators at Texas annual . . . |

WSWS (2021-12-15). "Amazon won't let us leave": Latest US tornado disaster exposes ruling elite's indifference to life. wsws.org In scenes reminiscent of conditions in the early 1900s, workers report that they were trapped in their factories by management in the hours and minutes before the storms bore down on them.

WSWS (2021-12-15). What workers are striking against: A global profile of the Kellogg Company. wsws.org The company's threats to fire strikers en masse is the product of its ruthless struggle to cut costs and expand its international market share.

WSWS (2021-12-15). "There is no reason people should have been scrambling last minute to get to shelter": Sister of worker killed in Amazon warehouse crushed by tornado speaks out on lack of safety. wsws.org Rachel Cope's brother, Clayton Lynn Cope, was killed in an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois while trying to alert his coworkers to seek cover as a tornado barreled down upon the facility.

WSWS (2021-12-15). Stagecoach Yorkshire bus drivers in UK reject revised pay deal and launch second week-long strike. wsws.org Stagecoach Yorkshire bus workers should view the company's favourably citing agreements it has reached with Unite across its UK network to end pay disputes as a warning.

WSWS (2021-12-15). Kaiser workers: To prepare for our fight for safe staffing during Omicron, we must learn the lessons of the AHCU contract betrayal! wsws.org The Alliance of Health Care Unions may have succeeded in ramming through the latest concessions contract, but that does not change the fact that we still need a fully staffed health care system now to handle the impending surge of COVID-19 cases.

Sharon Zhang (2021-12-15). After Big Win in Buffalo, Starbucks Workers in Massachusetts File to Unionize. zcomm.org If they're successful, they'll join Buffalo workers in being the first of the company's roughly 9,000 corporate-owned locations to form a union…

WSWS (2021-12-15). Sri Lankan port and free trade zone workers back global inquest into pandemic. wsws.org "No one is taking responsibility for the virus. It is not the people who should be held accountable, but the authorities who hold office."

Eric Zuesse (2021-12-15). The only way to deal effectively with a pandemic is socialistic. moderndiplomacy.eu The two extremes of ideology are libertarianism (anarchy) versus government (socialism). (Pure embodiments of either are rare if not non-existent.) A democratic government represents the public; an aristocratic government represents the wealthiest 0.1% as its actual dictators and beneficiaries. The two types of libertarianism are: the pure form, in which everyone is free to destroy …

ecns.cn (2021-12-15). China, Russia to expedite cooperation on cutting-edge technologies: Xi. ecns.cn Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China and Russia should take the opportunities brought by the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and expedite industrial cooperation on cutting-edge technologies.

Editor (2021-12-15). Teachers across Iran take strike action demanding jailed trade unionist is freed. mronline.org Thousands of protesting teachers assembled in front of the Majlis, or Iranian parliament building, in central Tehran today demanding justice and the release from prison of a leading teacher trade unionist.

WSWS (2021-12-15). Australian university union holds back industrial action. wsws.org The votes for strike action reflect the anger and disgust that has built up over the past two years as managements continue to exploit the COVID pandemic to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs.

WSWS (2021-12-15). New York nurses' union stages impotent protests against understaffing. wsws.org At its "days of action," the union has proposed no actions other than fruitless appeals to Democratic politicians.

Staff (2021-12-15). Audio: Cover-Up in Kabul Strike. davidswanson.org By Political Misfits, December 15, 2021 LISTEN HERE. David Swanson, activist, journalist, radio host and author of the book "Curing Exceptionalism," talks to us about how the Pentagon "cover-up" in the Kabul drone killing of a family continues, with the news that no US troops will be punished for deadly Kabul strike, how impunity is …

Thomas Klikauer (2021-12-15). Wealth, Capitalism and Ideology. zcomm.org As an almost classical consequence of capitalist markets, sovereignty in monetary terms exists only for big players…

Peter Certo (2021-12-15). In OtherWords: December 15, 2021. otherwords.org On December 15, the families of 65 million U.S. children received their last monthly payment under the expanded Child Tax Credit, which expires this month. | Those payments have kept millions out of poverty, writes West Virginia mom Kristen Olsen. Unfortunately, the GOP is unanimously opposed to extending them — and so far, they've had an ally in West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin. | Will the multimillionaire senator, Kristen wonders, really vote to send millions of kids back into poverty — including in his home state, whose kids are among the poorest in the country? The answer will have national impl…

William Manson (2021-12-15). Liberating Frankness, Enlightening Irreverence. dissidentvoice.org The liberating power of irreverent "black comedy": breaking false idols, mocking prevailing hypocrisies, and calling forth a massive revolt against mass delusion and folly—through laughter. It was, of course, in the Sixties, just when people were beginning to "raise their consciousness" — that various forms of spirited and subversive humor appeared on the scene. Things …

teleSUR (2021-12-15). UNGA President Says Vaccinating World New Year's Top Priority. telesurenglish.net On Tuesday, Abdulla Shahid, president of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), said that his first goal for the New Year is to vaccinate the world and achieve vaccine equity. | RELATED: | "My top priority is going to be on vaccine. That is why I am convening this high-level meeting on Jan. 13. That is why I want to make my New Year resolution on vaccine," the UNGA president told reporters while responding to the question regarding his top pr…

Sameena Rahman (2021-12-14). "Talon Anvil" U.S. military unit exposed for role in massive Syrian civilian deaths. liberationnews.org Damning new information has come to light about systematic disregard for civilian casualties in U.S. airstrikes on Syria…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-14). No action against personnel responsible for killing Afghan civilians in August drone strike, says US defense department. peoplesdispatch.org Several human rights groups have questioned the internal investigation by the Pentagon which called the drone strike inside a residential building in Kabul an "honest mistake". 10 Afghan civilians including seven children, were killed in the US drone strike in August…

Staff (2021-12-14). Headlines for December 14, 2021. democracynow.org Eight Killed by Tornado at Kentucky Factory Whose Workers Were Ordered to Remain on Site, Ice Sheet Holding Back Vast Antarctic Glacier Poised to Collapse Within Five Years, U.K. Reports First Death Linked to Fast-Spreading Omicron Coronavirus Variant, New York City to Require Proof of Vaccination for Kids 5 and Up to Enter Public Spaces, Pentagon Won't Punish Anyone over Kabul Drone Strike That Killed 10 Civilians, Sudanese Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters Demanding End to Military Rule, Report: Colombian Police Killed at Least 11 People Protesting Police Brutality, Danish Ex-Minister Gets Prison for Illegally…

The Socialist Program (2021-12-14). Capitalism and Imperialism: A Global System of Death. liberationnews.org Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how workers are bearing the deadly brunt of the devastating tornadoes that ripped across the country and new revelations about US war crimes in Syria…

Alexander Rubinstein (2021-12-14). US Shouldn't Be Invited to Summit for Democracy, Let Alone Be its Host. orinocotribune.com By Alexander Rubinstein — Dec 8, 2021 | In every one of the countries the United States has intervened in over the past decades, anti-democratic means are almost always used towards anti-democratic ends, all in the name of promoting democracy. | This week, the United States is convening a virtual "Summit for Democracy," the first of its kind in what the State Department hopes to make an annual event. | "The summit will focus on challenges and opportunities facing democracies and will provide a platform for leaders to announce both individual and collective commitments, reforms, and initiatives to defend demo…

Ann Brown (2021-12-14). Asian Hiring Manager At FAANG Company Says He Gives Black Candidates Tougher Questions To Strike Back At Affirmative Action. moguldom.com A person who described himself as an Asian hiring manager at a FAANG company — an acronym for stocks of U.S. tech companies Facebook, Amazon, Apple Netflix and Google — admitted that he gives "URM" job candidates a hard time during interviews, according to a post on an anonymous community workplace app. URM or "Underrepresented Minority" …

WSWS (2021-12-14). Barbados declares a republic: British imperialism's legacy of slavery and colonialism. wsws.org None of the island's governments have been able to redress British imperialism's legacy of underdevelopment, dependency and above all economic hardship and social inequality.

_____ (2021-12-14). Who is Responsible for the Deteriorating Situation in Lebanon? journal-neo.org For many years, Lebanon was considered the safe haven of the Middle East plagued by wars, instability, and colored revolutions. Many have referred to the country as the Middle East's Switzerland, including investments in Lebanon's economy from countries of the region where the political crises were raging. The country's banks were especially valued, prosperous and …

_____ (2021-12-14). Workers At Warren General Hospital Vote To Strike. popularresistance.org Workers at Allegheny Health Network affiliate Warren General Hospital voted Saturday to strike, straining already fragile medical resources in rural northwest Pennsylvania. | The 114 nurses and health care workers, who are members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, issued a 10-day strike notice at the 87-bed hospital — the only acute care facility in the county. | The labor agreement with workers expired in September, and negotiations were scheduled to continue Monday, hospital CEO Rick Allen said. | The hospital has offered pay increases of 4.2% to over 16%, plus enha…

Labor Video Project (2021-12-14). Equal Pay For Equal Work! Kellogg Bakers Local 3G Striker Donovan Williams Speaks At UAW 5. indybay.org Kellogg Battle Creek BCTGM Local 3g striker Donovan Williams reported on their national strike to UAW 5 members and supporters on December 10, 2021…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-14). "Vaccines: Truths, Lies, and Controversies." On the Basic Essay-Study of Dr. Peter Gotzsche. libya360.wordpress.com Damian Mazzotti "Vaccines: Truth, Lies, and Controversies" is a resounding essay that is very useful to all physicians and those involved in evaluating health policies (Peter C. Gotzsche, twitter.com/pgtzsche1, 2020, http: //www.fioritieditore.com/prodotto/vaccini-verita-bugie-e-controversie; 196 pages, euro 18). Peter Gotzsche has a unique professional experience gained from a double degree in Chemistry and Medicine. Through his collaborations and…

WSWS (2021-12-14). Government crisis in Sweden strengthens far-right. wsws.org For the first time, the Swedish parliament voted for a budget drafted by the conservative Moderate Party in collaboration with the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Staff (2021-12-14). Strike Wave in the U.S.? Labor Historian Nelson Lichtenstein on Union Drives & Worker Revolts. democracynow.org As unionizing efforts have taken the U.S. by storm, we look at the history of the U.S. labor movement and how unions have acted as a bulwark against corporate power. Worker organizing at Starbucks, Kellogg's and Amazon shows that unions help enforce health and safety measures and protect workers who speak out. "A working-class consciousness ebbs and flows," says Nelson Lichtenstein, director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "A union is a way of capturing that consciousness and making it the law of the land."

Olivia Engling (2021-12-14). White House Hosts Democracy Summit and Highlights Global Anti-Corruption Commitments. indybay.org More than 100 leaders showcase initiatives to counter dictatorships, fight corruption and promote human rights at a virtual summit the White House hosts December 9-10.

William Boardman (2021-12-14). Ukraine Is a Problem Only as Long as the West Makes It One. dissidentvoice.org Ukrainian servicemen take part in a drill of the airborne troops taking place in Zhytomyr region on November 21, 2018. (photo: AFP) Since the fall of the Soviet Union thirty years ago, US policy on Ukraine has been an ugly mix of inconsistency, quiet aggression, fear-mongering and stupidity. Now President Biden is recklessly intensifying the …

Matt Sedlar (2021-12-14). Family Policies in the Build Back Better Act Would Reduce Burdens on Families and Provide a Better Buffer to Economic Instability. cepr.net Many US workers could not say exactly when or how much they will be working two weeks from today. As one might imagine, this situation makes it difficult to plan and control one's nonwork life. It also can lead to financial hardship for low- and moderate-income households when they experience a decline in earnings due …

In Defense of Liberation! (2021-12-14). Understanding the Historical Moment We're in Takes Practical Action! anchor.fm In this episode I go into a discussion about the political, social, and economic placement we as working class people seem to find ourselves in today, not simply in the US but in some sense around the world. We are all hurting in a very similar way, added onto by our own individual struggles or difficulties we might face because of the color of our skin, our gender, our ability or willingness to be taken advantage of, etc. We are all suffering very difficult situations which none of us can take on alone, but if we want to do something about these things, we can't just pick up a gun and go, we'll be killed, or mos…

WSWS (2021-12-14). Support the Turkish health care workers' strike movement! wsws.org This strike movement, amid a raging pandemic, is internationally significant and deserves support from all sections of the working class.

WSWS (2021-12-14). José Antonio Kast: Chile's left paves the way for a fascist. wsws.org The political descendants of the forces that bore responsibility for straitjacketing the working class ahead of the September 11, 1973 coup are today playing the same role.

_____ (2021-12-14). Amazon Under Fire After Warehouse Collapse Kills At Least Six People. popularresistance.org Amazon was accused Saturday of putting corporate profits above worker safety following the tornado-caused partial collapse of a St. Louis-area warehouse that left at least six people dead. | "Time and time again Amazon puts its bottom line above the lives of its employees," said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), in a statement. "Requiring workers to work through such a major tornado warning event as this was inexcusable." | Appelbaum's remarks came after an outbreak of over 20 devastating tornadoes late Friday tore through multiple states and killed dozens of…

Liberation Staff (2021-12-14). UAW members vote strongly in favor of 'One worker, one vote' referendum. liberationnews.org In voting results announced on December 2, members of the United Auto Workers overwhelmingly voted to change the union's method of choosing its top leadership…

MIT-GSU Press Release (2021-12-14). MIT graduate employees announce majority support for unionization — will MIT commit to contract negotiations? liberationnews.org The graduate student workers of MIT have spoken. Will President L. Rafael Reif listen?>

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-14). Massive workers' mobilization in Turkey demands fair minimum wage. peoplesdispatch.org In a massive rally in Istanbul called by the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions (DiSK), workers demanded an increase in the minimum wage in the country to at least 5,200 Turkish Lira (USD 358.80) in order to meet their basic needs…

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2021-12-14: News Headlines

Prabhat Patnaik (2021-12-14). India's post-pandemic economic recovery. mronline.org The pandemic alas is not yet over, but there are no economic disruptions in the current fiscal year in the form of lockdowns or workers' absence. The economy's performance therefore can no longer be attributed to the prevalence of the pandemic; whatever it is, it is caused by economic factors.

WSWS (2021-12-14). Columbia student workers begin sixth week on strike, defying university's strikebreaking threats. wsws.org Columbia's threats not to rehire striking workers raises the urgency for student workers to expand their strike.

WSWS (2021-12-14). South Dakota teachers scramble at "Dash for Cash" in desperate attempt to fund their classrooms. wsws.org Workers across the US have reacted in horror to a stage-managed competition for teachers to win a few hundred dollars for their classrooms.

WSWS (2021-12-14). Workers Struggles: The Americas. wsws.org Some 400 Teamsters members at Republic Services in Southern California are on the picket lines as Fred Meyer workers in the Pacific Northwest are threatening strike and daycare workers across Quebec, Canada ended their walkout with a contract ratification.

WSWS (2021-12-14). Over 100 feared dead as recovery efforts continue following massive tornado outbreak across the US Midwest and South. wsws.org Workers at the candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky which was destroyed by a tornado Friday night were told they would be fired if they left the facility in response to warnings made hours before the storm hit.

a guest author (2021-12-14). Why Cuba has no anti-vaccine movement. workers.org By Marc Vandepitte and Toon Danhieux In the imperialist countries, honest skepticism about government handling of the COVID-19 crisis and the profit-driven decisions of pharmaceutical companies have allowed rightist and ultrarightist groups to mobilize sections of the population behind unscientific theories that harm public health. This article, published in dewereldmorgen.be . . . |

WSWS (2021-12-14). Australia: Evan Blake speaks at Committee for Public Education online meeting. wsws.org Blake reported on the spread of the Omicron variant internationally, the new dangers it represents and the significance of the Global Workers Inquest initiated by the WSWS.

Staff (2021-12-14). Striking Kellogg's Workers Vow to Hold Out for Better Contract, Urge Boycott of Company's Products. democracynow.org Kellogg's announced it would begin permanently replacing the 1,400 workers who have been on strike for over two months to demand fair wages and better working conditions. The move comes after an overwhelming majority of Kellogg's workers rejected a new five-year agreement they say falls short of their demands and sparked widespread public backlash, including from President Biden. "We are fighting for equal pay and equal benefits, regardless of what the company is putting out there. And trying to replace us is something that they're using as a scare tactic," says Kevin Bradshaw, a striking Kellogg's worker and pre…

Staff (2021-12-14). "Our Movement Is Growing": How Starbucks Workers in Buffalo Fought Company's Union Busting and Won. democracynow.org We look at the historic workers' victory at the Elmwood Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, where workers successfully voted to unionize last week, making them the first to do so among the coffee chain's 9,000 locations in the United States, and sparking new efforts at stores across the country. We speak to one of the 19 employees who voted in favor of forming a union about confronting the company and overcoming the challenges. Starbucks hired "the most notorious union-busting law firm in the country and literally ran not even a textbook anti-union campaign but an almost unprecedented anti-union campaign," says…

David Sirota (2021-12-14). Worker Protection Bill Blocked Before Tornado Disaster. dailyposter.com

WSWS (2021-12-14). China's Zero COVID policy proves that the elimination of COVID-19 is possible. wsws.org The World Socialist Web Site published yesterday a submission to the Global Workers' Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic by a scientist on China's Zero COVID strategy that is essential to understanding what has happened over the past two years and what must be done to end the pandemic.

Democratic Socialists of America San Francisc (2021-12-14). Sunday 12/19: Haiti's Crisis and the Popular Resistance. indybay.org This event will be held on Zoom. Register: dsasf.org/haitiresist…

W. T. Whitney Jr. (2021-12-14). Cuba defeats COVID-19 with learning, science, and unity. peoplesworld.org Education is central to Cuba's brand of socialism. The revolutionary government's dedication to scientific knowledge and healthcare for all shows up now as Cubans cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States is not so lucky. Cubans have wholeheartedly carried out masking, social-distancing, testing and quarantining. Cuba' s bio-medical research and production facilities created five …

WSWS (2021-12-14). Soaring social inequality under New Zealand Labour government. wsws.org Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger warned recently that society is increasingly divided between the poor and the "obscenely rich," and that historically inequality was "the root cause of revolution."

Revolution Books (2021-12-14). Sunday 12/19: Revolution Books at the Telegraph Ave. Holiday Street Fair. indybay.org Telegraph and Durant in front of 2340 Telegraph, Berkeley…

Patrick Peralta (2021-12-14). Spectacles of Amnesia: YouTube Populism and the Rehabilitation of the Marcoses. fpif.org In the hills of Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines, a massive head hovers above the trees. Carved on the side of Mount Pugo, La Union, the 30-meter concrete bust overlooks the northern provinces, as if gazing over its vast domain. The head is of former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Yet today, his effigy is hardly recognizable. Shortly after the 1986 People Power Revolution that deposed and exiled the Marcos family, indigenous groups displaced by the bust's construction returned to smear pig's blood across the leader's face. Three years later, communist rebels bombed the same bust, leaving in…

Mark Hallim (2021-12-14). Nationalism and Liberal Democracies: The Rise of Nationalism in Brazil. moderndiplomacy.eu Twenty-five years ago, liberal democracies rose; the Berlin Wall had fallen, the Soviet Union collapsed, and new democracies emerged in Europe. In South Africa, the apartheid regime was removed. Even though the Chinese government brutally crushed a democracy, the belief existed that a more educated and wealthy middle class would demand democratic reforms. The 2008 …

Newsclick (2021-12-14). After year long struggle and historic victory, Indian farmers head home. peoplesdispatch.org These protest sites had become a home for these farmers. Now, they are returning home joyous, yet vowing to continue the fight and keep their union strong…

Rick Rozoff (2021-12-14). Visegrad Four meeting: Chastised stepchild Poland defending NATO, EU border. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com EU must protect its borders, Polish PM says after V4 summit with France's Macron Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki attended a meeting between Visegrad Group leaders and French President Emmanuel Macron in Budapest on Monday, and said afterwards that the European Union must be able to protect its borders. The Budapest get-together, which was also …

Lois Wacquant (2021-12-14). Punishing the Poor, 211 pp. indybay.org "The Keynesian state, coupled with Fordist wage work…whose mission was to protect the most vulnerable populations…has been succeeded by a state that one might dub neo-Darwinist, in that it erects competition and celebrates unrestrained individual responsibility-whose counterpart is collective and thus political irresponsibility, the Leviathan…"

San Jose for Abortion Rights (2021-12-14). We Won't Go Back, We Will FIGHT Back! indybay.org Some of the protests held in the Bay Area on December 1 for reproductive justice went into the night. The one in San Jose was sponsored by the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Day, Night Protests on Day of Action (2021-12-14). San Francisco Says Protect Roe. indybay.org Strike for Choice initiated December 1 as a day of national action to protect Roe v. Wade and the city of San Francisco stepped up to the task. At 3: 30pm Mobilization for Reproductive Justice held a rally at the Federal Courthouse. Later, as it grew dark outside, a different organization held a rally at Powell and Market.

Adam Ramsay (2021-12-14). Culture wars: identity politics and the fight against surveillance capitalism. zcomm.org For some, it's a left-wing adoption of neoliberalism. For others, it's authoritarian. But it's really just about equality…

Fight Back (2021-12-14). Sudanese people's struggle against the military dictatorship. fightbacknews.org Dallas, TX – On April 11, Omar al-Bashir, the military leader of Sudan for over 20 years, from 1989 to 2019, was deposed in a military coup. The coup occurred amidst largescale protests calling for the overthrow of al-Bashir, demanding democracy and an end to austerity measures enacted by the government in response to the country being over $60 billion in debt to the International Monetary Fund and France. | The protests were largely led by the National Consensus Forces (NCF), an alliance consisting of political parties including the Sudanese Communist Party, the Sudanese Baath Party, the National Umma Party, and…

Canadian Tire Fire (2021-12-14). Canadian Tire Fire #23: Gidimt'en Calls for Week of Action, Defund the Ottawa Police, Encampment Solidarity Updates. itsgoingdown.org photo: @RisingTideTor As CGL attempts to move forward with their work on the Yintah, inching ever closer to drilling under Wedzin Kwa, Gidimt'en Checkpoint has called for a week of actions starting December 20th. They're calling for specific attention to be paid to investors such as RBC, which has already been the target of a…

Paul Wang (2021-12-14). The Franco-German solidarity is the pivot to a sovereign Europe. moderndiplomacy.eu On December 8, Olaf Scholz was sworn in as new chancellor of Germany after his predecessor and political mentor Angela Merkel had governed the country for the past 16 years. In the wake of power-transition in Germany, Scholz went onto Paris and Brussels where he announced that he will earnestly work with other member states …

teleSUR (2021-12-14). Presidents of Bolivia and Nicaragua Arrive in Cuba for ALBA Summit. telesurenglish.net The Bolivian President Luis Arce and the Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrived in Havana to participate in the 20th Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP). | RELATED: | On Monday night, Arce pointed out that Cuba has taught the world that solidarity is sharing what one has even when one does not have much. | "Today, the Cuban people need us and w…

repost (2021-12-14). IBT Bay Area Official Rome Aloice permanently barred from the Teamsters. indybay.org Bay Area Teamster Official Rome Aloise has been barred for life from participation in the Teamsters.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-13). Guernica, Lidice, My Lai … and Now Talon Anvil. libya360.wordpress.com Patrick Martin US MQ-9 Reaper Drone (Image credit: U.S. Air Force/Paul Ridgeway public domain) On Sunday, the New York Times published a detailed report chronicling the systematic, years-long mass murder of civilians by the United States in Iraq and Syria, carried out by a death squad called Talon Anvil. The unit directed air strikes and…

Staff (2021-12-13). Headlines for December 13, 2021. democracynow.org Biden Declares Major Federal Disaster in KY; 100+ Feared Dead After Tornadoes Rip Through 8 States, U.S. Health Officials Say Boosters Could Curb Winter COVID Surge as NY Tightens Mask Rules, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Tests Positive for COVID-19, Over Half a Billion People Faced Extreme Poverty Due to Healthcare Costs During Pandemic, SCOTUS Says Providers Can Sue over Texas Abortion Law But Limits Scope and Keeps Ban in Place, Gov. Gavin Newsom Says He Will Use Texas Abortion Ban as Model for CA Gun Control Laws, NYT: Secret Unit Launched 10,000s of Strikes Against ISIS, Killing Syrian Civilians in…

Alan MacLeod (2021-12-13). "Every option is on the table": U.S. prepping for Libya-style intervention in Ethiopia. mronline.org A considerable military buildup is now underway. Last week, the U.S. military announced it was sending over 1,000 National Guard members to nearby Djibouti.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-13). Ethiopia: 'UN WFP and USAID Have Been Using Humanitarian Crisis to Prepare Grounds for Western Intervention'. libya360.wordpress.com Pavan Kulkarni People participate in a rally to condemn the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Western intervention in the internal affairs of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dec. 5, 2021. Photo: Xinhua/Wang Ping Horn of Africa TV's editor, Elias Amare, talks to Peoples Dispatch on the latest military developments in Ethiopia, the setbacks faced…

WSWS (2021-12-13). Australian government, Labor opposition greenlight US rendition of Julian Assange. wsws.org There is outraged opposition to Assange's persecution in Australia, but it will find no way forward within the parliamentary set-up.

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2021-12-13: News Headlines

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-13). Paper Tiger Imperialism and the US-Beijing Boycott. libya360.wordpress.com Miguel Garcia On Monday, December 6, 2021, the United States government announced they would not be sending government officials to the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022. The diplomatic boycott is the latest move by Washington and the Biden administration in their all-out-blitz smear campaign against the People's Republic of China. White House…

Sonali Kolhatkar (2021-12-13). Amazon preparing its next offensive, but it can't bust unions forever. peoplesworld.org The National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, just ruled that a historic union vote among Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Ala., was not valid. The highly publicized vote resulted in a resounding defeat for the union in March 2021, with more than 70% of those voting choosing against union membership. The union accused Amazon of engaging in "efforts to gaslight its …

WSWS (2021-12-13). Germany's new chancellor and foreign minister visit Paris and Warsaw: Promoting European Great Power policy. wsws.org The new German government regards a strong European Union as a precondition for an aggressive military foreign policy. This calls for close collaboration with its largest neighbours, France and Poland.

Joris Leverink (2021-12-13). Mutual aid and solidarity in Nigeria's #EndSARS protests. roarmag.org Young people joining the #EndSARS protesters in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. October 20, 2020. Photo: Emmage / Shutterstock.com | On October 18, 2020, during the #EndSARS protests against police violence and state corruption in Nigeria's capital Abuja, a photo was shared on social media that quickly drew nationwide attention. The image showed passionate protesters with their fists pumped in the air, mouths wide open singing songs and chanting slogans. Some were holding placards that read "Our Lives Matter." | What drew the attention of the public, however, was the woman right at the center of the image. With a small N…

Chabeli Carrazana (2021-12-13). Build Back Better Could Help End Subminimum Wages for People With Disabilities. truthout.org Originally published by For almost a century, it has been completely legal for companies to pay workers with disabilities mere cents on the hour. Employees This practice of paying "subminimum wage," which the U.S. Departm…

_____ (2021-12-13). Columbia University Strikers Raise Hell, Saying School Plans To Illegally Replace Them. popularresistance.org Now, the brinkmanship has heightened. Late last week, Columbia Vice President of Human Resources Dan Driscoll emailed all of the student workers telling them that only strikers who returned to work by December 10 would be assured of work assignments for the spring term. (The email also said that "striking student officers who return to work after December 10, 2021 will be appointed/ assigned to suitable positions if available.") To the union, this was a clear threat to permanently replace striking workers‚Äâ—‚Äâand an illegal one.

_____ (2021-12-13). Workers At Activision Blizzard Lead Week-Long Work Stoppage. popularresistance.org The work stoppage began on Monday when quality assurance (QA) workers at Raven Software, one of the main developers behind the hit Call of Duty video game series, began being laid off. Employees are demanding that these contractors be reinstated and given full-time contracts. The exact number of workers participating in the work stoppage is unclear, but hundreds of both remote and in-person employees across studios and states participated, with many walkouts occurring virtually.

Monica Cruz (2021-12-13). Six workers killed in Amazon warehouse collapse. peoplesdispatch.org At least six people have been killed and countless others injured during a partial collapse of its Edwardsville, Illinois warehouse on the night of December 10. A category EF3 tornado hit the warehouse around 8: 35 pm. The "search and rescue" mission through the remaining rubble has changed to a "search and recover" mission, suggesting that officials believe there are no survivors. | At least 100 workers were in the warehouse at the time of the collapse and an unknown number are still missing. Management does not have an exact number of how many workers were in the warehouse at the time the tornado hit because a s…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-13). 6 weeks and counting: Graduate student workers stay defiant before Columbia University admin. peoplesdispatch.org The graduate student worker union organized a large protest on Wednesday December 8, and shut down two main entrances of the university's Manhattan campus. Dozens of community members and workers from a host of different unions joined them in solidarity…

WSWS (2021-12-13). Kellogg's strikers denounce mass firing threat, two-tier wages from the picket lines in Battle Creek, Michigan. wsws.org Striking Kellogg's workers remain defiant and opposed to any concessions following their rejection of a concessions contract brokered by the BCTGM union.

WSWS (2021-12-13). Unionization vote passes at Starbucks in Buffalo, New York. wsws.org Despite the small number of workers involved, the unionization drive has drawn substantial attention in the national press and from top Democratic Party politicians.

WSWS (2021-12-13). "Amazon should absolutely be held liable": Growing outrage over deaths of workers kept on the job during massive tornado outbreak in US. wsws.org Workers at an Amazon facility in Edwardsville, Illinois, and at a candle manufacturing plant in Mayfield, Kentucky, were working late into the night and early morning as a series of devastating tornadoes ripped through six states.

Jake Johnson (2021-12-13). Sunrise Movement Says Call Tornado Devastation What It Is: "A Climate Disaster" truthout.org As emergency workers and local residents sifted through the wreckage of towns left devastated by the tornado system that hammered six U.S. states over the weekend, the youth-led Sunrise Movement "People's homes have been demolished, 40,000 people are without power, and there are so many unanswered questi…

WSWS (2021-12-13). West Coast educators and parents support Global Workers' Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic. wsws.org West coast educators and parents met to discuss concerning developments in the global COVID-19 pandemic with the spread of the Omicron variant and the urgency to fight for necessary public health measures to stop the spread of the virus.

Sarah Anderson (2021-12-13). Gig Workers are in the Driver's Seat in Europe. Is There Hope for the US? inequality.org

Noah Styzkgold, with a contribution from the Battle Creek picket line by Kris Hamel (2021-12-13). Kellogg's workers reject two-tier contract. liberationnews.org The workers are ready to fight back against their employer's demands for ever greater concessions and attempts to push the workers to sell out future generations.

Editor (2021-12-13). 'Inexcusable': Amazon Under Fire After Warehouse Collapse Kills at Least Six. scheerpost.com Workers remove debris from an Amazon Fulfillment Center in Edwardsville, Illinois, on December 11, 2021, after it was hit by a tornado. The event caused at least six deaths at the facility that suffered "catastrophic damage," while the western Kentucky town of Mayfield was "ground zero" of the storm—a scene of "massive devastation," one official said. (Photo: Tim Vizer/AFP via Getty Images) | By Andrea Germanos / Amazon was accused Saturday of putting corporat…

Cam Scott (2021-12-13). Canadian Communist movement celebrated in new feature-length documentary. peoplesworld.org The life of a Communist Party, in its everyday intensity and historical specificity, too often eludes commemoration. There are meetings, demonstrations, pickets; glowing victories and momentary defeats. So much remains unwritten in the momentum of revolutionary enthusiasm that it can be astonishing to notice just how far we've come. To celebrate the centenary of the …

teleSUR (2021-12-13). Colombia: Commons Party Presents 21 Candidates For Senators. telesurenglish.net On Sunday, Colombia's Commons Party (PC) presented 21 candidates for senators to contest in the 2022 elections. Whatever the results of the vote, the 2016 Peace agreement signed between the Colombian State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) secures this party 10 seats in the Senate. | RELATED: | "Our list of candidates has gender parity and is representative since it comprises politicians from 20…

Natalia Marques (2021-12-13). Unions, NYC community back strikers at Columbia U. liberationnews.org The escalation in tactics from a picket line in the middle of campus to a picket line peacefully blocking entrances is a response to illegal threats by Columbia.

Tucker Davis, Zach Farber (2021-12-13). MLB execs shut down baseball industry in attempt to divide player's union. liberationnews.org At midnight on Dec. 2, Major League Baseball executives officially began a "lockout" of players from all team facilities. This results from the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement between the MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association which is the union representing around 1,200 players. Speaking for the MLBPA, executive director Tony Clark stated, "We remain committed to negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement that enhances competition, improves the product for our fans, and advances the rights and benefits of our membership."

WSWS (2021-12-13). The misunderstood—and misrepresented—Zero COVID policy in China. wsws.org One of the most striking facts about the pandemic is that China, the country from which SARS-CoV-2 first emerged, has suffered very few cases. This article is a detailed look at China's Zero COVID policy.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-13). Highland Resistance: How the Che Guevara Commune Confronts the Crisis. libya360.wordpress.com Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert First-hand accounts of the impact of the US sanctions on a coffee and cocoa growing commune in the Venezuelan Andes. The Che Guevara Commune lies on the fertile hillsides that rise up from the shores of Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela. Historically this has been a cocoa-growing region but…

teleSUR (2021-12-13). The ALBA-TCP Summit To Foster Latin American Sovereignty. telesurenglish.net Cuba's Foreign Affairs Vice Minister Josefina Vidal said that 19th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) to be held in Havana on Tuesday will strengthen Latin American sovereignty. | RELATED: | "The Summit will be a good opportunity to assess the regional scenario, actions to guarantee peace and stability, and political agreements to prevent interfere…

teleSUR (2021-12-13). ALBA Denounces US' Criminal Use of COVID Against Other Nations. telesurenglish.net The executive secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, ratified this Monday the regional bloc as a mechanism for strengthening Latin American unity. | Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP Sacha Llorenti said Tuesday, "We are proud to hold the first face-to-face summit in Cuba. Despite the challenges we remain steadfast, as ALBA continues to be as necessary as it was 17 years ago."

Carlos Fazio (2021-12-13). Biden vs. Maduro: øCambio de ruta? globalizacion.ca El reconocimiento del gobierno de Nicolás Maduro como representante legítimo de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela por la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas y las contradicciones emergentes dentro de los sectores más extremistas del antichavismo, exhiben el fracaso de…

Seoul Women's Association (2021-12-13). Korean Feminists Shout "Ni Una Menos" (Not One Less). peoplesdispatch.org November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The date was first selected in 1981 to honor three sisters who had fought against the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. In 2000, it was designated an international day by the United Nations. | The Korean government also designated the week for the elimination of violence against women in 1981, but reality hasn't changed a lot since then. That is why the Seoul Women's Association (SWA) and its sister organization the College Feminist Club Association decided to perform "Un violador en tu camino" ("A Rapist in Your Path"). The…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-13). Indian Farmers Celebrate Victory March as Their Historic Struggle Ends. libya360.wordpress.com Peoples Dispatch On December 11, tens of thousands of farmers in India participated in a final 'Victory March' from the borders of national capital Delhi where they had been camping in protest for over a year After a year and 15 days, the historic farmers' struggle at the borders of the Indian capital New Delhi…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-13). Moussa Ibrahim: Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi Has the Widest Support Heading into Libyan Elections. libya360.wordpress.com We speak to Moussa Ibrahim, the former spokesperson for late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He discusses the overturning of the decision banning Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi (the son of Muammar Gaddafi) from running in the Libyan Presidential elections, current polling for the elections and why he believes the polls are wrong, why Saif Al-Islam is the…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-13). Venezuela: Why Chavismo Must Win in Barinas. libya360.wordpress.com Eder Peña Santo Domingo river canyon, in Barinitas, Barinas state (Photo: Archive). From the valley of the Santo Domingo river comes a strong wind called "Barinés" that descends from the Andean mountain range in a west-east direction during the rainy season, against the prevailing trade winds in most of the country. Contrary to what a…

teleSUR (2021-12-13). 'I Defend Social Equity': Chilean Presidential Candidate Boric. telesurenglish.net With less than 7 days to go until the second round of the presidential elections, the "Approve Dignity" coalition candidate Gabriel Boric is consolidating himself as the politician who represents the desire for change in Chilean society. | RELATED: | Born in 1986 in Punta Arenas City, Boric joined the "Autonomous Left" organization and was elected the Chilean University Student Federation (FEH) councilor in 2008 w…

Sarah Anderson (2021-12-13). A Last-Ditch Effort to Eliminate a Tax Dodge for Super-Rich Private Equity Executives. inequality.org

teleSUR (2021-12-13). Bolivia & Venezuela Urge To Strengthen LATAM Integration. telesurenglish.net On Sunday, Vice Presidents David Choquehuanca (Bolivia) and Delcy Rodriguez (Venezuela) met in Caracas, where they ratified their countries' commitment to strengthen regional integration and fight social injustices. | RELATED: | "On behalf of our people, we received Choquehuanca and sent a message of peace and brotherhood to Bolivia," Rodriguez tweeted, stressing that her government defends Simon Bolivar'

Staff (2021-12-12). Arrogant powers delighted by suffering of Iranian people. en.mehrnews.com Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that the arrogant powers' joy at the suffering of the Iranian people has been manifested in events such as imposing a "medical embargo on the Iranian nation".

_____ (2021-12-12). Incarcerated Journalists Fought Isolation And Illness To Expose Abusive Conditions. popularresistance.org In the summer of 2020 we launched a collaborative writing program to connect incarcerated writers with outside journalists and editors. Our goal was to help them publish their writing in mainstream media publications. | We began only a few weeks after COVID-19 came into San Quentin State Prison, where Rahsaan lives. We knew that COVID-19 would be an incredible threat to people incarcerated, but were unprepared for the devastation and loss ahead. At San Quentin — which became home to the largest outbreak in the country — Rahsaan became infected with the virus and experienced the mental health toll of b…

Labor Video Project (2021-12-12). Justice For Cab Drivers! Taxi Drivers Demand Their Money Back From San Francico Officials. indybay.org Taxi cab drivers who have or had medallions protested the MTA and city officials who allowed them be become devalued.

Olivia Engling (2021-12-12). White House Hosts Democracy Summit and Highlights Global Anti-Corruption Commitments. indybay.org More than 100 leaders showcase initiatives to counter dictatorships, fight corruption and promote human rights at a virtual summit the White House hosts December 9-10.

Gary Flomenhoft (2021-12-12). 'The Time Machine' in Australia, in the Age of Covid. asiatimes.com In the classic H G Wells story The Time Machine, the Eloi are the surface-dwelling descendants of the upper class who are bred and fed on by the subterranean-dwelling Morlock cannibals, descendants of the working class. In the story, the Eloi don't ask any questions and line up voluntarily to be food for the Morlocks …

ecns.cn (2021-12-12). 17 mln U.S. workers hit by economic setback in pandemic: report. ecns.cn Nearly 17 million U.S. workers lost their jobs or saw their wages decline in the course of the pandemic, a U.S. report said on Thursday.

Dipa Sinha (2021-12-12). India's community health workers' struggle for recognition. zcomm.org India's ASHA and anganwadi workers are rallying under the slogan "Community health work is work!" to demand fair pay and treatment for the essential services they provide…

WSWS (2021-12-12). Numerous warnings were issued in advance of tornadoes that killed dozens of candle factory and Amazon workers. wsws.org At least six Amazon workers died after a warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois received a direct hit. In Kentucky, a tornado struck an occupied candle factory in the city of Mayfield, with 100 workers in it.

Sharon Zhang (2021-12-12). Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez Celebrate Starbucks Workers' Historic Union Victory. zcomm.org Progressive lawmakers are celebrating after Starbucks workers in Buffalo triumphed over nearly insurmountable odds to form the company's first-ever union…

Brett Wilkins (2021-12-12). Socialist Seattle Council Member Sawant Declares 'Apparent Victory'. zcomm.org "Terrible news all around for the capitalist bums."

Revolution Books (2021-12-12). Sunday 12/19: Revolution Books at the Telegraph Ave. Holiday Street Fair. indybay.org Telegraph and Durant in front of 2340 Telegraph, Berkeley…

ecns.cn (2021-12-12). Commissioner's office of Chinese foreign ministry urges U.S., EU politicians to stop interfering in HK's rule of law. ecns.cn The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Friday strongly disapproved of and firmly rejected irresponsible remarks of some U.S. politicians and misguided comments of some European Union (EU) officials on Hong Kong.

National Welfare Rights Union (2021-12-12). Friday 12/10: Día de los Derechos Humanos: °Llévense nuestra pobreza, no nuestros hijos! indybay.org Evento en línea…

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2021-12-12: News Headlines

_____ (2021-12-12). A Plea To Make Widespread Environmental Damage An International Crime. popularresistance.org The campaign to make ecocide an international crime took center stage in the Hague on Tuesday as Bangladesh, Samoa and Vanuatu advocated criminalizing environmental destruction during a virtual forum at the annual meeting of the International Criminal Court's 123 member nations. The forum, attended by more than 1,300 individual participants, represented a collective cry for justice from three of the world's most climate vulnerable countries. It came less than a month after they and other developing nations pressed their claims at the United Nations climate talks in Glasgow for greater resiliency and adaptation fu…

Ken Hammond (2021-12-12). "Ten crises: The political economy of China's development," by Wen Tiejun. mronline.org Wen's vision is of a China which would be increasingly self-reliant, delinking from the American dominated global capitalism and developing its own key technologies and productive capacities, while at the same time continuing to engage with other emerging economies which share a desire to be free of Western neo-imperial control.

_____ (2021-12-12). Solidarity Action Rebukes Navy Over Toxic Water Pollution. popularresistance.org Activists with CodePink, in solidarity with Hawaii-based water protectors, on Friday projected images on a submarine tower outside the Navy museum in Washington, D.C., calling for a shutdown of a military fuel storage facility associated with contamination of Oahu drinking water. | Messages displayed on the USS Balao Conning Tower included "Shut down Red Hill tanks," "Demilitarize Hawaii," and "Navy is poison."

_____ (2021-12-12). Who is to Blame for the Fall of French Influence in Africa? journal-neo.org Despite the Africa-France Summit held recently, and intense attempts by individual French politicians to publicize Paris' actions on the African continent, criticism of France's current neo-colonial policy in Africa continues to increase in the region. Africa has recently become rapidly embroiled in anti-French demonstrations. People have taken to the streets in particular because of the …

Kamala Emanuel (2021-12-11). Assange extradition 'an attack on us all'. greenleft.org.au The British decision to extradite Julian Assange is an attack on us all, argues Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Kamala Emanuel.

Emil Avdaliani (2021-12-11). Much More Than Just Ukraine. moderndiplomacy.eu A war scare in Ukraine is a pivotal moment for the West. It tests transatlantic resolve, unity, and the very foundations of NATO. Failure to prevent potential Russian military advances or an unwillingness to respond if such a move occurs will likely cause an accentuation of internal divisions within NATO and the European Union (EU.) …

Abhijan Choudhury (2021-12-11). Report reveals Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in May 2021 overwhelmingly targeted civilians. peoplesdispatch.org The damning new report found that in 70% of the airstrikes that killed civilians, no corresponding 'militants' or 'military targets' were found to have been killed…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-11). "Every Option is On the Table": US Prepping for Libya-Style Intervention in Ethiopia. libya360.wordpress.com Alan MacleodADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Amid a bloody civil conflict and increasing great-power competition between the United States and China, there are a number of alarming signs that Ethiopia will become the next Libya — an African nation where the U.S. intervenes militarily under the pretext of stopping an impending genocide. A considerable military buildup…

Editor (2021-12-11). Opaque algorithms are creating an invisible cage for platform workers. mronline.org We live in a world run by algorithms. Nowhere is this more apparent than with platform companies, such as Facebook, Uber, Google, Amazon, and Twitter.

G. Dunkel (2021-12-11). People of the Sahel oppose imperialism. workers.org After two weeks of struggle — burning barricades, smashed windows and mirrors, Molotov cocktails, masses of people on the road, attempts to seize the trucks — the logistics convoy that the French army had organized at the port of Abidjan, Cà¥te d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), in the middle of November finally . . . |

Newsroom (2021-12-11). Public-Private Collaboration Will Define New Era for Cities. moderndiplomacy.eu At the World Economic Forum's inaugural Urban Transformation Summit, which closed on Wednesday, global leaders underscored the need for increased public-private collaboration to capitalize on new infrastructure funding and tackle growing urban challenges around the globe. "Our cities and our communities are changing right before our eyes. Digitization is transforming urban economies, public health and …

WSWS (2021-12-11). Fifty-five immigrants killed, over 100 injured in Mexico truck crash. wsws.org The catastrophic accident in southern Mexico came as Washington renews its "stay in Mexico" policy and the Mexican government collaborates in the repression of migrants.

Joris Leverink (2021-12-11). India's community health workers' struggle for recognition. roarmag.org Asha worker marking the finger of a baby girl after administering a polio vaccine in Delhi, India. June 28, 2021. Photo: PradeepGaurs / Shutterstock.com | This essay is published in collaboration with Public Services International | | Over the last year-and-a-half, one of the most visible groups of workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in India have been the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), a cadre of community health workers appointed by the National Health Mission (NHM). These hitherto invisible women were seen not only going hou…

_____ (2021-12-11). Auto Workers Win Direct Democracy In Referendum. popularresistance.org The members of the United Auto Workers have voted overwhelmingly to move to a direct voting system for choosing their union leadership—"one member, one vote." With all votes counted as of December 2, direct elections had the support of 63.6 percent of voters. | It's a historic win for reformers in one of the nation's most important unions, where members have pushed for this change for decades. | The referendum is the product of a consent decree between the UAW and the U.S. Department of Justice, after a years-long series of prosecutions of top union officials on corruption charges ranging from embezzling un…

WSWS (2021-12-11). Threat to fire striking Kellogg's workers prompts nervous statement from Biden administration. wsws.org The short, eight-sentence statement is a clear sign of the nervousness within ruling circles that the move by Kellogg's could trigger a social explosion within the working class.

WSWS (2021-12-11). Meeting of the Network of Action Committees for Safe Education in Germany: "We are at the beginning of great mass struggles of the working class" wsws.org At the meeting, nurses, educators, workers and students presented a terrible picture of the consequences of the official coronavirus policies.

Seth Galinsky (2021-12-11). Join 'Militant' renewal drive, help get paper out to workers. themilitant.com Readers of the Militant, including members of the Socialist Workers Party and Communist Leagues in Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, are gearing up for an ambitious drive to win The Militant is unique in looking at all political questions from the standpoint of the working class, whether it's reporting from union picket lines, explaining what's at stake in the fight against antisemitism, fighting to win support for a woman's right to choose to have an abortion or in defending rights cr…

_____ (2021-12-11). Denying Student Workers Healthcare And A Living Wage Is Violence. popularresistance.org New York City – On Wednesday, November 8, Columbia student workers (UAW Local 2110) held one of the largest pickets yet of their six-week strike to demand increased wages to meet costs of living, neutral third-party arbitration, and comprehensive healthcare benefits. Workers from unions throughout New York City such as the CUNY's Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC) at NYU, the Teamsters, and NewsGuild of New York showed up to join the picket in solidarity with the striking workers. They picketed various entrances, encouraging those who attempted to enter the univers…

Judy Greenspan (2021-12-11). No compassion, no release in California prisons. workers.org Oakland, Calif. Dec. 5 — The California prison system continues to outdo itself in reckless and inhumane treatment of incarcerated people. COVID rates are spiking again in the state's prisons, due to continued policies of mass incarceration. A recent court decision has severely gutted the state's medical parole process. Now . . . |

Martha Grevatt (2021-12-11). Rank-and-file democracy wins in the UAW. workers.org From Oct. 19 through Nov. 29, working and retired members of the United Auto Workers participated in a referendum vote on how they would elect their union's International Executive Board officers. The two choices were whether to continue the current delegate voting system, where the IEB is chosen by delegates . . . |

Martha Grevatt (2021-12-11). Baseball players union blasts owners for lockout. workers.org At midnight Dec. 2, immediately after the contract between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association expired, team owners locked out all members of the MLBPA. The union issued the following statement on Twitter 20 minutes after the lockout was imposed. In two days the statement received . . . |

Jonathan Silberman (2021-12-11). Clarks strike strengthens union, pushes back wage cuts. themilitant.com LONDON — After eight weeks on strike, workers at Clarks Shoes distribution warehouse returned to work Nov. 30, having succeeded in pushing back the company's demand to cut their basic wage by 15%. "It shows what can be done if we stick together," striker Nathan Pritchard told the Militant by phone. "It sends a message to others in similar situations. What hit me the most was us working together and the solidarity." | Citing economic challenges incurred during the pandemic, Clarks had announced new contracts, cutting hourly wages to 9.50 pounds ($12.57) for over 100 workers on "legacy" contracts, a cut of 1.

WSWS (2021-12-11). Health care workers skeptical about margin of contract ratification at Kaiser Permanente. wsws.org Whatever the case may be with the outcome of the vote, the process itself made a mockery of democratic process.

WSWS (2021-12-11). Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand. wsws.org Indian ordnance factory workers hold national strike; Odisha state childcare workers demand higher wages; Australian plasterboard workers locked out; New Zealand rail union calls off strike.

WSWS (2021-12-11). Unions ram through extension at Ingalls shipyard, stall for time at Newport News. wsws.org While the IBEW had until March 2022 to negotiate before the expiration of the contract, they opted instead to call a snap vote on the exact same contract workers rejected last week.

Claudia Drdul (2021-12-11). Starbucks workers win historic first union. zcomm.org "If we can do this here, you can do this too"

Sara Flounders (2021-12-11). New variant, same problem: Joint U.S.-China solidarity book tackles COVID. workers.org The continuing U.S. COVID crisis was predicted in a book published a year ago. "Capitalism on a Ventilator," a unique anthology by 50 progressive commentators — written even before the vaccines were rolled out — explained why the much anticipated vaccines alone could not solve the soaring COVID death rate . . . |

Alyson Kennedy (2021-12-11). Texas ExxonMobil workers rally, win solidarity against oil bosses' lockout. themilitant.com BEAUMONT, Texas — "Exxon, Exxon you can't hide, we can see your greedy side" and "Stand up, fight back!" chanted dozens of members of United Steelworkers Local 13-243 and their supporters protesting outside the meeting of the World Petroleum Congress in Houston Dec. 6 where ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods was speaking. | Some 650 members of the USW local at the company's oil refinery and blending and packaging plant here have been locked out since May 1 for refusing to accept a union-busting contract. | "A lot of people support us now, even more than we realize," Teria Howard, one of the locked-out local member…

Ellie García (2021-12-11). LA County bakery workers: 'We fight for ourselves, our children'. themilitant.com SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif. — "Don't let them tell you we are doing something wrong. We are doing something right, we are fighting for ourselves and our children," striker Elvia Castillo, told a rally of 90 outside Rich's Jon Donaire Bakery here Dec. 3. The strike by 175 members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union Local 37 began a month earlier. Most of the strikers are women. | As part of the spirited rally, workers gathered outside the plant entrance chanting in English and Spanish, "One day longer, one day stronger!" Strikers were joined by representatives of several area union…

WSWS (2021-12-11). UK: Unite leader Sharon Graham wins chorus of approval from the corporate media. wsws.org If Unite's presentation that it is waging a "pushback" on behalf of workers had any element of truth, the Johnson government would by now be confronting an unprecedented strike wave with Graham the subject of a corporate media witch-hunt.

Susan Lamont (2021-12-11). Kellogg strikers vote No! Say 'End two-tier wages'. themilitant.com MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Kellogg's workers on strike at the company's four cereal plants across the country overwhelmingly rejected the bosses' latest contract offer in a vote Dec. 5. The key issue is the company's demand to expand the number of "transitional" workers on its divisive two-tier wage and benefits system. | "The members have spoken. The strike continues," Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union President Anthony Shelton told the press. "Solidarity is critical to this fight." The company responded with threats. "The prolonged work stoppage has left us no choice but t…

WSWS (2021-12-11). Family and coworkers cope with tragic suicide death of Stellantis autoworker in Toledo. wsws.org The shocking tragedy occurred shortly before the start of the evening shift on Monday, leading to cancellation of production on the Jeep Gladiator line.

WSWS (2021-12-11). Socialist Equality Party to continue campaign against Australia's anti-democratic electoral laws. wsws.org Whether the SEP is registered or not, the party will stand candidates in the looming federal election to take out to the broadest possible audience the fight for socialism and the overturn of capitalism.

F. William Engdahl (2021-12-11). Is Gene Editing the New Name for Eugenics? "Enter Bill Gates" globalresearch.ca A major new technology known as Gene Editing has gained significant attention in recent months. Its advocates claim it will revolutionize everything from agriculture production to disease treatment. Is this technology a stealth way to introduce GMO genetic manipulation by way of another technique.

Helena Sheehan (2021-12-11). Marxism and STS: From Marx and Engels to COVID-19 and COP26. mronline.org At the recent conference of the Society for the Social Study of Science, I came to the conclusion that the history of Marxism in relation to science and technology studies is an increasingly forgotten story.

Pete Clifford (2021-12-11). Steel scaffolders strike continues in UK over wages, scabs, safety. themilitant.com SCUNTHORPE, England — "We're staying out for a result," striker Dave Birchall told the Militant on the picket line outside the massive British Steel plant here. Sixty scaffolders organized by the Unite union are now into their third month of strike action. | Sharon Graham, Unite union general secretary, joined the pickets Dec. 1. They're demanding contractor Actavo pay them the national rate for their job of 17 pounds an hour ($22.50), as opposed to their current wages of some 2 pounds less. | In a picket line interview with the BBC, Graham said, "British Steel is blaming Actavo. Actavo is blaming British S…

WSWS (2021-12-11). "They are killing us": More flight attendants speak out about poisoned job uniforms. wsws.org Flight attendants from a number of airlines spoke about the toxic working conditions that they have been subjected to by their employers and the airline unions.

Janet Roth (2021-12-11). New Zealand warehouse strikers win raises to cover inflation. themilitant.com AUCKLAND, New Zealand — "All we are asking for is enough to pay our bills and feed our kids," Tetini Rangi told the Militant as he picketed outside Countdown's distribution center in Mangere Nov. 25. "The prices for rent, food, power, everything has gone up." | Over 700 First Union members rejected a company offer of a 3% pay raise. They struck for three days, stopping production at two warehouses here, asking for 4.9% in line with the rise in the government's consumer price index. | Jaskaran Singh explained his rent had gone up 50 New Zealand dollars ($34) per week from last year, but "the company pay offe…

William Manson (2021-12-11). The Columbia "Strike": A Merry-go-Round to Nowhere? dissidentvoice.org I can still vividly recall, some thirty-plus years later, my days at Columbia University as a Teaching Assistant (TA) in Anthropology. As a part-time job, it paid little—but nonetheless provided complete tuition-exemption for those of us still registered as full-time grad students. The lecture-hall was more like an auditorium: maybe 200 students taking a survey …

Coral Wynter (2021-12-11). School strikers protest NAB's support for fossil fuel corporations. greenleft.org.au School students protested outside National Australia Bank headquarters calling on it to stop funding fossil fuels. Coral Wynter reports.

Patrick Brown (2021-12-11). New Zealand farmers unite, demand end to gov't attack. themilitant.com AUCKLAND, New Zealand — "Without farmers you will be hungry, naked and sober," read a placard on a tractor heading a caravan through Christchurch Nov. 21. The convoy was one of 70 across New Zealand in which tens of thousands of farmers and their supporters said, "Enough is enough!" | They were protesting an accelerating onslaught of new regulations adopted by the Labour Party government in Wellington that impose costs and mountains of paperwork on rural producers, in the name of protecting the environment. | Organized by Groundswell, which was formed by farmers in Southland last year, the action built on a…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-11). Libyan Popular National Movement: Statement on Developments in the Electoral Process. libya360.wordpress.com The Libyan National Movement Party followed the course of the electoral process in all its scheduled stages, marred by unjustified confusion and deliberate delay, as everyone groaned under the weight of direct and indirect interference from internal and external parties, represented by the illegal presence of foreign ambassadors who through media and frequent visits to…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-11). Nicaragua-China: The New Silk Road in Central and Latin America. libya360.wordpress.com Fabrizio Verde "Today is a historic day. The re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China fully corresponds to the will and fundamental interests of the Nicaraguan people". Nicaragua recognizes the one-China principle and acknowledges that the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government that represents all of…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-11). The US is at a Loss in Central America. libya360.wordpress.com Stephen Sefton In November 2008, while ambassador to Nicaragua, death-squad manager nonpareil John Negroponte's long time torture and terror campaign sidekick, Robert Callahan, remarked to a reporter in Managua, "US foreign policy toward Latin America has not changed in 50 years and is unlikely to do so under President Obama". Just months later, the June…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-11). Managua — Beijing: The New Route. libya360.wordpress.com Fabrizio Casari Taking the international community by surprise, Nicaragua has decided to re-establish diplomatic relations with China at the highest level and, consequently, break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which have always been commercial, never political. It is no coincidence that Taiwan has never gone out of its way to show support for Managua internationally…

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2021-12-11: News Headlines

Samer Jabbour (2021-12-11). [Perspectives] The healer as the enemy: attacking health care in war. thelancet.com Violence against health care in war has shocked the global public conscience over the past decade. Images of attacks on hospitals from my home country, Syria, have been especially disturbing. Documentaries such as The New Barbarianism, For Sama, and The Cave, the latter two from Syria, provide gripping accounts of the plight of hospitals and health workers under attack. Scholarship on health-care attacks has not been extensive. For instance, three fairly recent authoritative edited volumes on conflict and health—Ilkka Taipale's 2001 War or Health: A Reader, Barry Levy and Victor Sidel's 2007 War and Public…

Claudia Drdul (2021-12-11). Starbucks workers win historic first union. zcomm.org "If we can do this here, you can do this too"

Stephen Ginn (2021-12-11). [Perspectives] Something in the water. thelancet.com Rare Earth Mettle at London's Royal Court Theatre concerns rival missions to extract lithium from the Bolivian salt flats. Henry Finn (Arthur Darvill), billionaire founder of Edison Motors, needs copious quantities for the batteries of the electric vehicles he's developing. They'll help save the climate and sales will enrich him—not inconsiderably—in the process. But lithium has other uses too. In the play, Anna Carter (Genevieve O'Reilly), a British doctor, argues that communities who drink naturally lithium-rich water have improved mental health.

Fight Back (2021-12-10). Ethiopian community rallies in Dallas against U.S. intervention. fightbacknews.org Dallas, TX – Hundreds of members of Dallas's large Ethiopian community rallied outside Dallas City Hall on November 21 against U.S. intervention in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The protest was associated with the nationwide #NoMore movement and was called by community members, though the rally was also attended by members of the All African People's Revolutionary Party and the Dallas Anti-War Committee. | A community spokeswoman talked about the sanctions and diplomatic moves that the Biden administration has taken against Ethiopia in recent weeks, stating, "The Biden administration actions are a pretext to ge…

Caitlin A. Johnstone (2021-12-10). Super serious news reporting: notes from the Edge of The Narrative Matrix. mronline.org Hi I'm a very serious news reporter. The Russians are controlling our thoughts with Facebook memes and scrambling our brains with invisible ray gun attacks. In other news, capitalism is working fine and our wars defend freedom and democracy. The government never lies. Here's Bob with the weather.

_____ (2021-12-10). Inside The Secretive World Of Union Busting. popularresistance.org While union membership has risen slightly since 2018 thanks to some major organizing wins, and public approval of unions is at its highest level since 1965, labor has a lot of ground to make up. Union membership plummeted from 20.1% of American wage and salary workers in 1983 to just 10.8% in 2020. One of the biggest reasons for that decline is the use of well-funded, aggressive campaigns by employers to fight off unions, conducted largely through expensive union avoidance consultants and lawyers. In 2019, it was estimated that companies spend at least $340 million per year on such consultants and often engage in…

Mark Gruenberg (2021-12-10). Starbucks Workers United scores first-ever union win at big coffee chain. peoplesworld.org BUFFALO, N.Y.—Starbucks Workers United broke a significant barrier on December 9 with the first-ever worker win at the big retail coffee chain. Workers at the Elmwood store in Buffalo voted 19-8 to unionize with Starbucks Workers United, the National Labor Relations Board officer announced. The union also won 15-9 at a second store, but there …

WSWS (2021-12-10). Australian Labor Party helps government ram through another anti-democratic electoral law. wsws.org The latest bipartisan bill deepens the attack on basic democratic rights made when the two ruling parties joined hands in August to rush through party deregistration laws.

Sharon Zhang (2021-12-10). Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez Celebrate Starbucks Workers' Historic Union Victory. truthout.org Progressive lawmakers are celebrating after Starbucks workers in Buffalo triumphed over nearly insurmountable odds to form the company's first-ever union on Thursday, a sign that the reawakening U.S. labor movement is growing stronger. | Workers at

WSWS (2021-12-10). Growth of the class struggle in Australia highlights need for rank-and-file committees. wsws.org A small but significant increase in industrial action points to mounting social and political opposition in the working class.

WSWS (2021-12-10). Mobilize the working class to stop the pandemic and the Omicron surge! wsws.org As the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 spreads globally, the Biden administration in the US and capitalist governments globally are approaching the pandemic with criminal recklessness.

Claudia Drdul (2021-12-10). Starbucks workers win historic first union: "If we can do this here, you can do this too" liberationnews.org After experiencing months of harassment, intimidation and stalling by executives, Buffalo baristas have successfully formed the first Starbucks union in the United States.

Mark Gruenberg (2021-12-10). Corporate monopoly, other factors hamper workers economically. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—Why can't workers get ahead? Economically, that is. Median wages for the broad U.S. middle class have been virtually stagnant for at least 40 years, adjusted for inflation, even as productivity has galloped ahead. The median for the bottom 20% has actually dropped. Meanwhile, the rich, especially the top tenth, have reaped the rewards. That …

WSWS (2021-12-10). Kellogg's workers win wide support for defying union sellout and strikebreaking threats. wsws.org Workers across the country have expressed their support for Kellogg's workers on strike against the sellout agreement brought by the company and the BCTGM union…

WSWS (2021-12-10). People's Covid Inquiry in the UK merely calls on Johnson government to make amends. wsws.org Last month, the WSWS initiated a Global Workers' Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic. It is diametrically opposed to the political orientation of the People's Covid Inquiry.

WSWS (2021-12-10). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Workers' strikes spread at Tiger Brands and Clover food manufacturers, South Africa as Sibanye-Stillwater gold miners close to strike over pay and work fatalities; national strike over three days by healthcare workers in Turkey over pay; sailors begin 48-hour pay strike in Greek ports; health and social care workers strike and demonstrate throughout France against exclusion from pay review…

WSWS (2021-12-10). Striking Quebec child care workers should oppose union efforts to sabotage their struggle. wsws.org In an effort to divide workers, the unions have accepted "differentiated" offers for day care support staff that would provide them with wage increases about half those offered to those tasked with directly providing child care.

In Defense of Liberation! (2021-12-10). Organizing isn't Just Some Romantic Idea, it's Practical Steps and Action! anchor.fm In this episode I talk about the fact that what we need today across the world has already been tried, built, and able to grow in many places around the world; we need to only learn. Communists, socialists, and Marxists all over the world have been building revolutions and mass organizations for centuries. Our objective? Organize the people. But that's not just some slogan, that is a necessary step towards building a New World. If the people are an educated as to what's oppressing them, that they're exploited and HOW, and if they don't learn who their comrades in that fight are, then they lose time and time again…

WSWS (2021-12-10). The Kathleen Stock affair: Identity politics versus socialist politics and democratic rights. wsws.org After dominating life on campus for years, identity politics has produced two results: the machinery for anti-democratic crackdowns which can now be taken over by the government and the right, and a growing resentment against what calls itself "progressive" politics that greases the right's wheels.

Editor2 (2021-12-10). Vienna Talks: Iran Says no Interactive, Flexible Attitude Seen on Other Side. orinocotribune.com The spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry has said that while Iran entered talks in Vienna on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal with an interactive and flexible attitude, "this was not the case for the other side." | Saeed Khatibzadeh made the remarks at a weekly presser on Monday, adding that the Vienna talks have not been halted and that the next round will kick off later this week. | The exact date will be determined by Iran's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and the European Union's Deputy Secretary General Enrique Mora soon, the spokesman said. | The seventh round of high-level talks between Iran and…

Houston Tenants Union (2021-12-10). Braeswood Tenants Unite To Fight Extreme Rent Hike By New Landlord in Houston, TX. itsgoingdown.org Report on tenants in Houston delivering their demands to Fat Property, their landlord, who is hiking rent substantially after taking over the complex earlier this year. Originally posted by Houston Tenants Union. HOUSTON, TEXAS — The tenants of The Terraces on Brompton united under the banner of Brompton Mutual Aid, to deliver a demand letter…

rebekah (2021-12-10). Amazon Can't Bust Unions Forever. inequality.org

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2021-12-10). "Wipe the Soviet Union Off the Map", 204 Atomic Bombs against 66 Major Cities, US Nuclear Attack against USSR Planned During World War II. globalresearch.ca According to a secret document dated September 15, 1945, "the Pentagon had envisaged blowing up the Soviet Union with a coordinated nuclear attack directed against 66 major urban areas.

WSWS (2021-12-10). AFT President Randi Weingarten sabotages "safe schools" town hall. wsws.org Parent advocacy group PRESS NYC cancels AFT co-event about school safety following right-wing attacks on panelists, which union president Randi Weingarten sought to appease.

Matt Sedlar (2021-12-10). CEPR Spotlight: Special Drawing Rights. cepr.net CEPR has played a leading role in educating policymakers and the general public on the importance of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and in organizing a successful campaign for a major allocation of SDRs by the International Monetary Fund.

Amy Goodman (2021-12-10). "Your Debt Is Someone Else's Asset": Calls Grow to Keep Student Loan Moratorium. truthout.org Image Credit: The Intercept | As calls grow for Biden to extend the moratorium on student debt, we speak with the Debt Collective's Astra Taylor and feature her new film for The Intercept, "Your Debt Is Someone Else's Asset," animated by artist Molly Crabapple. The $15 trillion in U.S. household debt is "a form of wealth transfer" from the poor to the rich, Taylor says. "People are in debt by design." | TRANSCRIPT: | This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. | AMY GOOD…

David Cavendish (2021-12-10). La cumbre de democracia de Biden es un buen momento para debatir la 'Bill of Rights Socialism'. peoplesworld.org La democracia estadounidense está en peligro. Solo hay que seguir las noticias de los últimos años para darse cuenta de la peligrosa situación en la que se encuentra este país. El ejemplo más obvio y dramático fue la insurrección del 6 de enero, cuando una turba de partidarios de Donald Trump irrumpió en el Capitolio …

WSWS (2021-12-10). Staff at Springfield, Oregon medical center launch five-day strike. wsws.org Over 300 hospital support staff at the hospital are seeking adequate compensation and resisting management plans to outsource 100 jobs, a quarter of the bargaining unit.

Staff (2021-12-10). Minister Plasencia: Capitalism is in Crisis and We are Called to Change Course. orinocotribune.com This Thursday, December 9, Venezuela's Minister for Foreign Affairs Félix Plasencia inaugurated the World People's Congress for Peace, which was organized to present proposals that can counteract the current challenges facing humanity and the planet in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. | "We met to discuss the need to deepen the guarantee of political, economic and social rights of humanity, for the welfare of the peoples," said Venezuela's top diplomat at the beginning of the conference, which is held online. | Plasencia stated that it is necessary to "change course" in the face of the new challenges arising i…

_____ (2021-12-10). Report-Back From A Rail Blockade In Saint-Lambert. popularresistance.org On Saturday, more than sixty people acting in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders blocked the CN main line in Saint-Lambert south of Montreal for over six hours. It was the longest rail blockade in Quebec since the winter of 2020, interrupting Via Rail service and immobilizing six freight trains. These notes reflect the experience of a couple participants in Saturday's blockade. | Nostalgia mixed with anticipation as we arrived at the tracks where they cross rue Saint-Georges, with banners ready to hang across the rail crossing and no police in sight. It was a bright morning, temperatures just below freez…

_____ (2021-12-10). 60 Years After His Death, Fanon's Ideas Remain The Weapons Of The Oppressed. popularresistance.org Today marks the 60th anniversary of the passing of one of the greatest thinkers to have emerged from the ranks of the oppressed, Frantz Fanon (1925-1961). Fanon's contributions are timeless. As long as white supremacy and neocolonialism remain in the driver's seat of human relations, Fanon's thought will continue to arm the colonized in the Battle of Ideas.

Staff (2021-12-10). Venezuela Incorporates 9 Urutu Armored Vehicles into its Defense System (Video). orinocotribune.com The Strategic Operational Command (CEOFANB) of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB), reported this Thursday, December 9, via its commander Domingo Hernández, that nine Urutu "wheeled tanks" joined its combat system. | Through a post published on Twitter, Hernández explained that they were added to increase the security of the Caribbean nation. The announcement follows reports that Colombia received 20 armored vehicles donated by the United States to continue their destabilization attempts against Venezuela. The US donation is part of a total of more than 140 armored vehicles to be received by Colombian mili…

teleSUR (2021-12-10). Uruguayans Reject Home Prison For Genocides. telesurenglish.net On Thursday, thousands of Uruguayans took to the streets to reject a bill that seeks to grant house arrest to those who violate human rights and committed crimes against humanity during the last dictatorship (1973-1985). | RELATED: | "This bill would immediately benefit some 20 state terrorists," said Nilo Patiño, a spokesperson for Mothers and Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared (MFDD), an organization that brings toget…

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2021-12-10: News Headlines

rebekah (2021-12-10). Amazon Can't Bust Unions Forever. inequality.org

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-09). Ukraine: The Danger is NATO. libya360.wordpress.com Fabrizio Casari Putin-Biden summit focuses on Ukraine. Image: TASS The West had better abandon the war it has opened against Russia, China, India, Iran and others for absolute domination of the planet by a superpower that loses wars, markets and leadership every day. To think that the world will stand by while a decadent empire…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-09). Ethiopans March Against TPLF and US Intervention in Their Country. libya360.wordpress.com Thousands of Tigrayans residing in Addis Ababa held a rally in support of the federal government and against the US-backed Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Demonstrators raised the slogan, "Tigrayans and the TPLF are not the same" and called on the Ethiopian gov't to liberate Tigray from the TPLF. Globally, resistance to US intervention is…

Mark Niu (2021-12-09). Robots could help mitigate the Great Resignation. america.cgtn.com There is a short supply of labor for certain positions in the U.S. amid COVID-19 outbreak. Some restaurants are turning to technology to do jobs they are having trouble hiring for. See how robots help mitigate the Great Resignation.

Steven Lee (2021-12-09). "We Are Chun Tae-il!": the South Korean workers struggle continues. peoplesdispatch.org It is a cloudy afternoon on November 13. | A young man steps out into the streets of Seoul, holding a copy of the South Korean labor laws. Gasoline fire consumes his body with every step. With labor movements suffocated by the regime, this is his last declaration against inhuman exploitation. | "We are not machines," he cries through the flames. "Do not let my death be in vain!" | His name is Chun Tae-il. | Fifty-one years later, clouds once again fill the sky on November 13. | The shrill sound of whistles pierce the air. The police have already cordoned off the site of Chun's immolation to prevent the workers fr…

_____ (2021-12-09). For Want Of A Dental Plan, Erie Strayer Strike Grinds On. popularresistance.org Many people who work hard in full time jobs take a dental plan for granted. Many people who work hard in full-time jobs assume they will get more than a 25-cent-per-hour raise each year. But a group of workers at a cement plant in Erie, Pennsylvania have spent two months on strike trying to win those basic things‚Äâ—‚Äâand their fight is far from over. | About 40 workers at the Erie Strayer cement factory are members of Ironworkers Local 851. The company is family-owned, and has been unionized since the 1940s. The union contract expired on April 1. The union spent months at…

Johannah King-Slutzky (2021-12-09). Striking Columbia Student Workers Demand Living Wage. zcomm.org In the largest strike happening right now in the United States, 3,000 student workers at New York City's Columbia University are on their fifth week of strike…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-09). Sri Lankan public section workers stage strike seeking salary hike. peoplesdispatch.org After teachers and health workers, public sector workers in Sri Lanka struck working demanding higher wages in the face of repeated price hikes and an economic crisis…

José Manuel Blanco Diaz (2021-12-09). Are the Candidacies of Jorge Arreaza and Claudio Fermín Legal? orinocotribune.com As the January 9 elections in the state of Barinas approach, the temperature of the political debate in Venezuela is heating up between the four opposition candidates and the candidate for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)/Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), Jorge Arreaza. | Within both the right-wing groups and the Chavistas, a debate was opened regarding the various options that are on the table. This political landscape was formed after the inconclusive elections of November 21 in Barinas, and the National Electoral Council's (CNE) announcement of a re-election process. | The present candidates now includ…

Sonny Melencio (2021-12-09). Building a socialist-green-progressive electoral slate. zcomm.org 'Fielding candidates for top posts is a bold and daring move for Left groups. It has never been done before.'

Editor (2021-12-09). 'Why are you acting the Marxist?' Frédéric Lordon on Thomas Piketty's 'Capital and Ideology'. mronline.org On 31 January, at the Bourse du travail in Paris, Frédéric Lordon debated with Thomas Piketty on his book 'Capital and Ideology', at the invitation of Les Amis de L'Humanité. The following text is Frédéric Lordon's opening speech, with minimal revisions.

Anonymous Contributor (2021-12-09). Tenants Demand Tecton Corporation Make Repairs and Provide Habitable Conditions. itsgoingdown.org Report from Puget Sound Tenant Union about campaign to demand that Tecton Corporation make basic repairs in the city of Burien, Washington in the Pacific Northwest. This summer, we made contact and started organizing with tenants at two apartment buildings in Burien managed by Tecton Corporation. Tecton is a large, shady property management company that…

Jane McAlevey (2021-12-09). Hard Bargaining in Las Vegas Hospitals. zcomm.org The story of big open bargaining and revitalizing the nurses union in Las Vegas…

_____ (2021-12-09). EU has Launched its Own Quasi-BRI, Where Should Russia Stand? journal-neo.org This year on 1 December the European Commission — that is, the de facto government of the EU — launched a project which, if successful, may raise the Union to an entirely new level of significance in the international arena, making it one of the leading players in the modern "Great Game" of world politics. …

Staff (2021-12-09). How Europe's "Shadow Immigration System" Pays Libyan Militias to Jail Migrants in Brutal Conditions. democracynow.org An explosive new investigation details how the European Union has created a shadow immigration system that captures migrants arriving from Africa before they reach Europe and sends them to brutal militia-run detention centers in Libya. "This is a climate migration story," says Ian Urbina, investigative journalist and director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, who authored the report for The New Yorker magazine. "The policy of the EU of outsourcing migration control to a failed state in Libya … is a really doomed strategy, and it's only going to get more perilous as more waves of people start trying to reach safer pl…

Staff (2021-12-09). "Your Debt Is Someone Else's Asset": Calls Mount to Cancel Debt & Halt Wealth Transfer to the Rich. democracynow.org As calls grow for Biden to extend the moratorium on student debt, we speak with the Debt Collective's Astra Taylor and feature her new film for The Intercept, "Your Debt Is Someone Else's Asset," animated by artist Molly Crabapple. The $15 trillion in U.S. household debt is "a form of wealth transfer" from the poor to the rich, Taylor says. "People are in debt by design."

Shiney Varghese (2021-12-09). After a Year-Long Strike, Indian Farmers Score a Big Win. zcomm.org The country's prime minister has agreed to roll back laws that threatened to corporatize agriculture, jeopardizing the food security of more than 800 million people and further enriching the ultra-rich…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-09). Xenophobia, Narrow Nationalism, & Capitalism. libya360.wordpress.com Ahjamu Umi There is a devastating and unfortunate manifestation to the ruthless oppression African people have faced for over 500 years that we must discuss. Capitalism, built and maintained through its barbaric and horrific exploitation of cheap African human and material resources, has always utilized systemic white supremacy as its chief weapon to perpetuate its…

Montreal Counter-Info (2021-12-09). Report-back from a Rail Blockade in Saint-Lambert. itsgoingdown.org Report on recent blockade in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders. Originally posted to Montreal Counter-Info. On Saturday, more than sixty people acting in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders blocked the CN main line in Saint-Lambert south of Montreal for over six hours. It was the longest rail blockade in Quebec since the winter of 2020,…

Aaron Craine (2021-12-09). Solidarity shown to West Papua struggle for self-determination. greenleft.org.au The 60th anniversary of the raising of the Morning Star flag was marked by activists in solidarity with West Papua at the State Library. Aaron Craine reports.

_____ (2021-12-09). White Supremacy, Nazism And Fascism R U.S. popularresistance.org Writing these words during the Thanksgiving "celebration" is sadly ironic as it illustrates the contradictions of a culture that has yet to reconcile itself with its colonial and white supremacist ideologies, past and present. Despite many criticisms, white supremacy remains not only well and strong, but is also recognized and hailed by the United States on the world stage as an acceptable and legitimate ideology. | Recently, Ben Norton , journalist at the Grayzone, reported, as others have occasionally done since 2004, on the refusal of the United States to vote to approve a UN resolution against the glorificati…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-09). Pedro Castillo Survives Another Parliamentary Impeachment Attempt in Peru: The Threat Has Not Passed. libya360.wordpress.com Mariana àÅlvarez Orellana Pedro Castillo's Supporters Protest Impeachment Moves in Lima The last right-wing intention to impeach the Peruvian president, Pedro Castillo, was shipwrecked between the massive rejection in the streets and the decision of most of the parties to deny their support to the impeachment attempt, but the threat is far from being dissipated…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-09). Peru's Congress Rejects Motion to Impeach Pedro Castillo—Right-Wing Coup Derailed. libya360.wordpress.com On Tuesday, December 7, with 76 votes against, 46 in favor, and four abstentions, the Plenary of the Peruvian Congress rejected admission of the vacancy motion against President Pedro Castillo, presented by the bench of right-wing parties on November 25. The result was announced by the Peruvian Congress in a post published on its official…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-09). UN and AU Endorse Sudan's Coup Government, the Streets Do Not. libya360.wordpress.com Pavan Kulkarni (Photo: Herculesami/Twitter) Protesters are not convinced by the UN and AU's position that democracy can be won by accepting a government where the real levers of power are held by the military while a cabinet of technocrats is paraded before the international community to maintain the facade of 'joint military-civilian rule' While the…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-09). People(s)-Centered Human Rights & Malcolm X. libya360.wordpress.com Ajamu Baraka There was something quite different with Malcolm's approach to human rights that distinguished him from mainstream civil rights activists. By grounding himself in the radical human rights approach, Malcolm articulated a position on human rights struggle that did not contain itself to just advocacy. He understood that appealing to the same powers that…

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