The Left Chapter: Brazil

Showing posts with label Brazil. Show all posts

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Mercenary Attacks on Venezuela, Ahmaud Arbery, Victory Day 75 & more -- The Week in News and Opinion May 3 - 10

This week's roundup of articles, news items, visuals and opinion pieces that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of May 3 - 10.

This week's edition begins again with a very large roundup of news and left opinion about the capitalist coronavirus crisis and its impact on working people globally. There are also roundups about the failed mercenary attacks on Venezuela, the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and the 75th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis.

The Featured Article link at the start is a very powerful piece by Charles Barron, "Coronavirus ravaging the Black community because of capitalism and ‘domestic colonialism’".

We have tried to arrange the coronavirus news thematically and to touch on many different areas of concern.

Featured Article:

Coronavirus ravaging the Black community because of capitalism and ‘domestic colonialism’

But what’s not talked about is the role that this racist, parasitic, predatory capitalistic system plays in economically exploiting our Black communities and turning them into “domestic colonies” of capitalism. Who created the poverty, unemployment, inadequate health care, miseducation, homelessness, mass incarceration, food shortages and unhealthy food (fast foods), and more? The answer is capitalism and domestic colonialism. Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the African Peoples Socialist Party, coined the term “colonial virus.”

Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis:

- Don't let the capitalists fool you...we have the social wealth to properly fight the pandemic

- That This System Would Fail Was Entirely Predictable

- US Blocks UN Global Ceasefire Resolution, Objecting to Indirect Reference to World Health Organization

- “The Discussion Is Basically Over”: Why Scientists Believe the Wuhan-Lab Coronavirus Origin Theory Is Highly Unlikely

- 'No Evidence Coronavirus Was Made in a Chinese Lab' Fauci Says

- Revealed: major anti-lockdown group's links to America's far right

- Trump's fake protest movement: Authoritarian stagecraft meets white privilege

- Canada’s Anti-Lockdown Protests are a Ragtag Coalition of Anti-Vaccine Activists, Conspiracy Theorists and the Far-Right

- PANDEMIC BRINGS OUT FAR-RIGHT RESPONSES

"Reopening" is ALL about business and the well to do and has NOTHING to do with the needs of workers or public health:

- Chris Christie Says People ‘Are Going To Have To’ Accept More Deaths To Reopen Economy

- Texas Governor Admits Dangers of Reopening State on Private Call With Lawmakers

- Ohio urges employers to report workers fearful of returning to work

- Conditions in US Meatpacking Plants Today Aren’t Much Better Than They Were in The Jungle

- Union opposes reopening U.S. meat plants as more workers die

- Meatpacking worker told not to wear face mask on job died of coronavirus: report

- Reopened restaurant told workers: Don't wear face masks — or don't work

- ‘We Are Not Essential. We Are Sacrificial.’

- How the Anglo-American model failed to tackle coronavirus

- Under Trump, American exceptionalism means poverty, misery and death

- The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying

- Epidemiologist Slams U.S. Coronavirus Response: 'Close To Genocide By Default'

- NYPD Under Fire For Starkly Different Responses To Violations Of Social Distancing Orders Over The Weekend

- 81 PERCENT OF NYPD'S SOCIAL DISTANCING SUMMONSES WERE ISSUED TO BLACKS AND LATINOS: 'IT'S THE NEW STOP AND FRISK'

- 35 of the 40 people who were arrested on social distancing violations in Brooklyn were black

- UK: Black People Four Times More Likely to Die From COVID-19

- The ‘Shadow Pandemic’ of Anti-Asian Racism

- Women demand voice in Italy virus response dominated by men

- There's no 'team Australia'. Workers are copping the brunt of the crisis

Ahmaud Arbery Murder:

- Two Men Arrested and Charged With Murder for Killing of Ahmaud Arbery After Video Sparked Nationwide Demands for Justice

- 'They lynched him': Ahmaud Arbery's father on the killing of his son

- Ahmaud Arbery: Atlanta mayor accuses Trump of inciting racist acts

- No burglaries were reported in neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was killed, contradicting suspects’ claim: report

Brazil:

- Brazilian Court Upholds 17-Year Sentence Against Lula Da Silva

- Brazil using coronavirus to cover up assaults on Amazon, warn activists

- Brazil: Bolsonaro Orders Journalists to Shut Their Mouths

- Bolsonaro attends floating barbeque as Brazil's Covid-19 toll tops 10,000

Canada:

- Cargill’s slaughterhouse profits flow through tax havens to keep its billionaire owners wealthy

- Cargill meat-processing plant south of Montreal says 64 workers infected with COVID-19

- Workers at Cargill’s Alberta Meat Plant Were Offered Special ‘Bonus’ Pay For Perfect Attendance During Pandemic

- An impossible choice: at least 540,000 low wage workers risk losing CERB if they refuse unsafe work

- Canadian Labour Congress calls for end to privately owned long-term care facilities after COVID-19 deaths

- Demands grow for national, universal long-term care in response to pandemic

- Province did inspections by phone at Toronto care home where 21 residents died of COVID-19

- Amazon Rolls Back Unpaid Leave As Workers Told of ‘Additional’ COVID-19 Case at Ontario Warehouse

- Alberta's statement on Ottawa's gun ban illustrates how little the rule of law really matters to Conservatives

- NS murders: Two tragedies must be viewed thru a feminist lens

- Canada: DNA discovery lends weight to First Nations ancestral story

- On the passing of Michael Lucas, immigrant organizer and friend of Soviet people

Climate Emergency:

- One billion people will live in insufferable heat within 50 years – study

- Capitalism: Eco-destruction and Plagues

Cuba:

- Make solidarity global -- Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez

- END THE SANCTIONS! END US AGGRESSION AGAINST CUBA NOW

- Cuba to Begin Mass-Scale COVID-19 Testing

- US Lawmakers Support Cuba in the Purchase of Medical Supplies

Ideas:

- The problem with universal basic income

- The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months

India:

- India's chemical plant disaster: another case of history repeating itself

Israel / Palestine:

- Australian government tells ICC it should not investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine

United Kingdom:

- Labour left MPs and activists defy Starmer-led party position on Kashmir

- The Labour Party Machine versus Corbyn

United States:

- Hunger stalks the land: Parents skipping meals to feed their kids

- 1996 court document shows Tara Reade told ex-husband of harassment in Biden's Senate office

- Tara Reade calls on Biden to drop out in rare on-camera interview

- 'What a Rigged Economy Looks Like,' Says Sanders, as Stock Market Enjoys Best Month in 33 Years Despite 20%+ Unemployment

- Nearly One in Five Workers Applied for State Unemployment Insurance Benefits in the Last Seven Weeks

- Iran anti-war bill in tatters after Trump veto and Senate failure to uphold it

- Sanitation workers in New Orleans on strike to demand better conditions and pay

- Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints

- INDIANAPOLIS POLICE KILL BLACK MAN, LAUGH ABOUT IT NOT REALIZING IT’S BEING RECORDED ON FACEBOOK LIVE

- The day police bombed a city street: can scars of 1985 Move atrocity be healed?

Uruguay:

- 100,000 Uruguayans Fell Below Poverty Line in April: Study

- Uruguay: Lacalle Calls for Change in Abortion Law

Venezuela:

"Donald Trump thinks he can defeat us. He's wrong."⁠
⁠
A message from the Venezuelan socialist fishermen who helped capture the coup plotting US mercenaries.

- Defeat of a Dirty Military Incursion into Venezuela on a Sunday Morning

- The Failed Invasion of Venezuela, and the American and Canadian Connections

- U.S. Mercenaries Captured in Venezuela After Failed Coup Attempt Compared to a “Bad Rambo Movie”

- Venezuela Denounces New Attack on National Electric System

- Mercenary Confesses Failed Plot Was to Bring President Maduro to US

- Trudeau Rolls out his Trumpian Covid-19 Latin America Policy

- US Mercenaries' Botched Venezuela Raid May be Prelude to Bigger Invasion, Analyst Warns

- US Investigating Ex-Green Beret, Denies ‘Direct’ Involvement in Failed Venezuela Coup

- 'I Would Use an Army to Raid Venezuela' Trump Acknowledges

- Guaido Hired Mercenaries for a Terrorist Incursion in Venezuela

- Guaido Behind Failed Operation Against Venezuela: Maduro

- Venezuelan President Maduro: "Mike Pompeo Stop Your Arrogance"

- Venezuelan Attorney General Requests Interpol Arrest Juan Jose Rendon, Sergio Vergara and Jordan Goudreau for Their Involvement in the May 3 Mercenary Raid

- China Rejects Illegal, Violent Actions Against Venezuela, Cuba

- Venezuela Showcases Progress in the Containment of COVID-19

- Guardian Blames Trump’s Murderous US Exceptionalism on Hugo Chávez

Victory Day 75

- No fascism ever again! -- Statements from Communist and Workers' parties on the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany

- Red Army's contribution in the defeat of fascism remembered on VE Day

- On the frontlines: Red Army veteran Moritz Mebel talks about his battles against fascism

Sunday, May 3, 2020

May Day 2020, Bolsonaro, the Bailouts & more -- The Week in News and Opinion April 26 - May 3

May Day, Istanbul

If you were in any doubt who the bailouts are really for Wall St. stocks saw record gains in April even as millions of people lost their jobs, were tossed scraps by our governments and face bankruptcy. Meanwhile billionaires like Elon Musk remind us that they need labour to make all their vast wealth and call for workers to head back to dangerous jobs even if they might face illness or death while Trudeau backs away from making sure offshore companies can't get handouts...still think "we are all in this together"?

- AS AMAZON, WALMART, AND OTHERS PROFIT AMID CORONAVIRUS CRISIS, THEIR ESSENTIAL WORKERS PLAN UNPRECEDENTED STRIKE

- Amazon Reinstates Fired Warehouse Worker After Employees Strike

- Women killed in Spain as coronavirus lockdown sees rise in domestic violence

- Mexico sees almost 1,000 women murdered in three months as domestic abuse concerns rise amid coronavirus

- French NGO Nominates Cuban Medical Brigades For Nobel Peace Prize

- US Prevents Cuba From Acquiring Pharmaceutical Raw Materials

- Cuba Cannot Get Swiss Respirators Due to US Inhuman Blockade

- Another life-saving brigade travels to South Africa

- Cuba Plans National Production of Drug Against COVID-19

- Former Jamaican Prime Minister Applauds Cuba's Generosity

- SOCIALISM VS CAPITALISM IN THE BATTLE AGAINST CORONAVIRUS

- Foodsters United Statement on Foodora Closing its Canadian Operations

- Help Support Foodsters United (petition)

- Canada's early COVID-19 cases came from the U.S. not China, provincial data shows

- Right-wing political strategies based on anti-Chinese prejudice are growing

- New national group forms to combat racism against Asian Canadians

- Anti-Asian racism during coronavirus: How the language of disease produces hate and violence

- Fifty days into the COVID-19 pandemic, and homeless people are still in a desperate situation (Canada)

- Meet the Strange and Mysterious Group Organizing Anti-Lockdown Protests Across Canada

- Many Ontario workers are trying to refuse work due to COVID-19 fears — but the government isn’t letting them

- U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Is Far Higher Than Reported, C.D.C. Data Suggests

- 'America In the Age of Trump': Armed Gunmen Enter Michigan Capitol Demanding End to Covid-19 Lockdown

- Hundreds of protesters, some carrying guns in the state Capitol, demonstrate against Michigan's emergency measures

- US intelligence agencies under pressure to link coronavirus to Chinese labs

- Anti-Lockdown Rallies Are Providing an Opening for the Proud Boys and Other Far-Right Extremists

- Maryland called in National Guard troops to defend coronavirus tests from South Korea against seizure

- Georgia Went First. And It Screwed Up.

- Progressives Urge Congress to Stop 'Disgraceful' GOP Effort to Grant Corporations Immunity From Covid-19 Lawsuits

- Nearly 900 workers at Tyson meat plant in Indiana test positive for coronavirus

- Meatpackers and Others to Lose Jobless Benefits If They Refuse Return-to-Work Orders

- Lebanon Fights Country's Worst Financial Crisis Amid COVID-19

- Haiti: Food Crisis Persists Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

- Peru: Massive Exodus Continues Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

- Venezuela Leads Region in COVID-19 Tests Per Million People

- Kerala’s Social Policies Are the Best Prevention Against Future Pandemics

In this dispatch, Michael Laxer looks at how -- in contrast to Cuban internationalism and humanitarianism -- the US government has intensified their economic blockades during the capitalist coronavirus crisis despite the humanitarian toll this will take. He also looks at how we need to call out and oppose Canada's hypocritical complicity in this.

Brazil:

- Brazil: Moro Testifies Against Bolsonaro Who Calls Him 'Judas'

- Moro Is the US' Candidate for Brazil 2022: Boaventura de Sousa

- Brazilian Court Orders Investigation Against Bolsonaro

- 'So what?': Bolsonaro shrugs off Brazil's rising coronavirus death toll

Canada:

- Trudeau announces ban on 1,500 types of 'assault-style' firearms — effective immediately

- Nova Scotia Shooting Should Be a Turning Point in How We Address Abusive Men

- Wage subsidies for strikebreakers and no premium pay at the LCBO -- Dispatches from the bailouts

- John Ivison’s Attack On CERB Recipients Is Disgraceful

- Trudeau Refuses To Repeat Pledge To Cut Tax-Dodging Companies From COVID-19 Aid

- Some Canadians who received unsolicited copy of Epoch Times upset by claim that China was behind virus

- 8 environmental responsibilities Alberta’s oil and gas companies can skip because of coronavirus

- Jason Kenney’s Media Meltdown

- Disaster Capitalism at Work in Manitoba

Climate Emergency:

- Why Britain’s 2.5 billion paper coffee cups are an eco disaster

- Halt destruction of nature or suffer even worse pandemics, say world’s top scientists

- Insect numbers down 25% since 1990, global study finds

Ideas:

- Rosa Luxemburg warned us against national unity

International Workers' Day

- Proletarian comrades: It is necessary to organize and fight -- May Day statements from around the world

- May Day observed with call for fair wage, end to job cut, lay off (Bangladesh)

- Seriously...fuck capitalism -- A May Day message from The Left Chapter

- MAY DAY 2020: MASS STRUGGLE FOR A PEOPLE’S RECOVERY

- Virus worries haunt workers demanding rights on May Day

- CHANGE MUST COME – M’MEMBE (Zambia)

Israel / Palestine:

- Trump’s OK on Israeli Annexation Is Like His Clorox Prescription: Toxic and Lethal

- Arab League Defines West Bank Annexation as "War Crime"

- B’Tselem Reports: Amid COVID-19 Emergency, Settler Violence Spikes

Latin America:

- Social Leader Killed in Colombia, 84 so Far in 2020

- Guatemalans Stage a Funeral Procession to Protest

- Chilean Police Violently Repress Protesters in Santiago

- Evo Morales Concerned Over Añez's Lack of Scientific Advisory

United States:

- Joe Biden Has Been Accused of Rape. Now What?

- The Democrats Seem Just Fine With Joe Biden’s Sexual Assault Allegations

- A former neighbor of Joe Biden's accuser Tara Reade has come forward to corroborate her sexual-assault account, saying Reade discussed the allegations in detail in the mid-1990s

- Demand Grows for Biden to Address Tara Reade Allegations as Democrats Wrestle With #MeToo Hypocrisy

- Donald Trump set to fall back on xenophobia with re-election plan in tatters

- US Unemployment Applications Reach 26.4 Million Amid Pandemic

- If a Budding Socialist Movement Can Defeat Amazon, Imagine What Else It Can Do

Venezuela:

- HANDS OFF VENEZUELA

- US to Mobilize Military Reservists in ‘Anti-Drug’ Operation Against Venezuela

- Former US Special Ops Soldier Led Plot to Invade Venezuela: Sources

Vietnam:

- Party, State leaders pay tribute to Uncle Ho on National Reunification Day

- Promoting the spirit of the Great Spring Victory of 1975 in the new period

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Capitalism is not the end of history -- More statements from around the world on the 150th anniversary of Lenin’s birth

April 22. 2020 marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Lenin. The necessity of socialism in these terrible times has never been clearer as has the need for a real alternative to the neo-fascism of the right, the hypocritical swamp of liberalism and the decay of social democracy.

We already looked at Communist and Workers' parties statements from around the world in our post The future belongs to socialism -- Statements from around the world on the 150th anniversary of Lenin’s birth.

Here are more excerpts of statements from Portugal, Brazil, Pakistan, Iraq, Chile and Austria.

150 years since the birth of Lenin: Statement by Jerónimo de Sousa, General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party

Lenin's contribution to the development of Marxism in the era of imperialism and his analyses of the transition from capitalism to a new phase, the monopoly phase, the phase of imperialism, on the question of the state, the phases and stages of the revolutionary process maintain a striking topicality in its essence.

The development of the crisis of capitalism confirms Lenin's fundamental theses about the laws that govern capitalism in this imperialist phase. They highlight the trend towards the finantialization of the economy, which drives capital towards speculation, to the detriment of productive investment, the law of unequal development, the tendency towards stagnation, reflected by the drop in the growth of GDP in the main capitalist countries.

Unable to overcome the insoluble contradictions, from the outset the contradiction between capital and labour and the permanent struggle around the rate of surplus value, insatiable in the greed of appropriation and accumulation of capital without limits, capitalism combines its oppressive nature with new and more complex types of labour exploitation and planetary predation that has been enhanced by the processes of capitalist globalisation and finantialization of the economy.

Processes that thrive and affirm themselves on the political level in the shadow of strategic cooperation between the most reactionary and conservative forces and social democracy and with the State assuming the role of promoter of private capital, commodifying all areas and sectors of economic and social life.

Their consequences are the worsening of exploitation, unemployment, precariousness, the increase in social injustices and inequalities, attack on social and labour rights, denial of democratic rights, and also war.

Today, a thousand and a half large multinational companies control more than 60% of the world economy and 26 multimillionaires hold a wealth equal to the poorest half of the world population - about 3.8 thousand million people.

The inhuman character of imperialism is well evident in its action in the context of the emergence of the global epidemic outbreak, maintaining and intensifying blockades and reinforcing illegal sanctions against peoples and countries.

The world has changed a lot in the last century and a half, but the exploitative nature of capitalism has not changed becoming increasingly rentier, parasitic and decadent.

Capitalism is not the "end of history". The revolutionary overcoming of its insoluble contradictions is a requirement of social development.

In permanent confrontation with the needs, interests, aspirations of the workers and peoples, the overcoming of capitalism has increasing acuity, through different paths and stages, as a goal of the struggle of workers and peoples, as a perspective and condition of a future inseparable from a full human liberation and fulfillment.

Socialism remains with its full potential of materialisation on the horizon of the struggle of workers and peoples.

Lenin, the genius of revolutionary praxis: Statement of the Communist Party of Brazil

Another salient and fundamental theoretical contribution made by Lenin to the Marxist theory was the identification and systematization of the transition from capitalism, by the end of the 19th century, to a phase of broad predominance of monopoly in the central capitalist powers, which was a consequence of the “law of concentration and centralization of production” already noted by Marx.

According to Lenin, it was precisely that transition that sustained those powers’ brutal colonial expansion in Asia, Africa and Latin America in that period. Therefore, his systematization became known as the “theory of imperialism”. In his view, the political economy of capitalism in the new monopolist phase was dominated by the force of finance capital, which sought to guarantee access to economic territories for exclusive or privileged exploitation world-wide, through open colonization or political subordination.

But Lenin did not just systematize the distinctive characteristics of the new monopolist phase of capitalism. From this theoretical systematization, he extracted the strategic and tactic consequences for the revolutionary forces’ political action. He concluded that, under new conditions, movements for national emancipation in the colonies and in the dependent countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America would become a crucial vector in the revolutionary struggle around the world. Hence, he argued that the socialist parties should incorporate in their programs the promotion of the “peoples’ right to self-determination”, a proposition met with strong resistance from various sectors in the European left at that time.

Lenin noted, moreover, that the advent of the monopolist phase of capitalism created a dynamic of “uneven development” in the international system. The accumulation of capital in the countries where finance capital was most concentrated and developed was ever more based on the extraction of income from the productive activities realized in other countries and regions. This growingly “rentier” and “parasitic” nature of accumulation led to the decomposition of economic dynamism in the system’s core and to the continuous emergence of more dynamic, competing economic poles in other countries and regions. These new poles, for their part, began to question the structures of hegemonic domination by the power that was in economic decline. Therefore, according to Lenin, tensions between these powers were inevitable in the “age of imperialism” and the international system would become growingly unhinged and turbulent, prone to conflicts and wars. It would be up to the revolutionary parties to politically exploit the tensions and contradictions between the central capitalist powers in order to advance their own agendas of national and social emancipation, while developing a strong internationalist mobilization against the imperialist war and for peace.

Message on 150th anniversary of Comrade Lenin: Politburo Communist Party of Pakistan.

The capitalist system of course is a system of waging slavery and its foundation is rooted in corruption. In the name of democracy it is actually a system of feudal and capitalist dictatorship.

In countries like Pakistan even the status quo parties have to make compromises with establishment and imperialist forces to come into power after electoral process. Survival of their governments depend upon submission to the instructions of these forces. Disobedience can cause them removal from power through Martial Law or otherwise, the leadership of the party will face humiliation, imprisonment even death by hanging. Under these circumstances revolutionary communists are left with no other choice except socialist revolution and this is the lesson of teaching of Leninism.

We do not forget comrade Lenin.

Red salute to comrade Lenin on his 150th birthday.

On the 150th birthday of the leader of the October Revolution and founder of the First Socialist State: Iraqi Communist Party

Lenin intended his contribution to the enrichment and development of Marxist thought as a guide to the revolutionary struggle of the working class, especially in the field of building its revolutionary party and the theoretical foundations for formulating its strategy and tactics according to concrete historical circumstance. It was his party that led the working class and its allies in Russia to victory by seizing power, establishing the power of the working class and the power of the soviets to serve the interests of the exploited and oppressed. Lenin demonstrated the role of the working class, whether in the matter of receiving power or later in the process of the transition to and building of socialism.

Lenin was the theorist who further developed and defined the component parts of Marxist philosophy, the political economy of capitalism at its highest levels, and scientific communism. His works were dedicated to the spreading and developing Marxism and revolutionary theory.

His works and writings, and his dialectical materialist approach, stemming from the tangible analysis of the concrete conditions and from the calculation of the balance of power surrounding the revolutionary struggle, retain their relevance in general, and constitute a "beacon" for the ideological and political education of each new generation of revolutionaries.

Declaration for the 150th anniversary of the birth of the leader of the Russian Revolution: Communist Party of Chile

Lenin's idea to fight for the revolution according to the conditions of each country, is fully in force today when capitalism is destroying the planet and puts its economic interests and those of its corporations above the life of those threatened by pandemics.

His teachings have been a guide in the triumph of not a few revolutions in the world, the liberation of colonies and the achievement of higher levels of independence. It is also present in the advances and struggles of new societies that are moving towards socialism. Indeed, inspired by the thought of Lenin, together with the experience and direction of its leaders, the triumphant revolutions made their way in Asia, Africa and Latin America, not without setbacks but in a generally positive direction.

The triumphant revolution led by Lenin developed enough to defeat Nazism, the most dangerous and criminal offspring of capitalism and, later, to put a man in space before anyone else. A backward society with feudal features became modern despite the enormous destruction of lives and resources lost crushing the Nazi beast, which today aims to raise its head again to save capitalism from its crisis.

On the 150th birthday of Lenin: Declaration of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Austria

With the name Lenin we associate important and momentous events in the history of mankind, especially the Great Socialist October Revolution of 1917 -its theoretical and practical preparation and its beginning at the right time under the slogan "peace, work, bread" are due to Lenin's strategic thinking and his sharp analysis of the concrete conditions. He earned invaluable merits in the foundation of the first socialist state of the world and the USSR, as well as in the formation of the world communist movement through the creation of the Third, the Communist International. Lenin played a central role in all these great achievements of the revolutionary workers' movement. It can rightly be said that Lenin, as a historical personality, was the greatest revolutionary of the 20th century, although he did not experience even a quarter of it.

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Cuban Solidarity, Bernie Sanders, the Leaked Labour Report & more -- The Week in News and Opinion April 12 - 19

This week's list of articles, news items, visuals and opinion pieces that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of April 12 - 18.

This week's edition begins again with a very large roundup of news and left opinion about the capitalist coronavirus crisis and its impact on working people globally. There are also a number of links related to Cuba's internationalism and global solidarity with the island nation, Bernie Sanders' capitulation to Biden and the leak of a report showing that right-wing Labour Party insiders actually worked to tank the party in the 2017 election campaign.

The Featured Article link at the start is an excellent piece by Bob Buzzanco on the attempts by some lefties to try to shame those not getting on board with backing Biden.

We have tried to arrange the coronavirus news thematically and to touch on many different areas of concern.

Featured Post:

Older and Wiser, and Vote-Shaming

Liberals are a an offensive and feckless peculiar bunch. They love liberty and freedom. They believe in equality and personal space. They believe that a woman should have the right to choose whether to have a child, and that gays should have the right to get married. So perhaps the right to vote, or not to vote, should be part of their ideology too. In any event, stop the scolding and hectoring and vote-shaming, and go out and work to get your guy elected. Or maybe better, get involved in movement politics instead of obsessing over electoralism and waiting for a hero to save you.

Otherwise, STFU have a good day.

Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis:

- No time left. This social order must change! -- Statements from Turkey, Greece and Sweden

- Only socialism saves!

- A Socialist Cry for Civilisational Change: COVID-19 and the Failure of Neo-liberalism

- Could Covid-19 vanquish neoliberalism?

- Could COVID-19 bring down the U.S. empire?

- I Want My Death to Make You Angry

- Baffled?? Me Too,Friend!

- THE CASE FOR RENT FORGIVENESS

- The Coronavirus Strike Wave Could Shift Power to Workers—for Good

- Liberal anti-Chinese propaganda helped create the far-right campaign to blame China for Covid-19

- Truth Tracker: There's no scientific proof that COVID-19 was made in a Chinese lab

- Is the cruise industry finally out of its depth?

- Solidarity Yes -- Blockade No! We Demand the Immediate Lifting of the Criminal US Blockade of Cuba

- Cuba is Willing to Send More Medical Brigades to the World

- Cuba shares what it has

- Cuba Under Media Attack for Sending Doctors, Not Bombs, to Help Covid-19 Victims

- Cuba Is Developing a Vaccine to Activate the Immune System

- Cuban Doctors Arrive in Qatar to Fight COVID-19

- Caribbean Organizations Unite Against US Attacks, Support Caricom

- Vietnam ships 450,000 protective suits for U.S. health care workers

- Kerala is a model state in the Covid-19 fight

- Africa's COVID-19 Death Toll Hits 816, 15,249 Confirmed Cases

- COVID-19 Worsens Struggle of Migrant Workers in Gulf States

- Settler attacks rise by 78 percent amid pandemic

- Israel Shuts Palestinian Coronavirus Testing Clinic in East Jerusalem

- Open Letter to Condemn Trump Admin’s Hypocritical Indictment on Drug Charges of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, High-Ranking Officials

- Venezuela Has the Lowest Contagion Rate in Latin America

- “War Operation”: Communist Party-run Maranhão State imports Chinese ventilators in secret, via Ethiopia

- Trump Accused of 'Actively and Knowingly' Spreading Coronavirus to Central America Through Deportations

- Colombia: Red Rags on Windows to Protest Amid Quarantine

- Virus hit 'like a bomb' as toll rises in Ecuador's business capital

- Brazil: Chloroquine Studies Suspended After 11 People Die

- Brazil, Ecuador Record Highest Death Tolls From COVID-19

- There’s No Reason to Turn Airtime Over to Trump’s Deceptive Coronavirus Campaign Rallies

- Trump suspends funding to WHO pending review over handling of coronavirus

- Unions back U.S. Postal Service’s $75B pandemic appeal, oppose right-wing privatization plans

- Three New York City transit workers dying every day of coronavirus

- Hit Hard by Covid-19, Transit Workers Call for Shutdowns

- US for-profit healthcare sector cuts thousands of jobs as pandemic rages

- The U.S. Opposes the IMF to Create Liquidity to Help Countries

- Coronavirus Outbreak at Virginia Nursing Home Spirals Out of Control as 45 Die

- ‘They’re Death Pits’: Virus Claims at Least 7,000 Lives in U.S. Nursing Homes

- Chicago coronavirus outbreak infects dozens of migrant children in U.S. custody

- “BURIALS ARE CHEAPER THAN DEPORTATIONS”: VIRUS UNLEASHES TERROR IN A TROUBLED ICE DETENTION CENTER

- Congress Should Immediately Pass Legislation Protecting Workers' Safety During the Coronavirus Pandemic

- 'Heartbreaking Statistic': Thanks to Pandemic, Last Month Was First March Since 2002 Without a US School Shooting

- Next Coronavirus Relief Package Must Include Moratorium on Utility Shutoffs, 830+ Justice Groups Say

- Death penalty states urged to release stockpiled drugs for Covid-19 patients

- Great, the Anti-Vaxxer Coronavirus Protests Are Here

- Labour leaders say they’ll push to permanently improve pay, working conditions for essential workers (Canada)

- The hypocrisy of our leaders around social distancing is reckless (Canada)

- Union says 35 TTC bus operators walked off job due to lack of PPE (Toronto)

- Quebec reopens mines despite the concerns of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador

- Years of government austerity to blame for 31 deaths at seniors' residence, Quebec's largest union says

- Kelowna golf courses reopen with new protocols but health officials say it's not a great idea

- Ontario’s lack of diversity data for COVID-19 is an embarrassment

- Ontario needs to spend at least $58 million more a month to fix long-term care staffing crisis: CCPA

- Ontario to stop caregivers from working at multiple long-term care homes as COVID-19 spreads like 'wildfire'

- Ontario scaled back comprehensive, annual inspections of nursing homes to only a handful last year

- Ontario rejects call to take over operations at long-term care homes where 54 residents have died

Bolivia:

- Bolivia Indigenous Denounce Añez for Discrimination

- Evo Morales: Police Put Cochabamba Population's Health at Risk

Brazil:

- Brazil: Indigenous Peoples Go to Court Against Missionaries

- Indigenous People In Brazilian Amazon Face Covid-19 and Loggers

- BRAZIL’S JAIR BOLSONARO, THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL CORONAVIRUS DENIER, JUST FIRED THE HEALTH MINISTER WHO DISAGREED WITH HIM

- Bolsonaro Closes Brazil's Embassy and Consulates in Venezuela

Canada:

- The Business Wage Subsidy: Trickle-Down Economics on Steroids

- Federal Government Won’t Disclose Details of New Contract With Amazon to Manage Canada’s COVID-19 Supplies

- We have the oil lobby’s secret list of COVID demands – if approved, they would set environmental protection back decades

- 11 things you need to know as Trudeau announces $1.7 billion to clean up ‘festering’ orphan and inactive wells

- Dimitri Lascaris wants the Green Party to be the champion of Canada’s left

- ‘A dangerous road’: Coastal GasLink pays to kill wolves in endangered caribou habitat in B.C. interior

- Alberta Government Turns Hard to the Right

- Manitoba seeks to claw back or cancel funding for 'non-essential' service providers during COVID-19 pandemic

- 'Let her soul rise': Supporters pay tribute to Eishia Hudson, 16, shot and killed by Winnipeg police

- Over 300 health-care workers sign open letter demanding more shelter for Toronto's homeless

- Some Landlords Found a Loophole in Doug Ford’s ‘Eviction Ban’. They’re Still Threatening Renters with Eviction.

- Ontario's Front-Line Workers Call For Paid Sick Days

- Governments that borrowed interest-free from Bank of Canada now incur massive debts borrowing from private banks

Climate Emergency:

- Second wave of locusts in east Africa said to be 20 times worse

- Planned obsolescence: the outrage of our electronic waste mountain

- 2020 expected to be Earth's warmest year on record, scientists say

- Wildlife Collapse From Climate Change Is Predicted to Hit Suddenly and Sooner

Europe:

- Workers in France Take Over McDonald’s to Distribute Food

- Greece’s Communist Party: We Join Our Voice with Those of Supermarket Employees

- Communist youth in Italy launch campaign to guarantee student rights

Facebook:

- Facebook arbitrarily limits The Left Chapter with no explanation or appeal

Ideas:

- Facing Reality: The Socialist Left, the Sanders Campaign and Our Future

Israel / Palestine:

- Netanyahu's Son Says He 'Hopes' Leftists Will Die of Coronavirus Following Protest

Latin America:

- Colombia: Not Even the Pandemic Halts Killing of Social Leaders

- Guatemala: Social Organizations Denounce Massive Layoffs

- Cuba: Institutions Work Together to Protect the Elderly

Mexico:

- ‘We’ve been abandoned’: a decade later, Deepwater Horizon still haunts Mexico

United Kingdom:

- Socialists call for transparency over anti-semitism investigation that risks being 'suppressed'

- ‘It’s going to be a long night’ – How Members of Labour’s Senior Management Team Campaigned to Lose

- ‘The Leaked Labour Report Is Shameful – It’s Time for an Urgent Investigation’

- Labour’s explosive report shows how right-wing officials sabotaged the party

- Labour's leaked report: we can't let them get away with it

- Labour leaks have cost the party dearly – but its dismissal of anti-black racism means it’s about to lose a lot more

- McCluskey slams ‘rancid and very cruel’ behaviour exposed in Labour's leaked report

United States:

- Bernie go Bye Bye -- Hellworld #8

- The Cognitive Dissonance of “Democratic Socialists”— Cults Die a Slow Death

- The End of Sanders, and Maybe the Beginning of a Mass Independent Left

- Bernie’s Political Funeral

- Not Me, Biden

- ‘THAT MAN CAN’T BREATHE’

- US judge cancels permit for Keystone XL pipeline from Canada

- These Photos Show the Staggering Food Bank Lines Across America

- With working Americans' survival at stake, the US is bailing out the richest

- 'A Complete Abomination': Mega-Rich Hedge Funds Swoop Down to Grab Covid-19 Small Business Relief Funds

- Millionaires to reap 80% of benefit from tax change in US coronavirus stimulus

The Left Chapter

Pages

The Left Chapter has moved!