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

Three excerpts from recent statements by the Communist parties of Turkey, Greece and Sweden about the coronavirus, capitalism and the need for socialism.

Click on the titles for the full statements.

This social order must change, Turkey should become an example -- Communist Party of Turkey (April 17, 2020):

The epidemic has been the last straw. The existing social order entirely serves the interests of a small minority, and the basic needs, rights, and freedoms of the vast majority of society are neglected. Economic crises, wars have become part of everyday life, and problems such as unemployment and hunger have turned into a nightmare affecting hundreds of millions of people.

There is no good or bad version of this order; it cannot be cured. It is obvious that the US, defined as a superpower, and, France, Germany, England, Italy, which are blessed as European civilizations, have fallen during the last epidemic.

Turkey is also paying the price of not overthrowing this system of exploitation that produces reactionism, darkness, misogyny, and anti-scientism.

No time left. We should take the steps to get rid of this order that threatens humanity as a whole.

THE "NEW MARSHALL PLAN" The new, yet very old, "Great Idea" of the European capital and the communists' response -- Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) (April 15, 2020)

The outbreak of the pandemic, its rapid spread, its profound consequences for human life and especially in the more developed capitalist economies, have brought great problems to the surface, which of course pre-existed, but emerged today in a loud and tragic way. The big contradictions and contrasts are even more evident in all aspects of social, economic, political, cultural life and reality, in each country individually and internationally. We must definitely make a greater collective effort and contribution not only to record and codify the new issues, but also further highlight them as well as the main trends of the developments, to draw the necessary conclusions and tasks, both in theoretical and in political, practical level. After all, many issues and aspects are still in progress.

The developments we are experiencing at this time, in the last month in our country and a bit more in other countries, show and once again confirm more intensely that the real danger for all the peoples of the world is capitalism at its highest stage, i.e. imperialism. It not only goes against the needs of the people and the social development itself but it constantly causes, on a massive scale, irreparable damage in all sectors due to the sharpening of its contradictions. Today, it is indisputable that the health of the people, care, protection, and security are incompatible with the capitalist profit, the greedy capital and the capitalist mode of production. Either solution will be provided based on the real needs of the people or the people will suffer, they will live in miserable conditions, they will constantly pay out of their own pockets so that the few and chosen ones of the capital will treasure. It is time, and will become even more urgent with the end of the pandemic in the coming months, to strengthen the Social Alliance, the anti-monopoly and anti-capitalist line of struggle, our own alternative proposal, our own response, the response of the hopeful socialist tomorrow. The necessity and timeliness of socialism and the socialist revolution are rising to the surface, and as time passes they will do so in a more imperative way, with new dynamics...

...Therefore, the "Great Idea", promoted by the capital and its ubiquitous political representatives, for a "new Marshall Plan" for the reconstruction of Europe, which is supposed to be without commitments and memoranda for the people, beneficial for both the capital and workers, is completely deceptive. The parallels they make with the post-war Marshall Plan, even presenting it as a "quintessence" in favor of the peoples, are funny. In fact, this historical manipulation is not only carried out by the ideological and political descendants of the supporters of the Marshall Plan, but also by so-called "left" forces, which simply confirm their complete bourgeois social-democratic mutation. It is worth remembering that the American funds that flowed into the ruined post-war Europe, as part of the Marshall Plan, in the second half of the critical fifth decade of the last century, was not an act of solidarity with the European peoples, but only a vital energy action for the capitalist system itself. They were used, on the one hand, for the capitalist reconstruction of Europe, which was crucial for American exports, and on the other hand for halting socialism and the revolutionary labor movement, which emerged from World War II with great prestige among all peoples of the world. For this reason, after all, a large part of the Marshall Plan was directed at infrastructure, e.g. military infrastructure, as in Greece, aimed mainly at the socialist system and the struggle of the peoples. However, the necessary post-war state intervention for the reproduction of the capital and the creation of critical infrastructure, neither interrupted the vicious cycle of crises nor ensured the prosperity of the peoples. The offered benefits, also aiming at integrating workers' and people's forces, bore the stamp of the glory of the social achievements in the USSR and the other countries of socialism, but also of the very struggle of the peoples of Europe.

Today, unfortunately, this formidable adversary does not exist. The peoples, however, will come out from this crisis with greater experience. The huge impasses and historical bankruptcy of the current exploitation system are becoming even more apparent today. It is up to the people to organize the struggle, their own alliance

Corona and capitalism - Statement from the Communist Party of Sweden (March 23, 2020)

A lot is being written on the economic effects of the corona virus and how it affects different
branches of the economy. Governments in all affected countries has put billions upon billions to the
disposal of capital, while they at the same time have carried out numerous measures that push back
the conditions and wages of the working class. To the extent that the conditions are not directly
rolled back, the individual companies shift the weight of the crisis onto the back of the collective
capitalist: the state. The state pays the wages, compensates for defaulted incomes and carries out an
active policy to further concentrate capital and knock out smaller companies.

All this is portrayed as an effect of and reaction on the corona virus. The spread of the virus gives
capital both the opportunity and possibility to hide the crisis of overproduction that was visible
already before the virus. Every catastrophe also offers capital possibilities and the measures now
carried out are not primarily carried out as a response to the effects of the corona virus, but to push
back the crisis of overproduction.

The capitalist crisis of overproduction is a crisis generated by the fact that production no longer
corresponds to the ability of people to consume and the ability of markets to absorb all commodities
produced – production has outrun the purchasing power. The crisis is cyclical, returns regularly, and
is proceeded by an economic boom, only to be relieved by a downward phase. The beginning of the
downward phase was possible to see already before the spread of the corona virus. Signs that point
in this direction is the fact that flexible workers in manufacturing, the buffer of capital, was being
phased out.

When the corona virus spread, capitalism was already on its way into the next crisis of
overproduction and the measures now carried out had either been planned before, as an answer
to the expected crisis, or they have the character of opportunism – capital seizes the opportunity
to rationalize.

What we now see happening on the labor and financial markets is what always happens during a
capitalist crisis: measures are carried out that lowers the wages, make the conditions of the workers’
more insecure and secures the profits of the companies. Simultaneously, the natural tendencies
towards concentration and centralization of capital that exist under capitalism are enhanced. The
smaller and less profitable companies are bankrupted and the monopolies grow even more. The
capitalist crisis is an incredible opportunity for big capital and in short, it means a bloodletting of
capitalism...

...The crisis, regardless of whether it has been sped up by the corona virus or not, clearly shows the
world such as it is. It shatters illusion after illusion and it becomes all the more difficult to hide the
class contradictions. The propaganda that we sit in the same boat and that we can solve the crisis
together is becoming increasingly hollow. Without hesitation, companies socializes their losses and
let the whole of society compensate them, while the profits they have made remain private. Openly,
the companies sacrifice the workers to strengthen its own competitiveness and profit while the state
openly appear as the defender of monopoly capitalism, against both the working population and the
petit bourgeoisie, which have been affected by the crisis, just as the working class has. The working
class and the other exploited strata in society, such as those in the service sector and the petit
bourgeoisie, have a common interest in a fight against capitalism, because, in the end, it crushes
them all – the need for social alliances between the working class and the other exploited strata is
the only way forward.

Hand in hand with the attacks against the economic situation of the working people come the attacks
against their political situation. In country after country, measures directed towards the possibility of
political expression have either been carried out or prepared. In the trail of the corona virus, strikes
and demonstrations are forbidden; the police and the military are awarded even more far-reaching
capacities and are armed even heavier. Bolivia offer perhaps the most glaring example: to secure the
coup-regime of the country, a complete lockdown is enforced, hindering all protests. The political
tendency under monopoly capitalism is always in the direction of political reaction and the current
situation offer great possibilities to capitalism to carry out reactionary political measures that they
can hide behind the need to fight the spread of the virus.

In addition to revealing the nature of both capital and state, the capitalist crisis of overproduction
also punctures the myth that the nation-states are disappearing. The billions that in country after
country have been made available for the strengthening of the companies show this. All the
measures carried out in country after country are directed towards the working class and the petit
bourgeoisie in favor of the monopolies show the continued importance of the nation state to the
monopolies. The national state is not disintegrating and it has not lost its role. It is what it has
always been: an integrated part of the capitalist system, whose purpose is to strengthen its own
capital against capital in other countries.

"Socialism is imperative for our health!" -- International workers' parties call for socialist solutions to the capitalist coronavirus crisis

As the capitalist coronavirus crisis unfolds it is clear that, after a generation of brutal neo-liberalism, our governments are not up to the task of making sure that people are placed first. For decades they have destroyed the social safety net, eliminated hospital beds and gutted civil society to give tax cuts to the wealthy and wipe out regulations and workers' rights on behalf of the corporations.

In many countries, like Greece and the United Kingdom, there have been years of relentless, vicious austerity.

Working people, their parties, unions and movements need to mobilize in unprecedented ways to demand immediate steps be taken to ensure that workers are not left behind like they were after 2008 when the corporations were bailed out and it was the people who paid the price.

Around the world leftist, anti-capitalist and workers' parties are making demands for a just and fair response to what we are facing.

While some solutions are, of course, specific to given countries, many are more universal and can be raised everywhere.

Greece:

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and its General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas released two statements yesterday and today.

As the Central Committee statement noted:

The truth is that the real danger stems from the tragic shortcomings of the health system that were known before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. These shortcomings did not occur accidentally, they are not objective. They are the result of the anti-people's policy pursued by all governments, based on the EU directions for the commercialization and privatization of Health, to support the profitability of business groups and safeguard the surpluses. This policy cancels out, in practice, the great scientific and technological possibilities that exist today to meet all the needs of prevention and healthcare of the people. So, for example, today there are only 550 beds in the Intensive Care Units, while 3,500 were needed before the coronavirus outbreak.

This lack of hospital beds is also tragically true in places like Ontario, Canada.

Koutsoumbas stated:

It has been tragically proved that social goods, such as the highest good of life and health, cannot be left to the mercy of profit, to the unaccountable market laws. It is characteristic that the current state cannot even provide the simple, minimum prevention and protection measures. It has to resort to various business groups, domestic and international, for medicines, masks, antiseptics, raw materials and more. Even in conditions of soaring prices and huge profiteering.

The KKE demands include opening all closed beds of the Intensive Care Units, immediate re-opening of the hospitals closed by the ND - PASOK governments in 2013,  protecting the income and rights of the workers in quarantine, the ending of all evictions and foreclosures, and extra funds for pensioners, the unemployed and the self-employed.

Paraguay:

In a statement on March 17 the Paraguayan Communist Party noted "the main lesson of this crisis is the need to overthrow the power of the bosses and build the popular power of the working majority. To this project, the members of the Paraguayan Communist Party are fully committed, with the firm conviction that the labor movement, together with the peasant and popular movement, is the only alliance capable of overcoming our miseries and building a Paraguay with social justice."

They are calling for 12 steps that include an additional tax on banks, obliging private health centers to attend to those affected by coronavirus, increasing the minimum wage by 40%, subsidies for small businesses, and  severe penalties for pharmacies and healthcare product distributors that engage in price speculation.

Turkey:

In a statement entitled Socialism is imperative for our health! the Communist Party of Turkey writes:

The capitalist world and Turkey are sliding into a desperate chaos against the novel coronavirus outbreak. We are not doomed to this situation. In socialist Turkey, the outbreak would be brought under control easily and prevented from turning into a social disaster for the workers.
But how? In this way;

1. All the private hospitals and institutions would be nationalized.
Today, the state is functioning with half-power because most of the medical institutions are private. Even the state hospitals have been restructured for market-oriented profits. The first task would be to nationalize and reorganize all of them on the basis of pro-people principles to serve for the struggle against the outbreak.
2. The banks, the industrial plants and the service sector would also be nationalized.
These nationalization practices would largely enhance the state power in the struggle against the outbreak. Today, the capital-oriented government is busy with cutting off the public expenditures to transfer the resources to the crisis of the bosses. Under current circumstances, however, all the resources should have been used for developing and protecting the public health.
3. The nationalization practices would enable central planning. 
Central planning means the political will of the working people. This is the only way to cope with a social problem in a rational way by use of every means available. In addition to the production, the cities, the public spaces and the transportation would be on the agenda of the planning. 
4. Institutes would be established immediately for vaccination, treatment and the criteria of diagnosis against the coronavirus.
Turkey can neither produce vaccination nor medicines for treatment. To what extent the criteria of diagnosis is functioning properly is doubtful, and it has been impossible to receive reliable information in this respect so far. One of the initial affairs of the socialist Turkey would be to gather the scientists to focus on this task in institutes where rapid developments would be provided.
5. Health services would be completely free of charge. 
All the people would have free health services. Everyone would unconditionally be under social security. Masks and disinfectants against the outbreak would be provided free of charge. Access to health services would be provided not only in medical institutions but also in neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.
6. Religion and state affairs would be separated.
In socialist Turkey, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) would not have an effect on decision-making processes. The people returning from the Umrah pilgrimage would be put in quarantine healthily, the students would not be evacuated from their dormitories at midnight.
7. The implementation of quarantine would not be arbitrary but a compulsory social task. 
The implementation of quarantine, the most efficient method against the outbreak, would not be arbitrary for the people, it would be a compulsory and accurate practice as a social task.
8. The media would be reorganized in a way to broadcast the truths to the public.
The media would not be a trumpet of the ruling power, it would be reorganized for enabling the people to reach true information. Therefore, the people could reach reliable information with regards to the prevalence of the outbreak.
9. The plundering of the markets and stockpiling would not be allowed.
The people have emptied the shelves to stock food and health materials since they do not trust in the state against the outbreak. In socialist Turkey, however, the shares of everyone would be guaranteed and delivered even under severe conditions. Stockpiling would not be allowed.
10. Economic crises would not emerge.
There would be no bankruptcies since the nationalized enterprises would not seek profit. There would be no dismissals because of bankruptcies and the bosses’ greed for profit.
11. Selfishness would be condemned, the spirit of sharing and solidarity would prevail. 
The conscious people of the socialist society would initially care about the individuals in need of protection, and mobilize altogether to meet their needs in such states of emergency. The measures would rapidly prevail over the conscious society, and the current eclipse of reason would not be experienced.
12. A socialist society would be hopeful.
It would be possible to talk about a confident and cold-minded society that trusts in science and the future against such challenges instead of a mental state of panic, helplessness and hopelessness led by the coronavirus.
Once again, we can see the importance of all these facts in these current days of outbreak. We believe that humanity will overcome these days. Humanity will stand out with and only with these values.
The Communist Party of Turkey calls for such a social order.

Mexico:

"The Communist Party of Mexico considers that in capitalism the problems of the human race are unsolvable, that socialism-communism is necessary for there to be deep and far-reaching solutions; But we also know that in an emergency situation, the proper organization of workers and popular sectors is the only alternative, which is why it is necessary to get down to work."

Their statement then goes on to demand (excerpts):

-...that all financial, logistical and technical resources necessary to strengthen the public health system be earmarked shortly...Rural areas and indigenous communities where infrastructure is most precarious deserve special attention...
...It must be guaranteed immediately that the entire public network of hospitals, and in every workplace, have the necessary supplies to reduce the probability of contagion, such as disinfectants, antibacterial gels, mouth covers and drinking water.
-The work centers must guarantee and assume the costs for prevention measures. Under no circumstances should workers or their unions pay for such supplies.
-The cutting of water and electricity services must cease immediately for working class...Drinking water and electricity are basic and essential at this time.
-The migrant concentration camps must be stopped immediately, where thousands of migrant brothers of other nationalities are detained on the southern and northern borders of the country. Our fellow migrant workers must be freed from these potential sources of contagion.
- ...salary and insured benefits must be guaranteed for all workers
- In Mexico City, and the great metropolises of the country, free nightly operation of the public transport network must be established to be able to go to hospitals in case of emergency.

They conclude, in part:  "The cost of this pandemic must be paid by those who benefit from the product of our work. We can expect nothing from a government at the service of the capitalists."

 Austria:

The Party of Labor of Austria states:

It is an absolute priority that the working class should not have to bear the cost of the measures. All workers and employees (as well as freelancers, freelance artists and self-employed) in the private and public sector who:
- fall ill themselves,
- are particularly at risk due to health factors,
- have to care for sick minors or elderly members of their families,
- have to care for their children due to school closures, or
- are prevented from working due to measures and regulations,
should be given immediate release from work with full pay or compensation for loss of earnings.
It is also important to prevent the situation from being exploited by companies to undermine workers' rights and make employment relationships more flexible. It is precisely now that it is important to defend and assert our rights.

Belgium:

The Communist Party of Belgium begins its statement with a "salute the heroic mobilization of the medical profession which has worked and continues to work in exhausting and dangerous conditions to respond to the emergency."

Rightly they say "there is no question of national unity with those who have attacked our rights for decades, speculating against our health, exerting employer pressure that exhausts us and stresses us, thus weakening our immune defenses. Workers do not have to pay for their crisis."

They continue that this "is why the Communist Party of Belgium supports the immediate demands of the workers:

- Immediate measures for precarious people directly effected by government restrictions. Among other things: suspension of repayment of outstanding mortgage loans, foreclosures, relaxation of the rules for debt mediation.
- Urgent measures for the homeless: requisition of empty buildings, collection and distribution of scarves when a mask is not available, distribution of disinfectant gel, use of state and EU food stocks to compensate for the closure of the day relief agencies
- Distribution and equipment to workplaces of disinfectant gels, masks and gloves, adaptation of equipment to avoid contact or projections, systematic cleaning of keyboards, screens and other equipment
- Maintaining the full wages of workers through a crisis tax on dividends
- Replacement income for delivery and precarious workers (Uber, Deliveroo, etc.) to be paid by the platforms themselves, which will make a profit thanks to the crisis
- Recruitment of medical staff and doctors

Ecuador:

The Communist Party of Ecuador called for the government to accept Cuban assistance and pharmaceuticals.

They note:

In the face of world panic, Cuban medical science shines once again, despite international campaigns and blockades by the North American empire. Where are the pharmaceutical transnational companies that profit from human pain? And why are the corporate news media not talking now about Cuba and the scientific success of the millennium?
...Socialist Cuba and communist China are an oasis in the midst of universal despair. We are witnesses of this reality. China and Cuba assisting Italy, one of the most affected countries, and offering their aid to the world.

French Strikes, Climate Emergency, Venezuela, Cuba & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos December 22 - 29

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos 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  December 22 - 29.


We have changed the format of the round-up so that the links, videos and photos are presented in sections related to topic/region listed alphabetically.

Argentina:

- Argentina Defies the Americas' Crisis of Democracy

- “Water is worth more than gold”: Mendoza, Argentina rejects advance of extractive industry

- Argentina Suspends Amend to Mining Law Allowing Toxic Chemicals

Arts:

- “We’re Not Organizing the Poor, We’re the Poor Organizing”

- The Daily Show’s Rally to Restore Sanity Predicted a Decade of Liberal Futility

- Kelly Fraser, Juno-nominated Inuk singer-songwriter, dead at 26

- Hallmark movies are fascist propaganda

Bolivia:

The sister of Omar Calles, who was gunned down by the Añez regime's security forces, has strong words for her brother's killers as we stood by the shrine to the 11 victims a month after the massacre in Sacaba.



- Bolivian Free Territory of Chapare Ousted the Coup Regime, Braces for Bloody Re-invasion

- ‘I’ll be back’: Ousted leader Morales says his party will win elections, plans return to Bolivia

Canada:

- Accept Zaman's apology and fight the real anti-Semites

- Rana Zaman addresses accusations of antisemitism at rally in downtown Halifax

- 'We're everywhere now': Meet the homeless in Canada's largest city

- Calgarians gather to honour 123 people who died on city streets over past year

- Canada has a racism problem and the fact so many Canadians think we don't is a part of it

- Black man's arrest was unlawful and racially motivated, Quebec's police ethics committee rules

Chile:

- Chile: 6 Military Police Detained for Sexual Abuse in Protests

- Fernandez Questions International Silence Over Chilean Protests

- Chile Needs a Political Revolution

Climate Emergency:

- Moscow resorts to fake snow in warmest December since 1886

- RECORD HIT FOR MOST ICE TO MELT IN ANTARCTICA IN ONE DAY, DATA SUGGESTS: "WE ARE IN A CLIMATE EMERGENCY"

- Mozambique Is Racing To Adapt To Climate Change. The Weather Is Winning

- Nearly 500 million animals killed in Australian bushfires, experts fear

- Nearly four months of intense bush fires, Australian PM offers only an apology

- Cattle have stopped breeding, koalas die of thirst: A vet's hellish diary of climate change

- NSW poised to privatise state forests to raise $1bn for infrastructure projects

Colombia:

- Violence in Colombia Continues As Social Leader Assassinated

- Six social leaders assassinated in past week in Colombia

- Colombia Holds National Strike, Concert & Marches in Medellin

Cuba:

- United we have won! United we will win! -- Excerpts from Díaz-Canel's speech to the people of Cuba, December 21, 2019

- Cuba's New Prime Minister: Manuel Marrero Cruz

- Cuba to spend over half of its budget to social programs in 2020

- Estimates indicate that the Cuban economy did not decline in 2019, another victory over the U.S. blockade

Europe:

- Agreement on US Bases Embroiling Greece in Regional Conflicts, Greek Communist Party Charges

- KKE: The People Will Annul any Bill Attempting to Ban Demonstrations

- Turkish Communists hold gatherings in Istanbul and Izmir

- Child Labor Behind Chocolate Ferrero Rocher: UK Rights Group

French Strikes:

Thousands of Yellow Vest protesters take to the streets of Paris as they join the nation-wide strike against Macron's neoliberal pension reforms.



- French strikes enter 23rd day, beating 1995 record

- Striking French rail workers clash with riot police in Paris

Ideas:

- Sports Teams Should Be Owned by the Public

- When W. E. B. Du Bois Went to the Masses

India:

Recently, the far-right Indian government passed a controversial citizenship law, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Progressive sections in India have called this law as divisive and fascist. More than 20 people have been killed in past in police violence in past one week, as protests against CAA intensifies across India. Protests against CAA and police brutality were also held in many countries across the world. We take a look at these global protests in solidarity with the struggle in India against attempts by the government to "divide the country on the basis of religion".




- India: Hundreds of Women Camp Against the Citizenship Law

- Left parties announce 7-day nationwide protests from Jan 1 against CAA, NRC, NPR

Israel / Palestine:

- Endorse the call for an international week of action to support the Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege

- Shin Bet Claimed She Was Behind Israeli Teen's Murder. Her Indictment Says Otherwise

Middle East:

- Iraq’s parliament yields to protesters’ demand, approves new electoral law

South America:

- McDonald's Franchise Violated Safety Laws: Peruvian Watchdog

- Lula To Fight Neoliberalism to Restore Democracy in Brazil

United Kingdom:

- Britain First says 5,000 of its members have joined Tories

- The class war election

- Propaganda and the Defeat of Jeremy Corbyn

- Labour's future lies in more radicalism, not less

- Trade unions 'snubbed' in Labour defeat review led by Ed Miliband

At Christmas the scale of injustice and inequality is in plain sight, but so is the generosity and solidarity of our communities.



United States:

- Gov. Cuomo Calls New York Hanukkah Attack 'Act Of Domestic Terrorism'

- NYPD Investigating 9th Anti-Semitic Attack Reported This Week

- JEWISH GROUPS CALL RUDY GUILIANI AN ANTI-SEMITE AFTER FORMER MAYOR CLAIMS HE'S 'MORE OF A JEW' THAN HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR GEORGE SOROS

- In Nearly Every U.S. Metro Area, New Data Show Opportunity Lags For Kids Of Color

- ‘We are sending more foster kids to prison than college’

- Navy Seal pardoned of war crimes by Trump described by colleagues as 'freaking evil'

- The Green Party Is Not the Democrats’ Problem

- US Congress Committee to Investigate Death of Detained Migrants

- The Impeachment's Moral Hypocrisy

- A Man Died After Police Slammed His Head Into His Own Car Because They Thought He'd Stolen it

American Police State: This woman was strapped down and tased by police after being arrested for having her dog off a leash and smoking




Venezuela:

In Commune: The Pancha Vásquez Commune




- Venezuela: Social Program Meets Goal, Delivers 3 Million Homes

- The Vanguard of Chavismo Has a Woman’s Face: A Chronicle of Their Resistance in 2019

- Maduro: Armed Forces, Commitment and Loyalty

- Pro-Coup Venezuelan Soldiers Who Fled to the US Now Locked Up in ICE Detention Center

- Venezuelan Diplomat Demands EU Abandon Regime Change Policy

- The US Approves Bill That May Legislate Hybrid Warfare on Venezuela

Women's Rights:

- Mexico: Zapatista Meeting of Women Who Fight Starts in Chiapas

Ecuador Rises, Turkey Attacks Kurds in Syria, Racist Police Violence & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos Holiday Edition

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos 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 October 6 - 14.


For those interested in news and developments in the Canadian election this will be covered in a separate weekly roundup the fifth of which this past Friday was: NDP Spikes, Bloc Surges, May and Scheer Stall -- The Left Chapter Canadian Election Round-up Week Five

1) Ecuador rises against the IMF

Lee Brown, The Morning Star

ANYONE observing events in Ecuador in recent days could be forgiven for thinking they had been transported back to the Latin America of the 1990s.

2) Ecuador: ‘Drones’ revolt against Moreno’s neoliberal policies

Denis Rogatyuk, Green Left Weekly

“Ecuadorian people have memory. The adjustment policies applied in the country in the 1980s and 1990s provoked massive unemployment, impoverishing of the population, and about 12% of the population emigrated.”

3) Ecuador: Riot Police Fire Tear Gas, Live Ammo at Protesters

Telesur

An hour after Ecuador’s president, Lenin Moreno, invited the Indigenous groups and other civil society groups to “dialogue” for the first time since massive protests began nine days ago in the Andean country, the National Police bombarded these peaceful protesters with live ammunition and tear gas who had gathered in front of the National Assembly in Quito from armed vehicles.

4) Censorship: teleSUR Taken Off Air in Ecuador

Telesur 

The move comes just as the national government under right-wing president, Lenin Moreno, declared a curfew and militarized the entire city of Quito, the nation's capital, starting at 3:00 p.m. local time.

5) Ecuador: Nation on Military Lockdown

Telesur

The Ecuadorean government under President Lenin Moreno has handed over all security controls across the country to the military and National Police until 3:00 p.m. Sunday. At that time, the state security forces or the president can decide for how long the national state of exception will last.

6) Ecuador's Leftist Leader Arrested in Police Raid on Her House

Telesur

The prefect of the Ecuadorean province of Pichincha Paola Pabon was arrested in the early morning hours of Monday at her home by an order from the country's prosecutor after what she said was an illegal search and without a warrant, to carry out "investigations"

7) Ecuador: Gov't To Drop IMF-Decree, Deal Reached Strike Over

Telesur

United Nations-backed dialogue table installed between Lenin Moreno's governement and leaders of Indigenous organizations reached a historic deal Sunday to revoke pro-IMF Decree 883, end strikes across the country, and to set up a commission that will write the new document that will replace it.

8) Portugal election: Socialists retain power with increased share of the vote

Jon Henley, The Guardian

António Costa bucks the trend of declining fortunes for Europe’s left, but remains short of an outright majority.

9) Portugal’s right wing suffers defeat in Oct. 6 elections

John Wojcik, People's World

For the second national election in a row, the right-wing parties have been kept out of the government by Portugal’s voters. In the elections Sunday, the Socialist Party, led by Prime Minister Antonio Costa, came in first with 36.7% of the vote, which translates into 106 seats in the parliament, 10 short of a majority.




(Related: "We have been enslaved in a modernized form" -- Nigerian workers allege widespread abuses by Shell in new video)

10) Nationalization Added 670,000 Jobs to Bolivia’s Economy: CELAG

Telesur 

A new report published by the think tank CELAG says the nationalization of strategic industries in Bolivia has generated 670, 000 jobs since 2006. The figure is part of a wider study into how widespread nationalizations under leftist President Evo Morales have affected the economy.

11) Bolivia and Nicaragua Launch Large Reforestation Plans

Telesur

Bolivia has begun its plans to reforest areas burned by recent fires in the Chiquitania, which have now been extinguished. The Sandinista government in Nicaragua has also announced plans to reforest large areas that have been cleared for pine logging.

12) Conservationists attack NDP government over old-growth logging

Global News

Conservationists are accusing the provincial government of ignoring its own rules and regulations covering the logging of old-growth trees. Linda Aylesworth reports.

13) Nobody Should Be Friends With George W. Bush

Sarah Jones, The Intelligencer 

Comedian Ellen DeGeneres loves to tell everyone to be kind. It’s a loose word, kindness; on her show, DeGeneres customarily uses it to mean a generic sort of niceness. Don’t bully. Befriend people! It’s a charming thought, though it has its limits as a moral ethic. There are people in the world, after all, whom it is better not to befriend. Consider, for example, the person of George W. Bush. Tens of thousands of people are dead because his administration lied to the American public about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and then, based on that lie, launched a war that’s now in its 16th year. After Hurricane Katrina struck and hundreds of people drowned in New Orleans, Bush twiddled his thumbs for days. Rather than fire the officials responsible for the government’s life-threateningly lackluster response to the crisis, he praised them, before flying over the scene in Air Force One. He opposed basic human rights for LGBT people, and reproductive rights for women, and did more to empower the American Christian right than any president since Reagan.

14) Justice for Kaysera: Native Teen’s Mysterious Death Highlights Epidemic of Murdered Indigenous Women

Democracy Now

The family of Native American teenager Kaysera Stops Pretty Places is demanding justice after she was found dead in Hardin, Montana, in late August, just two weeks after her 18th birthday. Kaysera was a member of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribal communities in Montana. She lived with her grandmother. According to her family, Kaysera was reported missing after she never came home on the night of August 24. On August 29, the body of a young woman was found in the town of Hardin. It wasn’t until two weeks later that local law enforcement confirmed it was Kaysera. The circumstances surrounding her death and disappearance remain a mystery. Her family believes she was murdered, but says local law enforcement is not treating her sudden disappearance and death as foul play. Kaysera is among at least 27 indigenous girls and women reported missing or murdered in Big Horn County in the past decade. Since 2010, there have also been at least 134 cases of missing or murdered indigenous girls and women in the state of Montana. We speak with Grace Bulltail, Kaysera’s aunt and an assistant professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We also speak with the family’s lawyer, Mary Kathryn Nagle, a citizen of Cherokee Nation and a partner at Pipestem Law, P.C., a law firm dedicated to the restoration of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction.

15) THE UGLY REALITY OF UNIONS UNDER SOCIAL DEMOCRACY

Nick Driedger, Organizing Work

With Bernie Sanders again having a believable shot at sitting in the White House and Jeremy Corbyn presiding over a more active and mobilized Labour Party than has been seen in decades, actually existing reformism is something everyone in the English-speaking world is, and should be, talking about. It’s also worth talking about the high and low points of reformism in as honest and clear-eyed a manner as possible from the perspective of revolutionary unionism. Not for cheap points-scoring, but because we shouldn’t attach ourselves to a movement simply because it seems to have a lot of momentum. We need to actually discuss what we can expect and how we should react to these situations, and for that we should look to relevant history.

16) Italian communists protest against EU moves to rewrite history

Steve Sweeney, The Morning Star

ITALIAN communists said “fuck you” to the European Union on Saturday as thousands from across Italy rallied in Rome against the dangerous anti-communist motion passed by the EU Parliament last month.

17) Rewriting the history of World War II has a sinister purpose

The Morning Star

THE anger expressed this weekend by relatives of the International Brigaders and by crowds in Rome over the European Parliament’s bid to rewrite the history of the second world war is more than justified.

18) Never Forget What the Fascists Did

Jana Tsoneva, Jacobin

In Bulgaria, campaigns that equate Communism with Nazism aren’t about defending democracy against “Russian meddling,” they’re about rehabilitating Bulgarian fascism and its complicity in the Holocaust.

19) Lawyer for slain woman's family says Fort Worth police should not be investigating themselves

Ralph Ellis, Nicole Chavez and Hollie Silverman, CNN

A lawyer for the family of a black woman who was fatally shot inside her Fort Worth, Texas, home by a white police officer says an outside agency should be brought in to investigate the killing.

20) Visible minorities say we told you so, after report finds systemic bias by Montreal police

Jaela Bernstien · CBC News

For the Montrealers who live in fear of the police, an independent report's findings of systemic discrimination is welcome, though frustratingly redundant, evidence of what they've been complaining about for years.

21) Security video reveals full extent of alleged 'assault' by Edmonton police on accused truck thief

Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell · CBC News

Security videos obtained exclusively by CBC News show what experts are calling an "assault" of an alleged truck thief by Edmonton police during a violent arrest was far worse than previously revealed.

22) 'My family is still without answers': Advocates want accountability after 6 deaths in Winnipeg police custody

Ahmar Khan · CBC News 

Within a six month period, six men have died while in custody of the Winnipeg police and the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is investigating the circumstances.

23) MI6 accused of thwarting effort to solve 1961 death of UN chief

Jamie Doward, The Guardian 

MI6, the secret intelligence service, is under pressure to share its files on the mysterious death of a UN secretary general who was killed in an air crash almost 60 years ago.

24) Haiti: Regime crumbling in the face of popular fury

Kim Ives, Green Left Weekly

Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince looks post-apocalyptic, reflecting the fierce class war which has raged here since last year, if not since 1986.

25) Massive protests sweep Iraq; Communist Party calls for emergency government

People's World

Massive protests have swept Iraq since Oct. 1 in response to widespread anger over high unemployment, especially among youth, enormous corruption, and the inability of the government to deliver essential services like health care, water, and electricity.

26) Alberto Fernandez Vows Argentina To Leave 'Lima Group' If He Wins

Telesur

Progressive candidate for Argentina's presidntial election Alberto Fernandez announced Monday that he would withdraw the country from the so called ‘Lima group’ if he wins the presidency at the Oct. 27 general elections. The ‘Lima group’ has been a mechanism used by right wing governments in the region to isolate and encourage attacks on Venezuela.

27) The cloud vs humanity: Adobe terminates every software license in Venezuela, keeps Venezuelans' money

Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

If you live in Venezuela and rely on Adobe products to do your job -- whether that's publishing a newspaper, running an NGO, or doing design work, Adobe has a very special message for you: GO FUCK YOURSELF.

28) The Latest on the Diplomatic War against Venezuela

Leonardo Flores - Common Dreams

According to conventional wisdom, the Trump administration, as well as its regional allies in the Lima Group and the Venezuelan opposition, were set to intensify the diplomatic war on the Venezuelan government at the U.N. General Assembly. However, they only managed to demonstrate how far removed their coalition against President Maduro is from convincing the international community that deadly sanctions and a coup are the way forward for Venezuela.

29) En Route to Standing Rock, Greta Thunberg Holds Up 'Struggles of All Indigenous Peoples in Protecting Their Land, Water, and Traditions'

Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg expressed solidarity Monday with "the struggles of all Indigenous peoples in protecting their land, water, and traditions" as she continued her climate-focused trip to the Americas with stops in the Dakotas.

30) Turkey Begins Operation Against Kurdish Forces in Syria

Telesur

Turkish forces began ground operations in northeastern Syria, entering the country east of the Euphrates River, Turkey's defense ministry informed, adding that Turkish troops were joined by allied Syrian opposition forces.

31) 'Humanitarian Catastrophe': Civilians Flee as Turkey Launches Trump-Sanctioned Military Assault on Kurds in Syria

Jake Johnson, Common Dreams 

Rights groups and anti-war activists warned of a looming "humanitarian catastrophe" Wednesday as Turkish forces invaded northeastern Syria and launched airstrikes against Kurdish targets, forcing civilians to flee in panic.

32) Trump defends abandoning the Kurds by saying they didn't help the US in WWII


John Haltiwanger, Business Insider

President Donald Trump on Wednesday continued to defend his decision to withdraw US troops from northeastern Syria, abandoning Kurdish forces in the region, by saying the Kurds did not help the US during World War II.

33) CPUSA denounces Erdogan’s aggression in Syria

CPUSA

Civilian deaths, as well as those of military personnel, are now mounting as the blitzkrieg unleashed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of the right-wing “Justice and Development” Party (AKP) penetrates deeper into northern Syria, with the stated intention of destroying Kurdish forces there and then settling Syrian refugees, currently  stranded in Turkey, in the area.

34) Turkey-Syria offensive: Kurds reach deal with Damascus to stave off assault

Bethan McKernan, The Guardian

Kurdish-led forces in control of north-east Syria have reached a deal with the Assad regime to stave off a bloody five-day-old Turkish assault, as more than 700 people with links to Islamic State have escaped from a detention camp in the area.

35) Syrian troops enter Kurdish fight against Turkish forces

Michael Sufi and Bethan McKernan, The Guardian

Syrian troops have begun sweeping into Kurdish-held territory on a collision course with Turkish forces and their allies, a day after the beleaguered Kurds agreed to hand over key cities to Damascus in exchange for protection.

36) Facebook takes down page of Palestine news site 

Middle East Monitor

Facebook on Wednesday deleted the page of the Palestinian Information Centre (PIC) in a move, the news site says, which is part of its war on Palestinian content on social media networks.

37) Israel to hold Bedouin citizens in internment camps

The Palestine Project, Medium 

Israel is taking the first steps towards establishing desert refugee or displacement camps designed to hold tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens whom it plans to “urgently” displace from their homes in unrecognized villages across the Naqab (Negev) desert — without offering them any permanent and just housing solutions, the Haifa-based Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

38) The Far Right's Murderous Bible

Tomer Persico, Haaretz

A rereading of ‘The Turner Diaries,’ the most popular anti-Semitic text since ‘Mein Kampf,’ reveals the depth of the anxiety over the imaginary takeover of the West by migrants. A modern incarnation of this conspiracy has infected the Jews.

39) When the right wing is still 'too socialist': Poland's far-right unites

Dominique Soguel and Monika Rębała, The Christian Science Monitor

When Poland goes to the polls this weekend in parliamentary elections, it is the ruling Law and Justice party that challengers will be gunning for. Over the past four years, Law and Justice (PiS) has moved the country rightward by pushing a populist, anti-immigrant, pro-Catholic agenda.

40) Poland's populist Law and Justice party voted back in

Christian Davies, The Guardian 

Poland’s ruling rightwing Law and Justice party has scored a convincing victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, with almost complete results indicating a parliamentary majority and another four-year term in office.

41) Doug Ford's government has made 'next to no progress' on plan to cut carbon emissions: report

Mike Crawley · CBC News

Premier Doug Ford's government has done almost nothing on the bulk of the promises in the greenhouse-gas reduction plan Ontario introduced last November, according to a new report by an environmental watchdog group.

42) Ford government's overhaul of crime victim compensation hurts most vulnerable, advocates say

 Lisa Xing, CBC News

Rebecca still struggles with what happened to her when her boyfriend forced her into the sex trade at 16, trapping her in that life for almost six months.

43) Hundreds of child-care spaces at risk due to provincial cuts, report says

Natalie Johnson, CTV News Toronto

In a cut deemed “devastating” by child care advocates, the provincial downloading of some daycare costs to municipalities could mean the loss of hundreds of subsidies for low-income families in Toronto.

44) Catalan separatist leaders given lengthy prison sentences

Sam Jones and Stephen Burgen, The Guardian 

Spain’s supreme court has jailed nine prominent Catalan separatist leaders for sedition over their roles in the failed push for independence two years ago, triggering angry protests in Catalonia and renewed calls for a political solution to the long-running territorial dispute.

American Police State, Neo-Nazi Terrorists, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos August 11 - 18

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos 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 August 11 - 18.

1) By Barring Omar and Tlaib, Netanyahu Did BDS a Huge Favor

Eric Levitz, New York Intelligencer

In deference to the wishes of the United States government, Israel has barred two members of the U.S. Congress from entering its borders. Or at least that’s how Thursday’s bizarre developments in American-Israeli relations appear to have played out.

2) Now is the time for the Democratic Party to stand up to Israeli racism

Nada Elia, Mondoweiss 

The lines dividing Progressives and supporters of apartheid are becoming clearer, and they are not along Democratic and Republican party lines.

3) ‘Tlaib and Omar gave us hope’: Decision to bar entry to congresswomen sparks anger and disappointment amongst Palestinians

Yumna Patel, Mondoweiss 

Palestinians are joining the chorus of international condemnation facing Israel for barring entry to US Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar ahead of their planned delegation to the occupied Palestinian territory.

4) Did Netanyahu Just Kill Washington’s ‘Pro-Israel’ Consensus?

M. J. Rosenberg, The Nation 

Let the Likudniks, the lobby, the bought members of Congress, and the neocons cry. For those of us who want to see Israelis and Palestinians living in peace, in one country or two, with full security and sovereignty for both, Netanyahu’s stupid move is good news. It’s time someone tore the mask off the Israeli government and its fellow travelers in Washington. Perhaps, after the 2020 elections, the United States will serve as an honest broker between Israelis and Palestinians. Perhaps it will recognize that Palestinians deserve the same rights as Israelis in the land both peoples call home. Perhaps it will condition US aid to Israel on its negotiating an end to the 52-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. After all, there’s a first time for everything.

5) Argentina Primaries: Fernandez Wins Landslide Victory Over Macri With 15-Point Lead

Telesur 

Argentinian President Mauricio Macri conceded defeat Sunday night in the country’s primaries, leading to Oct. 27 general elections, against opposition ticket Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

6) Communists in Canada organizing international solidarity against plunder in Kaz Mountains

SOL International 

In a meeting that took place at the Greek Workers' Association, immigrant people from Turkey living in Montreal, representatives of the Communist Party of Canada, the Quebec Movement for Peace and the Greek Workers' Association met to discuss the actions to be held against the destruction in the Kaz Mountains, resulting in releasing a press statement on 16th of August.

On Monday, August 5th, thousands of protestors stormed the site of te Kirazli Gold mine project in North-Western Turkey. This project will have a heavy invornmental impact as 195,000 trees have been cut to access the gold resources present in this open-pit mine. To extract gold, it is said that 20,000 tons of cyanide will be needed as well as a considerable amount of other toxic elements such as arsenic. Particularly shocking to the population is the fact that this mining project is located at the fringe of the Kaz Mountains Natural Park.

7) You Must Be This Conservative To Ride: The Inside Story of Postmedia’s Right Turn

Sean Craig, Canadaland 

New CEO Andrew MacLeod has a plan to muffle moderate voices at Canada's largest newspaper company. It's created confusion and uncertainty in newsrooms across the country.

8) A&W Tells Anti-Union Conference It Keeps a Secret ‘Watch List’ To Make Sure Workers Don’t Unionize

Press Progress

Fast food giants tell anti-union conference they monitor ‘high risk’ restaurants fearing the spread of unions in the service sector.

9) 'I take responsibility,' Trudeau says in wake of damning report on SNC-Lavalin ethics violation

John Paul Tasker, CBC News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he accepts full responsibility after Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found he violated the Conflict of Interest Act by trying to influence then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and get her to overrule a decision to not grant a deferred prosecution agreement to Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.

10) People’s Party wants to axe Multiculturalism Act, eliminate funding

Kerri Breen, Global News

Maxime Bernier‘s new political party, which plans to run candidates in every riding in the upcoming federal election, is calling for the end of “official” multiculturalism in Canada and the preservation of “Canadian values and culture.”

11) Hong Kong protesters have their flags backward

Ian Goodrum, People's World

There’s been a whole lot of controversy over flags lately.

12) Epstein’s Death Should Generate Investigations, Not Conspiracy Theories

The Real News Network 

Anti-Clinton/Trump hashtags will not get to the bottom of Epstein's death, or how the rich and powerful's involvement in child sex abuse, The Nation's Jeet Heer explains.

13) Jeffrey Epstein's Autopsy Is Raising Even More Questions About His Death

Tim Marcin, Vice News 

Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy reportedly revealed broken bones in his neck — a finding that raises questions about how, exactly, he died.

14) With Epstein's Death, Accusers Seek New Legal Recourse

Cat Schuknecht, NPR

With Jeffrey Epstein's death by apparent suicide on Saturday, his accusers lost any chance to watch him stand trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan last month.

15) Jay-Z Helped the NFL Banish Colin Kaepernick

Jemele Hill, The Atlantic 

Yesterday the hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell held a joint media session at the Roc Nation offices in New York to seal a once-implausible partnership that isn’t being received as positively as both parties probably hoped.

16) Cuts by Doug Ford Conservatives leave city’s long-term care homes short $550,000

 Joanna Frketich, The Hamilton Spectator 

Upcoming provincial cuts to long-term care funding will leave the city's two homes short more than $550,000 a year.

17) Here Are Five Lies About Iran That We Need to Refute to Stop Another Illegal War

Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept 

Last month, the Trump White House put out a typically Orwellian statement, chock-filled with lies, distortions, and half-truths about Iran and the 2015 nuclear deal. One line in particular stood out from the rest: “There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms.”

18) Women Glitter Mexico City to Protest Rape, Gendered Violence

Telesur 

“We travel daily with the fear that when we leave home we will be harassed in the streets, harassed in public transport, work, or school. Violated by our partners, friends or bosses. Raped by our boyfriends, husbands, parents, brothers , uncles, grandparents or the police themselves," read a petition addressed to all levels of public security, state authorities, and Mexican society in general.

19) End Seattle’s inhumane sweeps of homeless camps!

Andrea Bauer, Freedom Socialist Party

The Seattle area is home to the world’s two richest people, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. It is also a place where those who have no homes are treated with inhuman callousness. The city regularly evicts them from their tent encampments with sweeps that force them to scramble for other shelter and often destroy their few possessions in the process.

20) New Zealand: Outrage over babies taken by the state

John Braddock and Tom Peters, World Socialist Web Site 

On July 30, several hundred people gathered outside parliament in Wellington for a protest titled “Hands Off Our Tamariki [children].” They delivered a petition with 17,000 signatures calling for the government to stop “stealing Maori children.” Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, a partner in the ruling Labour-led coalition government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, accepted the petition.

21) Boris Johnson risks triggering riots with rollout of blanket stop-and-search powers, Diane Abbott warns

Lizzie Deardon, The Independent 

The expansion of blanket stop and search powers that let police challenge people without reasonable suspicion could provoke unrest, the government has been warned.

22) Boris Johnson’s law and order proposals are a scam

Eleftheria Kousta, Counterfire 

In a letter published in the Daily Mail, Boris Johnson has pledged to introduce a number of measures to shore up the law and order regime. His main promises are staff increases in the police department by 20,000 over the next three years, expanding the prison network by 10,000 places, increasing in-prison security, expanding Stop-and-Search, and allocating £85 million to the the Crown Prosecution Service.

23) Homegrown hate

Ryan Thorpe, Winnipeg Free Press

A Free Press reporter posed as a white nationalist to gain inside access to a neo-Nazi paramilitary group attempting to gain a foothold in Winnipeg and across the country.

24) Militant Neo-Nazi Group Actively Recruiting Ahead of Alleged Training Camp

 Mack Lamoureux and Ben Makuch, Vice News 

The Base, a neo-Nazi group aiming to provide military and survivalist training to fellow white supremacists, has been ramping up its activities including a massive recruitment campaign and a planned "hate camp."

25) Police Keep Arresting Young White Men For Trying to Copycat El Paso

Yess Owen, Vice News

In the past week, police across the country have investigated or arrested at least six men, most of whom are young and white, for making terroristic threats, stockpiling weapons, or plotting attacks.

26) It's Snowing Microscopic Plastic Particles in Arctic: Study

Telesur 

Winter is around the corner and with falling snowflakes come microscopic plastic particles, at least that’s what scientists say is happening in the Arctic right now in a new study published in the journal Science Advances.



27) Climate Change Is Taking a Bigger Toll on Our Food, Water, and Land Than We Realized

Rebecca Leber, Mother Jones

As the planet warms, parts of the world face new risks of food and water shortages, expanding deserts, and land degradation, warns a major new report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Those effects are already underway, and some of them could soon become irreversible.

28) British Columbia's dirty natural gas secret

Peter McCartney, Canada's National Observer 

When I told people I was heading to northeastern British Columbia to check out fracking sites, the most common response was: “We do that here?”

29) The Planet's Real Overpopulation Problem: Too Many Rich People

Joe Sandler Clarke, Vice News

If the world as it is does have an overpopulation problem, it's that there are too many rich people using too much stuff.

30) Indian Communist leader slams ‘denial of basic democratic rights’ over Kashmir detention

The Morning Star 

COMMUNIST Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury has protested to Indian President Ram Nath Kovind over his detention in Srinagar on Friday, when he and Communist Party of India leader Doraisamy Raja were held at the city’s airport while trying to visit party members in Jammu and Kashmir and denied entry to the state.

31) The Silence Is the Loudest Sound

 Arundhati Roy, The New York Times 

As India celebrates her 73rd year of independence from British rule, ragged children thread their way through traffic in Delhi, selling outsized national flags and souvenirs that say, “Mera Bharat Mahan.” My India is Great. Quite honestly, it’s hard to feel that way right now, because it looks very much as though our government has gone rogue.

32) A New Trump Policy Could Deny Green Cards To Immigrants Who Use Public Benefits

Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed News

The Trump administration introduced a sweeping policy Monday that will allow the government to deny permanent residency to immigrants who use or are likely to use public benefits, such as food stamps, housing vouchers and Medicaid.

33) Trump Is Now Going to Make Life Hell for Immigrants With Disabilities

Emma Ockerman, Morgan Baskin, and Gaby Del Valle, Vice News 

The Trump administration’s new “public charge” rule will force immigrants with disabilities to choose between receiving health care and staying in the U.S., advocates warn — and it’ll favor wealthy, able-bodied immigrants instead.

34) Trump 'Embodies Nearly Every Aspect Of A Racist,' Author Says

Rachel Martin, NPR

The writer Ibram X. Kendi has made a name for himself by tackling one of the most important — and one of the most sensitive — topics in America today.

35) Steve King Is Racist, Misogynist—and Not that Different From Other Republicans

Elie Mystal, The Nation 

Republicans should be awarded no points for calling on Iowa Congressman Steve King to resign. Pointing out that this racist misogynist has no business serving in Congress is like pointing out that you shouldn’t make toast in a bathtub. It doesn’t mean you are insightful; it means the people who disagree with you are enfeebled.

36) Unequal Outcomes: Most ICE Detainees Held In Rural Areas Where Deportation Risks Soar

Yuki Noguchi, NPR

Yoel Alonso sat in a cell for 10 months before he ever met with a lawyer. His wife had to travel 1,000 miles to visit him at the remote Louisiana facility where he was detained.

37) A Prison Guard Drove A Truck Through A Group Of Jewish ICE Protesters, Injuring Several

Julia Reinstein, BuzzFeed News

"If they're willing to do that to us, we can't imagine the violence the ICE detainees behind those walls may be subject to every day," an organizer said.

38) Why a Banking Heiress Spent Her Fortune on Keeping Immigrants Out

 Nicholas Kulish and Mike McIntire, The New York Times

She was an heiress without a cause — an indifferent student, an unhappy young bride, a miscast socialite. Her most enduring passion was for birds.

39) Getting killed by police is a leading cause of death for young black men in America

Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times

About 1 in 1,000 black men and boys in America can expect to die at the hands of police, according to a new analysis of deaths involving law enforcement officers. That makes them 2.5 times more likely than white men and boys to die during an encounter with cops.

40) AG Barr said there must be 'zero tolerance for resisting police' and went after 'social-justice reformers' in a heated speech to the US's largest law-enforcement organization

Sonam Sheth, Business Insider 

His comments come when law enforcement is under heightened scrutiny in the US over allegations of systemic brutality and bigotry in some communities.

41) Insurance Companies Are Paying Cops To Investigate Their Own Customers

Kendall Taggart, BuzzFeed News

A cozy alliance between insurers and law enforcement has turned the justice system into the industry’s hired gun and left innocent customers facing prison.

42) Family Wants Independent Probe In Fatal Police Shooting Of Teen In Colorado

Brakkton Booker and Richard Gonzales, NPR

"In my humble opinion, the black and brown citizens of Colorado Springs are not safe with these officers on the street," Terry Thomas, pastor of Lifting Up Jesus Church, said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

See also: El Paso Aftermath, Venezuela Embargo, Kashmir, ICE Raids & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos August 4 - 11