Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en, Bloomberg's History, UK Labour Party & more -- The Week in News and Opinion February 9 - 16

Photo via twitter

This week's list of articles, news items 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  February 9 - 16.

The round-up of international left news is presented in sections related to topic/region listed alphabetically except for the Featured Article post and a large section related to Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Actions & News at the start.


For news related to the RCMP's violent attacks on land defenders in Wet’suwet’en territory up to February 12 see: RCMP launches violent raids into Wet’suwet’en territory

For a roundup of solidarity actions up to February 13 see: Actions across the country in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en

Featured Article:

- Wet’suwet’en protests a revolutionary moment in Canada: Mohawk scholar Gerald Taiaiake Alfred

Protesters are shutting down railways, bridges, ports, and offices.
They’ve taken to the streets in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people opposing a gas pipeline in northern B.C.
It’s an extraordinary flow of events that have fused popular sentiment about Indigenous rights, the environment, and social justice.

For a Vancouver Island-based Mohawk scholar Gerald Taiaiake Alfred, Canada is witnessing no less than a revolutionary moment.

Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Actions & News:

On Saturday Feb 15th, around 50 people snuck onto some train tracks in Vaughan, Ontario (just north of Toronto) and shut down the second biggest rail yard in Canada. They were soon joined by a large crowd of supporters who helped hold down the blockade for the rest of the day.




"We have had enough. Enough dialogue, discussion, negotiation at the barrel of a gun. Canada comes to colonize. Reconciliation is dead.

It is time to fight for our land, our lives, our children, our future.

Revolution lives."



Breaking: Blockade continues despite 'modest progess' made in talks between federal minister and Tyendinaga Mohawk

- ‘The Fight Isn’t Over’: Wet’suwet’en Activist Speaks Out After RCMP Arrest

- Country erupts into Wet’suwet’en solidarity demonstrations: A week in pictures

- “This Is Insurrection”: #ShutDownCanada Action “Cancels Trains Nationwide” As Acts Of Sabotage Continue

- Police protect corporations, not people

- More than 60 shipping vessels stalled off B.C. coast due to rail blockades

- Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Against the Colonial Policies of the Canadian State

- MCA stands with Wet’suwet’en

- Palestinians stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en nation

- The Wet’suwet’en are more united than pipeline backers want you to think

- The inconvenient truth for pipeline supporters: root causes of this revolution will not be televised

- Canada does not deserve seat at UN Security Council: Opinion

- The Wet'suwet'en, Aboriginal Title, and the Rule of Law: An Explainer

- B.C. NDP MLAs all voted for LNG incentives—and they only have themselves to blame for the rebellion that's followed

- Time to Tear off the Masks in the Media’s Framing of the Horgan Pipeline Debacle

- Profit over people: What the Wet’suwet’en struggle reveals about corporate capture

- Trudeau calls for 'dialogue' as blockade cripples rail network, while Scheer says clear out the protesters

This is very powerful and well said. Be sure to listen to the end:

 


Brazil:

- Deep in the Amazon, armed tribesmen battle illegal loggers for their future

- Brazil: Bolsonaro Is Pushing Teachers Towards a National Strike

Canada:

Petition: TELL TRUDEAU HE IS WRONG TO CONDEMN BDS

- The Conservative leadership race: Den of really, truly, horrible people -- Hellworld Podcast Episode 2

- An open letter to B.C. Green leadership candidate Sonia Furstenau from the B.C. Ecosocialist Party

- Fredericton brings in replacement workers amid labour dispute

- Is it time for a child-care uprising in Ontario?

- Jason Kenney’s Energy War Room Deletes Tweets Accusing the New York Times of ‘Bias’ and ‘Anti-Semitism’

- 'It's 2020': Parent appalled after students told not to speak Atikamekw language in school

- Atikamekw families demand Quebec heed calls to action, to find out what happened to missing children

China:

- China Focus: Wuhan sends 34,000 gov't workers, Party members to fight coronavirus in communities

- ANTI-CHINA RACISM MUST BE REJECTED

Climate Emergency:

- How climate change is driving food insecurity

- Car ‘splatometer’ tests reveal huge decline in number of insects

- Earth just had its hottest January in recorded history

- Stop blaming population growth for climate change. The real culprit is wealth inequality

Co-op Refinery Strike:

- Newest Unifor picket line in Co-op labour dispute begins in Prince George

- Judge fines Unifor 594 $250,000 for contempt in CRC dispute

- The Myth of State Neutrality

Cuba:

- Trump Puts More Pressure on Cuba, Targets Cuban Doctors Program

- The Internet Is Widely Accessible in Cuba. Why Is the US Insisting It Isn’t?

Europe:

- Italy Salvini: Senate votes for far-right leader to face trial

- Activist fights homophobia in Poland with photo series of 'LGBT-free' zones

France:

- BlackRock Becomes a Symbol for Anticapitalist Fervor in France

- “Either We Defend Social Solidarity, or French Society Will Break Down”

Germany:

- German Communist Party (DKP) to hold its 23rd Congress

- Germany: Opening the floodgates to the far right

India:

Night of Terror: CCTV video exposes police brutality in Delhi's Jamia university


A recently released CCTV footage captured the ‘Night of Terror,’ when police brutally attacked the students inside the library of New Delhi based Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15, 2019. On that day, students of Jamia and residents from nearby localities had organized a march against the divisive citizenship amendment law passed by the far-right Indian government. As the protesters attempted to take out the march, police unleashed a brutal violence.



- India's communists to protest against Trump's visit to the country

Ireland:

- Sinn Féin to try to form ruling coalition after Irish election success

- Ireland’s Left Turn

Israel / Palestine:

- Palestinians welcome UN's list of companies complicit in illegal Israeli expansion

- MLB to Cancel Roger Waters' Tour Promotions Over BDS Support

- Journalist Abby Martin Sues State of Georgia Over Law Requiring Pledge of Allegiance to Israel

- Moroccans protest Trump's Mideast plan, support Palestinians

- The IDF Spokesman Announces: Continue to Shoot Palestinian Children

Porn & Prostitution:

- Quebec City murder underscores need to abolish prostitution

- Opinion: 'Sex work' isn't work, it's sexual exploitation

- Enforcing prostitution laws could have saved Marylène Lévesque

South America:

- Meet the candidates taking on Bolivia’s U.S.-backed right-wing government

- Chile: Almost 10,000 People Arrested in Four Months of Protests

- End of political violence and threats advocated in Colombia

Spain:

- Spanish govt to ban glorification of Franco dictatorship – Socialist Party

- Leftist Podemos chief to join talks with Catalan separatists

United Kingdom:

This is what democracy looks like!


Thousands out in force at the London climate strike:




- Even With Corbyn Gone, Antisemitism Threats Will Keep Destroying the UK Labour Party

- My life’s work as an anti-racist and anti-Zionist activist makes me an antisemite according to Labour

- Labour reinstates Palestine campaigner

- Why I referred myself to the Labour Party’s Compliance Unit for antisemitism

- Calls to stem ‘devastating’ rise of femicides

United States:

- Voting for Mike Bloomberg is the line I just can’t cross

- This should disqualify Michael Bloomberg

- Why Is Bloomberg's Long History of Egregious Sexism Getting a Pass?

- 64 White Supremacists Prosecuted by DOJ Receive 820 Years in Federal Prison

- AIPAC IS HELPING FUND ANTI-BERNIE SANDERS SUPER PAC ADS IN NEVADA

- WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE BEHIND HIM, SANDERS LOOKS TO NEVADA WORKERS AS VEGAS UNION BOSSES RALLY AGAINST HIM

- New Hampshire 2020: In Supreme Irony, the Horse Race Favors Bernie Sanders

-  A pro-Israel PAC tried to sabotage Bernie in Iowa. It didn't go well

- BERNIE SANDERS LEADS ALL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES IN SUPPORT FROM NON-WHITE VOTERS, NEW POLLS SHOW

- Why does the “BernieBro” myth persist? Because pundits don't understand how the internet works

- Native burial sites blown up for US border wall

- Seattle City Council OKs ban on wintertime evictions; here’s how it would work for renters, landlords

- "You wouldn't think you'd go to jail over medical bills": County in rural Kansas is jailing people over unpaid medical debt

Venezuela:

- Juan Guaido Stars Venezuela's Biggest Corruption Case Ever

- Mistrial Declared in Trial of Embassy Protection Collective 4

- 'The Bolivarian Shield' Prepares Millions to Defend Venezuela

- Conviasa will Continue to Operate Normally Despite US Sanctions

- Minnesotans go to anti-imperialist congress in Venezuela