Sunday, March 22, 2020

Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis and the Worker Fightback -- The Week in News and Opinion March 15 - 22

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  March 15 - 22.

Unsurprisingly this week's edition begins with a very large roundup of news and left opinion about the capitalist coronavirus crisis and the fightback against attempts to confront it on the backs of workers.  We have tried to arrange this coronavirus news thematically and to touch on many areas of concern such as housing, worker's rights, left party demands, the heroic internationalism of socialist Cuba, and many other topics. The Featured Article link at the start is a powerful "Letter from a Retail Worker".

Featured Article:

Letter from a Retail Worker: Gratitude is nice, but dignity and safety start with a strong union

"Things can really only get worse from here for retail workers—if we let it. We are underpaid, micromanaged, and disdained. And when this crisis is over, that won’t change unless we change it ourselves. That has to start with a strong union. Make a fresh one or join one of the better existing ones (no minimum wage, tiered contract bullshit—I’m looking at you, UFCW). We want to support ourselves and our families, we want job security, we want a say in how health and safety policies that literally affect our livelihoods are decided. We want everyone to have their groceries and coffee, but we don’t want to die or kill our immunocompromised or elderly family members doing it. If companies—and capitalist society as a whole—didn’t by nature prioritize profits over us, we wouldn’t have to make that choice."


Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis and the Worker Fightback:



Panic buying and hoarding are a function of capitalism

Message to the government: your friends, the super-rich, are the hoarders

Coronavirus has revealed left wing ideas are nothing more than plain common sense

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

Covid-19 hastens the deepening structural crisis of the capitalist system

"It is only through our resistance and struggle that we can defend our rights." - WFTU coronavirus statement

Our politics isn’t designed to protect the public from Covid-19

Look after people not profit in the COVID-19 crisis

Lessons from the Spanish flu of 1919: internationalism and people before profit

EMERGENCY ACTION REQUIRED NOW TO STOP COVID-19 AND DEEP RECESSION

While Some Wait For COVID-19 Tests, The Wealthy Cut The Line



Cuba Sends 144 Health Workers to Combat the Covid-19 in Jamaica

Cuba Sends 53 Doctors and Nurses to Fight Covid-19 in Italy

Amid coronavirus pandemic, Bolsonaro’s Brazil begs for Cuban doctors – after expelling them

What coronavirus revealed about national mindsets across the world — and how Cuba came out on top

Update: British Cruise Ship With COVID-19 Cases to Dock in Cuba

Cuba's Interferon Alpha 2B, Successful in Treating COVID-19

BioCubaFarma Guarantees Production of Drugs for COVID-19

Chile’s Communist Mayor to Import Cuban Meds to Fight COVID-19




Bolivia: Coup-Born Regime Rejects Medical Cooperation From Cuba

The UK Only Realised "In The Last Few Days" That Its Coronavirus Strategy Would "Likely Result In Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths"

'A generation has died': Italian province struggles to bury its coronavirus dead

Grim milestone: Italy's coronavirus deaths surpass China's

Why Italy was hit so hard and so fast by COVID-19

Australian doctors condemn government response to COVID-19 “disaster”

Coronavirus: Socialists Call for Urgent Bonus to Health, Welfare Workers (Hungary)

Workers at Lewisham coronavirus hospital walk out after not being paid

‘Terrified’ Package Delivery Employees Are Going to Work Sick (USA)

Workers Shut Down Mercedes Factory That Called Them In During Coronavirus (Spain)

Employees in Toronto are being told to work in the face of COVID-19 and they’re angry and scared

Air Canada failing to inform us of true exposure to Covid-19, employees claim

Ontario Bill 186 "falls far short" Dias says as Unifor continues to call for 14 point plan for workers

- ‘Blood on their hands:’ Teachers say de Blasio and Carranza helped spread coronavirus

New York now the center of the US coronavirus crisis – can it cope?

We’re Struggling With the Coronavirus in Spain—but We’re Vastly More Prepared Than the US

Spain has nationalized all of its private hospitals as the country goes into coronavirus lockdown

America has no real public health system – coronavirus has a clear run

Total Cost of Her COVID-19 Treatment: $34,927.43 (United States)

Here Are the 51 Republican Senators Who Just Voted Against Expanding Paid Sick Leave to All Workers

Trump inaccurately claims malaria drug has been ‘approved’ for coronavirus treatment, prompting FDA correction



Coronavirus – anti-China propaganda brings catastrophe to the West

White House Pushes U.S. Officials to Criticize China For Coronavirus ‘Cover-Up’

Photo of Trump remarks shows 'corona' crossed out and replaced with 'Chinese' virus

Bolsonaro’s son enrages Beijing by blaming China for coronavirus crisis

Coronavirus and anti-racism: no scapegoating, no excuses

COVID-19: Korean consulate issues warning after violent attack in Montreal

Asian Canadian Woman Wearing Face Mask Kicked Out of Toronto Supermarket

Don't Demonize China! A Report from Chongqing

China would answer calls for assistance – even when the past isn't pleasant


Why are we surprised the BC NDP is forcing thousands back to work in unsafe man camps for Big Oil?

Work Camp in Alberta’s Oil Field Issues Notice That Workers May Have Been Exposed to COVID-19

Game Over for Kenney

The Other Emergency Is Crashing Oil Prices

Ottawa prepares multibillion-dollar bailout of oil and gas sector






- NYC local buses a free ride for all during coronavirus outbreak

Cities across Canada implement free transit to curb COVID-19

Detroit Bus Drivers Win Protections Against Virus Through Strike



- 'Literally Weaponizing Coronavirus': Despite One of World's Worst Outbreaks of Deadly Virus, US Hits Iran With 'Brutal' New Sanctions

US accused of making Iran's coronavirus crisis worse after issuing new sanctions

'In This Dark Hour for the Iranian People,' Groups Demand Trump End Inhumane Sanctions Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

US Should Lift Economic Sanctions to Avoid More Deaths From Pandemic

Cuba faces squeeze on food production as US oil sanctions bite

IMF Rejects Venezuela's Request for $5B in Virus Aid

U.S. prevents Venezuela from buying drugs to treat COVID-19

China Releases Full Report on US Human Rights 2019 Record – Criticizes US Sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba

Israel stops providing cleaning products to Palestine detainees

Gaza confirms first coronavirus cases as West Bank shuts down

A coronavirus coup in broad daylight (Israel)

Guatemala Suspends All US Deportation Flights Over COVID-19

NYSE boss sold his own stock ahead of coronavirus market meltdown

Four senators sold stocks before coronavirus threat crashed market

Senator Richard Burr Sold a Fortune in Stocks as G.O.P. Played Down Coronavirus Threat

Labour demands government suspends rents to stop evictions during coronavirus pandemic (UK)

Ontario puts brakes on new eviction orders, postpones ones in the works because of COVID-19

Here's how Toronto renters feel about the new mortgage deferrals in Canada

- Coronavirus: Calls to suspend rent in Toronto get louder

TORONTO: KEEP YOUR RENT (April 1)

B.C. union calls for suspension of mortgage and rent payments until COVID-19 crisis ends

Impact of COVID-19 on Vancouver's DTES could be catastrophic

If Social Distancing Is Impossible in Prisons, People Should Be Freed

Canada to turn back asylum seekers, close border at midnight to stop spread of COVID-19

Community Services abandons most vulnerable in time of crisis (Nova Scotia)

COVID-19: Quebec teachers in shock after government suspends collective agreements

Emergency action is necessary to end the health and economic crises in Ontario

Ontario could run out of ICU beds, ventilators in 37 days even if COVID-19 rates cut in half: study

Chickens coming home to roost in austerity Ontario



Frustrated Canadians looking for mortgage deferrals from big banks facing delays, denials

AFB2020 as COVID-19 policy response: A plan to protect workers and the public from an unprecedented crisis




Bolivia:

Bolivia: Electoral Tribunal Suspends Elections Due to COVID-19

Bolivia: MAS Presents Legal Resource in Support of Evo Morales

Morales pick leads in Bolivia opinion polls

Brazil:

Rise in 'forced disappearance' preys on Brazil's young men of colour

Canada:

January manufacturing sales show Canadian factories were slowing even before COVID-19 hit

Alberta to sell native grassland despite promises no Crown land would be sold

Tribunal orders Canada to compensate parents who lost children in care

Despite Foodora ruling, app-based workers face uphill union battle

India:

Delhi's Muslims despair of justice after police implicated in riots

Israel / Palestine:

Bibi Boi -- Hellworld #6

Maiming Palestinians for Sport is a War Crime

United States:

Furious at Probe Into US War Crimes Pompeo Threatens ICC Staff

Sanders Gets Swallowed by the DNC Machine: It’s Time to #DemExit

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