Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis -- The Week in News and Opinion March 8 - 15

Empty streets midday in Washington DC Friday

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 8 - 15.

This week's edition starts with a very large roundup of news and left opinion about the capitalist coronavirus crisis. Otherwise the round-up of international left news is presented in sections related to topic/region listed alphabetically except for the Featured Article post at the start.

Featured Article:

America Is a Sham

"In a time of real anxiety, maybe this optimism is just grasping for something good to come of all of this. But that’s really up to us. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to see more and more absurd, or cruel, or counterproductive practices revealed. Pay attention when they are. Notice the statements the people in charge make when they effortlessly roll back their surcharges and threats, their punishments and impediments. Remember them. And when the time comes that the danger from the virus is no longer as severe, and those people try to quietly reinstate the policies that hurt so many around you, remember that for a lot of Americans, a “return to normal” is a scary prospect. Keep your giant bottle of hand sanitizer. You’re gonna need it to deal with all the bullshit that’s coming back when the pandemic finally passes."

Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis

- Coronavirus facts: is there a cure and what is the mortality rate of the virus?

- Panic buying and hoarding are a function of capitalism

- Coronavirus highlights gap between socialist and capitalist responses

- “Flattening the Curve” is a deadly delusion

- We need disciplined, socialist solutions to the coming capitalist coronavirus crisis

- Coronavirus: 8 demands we should make on the government

- No, the coronavirus is not good for the climate

- Plague Watch USA -- Hellworld #5

- Working communities must not be made to pay for COVID-19 crisis

- These are the NHL owners who have not agreed to pay arena staff for suspended events

- Tim Hortons Workers Need Doctor’s Notes To Take Unpaid Sick Leave During Coronavirus Pandemic

- Fast Food Lobby Group: Workers With ‘Coughs’ and ‘Runny Noses’ Can Still Work During Coronavirus Pandemic

- Whole Foods Suggests That Workers Share Paid Time Off During Coronavirus

- Trump offers 'large sums' for exclusive access to coronavirus vaccine

- The Dismantled State Takes on a Pandemic

- Trump to Declare National Emergency to Speed Virus Response

- Trump struggles to explain why he disbanded his global health team

- Our Worst Crisis Since 2008… and We Have an Idiot at the Helm

- Republicans Tried to Sneak Abortion Restrictions into the Coronavirus Bill

- Senate GOP Blocks Emergency Paid Sick Leave Bill From Moving Forward

- The Coronavirus Is Jump-Starting Union Organizing at Delta

- Alex Jones accused of selling fake coronavirus cures

- New York attorney general sends letter to televangelist Jim Bakker amid coronavirus concerns

- 'Nightmare Waiting to Happen': Advocates Warn US Prison Conditions Risks Intense Coronavirus Outbreak

- Mexico Considers Limiting Entries From US To Slow Coronavirus

Chinese medical workers who have been fighting the coronavirus day and night in Wuhan celebrated the closing of the last temporary hospital in Wuhan.

The reported cases went from a surge in February of 15,000 in one day to only 15 this week:




- China Ready to Assist the World to Fight COVID-19

- Italy criticizes EU for not responding its call for help, 'only China responded bilaterally'

- I’m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire

- European leftist parties demand support for workers during the capitalist coronavirus crisis

- Coronavirus: Germany seals its borders as 100m Europeans on lockdown

- Spain to declare state of emergency over virus outbreak

- The entire country of Norway is 'shutting down'

- New Coronavirus and Measures That Latin America Govts Have Taken

- Diaz-Canel calls for intensifying measures to confront Covid-19, and continuing work with the population

- COVID-19 could be 'devastating' for First Nations, says Matawa First Nations CEO

- OPSEU President Thomas calls on businesses to "send workers home for the next two weeks with full pay"

- Canada's $1B Coronavirus Plan Abandons Gig Workers

- How can Canadians quarantine from COVID-19 if they can't afford it?

- Lessons from COVID-19: We are only as strong as our weakest link

- Health Workers Slam Ontario Government For Axing Paid Sick Days As Pandemic Spreads

- VTU CALLS ON PROVINCE & CITY TO ENACT AN EVICTIONS MORATORIUM DURING CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

- Arms show announces intention to proceed despite coronavirus pandemic

Asia:

- Families of missing persons in Sri Lanka demand justice

- Communist Party of Philippines: ‘Lockdown’ will intensify repression in National Capital Region

Bolivia:

- Bolivia: Parliament Censors Jeanine Áñez's Allies Minister

- Feminists travel to Bolivia in solidarity against the coup

Brazil:

- Brazil: Congress Overturns Bolsonaro's Social Benefit Law Veto

- Climate crisis blamed for rains and floods that have killed 150 in Brazil

- Brazil Requests Impeachment for Jair Bolsonaro

Canada:

- Green Party leadership contender courts 'disgruntled' NDPers

- The Horrible Greta Thunberg Sticker Highlights Alberta's Toxic Oil Culture

- TRUDEAU’S CHOICE TO SUPPORT WAR CRIMES

- Usman Ahmad: Bill 168 and the ONDP’s failure to stand up against antisemitism and zionism

- Class (Size) Struggle: The Ontario Government’s Latest Game

- ALBERTA LABOUR PUSHES BACK AGAINST KENNEY CUTS

Chile:

- Chile: New Wave of Protests to Demand Piñera's Resignation

- Chile: Police Attack Protesters Demanding Piñera's Resignation

- Chile Denounces Government Repression During Feminist Strike

Climate Emergency:

- “The climate crisis is a capitalist crisis” – Zarah Sultana’s full maiden speech

Cuba:

- REPORT FROM CUBA: THE IMPACT OF THE BLOCKADE ON THE US

Ecuador:

- Ecuador: Citizens Reject Economic Decisions to Please the IMF

- Ecuadorians reject Moreno’s new austerity measures

Europe:

- How Denmark's 'ghetto list' is ripping apart migrant communities

- Housing workers explain reality to idiot Boris Johnson

Guyana:

- CARICOM Team to Oversee Recount of Guyana Elections

Feminsim / Women's Issues:

- Latin America's Women's Day: Huge Marches Across the Continent

- Protesters demonstrate in front of Pornhub HQ in Montreal on International Women's Day

Israel / Palestine:

Breaking: Israel's opposition head Benny Gantz wins support to form government

- 'You Want to Kill Me?' Totally, He Said. 'Leftists Are Worse Than the Arabs': Election Day at a Settlement

- Israel demolishes Palestinian Bedouin village for 176th time

- Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Teenager in West Bank

- U.S. State Department Now Calling East Jerusalem Palestinians 'Arab Residents'

- Two Refined Racists From Gantz's Party Foil His Chance at Replacing Netanyahu

Mexico:

- Photos: 'One day without us' — Mexican women’s strike makes history

- 'Femicide is the tip of the iceberg': Mexican women hold national strike to protest rising gender violence

United States:

- #DemExit: Time to Launch a New Party Of, By, and For Working People

- Sanders: “I Never Expected in My Life, as an American, to See a Swastika at a Major Political Rally”

- New York woman was shackled to bed during childbirth, lawsuit says

- Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape, sexual assault

- How settler colonialism affects Hawaiʻi

- Operation Condor: The CIA is not innocent

- Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Recruited Spies to Infiltrate Progressive Groups with Project Veritas

- Young Americans say billionaires do more harm than good, study shows

- Pregnant 19-year-old dies trying to climb US border wall

- “A Toothpick in a Tsunami”: US Big Oil Faces Bankruptcy as Prices Plunge 30% on Saudi Expansion

Venezuela:

- Bachelet is “Morally Incapable” of Talking About Venezuela

- Colombia: Duque Closes Border With Venezuela, Thousands at Risk

- GUAIDÓ LEFT OUT IN THE COLD AT GATINEAU LIMA GROUP MEETING

- US, Colombia, Brazil Hold Alliance to Attack Venezuela

Wet'suwet'en:


"The Wet’suwet’en started the preliminary work on the affirmation of our traditional territories, in 1974 - for Delgamuukw & Gisday’wa v the Queen.

23 years later, the Supreme Court of Canada finalized the decision that our kungax (oral history) was valid, and that we had never ceded or surrendered our territories... that the lands that are currently under destruction, have always been ours.

Yet, today, the colonial federal Justin Trudeau & provincial John Horgan governments are continuing to ignore this ruling. They continue to ignore the hereditary chiefs clear demand that CGL stop work, and the BC RCMP remove themselves from the territories.

When we stand and affirm our position, we are faced with mass armed forces - and the forcible removal from our unceded, sovereign territories. This is why it’s important that others continue to stand with us.

The current discussions are not regarding cgl - and are not being done in good faith by the government... or there would be a stoppage of the work while they happen."



- Rail disruptions ‘overblown’ by rail companies, politicians says Parliamentary Budget Officer

- Release order bars woman from voicing support for Wet’suwet’en online